If you’ve ever sat outside at Mrs. London’s, parked in the Baldwin lot near Church Lane, or had any reason to visit Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, you’ve seen the fenced in playground between the church and the Seabury Center next door.
Except, apparently, no one notices it.
Pam Kopack was the only reader to correctly identify last week’s image. (Click here to see.)
Other guesses included Haskins Preserve, Winslow Park, Earthplace, private homes, the Westport Library, Wakeman Town Farm, Riverside Park, and — close, but wrong pew — Green’s Farms Church.
It’s on now to this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/David Cross)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
The Staples High School field hockey team won their 6th state championship — and 2nd in a row — yesterday.
The Wreckers beat Darien 5-2, at Wethersfield High School. They put the game away with 3 straight goals, breaking a 2-2 draw. Goals came from Leah Larit (2), and Emma Larit, Alex Hackett and Sofia Fidalgo.
It was a clash of titans. Staples was seeded first in the class “L” (large schools) tourney. The Blue Wave were second.
They’re longtime rivals. The Westporters — ranked number 8 nationally — lost only once all year, to out-of-state Camden (New Jersey) Catholic. Darien had only 2 losses before yesterday. Both were to Staples.
And … the Blue Wave were victims of the Wrecker juggernaut in this year’s FCIAC final, and last year’s championship game as well.
Well done, coach Ian Tapsall and all the girls. Now, Darien and the rest of Connecticut: Get ready for a three-peat!
Staples field hockey: once again, state champs! (Photos courtesy of Staples High School Athletics)
Speaking of sports: ESPN journalist — and Westport resident — Jeremy Schaap hosts a special screening of his new E60 documentary tomorrow (Monday, November 18, 7 p.m., Westport Library).
“Pat Tillman: Life, Death, Legacy” highlights his career as a football star with the Arizona Cardinals, followed by his life as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan. His death (by friendly fire) received national attention.
After the film, Schaap will lead a discussion about it, and Tillman’s legacy.
And the New York Times — no easy reviewer — loves the first effort, from the 2002 Staples High School graduate.
Hilary Leichter writes:
Public and private moments of upheaval are the catastrophes in Chris Knapp’s fantastically dense and omnivorous debut novel, “States of Emergency.”
Climates both marital and global, existential terror and immediate terror, the dissolution of borders between countries and also people — such a list only simplifies the vertiginous simultaneity achieved in these pages.
Knapp doesn’t just tighten the perceived distance between our inner lives and the world around us; he erases it.
The result is a masterfully digressive story that moves across perspectives, time zones and time periods.
Imagine a 24-hour news cycle that name-checks Walter Benjamin, Frantz Fanon, the New York City water supply, the Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges and Chris Martin’s 2016 Super Bowl halftime show, and you’ll have something approximating the serious and often playful intellectual terrain of this novel. Knapp’s narrator is a flâneur with push notifications.
Click here for the full review. Click here for more information, and to order “States of Emergency.” (Hat tip: Jeff Wieser)
Chris Knapp
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1972 Staples High School graduate Jeff Scher is a filmmaker and animator. He works in a Cross Highway studio, a few steps from his house.
He says: “In the pursuit of tiny post-election joys, here’s a new video I made for the Tom Petty estate. It premiered Friday.
“It’s an unreleased song from the ‘Long After Dark’ album that’s been re-released, with new songs from the original session.”
The video includes a couple of shots based on Compo Beach.
The Heida Hermanns Piano Competition never gets the local attention it deserves.
But the event — set for November 22 and 23, at MoCA CT — is one of the most prestigious in the piano world. It celebrates emerging talents, ages 18-35.
This year’s 3 international finalists — Nick Bai, Carter Johnson and Yongqiu Liu — were chosen from over 70 pianists, who submitted videos of their performances. The trio will premiere a new commissioned work, by composer Lowell Liebermann.
Chair of the jury panel is Frederic Chiu, the local resident, internationally known pianist, and a previous Hermanns winner. The winner receives $10,000.
Speaking of music: On November 24 (The Klein, Bridgeport; 6:30 p.m.), longtime Westport resident and nearly as longtime instructor Bernice Friedson will receive the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestras’ inaugural Inna Berson Wetmore Excellence in Teaching Award.
Friedson “demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of music education, inspires young musicians, and makes meaningful and lasting connections to their students and our community through their teaching,” the honor says.
Friedson grew up half a block from Carnegie Hall. She gave her first recital at age 7, and later performed on WQXR and WNYC. As a teenager, she played with the New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony.
She studied at Juilliard and Mannes Schools of Music. At 18 she auditioned for conductor Leopold Stokowski, and was accepted into both the City Center Opera and RCA Recording Orchestras.
After moving to Connecticut, Friedson played with the Norwalk, New Haven and Stamford Symphonies, and served as concertmaster for the Greater Bridgeport, Danbury and Ridgefield Symphonies, Connecticut Ballet, and Connecticut Grand Opera. She was concertmaster, violin soloist and assistant conductor of the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra, and founded the Connecticut String Quartet.
Friedson helped found the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Youth Orchestra (now GCTYO) in 1961. She was also a founding member of the Fairfield County String Teachers Association, and a specialist at Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County.
She continues to teach violin and viola, coach chamber music groups, and prepare students for auditions at at her Westport studio.
Bernice Friedson, with instruments created by her violin-maker father.
“06880” photographers can’t get enough of this full moon.
Matt Murray snapped today’s “Westport … Naturally” image yesterday, as it rose over Sherwood Mill Pond.
(Photo/Matt Murray)
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And finally … on this date in 1973, President Nixon told 400 Associated Press managing editors, “I am not a crook.”
(Sports, music, literature — and everything else going on in town — are all part of today’s Roundup. Just like every day. If you enjoy our hyper-local blog, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
If there is one thing Westporters agree on, it’s that our traffic light system is broken.
This light stays red too long. This one is not green long enough. Why isn’t there a left-turn arrow here? Why can’t I go right on red there?
And, always: Why doesn’t the town do something about it?
The answer is frustratingly simple: It can’t. They’re not our lights.
According to Representative Town Meeting member Andrew Colabella, there are 123 miles of town roads. 66 miles are private, and only 18.5 miles belong to the state.
But nearly every traffic light in Westport hangs over a state road.
Post Road East and West. Saugatuck and Riverside Avenues. Wilton Road. Easton Road. You name it: If there’s a light on it, odds are astronomical it belongs to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
Call Town Hall about a traffic problem? They’re not our lights!
In fact, Andrew says, the only traffic lights the town controls are on Main Street at Avery Place and Myrtle Avenue, the Saugatuck fire station, and — because it’s a special, controllable light — the one at Fire Department headquarters.
So, if you have concerns — immediate (a light is out) or long-range (change the timing), the state DOT is the agency to call.*
But it’s a bureaucracy, so (of course) there are 2 separate jurisdictions.
The state DOT garage (next to Walgreens, across from Patio.com) handles all work orders from their driveway westward (to the Norwalk line). Their number is 203-227-7692.
Everything east of the state DOT garage is done by the Trumbull garage: 203-380-3836).
Traffic light concerns or electrical issues? Call 203-878-1869.
*Looking for ideas? Here’s one. Make each cycle at the Post Road West/ Riverside Avenue/Wilton Road cluster**** green for one side only, and red for the other three.
In other words, if you’re on Wilton Road, with Bartaco on your left, you get a green light to go any direction — left or right on the Post Road, straight ahead onto Riverside — while traffic is stopped in the other direction.
Then the cars coming down the Post Road West hill get their own green — to turn left or right, or go straight over the bridge — while everyone else stops.
Etc., etc.
It’s the only way to prevent back-ups, while cars wait for those in front to turn — but they can’t, because vehicles coming from the opposite direction are trying to do the same.
Hey, it’s worth a try. The current system is broken.
Right now, an entire cycle can pass with cars waiting for one to turn in any direction from Wilton Road, Post Road West or Riverside Avenue.
(“06880” needs your support to stay out of the red. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution to your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)
The high school troupe punched way above their weight, thrilling last night’s audience with a Broadway-quality presentation of “Elf: The Musical.”
It’s fresh, funny and festive — a perfect, high-energy and wholesome respite from reality, and a great way to begin the holiday season a couple of weeks early.
The show continues today (Saturday, November 16, 2 and 7 p.m.) and tomorrow (Sunday, November 17, 2 p.m.). There are performances next weekend too, on November 21 and 22 (7 p.m.) and 23 (2 and 7 p.m.).Click here for tickets. Though some shows may be sold out, tickets are often available at the door.
“Elf” cast members take their bows last night. (Photo/Dan Woog)
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The Westport Board of Education hosts a “community conversation” for all residents this Wednesday (November 20, noon to 1:30 p.m., Westport Library).
Any school-related topic can be raised.
Velma Heller — former RTM moderator, and longtime Westport Public School admistrator, will facilitate the event.
31 men and women have just graduated from Westport’s Citizens’ Police Academy.
They spent 8 weeks learning all about the Westport Police Department’s many functions, including criminal investigations, specialty units, forensic science, financial scams, motor vehicle stops, and post-arrest procedures.
They also participated in firearms familiarization, rode with patrol officers, and received “stop the bleed training.”
A buck jumped in, then became trapped for a day inside a half-finished cement foundation. Two members of the Fairfield County Hunt Club horse barn team provided hay bales.
Public Works Department employees and Westport Animal Control officer Peter Reid began assembling a ramp from the bales.
Suddenly, the buck ran at the wall, and jumped out cleanly. “He just needed the right motivation,” Julie Loparo reports on social media.
Deer trapped in foundation. (Photo courtesy of Westport Front Porch, via Facebook)
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Longtime Westporter — and elected (Representative Town Meeting) official — Dick Lowenstein reminds all candidates for office earlier this month: It’s (past) time to remove your lawn signs!
This photo is from yesterday afternoon:
(Photo/Dick Lowenstein)
Today’s weather is perfect to get out, get ’em — and sotre them for the next campaign.
This week, we welcome 2 new artists to our online gallery.
There’s always room for more!
And no matter what style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone is invited to contribute.
Email a jpeg to 06880blog@gmail.com. And remember: Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“African Elephant Matriarch Sheds Tears Over the Loss of Her Kind” — Photographer Mike Hibbard says, “Africa currently hosts about 402,000 elephants. Because of poaching, only about half that number will be left by the end of the decade.”
“Passage Under I-95 Westport” — acrylic on canvas (Cindy Wagner)
Untitled (Duane Cohen)
“Willows in the Night” — impasto gold leaf (Dorothy Robertshaw)
“Lily and Her Entourage” (Andy Millard)
Untitled — digital (Tom Doran)
“New Directions in Gardening?” (Peter Barlow)
Untitled (Martin Ripchick)
“Lightning Strikes Twice” — pencil and watercolor (Steve Stein)
“Homework” (Lawrence Weisman)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
I ride my early 1980s-vintage mountain bike for an average of 2 hours every day – year round.
But I never ride on any local roads. It’s always Sherwood Island State Park (the perimeter route).
Why? There are no cars.
Perfect path for bicyclists. (Photo/Pat S. Weist)
Still, I always wear a helmet. I have all the other recommended safety gear too: lights, bell, side mirror, etc.
I have a rear bike carrier mounted in a trailer hitch. It transports the bike wherever we’re going: Sherwood Island, to visit our son in Michigan, or Florida for the winter.
Click here for Michigan’s bike safety rules and guidelines. They have signs on numerous roads with graphics and words enforcing the 3-foot distance required by car drivers to yield when passing a bicyclist.
The signs on Cross Highway make no sense. I encourage signs like those used in Michigan.
I especially like the suggestion that drivers use the “Dutch reach” when going to open the driver’s-side door. Using the right hand instead of the left almost guarantees that the driver looks left to see if anyone is approaching on a bike, prior to opening their door.
If you open your door in the Netherlands and strike a passing bicyclist, you are given a traffic ticket with a rather steep fine. It is the most bike-friendly country I know.
(If it’s got wheels — cars, bikes, school buses, golf carts — “06880” covers it. And everything else in Westport too. If you appreciate our work, please support us by clicking here. Thank you!)
The Westport River Gallery — on the left side, where Post Road West turns into Riverside Avenue — overflows with interesting art, from an array of international artists.
But a work by a Connecticut artist — with a very Westport theme — stands out among the scores of landscapes and scenes from around the world.
“Westport USA” is a multi-media 36×36 creation of Connecticut pop artist Franki Vinci.
It’s an explosion of Westport residents, present and formers (and a few folks, real and imagined, with ties to this place).
“Westport USA” (Frankie Vinci) — click on or hover over to enlarge.
There are the usual suspects: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Martha Stewart, Rodney Dangerfield, F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Patty Hearst, Bette Davis, Michael Bolton.
(Plus, of course, Keith Richards. He lives in Weston. But, as anyone who has seen him around town knows, he’s really one of us.)
There’s “I Love Lucy” and “Bewitched” (both TV series were “set” in Westport, at least for a while). Superman (drawn by longtime resident Curt Swan). Norman Rockwell, who helped found the Famous Artists School (located a few yards from the gallery, on Wilton Road).
How many of the nearly 50 references do you recognize in “Westport USA”? How many surprise you with their Westport connection?
Click “Comments” below, to share your reactions and remembrances to this remarkable piece of art.
(Friday Flashback is one of “06880”‘s many regular features. If you enjoy this — or anything else on our website — please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)
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