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There’s a new time for this Sunday’s Dr. Martin Luther King celebration.
The free program featuring author Heather McGhee begins at 2:30 p.m. It had been set for 3 p.m.
Her book — The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together spent 10 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Her TED talk — “Racism Has a Cost for Everyone” — reached 1 million views in just 2 months.
Due to COVID, the event — sponsored by the Westport Library, Westport Country Playhouse, TEAM Westport, Westport/Weston Interfaith Council, and the Westport/Weston Interfaith Clergy — is now online only.
The program includes performances by the Bridgeport Boys Choir, and dance by the Regional Center for the Arts.
To register for the link, click here.
Heather McGhee
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Fleet Feet is leaving Sconset Square.
But Westport’s favorite running store is not going far. The new location is just a jog away: the Fresh Market plaza, next to Little Beet.
Fleet Feet will double its size, offering an even larger selection of footwear, apparel and accessories. The more open space will also allow for expanded service, and social distancing. The move is planned for mid-February.
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Sure, Local to Market is a great place to shop for food with “local” ties.
But it also provides food for the soul.
Westport artist Elizabeth Petrie DeVoll has a solo show at the store — formerly Talbots and before that, the Remarkable Book Shop — at the corner of Main Street and Parker Harding Plaza.
The show also features cards by Jane Gilman Fleischner.
There’s a great tie-in with the historic building. DeVoll creates new art from old objects. She “enlivens history and questions the supposed border between the past and the present. She sees possibility in the discarded, weathered, and forgotten.”
Her work is part of a rotating gallery. All art shown at Local to Market comes through the Artists Collective of Westport.
Elizabeth Petrie DeVoll, with her work at Local to Market.
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A free Zoom event featuring Westport child psychiatrist Gwen Lopez-Cohen Dr. Harold Koplewicz is set for next Tuesday (January 18, 7:30 p.m.). They’ll discuss Koplewicz’s new book, The Scaffold Effect: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant, and Secure Kids in an Age of Anxiety.
Koplewicz says that the deliberate buildup and then gradual loosening of parental support (like scaffolding on a building) is the single most effective way to encourage youngsters to climb higher, try new things, grow from mistakes, and develop character and strength.
Click here to register. Sponsors are Schoke Jewish Family Service and the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County.
Dr. Gwen Lopez-Cohen
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An opening reception for the latest George Billis Gallery show — featuring 34 artists curated by New York critic and writer David Masello — is set for Saturday (January 15, 4 to 7 p.m.).
The public is welcome.
Norm Siegel’s “Mona Rolla” oil on canvas is featured at the new George Billis Gallery show.
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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo comes from Marie Gross. She spotted these beautiful birds on Riverside Avenue.
(Photo/Marie Gross)
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And finally … Ronnie Spector died yesterday, after a brief battle with cancer. She was 78.
Her career was defined both as the leader of the spectacular Ronettes, and her marriage to the abusive producer Phil Spector.
The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 by Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones.
Ronnie’s sister and fellow Ronette Estelle Bennett died in 2009. But their music will live on for ages.
