Tag Archives: Mark Lassoff

Roundup: Parks & Rec Summer Kickoff, Co-op Nursery Touch-a-Truck, Chabad Golf Outing …

Posted on April 18, 2026 | Leave a comment

In just 3 years, the Westport Parks & Recreation Department “Kickoff to Summer” has become a — well, great kickoff to summer.

This year’s event is May 23 (11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Compo Beach).

In addition to the now-traditional kids’ activities, music, food trucks and raffle, they’ve added helicopter rides, and the unveiling of young artist Luke Bernier’s mural by the concession stan.

Parks & Rec personnel will provide info on programs and other offerings for the upcoming year.

Part of the fun, at last year’s Kickoff to Summer.

==============================================

It’s not easy coming up with a creative, on-brand fundraiser.

For 19 years though, little kids (and their parents) have loved the Westport Weston Co-op Nursery School‘s Touch-a-Truck event.

This year’s edition is May 2 (9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Imperial Avenue parking lot).

As always, it features fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, cranes, dump trucks, buses, big rigs and more.

Kids of all ages can get up close, climb in and on, and pose for photos with their favorite vehicles.

Also on tap: face painting, food trucks, live music, and other family-friendly activities.

NOTE: It can get loud. Children with sensitivity to noise are invited to quiet time (9 to 9:30 a.m.), with no sirens or horns.

Admission is $35 per family; click here for tickets.

===============================================

Question: Where is the newest trivia night in town?

Answer: Emmy Squared.

This Monday (7 p.m.) — and every 2nd Monday after — the pizza-and-more spot in Bedford Square will host a pop culture quiz.

It’s run by Best Trivia Ever. The same group organizes events at the Blind Rhino, and other restaurants.

For more information, click here.

Next question: Will we see you there?

Trivia Night site. Though the action will probably be at the bar.

================================================

Golf and giving back are par for the course on May 4 (Great River Golf Club, Milford).

Chabad of Westport’s annual golf outing includes on-course snacks, lunch, a cocktail/dinner reception, raffles and giveaways, a $25,000 hole-in-one prize — plus an opportunity to meet visiting IDF soldiers.

Proceeds from the event support Israel, local youth services, and Camp Gan Israel.

Non-golfers are welcome. Sponsorships, foursomes and dinner tickets are now available. To register or learn more, click here.

==================================================

Tony Rizza has done it again!

The Westport resident — a University of Connecticut business school graduate, and former Husky soccer player — has donated $1.5 million to the school.

The gift will support the “pursuit of sustained excellence across all of UConn’s athletic programs.”

Rizza — an investment manager — previously contributed $10 million. Those gifts helped revitalize Morrone Stadium, and helped build a state-of-the-art sports performance center.

 

================================================

Yesterday’s brief rain shower produced one of the better rainbows in a while.

This was the view over Cross Highway:

(Photo/Mark Yurkiw)

… and by the Saugatuck River, on Riverside Avenue …

(Photo/Michael Chait)

… and above Clinton Avenue:

(Photo/Jen Rago McCarthy)

Today’s forecast is for clouds, and a high of 62.

Tomorrow: rain, and 52.

Hey, summer was nice while it lasted.

===============================================

The Weston History & Culture Center continues its celebration of America’s 250th birthday next month.

“Sarah Treadwell: Connecticut Mom, American Patriot” opens with a reception May 9 (2 to 4 p.m.).

The exhibit honors a local woman who supported her family’s role during the Revolutionary War, highlighting the often-overlooked contributions of women during the era.

Treadwell’s family lived in North Fairfield, a section of the town that later became Weston, then Easton.

The exhibit explores her life during and after the war, her family and community roles, the pension process for veterans and widows of veterans, and her resilience as a wife and mother.

After the reception, it will be on view every Thursday (1 to 4 p.m.), and the first and last Sunday of each month (1 to 4 p.m.).

Also on view: the new interactive exhibit “Weston at Work,” in the Coley Barn; the exhibit “Local Patriots and Loyalists” in the Visitor’s Center, and guided tours of historic Coley House.

=============================================

OnwardWell Foundation — a therapeutic recovery support non-profit founded by 1992 Staples High School graduate Mark Lassoff last year — does great work.

To do it even more well, they seek donations of gently used furniture to outfit a new meeting room at their Trumbull offices.

The room will host recovery and support groups for families and friends of young men recovering from addiction and mental illness.

The small room can accommodate a small couch or loveseat, and a couple of comfortable chairs. Donations are tax-deductible, and can be picked up.

To donate, or for questions, email mark@onwardwell.com.

==================================================

These flowers, and this cardinal, provide a nice pop — and contrast — of color, for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.

==================================================

And finally … in honor of the Westport Weston Co-op Nursery School’s Touch-a-Truck event (story above):

(We are “grateful” for our “06880” readers — and “touched” that some support us with tax-deductible contributions. If that’s your jam, please click here. We thank you!)

Leave a comment

Posted in Children, Restaurants, Sports, Weather, Weston

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Staples’ Pioneering TV Studio Sparked Current Career

Posted on September 23, 2023 | 4 comments

When Mark Lassoff moved to Westport, he had never thought about TV or radio. Upon graduating from Staples High School 4 years later, he’d made a major mark in both. (He also starred on the wrestling team.)

Mark’s journey took him to the University of Texas, work in the Lone Star State, then back to this area.

Mark Lassoff

He founded Framework Tech, a company that helps brands build engaging, broadcast-quality, instructional media. 

Mark also produces online titles to help people learn skills like coding, design, and digital productivity.

Now he’s written a book.

“The Ultimate Guide to Creating Online Learning Video: A Comprehensive Handbook for Instructional Designers” blends professional insights, friendly advice, and light-hearted humor.

Mark gives Westport a nice shout-out in the introduction. He writes:

I took my first video production class in 1988.

My high school had a television studio. I was so excited that I enrolled in Mr. Green’s TV production class the first semester of my freshman year.

It was a different world then.

We recorded on 3/4-inch tapes. We used an analog linear editing machine. We produced graphics on a Chryon machine capable of 8-bit text. The text looked like it was being rendered by an Atari 400 in 1985. We had an Amiga 500
as well, but no one knew how to use it.

Still, we produced real video.

Early on, with my friend Evan Stein, I directed “Extra Help,” a live television
show where teachers provided homework help to students.

We had a full studio crew including camera operators, a floor manager, technical director and audio technician. None of us were older than 16.

From that crew, Emily Reich (now Emily Shem-Tov) would go on to work as a
director of product support operations for Netflix.

Evin Lowe stayed on the production side of things, becoming one of the few female gaffers on commercial television productions. Evin has worked on shows for Netflix and Stars.

As a senior I had the opportunity to work on the crew for “MiggsB on TV,” a local public-access talk show hosted by designer Miggs Burroughs.

“Miggs B on TV”

This was shot in the same professional-level studio as our local “News 12” production. I worked as the audio technician. In addition to getting yelled at by a real television director, I was able to place a microphone on female professional
wrestlers, musicians, and local nutcases.

By the time I was 18, I had produced everything from summer camp videos to local commercials. I had even had the opportunity to work on a couple of local cable news productions.

Fast forward 30 years. I now have my own studio. It’s less than 10 miles from
the high school where I took Mr. Green’s class. The Chyron machine has been
replaced with an Apple Mac and Adobe Photoshop. The expensive studio cameras have been replaced with prosumer video cameras that cost a fraction of what those old studio cameras did. The editing is non-linear, digital, and often
completed in Starbucks, using a laptop.

The world has changed… and it hasn’t.

I still feel a sense of excitement and joy when I see something I created on screen.

Sure, it’s not exactly Avatar, but I’m proud of the videos I produce and grateful I getto do this for a living.

Our little studio in Connecticut produces hundreds of hours of video each year that teach people career-defining skills like coding, graphic design, and digital
productivity.

We produce with a small crew, and without tremendously expensive equipment. Our whole studio cost less than $15,000.

We’re known in the industry for “punching above our weight,” and producing broadcast-level content with a small-scale budget.

Despite small budgets and limited resources, we’ve been successful over the last 12 years and have enrolled over 2.5 million people in our video courses.

The work we do in creating these videos helps people do their jobs, improve their careers, and learn critical skills.

 

The video you produce on workplace safety or chemical storage may not win an
Oscar, but it may save someone’s life.

The video you write on preventing workplace sexual harassment won’t win any Golden Globes, but it might help a new college graduate avoid painful workplace experiences.

This is important work. It’s also joyful work.

I recognize that I am privileged to do this for a living and remain forever in debt to a high school in Connecticut that introduced me to this field.

(“The Ultimate Guide to Creating Online Learning Video” by Mark Lassoff is available on Amazon.)

(“06880” often highlights the work of Staples High School students — current and past. To help us continue our work, please click here. Thank you!)

4 Comments

Posted in Looking back, Media, Staples HS, technology

Tagged ,

COVID Roundup: Fields Monitoring; Free Coding Class; Mask Making; Easter Baskets; STAR Funding; More

Posted on April 3, 2020 | 5 comments

Beginning yesterday, town personnel are monitoring facilities closely. The goal: making sure that physical distance standards are adhered to by all.

Director Jen Fava says, “We continue to find people not only using our closed facilities, like athletic fields, courts, and other recreational areas, but also gathering in groups at these and other Parks & Rec and school facilities. In addition, there continues to be an issue with people not having dogs on leash.

“Parks and Recreation Department staff, in conjunction with school security staff and the Westport Police Department, will monitor the facilities to ensure compliance in an effort to protect the health and safety of our residents. Any non-compliance with staff will be referred to the Westport Police Department.”

Crowds have been gathering at the Staples football field, among other venues.

Looking for a new hobby, for yourself or your kids?

Learn to code — for free.

Staples High School Class of 1992 graduate Mark Lassoff has made a career offering tech ed videos online. Now he’s paying it forward.

Lassoff’s Fairfield-based Framework TV COVID-19 Code Camp teaches digital skills like coding, web development and digital design — for free. No prior experience is needed.

Video lessons and activities are offered 4 times a week. It’s interactive: Participants get to know each other, and ask questions of instructors.

For more information and registration, click here.

Mark Lassoff

For the past 2 years, Virginia Jaffe helped make costumes for the Greens Farms Elementary School play. Now she and her fellow designers are putting their creative skills to use by making masks for men and women on the front lines — in food stores, markets, hospitals, medical offices and the like.

Virginia, Jurga Subaciute, Marisa Zer and Taran Gulliksen set up production lines in their homes. They make over 100 masks a day. “We’re home schooling, house cleaning and meal making,” she says. “But we can also cut fabric and sew.”

As national and state officials urge Americans to wear masks, the need will grow.

The women need unused flat 5mm or thin rope elastic. Colors do not matter.

In addition, they’re looking for people with sewing machines who wants to help. “We’ll give you instructions and patterns for making masks,” Virginia says. “And we will coordinate where they need to be sent.”

If you can’t sew but want to get involved through a financial contribution (to purchase fabric, threads and elastic directly from a Norwalk supplier who offers heavily discounted prices), see below.

If you know of a group of local front line workers who need masks, she’d like to know too.

To donate elastic and/or funds, offer to help, or suggest recipients, email Westportmasks@yahoo.com.

With all that’s going on, add another stress: how to fill an Easter basket.

Savvy+Grace’s doors are closed. But energetic, creative owner Annette Norton offers safe (curbside pickup) for orders. And every one includes a solid chocolate bunny!

Email savvyandgracewestport@gmail.com. Include:

  • Your full name and cell phone
  • The age, name and gender of the gift recipient
  • The gift recipient’s size (top and bottom)
  • The recipient’s interests (dance, theater, type of sport, etc.)
  • Pierced ears? Likes jewelry?
  • Any other info that might be helpful.

Annette will text back with photos and prices, for your perfect basket.

Annette Norton is ready for Easter.

Laura Blair is one of STAR’s best fundraisers. This time of year, she’s usually a familiar figure outside stores and Staples sports contests, collecting pledges and donations for the annual Walk, 5K and Roll at Sherwood Island State Park.

STAR serves individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The event helps support 12 group homes and 10 apartments, assisting 110 people with independent living, plus training and job placement to nearly 250 adults.

This year, the fundraiser is online. Click here to help Laura reach her $15,000 goal.

Laura Blair is a fundraising STAR.

And finally, what better way to end the week than with the wonderful Louis Armstrong:

5 Comments

Posted in Environment, Local business, Organizations

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Mark Lassoff: A Framework For Technical Education

Posted on February 20, 2019 | 3 comments

WWPT-FM — the Staples High School radio station — dates back to the 1960s. The first TV production class was held in 1982.

Both programs were flourishing in 1988, when Mark Lassoff moved to Westport. He still remembers guidance counselor Paul King proudly showing off the  studios, to the incoming freshman.

Lassoff had never thought about TV or radio. When he graduated 4 years later, he’d made a major mark in both. He also starred on the wrestling team.

After the University of Texas — where he majored in communications and computer science — Lassoff stayed in the Lone Star State. He worked for himself, training startup companies’ staffs about technology.

Ten years ago, he moved back to Connecticut.

Mark Lassoff

His timing was fortuitous. Almost immediately, Lassoff was diagnosed with colon cancer. Here, self-employed people could get health insurance. In Texas, that was impossible.

Though he’d traveled far and wide for work, cancer kept him close to home. So he developed online courses. He started with Introduction to JavaScript, then added more. He was one of the first entrepreneurs to sell $1 million worth of courses online.

Over the past decade though, the business model changed. As the barrier to entry got lower, more courses flooded the market.

Lassoff found a new platform in digital TV. Roku, Hulu, Amazon Fire — all seemed ripe to deliver technical education.

So Framework TV now offers tech ed streaming videos on the web, and online. The goal is to prepare people for jobs in the digital world.

And, Lassoff says proudly, it’s done “at prices people can afford.”

Mark Lassoff (upper right), as part of a Framework TV offering on Roku.

In fact, the first step — certification in HTML – is free. Users can move on to professional-level certification in areas like CSS and upgraded JavaScript for $10 a month. Then come deeper dives into web development, iOS and Android.

Lassoff recently opened a studio at the Palace Theater, the newly renovated and very funky South Norwalk space.

Among the Framework crew: video editor Jack Smith, a 2011 Staples grad. After taking TV and radio production at Staples — like Lassoff — he majored in digital media at Sacred Heart University.

Jack Smith, at work in Framework’s South Norwalk studio.

Today, anyone can access Mark Lassoff’s technical education courses, from any device anywhere in the world.

But he could not be happier providing it just a few miles from where his love affair with TV and technology all began: the Staples High School media lab.

3 Comments

Posted in Education, Media, People, Staples HS, technology

Tagged , , ,