Sophie B. Hawkins — platinum-selling international artist; Best New Artist Grammy nominee in 1992; painter; ardent environmentalist; LGBTQ+ and animal rights advocate — is also a Westporter.
And she’s as passionate about our town as anyone I know.
The other day, Sophie and I chatted at the Westport Library — a place she knows well, from performing and recording. It was a wide-ranging, warm conversation.
Click below to listen, and learn more about Sophie B. Hawkins and her town.
Shortly after moving to Westport in August 2020, a mom received an email from a class mother at Greens Farms Elementary, her kids’ new school.
“Who wants to be part of Sustainable GFS?” it read.
The woman had been looking for a group of environmentally-minded folks. She jumped right in, and has been an avid member since.
She is no ordinary Westporter (if there is such a thing). The woman is Sophie B. Hawkins — the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, and a longtime environmental activist.
Sophie B. Hawkins, and her kids.
Now, she’s helping Sustainable Westport get the word out about food scrap collection (aka “composting”). The other day, she told them:
I did not know how much recycling I could do. But Westport makes it easy to deal with trash (other than when I drove up and down the Sherwood Island Connector looking for “the Dump,” which hardly stands out).
Now I take our food scraps to the separate collection site at the Dump (aka “transfer station”). I have found a great deal of emotional reward from recycling and by managing our trash and food waste.
Westport’s transfer station does not look like a dump.
That’s my way of honoring the privilege of where I live by being more responsible. It’s been mentally healthy for me. And you don’t have to be a gardener to get a lot of reward for sending your food scraps off to be composted.
Paying attention to our household trash has led me to shop differently, cook more, purchase without plastic wrap wherever possible, and get creative about avoiding waste of any kind. My blue bin is much lighter.
And those plastic bags that bread and other food items come in: I now wash them out, drape them over an old pair of drumsticks standing in playdough, then reuse them.
The transfer station offers a food scrap drop-off site.
We have a “no plastic water bottles” policy in our house. I am a real gorilla on it — I mean none, even away from the house. We all got used to it.
Traveling is a challenge when it comes to managing waste, but my band and I have started buying food, carrying utensils and enjoying impromptu picnics on the road.
The pandemic has led us to some very environmentally sound and fun ways of traveling. On my touring rider I ask for no plastic in the dressing room and on stage — only filtered water and healthy containers.
I am an ardent environmentalist and activist. It’s a prominent feature of my career. I give 100 percent of my royalties from some songs to Waterkeeper Alliance, and rescue animals from catastrophic events. I’m hands on in every way. It’s a primary feature of my career, life and social media.
I believe more Westporters would become committed to food waste reduction and recycling if they knew how easy it becomes. Just jump in without worrying about the details. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.
A food scrap recycling starter kit.
As for actually collecting food scraps: I use a mixing bowl on my counter. I dump the food scraps in it, and cover with a nice plate. When that’s full I dump it into a small aluminum trash can outside my kitchen door.
I take it to the transfer station every 3 or 4 days, when it’s full.
I try to just model the behavior, and remind my kids to recycle and clear their plates. I don’t ask them to compost their leftovers, because in general I eat or scrape them.
The kids come with me to the transfer station. They help me clean the house. It’s a mellow approach.
My advice is to just use what you have in the house to collect your waste. Try it for one week. Notice how easy it is, and how good you feel doing it. Don’t buy new gear or become crazy.
I noticed how little garbage I have now. It’s uplifting to know I’m helping reduce toxic waste for our planet, for all of us.
Greens Farms Elementary School was in the forefront of food scrap recylcing.
Sustainable Westport invites everyone to join Sophie B. Hawkins in the Zero Food Waste Challenge (click here for details).
Sustainable Westport will be on Instagram Live this Monday (May 9, 6:30 p.m.) with WestportMoms. Follow @SustainableWestport to learn how to compost at home.
As for Sophie B. Hawkins: Right now, she’s touring. She’ll be local this spring and summer. For more information, click here.
Posted in Entertainment, Environment
Tagged composting, food scrap recycling, Sophie B. Hawkins, transfer station
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Tina Green reports that the American oystercatcher pair has returned to Compo Beach for the season.
“Their loud. distinctive calls announced their early morning arrival for all to hear yesterday,” she says.
“No doubt they will try to nest again in the same area of the beach just north of the cannons. The pair successfully raised and fledged 3 juvenile birds last year, due in part to the beach being closed because of COVID. They had the beach to themselves until May, along with the piping plovers.
“Compo visitors — especially those with dogs — should keep away from the oystercatchers and give them some space. Westporters are very fortunate to have a front row seat to watch nature up close and personal in our hometown.
American oystercatchers at Compo Beach yesterday. (Photo/Tina Green)
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Besides the oystercatchers, there’s another returnee to Westport: drive-in concerts.
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce and Westport Library sponsor 2 next month. The site is the Imperial Avenue parking lot.
Sophie B Hawkins — a great talent, and Westport resident — opens the season on Friday April 23rd. The show — featuring her 5-piece band is a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Deep Banana Blackout follows on Saturday, April 24. The 8-piece band is an area favorite, with a high-energy mix of jam, funk and blues.
Tickets for each show are $150 per car (5 person max). Tickets for Sophie B Hawkins go on sale on this Monday (March 29, 10 .am). Deep Banana Blackout will go on sale Tuesday, March 30, also at 10. Click here to order.
Sophie B Hawkins
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Speaking of entertainment: Jamie Mann — the Staples High School senior who stars in Netflix’s new hit, “Country Comfort,” which premiered Friday — has written a great piece for Backstage on the highs and lows of being a young actor.
He writes honestly about his love for dance, the “dead zone” when child actors grow too tall and add braces, the mentors he found in Westport like Cynthia Gibb and Jill Jaysen, being just another cast member with Staples Players, and more. Click here to read.
Jamie Mann (Photo/Curtis & Cort)
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John Noble writes: “I live near Earthplace, and walk by this house on Woodside Avenue almost every day.
It’s a teardown. I totally get it — but why did the developer take down over 17 large mature trees to create this eyesore of a lot now? There’s always 2 sides to a story, but as a neighbor this tree obliteration really bugs me.”
(Photo/John Noble)
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The Westport Library is seeking candidates for its Board of Trustees. Of particular interest: people with expertise in finance, fundraising and development for non-profits; knowledge and understanding of current trends in digital media and information technology, or a background in municipal government and/or not-for-profit law.
Trustees serve 4-yeare terms. Click here for more information.Interested candidates should email a resume and letter of interest to rpowell@westportlibrary.org. The deadline is April 19.
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Westporter Ana Cristina Purcell died on March 16. She was 68.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she immigrated with her parents to the US in the 1950s.
Ana was a graduate of Staples High School. She served as the office administrator for Purcell Moving Corporation, a family-owned business, for over 20 years. She enjoyed traveling, the beach, and spending time with family and friends.
She is survived by her husband Lawrence; daughter Cristina; son Shane (Jennifer Soyeck); sister Julia Huber; niece Rachel Greene; nephew Philip Huber, and grandchildren TJ Altman, Kroy Purcell and Camilla Purcell.
Harding Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Services will be held at Assumption Church this Saturday (March 27, 11 a.m.). After, close friends and family are welcome to their home to share memories of her life.
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And finally … happy 67th birthday to legendary University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma.
They beat High Point by a whopping 102-59 on Sunday. Tonight (9 p.m.) they face Syracuse. Go Huskies!
Many of the men and women who fled New York for Westport during the past year work from home. Finance, consulting, business, writing — all you need is an extra room, an internet connection, and you’re ready to rock.
It’s a bit tougher for Sophie B. Hawkins.
Sophie B. Hawkins
A Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter who burst on the scene with her 1992 platinum debut album “Tongues and Tails” — and who followed it up with the #1 adult contemporary hit “As I Lay Me Down,” then performed and collaborated with artists like Bryan Ferry, Chris Isaak, Jewel and Sting — she could not exactly open her doors and invite audiences in.
But Sophie is part of that diaspora. A native New Yorker, she’s found a wonderful home in Westport.
And this Sunday (February 21, 7:30 p.m.), she’s appearing at the Ridgefield Playhouse. It’s a way to get back on stage — and to help an important performing arts center that, like so many others, is struggling during COVID.
In the early days of the pandemic, as so many people in her neighborhood fell ill, Sophie remembered hearing about the wonders of Westport. She checked housing prices — much more reasonable than Manhattan — and learned about the great school system.
Soon she, her 12-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, were living in Greens Farms.
It was quite a change for a woman who said her life in New York as a “single mother artist” was “too stupid.”
“I love the sounds of birds, wind, nature,” Sophie says. “It’s so quiet.”
She is awed by the beauty of her neighborhood — especially the trees. “They’re the stars of this place,” she notes.
Sophie walks to the Greens Farms train station. It’s an easy trip to New York, where her mother still lives.
Even something as simple as driving her son to karate or going to CVS, fills her with joy. “Life here is like a river that is always flowing. There’s an ease to it. It allows me to do more as an artist,” she explains.
Sophie’s son quickly met a great group of friends at the Wakeman Town Farm summer camp. He thrives at Bedford Middle School; her daughter loves Greens Farms Elementary.
Sunday’s Ridgefield Playhouse show also fills her with joy. She’s playing with musicians she’s never met (and, as of yesterday, had not yet rehearsed with), but that’s part of the fun.
“One good thing about COVID: It’s made us grateful for so many little things,” Sophie says. Performing live, playing the music she loves, is one of those.
Her show will begin with “Tongues and Tails” revisited. It moves through her subsequent album, and ends with new material. Her 7th album comes out soon.
“It will be like a party,” Sophie promises.
The Ridgefield Playhouse is selling just 100 tickets. The concert will be livestreamed too, for a virtual audience.
(Click here for tickets — actual and virtual — to Sophie B. Hawkins’ Sunday show at the Ridgefield Playhouse.)
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