Stonington Times

The Art of Femininity: Mystic artist explores women’s issues through art

2008-11-26T22:24:56Z

Carla Gaudio’s new exhibition, Donna e Madre, exploring women and gender issues, is on view during November and December at Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington. “Donna e Madre,” translated as “Woman and Mother,” focuses on an array of women’s issues, including motherhood, those who have lost parts of their bodies, and old age. Fifteen acrylic paintings are on view.

“My art is more on the landscape side...sometimes it’s still life or I juxtapose the two of them. I’ve done some abstraction but not much. Lately I’ve been really interested and intrigued by the figure. I know it’s not avant-garde in the art world, but it just fascinates me and speaks to me,” said Gaudio.

“Artistically speaking I am not a realist. Emotions and imagination are really at the base of what I do. I feel like a spastic puppy—I get excited about everything and like everything. I love all of the styles and have tried quite a few of them,” she added.

Gaudio’s focus on women’s issues started when she was reading stories about genocide and rape in Africa.

“There was one particular story that really touched me. It was this woman who was raped and got pregnant. She was mutilated and they amputated her legs. I was trying to picture this woman with a big belly and no legs. I was thinking, ‘My God, what a sight.’ I wondered how I or people would react to seeing that. It really caught my attention and my emotions.”

Then a friend of hers was diagnosed with cancer. Her boyfriend left her because she had a mastectomy.

“That really got me mad. I started making these paintings of women without arms, legs, and without a breast,” Gaudio said.

Motherhood, another issue in the show, changes a woman’s life and, at the same time, there is lots of love and tenderness involved, which Gaudio depicts in her paintings.

The show also focuses on women in nursing homes.

“What’s really at the base of what I’m doing is that there is no acceptance and love of what is not like us,” explains the artist.

What she calls her “old people project” is about “the despair, the loneliness, and the sadness of our life.”

“I know that the subject is frightfully difficult,” she admits. “People usually have this tendency of not wanting to see what we don’t like and what is ugly and not beautiful. We shy away from it and even hide it from our children. We put these people in places where they are hidden from society. It’s not a good teaching. We don’t teach our children to love everything that comes with being a human being. We value only what is beautiful, young, healthy, and strong. There is no place for weakness and ugliness.”

Donna e Madre, she says is “a hard subject and some people may not like it. It might be difficult to digest and if people don’t like it, it’s okay. I’m not anxious for anybody to like it, but I think they probably understand it.”

Portrait of the Artist

Gaudio started painting rather late in life. She grew up in the medieval city of Padua, Italy. As a child, she wanted to attend art school but her parents, neither of whom attended a university, told her that she would attend a technical high school and then wait for her “white knight in shining armor.”

So she came to the U.S.

“I came here and didn’t speak English. I built up my English knowledge and put myself through school,” Gaudio said.

At 34—with three children and a knight in shining armor, cardiologist Dr. Jon Gaudio—she graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

“It didn’t take me four years, let’s put it that way,” she said.

Painting took a back burner, however, as Gaudio renovated the family’s first house and then a second, an 1850 farmhouse in Mystic. “That’s where I put my creative input for quite a few years. Now it’s been a couple of years, I’ve been back painting because the house is finished. I’m back to starting what I wanted to do. Same story—woman with kids.”

While all paintings in the show are acrylics, Gaudio is currently studying oil painting at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme.

“That is my next goal,” she said. “I’d rather have people look at the picture and come up with their own interpretation. The beauty of looking at the picture is not being influenced by anything you know about the artist. The picture has got to speak to you by itself.”

By Susan Cornell
Special to the Times

Donna e Madre is on view Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. during November and December. For more information, call the Jonathan Winery at 860-535-0202. Jonathan Edwards Winery is at 74 Chester Maine Road in North Stonington.

Landmark Voter Amendment Led by Stonington High Students: Four-year effort results in ballot election to change CT Constitution

2008-11-26T22:20:58Z

The right to vote is a fundamental privilege afforded to every American of legal voting age, and while 17 states already allowed for 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, Connecticut was one of those states in which the voting age, even for primary elections, was established at 18 by the state constitution.

Thanks to a determined group of Stonington High School students in Richard Walter’s government and politics class, history was changed during the recent presidential election when Connecticut voters were offered a chance to vote on referendum question #2 on the ballot: whether to amend the Connecticut constitution to allow 17-year-olds the right to participate directly in the democratic process by affording them certain voting rights.

The amended was approved by a 2-to-1 margin, and now 17-year-olds who are pre-registered to vote and who turn 18 on or before the general election in November will be eligible to vote in March primaries.

According to state Rep. James F. Spallone of District 36 and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz who co-wrote a white paper on the proposed amendment in April of 2007 in support of the Stonington High School students’ leadership on the issue, “This amendment would encourage young people to register and vote, foster discussion about politics and policy among teenagers and their families, and fix an inequity that exists when it comes to 17-year-olds enlisted in the armed services.”

When both the house and the senate unanimously approved that the amendment go to general election earlier this year, their support of the measure came with the clear understanding that while 17-year-old Connecticut residents who, through the early entry program, have enlisted in the armed services can fight and die in war to defend America, they deserve every right of citizenship that an 18-year-old enjoys.

While the measure found its genesis in a simple classroom discussion, the process to bring the 17-year-old voting right to fruition was long and arduous.

“It started back in the spring of 2004 when we were taking about the evolution of voter rights in the United States,” SHS teacher Richard Walter recalled. “That right to vote started with white male landowners, then freed slaves, then women in 1920, and finally the 26th Amendment passed allowing 18-year-olds to vote in 1971.

“My students noticed that the text of the 26th Amendment said that the voting age ‘shall not be set higher than 18,’ but it could be set lower,” Walter continued. “When the students realized it could be set lower, I said there are some states that in fact allow certain kinds of voting for people who are under 18; in particular, primary elections.“

After the students learned that Connecticut was not among those states, four students out of Walter’s class of 18 decided to research the matter and with Walter’s help spoke with representatives on the state level.

“They invited students to write statements and present them at the legislature in Hartford,” Walter explained. “Only after they went through that process did we learn it was not a state law but a constitutional amendment that was needed in order to have this happen. That kind of slowed us down a little bit.”

The four students who first presented the case before law-makers were Corey James Prachniak, Paul Schmitz, Matt Collette, and Dan Terrell, and after they graduated, other students kept an interest in the cause.

“But it really didn’t go anywhere until the winter of 2007/2008,” Walter said. That’s when Spallone and Bysiewicz jumped aboard and helped to compose the voter change as an amendment rather than as a law.

“They asked for student support, and there was a student round-table discussion at the high school this past February, which Bysiewicz and Spallone attended, in addition to Stonington First Selectman Edward Heberek and the Superintendent of Schools Michael McKee,” Walter said. “But the highlight was the students who had prepared statements and press packs.”

After that discussion, come May of 2008 the amendment made its way through the Connecticut legislature. By summer, “It was on the ballot and it was going to be voted on for Election Day,” Walter said. “The fact that voters in Connecticut passed referendum question #2 on Nov. 4 is a testament to the power of students in our democratic system.”

By Jason J. Marchi
Times Correspondent

Going Green: Healthy and Radiant

2008-11-26T22:09:44Z

Gracelyn Guyol, the founder of Clean Up Stonington Harbors, presented the following remarks at a recent green-themed fashion show in Stonington Borough. Following Guyol’s lecture, models showed off the latest creations by Maria Barraza, while guests enjoyed organic treats and beverages.

How can going green to slow global warming possibly make you healthy and radiant? Everything on earth is connected and you’re part of that big web. Just one simple plan—to use less petroleum—may dramatically improve personal health while saving the planet.

To save gas you might drive less and walk or bike more. Exercise turns on a fat-burning gene that makes your body consume more calories. Walking tones muscles and delivers extra oxygen to every cell. Deep breathing brightens your eyes, puts color in your cheeks, and makes you sweat.

Sweating makes you healthy. The skin is your largest organ of elimination. Perspiring is one way the body throws off chemicals and toxins that contribute to disease. And there are plenty in our environment today—an estimated 850,000 chemicals, and most have never been evaluated for health risks.

A New York study of nine volunteers who did not work with chemicals found 167 chemicals in their blood and urine: 76 are known to cause cancer, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 may cause birth defects or abnormal development.

Even more frightening, researchers in 2005 analyzed umbilical cord blood of 10 newborns chosen at random and found 287 different chemicals in those samples. We inherit a toxic load then add to it, so sweating out toxins as you exercise to save gas is a very healthy idea.

Say you decide to not use pesticides as another way of saving oil. Petroleum-derived pesticides were first developed as nerve gases during World War II. Testing showed they killed bugs fast, so when peace arrived, they were sold as insecticides and weed killers. Eighty-two percent of Americans now use them on lawns and gardens to eradicate every stealthy weed, life-threatening dandelion, and terrorist bug.

What we’ve gradually learned is that most pesticides contain xenoestrogens, molecules whose structure seems to have a key that fits into hormone receptors, allowing the body to accept and try to use them. By mimicking human hormones, xenoestrogens contribute to many cancers, infertility, and damage the brain, lungs, kidneys, and liver.

When pesticides find their way into oceans and harbors, those pesky xenoestrogens affect fish, too. Male fish are developing female genitals, contributing, as one might imagine, to the rapid decline in fish populations around the world. How does that impact you? You’ll have less fish to eat and less fish oils. You’ve probably heard fish oils are Omega 3 essential fats—fats the human body must have to function but cannot produce, which means they need to come from your diet.

You are what you eat—literally. The fats consumed are raw materials the body uses to make cell membranes and hormones. Healthy fish oils rejuvenate your skin, halt PMS for some, aid digestion, protect your heart, reduce inflammation that contributes to arthritis and tumor growth, and fuel your brain. To me there’s nothing quite so attractive as racy intellect in a radical body!

Today, pesticides are sprayed on 99 percent of the corn grown in the United States. You may think, you don’t eat much corn so that can’t possibly affect you, but a majority of the corn is fed to cattle, pigs, chickens, and other animals that humans eat. So unless you’re buying organic milk and meats, you’re unknowingly consuming pesticide residues, as well as growth hormones and antibiotics routinely given to commercially grown animals.

Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a marvelously researched, beautifully written, yet horrifying tale that documents how our entire food chain has been contaminated by today’s commercial farming practices. This may lure you toward products labeled “all natural.” Beware. The term “natural” has no legal meaning. Arsenic is an all-natural element found in soils around the world. Your safest bet is to demand and buy certified organic foods, because that is legally defined and prohibits use of artificial hormones, antibiotics, synthetic chemicals, or pesticides. As demand for organic produce increases, farmers will revert to soil-restoring methods used by our grandparents, saving money and using less petroleum. We’ll all be healthier and a bit richer, which has a distinct beauty all its own.

In your decision to become less oil dependent, you might check ingredients in your skin and hair care products and cosmetics, since anything put on the skin may be absorbed into your body. Try to read those labels. You’ll find many 30-letter unpronounceable, chemical substances. My rule of thumb has become if I can’t pronounce it and the manufacturer doesn’t list what plant the substance is derived from, then it goes back on the shelf. With thousands of plant-derived products for sale, I don’t need to pay for cosmetics that increase my toxic load.

Huge oil savings might be gained by eliminating just one skin care substance: mineral oil. Doesn’t that sound natural and wholesome? Yet mineral oil is a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum. You’ll find it in moisturizers, lotions, and baby oils. Just think how much greener and healthier we’d be if we took all this mineral oil and burned it in our cars instead. Lush, supple skin softened by nut and seed oils may actually make you feel more sensual than radiant, but who’s to quibble?

You may positively blaze with green virtue after all these changes, but a healthy glow is about more than attitude and eliminating toxins. Vibrant health means providing your body with vitamins, minerals, and foods needed by cells to produce ATP—adenosine triphosphate—an internal fuel used by cells for repair, detoxification, and reproduction. Beauty is not just a static visual image, it’s a healthy energy like the grace of a panther stalking through the grass.

Think of everything you put in your mouth as cell fuel. What fuels this splendid animal energy? Splendid energy comes from cartloads of nutrient-dense foods: fruits and vegetables; vegetables and fruits; and more vegetables. Add in a few ounces of protein every few hours, some whole grains on the side, and healthy fats. Unprocessed, unrefined plants should make up the bulk of your diet. Eat as close to the earth as you can. Cut out the white, processed junk, skip boxed and tinned items (saving even more petroleum), and make your way to the produce aisle.

Vibrant colors are nature’s indicators of different nutrients inside. An extravagantly colorful meal means a bounty of healthy, energizing elements that will make your cells sing; whether it’s rock and roll, country, or soul is up to the new, vibrant you.

Gracelyn Guyol is the founder of CUSH (Clean Up Stonington Harbors) and an author and lecturer.

Tales from the Crib: Two Fists Full of Cranberry Sauce and One Grateful Heart

2008-11-26T22:01:33Z

I dig a Thanksgiving potluck—one where every family shows off their unique take on sweet potatoes (savory or marshmallowed), cranberry sauce (with actual berries or can imprints), and the bird (arid or arid extra dry).

But at one such recent free-for-all, the best part wasn’t the food. The best part was watching one little toddler enjoying the eats even more than me.

Time and again, this kid would careen past us towards a dish full of cranberry sauce. And time and again, we’d hoot at the sight of him toddling back to his beleaguered mom with two happy fists full of red gelatinous goodness.

It may have been messy, but his hands were filled to the brim with everything he could want. His was a good life.

And while his mother was surely mortified by the trajectory of those tiny pink hands, his drippy little mitts drew for me a perfect picture of what Thanksgiving is all about. Full hands, full bellies, and happy faces smeared with a taste of life’s goodness.

My hands are full every day, but not in a good way, I usually complain.

Today I want to be thankful for a whole mess of stuff I don’t usually notice and even the stuff I might normally find a way to complain about.

Today I am thankful for a.) the shocking fact that 10 years ago I managed to land a husband, and b.) that he’s actually a really good one, and c.) that he’s funny. I’ve had friends divorce husbands for reasons that boiled down to this: he didn’t get the joke. My husband gets it; heck, he wrote it. I’m thankful he makes me laugh every day.

Today I am thankful for a good hairdresser who has redeemed my head from years of shame in a Dorothy Hamill cut shorn with dog clippers.

Today I am thankful I’m a grown-up. While I don’t love adulthood’s creaky sagginess, it still strikes me as oddly wonderful that I get to sneak into the cookie jar without even having to ask. (I’m thankful for the cookies, too.)

Today I’m thankful we’re the kind of family where the parents try to outdo each other in a rendition of a Guns N’ Roses power ballad blaring on the car stereo. When I was growing up, classical music was always piping through our speakers, chosen by a mother who was never quite sure who Michael Jackson was. I’m having a whole lot more fun in our car.

Today I am thankful for Flanders Doughnuts and their new drive-through.

Today I am thankful for kind readers who have let me know this year that I’m not just talking to myself, and that sometimes I write something worth reading.

Today I am thankful for my healthy, happy, pesky little kids. They stir up awful feelings of inadequacy in me daily. They make me feverishly covet a day alone with a stack of DVDs. But after that one day of solitude (okay, maybe a weekend), I’m pretty sure I’d get lonely. And I might even notice that sharing my life with a family is like walking through life with handfuls of cranberry sauce. Messy it may be, but it’s a whole lot happier than having clean hands with nothing sweet to hold on to.

I love this paraphrased line from Alice Walker (a line so good it gave a book its name): “I think it annoys God when we walk by the color purple and don’t notice it.”

Thanksgiving is a day for choosing not to run right past life’s little things of beauty, but to see them for what they are—just your basic, run of the mill, everyday miracles.

DeeDee Filiatreault tries to be a freelance writer in Niantic while her two children sneak cookies. You can write to her at deedeect@sbcglobal.net.

Phoenix Rising: SHS field hockey goes out a winner with state semifinal berth

2008-11-20T20:02:48Z

Like so many people in the towns of Stonington, Pawcatuck, and Mystic during the winter of 2005-2006, Denise Domnarski was an adoring fan of the Stonington High state champion girls’ basketball team.

Domnarski, an SHS freshman and junior varsity basketball player then, served as an unofficial crowd rallier with a few other classmates. During time-outs, Domnarski, wearing brown clothes and painted Bear paws on her face, would try to exhort fans to yell louder by running up the bleacher aisles, clapping her hands and stirring up spirit.

The Class M title triumph of Heather Buck, Jacquie Fernandes, Andrea Buck, Morgan Rein, Kasey Solar and Co. left an impression on Domnarski.

“That was such an inspiring run,” Domnarski said. “When I saw and experienced the excitement of them winning the state title, I vowed that before I graduated, I wanted to win one. It was a big motivator for me.”

Domnarski started as a junior forward for the Bears’ basketball team during Buck’s senior season last year, but Stonington was upset in the Class L quarterfinals by East Lyme. Little did she know that she would inch closer to her goal as the senior captain and goalkeeper of the Bears’ field hockey team this fall.

SHS field hockey coach Jenna Tucchio sensed the team possessed a special quality.

“I knew from the start we had a special group; a very talented group,” she said. “But we had to completely rebuild our defense, and in the process suffered some early and unexpected losses.”

An up-and-down regular season resulted in Stonington breaking its 17-year string of ECC championships by finishing second to Killingly.

“This type of thing really takes an emotional toll on the athletes,” Tucchio said. “Knowing an ECC title was out of reach, we regrouped and decided working toward producing state-championship-level hockey would be our focus. Winning and losing took a back seat to breaking through issues in our skill level and strategy. Forget the record—I knew watching them every day they had it. I was anticipating great things in November, and they delivered.”

Instead of wilting into a team of infamy, the Bears responded with their best post-season run since 2002. For the first time in coach Tucchio’s five-year tenure as head coach, Stonington reached the Class S state semifinals. Granby, a 10-time state champ, broke a 0-0 tie with two goals in the final seven minutes to win 2-0 Nov. 11.

Stonington field hockey has been synonymous with winning, claiming 29 ECC championships in the last 31 years, dominating what had been a developing conference for field hockey compared to hotbeds in Fairfield County and north of Hartford where Granby, Canton, and Avon rule. The Bears claim the only ECC state championship in field hockey in 1987 for coach Janis Ingham, who was inducted into the SHS Athletic Hall of Fame last year. This was Stonington’s third semifinal appearance. It has made two finals, losing in 1985.

East Lyme is the only other ECC team to make a final—once. Nonetheless, Waterford, Killingly, East Lyme, and NFA have dramatically improved programs recently, trying to keep up with the Stonington Gold Standard and occasionally knocking off the Bears. No ECC team in any sport can match 17 straight conference championships.

This regular season, Killingly beat Stonington twice, and Waterford registered its first win over SHS. Three years ago, East Lyme edged Stonington in the regular season final after the Bears had already clinched the division crown. The Vikings celebrated as if they had won the championship. That’s how coveted a win over Stonington is in the ECC.

“The pressure to win the ECC is there in school, and of course you are your harshest critic,” junior Lauren Blanda said. “In the first weeks of school, classmates ask us, ‘Did you win the ECC yet? Then two days later, they ask ‘Did you win it yet?’ Then we finally are eliminated and bummed and came together as a team and decided we’re going to have to find another goal.”

Tucchio has never been a big proponent of listing an ECC title as the program’s ultimate goal. As an SHS player, she experienced the low of being a senior on the last SHS team before this one not to win the ECC in 1991. She went on to play at Penn State.

“I still burn from that moment,” Tucchio said. “I stressed more that they now needed to find another way to leave their mark on Stonington field hockey. Our fire was fueled because we didn’t want to be the team that did nothing. That may seem harsh, but they all know reality, and losing the ECC was a big dose of ‘What have you done for me lately?’ So we went for something bigger.”

Stonington failed to advance past the quarterfinals in Tucchio’s first four seasons, despite brandishing ECC banners. She figured why not reverse the pattern and peak during the most important season stretch.

“We talked and directed our energy in another direction,” Domnarski said. “After we were eliminated, we tied Killingly and knew we had something. Earlier in the season, we were playing not to lose, but we showed passion that game.”

The turnaround, however, hit a few snags. Stonington went 0-2-2 in its final games against quality non-league teams before the states, finishing the regular season at 9-5-2 overall (7-3 ECC).

“We went about three weeks without winning a game in October,” Domnarski said. “Once we started losing, we wanted to win so badly again. I guess we were so ready for the post-season we forgot to win the other games. But we were still upbeat because our goal to do well in the states was ahead of us.”

It was a constant series of adjustments for Tucchio.

“With the exception of Domnarski in goal, we built a brand-new defense,” Tucchio said. “The midfield was realigned, twice, and the forward line rotated almost every game. It was a process of development for two months. We would not have gotten this far without changes from everyone.”

Without one dominant player, Stonington featured a balanced scoring attack, led by Hayden Riley (8 goals), Kayla Murphy (six goals, two assists), Sarah Hallinan (four goals, three assists), and sophomore Randi Parrilla (four goals), who stepped in for an injured Emily Cusack during the season.

In a rematch of its season opener, Stonington upended Westbrook by the same 1-0 score in the Class S opening round. Domnarski made five saves for the shutout and continued her stellar defensive work. The solid victory roused emotion, then the news came that Northwest Regional defeated No. 1 Killingly, proliferating a wide range of feelings. Stonington was scheduled to play at Killingly in the quarterfinals if both teams won. Instead, the Bears received another home game and dominated in a 3-1 victory on goals by Hallinan, an All-State Second Team pick, Parilla and Riley.

“It was good news and bad news,” Blanda said. “We were happy that we went farther than them but sad we didn’t get a chance at redemption. It was hard not winning the ECC, and that definitely hurt us for a time. After a while, it was OK and the fact we won and Killingly lost showed us this was a new season.”

In the semifinals, Stonington matched Granby nearly shot for shot and enjoyed a territorial advantage having the ball on Granby’s end for much of the 25-minute first half. Domnarski made a crucial kick save just before the half to keep the game scoreless, and Murphy, an All-state First Team midfielder, cleared a ball rolling toward the goal early on.

With 7:40 left to play, Granby’s Cassie Caruso collected a rebound off of All-State Abby Bascetta’s hard penalty corner shot, which bounced off the goal post, and shot the ball past Domnarski for a 1-0 lead. Bascetta scored with one second left, making the final score a poor reflection of the game’s competitiveness.

“We could have been remembered as the team that didn’t win the ECC and didn’t go anywhere,” Blanda said. “Instead, we’re remembered as the team that went to the semis. We definitely feel proud we went farther than the team advanced in past years.”

How would Tucchio like this team to be remembered?

“Like the Phoenix,” she said. “Rising from the ashes to once again soar with grace and ferocity.”

By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times

Deck The Walls: Stonington Historical Society and Garden Club to auction designer wreaths

2008-11-20T20:00:25Z

Deck The Walls, an exhibit and silent auction of custom-
designed holiday wreaths and small trees opens on Friday, Dec. 5 at the Captain Nathaniel Palmer House in Stonington.

Co–hosted by the Stonington Historical Society and the Stonington Garden Club, this second annual event will showcase a variety of decorating trends in holiday wreaths, created and donated by area designers, artisans, garden clubs, and nurseries.

“The event is unique in the sense that you can see new trends in how to decorate for the holidays because the wreaths will be done by professional artists,” explains Deborah Kotchen, Deck the Walls co-chair and Stonington Historical Society board member. “Approximately 40 creative wreaths will be donated by area artists and decorators such as Susan Scala and Suzanne Tyler, as well as nurseries such as Stonington Gardens, Jonquil Farm, Pequot Plant Farm, and the Stonington and Mystic Garden Clubs.”

Deck The Walls will kick off with a Preview Party on Thursday, Dec. 4 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Captain Nathanial Palmer House, the home of the Historical Society. The $20 admission to the party is a contribution to the Gardens and Grounds Fund of the Stonington Historical Society. All proceeds from the sale of wreaths during Deck The Walls go to the Gardens and Grounds Fund as well. Preview Party tickets can be purchased at the door.

“Anyone can attend the night before the event opens to the public. There will be spirits and festivities, hors d’oeuvres, and music. Guests at the Preview Party will be able to preview the designer wreaths as well as submit a bid,” said Kotchen. The silent auction, which will go through Saturday at 4 p.m., will kick off at the Preview Party.

One of the many highlights of this year’s Deck The Walls is the holiday decorating workshop and book signing with lifestyle expert and TV personality Mar Jennings, author of Life On Mars, A Four Season Garden. On Friday, Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. Jennings will share tips on the latest decorating trends and his 10-year Westport garden evolution. Jennings has appeared on the Today show and is the lifestyle guru for the syndicated Better TV show. His book will be available for purchase and signing. Admission to the workshop is complimentary. Reservations can be made by calling 535-8445.

“I’m going to be talking about winter interest in the garden and doing a demonstration on creating a holiday wreath. Basically, I’ll be taking a traditional, inexpensive holiday wreath and making it look like a million bucks,” said Jennings. “In today’s hard economic times, we need to know these kinds of things.”

Jennings will also give a few holiday entertaining tips.

“It’s going to be informative, it’s going to be resourceful. You’ll look twice at everything in your home and how you can use it in different ways,” he said.

A Kids Tabletop Tree Workshop will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 9 a.m. Attendees will learn to create boxwood trees and topiaries for seasonal décor. A $20 fee includes supplies as well as admission for both parent and child (ages 8 to 12). Reservations for the workshop can be made by calling 535-8445.

Deck The Walls show hours will be from Friday, Dec. 5 though Saturday Dec. 6 from 11 to 4 p.m.

“What makes the event so unique is that the public will have the ability to view as well as submit a bid on a decorator wreath,” said Kotchen.

By Susan Cornell
Special to the Times

For more information and to register for the Kids Workshop and/or the Holiday Decorating Workshop, call 535-8445. The Captain Nathaniel Palmer House is located at 40 Palmer Street in Stonington.

Santa Rings in the Season at Annual LUNCH Concert: More than 40 area students present 12th annual lunch holiday show

2008-11-20T19:57:15Z

Coming down a chimney in Stonington on Saturday, Dec. 6 is the 2008 Local United Network to Combat Hunger (LUNCH) holiday concert. Since 1995, The LUNCH Holiday Show is an annual concert and original stage play which brings together students and professional musicians to parody various aspects of pop culture. The 2008 performance is “Harry Shopper and the Order From Phoenix” based on a Harry Potter theme.

In the show, Santa finds himself short of workers and has to train a new batch of recruits at Hogwarts School, while the students are off on Christmas break.

“This is a family entertainment event with music and magic for all ages,” explains LUNCH’s founder Bill Pere, who is also the Executive Director of the Connecticut Songwriters Academy and an official Connecticut State Troubadour.

Songs of the season, both humorous and thoughtful, will be performed to benefit local social service agencies. The core professional group performing at this annual family concert features professional artists from the Connecticut Songwriters Association, including Connecticut State Troubadour and 2003 Independent Artist of the Year Bill Pere; 2007 Immie-Award Winner Kay Pere; and recording artist Larry Batter, who will be joined by 40 area students from several area schools from Westerly to East Lyme.

Pere has been involved with music for social action for many years. He started the holiday show, he said, because he’d “always seen how the need becomes more acute around the winter months.” In 1995 Pere decided to do something during the holidays to address the need. Since then the concerts have grown every year.

“Kids who participated the first year are still involved now. It is great to see how young people grow, not only in their level of talent and maturity, but in their understanding of the role that the arts can play in reaching out to meet social needs in the community,” Pere says. “That is something they can bring to bear as they become adult members of the communities where they choose to live.”

LUNCH is an all-volunteer program that combines arts, education, and community outreach. The nonprofit follows the example set by singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, using the power of popular music to produce positive social action. Activities raise money and awareness for programs which address basic human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and counseling. LUNCH as a whole has raised almost $1,000,000. The holiday performance typically raises between $4,000 and $5,000.

Proceeds from the performance and sale of LUNCH CDs will benefit local Social Service Agencies in providing holiday food baskets and basic services to families in need. Agencies which benefit from the LUNCH Holiday events include the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center, the New London Community Meal Center, the Groton Food Locker, MASH, WARM, Harvest Home, Covenant House, and many more.

The Holiday Family Concert will be held Saturday, Dec. 6 (snow date Dec. 13) at the Stonington Community Center, corner of Route 1 and High St. at 6 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m. Pre-show music, featuring various performers, starts at 6:15. Those attending are asked to bring a non-perishable food item that can be given to local food pantries.

Pere notes, “With the economy as it is, the need for food assistance and for shelter has been great this year, and several of the local pantries have reported shortages. Not only do the kids in our show have a good time, but they know they are helping to address a very real social need in our region. We appreciate the support we receive from the community and from local businesses who help sponsor the show. There are more than 100,000 hungry children under the age of 12 in Connecticut.”

By Susan Cornell
Special to the Times

Tickets are very limited and it is highly recommended that they be purchased in advance, as there may not be many left on the day of the show. General admission tickets in advance are $10 (adults), $8 (under age 12), or at the door $12 (adults), $10 (under age 12).

If you cannot attend but would like to help with this community outreach, you can sponsor seats at $10 each, and the tickets will be given to families who otherwise might not be able to attend. Tickets may be reserved in advance by phone at 860-572-9285 or by e-mail at info@lunchensemble.com. For more information, visit www.lunchensemble.com.

Stonington Football Doubles Pleasure With Double Wing: Bears primed to see two backs surpass 1,000

2008-11-20T19:55:36Z

The Double Wing offense—the tightly-aligned, quick-hitting, run-oriented attack that Fitch coach Mike Emery employed to scourge the Eastern Connecticut Conference from 1992 to 2002—is making Stonington High football opponents see double this season.

Stonington’s fifth-year coach A.J. Massengale, an Emery disciple, thrived in the Double Wing as a running back in 1996 and brought it to Stonington when he was named head coach in 2004. But his preferred offense hasn’t remotely resembled Fitch’s devastating attack—the Falcons set a state record with more than 600 points in 2000 and won two Class L state titles—until this season.

Through the first nine games, the Bears (6-3 overall) amassed 2,800 rushing yards, including a state-record 613 in a 60-34 win over Bacon Academy Oct. 31. They are on pace to achieve the rarity of two running backs surpassing 1,000 yards in a season. Senior Zach Wheeler grinded 1,100 yards (9 yards a carry) through nine games, while junior Josh Whitford registered just under 900. In the record-setting game against Bacon, Whitford gained 291 yards on 15 carries, Wheeler totaled 190 and Zach Branesky, who started the season on the offensive line before settling in at fullback, added “only” 103.

Considering Stonington barely cracked 1,200 rushing yards as a team in Massengale’s first three seasons, this year’s production is prolific. This year’s numbers eclipse even last year’s ECC Small Division title campaign’s rushing marks. Wheeler led the Bears (7-3 overall) with 800 yards a year ago.

“The Double Wing has kicked it up a notch this year, and it’s doing what it’s designed to do, but we’re putting up numbers we didn’t expect,” Wheeler said. “I don’t know if Stonington has ever had two 1,000-yard rushers on the same team. It’s always been a goal of mine to pass 1,000. To do it in the ninth game, to see Josh on his way to passing it, and to see Zach at around 450 yards despite only becoming a full-time back in midseason, those numbers are huge.”

Wheeler, who had 13 touchdowns after nine games, is no stranger to production. A starter as a freshman, he entered his senior season with nearly 1,800 career yards and 30 touchdowns. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder started as a freshman fullback, but has developed agility and speed—he’s deceptively fast for his size—to shine at a left wingback position. An All-Area linebacker as a junior, Wheeler is mulling college offers.

“I’m still undecided, but I hope to play at the next level and find a college that fits, whether it’s Division I-AA or Division II,” Wheeler said. “At the college level, I’m sure I’ll have to play fullback, tight end, or linebacker. I want to go to a college I feel I can play at.”

While Wheeler was a known talent, Whitford completely burst onto the scene this year as a junior playing full-time for the first time. His brother, Rayshawn, was a SHS senior captain last year and Martin Luther King Scholarship winner. Josh and Rayshawn are not cut from the same cloth. Rayshawn was a muscular 190 pounds, a lineman who sought contact and never aspired to run the ball, and wore short hair. Josh’s hair is much longer and he’s a quick and elusive 155-pound back.

“They have quite different personalities,” Wheeler said. “You can’t say enough about Josh’s season. He’s really quick to the outside. We compliment each other well.”

Stonington’s prolific backs can thank the execution of senior quarterback Jim Ceil, who is completing his third season as a starter. Plus, the offensive line, led by All-Area candidates Steve Bailey and Mike Tranchida, plus the return of Pat Oliver to a first-game injury, has played well as a unit.

Opponents have feared Stonington’s Double Wing so much, they neglect to regard the pass. In the first seven games, Ceil attempted just 37 passes and yet completed seven for touchdowns.

“Teams are essentially giving us the pass to focus on the run,” Massengale said. “The pass has been wide open when we’ve taken it.”

In the last two games, Stonington’s Double Wing rushing has been unstoppable—14 yards a rush, putting a lid on the passing game altogether—three attempts in the last two games.

“You can’t knock the Double Wing,” Wheeler said. “We have one of the best offenses in the ECC, and it’s done me well.”

By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times

Castodio On The Ball for Scholarship Offer: SHS senior pitcher signs at Quinnipiac

2008-11-20T19:54:04Z

Throughout his youth baseball career, Kevin Castodio has always sought the best competition available.

He played on the Eastern Connecticut Crush, a regional 13- to 15-year-old travel team, against other state AAU teams instead of dominating in the Pawcatuck Senior Little League against locals. Last summer, he bypassed playing American Legion ball here to play on a Virginia AAU team full of scholastic all-stars that traveled to play tournaments all over the Southeast.

The ambitious scheduled paid off for the Stonington High senior. Castodio recently signed a Division I letter of intent to accept a scholarship at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

The 6-foot-3 right-handed pitcher earned Class M All-State honors as a junior despite posting a .500 pitching record. Castodio pitched on a higher level than his won-loss mark by virtue of striking out 80 in 50 innings and allowing less than two earned runs per seven innings. He was also the leading hitter, batting .420, for a team that scuffled to score runs. Stonington, nonetheless, nearly beat top-ranked Seymour in the state tournament, losing 4-3, with Castodio on the mound.

“Getting a Division I offer is a big weight off my shoulders,” Castodio said. “It’s Division I baseball, I received a scholarship offer, and Quinnipiac has great academics. The school was ranked No. 7 academically among Northeast universities and is becoming considered like a little Ivy League school.”

Castodio also considered an Ivy League school, Brown University, where long-time AAU teammate and friend Kevin Carlow of Fitch signed a national letter of intent last week. Fellow Crush teammate Anthony Turgeon, an All-Area shortstop at Fitch, signed a letter of intent to Central Connecticut State. Carlow was an Class LL All-State pitcher and outfielder for the Falcons as a junior. Former UConn catching standout Marek Drabinski, a fixture locally as a scholastic basketball official, is Brown’s head coach.

“It was neat,” Castodio said. “Kevin and I played on the Crush together for three years and there we were going on a recruiting trip together. I liked Brown too, but I couldn’t pass up the scholarship that Quinnipiac offered.”

Castodio’s connections led him to Quinnipiac coach Bill Gooley. He trained with East Lyme and UConn standout Dennis Long, who runs Dennis Long Pitching Easy LLC.

“They referred me to the Major League scouting service, which in turn gave coach Gooley a recommendation,” Castodio said. “He’s actually never seen me pitch in a game, but he watched me throw for Dennis.”

Apparently Gooley liked what he saw. Castodio’s experience this summer with his AAU team only improved his stock.

“I’ve been clocked consistently with my fastball at 87 to 88, touching 89,” Castodio said. “My best breaking pitch has been a slider, and I’m developing my changeup and learning how to throw a curve ball.”

Southeastern Connecticut scholastic baseball has been good to Gooley. Waterford grads Mickey Amanti (second base) and Ben Farina (left field) started last year as freshmen. St. Bernard grad Tyler Turgeon also saw ample playing time as a freshman last year. Waterford’s Tyler Brett, who graduated last spring from Quinnipiac, was one of the Bobcats’ best pitchers. Quinnipiac stumbled through a losing record last year, primarily because of a pitching staff that allowed six runs a game. Quinnipiac won the Northeast Conference in 2006, making the Division I NCAA Tournament.

Bill Buscetto says Quinnipiac is getting a gem. Buscetto coached Castodio since age 6 at his Batter Up Baseball Camp in Pawcatuck and for two years at SHS before taking the St. Bernard athletic director and baseball coach job last year.

“Kevin deserves everything he is getting from Quinnipiac,” Buscetto said. “Kevin has always found a way to push himself on the field and in the classroom. He was the best player I was lucky enough to coach at Stonington, and has to be one of the two or three best baseball players ever at SHS. The thing that sets him apart from everybody else is the fact that he is a vicious competitor and absolutely hates to lose. He is not the type of kid who is going to talk trash when he’s on the field; he does his talking with his arm and his bat. He is a special young man with a character rating that is off the charts.”

By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times

Enthusiastic Voters Cast Their Ballots

2008-11-20T19:52:17Z

Sixteen-year-old Anastasia Taylor greeted would-be voters before dawn in a line out the door of the Hoxie firehouse in Stonington. She’s two years shy of filling in the little white ovals on her own ballot, but she felt excited on this Election Day’s historic time for democracy.

“It made me want to vote,” the Stonington High School junior said when she saw people lining up.

She has traveled abroad and garnered views of government beyond her local surroundings, increasing her eagerness to learn more.

“If I wanted to make a change, I have to know as much as I can,” she said. “And there’s definitely room for change.”

Joyce Turner of Stonington became hooked on the election during the primary season when she followed the race several times daily on her favorite political television channel.

“I got addicted because I really was enjoying learning, really learning, about the whole process,” the 48-year-old hair stylist said.

“I did have a few people that surprised me who thought that because I was black I was automatically for Barack Obama,” Turner said. “Why would you assume you know where I stand at that point between a woman and a black man?”

Her pivotal point in choosing between the two presidential nominees came as she watched Obama create a groundswell of support across the lines of gender, race, and age.

“I don’t care if that man was green, you have got to give him his kudos.”

After the election, she called her 89-year-old grandfather, whose wife had died three years earlier.

“The first thing he said was, ‘I’m so sorry Grammy wasn’t here to see it.’”

Turner was among the state’s more than two million registered voters, 300,000 of whom registered this year, including scores of people from New London county registered by the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut.

Statewide, 80.5 percent of registered voters cast their ballots, just above the turnout numbers for the 2000 and 2004 elections. Nationally, between 126.5 million and 128.5 million people reportedly will have voted in the election, up from 123.5 million four years ago but not the predicted record-breaking total. One report cited that fewer Republicans than expected turned out to vote.

Officials attributed the smoothness of Election Day in part to early voting held in 32 states. The option to adopt the concept nationwide is under discussion in Congress and some voters here, like Patricia Stamm of Stonington, thought Connecticut should join the pack.

“I think it would be a great idea,” the 76-year-old writer said. “I don’t know why we don’t. More people came out than ever before.”

She characterized voting this year as “an amazing experience.”

The lines were short and she said she felt lots of energy.

“I had no idea how anyone would vote, but it just felt like a historic day and it turned out it was.”

Stamm, like others on Nov. 4, used the state’s new optical scan voting technology, but she wasn’t necessarily enamored with it.

“I like the old levers,” she said. “There’s something nice about the booth and closing the curtain,” but, she added, “I had always had a fear I’d vote for the wrong person.”

Anna Coit of North Stonington said she also didn’t much care for the new voting system.

“I’m used to an old-fashioned voting booth all my life,” the 100-year-old teacher, historian, and writer said. “Now you’ve got your rear end sticking out in the air.”

“It’s a psychological factor,” she said of liking the old way of voting. And at the century mark, she should know: “People like what they’re used to.”

She said voting felt different in only one way for her.

“It was more cheerful and exuberant than I remember. People were talking with each other and waving. It was a very jolly occasion.”

Larry Caruso of Waterford agreed, saying, even in the early morning darkness, a sort of friendliness prevailed.

“It was kind of surreal to be in a big serpentine line in the dark,” said the 54-year-old music store owner. “But we all knew each other. I knew the people in front of me and I knew both people directly behind me and I was surprised they were voting opposite of me.”

He said they joked about going to breakfast rather than voting because they would cancel each other out, but they all took their turns coloring in the ballot ovals on their voting sheets.

By Rosanne Smyle
Special to the Times

Rosanne Smyle is a member of the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut, a non-partisan political organization that is open to men and women and encourages active participation in government.

Unlock the Secrets of Garre Castle: SHS to present three performances of 'The Green Archer'

2008-11-13T22:53:25Z

Stonington High School’s Performing Arts Society brings Edward Wallace’s mystery-thriller, The Green Archer, to the stage at Stonington High School Nov. 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.

The Green Archer is the suspenseful tale of heroes and villains where Abel Bellamy, a successful Chicago tycoon, purchases England’s Garre Castle. Garre Castle holds mysteries of its own and is said to be haunted by the ghost of the Green Archer, who was hanged from a castle beam in the 15th century.

Tickets to the show are available in advance at Stonington High School, 176 South Broad Street, Pawcatuck, or at the door. Prices are $10 for adults and $8 for students.

For more information, call Stonington High School at 599-5781.

Stonington Soccer Completes Best Year Since 2002: Bears overcome injuries, late slump to shine in coach’s debut

2008-11-13T22:51:24Z

In the season of review analysis, the Stonington High boys’ soccer team can call first-year coach Paul deCastro’s debut a rousing success in what was by far the program’s most successful campaign since posting a 12-6 record in 2002.

After a 1-0 overtime win over Valley Regional-Deep River in the Class M state first round, the Bears fell to Ellington, 3-0, to rest with an 11-6-1 record, including a 7-3 ECC Medium mark. Stonington adapted to deCastro’s fast-paced style of play he thrived in as a former All-State SHS player in the early 1990s, scoring 50 goals while allowing 28.

“I think the season was a huge success,” deCastro said. “I had a ton of fun working with them, and I hope they feel the same way. We worked hard throughout the season and played the game the right way. We tried to play soccer, not kickball, and our guys played hard when needed.”

Senior midfielder Mario Costa (10 goals, 10 assists) and junior midfielder Kevin Pierce (11 goals, 7 assists) were outstanding all-season, earning All-ECC honors. Junior Nick Donahue (9 goals), junior Randy Tomlinson (6 goals, game-winner versus Valley), and senior Brian Sujecki (1 goal, 7 assists) gave Stonington more offensive depth than it has enjoyed since former coach Pat McCarney’s strong teams of 2001 (Class M semifinalist) and 2002. Senior Pat Stonely has a key defender.

“I think the captains of the team (Lewis, Stonely, and Costa) did a great job leading this team and helping me in my first season,” deCastro said. “We received contributions from everyone at some point of the season. We had several injuries, and the next guy in line had to step in. It was nice to have depth on the team.”

DeCastro would have welcomed a healthy Kevin Lewis for the entire season. A back injury kept the 2007 All-ECC player out until mid-October. Though he contributed three goals and an assist, he was never quite up to peak form. Stonington could have used an 100 percent Lewis late, because it lost two late games to Montville and Bacon to fall from contention for the ECC Medium championship.

“Kevin never missed a practice and never complained about being hurt,” deCastro said. “It’s extremely difficult to sit on the sidelines for three months and then get thrown into a match. He wanted to contribute to the team, but we didn’t see Kevin at his best. He was just starting to feel better when the season ended. He’ll be fine. He still has a lot of soccer left in his future. Kevin is looking at several Division I schools, but it appears the University of Hartford is the front runner.”

A deep senior class of 13, plus eight juniors, gave deCastro a wealth of numbers. That can be a blessing, creating healthy competition for playing time, or a curse if an upperclassman spends too much time on the sideline.

DeCastro reports little if any turbulence.

“I never sensed there was a problem with playing time,” deCastro said. “I did my best to communicate with them their role, and we seemed to be a happy bunch for most of the season. The guys that were on the bench for most of the season came to practice each day, worked their tail off, and never complained about the little playing time they received. The chemistry on the team got better on this team as the season went on. We did a lot of stuff together away from the soccer field. I felt everyone just wanted to be one of the guys on the team.”

DeCastro doesn’t expect to be a one-hit wonder despite the heavy graduation losses, including the All-State Costa. He envisions an ECC Medium title perhaps as soon as next season. Pearce, Donahue, Tomlinson, and goalie T.J. White highlight a quality junior class.

“The players know I have high expectations for them on and off the field,” deCastro said. “Those eight juniors are extremely committed. All of them are great kids, but they know they have a lot of work to do in the off season to reach their potential and help this team get to the next level.”

By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times

From the Stonington First Selectman’s Office: Haberek encourages residents to check flood zone status

2008-11-13T22:49:52Z

This is the sixth year that the Town of Stonington has sent out its annual newsletter to help inform residents about the risks associated with living near the coast with regards to major storms and/or potential hurricanes. Each year, the town has been sending this to all properties in Stonington in and around areas subject to flooding. Although some of the information might be repetitive from year to year, it is important that residents understand and are constantly reminded of the risks they face and what they can do to protect their families and their property.

First Selectman Ed Haberek would like to stress to Stonington residents that standard homeowners and commercial property policies do not cover flood losses. Although there have been some major hurricanes in the past, the Town of Stonington has been fortunate that a major flooding event has not occurred recently.

The Town of Stonington is one of only eight communities in Connecticut that have been accepted into FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) program. The CRS program allows communities that go above and beyond what is expected of them with regards to flood assistance to obtain flood insurance premium discounts for property owners which have flood insurance policies. Because of this program, Stonington property owners with flood insurance policies receive an automatic 5 percent discount on their premiums. Since there are presently more than 1,250 flood policies in Stonington insuring more than $284 million in property with premiums totaling $1.53 million, the CRS program is saving the residents of Stonington collectively more than $75,000 annually on their policies.

Stonington has also found over the years that there are some properties in town that are being considered in the flood zone but whose elevation is above the base flood. Therefore, the town encourages residents to call the Engineering Department at 535-5055 and check their flood zone status. There is also important information on Flood Awareness posted in the Town Engineer’s section of the town’s Web site, www.townofstonington.com.

Expedition for Expression: Local artist David Black’s long creative journey

2008-11-07T22:16:53Z

Most people can’t say they’ve ever lost a million dollars on Broadway, or that after doing so they decided to become an artist and wound up with their work in the Guggenheim. But most people are not David Black.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Black’s life story is one worthy of the big screen, and in fact has already made its way to the stage with Black, fittingly, playing the lead. Yet before this Broadway producer turned internationally acclaimed artist hits the stage at the La Grua Center in Stonington to perform his self-produced show, Falling Off Broadway, the Times caught up with Black to learn more about his life and the road less traveled.

Growing up, Black said he always had a love for show business and aspired to make his mark on stage, even performing in his first show, The Greatest Show Off Earth at age 8 in his grandfather’s living room. As a young adult Black had learned to play the violin, sang opera, and acted in various shows, yet by 1958, by his own admission, didn’t have a nickel to his name. To earn a living Black had to put his dreams on hold and wound up working on Wall Street as a salesman, where he learned very quickly how to raise money in a hurry.

Financially successful but unfulfilled, Black began to feel the gravitational pull of show business once again but now found he had learned some useful skills to help him break in.

“A producer raises money, and I was qualified to do just that,” Black explained. “So this was a chance to get somewhere near something I loved, namely theater.”

And thus the beginning of what would end up being a lifelong journey through the arts began. From 1960 to 1972, Black produced 18 Broadway shows, but after 12 years of being what he called “the money man,” Black was still feeling creatively stifled.

“Here I am a Broadway producer—you know, everyone thinks of Broadway producers as some kind of god or something, but in fact they are usually some unhappy people,” Black said. “In any case I’m paying the salaries of all these actors and directors, I’m employing them but the producer is not even included in artistic discussions, so I made a rule and I told myself I wasn’t producing any more shows unless I could direct them as well.”

Finally involved in a creative process he loved, Black continued to produce and direct Broadway and off-Broadway shows for eight years. In 1980 his luck would turn because of a hit show.

“I was now a director as well and really enjoying being so involved with theater and then I had the misfortune to direct a hit,” Black said. “It was great because it was an off-Broadway show called The Guys In The Truck in a tiny theater with a no-name cast. And Mel Gussow from The New York Times showed up and wrote a rave review and it sold out for six months.
The only problem was that every time it sold out it lost money because there were 10 people in the cast and 54 people in the theater. That was the economics of Broadway and it was killing me there. So now I have this rave review in The New York Times as a director but the play was going to close because of the economics of Broadway.”

In an attempt to keep a good thing going, Black decided to move the play to a much larger theater on Broadway but needed to raise $950,000 to do so. Deciding it was nearly impossible to do with an unrecognizable cast, Black flew to Hollywood to speak with a few of the stars with whom he was acquainted, including Jack Lemmon and Gene Hackman. With somewhat warranted trepidation, Lemmon and Hackman both turned down Black’s offer, wanting instead to make the show into a television series. With Broadway on his mind, Black searched for someone to headline his show and came to terms with Elliot Gould. With star power on his side, Black was able to quickly raise the necessary funds and the show was set to hit Broadway, except for one small dilemma.

“We got into rehearsal and within a few days I discovered I couldn’t hear [Gould] beyond the 10th row in the theater,” Black explained. “So here I am with the money and the show is about to open and I had to fire him. But I fired him and I wasn’t worried because the understudy was Harris Laskaway who played the original role when it was off-Broadway. So I’ve got the money, I’ve got the same cast, and Mel Gussow comes back out to see the show and writes a review which I guess was tepid...he said some nice things here and there but in the first paragraph he noted that Elliot Gould, who was supposed to be the headliner, wasn’t in the show. Well, Broadway is like the stock market; everybody panics and runs like crazy when they’re scared of something. So as soon as everyone found out that the star was no longer in the show, no one showed up and we had to close the show, and I lost $950,000 and it really knocked me down.”

Having worked his way up through the ranks of the world of theater since 1960, Black was crushed by the Broadway mishap and, depressed, came to Stonington, which he had discovered in 1979, and took a hiatus from his New York life. Black began to draw as an emotional outlet, and what began as small, simple line sketches, soon became a short book about what had happened and Black’s life at the time. As a joke of sorts, making fun of the traditional cheery Christmas cards, Black sent his book out to his friends during the holidays. What he didn’t know was that his girlfriend, Anne Rivers, who is English, was well acquainted with the girlfriend of esteemed English artists Patrick Caulfield and John Hoyland of London’s Royal Academy of Art. Upon seeing his work, Hoyland encouraged Black to continue to draw, telling him that his drawings were “quirky and arresting” with their “twitchy edginess” and that his line had “a life of its own” and even to start painting.

Within a few years Black had begun showing his sketches and his book, Drawings was published and now resides in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Told by Hoyland not to study art under a professor, because he might get a bad teacher, Black decided to work on his own. In 1985 Black created his first painting, a vibrant oil of the old Stonington Borough Firehouse and was hooked. He began painting a wide variety of social scenes, landscapes, and cityscapes.

First gaining exposure in England and later earning praise in the U.S., Black’s work has been featured in numerous museums and art galleries around the world and in such notable publications as The New Yorker in 1998, where critic Grace Glueck wrote of his “nicely observed New York Vignettes,” and “cartoony, untutored oils, bubbling with color, unabashedly tackling everything from landscape to social mores.”

In 2004 Black was honored at the White House for his participation in the ART in Embassies Program, which sees American artists loan their work to the American embassies in various countries. And in 2008, Black was invited to Tunisia where he is staying for two weeks, from Oct. 26 through Nov. 8, to be honored for his work and to instruct master classes on his style to a handful of promising Tunisian artists. Upon his return home Black will come full circle, back to his first artistic love, theater, as he performs Falling Off Broadway at the La Grua Center in the Stonington Borough on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.

“My whole life in a way has been a search to find my own creativity, I was just sort of assuming it was there,” Black explained. “My mother was an expert on Shakespeare, but she quoted things at the wrong time. When I didn’t do the dishes she’d say, ‘Assume your virtue if you have it not.’...It’s very interesting because Shakespeare was some kind of genius, and to me, ‘Assume your virtue if you have it not,’ is the essence of the creative process. In other words you have to assume that you can do something in order to try to do it. And I also believe that what you want to do you can do.”
Black seems to be proof of that himself.

By Russ Morey
Times Staff Writer

For tickets to Falling Off Broadway visit the La Grua Center at 121 Water St. or call 535-1030. Tickets are $50 each and all proceeds will go to the benefit of the La Grua Center.

Saving the Sound: Junior Oceanographers program gathers new members in Stonington

2008-10-31T21:14:15Z

To know Scott Tucker is to know the definition of passion and enthusiasm. Whether watching him on his self-produced public access television series, Expedition New England or meeting him in person, his exuberance for his work is apparent.

Lately a lot of his work has focused on children, specifically on encouraging children to have the same love for, and desire to protect, Long Island Sound as he does. On Oct. 18 Tucker, along with his daughter Daphne, traveled to the La Grua Community Center in Stonington Borough to give a presentation and recruit third- and fourth-graders to join his Junior Oceanographers program. As if on cue the moderately-sized, yet enthusiastic crowd of 8- and 9-year-olds immediately took to the idea of playing an important role in protecting our coastal waters, something Tucker explained should come as no surprise.

“I just put two and two together and I thought, ‘When I was a kid, no one ever offered me an opportunity like this to get involved and help protect a magical resource called the Long Island Sound,’” Tucker said. “And I just said to myself, ‘If I was a kid what would I want? I’d want a team of a bunch of kids. I’d want to go on a seal cruise or get a chance to go on television.’ And that’s what will happen; the top three kids will get to go on my TV show and talk about their dreams and ideas and their hopes and how to protect Long Island Sound.”

Tucker went on to explain that third- and fourth-graders who are interested in becoming Junior Oceanographers need only write an essay describing what they would do to protect Long Island Sound and e-mail their work to Tucker and his daughter at Daphne@expeditionnewengland.com. The 100 best essays will then be chosen and those children will be selected to become Junior Oceanographers and will receive an oceanography kit, including a water thermometer to check the temperature of the ocean, a compass to learn about wind direction and how it affects waves, test tubes to take water samples, and a work sheet with instructions on other ways to monitor the ocean.

After the presentation and a brief walk onto one of the local breakwaters, Tucker had his third- and fourth-grade crowd convinced of the importance of their mission, including participant Nathaniel Bury.
“It was a lot of fun,” Bury said. “I learned about pollution and how pollution affects the ocean and the animals in the ocean and how pollution gets into the ocean.”

In addition to receiving their oceanographer’s kit, a select few oceanographers also will be selected to accompany Tucker on UConn Avery Point’s Project “O” boat for a seal cruise and appear on his television show. While Tucker feels the program is something fun kids can do to help the environment, a greater purpose is at its core.

“Long Island Sound is currently under tremendous pressure and the only way that I think to really protect and save it is to get the young kids involved today, so that it’s not a big production to convince them later that it’s important,” Tucker explained.

As a child growing up in Connecticut, Tucker said he fell in love with the ocean, and Long Island Sound in particular, early on and had dreams of becoming an oceanographer himself. Though life didn’t take him in that direction, his dreams never died, and his passion for the ocean remained ever present. In 2004 after diving off the coast of Rhode Island and swimming with the fearsome-looking yet peaceful blue sharks, which can reach lengths of 10 feet, Tucker said it finally hit him that he needed to create his own documentary TV show, and Expedition New England was born.

Traveling to various locations in New England, with an emphasis on Long Island Sound, Tucker has made numerous documentaries, which he produces, directs, and edits on his home PC.

“For the last four or five years I’ve been making documentaries about New England, and Long Island Sound has been a big chunk of the focus,” Tucker explained. “Because it is under siege and as our population has increased, there is more and more pressure to develop land on it and more and more habitat is lost…I’m just starting to get a sense that there is a great need for people to do public outreach television-type stuff because right now there is nothing on TV that even touches local environment issues.”

Currently airing on public access, Expedition New England is getting an increasing amount of attention, thanks in part to grants Tucker has received from organizations like the Long Island Sound License Plate Fund and The Rockfall Foundation. Now airing in nearly all of Connecticut, areas in Massachusetts, including Boston, most of Maine, much of New Hampshire, and even Australia, Tucker estimates that the program reaches nearly 3,000,000 people each week and said that it may move to cable television in the near future. Tucker promised, however, that even if his show does make it big, he’ll always maintain a focus on Long Island Sound and keep young people involved. One of the ways he plans on keeping his Stonington Junior Oceanographers involved was to finish his presentation with a dive just off Stonington Point and film nearly 70 minutes of footage, some of which will be featured on an upcoming episode of Expedition New England.

“It was absolutely fabulous,” Tucker said of the dive. “Twenty- to 25-foot visibility, it was just remarkable. Stonington Harbor has so much life; we saw spider crabs, we saw lobster, and some juvenile silversides, and we saw a tremendous amount of mollusk life like clams and mussels. It was absolutely a treasure, what a treat! It was a beautiful way to finish that day.”