by | Jun 16, 2017 2:17 pm | Comments (0)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Neal-Dixon with Brown, who inspired her to become a librarian.
When Tyshawna Neal-Dixon was in her early teens, showing up to Dixwell’s Stetson Branch Library with her brother to use the computers and pick up books, she didn’t know that the foundation for her future was being laid every time she stepped in the doors.
by | Jun 15, 2017 8:14 am | Comments (11)
DANIELA BRIGHENTI PHOTO
High-schoolers help prepare the Escape before work stopped.
A new report estimates that it could cost about $185,000 to finish work on the overdue teen Escape Center and that the city might have some grounds to renegotiate its lease and find new uses for space that will soon be vacated by a senior center.
by | Jun 14, 2017 8:16 am | Comments (8)
Christopher Peak Photos
Tamara Miller (inset) seeks OK to expand daycare at 27 Tilton.
A single mother said she knows what other moms need from a childcare center; her neighbors said she doesn’t know what belongs on their residential street.
Continue reading ‘On Tilton, It’s Parking vs. Late-Shift Moms’
by | Jun 13, 2017 7:31 am | Comments (22)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Marcus Paca speaks to family and friends of Norman Boone at a repast after Boone’s funeral.
Mayoral candidate Marcus Paca said he believes that if Norman Boone had had access to the type of economic opportunities that keep people out of the street life that he might not have been a victim of gun violence.
Continue reading ‘Paca: Focus Needed On Roots Of Street Violence’
by | Jun 5, 2017 3:59 pm | Comments (2)
Allan Appel Photo
2013 academy class members serve as pall bearers.
Officer Douglas.
New Haven police brass and white-gloved young officers gave one final salute to one of their own: Officer Edward C. Douglas, Jr., celebrated as an exemplary officer and an equally exemplary human being whose quietly charismatic presence made everyone feel better about themselves.
by | Jun 5, 2017 1:43 pm | Comments (2)
Hailey Fuchs Photo
Tour attendees first arrive at Prince Hall Masonic Temple, formerly the city’s first African-American school.
When students walked through the doors at the old Winchester Community School, they were welcomed by teachers who knew them — their strengths, their challenges, and their aspirations — Barbara Tinney recalled, telling her old neighborhood’s story the way her neighbors would remember it.
by | Jun 5, 2017 7:49 am | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
The Jamaican American Connection shares information about Jam Rock.
Rain and wind didn’t stop the annual celebration of Caribbean heritage in New Haven.
by | Jun 2, 2017 2:15 pm | Comments (7)
Christopher Peak Photo
Worthy Thursday pitches the new Hillhouse to parents.
With an eye toward luring students favoring charters and magnet schools, Hillhouse High — renowned as a powerhouse on the football field, track circuit and basketball court — is trying to gain a new reputation by living up to its mascot’s name as home of the “Academics.”
by | May 25, 2017 8:02 am | Comments (4)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Stallings behind the grill on Dixwell.
Sultan Stallings had been in New Haven only a few weeks when he heard about the historical Freddy Fixer Parade and the fictional character who has inspired the black community to clean up since 1962. Stallings, who’s in the process of opening a series of Dixwell Avenue businesses, had an epiphany: “I’m Freddy Fixer reincarnated.”
by | May 21, 2017 4:41 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photos
Crowd cheers on marchers at Dixwell Plaza.
Kings Shout Band blared a N’awlins 2nd-line coda to this year’s parade.
A famous friend named Freddy strutted, danced, and generally wowed crowds lined along Dixwell Avenue under brilliant sunshine Sunday, keeping alive a tradition that binds generations of New Haven African-Americans.
by | May 11, 2017 8:04 am | Comments (3)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Chapman: We can do this, and more.
Stetson Branch librarians and board members are seeking to raise $2 million by the end of next year for their planned new home across the street at the new Q House.
Continue reading ‘Stetson Library Seeks $2M For New “Q” Home’
by | May 9, 2017 12:06 pm | Comments (4)
Lucy Gellman Photos
Fiona Bradford in the New Haven Reads basement.
A sewage leak has destroyed over 300 books at a New Haven literacy nonprofit, putting in jeopardy its ritual end-of-year book giveaway.
by | May 8, 2017 7:56 am | Comments (1)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
Smith-Holness christens new salon at the former G Cafe.
Never known to do things the traditional way, Karaine “Kay” Smith-Holness cut a ceremonial ribbon that was, in fact, a brightly colored track of red weaving hair.
by | May 8, 2017 7:29 am | Comments (2)
Markeshia Ricks File Photo
Diane Brown.
Stetson Branch Manager Diane Brown received the Connecticut Library Association 2017 Special Achievement Award as part of the 126th CLA Annual Conference.
by | Apr 6, 2017 3:14 pm | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
The author with fans Jazmine Lucas and Toni Odom Kelly.
“Who can share a word someone said about you?”
It didn’t take long for “ugly” and “stupid” to emerge as answers to that question from the circle of 25 jumpy pre-teen girls.
Then author Sakina Ibrahim led the girls in a dance movement to propel those words out, way out the window.
And let their opposites in.
Continue reading ‘“Ugly” Turns To “Beautiful,” “Stupid” To “Smart”’
by | Mar 30, 2017 8:10 am | Comments (11)
Daniela Brighenti photo
High-schoolers help prepare the Escape before work stopped.
Bartlett: Summer.
A year after expecting to open a new center for disengaged and homeless youth, city officials offered explanations for a series of mishaps and delays — and asked for another $200,000 to complete the job.
by | Mar 23, 2017 1:39 pm | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Petaway (inside St. Luke’s) with Zahler and the new guide.
When Diane Petaway visited her grandmother in the 1950s in the Dixwell neighborhood, she never knew about Curry’s Confectionery, a sweet shop whose chocolates were so delicious local white merchants sold them as their own. They carried the subterfuge as far as to require James and Ethel Curry to deliver their candies at night so customers would not know the original candy makers were African-American.
Continue reading ‘Dixwell’s History Comes Alive On New Tour’
by | Mar 21, 2017 12:50 pm | Comments (2)
The hardest working man in radio is slated to serve as the grand marshal for the 2017 Freddy Fixer parade.
by | Mar 21, 2017 7:53 am | Comments (1)
Shakespearian actress Valerie Johnson was on a gurney, blood trickling from a gash on her face onto her corset. After sustaining a backstage injury, she’d waited three hours for a medical professional.
When Dr. Jackson Moore showed up, Johnson assumed he was a nurse — because he was black. Moore, in return, assumed she’d been Johnson had been beaten — because she was black, too.
by | Mar 16, 2017 7:40 am | Comments (6)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Nicole Diez cheers on Dorsey as he frees up her car on Eagle.
Dorsey surveys the streets.
When Lynwood Dorsey turned onto Frances Hunter Drive Wednesday, he didn’t have to lower his plow and shift gears to keep his truck from slipping — unlike the last time a storm hit New Haven.
by | Mar 8, 2017 8:24 am | Comments (3)
Rodney Dabney Photo
2017 Officers: Petisia M. Adger (from). Pictured from l to r: Nina Silva, Leonard Jahad, Shirley A. Lawrence, & Dexter A. Jones. Not pictured: Howard Boyd, Tashesha Ricketts.
The Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee Inc. has received the go ahead from the city to host the popular event again this year.
The committee sent in the following update:
Continue reading ‘Freddy Fixer Secures Special Event Permit’
by | Feb 10, 2017 9:16 am | Comments (5)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Dorsey on the road Thursday during season’s first big storm.
Honking his horn once, Lynwood Dorsey came to a stop on Frances Hunter Drive and rolled down his truck window. On the other side, a woman with a snow shovel, long skirt, boots and hat took a break and put a hand on her hip.
“Please don’t shovel snow into the street,” Dorsey implored, the slightest edge to his voice. He’s been up since 4 a.m. and on the roads since 5. He needed to clear the street.
by | Jan 17, 2017 9:01 am | Comments (0)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
A “Crafts with King” workshop led by the Kappa Delta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpa fraternity.
Every year Wexler-Grant School is transformed into a one-stop center for learning and celebrating the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Continue reading ‘MLK “Day On” Brings One-Stop Learning To Life’
by | Jan 6, 2017 12:13 pm | Comments (2)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Thursday’s demolition.
Bill MacMullen hadn’t been involved the demolition of a large New Haven institution since the implosion of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum back in 2007.
“I gotta tell you,” he said, “for a long time nobody thought this would happen.”
by | Dec 14, 2016 1:12 pm | Comments (13)
DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO
Scott Schuldt with Skinner.
A controversial work of art by New Haven artist Gordon Skinner — a basketball hoop with a backstop that depicted a pig’s head with a police officer hat — was reinstalled on the grounds of the Goffe Street Armory on County Street, the site from which it had been removed earlier in the fall after complaints that it was offensive prompted its removal and placement in the Artspace Gallery on Orange Street.