by | Nov 28, 2023 11:36 am | Comments (3)
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Lunches at "It's Thai Time" on Orange St.
It’s Thai Time Restaurant
181 Orange St.
New Haven
Mexican restaurant owner Brenda Jain took a chance on her lifelong love for Thai food and decided “It’s Thai Time.” We decided it was time to check it out for ourselves.
by | Nov 27, 2023 8:20 am | Comments (15)
Allan Appel Photo
Time to call in the alders: City's Kathleen Krolak, sustainability intern Lewis Johnson III at the Ives CMT meeting.
Eating, drinking, shopping, and soon enough being ho-ho and merry are all roaring back post-Covid, which is good news for Downtown and Wooster Square and the city’s economy.
However, that also means parking woes and complaints from both merchants and residents are on the rise. And don’t forget about the dreaded 8,000-person bar crawl.
Continue reading ‘Happy Holidays! = Bar Crawls, Valet Crunch’
by | Nov 22, 2023 1:42 pm | Comments (1)
DeJadonyea Council gets thankgiving turkey from Gateway’s new food pantry.
Twenty-five year old nursing student DeJadonyea Council cut the ribbon for a new food pantry at Gateway Community College then picked up a free frozen turkey and fixings to go with it for Thanksgiving.
Continue reading ‘New Food Pantry Keeps Gateway Students Nourished’
by | Nov 22, 2023 12:22 pm | Comments (20)
Thomas Breen photo
Julie Parr, outside her 116 Crown home: "I felt very disenfranchised."
Julie Parr and 27 of her Crown Street neighbors didn’t get to vote in their ward’s alder race in this month’s election, because a government mess-up sent them to the wrong polling district.
Continue reading ‘Election Error Put 28 Voters In Wrong Ward’
by | Nov 22, 2023 11:00 am | Comments (15)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Reel life in New Haven: The 2018 Black Panther opening became a festive community event for organizers like Paul Bryant Hudson, Jennifer Quaye Hudson, and Mercy A. Quaye (pictured).
Midnight showings of classics and new movies. Packed lobbies for James Bond films. A small screening room for arthouse flicks. The smell of popcorn. The collective laughter, sobbing, and gasping as an audience took a ride through a movie together.
When Bow Tie’s Criterion Cinemas closed its doors in October, New Haveners lost the ability to have those experiences — and now face the question about the future cultural place of movies in the Elm City.
by | Nov 17, 2023 9:17 am | Comments (0)
Hyunsuk Erickson
Thingumabob Tribe #3
Hyunsuk Erickson’s Thingumabob Tribe #3 spreads out across one of the first-floor galleries of the Ely Center of Contemporary Art. Their sinuous shapes and bright colors might carry, for some viewers, suggestions of meaning. They could be seen as chess pieces, or as rock formations on an alien planet. Or perhaps they’re microscopic shapes brought to the human scale. On the other hand, are they really asking to be understood, to be perceived in that way? They can be taken as is, simply as shapes, forms, colors. Or anything in between, an apprehension of form, the content arising in the viewer.
Continue reading ‘Artists Show "Everything And Nothing" At Ely Center’
by | Nov 10, 2023 9:48 am | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
Cool Amps' Lonnie Garris III and Nick Anderson, with their company's "laminar flow extraction module" prototype.
Retired Air Force colonel and eco-entrepreneur Lonnie Garris III returned to his home city Thursday evening to help show that the path to a climate-friendlier future — and a less carbon-intensive means of recycling lithium-ion batteries — goes through Chapel Street.
Continue reading ‘Tech Hub's Grand Opening Celebrates Less Carbon, More Innovation’
by | Nov 10, 2023 9:00 am | Comments (2)
Contributed photo
From the Shubert production of Come From Away.
A bus driver has brought a busload full of stranded airline passengers to a camp in Newfoundland, in the middle of the night. The passengers don’t really know why they’re there, and many of them are scared. When they arrive at the camp, the first passengers in line don’t want to get off the bus, and they don’t speak English. The bus driver doesn’t know how to get through to them. Then he notices that one of them is holding a Bible, and he knows his Bible. He flips the pages to Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for nothing,” the verse begins. He points to the page. The passengers read it, and understand.
“And that’s how we started speaking the same language,” the actors address the audience.
by | Nov 9, 2023 9:31 am | Comments (41)
Thomas Breen file photo
Church near Elm: Two-way street approacheth?
The city’s transit department is moving ahead with plans to convert a handful of downtown streets from one-way to two-way — and is seeking public input before deciding how many parking spots should remain on George Street, where protected bike lanes should go on York, and whether or not to place a Bus Rapid Transit lane in the middle of Church Street.
Continue reading ‘Wanted: Public Input On 2-Way Street Conversion Proposals’
by | Nov 8, 2023 11:14 am | Comments (0)
Cal Bocicault
It's Gotta Be the Shoes.
The two men in Cal Bocicault’s painting are, first and foremost, stylish, and they know it. Peering askance at the viewer, colors coordinated with themselves and each other, together they open the shoeboxes on their laps. The shoeboxes themselves become classic MacGuffins. We have no idea what’s in the boxes. For all we know, the boxes are empty. But maybe they’re not. Maybe they contain the most stylish sneakers we’ve ever seen, footwear that elevates all the clothes around it. The important thing is that the two men can see what we can’t. They know what’s in the boxes. They’re just not telling us.
Continue reading ‘Artists Lead The Narrative In "Voir Dire" Exhibition’
by , and | Nov 7, 2023 2:08 pm | Comments (11)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Cody Uman, in Ward 21: Voting yes on 4-year terms.
Thomas Breen photo
Outside the Conte West Hills polling place on Chapel St.
(Updated and corrected) Cody Uman, an undergraduate math major at Yale, was running late to class Tuesday after setting aside an extra hour to research the proposed changes to the city’s charter and bike over to King-Robinson School to cast his vote in Ward 21, which covers parts of Newhallville, Dixwell and Prospect Hill.
He said he was voting “yes” on the ballot measure in favor of four-year terms for all elected officials and increased salaries for the city’s alders to make sure they’re better “compensated for their time.”
by | Nov 3, 2023 10:41 am | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen file photos
Republican challenger Dave Agosta and Democratic incumbent Eli Sabin, both running for Ward 7 alder.
The quest for denser and more affordable housing, safer streets, smoother sidewalks, and a more accessible city for people with disabilities is driving this year’s contested alder race in East Rock/Downtown’s Ward 7 — along with online messages from the aldermanic challenger that made unsupported accusations of attempted murder and “intimidation,” some of which he called “satirical,” some sincere.
Continue reading ‘"Downtown For All" Visions Compete In Alder Race’
by | Nov 3, 2023 8:52 am | Comments (0)
Joan Fitzsimmons
The Woods.
Joan Fitzsimmons’s images both beckon viewers and warn them about what’s in store in the Institute Library’s upstairs gallery. The hands, in part because of their visual treatment, feel iconic, perhaps from an old horror movie. But what are they doing? Are they trapped? Are they casting a spell? Are these the hands of a prisoner, or is the owner of those hands doing the manipulating?
Continue reading ‘Art Exhibition Unveils The Horror Beneath The Horror’
by | Nov 2, 2023 1:28 pm | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen photos
Shelly Altman (center) helping read the names of the dead ...
... at Thursday's sidewalk gathering.
Ben Ori, 31.
Aisha Khalil Hamdan, 72.
Wahba Abdullah Hussein, 65.
Ibrahim Hamid Hussein, 62.
Muhammad Suleiman Turki, 61.
Nadia Yassin Hussein, 60.
Salwa Muhammad Khalil, 60.
Continue reading ‘Israel-Hamas War's Dead Remembered On Elm St.’
by | Nov 1, 2023 3:31 pm | Comments (3)
Ben Silvert and Andrea Weinstein with a photo of Andrea's sister and brother-in-law, Judih and Gad.
Andrea Weinstein’s sister Judih is a person of peace. She’s vegan and loves teaching English and making puppets for the children on the southern Israel kibbutz where she has lived with her husband Gad Haggai, a musician and chef. She cherishes the collectivist living the kibbutz afforded her family, writes haikus to calm herself and others, and is critical of the right-wing Netanyahu government.
That life collapsed on Oct. 7, when Judih and Gad were two of hundreds of Israelis either kidnapped or gone missing in a cross-border terrorist attack waged by Hamas.
Andrea showed up in downtown New Haven Wednesday calling attention to her sister’s and brother-in-law’s plight as she desperately seeks information.
Continue reading ‘Hostage Crisis Touches New Haven At Broadway Memorial’
by | Oct 31, 2023 2:05 pm | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
One of the photos of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo by Eduardo Longoni.
The Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale — a.k.a. LIFFY — commenced Monday night with a screening of the documentary film Una Mirada Honesta/An Honest Look, the story of Argentinian photographer Eduardo Longoni and his iconic images that changed history. It was a fitting way to begin the festival’s 14th year, as it has become known for its provocative and passionate presentation of films that open viewers’ eyes and hearts with stories often left untold elsewhere.
by | Oct 31, 2023 8:09 am | Comments (1)
Time for Three.
In introducing Thursday Night’s New Haven Symphony Orchestra program in Woolsey Hall, Music Director Alisdair Neale cut to the chase. “Both these works feature a lot of art — without artifice,” he said, referencing their emotional immediacy. The program, featuring Grammy-winning trio Time for Three as something along the lines of a group of concerto-grosso soloists, featured two works by American composers, both of which presented a more romantic vision of orchestral music.
by | Oct 30, 2023 4:52 pm | Comments (15)
Laura Glesby photo
Mayoral opponents / allies Wendy Hamilton and Tom Goldenberg, with a poster designed by Bill Saunders.
At a joint press conference on Monday, mayoral challengers Tom Goldenberg and Wendy Hamilton agreed on what they wouldn’t do if elected mayor — namely, they wouldn’t “sell” a block of High Street to Yale University.
Continue reading ‘The Challengers Unite Over Yale-Deal Critique’
by | Oct 26, 2023 2:59 pm | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Patrick Scalisi and Valerie Ruby-Omen.
New Haven and Connecticut overall have a vibrant history, from the indigenous cultures that flourished here, to the religious zealots that founded the New Haven Colony, to the creation of the modern city as we know it in the 20th century. Weaving in and out of that is a folklore that includes sea serpents in the Long Island Sound, monsters in the woods in Winsted, Hamden, and elsewhere, and dragons in Fair Haven. All these and more are chronicled in Connecticut Cryptids: A Field Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Creatures of the Nutmeg State, written by Patrick Scalisi and illustrated by Valerie Ruby-Omen. The duo celebrated the book’s release with a party at Strange Ways this weekend, in which partygoers were invited to dress as their favorite fanciful creatures.
Continue reading ‘New Book Explores Secret Life Of Monsters’
by | Oct 25, 2023 12:01 pm | Comments (1)
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
Recycling do's and don'ts, clarified at library talk.
You can recycle the thick cardboard container that soup stock comes in when you buy it at the store, but you can’t recycle ice cream containers. You can recycle plastics in the shape of containers, but not a toy made out of the same kind of plastic. You can recycle pizza boxes — but not paper plates.
Continue reading ‘Recycling Talk Sorts Through The Confusion’
by | Oct 24, 2023 9:00 am | Comments (59)
Thomas Breen photo
Pastors Cesar Padilla, Teresa Rivera, and Miguel Castro: Each overcame addiction "when the Lord Jesus came in our lives."
Three pastors and a mayoral challenger took to the steps of City Hall to criticize the Elicker administration for even considering establishing a safe-use injection site downtown — with the clergy arguing that spirituality is the best balm for addiction, and the Republican candidate claiming that city government is further along in such a plan than it has made itself out to be.
by | Oct 24, 2023 8:53 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photo
Advertisement outside University Theater.
“A small town in a small country in the middle of nowhere,” where abortionists are tolerated but forced to wear clothes that reveal the scarlet A seared to their flesh, where there are more people in prison than aren’t, where sex workers can sell exclusive rights to their persons to the highest or most powerful bidder, where hunters run down anyone accused of anything and submit them to vicious forms of torture, for money and amusement. Is this fiction or simply a slight exaggeration of current tendencies?
Continue reading ‘Drama School Tackles Modern Take On The "A"’
by | Oct 20, 2023 8:55 am | Comments (0)
Sarah Goodridge
Rose Prentice (1771-1852).
Prentice looks like a no-nonsense woman. The depiction of her is simple, but it appears to capture some of her essential nature. Prentice looks smart, curious, and strong. But she also looks a little tired, like she’s been carrying a lot of weight. That she can bear it doesn’t make it any less heavy.
Continue reading ‘YUAG Art Show Turns The Numbers Back Into People’
by | Oct 19, 2023 11:57 am | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen file photo
45 Church St.: Get ready to club.
Those looking to boogie in a vacant former bank may soon be in luck — now that a new nightclub called “The Vault” has received its final needed city approval to open in the marble-columned confines of the ex-Connecticut Savings Bank on Church Street.
by | Oct 19, 2023 9:34 am | Comments (0)
Among the digital video detritus of Kit Young’s installation at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art is a cracked screen with a sign rarely seen in a gallery: “Please touch.” With the first hesitant brush of a finger, there’s almost no effect. But press a little harder, and the cracks bloom with almost bioluminescent patterns. Whether this effect is something Young designed or discovered is beside the point. In pressing into the screen, the viewer has helped make the art happen —even if, just as quickly, it starts to fade.