by | Feb 1, 2024 12:22 pm | Comments (0)
Rahmir Todd photo
Harmoni Thomas.
With six minutes and 43 seconds left in the third quarter, freshman forward Harmoni Thomas drove to the basket and made a layup off the backboard to kickstart a big run for her Lady Governors.
Continue reading ‘"Go Harm!": Frosh Leader Emerges On The Court’
by | Jan 30, 2024 12:03 pm | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden Photos
Junior Klever Chilel practices omelet making.
Friday's fresh blackberry scones and brown sugar banana muffins.
Genesis Correa flipped a farmer’s omelet onto the grill, Damani Wheeler cut thick slices of ciabatta toast, Klever Chilel delivered the fresh off the grill breakfasts, and Tracey Salazar poured customers of the Wilbur Cross Bakeshop a cold cup of fresh grapefruit juice.
by | Jan 17, 2024 9:00 am | Comments (0)
The Sacred Harp participants for the evening.
Do you like to sing? I do, but I haven’t done much formally or had any instruction in it. For 2024 one of my goals was to truly find my own voice without shame or judgment. Lucky for me, Volume Two at Never Ending Books has a gathering of the New Haven Sacred Harp every third Monday of the month, where new and inexperienced singers are always welcome.
by and | Jan 16, 2024 2:27 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Cross's Sirraya Pratt gets off a shot against Shelton.
Malaysia Lavonna Haynes signaled Cross’s next play on the court with a raised fist in the air and set up her teammate Sirraya Pratt for an open shot.
by | Jan 12, 2024 1:26 pm | Comments (10)
Maya McFadden Photo
Huggins helps a Cross student scan in for a summer job.
Ronald Huggins made his way through the Wilbur Cross High School hallways greeting students with handshakes and a “What’s up bro?”
And a pitch to enter the summer jobs pipeline.
by | Jan 9, 2024 2:10 pm | Comments (33)
Laura Glesby Photo
Darko Jelaca has a vision for this intersection.
Yet another driver barreled down Whitney Avenue, crossing the New Haven-Hamden town line far faster than the 25 miles-per-hour limit.
“TWENTY FIVE!” Darko Jelaca shouted at the car, having just made it to the corner of Whitney and Cliff after darting across the avenue.
Continue reading ‘Calls Renewed For Crosswalk To Edgerton Park’
by | Jan 8, 2024 3:08 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Fulton pushes for a layup.
With eight minutes and 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Wilbur Cross sophomore Jackie Fulton leaped into action after a teammate missed a shot. She caught the rebound and reached up to bounce the ball off the backboard and into the hoop.
by | Jan 2, 2024 1:57 pm | Comments (1)
Mari Infante, quarterback extraordinaire.
The first day of the new year dawned on our city with a promising omen: The sun popped out just as we began our walk, with the dog in tow, toward East Rock Park.
by | Jan 1, 2024 5:43 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Downer swears in Monday at city inauguration.
Troy Wyile walked onto the Wilbur Cross High School auditorium stage Monday to present a bouquet to his former tutor — as she embarks on a new route to help young people up their learning game in New Haven.
by | Dec 21, 2023 11:38 am | Comments (80)
Thomas Breen photo
A 4-foot bike lane between Edwards and Humphrey.
City transit planners Wednesday night received a fresh earful of impassioned pleas and conflicting advice from East Rockers as drivers and cyclists squared off about … Orange Street bike lanes.
by | Nov 28, 2023 12:21 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photo
490 Prospect St.: Now owned by Mandy, leased by Albertus.
Tapping “the current advantageous real estate market,” Albertus Magnus College has sold 20 units of student housing and related office and meeting space for $7.4 million to an affiliate of Mandy Management — and has entered into a long-term lease with the local megalandlord to preserve the property for school use.
Continue reading ‘Mandy Buys Albertus Student Housing For $7.4M’
by | Nov 27, 2023 8:19 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio photo
Michael Slyne at Volume 2.
On the day after Thanksgiving, many scattered through stores to find the best prices on holiday presents. Others settled into couches to catch college football. A select few found themselves making their way to FiFac’s House, a monthly music series held on the last Friday of each month over the past year at Never Ending Books. Not unlike the multitude of series held at the State Street gathering space — both before and after its reimagination under the Volume Two collective — the night offered an array of performers that established a symbiotic relationship between creator and listener via dissonance, dreaminess, and experimentation.
Continue reading ‘FiFac's House Makes A Home At Never Ending Books’
by | Nov 22, 2023 8:29 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden file photo
Student composters at work in Cross's cafeteria back in June.
This Thanksgiving season, Wilbur Cross sophomore Manxi Han is thankful to have a home that is not routinely submerged in several feet of water as sea levels rise, for access to food despite climate change-related disasters destroying farm lands, for healthy and clean air year-round, for minimal heat waves as the earth’s temperature rises, and for biodiversity as rates of extinction increase.
Continue reading ‘Student Climate Activists Speak Up About What To Fear, What To Be Thankful For’
by | Nov 17, 2023 9:22 am | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Margaret Stevens in her "life skills" classroom.
When Wilbur Cross English teacher Margaret Stevens told her class of multilingual students that the word of the day was “invent,” her students put their fingers to their bottom lips to feel the vibrations as they pronounced the word aloud with a “va” sound rather than a “ba” sound more familiar to Spanish speakers.
That exercise took place as part of a new effort at the East Rock public high school to teach “life skills” to students with special needs who are also still learning English, along with peer mentors, all in one class.
Continue reading ‘Special Needs Meet "Life Skills" In Cross Class’
by | Nov 9, 2023 9:25 am | Comments (3)
Karen Ponzio photo
Map sketching and nature journaling in East Rock.
East Rock Park on a sunny November Saturday was an idyllic setting for the most recent New Haven Nature Journal Club meet-up. The biweekly event focuses on gathering in natural settings to witness, observe, and document the surroundings through drawings and writings, with a bit of guidance and a bunch of support.
The group, led by Madelyn Neufeld, meets on Saturday mornings twice a month: once in East Rock Park and two weeks later at another location that changes each time. Neufeld started this club back in August after researching the Wild Wonder Foundation — which provides free nature journal resources — and finding no groups in Connecticut.
Continue reading ‘Nature Journal Club Draws From "Urban Oasis"’
by | Nov 8, 2023 12:11 pm | Comments (1)
Maya McFadden Photo
Nataly Magana with a doll she uses to help explain to child hospital patients what they're going through.
Nataly Magana told a classroom full of New Haven Academy students that she once considered becoming a teacher herself.
But instead she took a different career path — one that also involves counseling young people in need and helping them stay calm and flourish amidst challenging circumstances — as a certified child life specialist at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Continue reading ‘"Jobs You've Never Heard Of" Come To Class’
by | Nov 6, 2023 9:57 am | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen / Lisa Reisman / Paul Bass / Laura Glesby photos
Write-in alder candidates (clockwise from top left) Josh Glaab of Ward 10, Fred Christmas of Ward 21, Ira Johnson of Ward 11, Dennis Serfilippi of Ward 25, and Susan Campion of Ward 18.
A high school science teacher in East Rock, a community organizer in Dixwell, a budget watchdog in Westville, and a Tweed critic in Morris Cove are some of the five alder hopefuls this year seeking to convince voters to put pen to ballot to support their write-in candidacies for local legislative office.
by | Oct 25, 2023 4:40 pm | Comments (4)
Maya McFadden Photo
Wilbur Cross' Hispanic heritage panel Wednesday.
What do a retired educator, the city school district’s superintendent, an information technology director, a nonprofit program manager, a former New York City Councilman, and a social justice activist all have in common?
For one, they all love their Hispanic heritage.
They also all visited Wilbur Cross High School Wednesday morning.
Continue reading ‘Hispanic Heritage Celebrated At Wilbur Cross Panel’
by | Oct 25, 2023 4:08 pm | Comments (55)
Thomas Breen photo
At the scene of Wednesday morning's crash at Cold Spring-Livingston.
A 29-year-old Yale student was struck and injured by a car that reportedly ran a stop sign at an East Rock intersection — raising neighbor concerns about a park-adjacent problem spot replete with reckless motorists.
Continue reading ‘Pedestrian Struck At East Rock Intersection’
by | Oct 23, 2023 8:21 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Jo Kremer.
The top floor of the Marlinworks Eagle building in East Rock was the setting for the opening of the studios of a small but dazzling array of artists on Saturday afternoon, with a display of works as eye-grabbing as the foliage of East Rock Park right outside their windows. The five artists — Linda Lindroth, Nancy Karpel, Craig Newick, David Margolis and Jo Kremer — were participating in the artist-organized City-Wide Open Studios weekend this past Saturday and Sunday, which also included events in Erector Square and City Gallery.
Continue reading ‘Marlinworks Open Studios Falls Into Place’
by | Oct 13, 2023 9:16 am | Comments (3)
Allan Appel photo
Maria Espinal with malanga in the right hand, mangu in the left
Humberto and Maria Espinal tried out serving home fries at their home-style, Dominican cuisine-inspired new restaurant on Orange Street in East Rock.
But they quickly learned that customers wanted “the real stuff”: malanga, which is pureed root vegetable different if similar to taro root and having a kind of deep nutty taste; and mangu, a puree of green plantains.
“We gave it a two-week chance,” Maria said about the staple American-style home fries. But malanga and mangu, to customers’ delight, have won out.
by | Oct 6, 2023 4:13 pm | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
Rabbi James Ponet in his sukkah on the last night of the holiday.
In these fragile times, it is possible to find celebration and even the joy of a little truth lurking in the midst of the most temporary and vulnerable circumstances.
So I was reminded Thursday night when I hung out in Rabbi James Ponet’s sukkah.
Continue reading ‘Transience Meets Transcendence On Everit Street’
by | Sep 27, 2023 6:27 pm | Comments (10)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Randi Weingarten (right) helps a student laminate and cut a school sign in the Wilbur Cross print shop.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten returned to New Haven — a decade after helping turn the city into a national model for school reform — and lauded Wilbur Cross High School as a potential leader in hands-on schooling amid a new era of learning loss.
Continue reading ‘AFT Prez Gets Hands-On Education At Cross’
by | Sep 21, 2023 4:08 pm | Comments (132)
Thomas Breen photo
At Wednesday's parks commission meeting: this crew doesn't have power over summit road.
The Elicker administration — and not the parks commission — will have the final say over whether or not the road to the top of East Rock Park remains largely closed to cars, and open to pedestrians and cyclists only.
The mayor said he has received widespread community support for keeping the road largely closed to cars, so he plans not to make a change.
Continue reading ‘Mayor: I'm Keeping Park Road Mostly Car-Closed’
by | Sep 11, 2023 8:43 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
Lara Herscovitch and The Highway Philosophers.
Lara Herscovitch sang through her sound check, making up lyrics apropos for the day and place: “We are not in a monsoon. It’s a beautiful day.”
Not a drop of rain was to be found on Saturday at the CT Folk Fest and Green Expo, though the heat and humidity was of the late summer variety. A full day and night of music and spoken word on two stages, as well as hourly activities for children and adults, food, drink, and a multitude of vendors awaited visitors behind the stone walls of Edgerton Park. This reporter took in a third of the acts that performed from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.