In Sight

Kathleen O’Rourke/The Advocate

ABOVE: A group of boys from area schools spend an afternoon bowling at AMF Rip Van Winkle Lanes during Yeshiva Bais Binyomin’s winter break mini-camp.  The yeshiva, where boys and men ages 13 to 20 come from ultra-Orthodox communities in the tri-state area to live and study Talmud, has begun hosting community events to strengthen the bond between their institute and the Stamford Jewish community.

Advocate educational reporter Wynne Parry and I are working on an upcoming story about Yeshiva Bais Binyomin and its relationship with Stamford’s Jewish community.  We were invited to accompany this group of students, from local bi-cultural schools, for an afternoon of bowling during their winter break. The boys are involved in a community outreach program at the institute and spend a few hours every Thursday night socializing and studying with the students that live at the yeshiva.  This was our second time meeting with Rabbi Belsky (pictured below) and he is the driving force behind outreach to Jews in the community.  As many of you may know, it is open to men only, and granting access (although limited) to two female journalists was unprecedented.  It’s been an educational and memorable experience!  Keep an eye out for the story sometime in March.

Dante Hicks greets Angel Colon, who was taking a break from the cash register to enjoy the afternoon at La Fabulosa Grocery on South Pacific St. in Stamford, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009.

2/11/2009

I found this while cruising around the South End for a weather photo.

–CP

Chris Preovolos/The Advocate

The scene after a round of judging at the 133rd annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York.

02/09/2009

I’ve been covering the Westminster for a few years now and no matter how many times I’ve been there, or how many times I’ve watched “Best in Show,” I’m never quite prepared for the often bizarre scene that awaits. Above all, it’s a lot of fun.

This year, along with Sarah Lipman, a reporter and beagle owner, I followed Anna Stromberg, a woman from South Salem, N.Y., who runs a dog grooming business in Stamford. Stromberg and her husband were showing a whippet, Glory Bound (who won Best in Breed) and two Afghan hounds. They will show giant schnauzers tomorrow.

The benching and grooming areas are a bustling with activity all day. Owners, groomers, handlers, fans and members of the media pack into the rows of crates and grooming tables making it nearly impossible to navigate from one end of the room to the other.

Even the press room proved to be fairly entertaining, as Uno, the only beagle to ever claim Best in Show honors (2008) at Westminster, drew a crowd during a press conference of sorts; my famously unyielding cynicism melted slightly as I watched him being all adorable while standing on a table drinking water out of a cocktail tumbler.

Champion or not, dogs will be dogs.

READ SARAH’S STORY: HERE

–CP

Chris Preovolos/The Advocate

ABOVE: From left, George Bellos, 14, Dimitrios Psaltos, 13, and Demetrios Barkas, 13, get ready for their comedy sketch “The Fire From Olympus” during the Annunciation Greek Afternoon School’s Greek Letters Day program at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Stamford, Conn. on Sunday, February 1, 2009. The event, which coincides with the feast of the Three Hierarches, is put on by the Greek school and celebrates Greek language and culture.

This program was entirely in Greek and despite my ethnic heritage, I understood none of it except that at some point in a comedy sketch, Dionysus nearly received an D.U.I. I suppose this is apt as he is the god of wine, or as it was translated to me, “the god of drunk.”

Jack Daniel, step aside.

–CP

P.S. Also, apparently, it’s possible to riff from Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water on a bouzouki.