Tales from a District Traveler

One of my favorite events all year is the Backcountry Jazz benefit concert. Held  at Bright Brook Farm in Greenwich in June, this concert is always  magical. This year was no exception. We sat inside a barn, the doors wide open to allow a soft breeze, and listened to jazz that was alive, heartfelt and really, really good.
Backcountry Jazz is a non-profit started by internationally renowned jazz saxophonist and Greenwich resident, Bennie Wallace. It’s mission is to revive  jazz, the only uniquely American art form, at a time when interest in jazz is waning; to use music to help inner city kids; and to build bridges between people and communities.

Backcountry Jazz (BCJ) selected Bridgeport as its first urban location since its the largest city in our district and actually has a long history with jazz: The Ritz Ballroom and the Continental Restaurant were host to some of the most famous big bands back in the 1930′s such as Bennie Goodman, Artie Shaw,  Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey.   BCJ offers several kinds of programming that enriches the students of the Bridgeport  schools as well as the entire city and community.  With the help of many individuals and organizations such as Tania Kelley from the Bridgeport Public Schools, Frank Derico from Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County (formerly MACH), Rob Silvan from KEYS, ABCD, Greater Bridgeport Latino Network and City Lights Gallery amongst others,  BCJ offers community concerts, workshops, master classes, artist-in-residence, and scholarship opportunities. Thanks to BCJ,  professional musicians such as trumpeter, Jo Magnarelli, and pianist, Mike Longo, come to Bridgeport to teach improvisation, instrumental techniques, and the cultural and historical value of jazz.  When you talk to Bennie Wallace about this musical instruction, he starts starts by speaking about  the musical theory taught by Dizzy Gillespie but quickly stops using words and starts energetically tapping  essential jazz rhythms on his legs, eager to share his love of jazz and Dizzy’s method.

Bennie’s interest in music started early and he credits music, and jazz in particular, with helping him find his true calling and focus in life. The arts can do that. I also benefited from arts education, not really learning how to think critically until I studied architecture. There was something for me about drawing and building that taught me how to think in a way that reading and writing never could. And we can go beyond the anecdotal on the benefits of the arts in education: in a study published in 2002,  Kathryn Vaughn showed how students who take music classes in high school are more likely to score higher on standardized math tests such as the SAT.  One explanation that seems to make common sense is that musical training in rhythm emphasizes proportion, patterns and ratio- all mathematical concepts.

The arts can also help create better students and can unify people of different ages, socio-economic backgrounds, religions, cultures. These moments of shared, authentic experiences are rare and precious. I was lucky to have such an experience at BCJ’s  Disorder at the Border community concert in the fall of 2008 at the Black Rock Arts Center. The music and the vibe was unbelievably cool: there were folks from Greenwich and Stamford, families from Bridgeport and tons of young students all seated together in the local arts center, and none of us could stay sitting for long as the jazz urged us to stand, clap and dance. The music brought us all  together, this most disparate group of people, in a truly joyful experience. And the kids were as mesmerized as we adults- if you could have seen their faces beaming. It was an image to cherish and remember. Nancy Kail, member of the Board of Education had a similar experience at the recent Bridgeport Public Schools City Wide Youth Concert for over 1,000 people at the Quick Center last June. As she says, “…not a single audience member was still when Bennie and the band played tunes such as Carnaval, a Dizzy favorite. Every single student had a foot tapping, or a head bobbing or a hand keeping time against a leg or a chair. It was such a joy to see everyone in the room so into the music. There was thunderous applause after every solo and teachers were hard pressed to clear the auditorium at the end of the concert when the band closed the set with the blues. Kudos to the Bridgeport education system  for delivering such high quality programming to students. I’m sure there were more than a few kids who got turned on to listening to and studying jazz and other music because of that concert. All public school students from every district in the state should have the same opportunity. Thank you Bennie!.”

Music is important. It teaches us, inspires us, and unites us. We should make sure that the arts remain a key part of public school curriculum. We need the Boards of Education in all our towns to support arts education and we need to support organizations like Backcountry Jazz that are working hard to provide a helping hand to the kids in our cities like Bridgeport and hopefully soon in Norwalk and Stamford as well.

Please check out the website for Backcountry Jazz to see clips of live concerts. Their website address is: www.backcountryjazz.org

Imagine being unable to pay funeral expenses for your 6 year old daughter who died from cancer or for a puppy that your 6 year old son with a fatal pontine glioma tumor, who just lost his legs, desperately wants. I worry when my daughter has a few bad nights of sleep. I cannot in any way imagine how I would deal with the stress and pain and worry if one of my children was diagnosed with cancer.

Liz Salguero and Dawn Ladenheim from Wilton had children diagnosed with cancer. Overwhelmed with difficult medical choices and frustrated by a lack of resources, they created Circle of Care, a non-profit organization to help other families who face this crisis. At the beginning, it’s services included “Lifeline” which provides emergency financial assistance to families in need; the “Purple Pages” which is a free, comprehensive directory of national and local pediatric cancer resources; and “Bags of Love” which provides bags filled necessities such as toiletries, toys and phone cards in hospital rooms. Then five years ago a Greenwich mom, Karen Morgenbesser, approached them with a new idea: she wanted to decorate the bedrooms of really sick children to bring a little joy into their lives.

Karen studied illustration at Syracuse University. She also completed the certificate program in Interior Design at Parsons School of Design in New York City. She is a mother of 3 kids: Kimberly (20), Tatum (17) and Kyle, a fifth grader. She is feisty and fun, high energy and a good dancer. She is a go- getter who has designed beaded eye-catchers for glasses, worked for a greeting card company, and run a party design business called Queen Christine Tea Parties. But she always wondered how to use her creative gifts to help others. So when her daughter, Kimberly, approached her for help in finding a community service project, Karen had her “ah ha” moment. With the help of her friend, Maribeth Stolzer, who according to Karen is the organized one, they founded Art for the Heart, now one of the core services provided by Circle of Care, to create these magical bedrooms for children with cancer.

Karen and Maribeth work with the Social Services department via lottery to find a family to help. They meet with the family and talk with the child to try to come up with a theme for their dream bedroom. Karen said that some children have very clear design ideas-one boy loves architecture so they designed his room around an Italian villa; another 4 year old boy loves Sponge Bob so he asked for an underwater theme. When asked if it was scary to talk to sick children Karen said, “No. When we’re talking to them about their bedrooms, they’re not sick kids. They’re just kids.” She added that the kids love the opportunity to think and dream about something other than their ongoing medical procedures, pills, and treatments.

Once they settle on a theme, Karen, Maribeth and a slew of Greenwich High School kids including her daughters, Anne Stolzer who just won a Community Service award two days ago, and Leah Milbauer go to work. Karen, the creative force behind all this, comes up with the design which often involves murals (she draws them herself and has her team paint them in situ), thematically painted furniture, and decorated lampshades. To pay for the room makeovers, they get product donations from local businesses- McDermott Paint here in Greenwich has given a lot of paint and Russell Carpet in Ridgefield has been very generous donating carpets. Art for the Heart has been very lucky lately because Andrew and Deanna Stackpole have offered to pay in full for a room makeover. The high school students also raise money: Anne Stolzer told me that they make and sell bracelets, heart-shaped pillows, and painted canvases; sit at donation tables at soccer games; host bake sales. They also paint the furniture built by Karen’s uncle, Richard Glenn, a Danbury-based carpenter. Everything is stored at Karen’s house until its time for the installation which normally takes place over a weekend. Karen and her crew keep the room blocked off until the installation is complete. The surprise factor when the family enters the room is one reason they keep doing these makeovers. Says Karen, “The reaction of each and everyone is why you go on to another room!  The 4 year old boy who got a Sponge bob room threw his arms around all the girls.  Each child is so grateful in there own way!”

There is an event to celebrate the wonderful work of Art from the Heart and Circle of Care this Friday April 30 from 7-9pm at Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, 45 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich. The event is free. There will be wine (generously donated by Castle Wine and Liquor and hors d’hoevres by Garden Catering. Please R.S.V.P. as soon as possible to: artfromtheheart2010@gmail.com

If you are interested in donating product or perhaps underwriting the cost to decorate a room, please contact Karen Morgenbesser at: kegmorg@aol

For more information, please please visit the website: www.thecircleofcare.org

It’s hard to like “Supermoms”, don’t you think? They multi-task well, have lovely families, and their houses aren’t strewn with toys, shoes, dog hair, and stacks of papers and books like mine. So when I met Lesley King, the classically tall, blonde Old Greenwich resident, who quickly offered me some totally delicious Rwandan tea (would someone please import that!), in a lovely, not ostentatious waterfront house with gentle rhythms of African music playing softly in the background, I couldn’t help but like her.

Lesley used to be on Wall Street. At JP Morgan, she ran several different fixed income groups and survived the merger with Chase Bank. I imagine that she did extremely well in that male-dominated arena: She has the intellect, drive and directness well-suited to those high pressure jobs. But at some point, she discovered that she had another calling.

So, Lesley left the banking world and unlike many of us who would have taken some time off to relax after leaving a job, she quickly jumped into the local scene: she became the Old Greenwich PTA President for the 2006/2007 school year, became an interim Executive Director for Trinity Church when it’s senior pastor, Ian Cron, left, and she gave birth to her fourth child. Did I mention that she multi-tasks really well?

At some point she also read the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. This book tells the stunning and truly inspiring story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Boston based doctor who started the non-profit Partners In Health to try to avert preventable deaths caused by infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in the developing world. Until recently, it was believed that those diseases were “untreatable” in poor settings: The drugs were too expensive and there was no way to ensure that patients would reliably take their medicine. Dr. Farmer and PIH have proved otherwise working in nine countries around the world: Haiti, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Guatemala and the United States.

Motivated by the story of Paul Farmer, Lesley offered to host an informational event for PIH at her house. She sent out a large group email invitation but figured she’d end up hosting a small event. The response to her email was tremendous: she had to host two events, one in the day and one at night, to accommodate everyone. Thus began her journey with Partners In Health.

Lesley joined the Board of Directors for Partners In Health in June 2009. Since then, she has prioritized this cause and has included her family in the experience. She travels several times a month up to Boston for PIH board meetings. She once hosted a Rwandan boy’s choir at her home for two weeks. Last fall she went to Rwanda with two of her children, Grace (11 years old) and Liam (9 years old) and Kim Marie Evans and her 9 year old son, JJ. They went to visit Betsy Dickey, also from Old Greenwich, who was working on plans to develop a Library and Learning Center for the PIH hospital in Rwanda . I asked her how the trip to Rwanda had affected Grace and Liam thinking that they might have been shocked by the poverty and Lesley said, “The kids felt totally at ease in Rwanda because they were with friends from the boy’s choir that had stayed at our house”. Kids are amazing: they don’t judge poverty and they have an innate sense of the common bonds between all humans. I often think they have much less to learn than we do.

Lesley was just about to visit Haiti when the earthquake struck. Fortunately, PIH’s hospitals are intact, very few local PIH people lost their lives, and thanks to their health care model of using community health care workers, they are still able to provide health care.

The work that has to be done post quake is daunting. According the Lesley, PIH has two priorities in Haiti: build a teaching hospital and help the Ministry of Health, PIH’s government partner, get back on its feet. Building a teaching hospital is hugely important not only to increase the number of highly trained local doctors but also to increase the number of surgery rooms. After the earthquake, the government of Haiti estimates that over 4,000 amputations were performed. Many, according to Medscape Medical News, were done by foreign doctors with no anesthesia in make-shift tents. Before the earthquake, any surgery, even a life-saving one, was a rarity in Haiti. As Lesley grimly describes, “In Haiti, any surgery is considered a luxury”. This is a level of need that is very hard to comprehend.

There are those who criticize individuals who give of their time, talent and money to help people in far-away places. Lesley’s thoughtful response to this general critique was, “First you have to go where your passion is. And second, as Oprah Winfrey said, you have to do both- local and international- and you have to go where the need is greatest”. I admire Lesley for taking the path less traveled, for putting off tennis games and lunches and focusing her many talents on areas of real need. The world is certainly a better place thanks to Lesley King and Partners In Health.

If you would like to learn more about PIH, please go to their website www.pih.org

And definitely read Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains.

I’m so glad it’s cold. No, I don’t particularly like the cold, but seeing ice developing on the water and frost decorating the edges of the leaves feels to me like Christmas.

There are so many wonderful things to do at this time of year: sing alongs, concerts, tree lightings, holiday gift giving. So much to do, so little time! With two young daughters, five siblings, a mother, some in laws, two sisters in law with kids, and a dog, it’s easy to get wrapped up (no pun intended) in shopping for presents, decorations, and food. Since I’m not particularly good at shopping (probably because I don’t do it very often) this can be a bit stressful. So, every year I try to focus on what is really important about December and remember the “giving” part of the holiday season.

This year, my friend, Annie Watson, is doing a donation drive from December 14th through 18th (Monday through Friday) from 9am to noon each day. She is looking for diapers (packaged) and jars of baby food to donate to three local organizations that help mothers and babies in need: Kids in Crisis, Neighbor to Neighbor, and the United Way.

In conjunction with this, she will be offering free photo sessions for 6 to 12 month old babies and will be having a “best baby photo” contest… BUT her primary goal is to gather as many diapers and jars of baby food that she possibly can during those 5 days. Photos, of course, will be available for purchase, if you so desire.

If you cannot come during those hours to make a drop off, please call her at (203) 485-0565 or email her at AWatsonPhoto@aol.com to make arrangements to drop off your donation.

This holiday season, let’s all remember those less fortunate. Helping Annie collect these most essential items won’t take a whole lot of time and it’ll put you in the real holiday spirit.

I have been waiting for classical music to find its audience in our modern world and often wonder when and if the Facebook, Moveon.org, iphone culture of today will affect the experience of going to a classical concert.

How can the more cerebral experience of a classical concert compete with 3D movies? When we are accustomed to being bombarded by action images and surround sound it feels really old fashioned to sit still and listen to classical music. So, you can imagine how pleased I was last Saturday night when I attended the benefit concert for the Stamford Symphony performed at the Marriott Hotel, a concert that was exciting, exhilarating and fun.

Working with a theme of Gypsy Rhapsody, the nine professional musicians led by conductor/pianist Eckart Preu, played music from Hungary, one of the main sources of “gypsy music”. They performed a lively czardas, a traditional dance that can be traced back to the 18th century Hungarian verbunko that was originally used as a recruiting dance by the Hungarian army. The program also included unusual titles such as “Parade of the House Elves” or “Venetian Gondolas” that were at times haunting, funny and boisterous.

While this music was indeed wonderful, the whole experience was made more engaging for a classical beginner like me, thanks to the wonderful repartee between Eckart Preu, the conductor, and Erica Kiesewetter, the solo violinist who boldly dressed the part wearing hoop earrings, a cropped top and a long skirt bejeweled with bells. Before playing each piece, Eckart and Erica chatted about where they found these little known works (one time it was in an old box in someone’s basement) or what emotion they evoked. They had friendly disagreements that introduced questions about the music that gave the listener a way to connect in a more active way.

To a classical neophyte, this was a true gift, one that I hope to get again. So, with the winter weather approaching, remember the terrific orchestras that we have here in Connecticut. Many have weekend matinees and terrific children’s programs. I’ve listed the Fairfield County symphony websites below.

Greater Bridgeport Symphony, www.bridgeportsymphony.org
Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, www.greenwichsym.org
Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, www.norwalksymphony.org
Stamford Symphony, www.stamfordsymphony.org

My beautiful rescued lab with her ever-present tennis ball

I grew up with Labrador Retrievers- two black and one yellow. I loved them all. Some kids have blankies, I had dogs. Over the years, I’ve tossed around the idea of getting a dog, but whenever I carefully analyzed my life I just couldn’t see how I could maintain a sane life with a dog. When my husband decided to run for Congress I thought that maybe, if he won, we would get a dog. So, in the depths of the campaign when my two daughters asked for the thousandth time to get a dog, I offered them the “possibility” of getting one IF their daddy won the election.
The girls didn’t forget my “sort of” promise, even with all the excitement surrounding my husband’s election win. And, they wanted a puppy. Who can blame them? Spend any time looking at pictures of puppies of any breed and you’ll fall in love. But, I knew that caring for a puppy was more than I could handle and decided that with so many dogs in need of rescue, it would be better to adopt. Plus, I figured that if I was going to turn my life upside down, it might as well be for a really good cause.
Thankfully, there are several terrific rescue/adoption organizations in our area. I chose to work with Killingworth, CT based Labs4rescue, which deals with Labrador Retrievers. An all volunteer non-profit organization, Labs4Rrescue is dedicated to providing a new life for rescued or displaced Labs or Lab Mixes. When I looked at their website, I was shocked to see how many gorgeous dogs were up for adoption. Most of them come from the South because, according to Labs4rescue, there the spay/neuter laws are not enforced and since female labs have litters of 10-12 puppies, there are just too many labs running around. There are a also a lot of puppy mills and not enough demand so dogs that aren’t good duck hunters are “surrendered” at the end of the hunting season. Black labs are particularly at risk, perhaps because they shed black hair. What is really heartbreaking is that many dogs are sent to the high kill shelters that only keep them for three days before they are gassed.
After three weeks of working through Labs4rescue I found Bella, a beautiful, loving, fully house and crate trained 1.5 year old black lab rescued from Tennessee. She was transported, courtesy of Labs4rescue to Connecticut. She is a quintessential lab- she is patient beyond words with kids, loves food of any sort, wants and gives a ton of love, and is rarely seen without a disgusting tennis ball in her mouth. I will admit right up front that she has some health issues but nothing that can’t be handled thanks to our terrific veterinarians at VCA Davis Animal Hospital. And, I promise that the love this dog gives is more than most- I really think she feels lucky to have been saved.
So, if you’re thinking about getting a dog, please consider adopting one. You can adopt any age, from puppy to senior. Conveniently, most adoption organizations list their available dogs on their websites and most host local adoption events where you can go see the dogs in person. In fact, Adopt-a-Dog is hosting its annual Putting on the Dog fun dog show on Sunday October 18th at Roger Sherwin Baldwin Park in Greenwich (http://www.adopt-a-dog.org/POD2009.htm) Throughout the day there will be a dog show with seventeen categories, such as Biggest Lap Dog, K-9 Krooners, A Pooch Who Can Smooch, and Clever K-9 Tricks amongst other fun activities for the family. There are so many dogs out there looking for a safe, loving home- many of them are as terrific as Bella. Please don’t forget them.
LOCAL PET ADOPTION ORGANIZATIONS:
Adopt-a-dog, Greenwich, 629-9494; adopt-a-dog.org
Bridgeport Animal Control Facilities, Bridgeport, 576-7727; bptanimalcontrol.com
Oxford Animal Shelter, Oxford, 881-3653
Pet Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Norwalk, 750-9572; pawsct.org
Save Our Strays, Westport, 255-0514; saveourstraysinc.petfinder.com
Shelton Animal Shelter, Shelton, 924-2501
Stamford Animal Care and Control, Stamford, 977-4437

My first posting is about amazing woman, Amy Guerrieri, who was inspired one night watching a tv show about the dire poverty in Martin County, Kentucky.

That night she was shocked to learn that many of the children in this part of Appalachia only get a meal from the subsidized meal program if and when they go to school. She couldn’t believe or accept that this was happening in the United States.

A person with a real can-do spirit,   Amy decided to help.  As a mom, her first impulse was to help the kids. A foodie and owner of the Upper Crust Bagel Company in Old Greenwich, she wanted to create something to improve the kids’ nutrition.

Working with nutritionist Karen Newman, Amy created a vitamin and mineral-enhanced drink for kids called Rockin’ Water. I tried some of the cherry flavored Rockin’ Water and it is delicious! (Full disclosure: my 2 elementary school aged daughters haven’t yet tasted the Rockin’ Water but they will as soon as I can get back to Arcadia Coffee where it is sold).  In addition, Amy  started a non-profit organization called R.A.M. P. (Rockin’ Mom Appalachian Project) that helps families  in Martin County,  taking truckloads of  Rockin’ Water  and other much needed items that are donated such as diapers, school supplies, clothes and personal hygiene items. (To see photos go to:  http://rampamerica.org/images).

On her trips to Martin County, she has visited  schools and churches, met with moms and talked to school kids about healthy eating.  She has made personal connections with these people. This is a person who doesn’t just do the quick and easy- write the cheque. She has made a huge committment to help this community in a very personal way. Her next trip down to Appalachia is the second week of August. If you feel you can donate money or non-perishables please visit the R.A.M.P. website at  rampamerica.org or call 203-940-1152 or drop stuff off at the Rockin’ Waters office at 187 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich.