Take On Life

Hi everyone,

For someone who makes a living with words, it’s fun to see how the English language can be used — and abused — in print.

For example, one of my favorite passages comes from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Today, I came across the anti-Fitzgerald, the grand prize winner of the 2010 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for bad writing.

The author, Molly Ringle of Seattle, described a kiss this way, according to an Associated Press story:

“For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity’s affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss — a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity’s mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world’s thirstiest gerbil.”

Toothbrush, anyone?

Hi everyone,

Deb Minasi remembers the days when warm water and giggles spilled over the edge of the tub in her New Milford home on Dean Road.

After years of trying to start a family, Deb and her husband, Gene, suddenly split their hearts three ways in 3 1/2 years: Samantha came first, followed by Coley, and then, Kimberly.

“It was the best feeling in the world to give them baths and put their pajamas on,” Deb said Tuesday. “It was like you were entering a world filled with baby lotion.”

Last March, Deb unlocked that baby lotion world once again when Samantha, now 17, gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Natasha.

Of course, the bedroom where Samantha and her sisters grew up would never do.

Deb and Gene had planned to finish the basement for Samantha; her fiance, Mike Garrison; and baby Natasha.

They had already put up some wallboard and insulation. They had already run the heating.

In fact, the new grandparents were ready to wrap things up when Gene learned he had leukemia. Just like that, the world — and the basement project — came to a halt for the Minasi family.

As it turned out, terrible leg pain was the least of Gene’s concerns when he arrived at Danbury Hospital in 2009.

“The doctors could tell right away from the blood work that something wasn’t right,” Deb explained. “That’s how we found out it was leukemia.

“We were down (in the basement) worrying and worrying about how we were going to finish it,” she said. “And then, the phone rang.”

To find out who called, check out my “Take on Life” column Wednesday.

Only in the print edition of The News-Times.

Hi everyone,

It didn’t take long for a crowd to gather at the Rogers Park bullpen in Danbury on Monday.

A guy throwing in the 90s will do that.

In this case, the flamethrower was ex-Danbury Westerners reliever Sean Keeler – part full-time accountant, part full-time dreamer.

With scouts on hand from the Atlanta Braves, including Westerners pitching coach Sean Fesh, Keeler reared back and popped “90″ and “91″ on Fesh’s radar gun.

Nearly 100 prospects turned out for the open tryout, the second time in as many years the Braves have partnered with the Westerners at Rogers Park.

“We’re very fortunate to have established a great working relationship with the Westerners,” said Kevin Barry, the Braves’ Scouting Supervisor of the Northeast. “They do a fabulous job letting us use this facility.”

Monday’s tryout drew twice as many prospects as last year’s event, Barry said, but without diluting the talent pool.

Barry figured 15 of the prospects at Monday’s tryout have a chance to play professional baseball at some level.

Maybe even, Sean Keeler, the number-cruncher with the high heat.

Hi everyone,

Johnny Alicea and his girlfriend of 4 1/2 years, Nancy Nguyen, held hands as they climbed the basement stairs leading to the sanctuary.

There is strength in unity, the gesture seemed to suggest.

If that’s the case, New Hope Baptist Church in Danbury was the strongest place in the world Friday afternoon.

They came by the hundreds — friends and family, teachers and coaches, students and strangers — to pay their final respects to 23-year-old Danny Holt, the former Danbury High football player better known as “Baby Bus.”

This is what it looks like when a city turns out to mourn one of its own, when hugs are openly exchanged as the only currency that matters on a day like this.

Danny, a non-smoker who lost his brave battle with lung cancer Wednesday, earned the “Baby Bus” nickname as a teenager. He was named after strapping ex-Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome “The Bus” Bettis.

But on Friday, every highlight reel belonged to Danny Holt.

On the wall behind the altar, home movies shot by Danny’s father, Greg, showed his son, a senior captain, running the football like a 240-pound battering ram.

What a difference five years — and losing 60 pounds — can make.

In March, Danny was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer after a visit to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The diagnosis didn’t make sense then. It made even less sense Friday.

“He was just an amazing person who touched people with his kindness,” said Joe Celcis, 35, of Waterbury, a friend of Danny’s older brother, Eric.

“When you see a turnout like this, you can’t help but feel the love Danny gave to people. But it’s not gone. It’s just dispersed so everyone can feel it.”

To read more about Danny Holt and those who loved him, read my “Take on Life” column Sunday.

Only in the print edition of The News-Times.

Hi everyone,

There was a time in Danbury, just about 30 years ago now, when the soundtrack of Saturday night shook this city like nothing else.

The motorized symphony was fueled by men named Chick Stockwell, Don LaJoie and Evie Pierce, drivers who took corners and chances with equal valor.

For 23 years, Paul Baker recounted this unscripted bravado into a microphone for thousands of fans at the Danbury Racearena, the old racing oval buried under the Danbury Fair mall.

“I loved the Racearena. Everyone loved it,” said Baker, who even called a race card on his wedding night after he couldn’t find a suitable replacement.

For his announcing gig, that is, not his wedding night.

All kidding aside, the 89-year-old Baker plans to publish a 20-page booklet about the Racearena in the coming weeks. He hopes to have the booklet available July 24 for the annual Southern New York Racing Association Reunion at the O’Neill Center in Danbury.

To read more about Paul Baker’s upcoming booklet about the Racearena — and to see how former Danbury High football coach Gus Edwards fits into the story — check out my Take on Life column Friday.

Only in the print edition of The News-Times.

Hi everyone,

Is World Cup fever real or imagined in Greater Danbury and the rest of the United States?

Do Americans really care about soccer, or have face-painted fans and shouts of GOOOAAAALLLL!!! simply taken over our TVs?

How about you?

If you had a choice, would you rather:

A.) Attend a World Cup game featuring the American side

B.) Attend a national championship basketball game featuring UConn (your choice, men or women)

C.) Attend a Super Bowl featuring the Jets, Giants or Patriots (or how about Jets vs. Giants) 

D.) Attend a World Series game with the Yankees, Mets or Red Sox (or maybe Yankees vs. Mets)

E.) Attend a Stanley Cup game featuring the Rangers, Bruins, Islanders or Devils

F.) Attend the NBA Finals to watch the Celtics or Knicks (OK, maybe not the Knicks)

G.) Go to Augusta National to watch Phil Mickelson vs. the field at The Masters

H.) Go to England to watch Roger Federer vs. the field at Wimbledon

I.) Or, attend a different sporting event of your choice. If so, what would it be? 

C’mon, Greater Danbury comment and be counted!

Hi everyone,

In case you missed it, my world changed Thursday night.

Without sounding too much like a recycled Hallmark card, I watched my stepson, Michael, walk across the stage with Newtown High School’s Class of 2010 and effectively close the door to his childhood.

By the time he reached the other end of the stage at the O’Neill Center in Danbury, he had unlocked the door to his future with one wave of his hand.

Michael will leave for college in August to study engineering in upstate New York and I could not be prouder.

At the same time, I know I’m going to miss helping him hold his putter on the mini-golf circuit in Lake George. I’m going to miss the Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes he used to order with the chocolate chip eyes.

It’s all part of getting older, I suppose, whether you’re the one in the cap and gown, or the guy with the graying temples holding the video camera.

Graduation was a great night for all of us who love Mike – his mom and I; his dad and stepmother; his younger brother, Taylor; and of course, his Grandma Saundra.

To me, this summer already feels like a pool float with a slow leak. I know what’s going to happen in two months, but I desperately want to hang on for one last ride.

When I walk into his bedroom at the top of the stairs now, I barely recognize the place.

Mike tossed out boxes and boxes of adolescent artifacts last week, including the perfectly preserved frog that he had dissected in the third grade. The deceased had spent the last nine years upside down in a Ball canning jar.

The amusement park caricatures are gone, too, but they’re headed for the attic, not the landfill. So are the everybody-gets-one trophies from his youth soccer and fishing derby days.

I can’t bring myself to throw them away. Neither can his mom, I’m afraid.

To read more about the bittersweet coming-of-age realities of graduation, check out my “Take on Life” column Wednesday.

Only in the print edition of The News-Times.

Hi everyone,

Fast Ricky, a Danbury-based rock band, will perform a benefit concert Friday night for the family of fallen Danbury Police Officer Donald Hassiak, who died June 3 after he was struck and killed riding his bike to work by a hit-and-run driver on Route 7 in New Milford.

The fundraiser will be held Friday at 7 at Milano’s Restaurant, 10 Railroad St., New Milford. All proceeds will go to the Hassiak family, said Fast Ricky vocalist/keyboardist John Lucas.

“We play a little bit of everything — from Poison to the Stones, from Modern to 80′s classics!!! Come check us out and don’t be afraid to dance on the bar!!!!!” Fast Ricky boasts on its MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/fastricky

Although a $5 donation is requested, larger donations will be gladly accepted. Admission includes live music by Fast Ricky, pizza and refreshments donated by Milano’s, and raffle prizes donated by local merchants.