Attention, Gardeners: We Have Garden Seeds for You!

Hamden Miller Memorial Library

Volunteers at the Hamden Miller Memorial Library will staff the Seed Library two afternoons each week:

* Thursdays from 1-4:30 p.m. through June 5

* Saturdays from 2-4:30 p.m. through June 7

A basic assortment of current-season seeds will be on display whenever the Seed Library is staffed.

Also, a wide selection of past-season seeds is available for self-service whenever Miller Memorial Library is open. These include vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals (annuals and perennials).

Can’t visit while we are staffed? We are working on a short list of common veggie seeds (and a few flowers and herbs) to be available to request, and we will fill limited requests weekly for pickup at any Hamden Library branch. Look for details at the Seed Library.

We are located at 2901 Dixwell Avenue in Hamden.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration 11:30 a.m. March 25

rememberthetrianglefire.org

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was the site of one of the worst workplace tragedies in American history. On March 25, 1911, fire broke out at the factory, which occupied the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building, in Greenwich Village, New York City. At the time, there were over 500 employees—most were young women; most were recent immigrants. The fire began on the 8th floor; most workers on the eighth and tenth floors were able to escape. However, those on the 9th floor, where the rear door was locked to prevent theft, were trapped. The locked exit, the collapse of the fire escape, and the inability of the fire truck ladders to reach above the sixth floor, resulted in the death of 146 workers, mostly young women. Many of the victims jumped to their death, rather than remain in the burning building.

Before the fire, workers at the Triangle Factory, along with thousands of other workers in the shirtwaist industry, were actively organizing for union recognition as a protection from the dangerous and abusive conditions. Company employees, some as young as 14, worked nine to sixteen hours a day. In November 1909, over 20,000 immigrant garment workers in their teens and twenties left their shops in an eleven-week general strike for union recognition and better working conditions. Known as the “Uprising of the 20,000,” it was the largest strike by women to date in US history.

After the fire, the company’s owners were acquitted of manslaughter charges and paid a maximum of $75 in damages to 23 of the victims’ families. However, the horror of the fire outraged the public, and led to many important reforms, including the creation of agencies to regulate health and safety conditions in the workplace. The fire also strengthened the nascent labor union organizing efforts, led largely by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

The Official Commemoration of the 114th Anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire will be March 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Washington Place and Greene Street, NYC. The Commemoration will be held rain or shine.

For information about the event and the link for livestreaming, please go to https://rememberthetrianglefire.org/event.

CT Legislators Horrified by Account of Incarcerated Person’s Homicide

by Mark Pazniokas, February 14, CT Mirror

The death of Carl “Robby” Talbot in a jail cell thick with the choking fumes of a potent pepper spray was described Friday as the catastrophic consequence of excessive force and medical neglect, compounded by a forged use-of-force report and an ineffectual internal investigation.

Angel Quiros, the commissioner of correction, did not protest the lawmakers’ harsh assessment. Talbot’s mother, Colleen Lord, offered one dissent: Her son’s death also is a consequence of the criminalization of the mentally ill, a failure that began outside jailhouse walls, long before her Robby died.

The first public dissection of all that went wrong at the New Haven Correctional Center on March 21, 2019, came Friday in a Judiciary Committee hearing on whether to accept a proposed $3.75 million settlement of the federal lawsuit filed by Talbot’s estate.

Undisputed is that Talbot, 30, who had a history of mental illness and misdemeanor arrests, had become agitated after being jailed on a probation violation, and that a jailhouse supervisor, Lt. Carlos Padro, responded with four long point-blank bursts of pepper spray, twice in a shower room and again in an elevator and a cell.

Read the whole story here: https://ctmirror.org/2025/02/14/ct-inmate-death-hearing

 

 

Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide: Film and discussion

Hamden Public Library

Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) premieres its 35-minute film, Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide, which examines this controversial topic, considering its historical context, current practice, and impact on health care.

With poetry and song written and performed by a West Haven, CT-based poet, songwriter, and performance artist, Elaine Kolb, the film includes interviews with disability and social justice activists; a nationally known palliative care doctor, Dr. Diane Meier; and a retired Connecticut disability rights attorney, Nancy Alisberg, who discuss their personal and professional reasons for strong opposition to the practice. With captioning, narration, and ASL interpretation. Audience discussion and question and answer session to follow.

This program is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Registration is recommended.

Tuesday, March 25, 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Memorial Library
2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden.

Bullets, Bandages, and Making Waves: Jewish Women in WWII New Haven on Sunday, March 2, 2 p.m.

by New Haven Museum

WWII changed the lives of American women, who were essential to the war effort. In honor of Women’s History Month and the 80th anniversary of the war’s end in 1945, Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven (JHSGNH) will share the stories of seven such women: Lucille Wolfe Alderman, Mitzi Fenster Bargar, Rose Rosenberg Dubin, Edith Londer Gillman, Ruth Grannick, Laura Small Levine, and Rita Small Melman. Their stories illustrate the ways American women in the Elm City contributed to the war effort.

JHSGNH volunteers, writer Carole Bass and oral-history interviewer Rhoda Zahler Samuel, will present video memories of these local women, following a historical overview and discussion by Jennifer Klein, Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University, of the ways WWII influenced women’s roles.

The lecture is presented in memory of Judith Ann Schiff, a founder of JHSGNH and the Ethnic Heritage Center, a New Haven Museum board member, Yale University’s chief archivist and New Haven’s city historian. In person and streaming on Facebook Live.

Join us on March 2 at 2 p.m. New Haven Museum is located at 114 Whitney Ave. It is wheelchair accessible.

1st Black History Month People’s World Celebration: Black Youth Leadership – Resistance 2.0 in Today’s Freedom Struggle

by Connecticut People’s World Committee

The 51st People’s World Black History Month Celebration, including the annual arts and writing competition for grades 8 to 12, will take place Saturday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. at the New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe St., New Haven.

Black Youth Leadership – Resistance 2.0 in Today’s Freedom Struggle is the theme for the event and competition. The full invitation to the competition is below.

In addition to the presentation of prizes for the competition, the event on Saturday, Feb. 22, will include drumming, a panel discussion by youth activists, and guest speaker Aaron Booe, national organizer for the YCL USA.

A $5 contribution is asked if possible or what you can afford. No one will be turned away.
For information contact [email protected] or leave a message at 203-624-8664.

African American History Month, February 2025

Arts and Writing Competition for Students Grades 8 to 12 is sponsored annually

by Connecticut People’s World Committee to remember the lives and dedication of Dalzenia Henry and Virginia Henry to the youth of New Haven and to make a better future.

BLACK YOUTH LEADERSHIP

Resistance 2.0 in Today’s Freedom Struggle

This SOLIDARITY PLEDGE: We Won’t Go Back! was made by all present at the People’s World Amistad Awards, Dec. 14.

“It’s up to us to defend our hard won democratic rights and protect our future. We reject all racism, bigotry, militarism and attempts at fear and division. We reject the use of smear tactics to justify war, repression and deportations. We join together in solidarity, and celebrate our diverse multi-racial, multi-national, multi-gender and multi-generational working class and people. Inspired by the historic freedom struggle, we pledge resistance and solidarity to defeat the Project 2025 corporate agenda and move forward, not back. We pledge to join in rapid response with our allies to resist every attack on any section of the people – an injury to one is an injury to all. We pledge to organize for multi-racial workers’ rights and worker power to win transformational change that puts people, peace and planet before profits. We Who Believe In Freedom Will Not Rest Until It’s Won.”

In 1964 when three young civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi, civil rights activist Ella Baker said: “Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son—we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.” James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner disappeared together during Freedom Summer. In response, hundreds more young people came to the South to take their place.

Express in artwork, essay, poetry, rap or song:

  • What can you do along with others in your school to promote equality?
  • What can you do along with your friends to reject, and educate against, hate speech?
  • Reflect on historical figures in the freedom struggle and victories that were won. How can you help continue the fight and work to change your community now?

Share digital art work, drawings, paintings, collage, prints, photographs, essays, poems, raps or songs (max. two pages).

Entries must be received by 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 13. MUST INCLUDE: Entry title, Name, address, phone, email, age, school, teacher’s name (if applicable). Send entries to: [email protected]. Prizes: Gift cards ($200 first place, $100 second place, $50 third place) and books. Presentation Prizes and recognition for all entries will be presented February 22 at the 51st Annual African American History Month Celebration. Info: [email protected] or leave messages at: 203-624-8664.

Leonard Peltier to Be Freed After Half-Century in Prison: ‘A Day of Victory for Indigenous People’

Democracy Now!, Jan. 21

Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier is coming home after nearly half a century behind bars. Just minutes before leaving office, former President Joe Biden granted Peltier clemency and ordered his release from prison to serve the remainder of his life sentence in home confinement. In a statement, Peltier said, “It’s finally over — I’m going home. I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.” Biden’s historic decision came after mounting calls by tribal leaders and supporters, and a community-led campaign that fought for Peltier’s freedom for decades.

Watch the complete interview with the NDN Collective’s Nick Tilsen at https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/21/leonard_peltier. Nick just visited Leonard Peltier in prison after news of his sentence commutation, about fighting for Peltier’s freedom, his health and Trump’s executive orders attacking environmental rights and Indigenous sovereignty. “Indigenous people, we’re going to be on the frontlines fighting this administration.”

Remembering Elaine Peters

The PAR community has lost a beloved ally with the passing of Elaine Peters, local dancer and drummer. She had an exuberance that could get the most reluctant person joining in her conga line. Local groups were fortunate to have her on their organizing committees through the years, including Community Kwanzaa Association of New Haven (of which she was the president and founder), Mothers and Others for Justice, Sisters with a New Attitude (SWANA) and the May Day Celebration Committee.

A Culture-Bearer Passes On: Elaine Peters Dies At 70

by Lucy Gellman, Jan. 16, 2025, Arts Paper

Elaine Peters at last year’s Caribbean Heritage Festival on the New Haven Green. For those who knew her, Coconut was forever by her side.

Lucy Gellman File Photo.

Elaine Peters at last year’s Caribbean Heritage Festival on the New Haven Green. For those who knew her, Coconut was forever by her side. Photo: Lucy Gellman

Elaine Peters had the spirit of dance inside of her. As a girl, she set the stage ablaze at the Bowen-Peters School of Dance, where her father and stepmother were the founders and she taught for years. In New York, she soared through work with the late Lavinia Williams and members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Back home, a spirited conga line seemed to follow her across the city, from the New Haven city bus to the city’s Caribbean Heritage Festival. Her chihuahua, Coconut, was often dancing along in her arms or at her feet.
Now, New Haven must carry on that rich legacy without her. Peters, a skilled dancer, drummer and visual artist who built community through the arts and for decades led New Haven’s Kwanzaa celebrations, died late last month [December 2024] at the age of 70. She is survived by her siblings, Jomo and Ntombi Peters, her daughter, Tulani Peters-Adger, and a host of friends who are feeling her loss acutely.

In New Haven, she leaves behind a community wracked by grief, from former dance sisters and peers at the New Haven Free Public Library to drummers who can’t imagine a healing circle without her. She was also an active and longtime member of New York’s East Coast Village, a retreat dedicated to Indigenous ancestral wisdom and helmed by the late Malidoma Somé.

“She had a personality where she just embraced life—she would just take you where she wanted to take you, you were just happy to be along for the ride,” recalled her younger brother, Jomo Peters, in a phone call last week. “She loved to celebrate, she celebrated love and life and togetherness. There was always a spark in her. I’ve never encountered anyone else who could do that. She could make any situation a celebration.”

[To read the article in its entirety and to see more photos, please go to https://tinyurl.com/mrw9su5c]

CT NOFA Winter Conference Feb. 25-27 ECSU

CT Northeast Organic Farming Association’s 43rd Winter Conference features virtual workshops on Feb. 25-27 and a full-day, in-person gathering and celebration on March 1, at Eastern Connecticut State University in partnership with their Institute of Sustainability.

Workshops will cover topics such as farming, seed saving, organic land care, community food security and social justice issues, and the presentation of the Bill Duesing Organic Living on the Earth award and our members’ annual meeting.

Conference registration includes access to all virtual and in-person sessions, lunch at the conference, and exclusive access to all recordings. Registration info, including fee, registration fee waiver request and travel stipend can be found at https://ctnofa.org/winter-conference/2025-winter-conference.

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