The PAR Mission is to inform the greater New Haven community about the activities of many progressive groups, so that people may learn about them and become involved in discussions and actions on issues for the common good, such as peace, health, racial equity, justice, clean energy and the environment.
The Institute Library is proud to host the Listen Here Short Story reading series is a night of classic short stories selected by the staff of the New Haven Review and read by cast members of the New Haven Theater Company. Reading starts at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month at the Institute Library, 847 Chapel St, New Haven, CT, with talk back at 8 p.m. that explores the background, meaning, and dramatic interpretation of that night’s stories.
Also, freshly baked cookies–a different batch at each reading–and tea are available.
Admission free! The next reading will be December 20. Our theme: “Short Shorts.” Our stories: “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, and “The Afterlife” by Amy Hempel. Please note that the Institute Library is one flight up and, most unfortunately, not wheel-chair accessible. For more information, visit us at http://www.institutelibrary.org.
No e-mail? Call Paula at (203) 562-2798 to find out how to submit your article. There is a 350 word limit.
Next Planning Meeting date is Wed., Nov. 2, at 2:45 p.m….all welcome…call (203) 562-2798 for location.
Subscription: $13 for 10 issues, check payable to PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504.
While readying this newsletter for print, we learned of the death of New Haven defense attorney Diane “Cookie” Polan.
In addition to being a friend to many PAR readers, Cookie made herself available to area peace and justice activists who engaged in civil disobedience and who needed legal advice. Personally as well as professionally, Cookie was a defender of justice and her passing is a great loss. Just a week before her death at age 65, she was awarded the 2016 Champion of Liberty Award by the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers. An annual award in her name was established to carry on her legacy.
Our deepest sympathy to her family, spouse Linda Barrett, daughters Maya and Rosa, and her sister Kelly.
See local remembrances of Cookie in other stories by following the links below.
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Tributes poured in from the legal community Friday as word spread that acclaimed defense attorney Diane “Cookie” Polan had died Friday morning at her home in New Haven.
Polan turned 65 in March. One month later, she learned she had an inoperable brain tumor.
Her death came just one week after the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers gave her the 2016 Champion of Liberty Award and created an annual Diane “Cookie” Polan Award. She was unable to attend that event.
Diane Polan was New Haven’s toughest “cookie” — and New Haven became a better place as a result.Polan, a crusading criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, died Friday morning from an inoperable brain tumor at the age of 65.Her nickname was “Cookie.” She was sweet, but she didn’t crumble easily. If at all.
Tribuneongtime criminal defense lawyer Diane “Cookie” Polan of New Haven, known by her colleagues and the rest of the bar as fierce yet kind, passed away Friday morning.
Polan, who turned 65 in March, was diagnosed in April with an inoperable brain tumor.
Last week, at the very bittersweet annual meeting of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association, Polan was given a special award: The Champion of Liberty Award. It is so special that it’s not handed out every year, only when a recipient is deemed worthy enough.
Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven (JVPNH) is partnering with Shalom UCC to present a book talk by Ben Ehrenreich on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 at the First Presbyterian Church in New Haven, 704 Whitney Ave. Ben is the author of the recently published book, The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine. His book was reviewed in the New York Times this past July. The review is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/books/review/ben-ehrenreich-the-way-to-the-spring-palestine.html.
Over the past three years, Ben Ehrenreich has been traveling to and living in the West Bank, staying with Palestinian families in its largest cities and its smallest villages, including Nabi Saleh, Hebron, and Umm al-Kheir. Along the way he has written major stories for American outlets, including a remarkable New York Times Magazine cover story, “Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start?”.
The book offers a first person view of life in the West Bank: the daily challenges, pain and triumphs of resistance while living under oppressive military occupation. Reviewer Andy Shatz wrote: “As heart-breaking as it is, The Way to the Spring is also a strangely joyful book, because Ehrenreich grasps the essence of the Palestinian struggle. It’s not Islam, nor even nationalism, but the stubborn refusal of injustice, the restless search for ‘how it would feel to be free.’”
Latino & Iberian Film Festival at Yale or LIFFY is coming up November 9 – 13 and is free and open to the public.
The schedule is shaping up. Opening and closing night films will be shown at Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue. These films are described below.
All films will have English subtitles; filmmakers and actors will be in attendance for many of the films. Some evenings will feature receptions.
Opening night Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. featuresPinches actores (Freakin’ Actors) Mexico, France (2015, 119 min.) Director: Hermanos Dufour. Comedy, Drama. Q&A with actress Grecia Monroc. Six friends overcome a series of adversities and challenges as actors. One dreams of being a soap opera star; another puts up with a jealous wife and less than promising roles; a young actress believes in the power of acting as an art form but has to deal with the industry’s sexism; a leading man doesn’t care who he has to step on to get to the top; and a family man’s acting dreams begin to slip away. Finally there’s the eccentric Mad who shares these stories and his own in this love letter to acting.
Closing night Sunday, November 13, at 8 p.m. featuresLa Gunguna (The Gunguna) Dominican Republic (2015, 87 min.) Director: Ernesto Alemany. Dark Comedy. Q&A with Ernesto Alemany (Director). The Gunguna is a tiny .22 caliber pistol that once belonged to General Trujillo and had enormous sentimental value for the dictator. It is sought out by collectors worldwide who are willing to pay a pretty penny for it. Some are even willing to kill for it. The gun will fall in the hands of a construction worker in desperate straits, a corrupt border patrol sergeant, a merciless loan shark, a local Chinese mobster, an arms dealer and a sleazy bar owner.
For more information, contact: Margherita Tortora, Founder and Director, [email protected] or Jane Mills, (203) 278-3723.
People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE) will honor the legacy of long-time chairperson Judi Friedman and her husband Lou at the organization’s annual meeting at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Ave. in Hartford.
Judi Friedman led PACE for forty-three years and was a strong, impassioned voice in support of clean energy and against nuclear power and weapons. Judi, her supportive husband Lou and the PACE team whom they gathered and inspired have been tireless promoters of clean energy through house tours, public testimony and local radio and television programs. PACE looks forward to honoring Judi at the annual meeting with a film tribute on her legacy.
PACE will continue to live out its mission by presenting awards on Nov. 12 to the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3) as well as to Lynn Stoddard, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University. The evening’s keynote address will be given by Ms. Stoddard about the GC3 and its strategies to meet the state’s aggressive targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mark Scully, PACE’s new chairman and leader in municipal efforts to achieve 100% renewable energy, will present on the future direction of the organization. The evening will close with a musical tribute by the acclaimed musician Paul Winter.
PACE is a public health and environmental organization formed in 1973 by a group of concerned Connecticut citizens to:
Promote the development of alternative, renewable sources of energy,
Encourage the efficient use of energy,
Develop a spirit of conservation among Connecticut residents, and
Challenge Connecticut’s commitment to nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
Through its house tours, publications, radiation monitoring and recognition of environmental leaders, PACE has educated countless members of the public on energy issues. PACE is the largest all-volunteer organization in the state to be engaged with these issues, and its members are active at public events, legislative hearings and environmental forums, both in person and on state and local television and radio. PACE is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For further information on PACE and to reserve a free ticket to the annual meeting, go to http://www.pace-cleanenergy.org.
This year’s People’s World Amistad Awards are dedicated to carrying on the torch of Arthur L. Perry, a great friend, union leader, and warrior for justice who received the People’s World Amistad Award in 2009.
The event is Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 4 p.m. at Wexler Grant Community School, 55 Foote St., New Haven, on the theme “If there is no struggle, there can be no progress — We march united for Racial Justice, Jobs & Peace.”
Awardees Alder Jeanette Morrison, Dan Livingston and Juan Brito are outstanding leaders who have devoted their lives to the fight for economic and social justice for all.
A cultural program will highlight the event.
Alder Jeanette Morrison was elected to represent Ward 22 in New Haven as part of a labor-community coalition. She led the successful movement to rebuild the Dixwell Q House, a youth center in the heart of the African-American community next to Wexler Grant school. As a social worker she fights to bring families together and for opportunities for children. She is a member of AFSCME.
Dan Livingston is a groundbreaking labor attorney and life-long union and progressive activist. As a member of a firm of “trouble making lawyers” (Livingston, Adler, Pulda, Meiklejohn and Kelly), he represents many public and private sector unions. He represents, works with, and serves on the boards of many coalitions, community and progressive organizations fighting for social justice in our state.
Juan Brito is a School Social Worker at Burns Latino Academy in Hartford and a member of the Hartford Feder-ation of Teachers. He is a writer for La Voz Hispana de Connecticut and a musician who has been performing with his wife Rebecca Delgado since 1977. He has published two books of poetry about his country and his experiences before, during and after the coup d’etat that affected Chile in 1973.
The awards are presented to allies by the People’s World on the occasion of the 97th anniversary of the Communist Party USA.
Tickets are $10. Adbook deadline is Nov. 18, 2016. Information: [email protected].
by Joan Cavanagh, Archivist/Director, GNH Labor History Assoc.
2016 is a year of transition for the Greater New Haven Labor History Association. As of Dec. 31, I will be leaving my position as Archivist/ Director because there is no further funding available to maintain it. LHA will return to its roots as an all-volunteer organization, guided by the efforts of its Executive Board and membership.
To prepare for this change, I am spending this fall organizing our archival holdings (including the historical records of LHA) for transfer to Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn in Storrs. They are establishing a Greater New Haven Labor History Association Collection. The materials we have already gathered will thus be preserved in a climate controlled facility and made available to researchers by UConn’s archivists. We encourage individuals, union locals and other relevant organizations to donate their papers, memorabilia and historical documents to the Collection. Contact Laura Katz Smith at [email protected] or (860) 486-2516 for information about it.
On a personal note: it has been my privilege and joy to work with the Board and the members of the Labor History Association for the past 16 years. We brought LHA into the 21st century along with its mission to collect, preserve, share and celebrate the history, culture and traditions of working people and their unions in our community and beyond.
Moving forward, LHA will help to ensure that current and future generations understand the heritage and struggles of workers through the creation of a labor history curriculum for Connecticut’s public schools as well as by carrying out other projects spearheaded by the Board and our membership. Please, get involved. If you haven’t yet become a member, please do. If you’re already a member, please consider joining the Board or a project committee. And, if you have a special project you’ve always wanted to see the organization undertake, now’s the time! Remember: We Are All Workers! (P.S. Check out the LHA exhibit on Winchester workers, now showing at Hagaman Memorial Library, East Haven until Nov. 15, and on line at http://exhibits.winchesterworkers.gnhlha.org.)
For a picture of Joan Cavanagh, director of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association, with Craig Gauthier, former president of Local 609 of the International Association of Machinists, visit the link below. They are holding one of the panels of an exhibit on Olin-Winchester labor history, outside Wells Fargo Bank in New Haven visit the link below
by Isabel L Skarzynski, Grad. Asst., Women’s Studies Program
Southern Connecticut State University’s Women’s Studies Program will be hosting a Social Justice Week event, “NDN Country and Indigenous Issues Today: Why They Matter to You,” about issues facing NDN (Native American) and Indigenous peoples today in the United States and the world.
Modeled after a mini Powwow, the event includes speaking, singing, dancing, drumming and informational exhibition booths. Topics include #NoDAPL (No Dakota Access Pipeline), cultural appropriation, native language preservation, Two-Spirit traditions and Indigenous earth mysticism.
Please join us on Nov. 15, from 5-7:30 p.m., on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University in the Adanti Student Center, Room 301, for an evening of learning and celebration for social justice.
Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from NDN and indigenous presenters and their allies from Connecticut.
For more information, please contact the Women’s Studies program at SCSU (203) 392-6133 or email [email protected]. 501 Crescent St., New Haven, CT 06515.
The Institute Library is proud to host the Listen Here! Short Story Reading Series. Join us for a night of classic short stories selected by the New Haven Review staff and read by the New Haven Theater Company cast members. Reading starts at 7 p.m., with a talk back at 8 p.m. exploring the stories’ background, meaning and dramatic interpretation. Also, freshly baked cookies and tea are available.
Free! Join us every third Tuesday of the month at the Institute Library, 847 Chapel St.
The next reading will be Nov. 15.
Our theme: “Recreation.”
Our stories: “Nobody in Hollywood” by Richard Bausch and “Hershel” by Judy Budnitz.
Please note the Institute Library is one flight up and not wheelchair accessible. For more information: http://www.institutelibrary.org.
It is New Haven’s own literary journal, founded in August 2007 to draw attention to the writing scene in the greater New Haven area. In its role as the literary heart of the Elm City, New Haven Review publishes essays, fiction, and poetry in print and on the web twice a year. Individual issues feature work from both local and national writers, placing them in dialogue. New Haven Review is also a program of the Institute Library.
But New Haven Review is so much more!
Its editors and contributors blog for its website about the arts and literature.
It features, hands down, the best theater reviewing in all of New Haven—covering nearly every play production from Long Wharf to Yale Rep to New Haven Theater Company to smaller independent productions.
It hosts author talks at The Institute Library by local writers.
It collaborates with New Haven Theater Company in the presentation of the Listen Here! Short Story Reading series the 3rd Tuesday night of each month.
It commonly throws for its subscribers the best winter party in town at the Institute Library.
Want to know more? Find us at http://newhavenreview.com and subscribe!
Thirty-five people protested outside of Wells Fargo Bank across from the New Haven Green on Oct. 20 because of the bank’s support of the Dakota Access pipeline.
Melinda Tuhus, organizer of New Haven Stands with Standing Rock, reports: ” …we shut down the bank for the last 10 minutes of the day… We got 25 more names for future work and handed out 100 flyers. We sang and chanted for quite awhile and local activist Norman Clement (Penobscot) spoke about his visit last month to Standing Rock. Afterward some of us discussed potential future actions, most likely around Thanksgiving.”
From the flyer at the protest:
Wells Fargo is a major investor in the Dakota Access pipeline, being built by Energy Transfer Partners at the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and on their historic territory in North Dakota. The tribe is leading a global campaign to stop the pipeline, which threatens their water source – the Missouri River – and that of millions of people downstream.
Wells Fargo is contributing $467 million to the $3.8 billion globally funded project; the bank needs to cut off its financial support for this pipeline. If you are a Wells Fargo customer, please ask the bank to pull its funding for the pipeline. You can back up your request by moving your money to a local bank or a credit union.
Thousands of indigenous “protectors” are putting their bodies on the line to stop the destructive fracked oil pipeline. Its 1,100-mile path would move 500,000 barrels a day of heavy oil across four states from North Dakota to Illinois, not only threatening the water but also – through its massive carbon emissions – contributing to the over-heating of the planet beyond its capacity to maintain life as we know it.
While the issue is tied up in court, construction continues, and the protectors are facing increasing arrests and more repressive police action in response to their militant but non-violent stance. They say this pipeline cannot and will not go forward, and we stand with them.
This Ginkgo tree is a gift to New Haven from Japan.
Jim Pandaru hold the umbrella for New Haven Peace Commission representative Al Marder. (photo: Aaron Goode)
It is a sapling survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, and was planted in the United Nations Peace Garden (Ella Grasso Boulevard and Legion Avenue) on Sept. 18 at the opening of the International Day of Peace celebration in the West River neighborhood.
“The CT State Budget: What is it? What can you do about it?” Friday, Nov. 18, from 9 a.m.-noon Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Ave., Room 2E, Hartford.
CABHN (CT Alliance for Basic Human Needs) invites you to its FREE annual Legislative Education Forum. Join Sen. Beth Bye, Rep. Toni Walker, legislative staff, advocates, and lobbyists to learn how the budget process works, when in the process one can have an impact, and the current state of CT’s budget. CABHN’s Legislative Education Series fills up fast so reserve your spot today!
Supporters of the Standing Rock water protectors in North Dakota are holding a second local action at one of the banks that’s helping to fund the Dakota Access pipeline.
They will be at the Wells Fargo bank branch on the corner of the New Haven Green at Church and Elm streets on Thursday, Oct. 20, from 4:30-5:30 p.m.
The 3rd Annual Contra Dance Fall Harvest Fundraiser with Billy Fischer will take place from 7 to 10:30 p.m. p.m. Oct. 21 at 1175 State St., New Haven to benefit New Haven Farms. The event will include “late night salsa” with Alisa’s House of Salsa. $15 adults, $9 youth. Buy tickets now at NewHavenFarms.org.
Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker of “Dirty Wars,” Jeremy Scahill will be the keynote speaker at Between The Lines/Squeaky Wheel Productions’ 25th anniversary event on Saturday, Oct. 8 at United Church on the Green, 270 Temple St., New Haven, from 2-4 p.m. He’ll address ongoing U.S. wars, drone warfare and other foreign policy issues facing the U.S. during this presidential election campaign and long after.
Advance tickets are $10/ $15 at the door. Ticket outlet for main event: Best Video Film and Cultural Center, 1842 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Online tickets available at BrownPaperTickets.com: BetweenTheLines25thAnniversary.brownpapertickets.com.
Democracy in Action Awards will also be presented to Barbara Fair, New Haven community activist, to The Dragonfly Climate Collective and to Unidad Latina en Acción.
Scahill is an award-winning investigative journalist with The Nation magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army,” about America’s outsourcing of its military. He is a two-time winner of the George Polk Award and producer and writer of the Academy Award-nominated documentary film “Dirty Wars,” based on his book. His latest book is “The Assassination Complex.”
After the talk, a reception and silent auction will be held in New Haven, $50/ticket. Please RSVP by Saturday, Oct. 1 by calling (203) 268-8446. We’ll give directions when you reserve and/or send check made payable to Squeaky Wheel Productions, P.O. Box 110176, Trumbull, CT 06611. Please include email and/or phone.
Families, group home residents and the dedicated state workers that serve them are uniting to fight the Connecticut Legislature and Gov. Dannel Malloy’s plan to privatize the Department of Developmental Disability Services. They are looking for support from the community and ask you to join their fight.
Tell Malloy and the State Legislature that there are other ways to balance the budget than off the backs of our most vulnerable citizens who cannot speak for themselves…there are other ways to balance the budget than to attack well-trained union workers and lower the wages of workers to below that of a living wage.
Based on testimony from a career case manager of thirty years who has worked in private group homes, critical therapeutic relationships will be severed when the turnover of workers dramatically increases due to lower wages associated with privatization. It was also reported that some specialized medical services now delivered in state run group homes will no longer be available in private group homes and residents in need would likely be transferred to a nursing home to receive these services.
Malloy and the State Legislature want to say that the money saved through privatization of group homes will be used to help get individuals off the waiting lists that have lingered there for years. However when asked directly for specific plans to implement this goal, none appear to be available.
They have turned a deaf ear to a union proposal to provide intensive home care services provided by state workers to those individuals on the waiting list (over 2,000 all together) who could most benefit from these services.
We know that ‘austerity’ does not benefit the majority of the people. Instead, let’s stop the endless wars, lower the bloated military budget and tax the wealthy according to their fair share in the wealthiest state in the nation.
