FALLS VILLAGE — Students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) watched a film about bullying as part of an effort to identify, discuss and eliminate such behavior.The film, “Finding Kind,” was shown on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 26. The 2009 documentary by Pepperdine University students Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson, chronicles the pair’s cross-country trip and their conversations with a wide and eclectic group of people, including psychologists, Dr. Phil, bullied teens and Idaho bikers.The film makes a reference to the 2010 case of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after being bullied at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. Six teenagers were charged with a variety of offenses; five were convicted and sentenced to probation and community service, and anti-bullying legislation was passed in the state legislature.Parsekian and Thompson’s interviews reveal a number of disconcerting truths: that girls as young as 10 refer to each other with words such as “bitch,” “slut,” “fat” or “ugly;” that women remember these insults and injuries for the rest of their lives; and that sometimes even the bullies grow up and are tormented by guilt for their actions.They also zero in on media — the barrage of images aimed at all women about how they should look and act, and the ubiquity of text messaging and Internet communication.One woman in the film notes that young girls “don’t go out to play, they sit and text,” and theorized that the lack of face-to-face contact makes it that much easier to fire off a demeaning message without considering the consequences.Matt Harnett, HVRHS principal, introduced the film. He said that even though the film is about women and girls, “the guys in the room are not off the hook.”He said that everyone in the room had experienced bullying, as a victim, a bully or a bystander.“We have to come together as a community and say ‘enough is enough.’ We start changing this today.”After the screening, Harnett returned to the front of the auditorium and repeated his earlier remark about the universality of bullying. He still remembers “word for word things said to me in the sixth- and seventh-grades. It sticks with you forever.”He asked the students to consider the following:“What can you do differently? The way things are doesn’t have to be the way it’s going to be. Your words are powerful, and when you hit ‘send’ you no longer have control.”“We’ve got to start taking better care of each other,” he said.Several students took the microphone. One girl said she wished more people could see the film. “Do we need to lose someone” before bullying is addressed, she asked. “We have amazing teachers and amazing kids. So do it!”A boy said that his peers are just as rough on each other as the girls. “Last year there were lots of times I didn’t want to go to school.”Another boy said he was initially picked on for being overweight. He reacted by becoming a bully himself.Then his grandparents died, he said, and he changed his attitude. “I realized you can’t take life for granted.”And a girl said the film brought back memories of a friend being bullied. “It disturbs me that people we’ve gone to school with for years can act that way.”About 50 parents attended another showing of “Finding Kind” the next evening.Harnett said that students approached him toward the end of the 2011-12 school year and expressed not only concern over bullying but the desire to do something about it. The film is the first of many activities on the subject of bullying planned for the 2012-13 school year.At the Oct. 1 meeting of the Region One Board of Education, Harnett said that the next activity in the anti-bullying effort would be “Operation Jungle Red,” which Harnett described as an anti-violence program that originated at Miami (Ohio) University.Students from Western Connecticut State University will come to HVRHS Oct. 25, and Harnett is taking a group to the university campus on Oct. 17.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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