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NORTH CANAAN — In an effort to improve pedestrian safety, accessible crosswalk landings and flashing beacons are coming to Railroad Street (Route 7).
Connecticut Department of Transportation Engineering Administrator Mark Carlino informed North Canaan Town Hall of the plans April 22.
In a letter to First Selectman Brian Ohler, Carlino stated a project is being initiated to install two rectangular rapid flashing beacons and ADA compliant sidewalk ramps at the mid-block crosswalk on Railroad Street.
The crosswalk in question is between Olde School Deli and Industry Kitchen & Bar. At present, the crosswalk abuts a tall curb.
Improvements were initially proposed when Ohler, Carlino, CTDOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto and State Senator Stephen Harding, R-30, toured the location April 4.
Beginning in the next two months, North Canaan will coordinate with state traffic engineering staff to plan the project.
CTDOT will be completing the work “and providing the funding themselves,” Ohler explained.
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Wes Allyn slides safely into second, April 16.
Photo by Riley Klein
FALLS VILLAGE — Housatonic Valley Regional High School varsity baseball won big at home Wednesday, April 16, with a 15-3 win against Terryville High School.
Housatonic performed well on both sides of the ball. Offensively, HVRHS batters combined for 12 RBIs and seven stolen bases.
Defensively, the Mountaineers played a bullpen game and swapped pitchers at the top of each inning. Together. Wes Allyn, Carson Riva, Chris Race, Anthony Foley and Dan Moran threw seven strikeouts to win by mercy rule after five innings.
Anthony Foley logged 2 RBIs against Terryville April 16.Photo by Riley Klein
The game was played during spring break, resulting in limited rosters for both teams. Several HVRHS players went on the school trip to Europe and were touring Siena, Italy at game time.
Conditions back home in Falls Village were chilly. The sun peaked through for a moment or two, but otherwise it was overcast and 46 degrees with high winds.
Allyn pitched the first inning and held Terryville scoreless. In the bottom for the first, Foley singled and Race got walked before Hunter Conklin brought them both home on a 2 RBI double.
Carson Riva threw two strikeouts when he pitched the second inning against Terryville.Photo by Riley Klein
Riva pitched the second inning and let up one run. Offensively, HVRHS loaded the bases early in the bottom of the second and scored four runs before the inning was out.
Race brought the heat in the third inning and put the Terryville batters out in order. HVRHS did not score in the bottom of the third and score remained 6-1.
Foley pitched the fourth inning and threw two strikeouts. A series of errors in the infield loaded the bases, but Foley got out of the inning letting up just one run. HVRHS added to the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning with nine more runs.
Moran stepped to the mound for the fifth inning. One run scored, but a strikeout and two putouts ended the game by mercy rule —up by 10 or more after five innings.
From left, Wes Allyn, Anthony Foley and Dan Moran each pitched one inning in the 15-3 win April 16.Photo by Riley Klein
Offensively, Chris Race led HVRHS with 4 RBIs. Hunter Conklin, Aidan Miller, Logan Labshere and Anthony Foley each had 2 RBIs.
For Terryville, Aiden Legassey led the team on offense with 1 RBI. Jack Rioux batted 2-for-2 and Ethan Bilodeau hit 2-for-3.
Housatonic’s season record improved to 2-3 and Terryville moved to 1-3.
The Mountaineers play the next four games on the road before returning home May 1 at 4 p.m. for a non-league game against O’Brien Technical High School.
Hunter Conklin celebrates on second after hitting a 2 RBI double in the first inning.Photo by Riley Klein
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Lily Al-Nemri, founder and owner, and artistic director and painter Rudy Vavra at Tyte medispa and gallery in Millbrook.
Natalia Zukerman
The painter Rudy Vavra once created floor collages in Texas. You could, in theory, lie on them. Now, years later and much farther north, his work graces the walls of a medispa in Millbrook, New York where he also serves as the artistic director. You can still lie down, just not on the art. Instead, you might be undergoing an EmFace non-surgical facelift while surrounded by twenty-two of Vavra’s paintings.
The space, Tyte Medispa in Millbrook, is equal parts gallery and treatment center, the brainchild of Lily Al-Nemri, a medical aesthetician and now gallery owner. She also owns the nail salon, Bryte, down the street on Franklin Avenue. A few years ago, feeling she was outgrowing that space, she looked to expand and, just a few blocks away, found this rather sprawling maze of rooms with the gallery that now inhabits the grand central ballroom. “This used to be a gym,” she said. “It was way more than I was looking for, but I went for it.”
Vavra, a self-professed “painter’s painter,” has spent decades layering pigment in his barn-turned-studio in Milan, New York. “I find paintings as much as I make them,” he mused. “Some happen quickly, others are slow.” Of this latest collection, he said, “Some people call them busy. I think they’re slow.” His marks accumulate with a kind of devotional persistence, like petals left at a shrine. “A while ago, I saw a photographic image of a shrine,” Vavra said. “I don’t know if it was a Buddhist shrine or what, but there were colors on the ground all around it, and I realized they were the stains of flowers left in the worship. That’s very similar to the way I paint.”
The collection of paintings on view at Tyte — some as large as a shrine — are meditations on color, inviting the viewer to slow down. Or speed up. Whether viewers are activated or soothed by the images is neither Vavra’s intention nor within his control. Still, he said that watching people interact with the work has been a real treat. “Now that I have my paintings here, I get to see them all together,” he said. “It’s only when they’re all together that I see how they talk to each other. It’s interesting to see people come in and go to have a treatment and come out. It’s a very interesting connection.”
And what is the connection? What could be a disjointed pairing — aesthetics and aesthetic medicine — has become, improbably, a perfectly logical continuum. “They’re related in a sense,” Vavra said.
Aly Morrissey
Al-Nemri, a former radiologist who taught for over a decade at Westchester Community College, is no stranger to layering, precision, or the quiet rigor of care. Her incredible menu of services — Botox, body contouring, pelvic floor therapies — are the cutting edge of the industry. Of Vavra, Al-Nemri said, “I fell in love with his work, and we just hit it off.” It’s a kind of kismet that seems to hover over the place. Pilates mat classes take place twice a week in the main gallery space and both Al-Nemri and Vavra have loved watching clients pause, eyes caught by a stripe of cerulean or a vibrating cluster of brushstrokes. “Something will catch their eye,” said Vavra. “They’re looking for something in it.”
So, this gallery-meets-spa (or is it the other way around?) has plans. Vavra will be curating six shows a year. Laurie Adams’s photographs will be hung in June, a group show of local artists will share the space in July and August, and a Fall show will feature twenty women artists, which Vavra is eager to anchor with a piece by Judy Pfaff. “There’s nothing like this on this side of the county,” he said of the light drenched space. “It’s been a bit sleepier here. We want to wake it up.”
He means it kindly; sleep certainly has its place. But here in Millbrook, amid the low drone of machines designed to rejuvenate, something unexpected has emerged. Perhaps that’s what both Al-Nemri and Vavra are really after — not the quick fix or the final image, but the suspended moment, the long look. A face seen anew. A painting revealed slowly, in silence.
As for Vavra’s curatorial process? “I just unpack the paintings, lean them against the wall, and look,” he said. “Eighty percent of the time, they’re already where they’re supposed to be.”
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Bias exists in all facets of life, but Shoumita Dasgupta has focused the behavior on one particular discipline. In her book “Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins: Lessons on Belonging for Our DNA,” she talks about the need for inclusivity in the field of science.
Dasgupta, a geneticist and professor of medicine and assistant dean of diversity and inclusion at Boston University, will be holding a book talk on Thursday, April 17 at 6:30 p.m. at The Colonial Theatre in North Canaan.
The daughter of Bengali parents who came to the United States in the 1970s so her father could pursue an education in science and seek “the American dream,” Dasgupta remembers her childhood in central Pennsylvania. As the child of immigrants, she was able to fit in with others like herself, but was viewed as an outsider by others. Those experiences sparked her life-long interest in the area of equality and diversity.
Dasgupta went on to embark on an educational path, earning a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and both a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of California.
In discussing the topic of her book, Dasgupta said in science, like any other type of society, there is some inclusion and some not. That realization has helped her acclimate to being comfortable in her own skin, which in turn, provides her with mentoring tools when dealing with her students. Her hope is to make it easier for others who don’t identify with a major group.
Dasgupta explained that she has been teaching a course about inclusivity with medical and Ph.D. students in which various topics such as sex/gender, biology and disabilities are discussed. She found the curriculum led to meaningful conversations and that what started as an anti-racist genetics project shifted to one of anti-oppression.
Provided
An editor, learning about the class, suggested she put the topics all together in a book. Her vision was to highlight the importance of bringing people together with a historical perspective and while honoring that history, hoping mistakes that were made aren’t repeated.
Talking about history, Dasgupta said science began centuries ago as a hobby for the upper echelons of society who had money to pursue their interests. This hierarchical structure led to almost predetermined outcomes that were often flawed, such as a belief that race was the reason for particular medical issues. She said that’s what oppressive science looks like now.
Dasgupta said science is a social structure and there is a need to check individual biases so as not to promote further harm. Using the term “virus of bias,” she said education is needed to overcome this way of thinking. She also fears the potential misuse of technology and the need to ensure its proper use before it’s released into society.
Dasgupta hopes a takeaway from her book is that people see the commonality among populations. She is also hopeful that all people can learn from one other.
To reserve tickets, visit: www.canaancolonial.com
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