Inspiring artistic inspiration at the Art Nest in Wassaic
Left to right: Emi Night (Lead Educator), Luna Reynolds (Intern), Jill Winsby-Fein (Education Coordinator).
Natalia Zukerman
Latest News
Meredith Rollins, a Sharon resident, is the writer behind Malcolm Gladwell’s Pushkin Industries podcast, Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage. The series explores the acts of courage that earned the recipients the highest U.S. military award for bravery. Season two was released this summer and Rollins reveals that a third season is on its way.
Aly Morrissey
SHARON — After 20 years as a magazine editor with executive roles at publishing giants like Condé Nast and Hearst, Meredith Rollins never imagined she would become the creative force behind a military history podcast. But today, she spends her days writing about some of the most heroic veterans in United States history for “Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage,” a podcast produced by Malcolm Gladwell’s company, Pushkin Industries.
From her early days in book publishing to two decades in magazines and later a global content strategist for Weight Watchers, Rollins has built a long and varied career in storytelling.
“I’ve learned a lot with each career shift, but the higher I went up the masthead, the less it was about writing and editing,” said Rollins. “I missed the creative process.”
While the podcast isn’t her first writing project, it marks her first foray into audio storytelling.
“During the pandemic I used to listen to mostly true crime podcasts when I was doing the laundry, driving my kids somewhere or working in the garden,” she said.
Now Rollins gets to write a podcast, and approaches each episode with awe and a reporter’s curiosity.
After 30 years of friendship with Malcolm Gladwell, the pair decided to collaborate on a project that would combine their shared journalism roots with stories that celebrate bravery and courage.
“Malcolm approached me about a project, and he was looking for a subject that he believed would really bring people together in this fractured political time we’re going through,” said Rollins.
Enter “Medal of Honor.”
The podcast’s namesake is the highest U.S. military decoration for valor, awarded for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”
Each episode brings to life the story of a Medal of Honor recipient — often with the cinematic pacing and emotional resonance of a feature film.
Medal of Honor released its second season this summer, and production on a third season is underway. While Season One was narrated by Gladwell himself, Season Two introduced a new voice with firsthand experience. J.R. Martinez is a former U.S. Army soldier, author, motivational speaker and winner of Dancing with the Stars Season 13.
Writing for two very different narrators, Rollins said, has been both a challenge and a joy.
“As we’ve gotten to know each other and gotten deeper into this project together, I can almost predict how J.R. will react to certain moments,” she said. “He brings so much heart and humanity to the stories.”
Both her father and father-in-law served as Marines, but Rollins said military history was never top of mind until Gladwell pitched her the idea.
“The deeper you get into a subject you don’t know about, the more excited you get about it,” she said. “It’s been a way for me to learn about the incredible sacrifice woven into our country’s history.”
Rollins approaches each episode of Medal of Honor by looking first at the act of sacrifice itself, which she describes as “a moment that often happens in a flash.”
She dives deep into research, gathering biographical details from their upbringing and motivations to the circumstances that led them into combat. She then recreates the atmosphere of the conflict, setting the scene with vivid historical detail.
“These men would tell you they were just average guys,” said Rollins. “And if you believe that, then you have to believe we’re all capable of that same bravery or selflessness. It has really shown me the incredible courage we all have, and our ability to do right in the world.”
Keep ReadingShow less
125 years ago — November 1900
Mark Twain is all the rage at present and we wonder how long it will be before the public finds a new idol. We have had Dewey and Hobson but both “slopped over.” Let us hope that Mark will not do anything foolish to upset his popularity.
A thin coating of ice formed over a large part of Factory Pond Tuesday night for the first time this season.
About 200 tons of ore are being shipped in car loads from Kent Furnace to Copake Iron Works.
LIME ROCK — Last Saturday morning five hoboes left their nest among the warm car-wheel pits in the foundry and went in quest of the usual handout. At one house one of the pilgrims, after gulping a toothsome feed, sent in word to the “old man” requesting a cigar, but adding that there was no compulsion in the matter and no hard feelings would be harbored in case no cigar was handy. All this in a state amply provided with tramp laws. The “Weary Willies” have been too numerous hereabouts this season.
B.F. Hoyt has put in a long distance telephone. His call is 4-15.
Alden Green, who was best known around Litchfield County as the Norfolk “chair man,” having for the past 30 years made and peddled chairs in all parts of northwestern Connecticut, died in his home at Canaan Valley last week Wednesday morning at the age of 70 years. He was a Seven Day Adventist and a strict vegetarian and it is said did not know the taste of liquor or tobacco. For the past 30 years he lived without eating meat or fish of any kind and subsisted wholly on vegetables and fruit. He is survived by a widow who is also prominent in Advent circles.
Miles Roberts ate Turkey at his parents home in Canaan.
E.A. Eldredge has a very artistic and amusing frog show in his front windows. It attracts the attention of all who pass that way.
Following out a custom of years the Holley Manufacturing Co. on Wednesday presented every married man in their employ with a fine plump turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner.
The steam shovel has finished its work at State Line and the rails will soon be down. The railroad company will use the new Y for the switching and turning of trains.
The noon express train on Monday carried twenty five tons of turkeys. The birds were taken in at different points along the western end of the road and shipped east to supply the Thanksgiving trade.
Russell Miller has just equipped his residence with steam heat. The apparatus is one of the new ideas, is attached to the kitchen range instead of a furnace, thus one fire warms the house perfectly without interfering with the work of the range and uses no more coal.
100 years ago — November 1925
H. Roscoe Brinton is driving a new Paige car.
LIME ROCK — Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Metcalf have moved their sawmill to Ancram Lead Mines.
It is reported that out of town parties have bought all the Salisbury Iron Corp. property.
LIME ROCK — Mrs. Gillette received word from Bridgeport that her son, Charles Gillette, fell and broke his leg.
Dick Wilson and his men are giving the Hose House a new coat of paint which greatly improves its appearance.
A.C. Roberts had the misfortune to fall down the cellar stairs at the store on Monday night, receiving a broken thumb on his right hand and a bruise on the head. When starting to go down the stairs he stepped upon one of the store cats, causing him to lose his balance.
50 years ago — November 1975
A snowy owl that migrated to the Northwest Corner from the northern recesses of Canada and was observed by avid bird watchers in the area was reported dead this week. Death of the female snowy owl was attributed to natural causes by Robert Moeller, director of the Sharon Audubon Center. Moeller said the owl only weighed half of what it should have weighed, ruling out the likelihood of foul play in the death of the predatory bird. Moeller said the snowy owl was found lying dead on a woodpile by a farmer.
Work is expected to start soon on a new larger water line from Route 44 in the center of Lakeville up Montgomery Street to the intersection of Wells Hill Road.
NORFOLK — Funny thing about cats. You often hear tales about them showing precognition or extra-sensory perception, and here is a tale that seems to indicate something of the sort. Last September Bart VanWhy, son of Mr. and Mrs. John VanWhy of Greenwoods Road, went off to St. Bonaventure College in Olean, N.Y. Within a week the black and white family cat, Mono, disappeared. Despite an extensive search and food left outdoors, Mono remained among the missing. Bart feared he had been killed. Last Friday Bart was scheduled to return home for Thanksgiving. At 6 p.m., five hours before he arrived, Mono appeared on the premises, sleek and well-fed, but with no explanation of where he had been or why he had returned. Bart could scarcely believe it, and now the VanWhys are wondering what will happen when he goes back to college.
25 years ago — November 2000
SHARON — SBA Inc., at the request of the Planning and Zoning Commission, will fly a demonstration balloon at 477 Route 7 Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and 2, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather and wind conditions permitting. The balloon is being flown in connection with SBA’s application to construct a 150-foot wireless telecommunications facility at that site.
Following a unanimous vote to name the Rev. Scott Cady moderator of Cornwall’s town meeting Saturday night, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway, thinking nationally, asked “Anyone want a recount?”
CANAAN — The Sand Road property which Phoenix Horizon Corp. tried to develop into a cluster housing site appears destined to remain “as is.” Three parcels of land were sold off last week, while a fourth and final piece is under contract. John and Helen Mahoney of Canaan bought the stone house that sits at the bottom of the hillside property, along with an additional 20 acres. Klemm Real Estate agent Michael Conlogue said the Mahoneys closed last week on two of the four subdivisions of the 66-acre property. Their plans are to renovate the home and move there.
The Sunday in the Country Crew, including radio station WQQQ’s Bob Chatfield, “NASCAR” Dave MacMillen, Randy “The Commander” Christensen and “Nitro” Dave Watts, along with many other volunteers, collected $9,000 in cash and donations that will feed at least 1,000 people this Thanksgiving.
These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.
Keep ReadingShow less
Thus far there have been no edicts to the Smithsonian regarding the history, the celebration of Thanksgiving. In 1621, it continues to be widely told, the pilgrims and neighboring indigenous Indians gathered together for a bountiful feast paying tribute to a rich harvest – the product of their mutuality, their cooperation, their joint efforts to stave off starvation. Thanksgiving for 424 years has stood as a national holiday of gratitude and community.
George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving to be celebrated on November 26, 1799. Subsequent presidents issued similar proclamations while designating alternative dates. On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November thus commencing our current Thanksgiving holiday. Yet some toying with dates interceded –as in 1939, Franklin Roosevelt shifted Thanksgiving to the second Thursday of November, 16 states for two years refused to make the change. In 1941, Congress passed a resolution making Thanksgiving, from then onward, the fourth Thursday of November.
Annual, long lasting and not without some contention, Thanksgiving along with the Fourth of July units our nation in celebration, festive gatherings, great food, fond family and friends, and abundant goodwill.
Numerous other nations celebrate a thanksgiving holiday or harvest feast – across the globe- but the US and its northern neighbor – Canada- are of the few where Thanksgiving Day is an official holiday – for gratitude and community. Canada’s holiday dates from 1879, is celebrated on the second Monday of October and it is rumored that turkey was initially served at Thanksgiving in Canada.
It pleases me that two of our US’s national holidays are days that informally convene people in family/friend gatherings, are hearty, have traditional foods (I am for turkey and cranberry sauce over hot dogs and burgers), and are of a non-religious nature – are national holidays, fully inclusive.
One doesn’t need to be of the Mayflower, or worship in a particular manner to be fully immersed in this holiday that for a day each year gives thanks, offers gratitude for blessings, acknowledges the power of collaboration, of being helpful to and with others.
For me particularly, 2025 is year of gratitude, thankfulness as I spent a month in hospital while a complex heart issue was ever so slowly diagnosed for treatment – a death defying experience. Daily I would awaken in hospital to a plethora of persons: professionals, aids, service folk who tended my needs, cared for me, kept me alive. Seemingly there were hundreds of these generous, thoughtful health care providers focused on my health and comfort. Not all were entertaining, not each charming but all were seriously in attendance. I am grateful, appreciative of those who serve, for those who serve not with resentment but with pride and dedication. It is important to have these images of fellow citizens in this nation when what is too often displayed is cruelty and what is spoken can be despicable.
My experience is the American experience. Persons of all bents, colors and affluence offer helping hands daily, particularly in emergencies. Media blitz keeps us apprised of the rescues, self-endangering acts of people who happened-to-be-on-the-scene.
These heroes aren’t scripted, aren’t trained, aren’t interested in fame. These are everyday Americans living in a nation where lending a helping hand is a national trait, a norm, a value. These are folks who don’t need to be told to act, aren’t threatened into helping – they are there, there is a crisis, they act.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Be of good cheer, be pleased to be part of your Thanksgiving gathering, be appreciative of living in a nation where it is the norm to be present and helpful, where cruelty, hatred and ridicule are not the norm but startling still.
Kathy Herald-Marlowe lives in Sharon.
Keep ReadingShow less
While it’s not likely to be widely understood, there may be a profound lesson in this week’s rejection by the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) of the bid by the South Central Regional Water Authority to acquire Aquarion Water Co.
The lesson is that most people involved with the issue concluded that ordinary government regulation of privately owned utilities is better than government’s direct operation of them.
The water authority is a state government agency providing water to 15 towns in the New Haven area. It was established by state law in 1977 and three years later acquired the New Haven Water Co.
Aquarion is the biggest water utility in Connecticut, serving 60 towns and about 700,000 people, and is a subsidiary of the state’s largest electric utility, Eversource. Like Eversource, Aquarion’s rates and services are regulated by PURA.
The big complaint against the regional water authority’s acquisition of Aquarion was that it might eliminate state government’s control over the water company -- even though the water authority is itself part of state government, with the water authority’s directors appointed by representatives of the municipalities the authority serves.
As long as Aquarion is a privately owned utility, PURA will regulate it. But if a government agency acquires Aquarion, PURA’s regulation would cease and the water authority could set rates for its greatly expanded service area however it wanted.
If a government agency acquired Aquarion, municipal property taxes on the utility -- revenue to the towns the company serves -- would cease as well.
The regional water authority claimed that as a government agency that doesn’t have to make a profit for investors, it could serve customers less expensively than Aquarion can. But critics noted that the authority was going to pay Eversource $2.4 billion for Aquarion and that much of the purchase money would be borrowed and thus incur huge interest costs for the authority, costs the authority almost certainly would recover through higher water charges to customers.
Most people involved with the issue came to think that if the water authority acquired Aquarion, its directors naturally would have more loyalty to the authority itself than to its customers, and that customers would be better protected by PURA. After all, PURA is often in the spotlight and is sensitive to utility customers, but the water authority board is seldom watched by anyone.
Leaders of the Republican minority in the General Assembly applauded rejection of the water authority’s bid for Aquarion.
Governor Lamont seemed to applaud it too, noting that interest expense on the purchase money borrowed by the water authority almost surely would drive up water prices. But last year the governor signed the legislation authorizing the authority to take over Aquarion. How, last year, did the governor think the water authority would repay the borrowed purchase money?
State Attorney General William Tong’s comment on the defeat of the acquisition was strange as well.
“This deal was a costly loser for Connecticut families and PURA was right to reject it,” Tong said. “Eversource desperately wanted to offload Aquarion, and they concocted this maneuver to extract as much cash as possible by guaranteeing the new entity free rein to jack up rates. Eversource is free to find a new buyer but should understand that any new attempt to end public regulatory oversight over water bills for hundreds of thousands of Connecticut families is going to be a non-starter here.”
But Tong is a Democrat and the bill authorizing Eversource’s supposed scheme to “offload” Aquarion on the water authority was abruptly foisted on the General Assembly by his own party’s legislative leaders over Republican opposition during a special session last year. As they often do in special sessions, Democratic leaders forced the bill through without normal review and public hearing, which might have avoided a lot of wasted time.
This high-handedness didn’t seem to bother Tong back then, and this week, like the governor, he conveniently seemed to forget where the enabling act came from.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years.
Keep ReadingShow less
loading
