25th Children's Circus of Middletown Registration Open

Oddfellows Playhouse is pleased to announce that registration is open for the 25th Children’s Circus of Middletown.  The Children's Circus offers an exceptionally unique program where the whole family and the entire whole community, can get involved in the making of something truly inspiring and special. 

The Children’s Circus of Middletown, part of the Kids Arts program, is a partnership between Oddfellows Playhouse, the City of Middletown and Middletown Commission of the Arts with critical support provided from the Middlesex United Way.  The 5-week, half day program begins on July 1 and runs until the performance on August 2.  During this time, students ages 8-14 are develop a variety of circus skills including juggling, unicycling, stilting, acrobatics, balance and clowning.  The program culminates in an outdoor circus performance in front of a crowd of nearly 1,500 people.  Each year the circus explores a different theme, with recent circuses focusing on “In Your Dreams”, “Eat’s All Good” and last year’s “The Circus of Science”.

Circus Director, Jason Leinwand, returns to bring the circus to life for the 25th time.  The program takes place at Macdonough School on Spring Street. 

For more information on the program and how to register, visit www.oddfellows.org or www.arts2go.org.  Registration forms are available at the City of Middletown Arts Office, Russell Library or Oddfellows Playhouse.  Registration is currently open. The program is $125 for Middletown residents and $250 for out of town students.  Busing is available for Middletown residents only.

Counselor positions are open, and applicants can download applications from the City of Middletown’s website.  Counselor applications are due by March 22 to the City Arts Office located at 100 Riverview Center.  Student registrations will be accepted until the program is full.

Oddfellows’ Children’s Circus of Middletown programming is made possible through the generous support of the City of Middletown, Middletown Commission on the Arts, Middlesex United Way and Stop and Shop Foundation. 

End of summer, summer vacation

From an anonymous poster

Summer's not over yet!

Normally I don’ take off any time from work in the summer - at least not in July and August. There are so many fun summer things to do right in Middletown and surrounding towns that I fill my free time in the summer with all those wonderful advantages of home. As an example, earlier in the summer I went to the Portland Brownstone Quarry Park for the first time ever and had a blast. This park is a ton of fun and you also get a pretty strenuous workout while you’re at it without even realizing it – until the sore muscles the next day. http://brownstonepark.com/ The entrance fee is a little pricey, but considering you can spend the entire day in there and bring your own food with you, it felt worth like it was worth the money.

In an unusual and much needed move this year I did take this past week off of work. It was the week of Labor Day - summer ain’t over yet! I got a few projects done around my house, began cooking my way through Mark Bittman’s latest cookbook, and spent some quality time with my spouse. We took a trip to Block Island, a place of extreme natural beauty with its dramatic cliffs and beach vegetation. A day trip is definitely possible although we decided to spend one night there. I did a little internet research, then splurged on a nice hotel room and checked the weather.. The forecast called for temperatures in the 60s, heavy winds and overcast skies with 50% chance of rain. “Nah, it’s going to be great, summer’s not over yet”, I said to myself in a delusional moment of wishful thinking. Well, the forecast was correct. The winds and choppy seas forced the cancellation of the high speed ferry run, so we ended up arriving later than planned and leaving earlier than planned too. We took advantage of this to make a stop in Mystic on the way, where we window shopped in the record store and the artsy boutiques by the drawbridge. Then we caught the later ferry which was like riding a roller coaster for an hour. I felt like I was in a movie set as water was crashing onto the decks, people were “oohing” and “ahhing” in chorus at the crashing waves, and, unfortunately, there were quite a few rounds of projectile vomiting going on. I kept my eyes shut the entire time, and the one or two times when I did open my eyes and glance up for a split second were regrettable. The ocean-sky horizon line appeared at a 45 degree angle which was so nauseating to see I promptly squeezed my eyes shut again. My husband was happy as can be and stood out on the deck until the crew shooed everyone inside. I made it off the ferry a little pale but all in once piece. Once on the island, the feeling of being in a movie set continued. I had never actually experienced a storm on the beach let alone a tiny island, and this is one magnificent sight to behold. The crashing waves were very dramatic and the grey skies against the water gave a monochrome or black and white type of effect that was really breathtaking. In our hotel room, we were excited to have cable television, a luxury that we forego at home, and we spent the evening watching VH1’s Top 100 Hip Hop songs of all time which we thoroughly and deeply enjoyed.

The next day, I was determined to swim in the ocean. It just felt like something that has to be done when you travel to a tiny island. I threw on my bathing suit, sprinted over to the water and charged in as fast as I possibly could. I promptly tripped on some rocks and an unseen indentation in the sand. I was still determined to swim but it was so much colder than I expected it to be that I made a hasty exit. I have a nice bruise as my only souvenir of this trip. After that little adventure, we chowed on some snacks we had brought with us and played cards in the quaint parlor area of the Inn for an hour or so while we listened to some slightly panicked Eurpoeans try to figure out how they were going to get back to the car in Orient Point, Long Island, since the ferry going there had been cancelled, and make it to a flight at JFK on time. We don’t know if they made it but they were on the same ferry that we were, headed to Point Judith in Rhode Island. We left on an earlier ferry because of the real threat that the later ferries may be cancelled and we didn’t want to get stuck on the island. In the time that it took us to walk over to the ferry, get our tickets, and board, we were pelted with cold rain and winds that we came unprepared for (due to my delusional need to hold onto summer). After that and then another roller coaster-ish ferry ride I had a newfound appreciation for a hot shower. Our mini vacation was not perfect, it was not as planned. Despite this, it was full of adventure and new experiences, beauty, and relaxation. For one night we didn’t have to make the bed, cook diner, wash the dishes or clean up after ourselves. We were together and we made the best of it.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part 2

Thanks to the two readers who have submitted photos/stories of the things they've done on summer vacation. Frankly, I was hoping for a broader response. One reader suggested that people are shy about informing the public when they'll be away from home due to all the recent break-ins. Certainly, a post-vacation anecdote or photo is certainly acceptable.

But let me try another focus. An additional request for wonderful things you discover in your journeys that you think might work well in Middletown - a kind of restaurant, a performance space, a riverfront development, an approach to transit, a type of retail, an interplay between town and gown. And don't limit yourself to these suggestions. If you find something great that Middletown ought to have let us know.

Vacation photos, stories and brainstorms to: mieyeed@gmail.com.

And while you are gone, we wish you were here.

Mystery Vacation Photo

Ed asked for vacation photos - here's one of my girls outside the Visitor Center at an Important Location in American Literature. Can anyone guess where they are? If it doesn't come to mind, try asking a teenager.

My Vacation with Kabouters In Middletown

Whether you're a Middletown resident vacationing out of town, or an out-of-towner vacationing in and around Middletown, we'd love to hear your story, and see your pictures. Drop us an email: mieyeed@gmail.com

Here's a vacation story from a Vermonter.

From Louise Mulier Sandberg
I live in central Vermont and on June 22 drove down I-91 to Middletown for my granddaughter's graduation from middle school on the 23rd. Aside from the graduation ceremony, which was happy and grand, I went with my son Stephen (aka fishmuscle) to attend a Common Council meeting on Monday evening, on Tuesday strolled around downtown a bit, briefly visited the incredible Kidcity Children's Museum and saw the outdoor display of gnomes celebrating the "right to dry" with clothes hanging on a clothesline. Having grown up in Holland where gnomes ("kabouters") were a real part of my childhood, I totally identified with Kidcity's gnomes, for they very much look like the little earthmen I remember! From there I spent a quality hour-and-a-half in the fabulous public library. There, I was happy to find a novel by one of my favorite authors, Dutch-born Jan de Hartog, a great writer who, persecuted by the Nazi's during World War II, fled to England (and eventually the U.S.A.), and switched from writing powerful Dutch to writing equally powerful English.

I spent the rest of my time in Middletown with my son and daughter-in-law and their wonderful daughter and son ages 13 and 8 at their mini-farm where they keep chickens, three young pigs, a milk goat and a tiny horse.

Anyone wondering what kind of vacation that was, well, it was great. Our 130-acre farm in Vermont is the kind of place people would spend much money to travel to in order to enjoy peace and quiet and boundless beauty, and by charming urban contrast Middletown gave me a wonderful change of pace and environment.

From 1909: Vacation Plans of Wesleyan Faculty

This is from the Hartford Courant of June 28, 1909.

In looking at the Hartford Courant in the spring and early summer of 1909, it has struck me that 100 years ago, virtually all of the news which the Hartford Courant printed about Middletown was about Wesleyan. Every day during the spring there seem to have been 3-6 stories about Wesleyan events (mostly baseball, track, and tennis matches, but some literary, scientific, or other events on campus). I have avoided those so far, mostly because they seemed to my 21st century sensibilities a bit, dare I say, "Shallow and Insular." However, the article below takes "Shallow and Insular" to such an extreme that I could not resist reprinting it in its entirety.

I have added the pictures, many of which are from a History of Sciences at Wesleyan, 1831 - 1942, by Burton H. Camp.


BUSY SUMMER FOR ACTING PRESIDENT RICE

Professor to Mingle Work with Recreation

Wesleyan's chapel bell has rung its last summons to chapel for the college year 'o8-'o9. The commencement activities bring to a close all university affairs, and vacation will begin. While the undergraduates scatter themselves around the country, indulging in all kinds of occupations, more or less mysterious except to the understanding of members of a college community, the Wesleyan professors will likewise regulate their day's activities in somewhat different fashion with the beginning of July.

This is the professors' side of vacation:
President-elect William A. Shanklin will assume control of university affairs the moment Acting President William N. Rice "pronounces benediction at commencement." He will consequently remain in Middletown practically the entire summer--planning for that "greater and better Wesleyan." Acting-President Rice will indulge in as much rest as his desire to "keep active" allows him. For the first few weeks he will rest at Waterville, N.H., in the White Mountains, doing at the same time work on the bulletin of the State Geology and Natural History Society. Later in the summer he will attend the meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Sciences at Winnipeg, Canada. While with the members of the association he will take some of the excursions into the Canadian Rockies and other geological points of interest in the Dominion.

Professor C.T. Winchester has not fully laid his plans. The month of July he will spend in Middletown, but in August he will take a short trip, probably about New England, but not very extended. Professor M.B. Crawford will leave the city about the middle of August to join the summer colony at Waterville, N.H., in the White Mountains.

Professor W.E. Mead will spend the summer abroad. Together with his wife, he will leave America on the North German Lloyd line on July 17 for Northern Italy, where the time remaining before college opens will be spent. The party will tour the mountain country of the region. Professor W.J. James will spend half of July and the whole of September in Middletown, but will be at Martha's Vineyard with his family the remainder of the time.

Professor F.W. Nicolson will spend July in Middletown and will cruise in his boat in August, with Lake Champlain as the objective point, most probably. In September he will go to Canada, where his family will have been from the middle of July. Professor L.O. Kuhns will spend the first part of the summer in Middletown, finishing some of his literary works. The remainder of the summer will be spent at Martha's Vineyard.

Professors W.C. Fisher and William A. Heidel have not laid their plans yet, but Professor Dodge and family will sail on the Rheinland of the Holland-American line to Amsterdam on July 5. He will spend most of the summer in France, but will probably tour England later. While abroad he will do research work on the psychological subject of "Fatigue."

Professor W.G. Cady will spend the month of July at work in the Wesleyan physics laboratory. For the remainder of the summer he will be at Kennebunk Beach, Me., where the family will occupy a cottage. Professor R. H. Fife will spend July at Wellsburg, Va. In September he will finish editing two new books concerned with the German department of the university. Professor B.H. Camp has not laid his plans yet, while Professor A.C. Armstrong's are "not ready to be announced."

Professor W.P. Bradley will spend three weeks of July with his family at Bridge Hampton, L.I., and the remainder of the month with Dr. Benedict at Machinsport, Me. In August he will be on the water and will spend September at Whitefield, N.H.

Professor H.W. Conn will work in the state biological laboratory in July and will lecture during the month at Round Lake, N.Y. In mid-August he will take up his summer home at North Woodstock, N.H. Professor K.P. Harrington also has a summer home at Woodstock.

Professor L.H. Howland will spend the summer at his mother's home in New Bedford, Mass. Professor J.M. VanVleck will summer at Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

Coach "Rose" Reiter will teach at the Harvard Summer School of Football during the summer, but will commute to and from West Newton, Mass., where his family will summer.
______________
N.B. As a Wesleyan professor, I can say with some confidence that few of the 2009 faculty see summer as a vacation, or go to the mountains or abroad for "the summer". Most are carrying out scholarly work; in the sciences this occurs in the labs on Church Street, where we are joined by many students. There are, however, a few who keep the spirit of 1909 alive and well by going to a "summer colony" in Nova Scotia; perhaps The Eye should resurrect the tradition of reporting the holiday departures of such local notables.