One Text Message Can Save You Money on Your Medicine!

Now, you can text the word “family” to 700700 to save up to 75% on the cost of your prescription medicine and get a free FamilyWize Prescription Discount Card sent to your cell phone by text. Then simply show the text to your pharmacist and they will automatically apply the FamilyWize discount to the cost of your medicine. And you can help everyone you know by forwarding on the information.

By using FamilyWize, consumers can get medication prices close to those offered to large insurance companies and employers. Anyone can use the card, regardless of age, income, or employment level. While those who do not have health insurance will receive the biggest discount, others can also benefit. The FamilyWize card does not reduce the cost of medications for which you have a copay, but it may reduce the cost of medications not covered by your insurance.

There are still more than 80 million people in the United States, in every community, large and small, that have no health insurance or need help to buy prescription medicine not covered by their health plan. “Technology makes it possible for us to help a lot more people, much more quickly.” said Dan Barnes, Chief Executive and Co-Chair of FamilyWize. “It’s really incredible how cell phones, the Internet, Facebook and Twitter can make getting help so much easier and faster.”

You can also get a free FamilyWize card with a click of a mouse at www.middlesexunitedway.org./familywize or the new FamilyWize facebook page at www.facebook.com/familywize.

Middlesex United Way and FamilyWize have already saved people living and working in Middlesex County more than $200,000 since 2009 on the cost of their medicine. You can help spread the word by informing your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about this important and completely free assistance that can help struggling families meet the costs of living.

ABOUT MIDDLESEX UNITED WAY
Middlesex United Way is advancing the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all. Our focus is on education, income, health and housing – the building blocks for a good quality of life. United Way recruits people and organizations that bring the passion, expertise, and resources needed to get things done. You are invited to be part of the change by giving, advocating and volunteering. That’s what it means to Live United.

Middlesex United Way is a locally-based organization serving the towns of Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Middlefield, Middletown, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook.

ABOUT THE FAMILYWIZE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
The FamilyWize Community Service Partnership was established in the fall of 2005 to help people get the medicine they need.. Today, more than 1,000 participating United Ways and America’s Promise Alliance Partners in all 50 states coordinate the local distribution of the free FamilyWize prescription drug discount cards which lower the cost of medicine by up to 75% and  make it more affordable.. By April 2012, the free FamilyWize cards have helped more than 4 million people save over $345 million. For more information, visit www.FamilyWize.org.

Artists for World Peace Award Scholarships

Artist for World Peace Scholarship event. From left to right are; Mike Bellabuono, Andrew Moore, Priscilla Harnesk, Meghan Garrity, Justin Carbonella, Wendy Black-Nasta, Ava Varszegi, Jennifer Lia, Erin DeLeon and Matt Lesser


The Scholarship Committee is comprised of Artists for World Peace founder Wendy Black-Nasta and Board member Jennifer Lia, Middletown Teen Theater Director Ali Sinacrope, Middletown High School art teacher Charlotte McCoid, Oddfellows Playhouse Executive Director Matt Pugliese, Middletown Youth Service Coordinator Justin Carbonella and Citizen Bank Manager Glen Taylor. The committee is chaired by Priscilla Harnesk.
Artists for World Peace was presented with study results conducted by Professor Rob Rosenthal’s Wesleyan University sociology students. The study found that there is a great economic divide in resources for students pursuing the arts. Students with greater economic resources are at a higher advantage; having the ability to participate in private lessons and purchase supplies. Artists for World Peace decided to help level the playing field by providing scholarships for items like lessons and materials to students residing in Middletown and going on to pursue higher education in the arts. Applicants showed involvement in community service, the arts, and financial need. This is the first year the award was given out, and the group hopes to make it an annual event.

Middletown Garden Club To Offer Plants At Wadsworth Mansion Open Air Market

The Middletown Garden Club will have a fall plant sale as part of the Wadsworth Mansion Open Air Market, Sunday, August 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Mansion, 421 Wadsworth St.

Admission to the Market is free and the event takes place rain or shine.

The club will be offering a variety of usual and unusual plants for the fall garden and landscape as well as divisions from members’ gardens. Shoppers can expect to find a selection of glorious perennials, including grasses and naturalizing mums. The club will also offer a selection of annuals for refreshing fall planters.

Bargain hunters should arrive early to shop the divisions section, where “tried and true” plants will be offered at a fraction of garden nursery prices. Club members will be on hand to offer advice on where to plant and what to expect from the divisions.

Whether you are adding to your fall landscape or planting with next year in mind, this sale is a must. Mid-August through mid-September brings perfect planting weather for many favorite New England plants.

Applause for Parking, Some Love for Middletown

A friend who lives in morbidly boring Farmington once accused me of being a “booster” for Middletown. I had never thought of myself as such, since my normal attitude is one of deep cynicism. Only someone brought up in Ohio during the Eisenhower era can understand how thoroughly I rejected all things boosterish.

But, inevitably, I had to admit that perhaps I am fond of my adopted home town. When I moved to Middletown in the early 70’s, there were still people who thought “going to Middletown” was a euphemism for being incarcerated at CVH. Others pointed out the lingering aroma of hot rubber, apparently a reference to a long-gone rubber factory.

For many years, I worked in other cities, such as Meriden, Wallingford and East Hartford. Rarely did I come home and announce that some fun thing was happening in one of those places. And it wasn’t laziness that led me to plays or films at Wesleyan, or music at the Buttonwood Tree. We do venture out to TheaterWorks and the University of Hartford, or even, under extreme motivation, to Northampton.

Many readers won’t remember a time when Middletown’s claim to restaurant fame was restricted to O’Rourke’s Diner, La Boca and Alfredo’s Riverside. There are still occasions, when out in the greater world, that I find myself answering queries about what the food was like at Alfredo’s – and I nearly weep at the memory of those bargain lobster nights, not to mention the marinara sauce and the escarole-and-bean soup that I have never been able to replicate at home.

Today, Middletown has a downtown that is the envy of cities and towns, not just in Connecticut, but all over New England. There is a mix of retail, albeit weighted too heavily toward food, which draws visitors from throughout the area. There is entertainment practically all the time, and it isn’t just eggheady plays at Wesleyan or bread and circuses for the motorcycle crowd.

And, although I often invite friends from other towns to join us for events such as Middnight on Main or the Open Air Market at Wadsworth Mansion, I am often surprised at how far people come to visit our town. The summer concert series at the Mansion obviously draws from out of town – there just aren’t that many people in Middletown!

All this, however, is just an extremely wordy preamble to an amazing exchange of comments heard recently on the Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR. Guests were bashing two of Connecticut’s leading cities, New Haven and West Hartford, for their regressive, even Police State tactics regarding parking. A meter maid’s action was described as one of “Dickensian malevolence.”

But Middletown – ah, Middletown! Middletown’s meters provide parkers with the first ten minutes for free.  As Colin retailed this story, his guests raved about Middletown: “West Hartford could learn something from the fine people of Middletown.”   “Middletown wants to accommodate everybody.”  “The next time I go to West Hartford, I’m going to park in Middletown.”  You can listen to the whole show here, but the discussion of Middletown happens about a half hour into the show.

I have to confess that I was only vaguely aware of the free ten minutes policy – when I put money in a Main Street meter on Friday, I saw the extra time pop up, but had no idea it was intentional. Just when I thought I had read every word ever written on Middletown’s endlessly controversial parking policy!

So, let me net out this valentine: Middletown has a thriving downtown, it has terrific – often very reasonable – food, something for absolutely everyone to do, and it has a more rational and civil parking policy than West Hartford or New Haven. A last factoid I learned from listening to the radio: both New Haven and West Hartford charge for street parking well into the evening – like 10 p.m.!

So, the next time you park downtown – for free – at 5:50 p.m., think about how much you would be paying if you had gone to one of those other cities nearby.

Popcorn by The Colonel # 5.1

Sticks Nix Hick Pix, Occupy Hollywood

0 “Teddy Kennedy has all the charm of three hundred pounds of condemned veal.” --Gore Vidal. The Colonel probably just violated de mortuis nil nisi bonum twice.

1 Psychological disorder characterized by compulsive behavior and sexual confusion: OC-DC.

2 Just wondering: Is there an intellectually rigorous way in close cases to distinguish fiction from non-fiction? Is there a practical rule-of-thumb other than just looking to see which New York Times list the book is on?  

[Okay, this is not censorship; I just want to say that the ISBN -- International Standard Book Number -- assigned before publication of a book tells whether it's fiction or nonfiction.] 

3 In the same vein, is there an intellectually rigorous or even a practical way to distinguish prose from poetry? For example, which was Hamlet’s soliloquy? (The real purpose of this paragraph is to show that The Colonel can spell "soliloquy." God bless spell check, though it is truly mindless.) 

[Okay, not-censorship again: all of Shakespeare is poetry, even "Exit, chased by a bear." The only exception is his will, in which he left his wife his second-best bed. That wasn't poetry; it was just bogus. Don't get your dander up -- I didn't black out anything this time, not even the Gore Vidal thing, which to your small credit, you seem to realize is tasteless.]

4 “Colons: How the New Science of Punctuation Has Changed Our Book Titles” by James K. Lileks and Evan E. Science.

5 Some quantum mechanics concepts are so counterintuitive, so utterly foreign to everyday experience that they cannot be expressed in prose or even in poetry, but only in interpretive dance. No nudity, please, we’re prudish.

6 Credit where it’s due: thanks to a Hartford Courant story on The Middletown Eye's über-reporter and polypractiker Stephen Devoto, The Colonel found out why Stephen uses the “fishmuscle” moniker, without having to actually ask him. Short answer: fish are his thing, especially their muscles.

7 Never-to-be-forgotten facts: (a) The moon is much smaller than the earth but it is also much farther away. (b) Phurba Dorje, the Tibetan-born sherpa who led Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the Moon in 1969, died peacefully in his Florida apartment on Monday, April 27, 2009.

8 If companies had sponsored novelists back in the day, the American canon might today include a book named “Absolut! Absolut!”

9 “Coke-Sponsored Expedition Finds Evidence of Dasani on Mars.” --The Onion, America's Finest News Source.

Tenth Open Air Market and Festival at the Wadsworth Mansion

Middletown, CT Sunday August 26, 2012 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

As the sultry summer slides towards fall it is once again time to celebrate
the bounties of Connecticut. The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate,
421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown is hosting their tenth annual Open Air
Market and Festival on Sunday August 26, 2012. The Festival will be open
to the public from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. rain or shine. The event is free.
The historic Mansion will transform its 700 foot vista into a marketplace
and festival where a variety of vendors will gather to sell their Connecticut
grown or made products. One can stroll from tent to tent purchasing fresh
produce, fruit, cheese, breads and prepared foods. Local artisans, such as
potters, painters, and jewelers have been invited to sell their work. Visitors
will be encouraged to lounge on the lawn with lunch and listen to live music
performed on the patio. Families can bring their children and spend the day.
It will be a day to discover the Wadsworth Mansion, enjoy music and art,
and experience the tradition of shopping at an open-air market.

Over eighty Connecticut vendors will be participating this year including:
Cold Goats Farm, The Farmers Cow, Cato Corner Cheese, Hometown
Bakery, Wendy Black Nasta Jewelry, and Rustica Ornamentals.

Children’s and musical entertainment will be featured throughout the day.
The Middletown Commission on the Arts will be sponsoring the musical
entertainment. The Middletown Symphonic Band will play from 10 a.m. to
11:45 a.m. and Joey Milardo and the Musical Cavaliers will entertain from
12:00-1:45 p.m. Tune Chic will perform from 2:00- 4:00 p.m. There will
be horse drawn carriage rides by Allegra Farms from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Along the vista there will be face painting from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
Docent-led historical tours will be given by the Friends of Long Hill Estate
throughout the day.

Convenient shuttle parking will be available from Snow School. Additional
parking is available at Mercy High School. For a complete listing of
performers and vendors visit www.wadsworthmansion.com.
xxx

The following legal notice is from 75 years ago today, appearing in the Hartford Courant on August 19th, 1937. Prohibition ended in 1932, but there were (and still are) tight controls on liquor licenses, and in many cases the public was (and is) informed about new liquor
The following legal notice is from 75 years ago today, appearing in the Hartford Courant on August 19th, 1937. Prohibition ended in 1932, but there were (and still are) tight controls on liquor licenses, and in many cases the public was (and is) informed about new liquor licenses.
4 Main Street is currently at the intersection of Main and Crescent Street, near Middlesex Hospital.
----------

Video - Live Music at Farmers Market

Here's a snippet of live music by Greg and Shaun at this week's North End Farmers Market. They sounded great, so watch the clip.

The North End Farmers Market is every Friday 10AM to 2PM through mid-October. It's located at the corner of Grand Street and Main Street in front of ION Grocery Store.

ZviDance presents "Zoom" at CFA Theater

Friday, September 14 & Saturday, September 15 at 8pm
CFA Theater
Connecticut Premiere

 

"One does not just watch a dance by Zvi Gotheiner. One enters a world with its own internal logic, a sensual, organic world of movement, language and images where one is pulled along by currents unseen and inevitable."
—Dance Magazine

A collaborative New York-based artist alliance led by the choreographic vision of Israeli-born Zvi Gotheiner, ZviDance creates stirring works that meld movement genres into a distinct dance vocabulary that has immersed crowds into the depths of the human experience for over twenty years. At Wesleyan, ZviDance presents the Connecticut premiere of the interactive piece Zoom (2010), which harnesses the lively energy of the democratization of social networking and shatters the wall between the audience and performers.  The company integrates audience cell-phone photos and texts into real-time video collages projected into the theater that serve as a backdrop to an engaging and surprising evening of dance.
Pre-performance talk with Zvi Gotheiner, Artistic Director of ZviDance, on Friday, September 14 at 7:30pm in CFA Hall.

Tickets are $23 for the general public; $19 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty & staff, and non-Wesleyan students; and $6 for Wesleyan students. Click here to purchase tickets online for Friday or Saturday.

Coffee & Danish Meet & Greet with Congressional Nominee

NAUGATUCK, CONN – August 14: Wayne Winsley, Republican candidate to represent all of the citizens
of CT’s 3rd Congressional District, will hold a Coffee and Danish meet and greet event.

Saturday August 18th
10:00am till Noon
At
Michael’s Gourmet Deli
83 Broad Street Middletown, CT 06457

Meet the future Congressman for CT’s 3rd District, ask you questions, find out where he
stands on the issues important to Connecticut families.

Invest in the campaign to Restore the Promise of America

All citizens are urged to attend. No minimum donation required but all contributions will
be gratefully accepted.

Bysiewicz Easily Carries Her Home Town

Our city supported its native candidate, Susan Bysiewicz, in her quest to gain the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Joe Lieberman. Bysiewicz won 53.7% of the vote in Middletown. Statewide, she lost to Chris Murphy by 67.4% to 32.6%.

On the Republican side, Middletown voted even more overwhelmingly for Linda McMahon than did the state, giving her 77.8% of the vote, to Christopher Shays' 22.2% (statewide, McMahon beat Shays 72.7% to 27.2%).

Turnout was light, on the Democratic side about 20% of eligible voters cast their ballot, lower than the 25% who voted in the mayoral primary last summer, between Christine Bourne and Dan Drew.

FINDING YOUR JEWISH ANCESTORS: MAXIMIZING YOUR SUCCESS A Jewish Genealogy Workshop, Part 1, Sunday, September 9

The JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT presents

FINDING YOUR JEWISH ANCESTORS:  MAXIMIZING YOUR SUCCESS

 A Jewish Genealogy Workshop, Part 1

Sunday, September 9, 2012       1:00 - 3:30 PM

 Godfrey Memorial Library, 134 Newfield Street, Middletown, CT 06457

This two-part series will benefit both beginners and current researchers. Part 1 focuses on how to begin your genealogical search, internet resources, immigration and passenger manifests, and federal and state censuses.  Participant receive a notebook of detailed materials.  Part 2 follows on November 18, 2012.

JGSCT members only. Reservations required.  New members may join when reserving a spot for the workshops.

Reservations to info@jgsct-jewish-genealogy.org or 860-424-6143.

 

For more information about the Jewish Genealogical Society of Connecticut, please see http://www.jgsct-jewish-genealogy.org/jgsct-jewish-genealogy/Home.html