The Rockfall Foundation's "Meet Your Greens" Program is Back!

 

Meet Your Greens is back!

With COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, we are excited to see you again in person and resume our Meet Your Greens program! This will be the first of four Meet Your Greens events in 2021.

Join The Rockfall Foundation on Thursday, June 17 at 5:30 at Cinder + Salt with speaker Rosemary Ostfeld. “Food For You and The Planet” is a talk about the connection between our food choices and the environment. Rosemary will give us bite-sized actions to take to eat sustainably and support our local farming community.

Rosemary is the founder of Healthy PlanEat, an online platform where people can order food directly from local farmers that use sustainable growing practices and local food artisans. Rosemary also teaches at Wesleyan University in the College of the Environment and Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship.

Register now: https://forms.gle/G44XdMeNGz59MTEF8

We will meet on Cinder + Salt’s back patio under an open-sided tent. Plan to arrive around 5:30, with the speaker beginning at 5:45. Bring your own food & drink. Free to participate.

Face masks are required if you are not fully vaccinated.
If you are fully vaccinated, face masks are optional throughout the program.

See here for more information on Meet Your Greens: https://www.rockfallfoundation.org/prog.../meet-your-greens/

Fifth Inaugural Poet of the United States Richard Blanco Holds Poetry Reading at Middlesex Community College on March 2

Highly-acclaimed poet Richard Blanco, the Fifth Inaugural Poet of the United States, returns to his once home state of Connecticut to deliver a reading of original poetry at Middlesex Community College.

The poetry reading will be held on March 2 at 5 p.m. in MxCC’s Chapman Hall, located at 100 Training Hill Road in Middletown. The event is free and open to the public. A book sale and signing will follow the reading.

Blanco was selected as the Fifth Inaugural Poet of the United States, an honor also bestowed upon poets such as Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. Blanco read his original poem written for the occasion, “One Today,” at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.

Blanco’s story is representative of the diversity in American society and the struggle of many to find their identities. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents, Blanco immigrated to the United States with his family when he was just a few weeks old. He spent his childhood in Miami, growing up among other Cuban immigrants. Blanco studied engineering and later creative writing at Florida International University. After publishing his first book, “City of a Hundred Fires,” Blanco moved to Connecticut and served as a professor of creative writing at Central Connecticut State University. Other publications by Blanco include books of poetry “Directions to The Beach of the Dead” (2005) and “Looking for The Gulf Motel” (2012), along with a memoir, “The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood” (2014).

“To have a presidential inaugural poet read at Middlesex speaks volumes about the College’s commitment to diversity and its community,” said Christine Ruggiero, professor of English, and coordinator of this event. “The audience is sure to be riveted by Blanco’s unique background and approach to telling his story not only through his poetry but through visuals as well. This event also marks a high point for the College in its support of literary culture and creative writing endeavors.”

Founded in 1966, Middlesex Community College (mxcc.edu) is part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System. In all it does, Middlesex Community College strives to be the college of its community. By providing high quality, affordable, and accessible education to a diverse population, the college enhances the strengths of individuals through degree, certificate, and lifelong learning programs that lead to university transfer, employment, and an enriched awareness of our shared responsibilities as global citizens. MxCC, recently named a “Great College to Work For” by “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” offers more than 50 degree or certificate programs at the main 38-acre campus in Middletown, the downtown Meriden Center, the shoreline, and online.

Middlesex Community College Foundation Hosts Third Annual Red Moon Fest

On September 6, the Middlesex Community College Foundation will host its third annual Red Moon Fest. The Red Moon Fest is an evening celebration that benefits Middlesex Community College students and programs. The event includes a live and silent auction, a performance by a local jazz trio, and features an assortment of wine, beer, savories, and sweets. The event will be held in Chapman Hall from 6 – 9 p.m. For sponsorship, advertising, auction donations, or to purchase tickets ($60 each), contact Corey Martell at 860-343-5701 or visit mxcc.edu/redmoon.

This year, the Red Moon Fest is also a celebration of the Health and Life Science Initiative at the College. This new initiative is a federally-funded program to expand health and life science learning and training opportunities for MxCC students. Portland residents Dr. Virginia Nunez Olson and Dr. Robert Olson, co-owners of Pieper-Olson Veterinary Hospital, will serve as 2014 honorary co-chairs. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will be dedicated to enhancing this new program.

Live auction items include a seven-night vacation at the Beso del Sol Resort in Florida (airfare not included), seven-nights at a Cape Cod resort, a long weekend in Maine during peak foliage season, a South African Safari (airfare not included), and two opportunities to name a street on the MxCC campus for one year.

The silent auction features a variety of items donated by local businesses including restaurant gift cards, artwork, hotel stays, museum visits, and tickets to sporting events and theater performances. Additional items will be added to both auctions through the event date.

The MxCC Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt public charity dedicated to the support of Middlesex Community College and its students, who come from throughout Middlesex, New Haven, and Hartford counties. The Middlesex Community College Foundation raises funds to support for student scholarships, faculty development, instructional and technical equipment, public lectures and programs that contribute to the quality of life here in Connecticut.

MxCC Professor Releases Second Book in “The Unbroken Circle” Series

In his new historical fiction book Freedom Betrayed, Middlesex Community College professor, Victor A. Triay, Ph.D., continues the story of the middle class León family, which is thrown into a tempest of warfare and separation during the early years of the Cuban Revolution.  In Freedom Betrayed, the second installment of The Unbroken Circle series, three of the Leóns participate in the Bay of Pigs invasion and battle Castro’s war machine in order to prevent their homeland from falling under totalitarian, Communist rule. The third and final installment, On Freedom’s Shores is slated for release later this year.

In support of his book, Professor Triay will appear at Russell Library’s Hubbard Room at 123 Broad Street, Middletown on Tuesday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. where he will be talking about his novel and signing books.

Professor Triay was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban exile parents.  For over twenty-one years, he has been a professor of history at Middlesex Community College. While Professor Triay’s classroom work focuses on the United States History, Western Civilization, World Civilization, and 20th Century Europe, he has earned a broader reputation as an expert in Cuban exile history.

His parents left Cuba less than two years after the rise of Fidel Castro, so the subject is personal to him – and has inspired him to devote his time and talents towards researching, writing and lecturing on the topic.  He has published three non-fiction books on Cuban exile history, one of which, Bay of Pigs: An Oral History of Brigade 2506, won the Samuel Proctor Oral History Prize in 2001.

Founded in 1966, Middlesex Community College (mxcc.edu) is part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System. In all it does, Middlesex Community College strives to be the college of its community. By providing high quality, affordable, and accessible education to a diverse population, the college enhances the strengths of individuals through degree, certificate, and lifelong learning programs that lead to university transfer, employment, and an enriched awareness of our shared responsibilities as global citizens. MxCC, recently named a "Great College to Work For" by “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” offers more than 50 degree or certificate programs at the main 38-acre campus in Middletown, the downtown Meriden Center, the shoreline, and online.