International Art Exhibition Has Two Locations in Norfolk

Re-creation of a 1990 sculpture is made out of hundreds of fortune cookies  By Ruth Melville The Cuban-born artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres died of complications from AIDS in 1996, when he was only 38 years old. But this spring, inspired in part by the coronavirus pandemic, the Andrea Rosen and David Zwirner galleries, working on behalf […]

Botelle Garden Continues to Provide Hands-on Learning

It’s a small garden after all by Virgina Coleman-Prisco Over a century ago, local gardening was still the norm in rural areas and encouraged during World War I to supplement regional food supplies. Afterward, during the Great Depression, community “depression gardens” sprang up. World War II saw the rise in “victory gardens”. A decade ago, […]

Connecting to the Internet in Norfolk – Part 2

What we do with it By Dave Beers Most of us use the Internet in many aspects of our life. The pandemic is making some of those uses more vital to our health and livelihood. Many of us are now working from home more and working from Norfolk more, rather than in the city.  Starling […]

National Iron Bank Processes Around 200 Loans From the Payroll Protection Program

PPP helps small businesses stay afloat By Ruth Melville On March 27, President Donald Trump signed into law the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act. At $2 trillion, it is the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history and is intended to counteract some of the worst economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. A […]

Norfolk Reopenings Follow State of Connecticut Guidelines

Individual businesses face a complex set of decisions By Jude MeadPhoto by Savage Frieze When Covid-19 struck, most places shut down or scaled back to stop the disease’s spread. The state allowed the reopening of some sectors of the economy on May 20, but the challenges continue, and those challenges are real for many of […]

Creatively Surviving in the Covid Age

The Gilson theater brings humor and creativity to the struggle Text and Photo by Colleen Gundlach Northwest Corner residents of the older persuasion will have memories of the old Strand Theater in Winsted. Back in the day, the Saturday afternoon “kiddie matinee” drew boys and girls to a double feature at the Strand for pennies, […]

Coronavirus: What is to be done?

By Richard Kessin By Richard Kessin We live in evolutionary competition with microbes—bacteria and viruses. There is no guarantee that we will be the survivors. The aphorism from Joshua Lederberg, a founder of molecular biology, is remarkable for its humility and for the challenge it defines. Before the germ theory of disease, which appeared in […]

You Got Mail in the Icebox

By Virginia Coleman-PriscoPhoto by Marinell Crippen Botelle’s very own Rex Crippen, age 9, has advanced to the nationals in this year’s Invention Convention, after qualifying at the local and state levels. The Invention Convention is an opportunity for students to practice applying science and engineering skills, especially critical thinking and problem-solving. Crippen invented a product […]

Eating From the Devil’s Buffet

Spring foraging expedition takes near-fatal turn By Wiley Wood A local family’s foraging expedition in late April for ramps, a kind of wild onion, ended with all three members spending the night in the intensive care unit at Sharon Hospital. It was late in the afternoon, and Bridget Taylor, intrigued by an article on foraging […]

Connecting to the Internet in Norfolk – Part 1

Text and Photo by David Beers You call home. You join a zoom meeting for work. You text your son. You skype your mom. You google a recipe. You log on to the work computer. You play Call of Duty with your cousin in Missouri. You check Facebook. You post to Instagram. The possibilities to […]