Congratulations

Applause is in order for all the candidates who gave the people of Southington a choice on Election Day. A pat on the back to all the residents who voted. For those who didn’t, no condemnation, just don’t complain. To the candidates who won, congratulations and best of luck as you take on this challenge. Remember, whether you serve for two years or 20, Southington will go on much longer. You are only temporarily in charge. Do your best with it.

Register early and vote often

It is that time of year again, election season. For some of us it is more like Christmas than for others. Regardless of how thrilled you are to cast your ballot, you need to take the first step. To help you along, here is some information you may want to know.

The Southington Registrars of Voters have an office in town hall, immediately on the left when you walk in the front door. Their office is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The registrars are also holding extra office hours for your convenience. Saturday, Oct. 17, the office will open at 10 a.m. and close at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, the office will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

One week before the election, Oct. 27, is the last day you can register to vote in this election unless you move to Southington or become a citizen between the deadline and Election Day.

For more information about registering to vote, call (860) 276-6268.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at the follwing locations: District 1, South End School; District 2, JFK Middle School; District 3, Derynoski Elementary School; District 4, Hatton Elementary School; District 5, Flanders Elementary School; District 6, DePaolo Middle School; District 7, North Center Elementary School; District 8, Kelley Elementary School; District 9, Thalberg Elementary School; District 10, Master’s Bible School; District 11, Plantsville Congregational Church; and District 12, Strong Elementary School.

— Zachary Janowski

Meeting John Aschcroft

I had the opportunity last week to attend a political fundraiser in Cheshire to interview former Attorney General John Ashcroft. The event, held at the welcoming home of Marilyn and Joseph Bartoli, benefited Anne Giddings, a candidate for Cheshire Town Council and the twin sister of Ashcroft’s wife.
My interest in the event isn’t Cheshire politics, but Ashcroft’s comments during an interview and later to the crowd of 100 or so.
Since I can remember the fury against Ashcroft when then-President-elect George W. Bush nominated him to be attorney general, I would like to point out some observations about Ashcroft in person.
He pauses, looks to his hands as he joins his fingers together and collects his thoughts before answering a question. He is not intimidating, but rather disarming.
“I’m the only person in the world who lost his senate seat to a dead person,” Ashcroft said, referring to the 2000 election when Missouri elected Mel Carnahan to the Senate, although he died two weeks before the election. The governor later appointed Carnahan’s wife, Jean Carnahan, to fill the Senate seat.
Before serving in the Senate, Ashcroft was governor and attorney general of Missouri.
Although Ashcroft lost his place in the Senate, he soon had the opportunity to serve as attorney general.
“I’m grateful more than proud,” Ashcroft said of his service in the Bush administration and, more specifically, the prevention of “vicious attacks on our soil” despite successful terrorist plots in Spain, Russia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
“I think we need to be vigilant in a constant way,” Ashcroft said.
He explained that America, as a future-oriented country, tends to forget the past.
“American culture is episodic,” he said. “We think every problem can be solved in a 30-minute interval.”
Terrorism is an “intergenerational” problem without any quick fix, according to Ashcroft.
He said he has spoken to current Attorney General Eric Holder.
“I think he knows what I think.”
He said the highly-criticized prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is a “necessity.”
“The security of the United States depends on it,” he explained. “I don’t know anybody who was like, ‘Oh, let’s open a prison down in Cuba.’”
“There’s a sense in which they have adjusted their approach,” Ashcroft said of the Obama administration’s national security policies.
“I’m not here to explain the u-turns and the traffic patterns of the current administration,” he added, before getting any more specific in his critique. “I don’t drive that car.”
Ashcroft on local politics:
“When I was governor, people would call me with a problem, I’d give them a council member’s name,” he said. “That’s where problems are really solved.”
On America and the Constitution:
“The genius of America is not that leaders impose their values on the people. The genius of America is that the people impose their values on the government.”
“America was designed differently.”
“The constitution doesn’t give us freedom. I believe God designed us for freedom.”
On the Bush administration:
The American people are coming to a “fairer understanding of President Bush.”
On the economy:
“Three out of four of my grandparents came here not because they wanted it to be more like Europe.”
He warned that current unemployment rates in the U.S. are still lower than the normal rate of unemployment in Europe.
On national security:“Anytime you undermine your intelligence capacity, you’re unintelligent.”
“Feet on the ground really mean a lot.”
“Agencies need to act within the law,” Ashcroft said.
For those that don’t, he had a simple answer. “We prosecute them.”
Ashcroft pointed to the threats of “evil biology, evil chemistry” and nuclear technology that could “vaporize a city.”
“We are — flirting with disaster.”
“The deliverability of lethality is so much different now,” Ashcroft said. “Massive destructive capacity is deliverable in an instant.”
— Zachary Janowski

STEPS picnic: FREE

What’s this STEPS thing anyway?
First, let me tell you about the free picnic featuring 1,000 hot dogs, Rogers Orchards apples and plenty of fresh carrots, plus a battle of the bands and access to Camp Sloper from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In addition to the food and entertainment, nearly 50 organizations will be there to share what they have to offer and how students, parents and children can get involved.
Whether it is karate classes, volunteering or the arts, it’s there.
Leading up to the picnic, Southington schools have been celebrating STEPS awareness week with daily challenges and lessons about assets that help kids succeed. Some students even painted the windows in the high school cafeteria to promote STEPS to their fellow students.
That’s a lot of promotion, but what for? What is STEPS anyway?
STEPS is a group of people who want to improve Southington to make it easier for kids to succeed. Here’s an analogy. Somebody steps on a rusty nail, so they need a tetanus shot. If a local group provides the shot, that isn’t STEPS.
STEPS wants to pick up the rusty nails, show kids how to walk around them and find them places to play far away from them — so to speak.
I joined the STEPS board of directors this week and have learned a lot as I got involved with this project.
Just to be clear, the people of STEPS aren’t worried about kids stepping on rusty nails.
One focus of STEPS got a boost of energy when the federal government awarded us a $125,000 Drug Free Communities grant last month. Drug use and underage use of alcohol and tobacco are proverbial rusty nails. Although STEPS can’t get rid of them, we hope to help students develop the skills to see them and avoid them.
STEPS plans to use a system developed by smart people to help kids, based around getting them to develop 40 assets that help them succeed.
We hope to teach students and parents all about the assets, including how to get them and how to increase their value, but first come to the picnic.
If you can bring a nonperishable food item, please do, because the shelves of Southington’s food pantries are starting to look bare.
By the way, STEPS stands for Southington’s Town-wide Effort to Promote Success.
— Zachary Janowski

The 9/11 generation

No one close to me died in the Sept. 11 attacks. For me the tragedy of 9/11 was that I didn’t cry.

I was 17 when my government teacher interrupted one of my classes, frantically telling our teacher and the class that a bomb had gone off at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was on fire.

Despite our school’s decision to suppress knowledge about the attacks, rumors circulated and the amount of information available to students grew. The difficulty was discerning what was true.

Some teachers tried to let us watch what was happening on TV, but administrators protested.

Ironically, my 9-year-old brother watched it on a TV his teacher wheeled into class.

By the end of the day, rumor had it that Washington had been nuked.

When I got home that day, or maybe it was at my friend’s house, I watched news reports, no longer concerned that principals would banish me.

I still didn’t cry.

I was concerned that my response was inhuman. How could I not be sad to see, literally to watch, so many people die?

My primary response to the attacks, perhaps the one most accessible to me as a teenage male, was anger.

In the debates that followed in my government class over the next few days, I constantly used the refrain “bomb them” although I wasn’t sure who “them” was.

As information became available, I was fully prepared to authorize the bombing of most Arab countries. Among the many reasons why teenage presidents are a bad idea.

At the time I was convinced I knew enough to judge and perhaps I did. I had the intelligence to reason and decide, but I was lacking in something else. I still had not cried.

Over time my anger subsided and I moved on to other concerns.

My aggression was still there, although not as immediate.

Two years ago, I watched the movie “United 93” which forced out six years of ugly, fermented sadness in 111 minutes.

I did not realize the profound effect the movie would have until my roommate said he expected the movie to “piss him off.”

I had no anger left — over six years it had dissipated. Instead, I had empty sadness.

The movie brought me to the intellectual realization that American authorities had no idea how many planes were hijacked. It would have been considerably easier to manage the crisis if they, like me watching the movie, had known there were only four.

More importantly, the movie brought me to the emotional realization, that more than anything else 9/11 was sad.

It allowed me to mourn and made me realize that I did feel for the 2,973 people who died that day.

It is important that generations younger than mine are allowed to mourn this loss, and a testament to director Paul Greengrass that his creation can help to educate Americans, historically and emotionally.

As the credits rolled, I stared blankly through the tears.

— Zachary Janowski

Great music to match the cause

My wife, Rachel, and I were excited to learn that Christopher Williams, a solo performer we have seen several times, will be coming to Southington on Sept. 12 as part of the Twin Angel Folk Fest at YMCA Camp Sloper.

First, a little bit about the event. For $20, you get admission to Camp Sloper from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a barbecue meal and performances by six singer-songwriters. Children under 12 are free. The foundation will hold a raffle at 4:30 p.m. Prizes include gift certificates to Southington businesses.

Lisa Cote, a Southington resident and veteran folk performer, founded the folk festival to raise money for a cause she tragically became aware of in 2002 when her twin sons were diagnosed in utero with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.

TTTS causes nutrients going to the twins to be divided unevenly, causing developmental problems for both babies.

“It only happens in identical twins that share one placenta,” Cote said.

She said extra nutrients cause one baby’s heart to work too hard and its bladder to grow large from processing so much.

“The other baby might not even have a bladder,” Cote explained.

She said the mother carrying twins with TTTS also faces complications, including anemia.

The TTTS Foundation, a national organization, provided support for Cote to travel to Milwaukee for laser surgery to treat the syndrome.

Cote’s two children, Benjamin and Joshua Wilson, died shortly after birth. Joshua, the donor child, died after nine hours. Benjamin, who received too many nutrients because of the syndrome, died after five weeks.

The Twin Angel Foundation has hosted the concert since 2006 to raise money for the national TTTS Foundation to allow other people the opportunity to travel for treatment and to raise awareness about the disease.

Cote, who will perform at concert herself, has arranged for performances by Williams, Joe Jencks, twin Christina Thompson-Lively, Eric Paradine and Southington native Amanda Rafala.

Thompson-Lively and Paradine have performed at all three previous Twin Angel events. Cote knows Paradine as a friend from her touring days around New York and Connecticut. Thompson-Lively performed for years with her identical twin, Cote said, but is beginning a solo career.

Cote said Jencks, who will make his first appearance at Twin Angel this year, “has a voice like an angel.”

Rafala, also making her first appearance, knows Cote through her son, a fellow student at Southington High School.

“I thought it would be neat to have somebody of the up and coming generation,” Cote said.

“I haven’t played a ton in Connecticut,” Williams said.

He has performed in Southington once before, a house concert at Cote’s house, and he is looking forward to his first appearance at Twin Angel.

“It’s a cool little festival from what I understand,” he said.

Williams said he is a folk singer-songwriter “in the sense that I play acoustic guitar.” He describes his music as having a “bluesy, gospel-ly” feel.

“His songwriting is just out of this world,” Cote said.

I would have to agree.

The first time I remember seeing him perform, Williams appeared on the main stage at a large music festival in between acts — alone with his djembe hand drum. Williams’ singing and drumming managed to make an impression sandwiched between two acts complete with drum set, two or three guitarists and a bass player.

After that initial taste, I saw Williams perform on smaller stages, where he continued drumming and also played guitar.

I later bought his CD, “When I Was Everything.”

Initially, I was disappointed with my purchase, but I soon realized it had more to do with Williams’ talent as a live performer than the shortcomings of the record. It’s simply not possible to capture a Williams performance in a studio.

That’s why, at the concert next weekend, I plan to look into buying one of his live CDs. Perhaps “Something As Simple,” out since March.

A quick word on folk music. For some reason, in my head folk music means something like boring music. Christopher Williams certainly isn’t boring, so I plan on attending the festival to see what else I’ve been missing.

For more information about the Twin Angel Foundation, including links to artist Web sites and information about TTTS, visit www.twinangelfoundation.org.

— Zachary Janowski

Try this, too

What does Southington taste like?
Parmesan garlic buffalo wings Milanese followed by a pulled pork and coleslaw gelato cannoli.
Oh, wait. I might not have that quite right.
One thing is for sure. The people over at the Barnes Museum and the Southington Public Library certainly do. Have things right, that is.
The eighth annual Taste of Southington featured Napoli Imports, Smokin’ with Chris, Anthony Jacks Wood Fire Grill, Sliders Grill, Pig Out BBQ, Machiavelli’s, Kess’ Cafe, Aziago’s, Rita’s Ice and Paul Gregory’s Bistro.
Although I didn’t try everything myself, I came dangerously close.
I did have two cannoli from Napoli Imports, a pulled pork sandwich and coleslaw from Pig Out BBQ, Chicken Milanese with lemon butter and white wine sauce over penne from Aziago’s and chocolate gelato from Paul Gregory’s Bistro.
Not necessarily in that order.
I also had a chance to tour the Barnes Museum, my first but definitely not my last.
It was interesting to see such an old house with a lot of its original furnishings. The museum provides a glimpse about how different, and perhaps more difficult, life was in the past.
There is also a window into how Southington used to be.
My favorite part of the museum, so far, is the map I came across outside the curator’s office.
It shows the center of Southington with many of the roads we use today in their earlier forms. I think the map’s appeal came from how it clearly showed the way rivers and railroads influenced the original shape of the town.
From that original shape, the Southington we know today has grown up around it.
The Barnes Museum, 85 N. Main St., is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 1 to 7 p.m.
To schedule an appointment, call (860) 628-5426.
Here is information about the participating restaurants.
Napoli Imports, 848 S. Main St., Plantsville, (860) 628-4994.
Smokin’ with Chris, 59 W. Center St., (860) 620-9133.
Anthony Jacks Wood Fired Grill, 30 Center St., (860) 426-1487.
Sliders Grill, 1219 S. Main St., Plantsville, (860) 628-8815.
Pig Out BBQ, 16 Eden Ave., (860) 621-2227.
Machiavelli’s, 75 Center St., (860) 426-9920.
Kess’ Cafe, 11 W. Main St., Plantsville, (860) 276-8551.
Aziago’s, 166 Queen St., (860) 426-1170.
Rita’s Ice, 279 Queen St., (860) 276-8829.
Paul Gregory’s Bistro, 148 Center St., (860) 621-9999.
— Zachary Janowski