Green Street Blog

We turned off the lights and turned on the screen. A mysterious looking creature with dark freckled skin and a unicorn-like horn appeared on a blue ocean background.

Nature writer Todd McLeish started by saying, “The first question I get with this slide is – what is it? The second question is – is it real?”

It’s a narwhal whale, and yes, it is real.

The next hour was filled with tales of adventure to the Arctic Circle and fascinating trivia about the narwhal.

Narwhals have two teeth, one of which grows through their upper lip (mostly in the males) to look like the characteristic horn. In rare instances, both teeth will grow out as horns. There is still a debate among researches about the purpose of the elongated tooth.

The narwhal horn does in fact have a connection to the unicorn. The unicorn myth says a cup made of unicorn horn can heal all your illnesses and keep you healthy for life. When narwhals were first discovered, the entrepreneurs of the time took advantage of the myth and sold the narwhal horns at high prices labeled as unicorn horns.

Intrigued? For more on how narwhals have connections to celebration meals, climate change, and even dentistry – check out the book Arctic Whales in a Melting World. 

As spring approached, we started a community art and science project at Green Street. We wanted to freshen up the planters at the entrance of our building to represent our new partnership of the Green Street Arts Center and Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science.

Our challenge was to represent the coming together of art, math, and science in a community outdoor space.

After partnering up with landscape designer and teaching artist Deb Aldo and a group from Sonia Manjon’s Art and Social Justice Class – the Greening Green Street seed was planted and started to grow.

The general idea was to bring together community members, college students, and neighborhood youth to reimagine the planters. This involved new plants and a new decorative component of pebble mosaics within the existing planters. We wanted to use the whole experience as a teaching opportunity for our After School Program.

During Part 1 of the project, we taught our After School Program students about the art, math, and science behind landscaping. We learned about the science of plant biology, the importance of sunlight for plants, and the water cycle. We learned about math concepts like sequence, pattern, and spatial limitations by studying mosaics.

The students enjoyed the arts integrative approach to the lessons. We used drawing, song, dance, mosaic, and more.

We had a full house for our Pysanka egg decorating workshop with Wesleyan Dance Department Chair, Katja Kolcio. She and her husband have been using the technique for many years and offered to share her skill with us. Katja went through the process step by step and then our visitors got cracking making their own beautiful eggs – just in time for Easter.

The design is created using wax and you have to think about your color pattern in reverse. The wax creates a barrier where the dye won’t stick. So wherever you put wax first on the egg will remain white. Then you pick your first color, say yellow. After you dye the egg yellow, you add the next level of wax and all those spots will stay yellow.  At the end, you carefully melt off all the wax and blow out the contents of the egg.

The traditional technique produces beautiful geometric patterns and we had some great artists at our workshop.

The workshop was such as hit, we’ve decided to do it every year around Easter. Keep an eye out for the next one and sign up early.

Green Street is all about community. We are working to build community in our immediate neighborhood and also to strengthen our connection to Wesleyan University.

At the beginning of the year, Ari came to us with an idea to do just that – and in a delicious way.

Ari is a Wesleyan student. “Middletown is on my address, but I don’t feel like I’m part of the community,” he said the first time he came to Green Street.

He and a group of students wanted to organize a community potluck where it was more about bringing yourself than a dish. The idea was to bring people together to break bread and sharing stories. Each potluck would have a theme and involve community and student speakers.

Appropriately, the first theme was “My Middletown Experience.” We shared stories and a meal with over 50 people that first night, ages 5 to 75.

This is what Ari had to say about the first event. “Middletown residents (including some Wesleyan students) came together for a community potluck. The food was great, but the conversation was the major draw. Nur Moebius offered her touching story of struggle and overcoming it, and Jalen Alexander led a discussion on what community and compassion meant to everyone around the circle. Many new friendships were formed, and the inaugural event of what is to become a longstanding tradition was a big success!”

Jalen asked the group three questions.

• What is community?
• What is compassion?
• What is service?

The whole room participated in the conversation. Kids from our After School Program and retired faculty from Middlesex Community College answered the same questions – spanning sometimes seven decades of experience. The answers were powerful. Here are a few gems from the night.

“We are all in this community together.”

“Share yourself with people.”

“Its about getting outside your box.”

“People just have to smile more.”

So come smile with us, make a plate, and share your story. Community potlucks will be hosted once a month on a Sunday evening.

PIMMS had the pleasure of participating in Preschool Family Math Night at Edna C. Stevens School in Cromwell, CT this year. The event coincided with Dr. Seuss and Read Across America activities.

We spent the evening playing math games with kindergarten kids – over 30 families joined us. Activities included math concepts like pattern, number sequence, and spatial reasoning. Kids played matching memory games, fishing games, cup stacking games and more with volunteers and Wesleyan University students from the Cognitive Development Lab.

Recently appointed Sara MacSorley will assume the leadership role as Director to lead both PIMMS and Green Street Arts Center.  After 15 years at 178 Cross Street on the Wesleyan campus, the University moved PIMMS to its new location at 51 Green St., Middletown, CT.

The joining of these two programs with similar values, themes, and missions was seen as an opportunity of providing valuable programs for and with the greater Middletown community and enhancing University life.  PIMMS plans to expand its mission to include engagement of undergraduates as future teachers to strengthen the pipeline of people going into the math and science teaching fields.  Green Street will continue to focus on the arts but will move forward with new programs that will incorporate math and science.

Sara looks forward to meeting with local researchers and science groups in the area and exploring intersections of art, science, and math education.

KidWind completed its second week-long WindSenators training session in Malta, NY on August 7th. There are now have 32 very capable trainers from a variety of backgrounds in fifteen states! And two of them are from PIMMS. Bob Borello, Director of Science and Energy Programs for PIMMS and James Sulzen, a PIMMS Consultant who has specialized in alternative energy Sources each gave a week of their very busy Summers. Teachers explored and critiqued the new WindWise curriculum, played with piles of KidWind gear and were introduced to a variety of topics by taking tours of the GE Wind Training facility and listening to guest lectures by leaders of the anti-wind movement. And just what do all these newly trained WindSenators mean? Now we’ll be able to offer more trainings, get to more local conferences and hold more KidWind Challenges!

Are you trying to figure out what to do as this cold, snowy, New England winter comes to an end? We can’t get snow in April, can we?!  As a volunteer for this year’s Green Street Arts Center benefit, I have just the thing!  Join me in heading to the Caribbean at Green Street for a warm getaway from the winter weather (at least in spirit)!

Buy your tickets for Green Street’s Caribbean-themed benefit evening, A Feast for the Senses, on April 8^th from 6-8:30 p.m. at 51 Green Street. Many interesting and valuable items will be available that night at a live silent auction hosted by Ray Hardman from WNPR’s “Morning Edition.” Plus, we’ll enjoy fantastic food, live bands playing music from Trinidad and Jamaica, and a salsa dancing workshop.   Go to the following link to purchase tickets now:  http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=212786

From my own experiences, I can testify that Green Street is a terrific resource for families in Middletown and the surrounding CT area.  I’ve brought my (almost) four and two-year-old daughters to Green Street’s music classes and I have also attended special events like the Bill Cosby benefit performance. Proceeds from this year’s A Feast for the Senses will help support Green Street’s Summer Arts & Science Academy and also the Young Women’s Leadership Institute.

Check out details about these programs and other details about the event here.

So, come in from the cold to the Caribbean that waits!

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me, Robert Mosca at (rmosca@wesleyan.edu) or Green Street’s Administrative Assistant, Rachel Roccoberton Griffin (rroccoberton@wesleyan.edu).

I look forward to seeing you on April 8^th!

A Feast for the Senses Auction Benefit
Friday, April 8, 2011
5:30pm Preview
6-8:30pm Event
Tickets: $50/person
Call 860-685-7871 for tickets.

Escape Middletown spring and journey straight to the tropics at Green Street’s second annual auction benefit. Join celebrity host and master of ceremonies Ray Hardman from WNPR’s “Morning Edition” at this Caribbean themed event. Guests will enjoy the sounds of live steel drum and Jamaican music performances, multicultural dances, a wide array of items for auction, stimulating conversation, and sumptuous refreshments. Proceeds from this event support Green Street’s tremendously successful Summer Arts & Science Academy as well as a new initiative, the Young Women’s Leadership Institute. Last year’s auction was the talk of the town—this year’s is sure to captivate you!

Just to tempt you, here are a few items that will be up for bidding at 6pm:  Nintendo Wii and games, wine baskets, 4 field level NY Mets tickets, Family Fun Package (including passes to Kidcity, the Beardsley Zoo, Lutz Children’s Museum, Rock Cat tickets, and more), hand-crafted jewelry, Keiji Shinohara block print, 2 Tickets to the Connecticut Forum “Book Club”, AHAVA Skin Care Gift Basket, and so much more!

This event is generously sponsored by Mary Beth and Stephen S. Daniel ’82 with additional support provided by Citizens Bank and IT Direct LLC.