New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Yale art galleries reopening
Yale’s premier art galleries on Chapel Street announced a phased reopening the other day after more than a sixmonth shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art both said they were opening their doors Friday, Sept. 25, for the first time since March with new safety measures and reduced visitor capacity.
Following Yale University protocols, the phases of YUAG’s opening include access to three special exhibitions on Fridays 3-7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays noon to 4 only. The permanent collection galleries will remain closed for now, according to the Yale release.
The British art center will also be open only weekends; new temporary hours are from noon to 7 p.m. Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Both galleries said visitors may reserve a free timed-entry ticket on the center’s websites, artgallery.yale.edu or britishart.yale.edu. A limited number of walk-up tickets may be available on a first-come-first-serve basis but advance tickets are highly recommended. Masks, one-way paths and social distancing are also.
Noonan in Fairfield forum
⏩ Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Wall Street Journal Peggy Noonan will be the first speaker in this season’s “Women and Leadership” series as part of the Open Visions Forum at Fairfield University at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2.
Noonan’s presentation, “Finding the
Moral High Ground/Challenges for USA’s Reboot,” will take place in a virtual format, with registration at $20 through quickcenter.com. A political analyst for NBC News and seen on “Meet the Press,” Noonan will answer questions about the upcoming presidential election and address long-term concerns for the future of our nation.
‘How CIA Directors Shape History’
⏩ The Jackson Institute for Global Affairs will host an online discussion with author, journalist and Yale alum Chris Whipple about his new book, “The Spymasters: How CIA Directors Shape History and the Future” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1. Asha Rangappa, Jackson senior lecturer and a former FBI agent, will moderate the discussion.
Whipple is also a documentary filmmaker and multiple Peabody and Emmy Award–winning producer at CBS’s “60 Minutes” and ABC’s “Primetime: and is a frequent guest on MSNBC and CNN. His previous book was “The Gatekeepers” and he was executive producer and writer of Showtime’s “The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs.”
Kids TV at 3 a.m.? New channel is 24/7
⏩ Connecticut Public has announced the launch of a new, free, children’s service – CPTV PBS Kids 24/7, available on several platforms including many cable systems and over-the-air channel 24.2. The channel will be on 24 hours a day, seven days per week, ensuring that ageappropriate, educational content is available to all children and caregivers on a platform and at a time that works for them, including prime time and other out-ofschool times, according to a CPTV release.
“This initiative allows us to reach more than 500,000 underserved households throughout Connecticut,” said Connecticut Public President and CEO Mark Contreras. “Parents and students can access this rich educational material with or without Internet access.
The service’s channel also is supplemented by online tools, games and activities designed for teachers, parents and caregivers to extend learning at home for ages 2-8. They can be found at the Connecticut Public learning portal at ctpublic.org/learn-at-home.
Timberlake’s ‘Skunk & Badger’
⏩ Amy Timberlake, author of the new kids book “Skunk and Badger,” will appear in a virtual event for RJ Julia Monday, Sept. 28, at 4:30 p.m. The book is a Fall Kids Indie Next Pick. It’s about peaceand-quiet-loving Badger, a ukulele-playing rock scientist, having to room with energetic Skunk. As the publisher puts it, the story is “filled with Important Rock Work, mostly vegan cooking, bookstores for chickens, the New Yak Times, ukulele music and, of course, your
favorite new odd couple...”
Which house inspired ‘Witch’?
⏩ Speaking of books, parents of kids of a certain age will know the book “The Witch of Blackbird Pond.” Well, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum (on Main Street in Wethersfield) will open the beloved Buttolph-Williams House (on nearby Broad Street) for public tours for the month of October, officials have announced. Author Elizabeth George Speare, a resident of Wethersfield, used the medieval-looking house (c. 1711) as the setting for her Newbery Medal-winning book, “The Witch of Blackbird Pond.” The book is the basis for an education programs at WDS and has been read by generations of school children, notes a WDS release.
Tours are offered at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and Sundays at 1 and 3 p.m. by advance registration. Call Acting Co-Director Cynthia Riccio at 860-529-0612, ext. 12, or email criccio@webbdeane-stevens.org. Admission
is $10, with face masks.
‘Time Traveling Trash Panda’
⏩ It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but “Ricky the Time Traveling Trash Panda” does spur curiosity. The new, first novel comes from Kent Golden of Woodbridge, who is senior instructor of interactive media and design at Quinnipiac University, according to a QU release.
The story follows Ricky the raccoon working his mission of saving the planet from the impending climate disaster with the help of another raccoon, Monique, and a young human girl named Emma.
“On the surface this might seem like just a fun adventure book about a bunch of animals,” says Golden, “but it’s actually very deep in terms of the moral messages related to animals and the future of our planet. My hope is that when someone reads this story, apart from simply enjoying a fun adventure, it helps them to question their own choices in daily life that impact both animals and the planet.”