In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, all are welcome at the Lymes’ Senior Center, 26 Town Woods Rd., Old Lyme today,Thursday, March 14, at 1 p.m. for a performance by the Gray School of Irish Dance.
Dancers will demonstrate a variety of Irish Dances including soft and hard shoe dances. The dances will include reels, jigs, hornpipes (both contemporary and traditional) and Celtic dances.
The dancers will be dressed in traditional Irish Dance costumes.
This performance is free to attend.
Lyme-Old Lyme Community Connections invites community members to Happy Hour, Wednesday, March 13, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Reading Room in the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Ln., Old Lyme. The topic will be Collaboration & Networking for Non Profits with guest speakers Katherine Verano, Executive Director, Safe Futures and Kitty Stalsburg, Executive Director, High Hopes.
At 5:15 p.m., there will be a brief presentation from these two organizations that developed a successful collaboration, created over lunch at Community Connections. There are many stories of new and beneficial relationships, which began at Community Connections meetings. The organizers hope you’ll come on March 13 for a casual gathering of mingling and networking among the board, volunteers, and staff of local nonprofit organizations, and the community members who support them.
The cost to attend is $10. Register online at www.LOLCommunityConnections.
Come and discuss community issues and interests, and opportunities for collaboration among organizations serving Lyme and Old Lyme.
Checks can be mailed in advance made payable to Community Connections, PO Box 589, Old Lyme, CT 06371, or bring payment to the door (with advance reservation).
Aedan Using (#33) takes advice from Coach Kaczor during last night’s game. All photos by Emily Gerber Bjornberg.
Third-seeded Old Lyme romped to a 61-31 victory over #6 seeds Morgan last night in front of a boisterous, sold-out home crowd. The Wildcats now go straight into a CIAC Division V semifinal match-up tomorrow with second-seeded Somers at Maloney High School in Meriden. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
Top-scorer across both teams was Old Lyme junior Aedan Using with 22 points, while Brady Sheffield notched 17 points and Ray Doll 10 for the Wildcats.
Coach Kirk Kaczor told LymeLine by email, “I’m really happy with the way we played against Morgan. We were able to avenge our only home loss this season.”
The Old Lyme gym was packed to capacity for the semifinal game.
He added, “Ray Doll did an excellent job running the point and getting the ball to Aedan Using and Brady Sheffield. He really got us going (tonight). When our guards (Brady, Ray, and Quinn Romeo) are in attack mode, we are pretty good.”
Asked about tomorrow’s game, Kaczor said, “We are excited for the chance to play in the semifinal vs. Somers. We know that only a few teams are left and are proud to be one of them. My understanding is that Old Lyme has never been to the final so we want to change that. We’ve been taking it one step at a time and we are thrilled with where we are now.”
The team receives some advice during a time-out.
The last time Old Lyme was in the semifinals was in 2013 when the team faced Capital Prep. In a gritty game, despite taking the lead in the third quarter, sadly the ‘Cats failed to clinch victory that night.
The other semifinal will see top-seeded Innovation play Old Lyme’s Shoreline Conference rival and No. 5 seed Valley Regional also at 7 p.m. at Bulkeley High School in Hartford.
Go Wildcats!
Photo by Panos Sakalakis on Unsplash
The Lyme-Old Lyme (L/OL) Prevention Coalition hosts a discussion titled, ‘Legalization of Marijuana in CT’ on Tuesday, March 12, 7 p.m. at Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau at 59 Lyme Street, Old Lyme. All are welcome.
John Daviau, from CT SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) will join Tuesday’s meeting to discuss the current proposed marijuana legislation in CT (two different bills pending).
The following questions will be reviewed:
The L/OL Prevention Coalition brings together various sectors of our community to work together to reduce underage substance use and hopes readers can join them on Tuesday or at an upcoming meeting.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times writer C.J. Chivers
The Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council (SECWAC) has announced that CJ Chivers will speak on “Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq” at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, at Crozier Williams Student Center Building, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320. (MAP HERE) Members and guests are encouraged to RSVP via online registration, but walk-ins will be accepted.
Chivers will speak to his recent book “The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq”, a tour de force portrait of modern warfare that parts from slogans to do for American troops what Stephen Ambrose did for the GIs of WWII, and Michael Herr for the grunts in Vietnam.
An infantry veteran himself, Chivers vividly conveys the physical and emotional experience of war as lived by six combatants: a fighter pilot, a corpsman, a scout helicopter pilot, a grunt, an Infantry officer, and a Special Forces sergeant. The book captures their courage, commitment, sense of purpose, and ultimately their suffering, frustration, and moral confusion as new enemies arise and invasions give way to counterinsurgency duties for which they were often not prepared.
A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the main event beginning at 6 p.m. The presentation is a part of the SECWAC 2018-2019 Speaker Series. For non-members, tickets ($20) may be purchased at the door; ticket cost can subsequently be applied towards a SECWAC membership. Attendance is free for SECWAC members (and their guests). Pro-rated half-year membership was introduced in February; half-year membership February through June 2019 is $37.50; $12.50 for young professionals under 35; free for area college and high school students.
From 1988 until 1994, CJ Chivers was an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps, serving in the Persian Gulf War and on peacekeeping duties as a company commander during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
Since 1999 he has reported for The New York Times, covering conflict, crime, the arms trade and human rights, and other themes. As a Metro reporter he covered the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001; since then, he has principally worked overseas. His work has also appeared on the NYT’s AT War and Lens blogs, and he is a contributor to Esquire and other publications, including Field & Stream, Popular Mechanics, Anglers Journal, etc. In 2009 he was part of a team that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for coverage from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Chivers is the author of “The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq” (signed copies of which will be for sale after the presentation), in which he describes the daily experience of a selection of US soldiers and marines at the leading edge of our foreign policy in the Middle East. His magazine story “The Fighter” won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. He is also the author of “The Gun”, a history of automatic arms and their influence on human security and war; it was selected as a New York Times Editor’s Pick and a Best Book of 2010 by The Atlantic and The Washington Post.
SECWAC is a regional, nonprofit, membership organization affiliated with the World Affairs Councils of America (WACA). The organization dates back to 1999, and has continued to arrange 8-10 Speaker Series meetings annually, between September and June. The meetings range in foreign affairs topics, and are hosted at venues along the I-95 corridor, welcoming members and guests from Stonington to Old Saybrook, and beyond.
SECWAC’s mission is “to foster an understanding of issues of foreign policy and international affairs through study, debate, and educational programming.” It provides a forum for nonpartisan, non-advocacy dialogue between members and speakers, who can be U.S. policymakers, educators, authors, and other experts on foreign relations. Learn more at http://secwac.org.