New Haven Oral History Project

If you're an oral history dork like me, you might enjoy this. Their first project is about urban renewal. I haven't explored fully, but I loooooove stuff like this and am looking forward to spending more time on there in the fall!

-Kate

(Used) Books in New Haven

An anonymous but loyal commenter asked about where to buy used books in the Have’. I like you guys already and I haven't even met most of you! The first two semi-jokey suggestions that come to mind are

(1) the lobby of the Div School
(seriously, out of the stack above, which lives on my bedside table, only the top three are not free books from the Div School... and the bottom one, which is an art monograph)

and

(2) New York City.

Uhm, yeah. I used to live in Chicago and be all over Powell’s books, but that was when I had free time to read non-required literature and all this extra income I spent on fun things (like first editions of Bradbury!). Le sigh. But if

(1) it’s not the end of the semester

or

(2) you don’t feel like paying $28 round-trip to browse at The Strand...

Well, we need to come up with some better suggestions.

Sadly, I think my one and only walking-distance recommendation is the Book Trader Café (They have their own website, but Google is telling me that it might have some spambot program attached to it. Since this is the first time I’ve ever gotten this message, I’m going to take it seriously. Google at your own risk, folks.) I love the Book Trader as a café and a bookstore; I conduct all of my alumni interviews for my college there, and usually walk out with something tasty.

If you’ve got a car, you can also check out Books & Co., a short drive up Whitney Avenue. (They appear not to have their own website, or even a blog.) I asked my friend Sean, who smokes a pipe and seems like he should know about things like this, and he wrote the following:

"... It's not a bad store, and has what those kinds of used bookstores usually do; paperbacks of bygone bestsellers, the kind of stuff Connecticut housewives bring in when the neuroses have eaten away at their minds and it's time to "get rid of all of this stuff." Occasionally you find something quality; I got a hardcover Eaton de Valera biography for like six bucks there once. And their poetry section actually isn't half bad.

Which part of Mexico are you from?
Paraguay."

(That last bit is a line from Bottle Rocket, which we watched together recently.)

In the non-used world, book fans should definitely check out Labyrinth Books as well – they sell most of their books for 50-80% off of list price, so it’s as cheap as buying used. Atticus Books also has a great café for lunch and lots of fantabulous stationery.

And if you’re really just trying to accumulate as many books in your apartment as possible, we do have a library or three.

-Kate

In Other News, I Win

A while back I met a young man who worked for City Seed, New Haven's farmers' market group. Up until recently, City Seed was running some pretty great events pretty far away from me. He told me there was some interest in starting an Upper State Street market, and I told him to tell his boss that I was a constituent who thought this was a brilliant idea. Not to brag or anything, but there's now and Upper State Street farmers' market on Saturdays. (If the Google map doesn't help, here's the quick and dirty: if you end up living in East Rock, you live near here. Also a quick jaunt from 409 Prospect.)

Now, the catch is that this market is apparently not being run through City Seed, so I might not actually get to take credit for this one. Turns out, though, there's a whole Upper State Street association and website. (Weren't we just talking about everyone having a blog?)

I think I still win on this one. City Seed runs a market on Saturdays in Edgerton Park, but that one gets complicated when you take into account my rule where if I go more than a half mile from home I have to, like, get dressed and stuff.

I will see you on State Street on Saturdays in sweatpants. To buy ... seasonal salads. And... salsa. Ha!

-Kate

Biking in New Haven

The city of New Haven just launched a new website devoted to biking around the city. Click here for maps, safety tips, and more resources.

-Kate

Div Dictionary: Archie Moore’s

Archie Moore’s (n): The only bar I can walk to in my neighborhood. Also serves food.

Because of Archie Moore’s proximity to the Div School, and the necessity of beers after or during certain moments of theological ferment, you’ll end up at Archie Moore’s many times during your divinity career. Many, many times. You’ll go there for meetings, you’ll go there for lunch, you’ll go there for birthday party beers.

Sigh.

Let me be honest with you. I don’t really like Archie’s. This is probably yet another symptom of having moved here from Chicago: the phrases “only bar I can walk to in my neighborhood” and “Wow, three dollar beer, that's cheap!” make me weep into my Old Style. My drinking career started in a city once described on This American Life as (and I paraphrase) “a magical place with a bar on every corner, where the downtown smells like chocolate.” (This of course before the whole EPA thing.) I’m kind of still searching for my Jimmy’s East, and the fact that when I find it I’ll have to drive/bum a ride/take a cab there irks me.

Viewed through an objective lens, though, there’s a lot to love about Archie’s:

It’s really close to campus.

It serves beer.

It also serves food. Wings are a specialty, but Archie’s has a full menu that includes burgers, salads, and even desserts. It’s no $5.00 Reuben, but the Cajun fries are delish.

You can take your kids there. Yep, for serious. My friend Zach told me it’s one of the best East Rock restaurants to take his three-year-old daughter to. I totally made this face when he said it, but his reasoning is pretty good. Your kid can make any kind of mess they want at Archie’s while they nosh on chicken fingers and the like, while you enjoy adult food and beverage. The waitresses have seen much worse, and that mess was generated by a bunch of seminarians. I still recommend you evacuate the children before the Div School posse takes over the back room.

One of the sweeter things about Archie’s is how much they like Div School kids. Several friends of mine are on a first-name basis with some of the waitresses, and some of the staff made appearances at graduation-week barbecues so they could meet their favorite patrons’ families. Also, Sandra really likes Archie’s (now that she lives in a different neighborhood, the California grilled cheese is a treat for her). Even I can’t totally hate this place.

-Kate

Running Around New Haven

I am not a runner in any sense of the word, but this year a few friends of mine have been training for the Chicago Marathon. When I got back from Chicago in June, I'd decided that I, too, was going to run a marathon. The voice of reason, as played by my friend Lydia in this movie, managed to talk me down -- first to a half-marathon, and then to a 5k.

Myself and a few others will be running the New Haven Road Race on Labor Day (September 7th) of this year. Register before August 1st, and the fee is only $25.00. Another friend, Nick*, said it was a great way for him to explore New Haven a little last year. All proceeds go to local charities, so you can feel good about that 25 bucks, too.

If you've never run before, and you're all "OMG, five ENTIRE kilometers?!?", you can join us on the "Couch to 5k" training plan. So far, so good for me. I can now run an entire three minutes without stopping or being actively pursued. (If you have run before, and you're like "OMG, it's only five kilometers?!?", I kind of hate you.**)

Let me know if you end up actually running. Team YDS doesn't have to run together, but we do need a group photo at some point, and maybe pancakes together afterward.

-Kate

*Nick actually runs up BOTH peaks in East Rock Park. He is not a good benchmark to hold yourself against. I plan on closely examining my shoes for a good part of this race.

** But you're still welcome here.

Stephanie's Top Ten List for Kids

One of my all-time favorite Div School moms, Stephanie, took a little longer to write me back about what she likes to do with her two awesome kids in New Haven. You'll want to read this whole list; even though it contains some duplicates from what I've already posted, there's some great new information. Number ten is a real gem, too.

-Kate

1) The Peabody Museum. The MacDougall Center [the Yale grad student center] has free tickets for kids, and your Yale ID gets you in for free. Annual membership lets you have a sleepover in the dinosaur room- awesome.

2) The Eli Whitney Museum - great for rainy or snowy days. Drop by to do a woodworking project on any weekend day rather inexpensively. (Discount for projects if you become members)

3) Sign-up for MacDougall Center family list serve. Great events planned for families every month - young kids and parents play groups, apple picking, and holiday movies and craft parties.

4) Neighborhood Music School for all types of dance and instrumental lessons.

5) East Rock park playground and park off Cold Spring is great for picnics, soccer and kite flying. [You guys must be way sick of us talking about East Rock Park, but it’s pretty great. Did I mention there’s usually an ice cream truck at the summit?]

6) New Haven Youth Soccer is a well-run soccer program for children of all ages. One year fee covers both spring and fall season. The coaches are terrific and the program is lots of fun for the kids.

7) Yale Athletics has a Kids Bulldogs club (check our Yale athletics website) All children can join for free. They get a T-shirt and free admission to certain Yale sports events including soccer, football and basketball. Face painting, autographs by the athletes and pizza parties for Bulldog members. Really wonderful program

8) Yale Outdoor Education Center near East Lyme - $6 per day per person w/ Yale ID. Free canoeing and kayaking. Lovely lake, campsites and cabins for rent.

9) As for culture: the New Haven Symphony Orchestra has several family programs throughout the school year. Yale Art Gallery has once a month (on a Sunday afternoon) family art programs.

10) For the past two years, Div school families have informally gathered for dinner at the HGS Dining Hall* on Thursday nights. It's a great way to relax and catch-up with the other families. The HGS Manager has been offering some special family activities on Thursdays (e.g. make-your own sundaes) and the MacDougal Center has provided coloring books, crayons, plastic cups. Many parents (and children) really looked forward to the Thursday night family dinners so hopefully it will continue.

*My note: "HGS" is the Hall of Graduate Studies, a dorm/coffeeshop/cafeteria building, and where the MacDougal Center is housed. You can use your YDS meal plan at HGS!

Kids in New Haven

So far, I’ve not done anything on child-friendly activities in New Haven -- of which there are a lot. I apologize for this oversight. Since I can barely be trusted to keep a plant alive, I emailed some of my favorite Div School parents and babysitters and asked for some ideas. This is the inaugural post in a series of things to do with kids in the area. Today: things to do in greater New Haven. (Later: things to do with kids in/around Yale.)

Someone tried to tell me on Friday that a good 20% or more of New Haven’s land area is parkland. I guess I believe this. Check out all the offerings at the Parks and Rec website. We’re closer to East Rock Park, but there’s a whole host of parks and playgrounds to be explored in New Haven.

If you’re willing to travel just a bit further, there are also lots of beaches around here. Hammonasset State Park is a perennial fave, despite being tough to spell.

Wilbur Cross high school, in East Rock, opens up its pool to the community for family swims during the summer. Wilbur Cross also has tennis and basketball courts and a track behind it.

The Peabody Museum has dinosaurs.*

For more athletics kiddlings, there’s the New Haven Youth Soccer League or Southern Connecticut's Pop Warner football league.

Finally, the great catch-all website KidsCT.com, with much, much more to do – from the New Haven Children’s Museum to ice skating in Milford (year-round!).

Again, I’ll update later with some Yale-specific stuff, once I wade through the 10 pages of stuff Sandra sent me.

-Kate

*Also a pretty good place to park one's parents for an afternoon, I've found.

Here Already? Things To Keep You Busy on Your New Grad Student Budget

Many of you have already interacted with Jan F. through the admissions office. If you’ve met her, you’re already familiar with the fact that she’s totally wonderful. As a long-time New Haven area resident, Jan also has a hidden talent for coming up with wonderful stuff to put on this blog. Two wonderful, FREE things for you to do this summer:

The Elm City Shakespeare Company combines several of my favorite things: theater, the outdoors, and cheap-like-free pricing. Elm City puts on free shows in Edgerton Park, a quick walk from YDS and most points in East Rock. You’ll note that neither of this year’s productions are actually written by Shakespeare, but I think we should all agree to overlook that in the spirit of summer outdoor festivals. Shows start mid-August.

N.B: We will be taking you to an Elm City Shakespeare production during BTFO. So if you want, you can save it until then. No, I don’t know which show yet.

Jan also recommends the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven. Parking and admission are both free (!), and the museum brings in exhibits of art and history that look pretty cool, including contemporary stuff. This is a good reminder to me to actually go here; I’ve been meaning to for quite a while, even though both K of C buildings in New Haven are really ugly. (Then again, a lot of the modernist and international styles of architecture are just lost on me. Feel free to form your own opinion.)

Once again, thanks Jan!

-Kate

(The) Two Things I Like About New Haven (The Most)

So I’m back. Leaving Chicago is always a little hard on me, and since I did a sixteen-mile all-night charity walk on Saturday night (with my mom, who is almost sixty and most definitely awesome!), I’m also a little groggy and out of it. I’m a fake Chicagoan, too, having spent the first 75% of my life in the ‘burbs of Philly and the backwoods of Massachusetts, but like many of you, I have spent and continue to spend not a little time grieving the life given up to come to YDS. I miss my old apartment, my home parish, and cheap, terrible beer.

In the joint spirits of cheering myself up and informing you (which continues to be the main objective of this blog, even with the rambling), I will now share with you the two areas in which New Haven completely outpaces Chicago.

1) Recycling. (Maybe environmentalism in general?)
Chicago has had a long flirtation with recycling, but can’t really get it together. It’s not that we don’t care about the environment, it’s just that … we don’t care that much. We were doing something else, and then it got late, and we always leave work at 4:55pm, and then we forgot for a while. We like to bike, and we love our lake, but the logistics of effective curbside recycling continue to elude us.

In New Haven, not only are recycling resources plentiful at school, with bins and reminders everywhere, but also curbside recycling is really easy! If you live on-campus, you’ll have recycling containers outside near the dumpsters you’ll take your trash to. If you live off-campus, you’ll find a blue bin somewhere in your apartment. By keeping an eye out on your street, you’ll be able to figure out that everyone puts their trash and recyclables out one night a week (100 block of Linden – Wednesday night!) for an early morning pickup. The bin will look like this:


(I contemplated putting up a picture of my own bin, but decided against it, to avoid any uncomfortable questions about my Diet Coke consumption. I’m down to one a day … most days.)

You can figure out what to put in the bin at this helpful site from SoHu New Haven. While you’re there, marvel at the fact that “SoHu” is its own neighborhood now.

2. Food from carts.
Having grown up near enough to Philly to understand that soft pretzels are supposed to be smothered with brown mustard, I was initially confused when I found that I couldn’t buy a hotdog from some guy with a cart in the Loop. Apparently they think you need a running hot water hookup to serve food properly. I think that this is why everyone is suddenly allergic to peanuts. Not that I’m hating on people with allergies – I have a cousin and a good friend who are both peanut-intolerant – but has anyone else noticed that everyone is allergic to peanuts these days? My basic assertion is that, like asthma, we'd have fewer food allergies if kids ate more dirt. And while they’re at it, a hotdog.

“The carts” are a wonderful part of life at YDS. I’ve been talking like the only thing you can buy from a cart is a hotdog, but if you’re willing to make the quick drip down to the School of Management at the corner of Prospect and Sachem (and, more daunting, the trip back up the hill) on a weekday around lunch, you’ll be able to take your pick: burritos, Indian, Ethiopian, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese. Sometimes there’s a cupcake truck, too! A complete lunch (food plus a drink) will run you in the neighborhood of $5/$6. That price is so good it deserves its own low-budget local commercial.

If you grew up in Chicago or on the moon, here is a picture of what food from a cart looks like that I stole from the Yale Daily News:


(Again, I considered taking my own photo of a cart in New Haven serving food. Then I remembered that I’m lazy and didn’t want to go downtown today.)

OK, that totally worked. I feel better. Hopefully you feel more informed, too. Long-time CT residents and lurking YDS people, what do YOU love about this city/state?

-Kate

Safety & Security at YDS

Ed. note: Yes, you just got this in email form. But I know how it is - your inbox is full, or you have some filter set up, or the YDS mail you get keeps ending up in the spam folder by mistake ... here again, this week's BTFO update on safety. With thanks to Bill Goettler, YDS's Assistant Dean for Ministerial Studies and Assessment, and long-time New Haven resident, for his input. (Dear Bill: Why don't you have an official bio on the YDS website? Do you see what I'm forced privileged to link to?)

Those of you who have set up your Yale email accounts have probably already gotten at least one email from Chief Perotti, the head of the Yale Police force. Chief Perotti sends an email of every crime related incident that takes place in or near the Yale campus, and involves a person who is affiliated with Yale. Taken out of context, these can make living in New Haven seem a little scary. And since you aren't yet getting many other Yale emails, it might appear that all we talk about is crime. A few things to remember when you get these emails:

First, these are a legal necessity. Believe it or not, Chief Perotti doesn't send these emails with the express intent to titillate, but because he is required by law to do so whenever there is an incident involving anyone Yale-affiliated in New Haven. Since Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale University comprise the #1 and #2 employers in New Haven, respectively, that's a lot of people.

Second, New Haven, for all its charm and frustrating lack of urbanity, is still a city. (The second largest in Connecticut, following Bridgeport.) Along with living in a city come certain pluses and minuses. On the minus side, you'll be exposed to a higher crime rate than you'd see in say, rural Connecticut. On the plus side, you'll be within walking distance of wonderful things like the Yale Art Gallery, East Rock Park, and my current favorite coffee shop, Lulu (http://www.lulublend.com/). Most YDS students live in either East Rock or Newhallville, which you can read more about on the Yale housing website (http://www.yale.edu/livingnh/community/nhprofiles.html).

Finally, these incidents represent a small percentage of the overall Yale population and their likelihood is often increased by behavior that can be dangerous in any city. Chief among these, of course, is walking around alone at night – and there's literally no reason why you'd have to walk home or to campus alone. Yale runs a series of free shuttles, with door-to-door service late nights, and offers security escorts 24/7 on campus. We put together a document listing the various safety and security resources you can avail yourself to – please take a look, and keep these phone numbers handy. Please access the document here:

http://www.yale.edu/divinity/adm/SafetyInformation.shtml

On the less-official level, Yale Divinity School is a caring and safe community. Although I have my own car, I've always been able to find a ride home from an on-campus event or off-campus party with another Div School student when I need one. YDS's campus itself is very safe, and most items that go missing end up in the lost and found drawers near Dale’s office.
Bottom line: please don't let the Chief Perotti emails determine how you feel about New Haven and YDS before you even get here. Yes, you'll need to take common-sense security precautions while living here, but on the whole New Haven is a safe and fun place to live.

-Kate

Div Dictionary: East Rock

East Rock (n): 1) One of two huge bluffs which bookend New Haven. 2) The park surrounding this bluff. 3) The neighborhood directly south of this park.

New Haven history Quickie: originally founded as utopian Congregationalist Community, New Haven is nestled between East and West Rocks – two rocky crags which neatly bookend the original city grid. The streets were originally gridded (or so people claim – I’m from Chicago and I know from gridded; I have my doubts), with the grid tilted so that the north-south thoroughfares led towards the twin bluffs. YDS is closest to East Rock, which you can see clearly from the back of the quads.

East Rock Park is one of my favorite things. In addition to providing baseball and soccer fields, basketball courts, and a river for boating, East Rock has miles of trails, paved and unpaved. You can bike to the summit of East Rock on paved trails, hike up through the wooded ones, or attempt to climb the accurately named Giant Steps (pictured above) – which are probably the most direct route, but also the steepest. Once there, you’ll have panoramic views of the city of New Haven, as well as Long Island Sound. If it’s a clear day, you can often see all the way to Long Island itself. During the summer, there’s almost always a guy in a truck up there selling ice cream, and a decently clean porta-potty over by the tennis courts. East Rock is HUGE – I took a three-hour walk there recently and still haven’t been able to find the rose garden. Enjoy getting lost in there.

At the southern foot of East Rock lies the neighborhood of East Rock, the neighborhood where many of you will be taking up residence. Local merchants line Orange Street, including European grocers Romeo and Cesare, Lulu’s Coffee House, and further down, Oriental Pantry, which has some great Kim Chi. On sunny Spring and summer days, East Rock is rife with tag sales, where you can furnish your apartment for cheap.

Ah, East Rock. Time for another long walk.

-Kate