'Turnback Tuesday' features Derby High School yearbook

This week's "Turnback Tuesday" features the Derby High School yearbook, “Lookout.”

The logo is of a clipper ship like the ones formerly built in Derby. On the ship, the "lookout" was another name for the "crow’s nest." 
The Derby Public Library has copies of the Lookout yearbooks going back to 1901. These Lookout books started out as publications from the high school students themselves including various school activities and the like. The first Lookout that had photos of students was in 1935. 
The Library would also like to request your help to complete our Lookout collection. Missing years are 1938, 1939, 1940, 1999, and 2006. 

Note: All book donations are accepted at the Library’s discretion. 
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
 #turnbacktuesday

Thanks go out to the Derby Public Library for sharing interesting local history each week.

Recuperation journey: Afternoon visitor

I'm happy I was able to get his photo through the window today. Do you think he's posing?

Recuperation journey: Movie brings back another time and place

Manual typewriter, anyone?

That's what we used at the former Evening Sentinel, the Valley-centric daily paper based in Ansonia. 
Former colleagues of a certain age will remember things like copy paper, hand-drawn page layouts, and manually sizing black and white photos fresh out of the darkroom. 
(I had more trouble learning how to use that danged percentage sizing wheel.)

We graduated to electric typewriters (woo hoo!) before the company finally got us big, cumbersome computer monitors. With their arrival came a bit of a learning curve for all of us. 

Fast forward to 2018: Over the weekend I saw The Post, a movie about The Washington Post publishing The Pentagon Papers way back in 1971. 

While I wasn't working at that time - I'm not quite that old - when I did arrive at The Sentinel technology had not yet taken hold. 
We used old-school procedures to put our paper out. So I could definitely relate to a lot of what I saw on the big screen: the newsroom, the press room, the deadlines, and the atmosphere of the time. People actually smoked at their desks. Ugh.

The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a compelling film starring Meryl Streep as Post owner Katharine Graham - the first female publisher of a major American newspaper - and Tom Hanks as the no-nonsense newspaperman, Executive Editor Ben Bradlee. 
Their relationship and their friendships with key people in the government underscore the human side of editorial decision-making.

Go see the movie if you're at all a fan of newspapers, American history, politics, or all three!

Eat at Panera in Derby today, support Prendergast School's PTO

Little League registration slated at Seymour Community Center

Photo shared from League website 

SEYMOUR - George J. Hummel Little League registration will be held from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 8 in the bingo room at Seymour Community Center, 20 Pine St.

Gentile, Murphy tour Brownfield sites in downtown Derby

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, third from left, and state Rep. Linda M. Gentile, to his right, listen to constituents during a tour in downtown Derby./ Contributed photo

DERBY - State Rep. Linda M. Gentile, D-Derby, Ansonia, and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy Friday toured Brownfield sites being considered for redevelopment in downtown Derby.

The Brownfield site is located at the south side of Main Street at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. 
The site was a major industrial area with companies like Housatonic Lumber and Jacob’s Scrap Metal.

“This site is surrounded by Derby’s Greenway Trail, one of the state’s most used multi-purpose trails, and has the potential to grow Derby in the right direction,” Gentile said.

Last year, Gentile was able to secure $200,000 for the assessment of 19 acres on Main Street related to the city’s downtown redevelopment plans as well as a $5 million commitment toward infrastructure to the site for a Main Street grid.
“With the assistance of these funds, we will be able to transform the south side of Main Street into a productive site that grow jobs, improve the economy, and expand the downtown area,” Gentile said. 
“A further commitment of federal funds to leverage state funds and private investment would put us one step closer to our goal of a transit oriented plan.”


This is a press release from Gentile's office.