The Merry Life of the Beekeeper

THE MERRY LIFE OF THE BEEKEEPER: a guide for New Haven and Yale

Books:

Wait before you shell out $10 for that glossy new 18th edition of Othello. Know your options. Know, also, that the textbook industrial complex expects to make a killing off of poor, vulnerable students. The re-issuing of new editions every 3 – 4 (and some times as little as 2!) years is scandalous... Subvert, and save money by: 1. Sharing books, especially textbooks for classes like psychology, biology, physics, and economics lecture courses, with roommates, suitemates, soulmates. You probably won’t use these books more than 5 hrs. a week anyway. 2. Borrowing books from the Yale library system. CCL has several copies of most course book; try Kline for science textbooks. 3. Sharing reading packets with friends or classmate or using reading packets (and books) on reserve in CCL. If books aren't on reserve, the prof can be solicited for such. 4. Putting want ads in the post office for used titles. Most of the books you want are sitting in someone’s closet somewhere on campus. Every year, after students leave, we find used and nearly-unused copies of current textbooks and coursebooks in the trash!!! 5. Buy used books. Try especially Bryn Mawr Bookstore on Whitney Ave. between Grove st. and Trumbull St. Books are organized by subject, and within subjects by author’s last names. You shouldn’t need to buy new copies of any Shakespeare play, or any standard classic pieces of literature… Bryn Mawr has a good selection of these, and at good prices; and all of the proceeds go to the Bryn Mawr Scholarship Fund. Atticus on Chapel St. between College and High St. also has many course books, and also buys old course books. Books by the Falls in Kaye’s Art Shop at Chapel & High is a mess but might yield some gems. Arethusra on Audubon St. has many good art books. And make it over at least once to the NEVERENDING BOOKSTORE on State st., with its pay - what - you - think - it’s - worth pricing policy, community performance space, tai-chi classes, professional junk collectors, Rainbow Recycling operation (look for their rainbow truck around the city), bicycle-power junkies (who have been seen towing a canoe around the city behind a bicycle), used vinyls for sale, and hootenannys. A note on the new YALE BOOKSTORE. YALE BOOKSTORE=BARNES AND NOBLES. B&N kicked the Co-op out of its traditional space near Stiles (actually, Yale denied the Co-op its lease renewal) thereby further transforming Broadway into the Eddie Bauer / Starbucks / quasi - Cambridge fantasy world that New Haven is not, and oughtn’t strive to be. A lot of with it professors have Book Haven stock their books. And you can order textbooks at the local independents. Don’t be tempted by the CHAIN. Other independents include: The Foundry (624-8282), Black Print/Walk in Truth (782-2159), Yale Divinity School Bookstore (432-6101), and BOOKTRADER (787-6147), which stocks used books and will do searches. They also have a nice little cafe and an outdoor patio that makes it a good place to study. Try the Vonnegut’s Veggie. That leads us to...

Food:

New Haven is chock full of cheap and good eats. MORY’s is unionized (Ha!). Chap’s Grill on Chapel St. has an incredible variety of food spanning the range “Middle Eastern, Vegetarian, and American”, some of it very good (e.g. the tempeh reuben). It’s strangely undervisited by undergraduates. Aladdin’s Crown Pizza has middle eastern food as well as the pizza. Across the street from Aladdin’s on Crown is Louis’ Lunch, the birthplace of the hamburger and a National Historic Landmark. Diners include the Copper Kitchen ($1.75 breakfast special, ‘til 11 a.m.: 2 eggs, toast, coffee or tea, and home fries), Patricia’s on Whalley Avenue... All of the Indian restaurants (except for Mom’s at Crown and High) have cheap buffets (all-you-can-eat) on the weekends ranging in price from $5.95 to $7.95. The Miya’s (Howe and Chapel) Monday night sushi-and-Japanese noodles buffet is legendary, if you can save up $13.95 and work up a good appetite. The cheapest buffet in town is Indochine at $4.95, but at Thai Pan Asian, an extra dollar will get you better fruit, larger selection, and a nice dessert. Lalibela, quite possibly the best restaurant in town, serves Ethiopian food, and has a $5.95 lunch buffet. Also on the diner front: Clark’s on Whitney Ave, a traditional TD hangout and favorite of State Rep. Bill Dyson. Away form the downtown area are some wonderful local favorites: besides the much-hyped brick oven pizza on Wooster St. (a 10 min. walk from Old Campus — go down Chapel st. past the Green, across State St., make a right on to Olive St., left onto Wooster St.) are: Seafood Soulfood on Whalley Avenue (call; they deliver), the legendary Sandra’s Place (soulfood) on Congress Ave. in the Hill, and for Mexican food: El Charro on Grand Ave. in Fair Haven, Guadalupe La Poblanita on Middletown Ave.: and Hispanic foods: El Coqui (Grand Ave., “Spanish” Food), La Isla (Washington Ave., Puerto Rican food). And if you’re on the Yale Meal Plan, remember that you can transfer your lunches at the School of Management Dining Hall at Prospect and Sachem (near the Whale and OML). It’s also a great breakfast place and Local 35 employees often eat there. Also, go up to the 7th floor (roof) of the Art and Architecture building at York and Chapel. Enjoy the great view and a snack. While you're there, ask them to switch to Fair Trade coffee — a good thing to do in any coffee shop. If you want to buy your own go to 10,000 Villages on Chapel St. right across from the ever locked Vanderbilt gates (go out Street Hall) or to Edge of the Woods. Edge is the local health food store, located three blocks past Shaw’s on Whalley. Shaw’s is the local supermarket: there was a community campaign to get a supermarket located within the city.

Local, Real Foods:

Support local and sustainable agriculture. Vincent Kaye is the local beekeeper and sells great honey under the brand name Swords Into Plowshares. Fresh, locally grown produce is available at the farmer’s market at Pitkin Plaza on Orange St. behind City Hall on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Also, there’s organic food at the Dandelion Market Saturdays in September, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., extending from College and Chapel up to the Yale University Art Gallery. Two great local dairies are Shepherd's Farm (Litchfield Tpk. In Woodbridge, a 5-mile bike ride from downtown, through some beautiful preserve land) makes its own ice cream and yogurt, and sells raw milk. Bring your own bottle. Also, Shepherd’s has eggs, Vince Kaye’s honey, and some vegetables. It is one of the last of the rare breed of small family farms that are struggling to survive in this age of bovine growth hormone, Roundup Ready genetically engineered soybeans, (both of which can be traced back to agribusiness monster Monsanto), and ADM price-fixing scandals. The other local dairy is Field View Dairy Farm on Derby Ave. (Rte 34) in Orange, a 25 min. bike ride from downtown. It is the oldest continuously operating diary farm in the state, and sells unhomogenized milk, locally grown cornmeal, and baked goods. For more information on the local farm movement, get in touch with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, Box 386, Northford, CT 06472 (203-484-2445). There are two CSA’s (shareholding farms) in the area, as well as several sugar houses, cider mills, and wool farms. And don’t neglect...

Wild Edible Plants:

acorns, the Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas) in the Silliman moat which are a much-prized fruit in Turkey (pick when purple or red, leave in fridge until soft, and enjoy), the mulberries in the Fleet Bank parking lot, the juneberries (Amelanchier spp.) in front of the Yale Post office. For more info, read Identifying and Harvesting Edible Wild Plants by Steve Brill.

Money:

A great alternative to the banks is the Northeast Alliance Federal Credit Union on Broadway. $50 in savings to open a checking account, no minimum balance, ATM on site, and it’s a credit union! (So money stays within the community — in this case, the community of Yale faculty, workers, and students.) Save money while learning how to live on your own, learning bread-baking, dishwashing, hummus craftery, etc… Live off campus ASAP to save up to 60% off of Yale Room and Board. People have saved up to $3,500 a year, which for two years means $7,000 less in loans when you graduate…There are beautiful rentals available for $300/month. Look diligently.

Financial Aid:

Make repeated requests for reviews. Don’t be ashamed; you deserve to be at Yale. The cost of a year at Yale has risen since 1971 while real wages have fallen. Also, look into CHESLA loans. And, dining hall jobs pay well since they are unionized. There are also interesting Yale jobs available from shoveling manure at the stables, to caring for snakes at the Peabody museum to binding books in the basement of Sterling.

The City:

New Haven is a great city in ways Yalie’s typically don’t imagine. Don’t be fooled; explore! Don’t be a sleepy, snotty Yalie; get involved. For weather info, call WEA-THER (932-8437). Use the New Haven Library on Temple and Elm (less Yalie density and books you can’t get in the Yale system. Although if you really want a book from Yale, you can request that CCL order it). (Also, a great local history section). Get a free city map and a free regional map (great for biking trips) from the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce on the 10th Floor of the Chapel Square Mall office tower (900 Chapel St.). Read the New Haven Advocate (available free everywhere), listen to WPKN (89.5 Public Access, Bridgeport); decent DJs, indecent opinions, community run. DEEP RADIO, believe it or not. It’s available for announcements. Call in. (331-9756 or -1328). Also, visit the binder marked City Info in the Dwight Hall office.

Vote! Register! In New Haven, because:

New Haven is small enough so that your vote counts. You live here most of the year and will come to know more about local issues than issues in your home state. State legislators consider 5 calls on any one issue a landslide. Local votes are won and decided by dozens of votes. In Ward One (Yale except for MC, ES, DC, PC) your alder is Ben Healey — befriend him. He’s class of ‘04 living in BR E22 (6-0814). Dwight Hall programs are a great way to get involved in the city. See what you find and give us some tips. Know where the Hill is. Know the neighborhoods, Dwight, Fair Haven, Annex, Beaver Hills, Westville, etc... Take long walks. Take bike rides. Get on buses. Explore. Talk to people. Go fishing. Visit the Afro-Am Historical Society on Dixwell Ave. Know New Haven history (Underground Railroad, Amistad incident, elm blight, Winchester Arms Co., etc...) Act upon the conclusions you reach.

Transportation:

The bus system is underutilized by students. Stop complaining about not having a car and do as the locals do: Take the Bus. It costs $1.00. Free bus schedules are available at: Union Station; the CT Transit Kiosk across Chapel St. from the Mall; and by calling 624-0151. Ask for a complete set of maps and schedules. You can get almost anywhere — beaches, fishing holes, suburban malls, Sears, whatever... Metro North Gets you to New York City and many points on the Connecticut shore (Greenwich, Stamford, Bridgeport, etc...) If you take more than 5 round trips to NY get a 10 trip (10 off peak one way tickets for the price of 9). Shoreline East gets you to points east — Branford, Guildford Clinton , Old Saybrook, New London. And if you are Flying Home out of New York, take Metro North to Grand Central in NYC and the A subway to JFK, or take a Carey bus from Grand Central to the airports. Also, tell your agent that you are a student and see if you can get a student rate. Compare tickets out of Hartford, New Haven, and NYC. Getting to BOSTON and PROVIDENCE is cheaper by bus (Peter Pan 800-343-9999 or Greyhound 800-231-2222) than by train.

Communication:

Free local phone calls can be made from phones in: the basement of Sprague Hall, Dwight Hall, A&A front desk, and many other places on campus. Smile at people. Look ‘em in the eye. Yalies are notorious for staring at the pavement and walking too fast.

Power at Yale:

The Yale Corporation holds ultimate power over policy at Yale. No student representatives sit on the Corporation. Meetings are closed even to students. It is a body made up of 17 alums. The inset has their names, affiliations, addresses and phone numbers. Set up meetings with them well in advance. No changes come at Yale without consistent, organized pressure from student movements. Study the history of the divestment campaign of the 1980’s and the 1984 union strike during which Local 34 (clerical and technical employees) was organized. Problems? Call and meet with President Levin (2-2550), Secretary Linda Lorimer (2-2321), and the new public affairs director, who used to make government propaganda for the WTO, FTAA, and other nefarious trade agreements: Helaine Klasky, P.O. Box 208279 Office:203-432-1311 helaine.klasky@yale.edu Home: 203-785-9335 hklasky@aol.com

Bowling, etc...

Take the D bus up Dixwell Avenue to Hamden Plaza for Hamden Lanes (weekday specials — all you can bowl, etc...) B bus up Whalley to Stop and Shop gets you to Amity Lanes. Fishing Licenses for freshwater fishing are available at Dee’s Bait and Tackle (562-7025) and cost $15/year. No license is required for crabbing or saltwater fishing. Good places to swim are Peck’s Pond in Bethany (freshwater), Hammonasset State Park in Clinton (on the L.I. Sound, reachable by Dattco bus), and Bradley beach in West Haven (on the Sound, at the Savin Rock, only 15 minutes by bike from downtown.).

Natural Areas:

Urban jungles: Explore, in winter (when the thorn bushes are dormant) the jungle between Mansfield and Prospect Streets — paths, a small stream, a former apple orchard, a marsh,. Access behind any of the Yale Buildings on Prospect Street past Sachem Street. The stream starts at a spring on he grounds of Marsh Hall (part of the Forestry School) at Prospect and Hillside Avenue. Farnam Gardens, across from Marsh Hall is a beautiful hillside park. The overgrown herb and perennial garden behind SOM, between Hillhouse Ave. and Prospect St. has beautiful flowers in season. A good run or walk is Edgerton Park/Greenhouse and Community Garden: Go all the way up St. Ronan Street. East Rock has good hiking trails and a road to the top, with views of New Haven and the Sound. West Rock (bike ride or bus) is more remote, and part of the long West RockRidge traprock formation that extends into Bethany and Hamden — all water-authority-protected wild lands (coyotes and copperheads have been spotted) less than 15 minutes drive from New Haven.

Lighthouse Point, with its lighthouse, carousel, and swimming beach, is a 15 min. bike ride or trip on the G bus. Yes, you can bike to these places! You can even walk. Make sure to pick up that free map at the Chamber of Commerce. Edgewood Park and Nature center are several blocks up Edgewood from Howe Street — ride a bike or take the bus. The South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority manages many acres of wild lands around New Haven — great hiking and fishing, boat rentals ($10–15/day on Lake Saltonstall (the premier bass fishing lake in the state), canoeing, and wildlife. Call 624-6671 for permits maps and information. Most of these places are accessible by bus and bike. Cityscape held on a Saturday at the beginning of each year is a good chance to get a flavor of New Haven, a free lunch, and a ride up to Lighthouse Point.

Yale Obscurities:

The Peabody Museum of Natural history on Whitney and Sachem is well visited by area residents and youth but scrupulously ignored by Yale Students. (even though it’s free with your ID). See the fine collections, pet the snake, etc... Don’t forget the art museums on Chapel Street,. More obscure is the Collection of Musical Instruments on Hillhouse Ave. The Herbarium (dried plant samples), left over from the days when there was a Botany Dept. at Yale, has moved to room 134 in the connecting space between 155 and 175 Whitney Ave. The Music Library on the first floor of Sterling has great classical, jazz, and world music recordings (try “Tangoes for Two Harpsichord” or “Folk Music of Kazakhstan”). The Peabody Museum maintains a Salt Marsh and Field Station in Guilford: inquire at the Peabody, the Forestry school, the Geology or biology departments. The Marsh Botanical Garden is behind Greeley Labs at the Forestry School and has a great tropical plants collection including fruiting banana trees (the only New Haven-grown bananas), papyrus, many orchids, bromelaids, etc... Call Yale University info (2-4771) for the number and arrange a visit. It has an annex: the Desert and Succulent Plant Collection behind Sterling Chemistry Lab. Reportedly, students have access to the Yale Trout Pond through Paine Whitney’s fishing club, but we know nothing about this. The Horse Stables are by the IM fields and supply free manure and wood chips to area farmers. The Yale Sheep Farm in Bethany remains elusive; the closest lead is the Animal Control Dept. at the Medical School. Of course, the labyrinthine Steam Tunnel system continues to fascinate and surprise devoted tunnelers, who have found Geiger counters, K rations, “Air Raid Shelter” signs, and fine rugs.

More Information:

The ultimate Yale directory is the Yale University Directory, a blue book with every single phone number of every single department, faculty member, etc… at Yale. You can find old copies sometimes in recycling bins, but these treasured reference works are not distributed to students. Ask your employer/professor/master/ dean to look through their copy. For phone numbers of the places mentioned in this guide, get a local SNET phone directory (often given out on campus; otherwise, go to the SNET building at George and College St.)

Scavengin’:

Lots of good stuff gets thrown away at Yale. Look especially in the SML garage across Wall St. from the Law School. The end of the year is a gold mine for scavengers; everything from cash to CD players to unused textbooks to champagne has been found. Stick around; there’s plenty for all. The bulk of it is thrown out in the rush to get the dorms clean for reunions.

Voting:

Register to vote at the Hall of Records, 200 Orange St. (Between Elm St. and Court St.) There are also often mail-in registration forms available in Dwight Hall. Voting is coming up soon: Primaries — Sept 11. Registration deadline for primary — Sept 6 or Sept 10 in person at 200 Orange. General election — Nov 6. Registration cutoff for general — Oct 23. In addition, all phone numbers of city, state, and national government offices and officers are listed in the blue pages of the local phone book.

The Yale College Council makes official recommendations to the administration and nominates undergrads to serve on Yale's various standing committees. They meet Wednesday nights in LC 209. Recently they sponsored a resolution on Yale's sweatshop policy (which students voted to improve at a rate of 70%) and they are diligently attempting to reform Mental Hygiene (Yale's mental health services). They also throw the biggest parties. Consider running; it's an elected body.

A Bike:

Get a bicycle. Baybrook on College St. is ok, but try getting one used from a tag sale or from the warehouse in back of the Salvation Army on Crown St. Buy and fixing it up. If you don’t know how, call the folks at The Devil’s Gear at 210 State St. (675-1535). They are super-nice and helpful. They do bike repairs and teach you the maintenance.

Addendum (a day trip):

Cross to the opposite corner of the Green and explore the Ninth Square, which is bounded by State, Chapel, Church, and George Streets and gets its name from the original nine squares of New Haven's city plan. (Who knows why that square got to be the ninth.) Once full of factories and warehouses, now it's a mix of posh new apartments, abandoned buildings, empty storefronts, artists' studios, restaurants, and bars. The highlight among the restaurants is Bentara (Orange and Center Streets), an excellent but pricey Malaysian restaurant. The Tune Inn (Center St.) is the place to go for out-of-the-mainstream music, especially (but not only) punk. To see local jazz and blues (the George Baker Experience is a regular act, and worth seeing) — or if you just want a good bar that isn't student oriented — check out Cafe Nine, on the corner of Crown and State. The empty storefronts you'll pass on the way there are often full of art, which is occasionally good. Head down Elm Street until it becomes Grand Avenue, and keep going. Soon you'll be in Fair Haven, which is a peninsula between the Mill and Quinnipiac Rivers. It's a poor, vibrant, predominantly Latino neighborhood. On Grand you'll find Italian pastry shops (Lucibello's is a local favorite), Latino record stores, Puerto Rican restaurants (including El Coqui), abandoned industrial buildings (some of which are beautiful), and active industrial buildings. One of the beautiful, abandoned ones, the old English Station power plant, might become active again, to the detriment of New Haven's air quality. Register to vote in New Haven and don't let that happen.

Keep going on Grand and eventually you'll get to the Quinnipiac River drawbridge and the Quinnipiac River Park. If you cross the river you can head down the East Shore to the beach at Lighthouse Point. It's very a long walk but a reasonable bike ride (take a map) and an easy ride on the G bus Walk the Farmington Canal. The big ditch that runs under Prospect Street on the way up Science Hill used to be a canal that ran from the New Haven Harbor to Northampton, Mass. Eli Whitney had something to do with establishing it. Later it was a railroad, which wasn't abandoned until the 80s. In the days before coeducation Yale men used to take the train to visit Smith women. The canal has been converted to a bike trail in Northampton and several Connecticut towns, including Hamden and Cheshire. There are plans to convert it in New Haven, joining it to the Hamden section, but the plans were long delayed by the Yale administration's reluctance to let the trail run through campus. A few years ago a group of citizens and students convinced the administration to change it's mind, and now the plans are being delayed by the city's lack of funds. In the meantime, you can still take a walk there.

Current Events:

Malik Jones: A young black New Haven resident was shot by a white East Haven cop responding to an anonymous complaint of a traffic infraction. Officer Flodquist followed Malik into New Haven, where he stopped at a red light. Although Malik was unarmed, Officer Flodquist broke his window and shot him repeatedly in the chest. Malik was killed and Flodquist is back on active duty. Malik’s mother, Emma Jones, has founded the Malik Organization to curb police brutality. They have a court monitoring committee, a support group, a campaign against racial profiling and profiling in general (including white kids with piercings, etc. anyone who appears to be socially different), and are working to implement an elected civilian review board with subpoena powers. Offices at 284-286 James St. (752-1214) Sheff vs. Oneill: In July 1996, the state supreme court ruled that the state is now responsible for the persistence of segregation between suburban and urban schools, specifically that students of Hartford schools were deprived of their state-constitutionally guaranteed right to an adequate education. The state is still in the midst of figuring out how that ruling affects statewide funding schemes, district lines, etc. Keep them honest by calling them to see what they’re doing about it. The Filthy Five (Sooty Six): Connecticut has a few power plants exempted from the Clean Air Act with the expectation that they would go offline soon. More than 30 years later, they are major sources of pollution in poor, urban areas and New Haven is one of the unfortunate victims, with the second highest rate of childhood asthma in the country (over 25%). A bill to clean up the Filthy Five finally made it through the legislature last session, but then Gov. Rowland broke his promise and unexpectedly vetoed it. Write him to explain why that was a bad idea. (Official’s numbers and addresses are in the blue pages of the phone book). Yale’s investments: Yale has stock in many weapons manufacturers, private prisons, corporations with records of abusing human rights, and tobacco companies (other schools like Harvard have divested). On the bright side, Yale now votes it’s shares in biotech companies in support of testing the long term human health and environmental safety effects of genetically modified organisms before they are unleashed on the world. Financial Aid Reform: In the late seventies, 25% of students at Ivy League Universities came from families making below or at the median income, by 1988 that number had dropped to 14% —Wall Street Journal. Yale could make policy changes to actually bring poor and middle class kids here, but it will take pressure. Yale has slowly made concessions, but so far has resisted reforms along the lines of those at Princeton and Harvard and recently signed a pact with a few other schools guaranteeing lower levels of aid than Harvard and Princeton. Join the fight for real diversity and real meritocracy and set Yale straight. Cultural House Relocation: the Yale administration has given the cultural houses an extreme runaround and has shown an alarming lack of commitment to cultural houses, seeking to put them in the smallest, least equipped buildings available. Only unified student pressure can insure that doesn’t happen. Green Party: The Green party candidate, John Halle, won a special election in Ward 9 becoming the first independent or third party candidate to win a seat since before the depression or even the civil war. Nobody knows for sure. He now has a weekly blurb in the Advocate. His platform attracted environmentalists concerned about the attempt to reopen the English Station power plant and neighborhood folks weary of Democratic party machine politics. The Dems, who still control 27 out of 30 seats, will be pushing hard to replace him in November, but he pledges to put up a fight. Gentrification: Six years ago, Yale bought up the properties on Broadway, and the increased rent has driven out several old family businesses. Yale just completed clearing out it’s properties on Mansfield St to invest in overdue renovations. At first, Yale served everyone eviction notices, but tenants organized to win a two year lease extension in order to find new housing. That just ended. And worst of all, the clerical and custodial workers are out for good. Yale wants to reserve these properties for upper management figures and some grad students. The Unions: After a long fight, Locals 34 & 35 stopped Yale’s vicious bid to subcontract out their work and create low wage no benefit jobs in 1996. With Yale being the company in the company town, the Unions are our last defense against corporate greed. By protecting good jobs, they protect families and neighborhoods. The unions are democratic and progressive and a national example of how to stop Corporate irresponsibility. This year, the unions contracts are up for renewal and Yale is still refusing to negotiate with the workers at the hospital and the graduate teachers.

Updates:

Check out the Beekeeper online. Make it your homepage. It’s at <www.yale.edu/beekeeper> Of course, no guide like this can ever be complete. It’s meant to be added to, so don’t just stick to the script. Get involved! Read the Advocate and stay awake while at Yale! (That is, stay awake to the world, don’t forget to get a good night’s sleep).