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NEWS&VIEWS by Jacqueline Bennett

Posts tagged “Jacqueline Bennett”

Representing UConn with Class – Happy for Kevin Ollie as Huskies Headed for Sweet 16

Posted on March 23, 2014

Hurrah Hungry Huskies – win national title for UConn mens BB!! — newsandviewsjb (@newsandviewsjb) April 8, 2014 (UPDATE- Icing on the cake: UConn men head to national championship game after winning in Final Four, defeating Michigan State in the Elite Eight and Iowa State in the Sweet Sixteen.) Commentary by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb Reigniting an old Big East rivalry, last night the University of Connecticut Men’s Basketball team earned a 77-65 win against Villanova in the NCCA tournament game in Buffalo, New York. They now head to the Sweet 16 and as a UConn alum I could not be happier for Head Coach Kevin Ollie. He has handled himself with finesse and represented the university with class since taking over for the retired Hall…

Categories: College basketball, College coaches, NCAA tournament, NEWS, Sports

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Celebrate National Reading Month With Magazines

Posted on March 21, 2014

By:Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb If I were down to my last $5 it would be a toss-up to spend it on a piece of apple pie from Rein’s Deli or a magazine. Neither is particularly practical when pondering how to use a final penny but at least the pie is food. Truth be told, however, I would probably opt for a magazine – that is how much I enjoy reading magazines. Obviously, I say this tongue-in-cheek but I do love reading magazines. One of my preferred spots is the long magazine nook at Barnes & Noble. Each month I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the latest editions of my favorite magazines on the stands. I am fortunate too, for several years now to have received a…

Categories: Magazines, National Reading Month, NEWS, Promote Reading

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Hot Cross Buns, An Enduring Easter Tradition of Friendship, Goodwill & Good Fortune

Posted on March 20, 2014

By:Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb A few weeks before Easter, hot cross buns appear in grocery store bakeries in abundance – but it turns out they are much more than just a tasty harbinger-of-spring. A popular food tradition in predominantly Christian, English-speaking countries, English folklore associates hot cross buns with friendship, good will and good fortune. Perhaps it is the icing cross found on top of these small, spicy, bread-like cakes filled with dried fruits that originates the legend they are blessed with the power to ward off evil spirits and bring good. For example folklore says, sharing a hot-cross bun with a friend on Good Friday ensures a lasting friendship, giving a piece of a hot cross bun to the ill will speed their recovery,…

Categories: Folklore, Food, NEWS, Traditions

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Courageous Paralympian Wows “Dancing With The Stars” Audience

Posted on March 19, 2014

Commentary by:Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb Stories about triumph of the human spirit never cease to amaze me. A performance by double amputee Amy Purdy on Monday night’s 2014 season premiere of “Dancing with the Stars” wowed the audience, and was courageous. Without prior knowledge that Purdy was dancing on two prosthetic legs, one would not have had a clue from the way she moved and swayed with dancing pro partner Derek Hough during a routine that earned the team a standing ovation and is sure to inspire others with disabilities. Purdy’s willingness to put herself front and center and dance on television in front of millions of viewers was an astounding act of personal strength. It comes on the heels of her winning a bronze…

Categories: acheivements, Courage, Dance, Entertainment, NEWS, Paralympions, People

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Stop Common Core in CT Movement Takes Center Stage at State Capitol

Posted on March 18, 2014

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb Bright red t-shirts that read “STOP COMMON CORE” dominated the halls of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut last week where a marathon hearing on the issue began at noon March 12 and ran late into the night. Three hundred people turned out for the hearing and some of the one hundred said to have signed up to speak waited for their turn to come at 11:00 p.m. and beyond. Common Core standards adopted by the state Board of Education in 2010 came under fire despite an appeal from the BOE chairman to save them. Lighter moments were not characteristic of this agenda, rather the day was marked by serious looks on serious faces on differing sides…

Categories: Common Core Standards, education, NEWS

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A Grand 2014 St. Patrick’s Parade for Greater Hartford, Connecticut

Posted on March 16, 2014

Story & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb   It was another grand St. Patrick’s Parade that drew an estimated 60,000 spectators to downtown Hartford, Connecticut Saturday, March 15 to watch five thousand marchers.   This year’s Grand Marshal was Beverly Concannon, a longtime volunteer for the Irish American Home Society.     Early morning clouds gave way to sunshine by the 11:00 a.m. onset of the parade.   Irish folk music filled the air, as well as, the sounds of “Danny Boy” performed by various high school marching bands.   As is tradition the Hartford Police Department led off the parade followed by the Hartford Fire Department Emerald Society.   Of course, there were bagpipers in kilts and a sea of green revelers who…

Categories: American Labor Movement, capital cities, Irish heritage, NEWS, Parades, St. Patrick's Parades

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Celebrate March as National Reading Month with Poetry

Posted on March 14, 2014

 By:Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb How great that my birthday month of March is also National Reading Month. In recognition of my love of the printed word I plan to publish at least one post each week throughout March pertaining to reading.Today’s celebrates poetry. Titled “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, one of my favorite poems was written by American poet Robert Frost. A few autumns ago my sisters and I were browsing at a gift shop and a beautiful hard covered book of this poem illustrated by Susan Jeffers caught my eye. Come December I found a copy of that book under my Christmas Tree – a very thoughtful gift from my sister Dixie. For that reason, it is also now one of my…

Categories: American Poets, National Reading Month, NEWS, Poetry, Sisters

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No Cigars, So Are Lipstick & High Heels Tools of the Trade for Female Journalists Covering Politics?

Posted on March 13, 2014

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb No cigars, so are lipstick and high heels tools of the trade for female journalists covering politics and public policy? The truth of the matter is that high heels are hardly standard attire for female reporters, especially in snow covered Connecticut. Yet when covering the political arena historically dominated by men and sometimes marked by good ole’ boys and back room deals, does gender affect reporting? The facts of a story are the facts of a story. That was the consensus of a panel that mulled the topic “Journalism & Gender: When Women Report on Politics and Public Policy” hosted March 12 in Hartford, Connecticut by the state Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. It was…

Categories: Journalism, NEWS, Politics & Public Policy, Women in Journalism

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Read Me Like A Book

Posted on March 10, 2014

By:Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb “You can read me like a book.” It is an idiomatic expression with a meaning open to interpretation ranging from the ability to understand someone’s motivation to the ability to predict what someone thinks and will do. For my purposes it is a headline meant to hopefully capture attention on the subject of reading. At any rate, it speaks to the presence of books in our lives. I was extremely fortunate to grow up in a household that valued reading because, at the risk of sounding preachy, reading is the backbone for so much in life. Reading is empowerment of the individual. To be able to read a menu, a bus route, traffic signs, and yes … newspapers, represents the opportunity…

Categories: Books, Idioms, NEWS, Promote Reading, Read Across America

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Shamrock Angel in the House -Thank You Ann

Posted on March 8, 2014

By: Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb I have written here on newsandviewsjb many times about the good works of my friend Ann Walsh. She was one of the original volunteers for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and has been instrumental in raising thousands of dollars for the foundation towards research to fight pediatric cancer. She has been a volunteer at Mary’s Place in Windsor, Connecticut – A Center for Grieving Children, has participated in a program to help youngsters at the local schools learn courtesy and manners, for some eleven years she has coordinated a care package program for the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan called “Send Hometown Windsor to the Troops”, was instrumental too in advancing plans for the Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial, and…

Categories: Cancer research, Friends, NEWS, People

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