Who Knew: Long Live the Playhouse

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. * * *

Shared experience is powerful stuff. 

Where, once upon a time, all the world lined up to see Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, or E.T., we now sit in separate little rooms on separate little screens watching algorithmically programmed little dances performed by strangers and their cats and then read torturous think-pieces that ask when we all stopped getting along. Movies often get made now for focus-grouped market segmentations for maximum merch sales, not for all of us, and as a result, there are, at my last count, several thousand installments of the Transformers franchise. Movie palaces around the country (and as nearby as Darien) have been razed to become mixed-use buildings, providing more little rooms for more little screens. I’m sure I sound like a nostalgic old-timer here, but I’ve missed those golden late 80’s afternoons at the Orinda theater (a classic movie palace of the highest order) where le tout 7th grade would also be in attendance, and also, since I’m leaning into my new persona, would you please get off my lawn?

Who Knew: Yes, the New Library is Going to be Spectacularly Bonkers

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. 

“The years past have seen the establishment and subsequent growth of our library until it has long since outgrown its accommodations and has thus been seriously handicapped in its attempted work.” —Henry W. Saxe, ‘Relation of the Library to the Community,’ in the  Jan. 30, 1913 New Canaan Advertiser

In 1913, a time capsule was placed under the cornerstone of the New Canaan Library, to be opened “one hundred years from now” when, as leadership then anticipated, our town’s needs would outgrow the footprint of the building they’d just begun. 

New Canaan has grown from almost 4,000 souls to over 20,000 in 109 years. Moreover, the information-seeking landscape has been wildly, dramatically altered. Right now, you’re reading your morning paper on a tiny, handheld computer that also serves as a portal to all the world’s information. You’re also not wearing pantaloons and reading by kerosene lamp; if you are, I salute your freaky-deaky choice.

Business

Who Knew? Five Cheeseburgers Your Cardiologist Doesn’t Need to Know About

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Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. I’ve never been able to understand more than six words of Marcel Proust, but from what I can gather, Remembrance of Things Past is 4,200 pages of inscrutable French about a cookie. 

 I can relate. I spend an impractical amount of time contemplating my Platonic ideals of food. Ice cream: Arethusa Farm coffee. Tomato: garden-grown, mid-September, still hot from the sun.

Back End

Who Knew? New Canaan, New You

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Our culture’s annual ritual of reinvention and deprivation is upon us, and it’s the absolute worst. The onset of a new calendar year is the obvious time to make drastic changes to your lifestyle because, last year, even if it was three weeks ago, you were a grievously flawed monster. Wellness and lifestyle brand ads proliferate in your Instagram feed, implying that whoever you are, you must immediately renounce that sad, besweatpantsed person because it is unthinkable to show up to a New Year without a New You. Propped up by billions of marketing dollars, New You sanctimoniously eschews caffeine, sugar, gluten, tequila, procrastination, toffee, cured meats, online shopping, croissants, spontaneously-purchased first-class airplane tickets, cupcakes of any size, movie popcorn, and smokehouse almonds.

Around Town

‘Who Knew?’ Column Launches on New Canaanite, Sponsored by Walter Stewart’s

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Jan. 21, 2022—NewCanaanite.com for Friday’s newsletter launched a new column by town resident and writer Laura Ault. 

Sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market, “Who Knew?” will appear each month in the third Friday newsletter. 

In it, Ault will unearth surprises she finds “in our little corner of the suburbs.”

“I’ll search for those great experiences that can only be had in New Canaan, from restaurants and shops to hikes and events,” Ault said. “And when I find something great, I won’t keep it to myself, as much as I may want.”

Ault is a creative director and founder of a mission-based marketing consultancy. A native of northern California and graduate of Colgate University, she moved to New Canaan in 2014 and lives on the west side of town with her husband, three dogs and two cats. Doug Stewart, vice president of Walter Stewart’s Market, said the local business is pleased to sponsor Ault’s writing about New Canaan, which recently included an article spotlighting five standout local foods.