Edgewood

Ross Gay Incites Joy

by | Feb 21, 2024 8:48 am | Comments (1)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Ross Gay: "The hope is to be unmade in the process.”

Ross Gay practiced what he preaches last night at Possible Futures, as the poet, essayist, and teacher offered a grateful crowd a selection of his work encompassing joy and tenderness that brought them from rapt silence to riotous laughter and everywhere in between.

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Book Club Kicks Off Year Of Baldwin

by | Jan 19, 2024 10:52 am | Comments (7)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Baldwin books available at Possible Futures.

Hosts Lauren Anderson and IfeMichelle Gardin spreading that "book joy" on kick-off night.

The vibe at Possible Futures was lit Thursday night — more specifically Kulturally Lit, as the literary-focused arts organization’s 100 Years of Baldwin Book Club had its inaugural meeting exploring the works of author, playwright, thinker, and civil rights icon James Baldwin.

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Local Artists Auction For Palestinian Aid

by | Dec 7, 2023 8:30 am | Comments (12)

Laura Glesby photo

The Palestinian sunbird up for auction to raise humanitarian funds.

In Emmeline Kaiser’s painting, a vibrant blue Palestinian sunbird perches in a blooming meadow, a picture of peace. 

That bird has raised $75 and counting in a fundraising effort organized by local artists of color for humanitarian aid to Palestinian communities now facing bombs and evacuation orders.

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Zines Create Scene At Possible Futures

by | Nov 13, 2023 9:02 am | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Making zines at The New Haven Zine Club.

Tiny Ghosts Haunting Small Things, The Band Plays in Front of a Big Audience, and Cars Go Too Fast (and our road design encourages it) are not titles you might find on the bestseller list or at your local news stand. But you can find them in the zine library making its way through the city as part of the New Haven Zine Scene, a group of creatives that meet up once a month to make, read, and talk about zines and share everything and anything zine related. This past Saturday, the group met for the first time at Possible Futures on Edgewood Avenue, where it will continue to trade off monthly meeting dates with Witch Bitch Black Box on Whitney.

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City Lands $7.7M Federal Lead-Abatement Grant

by | Oct 27, 2023 4:19 pm | Comments (6)

Thomas Breen file photo

A lead paint-chipped windowsill in Fair Haven.

Lead paint hazards will be removed from 200 more New Haven homes — and 130 local contractors, maintenance workers, and landlords will receive training in how to do that children’s-health-protecting work — now that the city has been awarded a new $7.7 million federal grant.

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City To Style Up More Salon Inspections

by | Oct 12, 2023 8:55 am | Comments (10)

Laura Glesby Photo

Fatou braids a client's hair, hopes for more landlord accountability.

A new layer of city regulation is coming to local hair, piercing, tattoo, and nail salons — sparking a debate over the burden of annual inspection fees, and prompting one African hair braider to hope that more leverage against neglectful commercial landlords is on the horizon.

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Possible Futures Looking Bright On Edgewood

by | Sep 26, 2023 12:17 pm | Comments (5)

Allan Appel photo

Author Winsome Bingham, at Possible Futures-hosted reading.

Over the course of just three days, the following all unfolded on the modest corner of Hotchkiss Street and Edgewood Avenue: A regular monthly meeting of a major local nonprofit; a happy hour for exhausted educators; three authors’ readings, and a two-hour-long neighbors’ knitting circle smack dab among the displays, plants, comfy couches, and shelf after shelf of shiny, new, colorful volumes.

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Community Carries Fred Hampton's Ideas Forward

by | Aug 31, 2023 8:09 am | Comments (0)

Brian Slattery Photos

On one side of Hotchkiss Street at the intersection of Edgewood Avenue on Wednesday evening, along the side of the bookstore Possible Futures, a DJ on the corner pumped out irresistible grooves while friends greeted one another, browsed books, and snacked on empanadas and mimosas. 

On the other side of the street was a cheerful sign that read Happy 75th Birthday Fred!” with a timeline laid out beneath it. The Fred in question is none other than Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party leader and revolutionary.

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Brick Wall Sees Possible Abolitionist Future

by | Aug 23, 2023 8:24 am | Comments (1)

Eleanor Polak photo

Christina Duan, Jess X. Snow, Sheri, Sonja John, Aaron Jafferis, Sarah "TW" Tracy-Wanck, and Rheo June painting Possible Futures.

The outside wall of Possible Futures, the bookstore located at 318 Edgewood Ave., stood blank and dull against the street, devoid of inspiration and creativity. That was about to change. 

Tuesday marked the beginning of a 10-day-long painting project to design a mural, a tribute to New Haven local and celebrated prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore. The blank wall became a canvas, as muralists and community volunteers worked together to explore all the possible futures the space could hold.

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Appeals Court Upholds Yeshiva Foreclosure

by | Jun 27, 2023 9:37 am | Comments (2)

Thomas Breen file photo

The Edgewood yeshiva at 765 Elm St.

Eliyahu Mirlis is one step closer to gaining control of the former yeshiva building at Elm and Norton Streets — now that a state court has rejected a foreclosure-case appeal pursued by a nonprofit controlled by the man convicted of raping him, imprisoned Rabbi Daniel Greer.

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State Boost En Route For City E-Bikers

by and | Jun 21, 2023 12:39 pm | Comments (19)

Paul Bass File Photo

City climate czar Steve Winter: e-bikes are a "big step to fill gaps in our transit system"

Eco-minded New Haveners looking to get out of their cars and onto two battery-assisted wheels will soon be able to apply for up to $1,500 in state-subsidized vouchers to help cover the costs of purchasing a new electric bicycle.

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6 Crisis Beds OK'd For Winthrop Ave

by | Mar 29, 2023 2:19 pm | Comments (9)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

COMPASS's Nanette Campbell and Lucia Lawlor, in a Continuum of Care-owned shelter on Edgewood Avenue. More crisis beds soon to come at 310 Winthrop (below).

Three megalandlord-owned apartments on Winthrop Avenue will soon become six short-term spots for people unsure where to turn in the midst of an affordable housing and shelter shortage.

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Possible Futures Takes Pride In Fred Hampton

by | Mar 21, 2023 8:15 am | Comments (2)

Brian Slattery Photos

Nzima Hutchings at Monday's "Fred Hampton 101" workshop.

The thoughts and deeds of a young fallen revolutionary became fuel for poetic pursuits Monday evening at Possible Futures, the bookstore and meeting place on Edgewood Avenue, as Nyzae James and Nzima Hutchings led a dozen participants through Fred Hampton 101,” a presentation that was part history, part poetry workshop, and all community building.

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