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We stand by our mission statement:
To provide an entertaining, informative, and safe online experience that highlights and honors the best of Bethel, Connecticut's past, present, and future.
Hannah Lipman has lived in Bethel since 1996. She's a mom of two sons and the owner and founder of a national executive search firm, founded in 1991. She is the founder and managing editor of The Bethel Grapevine and started this new venture to capture the uniqueness and community feel of Bethel in an online magazine experience. Hannah loves to make things and bring people together; besides her family, creating something out of nothing is her greatest joy.
Erik Ofgang is the co-author of Penguin Random House’s “The Good Vices” and author of “Buzzed” and “Gillette Castle.” He is an adjunct professor at WCSU’s MFA Program and senior writer for Tech & Learning Magazine. He is the former senior writer at Connecticut Magazine and has written for The Atlantic, The Associated Press, Elemental, Yankee Magazine and many other publications. He lives in Bethel with his wife.
Justin Fargiano, born in Bethel, CT, is an award-winning artist, filmmaker, and animator who recently received a BFA from New York University. His stop-motion short Happy Little Fly was awarded first place at NYU's 2018 New Visions and Voices Festival, and was nominated for Best Animation at the 2019 National Film Festival for Talented Youth. His first documentary short, The Bird in the House, was one of three grand prize winners of the Shift Create at Home Film Festival. Currently, he is in post-production on his senior thesis film and completing freelance jobs for various companies, such as CNN, Jam Jar Wines, and Matchabar. His work aims to distort the everyday narratives we tell ourselves and encourage a re-examining of things we find “familiar."
Genée West is the owner and creator of the "Support Local - Bethel, CT" Facebook group. She's a Bethel resident of 27+ years, mom, graphic artist, hobbyist photographer, and full-time Project Manager for a global life sciences company. Her love for her hometown has spawned her Support Local endeavor and she is frequently seen around town trying to support and help our local businesses while keeping the community engaged and Bethel Strong.
Patrick Tierney Wild is a Bethel native who has served as the town's municipal historian since 1993. He attended kindergarten at the Plumtrees one-room schoolhouse, and is a graduate of both St. Mary Elementary School and Bethel High School. He has a BS degree from Rutgers University and an MA from the College of New Rochelle. He has written articles for the Danbury’s News -Times, Bethel Home News, and Bethel Beacon. He has provided historical information for biographical documentaries on P.T. Barnum for both the Arts & Entertainment Channel and the Discovery Channel. He is the author of Images of America - Bethel by Arcadia Publishing, Historic Tales of Bethel, Connecticut published by The History Press, and is currently at work on a second photographic history of Bethel. He has served on the Bethel Board of Selectmen and as a member of the Bethel Board of Education. He recently retired from his career as a social studies teacher at Ridgefield High School where he taught Advanced Placement courses in both United States History and United States Government and Politics.
Nate Appelson grew up in Bethel and is Hannah’s son. He went to Carnegie Mellon University for his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and is now working as a software engineer at Google in Cambridge, MA. In his free time, Nate enjoys playing the piano, music production, tennis, hiking, cooking, baking, and chess.
Anna is currently in her third year at Harvard Law School. She is the luckiest person in the world to be dating Hannah's amazing son. She loves her visits to Bethel and enjoys helping edit the content of The Bethel Grapevine.
Paul Moriber is a native New Yorker who started running in the late 1970s while attending Herbert H Lehman college in The Bronx, NY. After a year of training he joined the cross country team and raced regularly in Van Cortlandt Park. After graduating, Paul continued his development as a runner and went on to run 25 marathons including 13 NYC Marathons and three Boston Marathons as an age group qualifier with a personal best time of 3:01:22. In addition to the marathons, Paul competed in hundreds of races at shorter distances and continues to compete in half marathons, regularly winning or placing in his age group. Paul founded the Bronx Interboro Running Club in the 1980s. The club consisted of an eclectic and diverse mix of people from the North Bronx running community and regularly won team competitions throughout the NY area. Paul has lived in CT for over 30 years and spends a lot of time in Bethel patronizing many of Bethel's fine restaurants and other establishments. Paul works as an IT manager for Aquarion Water Company in Monroe, CT.
Michaela Lawlor is a graduate student in Western Connecticut State University’s Master of Fine Arts program in Creative and Professional Writing. She studies screenwriting and journalism. Additionally, she started her own business this year, New Sun Rising, LLC, right here in her hometown of Bethel, where she offers photography, graphic design, writing and other creative services. Michaela enjoys walking, running, hiking, golfing, mountain biking and horseback riding in her free time and she loves staying active in the community by supporting Bethel’s fantastic small businesses and participating in local events. You can visit Michaela’s website at www.newsunrisingllc.com.
Dorothy is a Registered Nurse, a national board certified Holistic Nurse, Nurse Coach, and Reiki practitioner. Originally from Eastern Long Island and Manhattan, NY, Dorothy relocated to Connecticut in 1984, settling Bethel in 1986. Married to Fred DeNigris, the couple has 3 grown children and 2 beautiful grandchildren who also reside in Bethel. She retired in 2019 from a fulfilling 40-year nursing career.
In addition to spending lots of time with grandchildren, Dorothy is a cook, a gardener, a sewist, a bit of a photographer, and dabbles in several other ‘creative things.’
After graduating from veterinary school at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Dr. Emily Dae Andersen, “Dr. Emily,” returned to her hometown of Bethel, Connecticut, where she attended Bethel Public Schools. She also spends time in a home in Vermont, near the University of Vermont where she completed her undergraduate studies. An avid explorer, Dr. Emily has been fortunate to enjoy a wide breadth of experiences with animals abroad and stateside.
Her passions within veterinary medicine include integrative medicine, One Health, access to veterinary care, and behavioral medicine.
Dr. Emily and her partner share their lives with a menagerie of animal family members, including two dogs, six cats, one sugar glider, and many chickens.
Don Goodrich grew up in Stamford, CT and graduated from Rippowam High School in 1966. His degrees include a BS from the University of Iowa in English, where he completed their Writer’s Workshop, and an MA from Fairfield University in Special Education. Don taught middle school English for 37 years in Stamford, CT. He and his wife (also a teacher) built their Bethel home in 1976 where they raised their 3 daughters. Don and his wife are currently retired and enjoy travelling and visiting their 7 grandchildren in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Ray Flanigan is a photographer, videographer, gallery owner, and picture framer. He owns and runs Bethel Photoworks (226 Greenwood Ave.), which has been a downtown Bethel establishment for over 20 years. He has been a Bethel resident for 33 years. Ray served as the Bethel High School Varsity Girls’ and Boys’ Soccer Coach, where, in 1996, he led the boys’ team to become State Champions and earn a spot in the BHS Hall of Fame with a record of 21-0. Ray provides nutritional coaching as “Sweet Potato Ray” on Facebook and makes regular appearances on the LA-based soccer radio show, “The World Wide Soccer Show.”
Cortney Davis is the author of "I Hear their Voices Singing: Poems New & Selected" (Antrim House); "Taking Care of Time," winner of the Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize from Michigan State University Press; "Leopold's Maneuvers" (University of Nebraska Press), winner of the Prairie Schooner Poetry Prize; and "Details of Flesh" (Calyx Books). She is also the author of three award winning memoirs and co-editor of three anthologies of writing by nurses. Her poems have appeared in journals including Poetry, Hudson Review, Superstition Review, Calyx, Descant, Sun, Bellevue Literary Review, Crazyhorse, Poetry East, Sentence, Underground Voices, Rattle, The Antigonish Review, and others, and have been widely anthologized.
She has served as a faculty member at workshops and seminars including at Sarah Lawrence College, NY; the Mountain Writers Center in Oregon; University of Colorado; Barnard College and Columbia University, NY; Portland State University and other venues. She has been a poet-in-the-schools, has taught writing workshops to nurses, physicians and Hospice volunteers, and has presented readings throughout the United States, including Washington DC, Ohio, Boston, New York, South Carolina, San Francisco, Seattle, Connecticut, and Denver.
Her honors include an NEA Poetry Fellowship and three CT Commission on the Arts Poetry Grants. She has received an Independent Publishers' Silver Medal, a Living Now Gold Medal in Non-Fiction, a CT Center for the Book Award in Non-Fiction, a CT Center for the Book Award in Poetry, an Independent Publisher's Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal in Non-Fiction, a Tillie Olsen Creative Writing Award, and six Books of the Year first place awards in the category of creative works from the American Journal of Nursing. In 2007, she was awarded a Nightingale Award for excellence in nursing. Cortney serves as the first poet laureate of Bethel, CT. www.cortneydavis.com
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