[...] Fairfield University junior Daniel DeLoma hopes to blur the lines of those social boundaries, and bring those disparate groups together under one roof for a celebration of poetry, art and music. Taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the university's Wien Experimental Theatre at the Quick Center, the Black Box Poetic Exhibition will feature five poets reading their original work; a performance by Fairfield University's a cappella group, the Bensonians; and drawings, sketches and paintings by university students. The ensemble plans to perform classic soul numbers like Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home to Me"; doo-wop hits such as Don and Juan's "What's Your Name"; and new pop songs by Canadian singer Michael Buble. A lifelong poet who plans to graduate from Fairfield University in May, DeLoma hopes to leave behind a cohesive group of artists -- including individuals from the larger community -- and a heightened appreciation for art, whatever shape or sound it might take.

In the aftermath of Haiti's catastrophic earthquake last year, the Western press bombarded the airwaves with images of death, destruction and chaos. [...] amid the rubble, orphans armed with disposable cameras captured a much different Haiti -- one in which children smiled, danced and played. "There's an innocence, an openness to the pictures," said Helen Klisser During, who distributed disposable Fuji Film cameras to 50 children at the Carma House Orphanage near Léogâne, Haiti. An opening reception and sale of work will take place on Friday, March 4, to benefit the Carma Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs the orphanage. Rolls of film reveal photos of kids playing outside makeshift tents and huts, mothers holding and nursing their children and faces beaming in the soft glow of the afternoon sun. The exhibit includes 89 pictures by Carma House orphans, alongside Klisser During's post-quake images of Port-au-Prince, and light boxes featuring colorful photos of Haitian tap-tap buses by London photographer Elizabeth Jordan. In the WAC Studio Gallery, there will be a selection of photographs from Bridgeport Animal Control taken by students at Staples High School entitled "Dog Show."

From his perspective, sitting in the chair in the sun room of his Westport home, author A. E. Hotchner could see a totem pole outside, a few feet from a window of his sprawling five-acre Hotchner, a playwright and biographer -- most notably of Ernest Hemingway and Sophia Loren -- offers an endearing reflection of his 53-year friendship with the late iconic actor who died at age 83 on Sept. 26, 2008, after battling cancer. Kirkus Review describes Paul and Me: 53 years of Adventures and Misadventures with My Pal, Paul Newman as "an inspirational portrait of an extraordinary man" that offers "an intimate, uplifting account of a profound friendship and a boyish lark that grew into a spectacularly successful enterprise." The world knows this successful enterprise to be Newman's Own food products, which has given all of its $300 million in profits to charities, including The Hole in the Wall Gang children's camps worldwide, dedicated to thousands of children with life-threatening illnesses. Newman, too sick at the time to present it himself, had the totem pole presented on stage to Hotchner two years ago during the 20th anniversary celebration of the founding of the first Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. During a recent interview in his home, Hotchner explained that there are a number of totem poles throughout the landscape at the Hole in the Wall camp in Connecticut. Newman originally had been given a supporting role but then word came that James Dean, who was to play the lead role, had died in a car accident. Hotchner says the play "became a fortuitous launching pad for Paul's career as well as my own." The chronicles of greed -- "the negative aspects of human beings" -- sweeping the country spurred Hotchner to shine the spotlight on his friend who dedicated his life for the common good. The reader is right there with them on their fishing jaunts on the Long Island Sound; confounding the business world with their 10-minute plans that defied all business practices yet led to raising millions of dollars for charities until the day they decided to establish their own charity -- camps for children with life-threatening illnesses -- so they could raise money for their own cause. Thinking it may just be a temporary lark as they stepped into the food industry, Newman moved some of his pool furniture into the office, including a beach umbrella and table. While there was a very public persona to Paul Newman -- his many movie roles, philanthropy, sports-car racing, automobile dealership, Newman's Own products, children's camps, his wife Joanne Woodward's and his contributions to the restoration of the Westport Playhouse and his co-ownership with Michel Nishan of the Dressing Room restaurant -- he was quite private about his personal life, in particular the death of his only son, Scott, who died at age 28 in 1978 from a reported "accidental overdose of alcohol and tranquilizers," according to the book. Hotchner believes the primitive surroundings of that trip contributed to Newman's expressing his feelings of the guilt he had about his relationship and death of his son. While Hotchner says he wrote the memoir because "I found out I wasn't dealing with his death very well," he, in turn, offers readers the gift of reading about a life not blindsided by fame, but instead realizing how a famous name can contribute in so many humanitarian ways. Just as Newman fooled people by putting a Porsche engine in his Volkswagon and sped away ahead of the pack at tollbooths, he managed, with his unassuming ways, to build a philanthropic business beneath a beach umbrella in downtown Westport.