To the Editor:

My name is Joel David Hans Listokin, son of Ann Raynolds and Robert Listokin.

My mother grew up in beautiful Newtown, on Head of Meadow Road.

My grandfather is Robert Raynolds, friend and confidant to Thomas Wolfe, author of You Can’t Go Home Again, and Of Time and The River.

My cousin, Jonathan Lawrence, lives in the house my mother grew up in, still Head of Meadow Road, though moved closer to the road and further from the Meadow.

My father, now deceased, was a founding faculty member of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

He was a virtuoso clarinetist, of whom our family is very very proud.

Because of him, I was able to attend the North Carolina School of the Arts as a theater major my first year of college, in 1981-82 school year.

Subsequently I read about Suzanne Collins, one of my classmates that year having great success as an author and screenwriter, and that she resides in our physically little but spiritually gigantic Newtown, Connecticut, and I thought to drop a line to the editor of The Newtown Bee, in the hopes of reminding our constituency of the importance of the arts in our school system here in the United States, in general, as well as in New York City and State, and most importantly in Newtown, Danbury, Bethel, Hartford and beyond.

As an art educator in Brooklyn, I’ve worked with every imaginable demographic, from children and young adults with special needs in districts seventy-five and seventy-nine, to running a full visual arts curriculum at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn for three years.

Please enjoy my family friendly YouTube Arts in Education Channel, and get back to me by phone or by spirit, electronically or otherwise, snailmail notwithstanding.

As an artist and educator, I love Newtown Connecticut and miss with all my heart my mother, Ann Monica Raynolds Listokin, and my grandmothers’ daffodil parties in springtime on Head of Meadow Road, the childhood home of my mother and her two siblings, Barbara Raynolds Lawrence, and David Raynolds, now deceased, of Lander, Wyoming.

Thanks for being there, my beloved childhood memories, my wonderful Newtown Bee, and most importantly, my fantastic arts-loving Newtown Connecticut.

Sincerely pining for a long-overdue visit to our Beautiful and Blessed little hamlet.

Joel David Hans Listokin

Brooklyn, N.Y.