Celebrating 20 years of publishing The Waterbury Observer, John Murray decided to leap out of an airplane 10,500 feet above Connecticut. The plunge reminded Murray that launching a business with no money, or chasing dreams of world travel all have one thing in common, facing fear, and letting go.

                                    Story By John Murray
                          Photographs By SkyDive Danielson

   For most of the twenty-minute ascent I tapped into breathing exercises, and positive imagery, to try and keep myself calm.

   “That’s the University of Connecticut,” said Norm Nault, my tandem skydiving instructor, “and if you look to the south you can see Long Island Sound.”

   At 5000 feet my attempt to relax faltered, and the metallic taste of fear marched across my tongue. I looked around the plane - which was no bigger than a car - and checked on my daughter, Chelsea. If I was starting to lose it, I was sure Chelsea’s heart was clanging against her chest. Chelsea was tandem jumping with instructor Scott Barylski, a dead ringer for actor Ben Stiller. There was something comical, and terrifying, about hurling yourself out of a tiny airplane with Derek Zoolander strapped to your back.

   Six-year-old Christian Mullins prayed as the coffin of a former slave named Fortune was lowered into a grave in Riverside Cemetery last night in Waterbury, thus ending 200 years of disrespect.

   Fortune was a slave in the 18th Century and when he died under mysterious circumstances in Waterbury, in 1798, his master, Dr. Preserved Porter, boiled him, and used his skeleton in his medical practice.

                                                 By Victor Lopez Jr.

                    President of the Hispanic Coalition of Greater Waterbury

    Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

                                              By John Murray

   An old school detective who served in the Waterbury Police Department for 48 years will be buried Friday with full police honors. Jake Griffin lived his entire life in Waterbury, and passed away September 9th at the Village at East Farms.

   Griffin had a reputation as a tough cop, and Waterbury Neil O'Leary, who worked beneath him for 20 years in the detective bureau, said, "Jake Griffin was tough, but fair, and he was by far one of the best investigators the city has ever seen."

   Dust-off the scrapbooks and help the Palace Theater take a stroll down memory lane as the organization begins gathering memorabilia for an historical exhibit scheduled to debut in the Fall of 2014, in honor of the performing art center’s tenth anniversary.

Xhevat Limani is an Albanian actor born in Struga, Macedonia, who now lives in Waterbury, Connecticut. During a Labor Day Albanian Festival in Waterbury, Limani opened his heart about his love of Struga. The following is a translation of his speech, which was delivered in Albanian. Photograph by John Murray

   Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, fellow countrymen..

   Good evening and welcome to the Annual Albanian Labor Day Festival, this year celebrating 30 years since the formation of the “Hasan Prishtina” cultural center here in Waterbury, Connecticut. A special thank you is in order for the founding members of the cultural center, and all community members present and past, who worked so hard to maintain and manage the cultural center with such great success.

   During my whole career in theatre, film, television, radio, newspapers, and festivals all around the world I have presented myself as an Albanian artist. Tonight, allow me to step aside and present myself at a local level. Given that I was born in Struga, allow me to present myself as a Strugan artist.