Month: January 2006

Anti-war sentiment in Worcester

Each Tuesday afternoon for years there’s been a peace vigil in Lincoln Square. To pass the time, the vigilers count the number of positive and negative responses from people driving by.

Apparently the upcoming State of the Union speech had Worcesterites riled up today–check out the high ratio of positive:negative reponses (117:6). We haven’t seen anti-war sentiment like this since the height of Cindy Sheehan Fever.

Reaction to Worcester Lincoln Square Peace Vigil: Negative vs. positive responses in 2005 (and 2006)

I think that the vigil gets a higher ratio of positive responses than you’d get if you did a phone survey; most people shy away from confronting demonstrators if they disagree. But the trend over time is a different story. I think it reflects the changing mood of the area.

(This scatterplot is designed for the page rather than the screen–hope you don’t have to squint too much. A screen-friendly scatterplot will debut in 2006. Some weeks have no dot on the scatterplot because nobody wrote the numbers down.)

Happy Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Worcester. Photo: Mike Benedetti
People crowd the Vietnamese Buddhist temple on Dewey Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, to celebrate the new year (Tết Nguyên Ðán).

Global Voices has a good wrapup of Chinese New Year (and Tet).

You’ll notice that the photo above is probably the least-colorful Chinese New Year picture ever taken. I didn’t think to run home and get my camera until after the dragons, fireworks, and the rest were over. Kevin Ksen took a couple good pictures inside the temple, below.
Continue reading “Happy Chinese New Year”

“Mr. Hetero” anti-Catholic?

Central Massachusetts’s own Elmer Gantry, the suspiciously well-groomed Tom Crouse of Engaging Your World Productions, is holding an it-would-be-offensive-if-it-weren’t-so-lame event in Worcester next month called “Mr. Hetero.” You’d think conservative Catholics would be a core part of the audience–not no more. Today in his blog, he calls for the arrest of the pope, then writes:

“There is no other organization, in my opinion, this side of NAMBLA that has done more to promote and enable the rape of kids than the Roman Catholic Church.”

Pro-gay groups are encouraging local institutions to boycott prestigious Mechanics Hall, which is hosting the event. Now Crouse is working to annoy the largest religious group in the state. Who will he alienate next? Patriots fans? Candlepin bowlers?

Postscript

Another comment:

I pray and encourage you all to pray for those trapped in the evil web of the hypocrisy and heresy that is known as the Roman Catholic Church!

Please see also “Let us now praise Mr. Hetero.”

St. Patrick’s Four sentencing this week

The St. Patrick’s Four are being sentenced this week. Danny Burns was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison.

Last year a jury found them guilty of misdemeanor charges of property damage and trespassing in connection with a nonviolent 2003 demonstration against the Iraq War. They were acquitted of the much more serious charges of conspiracy to impede a federal officer.

You can expect additional commentary from Running Scared, who did a great job covering the trial.

Speaking of nonviolent protest, last week Greenpeace dumped a 20-ton dead whale in front of the Japanese embassy in Berlin.

Speaking of nothing in particular, Clark University is holding a series of events about the Wobblies. I couldn’t find a “home page” for the series.

Prayer on the cutting edge

Karen Marie wrote:

My favorite prayer tool is a little tabloid called “2006 Milwaukee Archdiocesan Directory”. Twenty five-column pages of a long list of names and places. I’ve been caught by others with it a few times, and tried to explain how a long list of names becomes prayer. Not very effectively.

She later clarified what she meant, but not before speculation ran wild.
Continue reading “Prayer on the cutting edge”

Rehashing the death of Robert Patricks

According to an article in Sunday’s T&G, Bill’s Place is closed, but Bill McNeil continues his solo efforts to aid the homeless locally.

The article starts off at a dramatic and sordid moment, with the death last winter of Bobby Patricks, a hard-core heroin addict and homeless man staying in the garage at St. John’s Church with his friend Joe Hickey. As heroin or other drug addict is one of the serious issues it is always better to seek the help of experts from treatment center to save one’s life.Solace Treatment Center
can also help people in getting rid off drug addiction.

This was last winter, and the situation frustrated Mr. McNeil. He called code enforcement officials, who cleaned out the garage and referred Joe to a social service agency. Church officials called Mr. McNeil a bully for ratting out one of the few places homeless people could find refuge. Yet it was nothing new to Mr. McNeil. He’s been called a bully before, but it’s all part of his efforts to advocate for the homeless. No one should have to sleep in a garage. No one should die in one. And if he was being called a bully, so be it.

“I don’t think fighting for the homeless is being a bulldog,” he said. “I’ve shown the city I ain’t scared to stand up for people freezing to death. Someone has to stand up for them.”

This article is the phoniest I’ve ever seen in the T&G. I’d just like to address the two parts that are quickest to debunk.

First, this article, and the T&G articles that appeared at the time, imply that Mr. Patricks and Mr. Hickey weren’t already in touch with social service agencies, which is complete crap. They were and Mr. Hickey still is. Mr. McNeil’s intervention, and the city’s intervention, changed nothing. Last time I saw Joe, he was still drinking and his life was still a terrible mess. (Too bad he wasn’t interviewed for this article.)

Second, the entire article gives a misleading impression of the situation in Worcester. The tone is summed up by this quote:

“I’m fighting for the homeless and I feel I’m the only person fighting on the street,” he said.

There are at least a couple dozen people doing their best to help the homeless “on the street” in this town, and not just publicity hounds like my Catholic Worker community. I’ve never felt alone when fighting for the homeless in Worcester.

16 on the street in Worcester this week

After stopping by a couple abandoned campsites, and conferring with others who have lots of contact with the homeless, I think there are 16 people sleeping in cars, unheated buildings, and outside in Worcester this week.

Some of these folks work, some get government aid, and some have no steady income.

This is roughly one out of every 10,000 residents. There was no overlap in our lists, so the actual number is possibly much higher.