I’ll be in Worcester for a couple more weeks, then in South Bend for most of the summer. There follow some items about this fine city.
Television: I agree with Big Dog.
The WCCA TV13 video stream is back, hopefully in a new, stable configuration. Check it out.
Crime: Today I was walking down the street with my friend when we saw a guy we know from the neighborhood, a former guest at the Catholic Worker, being questioned by cops. Then they cuffed him.
My friend approached the cops and said, “I know that guy, can I talk to him?” A cop said, “No, we’re arresting him.” Then they took him away.
Bloomsday approaches: The 16th is Bloomsday, when we Joyce-lovers celebrate Ulysses. The Worcester County Poetry Association has plenty going on in Worcester.
My favorite Bloomsday experience was the 26-hour marathon reading of Ulysses in Scranton June 15-16, 2001. I stayed awake for the whole thing, and it was a trip to be immersed in the sounds of Joyce for an entire day. The size of the audience fluctuated wildly; I remember sitting outside the venue with Chloe and Michael as the sun rose, keeping the reading going, keeping ourselves alert by reading in silly voices (Peter Lorre and so on).
My second-favorite Bloomsday experience was Bloomsday of 2000, organized by the Rosenbach Library in Philly, which has Joyce’s hand-written Ulysses in its collection. In the morning, various big-wigs read from the book in prominent locations, and in the afternoon other big-wigs (and small-wigs like me) read from the steps of the library.
Then-Police Commissioner John Timoney:
Only in Philadelphia would they have a Jewish mayor read Stephen Dedalus, and an Irish cop read Bloom.
(Referring to then-mayor, now PA Governor Ed Rendell.)
Video: The Sunday T&G story about internet video was a little disappointing. It mentions Carl Weaver and all, but mostly it just introduces us to the idea of silly videos on the internet.
It turns out reporter Jason Feifer was saving the action for his blog. He posted a bad video to begin his “Operation Shockless and Awful,” then saw it soar on YouTube.
Letter to the editor: In the T&G, under the title “Graduation photo coverage was poor,” Worcester’s Elizabeth L. Santley writes:
I was very disappointed in the coverage of the graduation exercises of Holy Name Central Catholic High School (Telegram & Gazette, June 1). In particular, the photos that accompanied the article were of the poorest quality. I see no benefit in printing pictures of the backs of a few of the graduates or the so-called flashing of the gown of one student to her friends.
At least your graduate didn’t go to South.
Scott: There’s a T&G article about the South High graduation. Guess whose name is in the first sentence? Mine!
Mike: Wait a second! What did you do at the graduation?
Scott: Exactly!
WORCESTER— Anyone who has followed local activism in the last decade knows Scott Schaeffer-Duffy as a left-leaning idealist who doesn’t hesitate to criticize the Bush administration.
So when his daughter, Grace S. Duffy, the salutatorian of South High Community School’s class of 2006, said in her speech at the DCU Center last night that she agrees with Vice President Dick Cheney on one point, it may have been a singular moment in the family’s history.
That one point was the vice president’s support of public schools, which he voiced at a convention in 2004. After four years at South High, Miss Duffy said, she feels the same way. “This public school has given us all the tools we need to find the success I know is waiting,†she said.
Scott: “. . . the last decade . . . .” Decade?
Mike: I dunno about “left-leaning.”
Scott: “Liberal” is the one that gets me. I’d rather be “erstwhile.”
Mike: “Insufferable.”
Photo: Grace & Anthony exit the Broadway while Senator Kerry shmoozes inside. They’d made their breakfast plans before hearing that the Senator was making an unannounced visit there. I’m told that a McGovern staffer introduced the Senator to Ms. Duffy, saying, “This is the daughter of the man who organized the protest outside.”