Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Brendan Melican talks about privatization and municipal employees; Mike Benedetti flips through the InCity Times and complains about the Green-Rainbow Party; Dante Comparetto talks about Worcester Local First (here’s a WCCA interview with two of the businessmen organizing it); and Nick Reville talks about Miro.
You can download the mp3, subscribe to the feed, or see other formats.
[display_podcast]
At the dawn of the First World War, New Zealand surveyed its draft-age men and asked if they would be willing to fight. One out of six said they would not. When it came down to a choice between joining the army and going to prison, many changed their minds, but many others spent the war in detention. Of those imprisoned, fourteen were deported to Europe, three of them brothers: John, Archibald, and Sandy Baxter.
Continue reading “The Notorious Baxters”
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panelists are Bruce “Snow Ghost” Russell and Jeff “Wormtown Taxi” Barnard.
We talk about the upcoming ballot recount and the price of gas vs. inflation. Also, even though this week Pie and Coffee posted an interview with a Cirignano juror, and the 2008 National Catholic Worker Gathering webpage, the additional traffic was drowned out from the traffic generated by a mention in Teresa Neilsen Hayden’s linkblog. What does this portend for the future of Worcester journalism?
You can download the mp3, subscribe to the feed, or see other formats.
[display_podcast]
![IMG_0024[1]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2113/2055764907_8799dc198b_m.jpg)
Pictured: The St. John’s high school football team stops by the St. John’s parish Thanksgiving free meal (held at Fiddler’s Green–long story) to say hi to Father John Madden. Later in the day, they beat St Peter-Marian 17-6.
This Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is Buy Nothing Day! If you oppose the commercialization of Christmas, for religious or secular reasons, make a statement by not shopping.
One of the best Buy Nothing Day projects ever was Mark Dixon’s 49 hours in Wal-Mart. See also Thoughts on “My 49 Hours at Wal-Mart†and 49 hours at Wal-Mart vs. 39 hours in an abandoned building.
2008 Catholic Worker National Gathering will be in Worcester!
July 9 – 12, 2008, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. See the webpage for more details.
Continue reading “Items”
I recently spoke with a juror in the Larry Cirignano case. The juror chose to be anonymous.
I edited the juror’s answers only lightly, but I removed some of my more aimless questions, and some of our conversational exchanges that aren’t really relevant.
If other jurors would like to come forward with their stories, please e-mail us at pieandcoffee@gmail.com.
Some would say that the details of deliberations can’t be revealed without hurting the whole process. But I learned a lot from this conversation, and I hope it will make me a better juror if I’m ever called to serve.
Continue reading “Interview with a Cirignano juror”
This is a recording of a homily by Father Bernie Gilgun, from his weekly Mass at the Mustard Seed in Worcester, Massachusetts. Begins with some thoughts on the Basilica of St. John Lateran and the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and concludes with an explanation of why the Mustard Seed exists.
I think this is the best homily we’ve posted so far.
You can download the mp3 (4.8MB) or see other formats. You can also subscribe (RSS) to the podcast.
[display_podcast]
508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Mike and Brendan Melican discuss: a local STD researcher arrested for soliciting a prostitute in Main South has gotten a huge amount of press (latest); Mike makes like LaGuardia and reads from the InCity Times; Rushton asks for a recount in the City Council election; Brendan thinks next year will be a bad time to be mayor; Miro 1.0 is out; the Snow Ghost Community Show, hosted by frequent 508 panelist Bruce Russell, won some awards this week.
You can download the mp3, subscribe to the feed, or see other formats.
[display_podcast]
On October 9, the British rock band Radiohead shook up the music industry by offering its new album, “In Rainbows,” online for whatever fans wanted to pay. The next morning, The Boston Globe reported not only that tens of thousands of CDs had been downloaded under the risky plan, but that the album was pretty good to boot. On the BBC news, lan Youngs admitted: “I paid precisely £0.00 – for research purposes, just to see if it could be done. And it could – the ordering process skipped the credit card section and went straight to the confirmation screen. But soon my conscience was nagging me to be a bit more equitable and give them a fair price . . . . I decided to pay £9.82 because that was the average price paid for a CD in the UK in 2006.”
My son Patrick and I went online that night and paid £3.45 (about $6). We were listening to the album less than nine minutes later.
Continue reading “Seeing eye to eye with Radiohead”
Lousy news. Via WoMag:
Richard Nangle, he of the recent court testimony in the Larry Cirignano case, has left the Telegram, and is moving onto the state Department of Social Services.
First Milton Valencia left for the Globe, and now RN’s gone . . . this leaves very few people on the Telegram & Gazette staff I trust to do a thorough, accurate job of reporting local stories.
Related: T&G circulation collapsing, T&G prints election results wrong twice in a row, T&G reports City Council vote exactly wrong.
Below: Maybe it’s too goofy a picture for a sad event, but I prefer to remember the good times. Richard Nangle reports on Mr. Hetero.
