October 2008 – Pie and Coffee

508 #59: Overwhelming and substantial

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Bruce Russell and Brendan Melican.

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FROM THE COMMITTEE ON TRAFFIC AND PARKING – Request City Manager and the Economic Development Office provide City Council with OVERWHELMING evidence that provides the Standing Committee on Traffic and Parking SUBSTANTIAL facts that economic development would be a net gain and public safety would be held in balance in making Millbury Street a two-way street

Back in May, we sort of joked about the City banning knives; now the City is actually trying it.

Bruce, author of the Snow Ghost Book of Scary Jokes (pdf), comments on this week’s Womag “People in the Street”.

Brendan predicts Question 1 (eliminate the income tax) will barely fail, Question 2 (marijuana decriminalization) will pass handily, and Question 3 (ban dog racing) will narrowly pass.

The InCity Times came out against Question 2:

Marijuana decriminalization would embolden the punks and pukes of the neighborhood.

Brendan sees Spellane and Fresolo holding onto their state rep seats, and Moore winning state senate.

The show finishes with a conversation with Scott Schaeffer-Duffy about an upcoming hearing to determine the penalty he’ll pay for his “rosary arrest.”

But first Mike talks more about Mystery Band. Below, his band I Am Sexy Russian Girl ;) performs “Glenn Gould Goes to Leningrad”:

Typically quirky Glenn Gould video:

As it happens, this week’s “Open Source” is a wonderful conversation about Bach with Andrew Rangell, and features a major digression about Gould.

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“Rosary trial” sentencing hearing Nov 6

Two of the five found guilty of disobeying a federal marshal earlier this year, in connection with praying a rosary for an end to the Iraq War at the Worcester federal building, have a hearing scheduled at Worcester District Court this November 6 at 10am before Judge Hillman.

Anyone curious is encouraged to attend.

Though three of the defendants were willing to pay the $250 fine they were given, two others, Ken Hannaford-Ricardi and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, refused the fine, citing personal circumstances and conscience. At this hearing Judge Hillman will reveal the consequences of their refusal, possibly by jailing them.

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Workshop: Respecting transgender people living in shelters

“Implementing a Policy of Respect for Transgender People Living in Shelters”

Held at the SS. Francis & Therese Catholic Worker, 52 Mason St, Worcester, 7pm, October 29, 2008.

This is specifically for people who find themselves helping this segment of the population. In my experience, a lot of shelters are thrown for a loop when it comes to trans people.

One of the facilitators says, “This is not Trans 101. This is intended for people who already have a basic understanding of who trans people might be, and who are already committed to everyone’s basic right to dignity. It’s kind of nuts and bolts (what do I do about bathrooms, bedrooms, incidents w/ other residents, etc).”

Newspapers down 4.6%; T&G down 5.6%

Daily newspaper circulation in the US was down 4.6% for the six-month period ending in September, as compared with that period in 2007:

According to ABC for the 507 newspapers reporting in this period, daily circulation slipped 4.6% to 38,165,848 copies. For the 571 papers, Sunday dropped 4.8% to 43,631,646 copies.

The Boston papers fell more like 10%; the Worcester Telegram & Gazette kept pace with an only 5.6% drop:

At the Telegram & Gazette, which like the Globe is owned by New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), weekday circulation fell 5.6 percent and Sunday circulation fell 7 percent.

The previous reporting period had similar results; see Newspapers down 3.5%; T&G down 4%.

This is, as usual for the T&G, not good news, but is much better than the 2 reporting periods in 2007, when T&G circulation was dropping at 2 times faster and 5 times faster than the national average.

For better or for worse, newspapers have become necessary for the functioning of public life and politics in this country. There’s no reason why digital media couldn’t fill that role, but it’s not happening around here. I don’t care so much about the circulation losses as the job cuts that accompany them. The T&G had a hard enough time reporting on Worcester five years ago; there’s no sign that fewer staff are generating more and better journalism.

I hope that on an upcoming 508 podcast we can talk to a T&G person about the challenges there. Too often we’ve resorted to unfocused griping about that paper’s prospects; a measured, adult conversation would be nice.

By coincidence, I came across two relevant links yesterday.

37signals say Target micromedia: “When it comes to spreading a story, the mainstream media isnâ€™t as important as the micromedia. Being written up at the right blogs has had way more impact for us than the press weâ€™ve gotten in big-circulation publications.”

Nice interview with novelist/journalist/visionary Bruce Sterling. “What should newspapers do?” “The simplest solution is die.”

508 #58: Worcester, block-by-block

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Gabe Rollins gives a guided tour of the downtown block bounded by Franklin, Main, Federal, and Portland Streets.

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WoMag: Aware of all Internet traditions? and other items

Tomorrow’s 508 podcast is pre-recorded, so I’m going to vent today about a sub-head in this week’s Worcester Magazine “Worcesteria” column:

ALL YOUR EMAILS BELONG TO US

Which is neither an elegant title nor an accurate reference to ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US. Overzealous copy-editing? Zoback nods?

City Council to Vote on Taxing Military Bases & Anti-War Resolution Oct. 28
Indymedia story.
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Technical difficulties

The site was down awhile yesterday afternoon, and was down again this morning. Routine upgrades.

Thanks to all who complained! It’s great to know that so many people read the site and care about it.

One reader contributed this Word Cloud of recent P&C posts while waiting for the site to return:

Man, too much podcasting, not enough Catholic Worker stuff of late. I’m working to fix that.

Bob Waldrop blogs the collapse

“Shoe” panel via The Daily Panel

Oklahoma City Catholic Worker and occasional Pie and Coffee contributor Bob Waldrop is blogging about the impending financial collapse and ways to deal with it.

At times like these, I’m very interested in what the counterculture has to say. It’s like Kaihsu wrote about the people likely to survive tough times: they included “(what we now call) â€˜the poorâ€™ and . . . the hippies. These are resourceful people who are self-sufficient and resilient, who have not been absorbed into the globalized monetary economy.”

Dorothy Day:

The only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you do not have far to drop, you do not have much to lose.

(Another writer who’s been blogging about the survival value of local economies and Community Supported Agriculture, but who comes from a totally different angle, is John Robb.)

508 #57: Question Three

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Brendan Melican, Jeff Barnard, and Steve Baer.

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We talk with Steve about his support for Massachusetts ballot Question Three, which would ban dog racing.

Mike tags along with some students from the Bronx hunting for Asian Longhorn Beetles in Worcester. (Pix, T&G coverage)

Brendan responds to one of these letters in Worcester Magazine. Jeff recaps the situation with Unum. Mike praises Trash Magazine and the New Parisian.

We discuss the InCity Times’s inadvertant republishing of a WoMag story, and an article about the chaos surrounding their website.

This albino raccoon is our new mascot:

Jeff has photos of the Columbus Day Parade, including one of Bruce.

Drew Wilson joins us to talk about his arrest at the Republican National Convention.

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To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

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508 #56: Shopping Locally

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s pundits include Brendan Melican and Bruce Russell.

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Our in-depth discussion of Question Three is pushed off a week; instead, we talk about the Q 1-3 advertising we’ve seen. (Related: Seth Godin on undecided voters, the T&G editorial board on marijuana decriminalization.)

Mike has spent the past week shopping only at locally-owned businesses.

We discuss “Payment In Lieu of Taxes,” also known as “Taxes.” (Guidestar info on the Art Museum.)

Brendan mourns the WANT ADvertiser.

Bruce joins us for a “Bruce Is Incorruptible” segment on the Armsby Abbey.