August 2008

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes former Worcester Magazine News Editor Noah Schaffer, Jeff Barnard, and Brendan Melican.

 

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Worcester Magazine has been sold. We discuss why Allen Fletcher sold it and what this will mean for the future of the magazine. Key documents: memo from new publisher Gareth Charter, Jeff Barnard’s overview of WM history, Fletcher’s farewell editorial, and Mike’s old analysis of WM. Outgoing editor Noah Bombard probably bcc’ed half of Worcester with his farewell letter, but since nobody else has taken the time to post it you’ll find it here, below the fold.

So what is Worcester Magazine’s role?

Jeff Barnard: Filling in the backstory.

Noah Schaffer: Today you’ve got podcasts, like the one we’re on now. You’ve got blogs. So it’s not just a matter of providing another voice. Because, you know, if someone wants to get a viewpoint out there, they have plenty of channels these days. But what’s really hard to do, unless you’re a full-time reporter, is to find the stories that aren’t being told in the blogs, or on talk radio, or in the daily paper, and to really fill them in in a rich, detailed way.

We discuss “Brendan Melican, celebrity blogger” and his appearances on the Dianne Williamson radio show and as the last interviewee in One On One.

Also mentioned: Dianne Williamson’s FCC violations, Konnie Lukes and Brendan talking about ICANN.

City Councilor Gary Rosen is back teaching school; City Councilor Rick Rushton is gonzo blogging from the DNC. People have marched on behalf of DCU janitors. (Old article by Mike on day labor in Worcester, which mentions cleaning up at the DCU.)

The Research Bureau is standing on the verge of having a blog. Joe the Dispatcher Guy is blogging a lot: “I have been thinking of doing just a summary of the entire day versus every hour or every 2 hours.”

We discuss the prolific, boring commenters who hang out at Brendan’s blog, and also traffic.

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This past weekend, the Humane Society of the United States was involved in the rescue of “nearly 1,000 neglected and abused dogs” from the Whispering Oaks Kennel in Parkersburg, WV.

I mention this because Parkersburg is where I went to high school. My folks still live in the area.

(via Erik Marcus)

Vaguely related: this weekend I was tabling for 4 organizations (!) at the King Street block party. Among other things I was handing out the VegWorcester restaurant guide. Several people had no idea such a thing existed and were excited to take one. So if you know a Worcester vegan or vegetarian, be sure to forward them the link.

Update: I wasn’t able to Google the location of this place (which HSUS said was “rural”). Now I am told it is at “Whispering Oak Lane off Winding Road off of route 50 east of town. That is one of the first exits off of route 50 as you start toward Clarksburg.” So there you go.

Yesterday at dinner at the SS. Francis & Therese CW somebody pointed out that “the hero,” meaning Diamond Dave Maciewski, was on the front page of Friday’s T&G business section.

Here’s a detail from the photo of an SEIU march supporting janitors at the DCU Center:

Also pictured: Laura Suroviak, Catholic Worker Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, and an unidentified man.

Wormtown Taxi points out that the newspaper coverage was light on background details. I think it’s a scandal that neither Indymedia nor the SEIU nor anyone else in the local blogosphere documented this online.

Homily from the Mustard Seed, August 22, 2008. Feast of the Queenship of Mary.

 

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I was in Finland for the last fortnight and visited the following churches there:

• Turun tuomiokirkko (Turku Cathedral): attended a Confirmation Mass
• Pyhän Ristin kirkko (Church of the Holy Cross), Rauma (World Heritage site)
• ruin of the Trinity Church (Kolmilaivainen kirkko), Rauma
• Helsingin tuomiokirkko (Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral)
• Suomenlinnan kirkko, Church at Suomenlinna (World Heritage Site)
• Myyrmäen kirkko (Myyrmäki Church)
• Temppeliaukion kirkko (Temppeliaukio Church): attended a Confirmation Mass
• Uspenskin katedraali (Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition), Helsinki