September 2009

The latest issue of the Catholic Radical, Worcester’s oldest progressive paper and the newsletter of the SS. Francis & Therese Catholic Worker community, is now online as a PDF.

Good articles on anarchism, conscientious objectors, and the Belgian Congo.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Brendan Melican and I talk with Grace Ross, candidate for District 4 City Councilor.

 

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Also: Mike reads a great letter in Worcester Magazine and begins a Clay-Shirky-inspired rant he doesn’t have time to finish.

The “85%” number suggests 2 projects I didn’t have time to mention on the show.

1. Figure out how the number was calculated, then apply it to our local situation. I’ve measured the T&G against the Worcester blogosphere in the past. How do they compare by this measure>
2. Figure out if there are ways Worcester’s bloggers can be one of the 17 5%s Shirky suggests we work towards. Along these lines, start guessing how many reporters are needed to cover City Hall, the police, the schools, and so on, and estimate how a nonprofit doing that job would compare in size with other local nonprofits.

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In the coming weeks we will be interviewing Bill McCarthy and Rob Diaz. Feel free to suggest questions in the comments below.

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Here are some notes written in preparation for the panel discussion about the history and future of free churches in England, held at Wesley Memorial Church, Oxford, on 1 July 2009. This is just a sketch, to be further developed, and these are not polished conclusions. However, they have been published in Saint Columba’s church newsletter. Incidentally, today the Bishop of Reading echoed my earlier comparison between churches and supermarkets; I insist our (free) churches should be like co-operatives.

To set the background: Gordon Brown in late June announced more of his ‘choice’ agenda, which now has the added flavour of ‘rights and entitlements’. Unlike its namesake and predecessor, which ‘owed more to Methodism than Marx’, New Labour’s agenda is to turn citizens into consumers, but then the market-oriented ‘society’ is one without social coherence. All of a sudden, the Government needed to introduce tests for Britishness and Armed Forces Day, measures that paper over the symptom but not the problem. On the other hand, Michael Sandel’s Reith Lectures, broadcast in the same month, advocated a society of citizens, not consumers. Read the rest of this entry »

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Brendan Melican, Tina Zlody, and Worcester City Council candidate Mary Keefe.

 

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Gary Rosen plans to run for State Rep; Bill Coleman plans to run for U.S. Senate.

Tina talks about the upcoming stART in the Street art fest and last week’s Pecha Kucha night.

Mike recaps his analysis of City Council websites.

Mary is running for an At-Large seat on the City Council.

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More conversation about this episode at Paulie’s blog.
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For a blast from the past, take a look at the 2007 candidate websites. More election info at the Worcester Activist wiki.

Please send any comments to pieandcoffee@gmail.com or post a comment. I’ve taken screenshots of the candidate websites I could find, and photos of the candidate signs I’ve walked past when I remembered my camera.
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