I was in downtown Worcester at the federal courthouse this afternoon for the first of four (!) hours of an NDAA protest organized by Occupy Worcester.

Interest in this event skyrocketed a couple days ago when the local Tea Party encouraged members to take part.

Things began with Occupy Worcester mic checking the Bill of Rights:

The big Tea Party contingent hadn’t arrived by the time I left; most of the 30-40 people were familiar from past OW events.

In Massachusetts, the days finally feel like they’re getting longer. The battle against darkness continues, but it’s obvious the tide has turned, and these holidays mark a natural time to celebrate the impending victory and think about the end of winter, whether by preparing liturgical equipment or seeing if small animals can give us an ETA.

I’m officially beginning to plan for Lent today. That means starting to think about what I might want to give up (this year: a lot), and asking the people around me if they’re observing Lent this year (many non-Christians do!). It’s also turned out to be a day of garden and business planning, and reviewing the progress of my New Year’s resolutions. Candlemas—now my favorite neglected holiday.

Womag: Eliminating boredom at the FYC

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, School Committee Vice-Chair Tracy Novick gives Mike an intro to the School Committee.

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You can watch 508 Fridays at 7pm on WCCA TV13.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Mike and Brendan talk about newspapers, SOPA, and Pulse’s “ones to watch” list.

Audio: mp3 download link, other formats, feed

Subscribe with iTunes

Contact info.

You can watch 508 Fridays at 7pm on WCCA TV13.

I observed the tenth anniversary of Guantanamo along with hundreds of others in front of the White House. Our group had placed a wheeled cage, with someone dressed as a detainee (black hood, orange jumpsuit) inside, outside the White House 90 hours before the big demonstration began, and the goal was to keep the cage vigil going until the demonstration, and the following march to the Supreme Court, were over.

So I stood next to the cage the afternoon of January 11, keeping the “detainee” company, talking with tourists and protesters, and keeping people from doing anything stupid to the cage. (Only a handful tried, but enough to put me on edge.)

When I started working on closing Guantanamo and related issues in late 2008, it felt like the issue was in play, but in 2012 working on Guantanamo or indefinite detention feels like tilting at windmills.

I’ve read that people like to spread their donations across several charities, building a portfolio in the spirit of a mutual fund. I’m blessed to have spare time as well as money to contribute, and in my portfolio Guantanamo is one of the more speculative investments.

This year’s ten-day “Hungering for Justice” campaign was a portfolio in itself, a mix of outreach, education, street demonstrations, and both a civil disobedience trial and arrest (in that order). Other groups we work with, like Amnesty International or the Center for Constitutional Rights, work on the issues in more conventional ways that require money and specialized expertise; Witness Against Torture tries the many other things that might possibly, maybe, contribute, and that mostly require dedicated people.

The first photo, of demonstrators and the cage outside the White House, is mine. The second, of the march to the Supreme Court, is Johnny Barber’s.

I’m sure there’s a technical term for how the viewer separates the artwork from the background. I love taking creche photos in part because the background is so often completely inappropriate, and occasionally accidentally appropriate. Here, NO TRESPASSING and BEWARE OF THE DOG are a “No room at the inn” for our time.

Christmas morning, I vowed to my little brother that any time I see a celebrity in a setting where greeting that celebrity is at all appropriate, I will greet that celebrity. (Stories like “I could have talked with Stephen Hawking this one time” or “I could have talked with Ted Turner this one time” are nothing but frustrating.) And who was at Christmas mass but Michael “Catholic Anarchy” Iafrate. I’m still not sure how two anarchist-sympathizing Catholic bloggers emerged from the same generation in a single West Virginian parish, much less how they did this without meeting before. Well, I greeted him, and now we have met.

At this parish, they’re adjusting to the changes in the mass with elegant pew cards from the hilariously-named AndWithYourSpirit.com. (“And with your spirit” being the phrase nobody remembers to say.)

My most memorable mass this Advent was one Saturday at dusk at St. Andrew’s in Worcester, when there was a local power outage. Below, the lector reads with the aid of a pen light. As you would expect, much was made of “waiting for light in darkness.”

2011 overall was an amazing year in my spiritual life, but Advent was a time of stress and distraction. One last thing I should have blogged earlier was Christmas caroling with the Catholic Worker community. This year, 25 of us visited nursing homes, Christmas parties, and unsuspecting neighbors.

Mike: Bruce, did you see that joke on the whiteboard? “What did one angel say to the other angel?” “HALO THERE!”

Bruce: Ha ha ha!

Justin (ten seconds later): Bruce, did you see that joke on the whiteboard?

Bruce: Yeah. It went over my head.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Mike and Brendan recap the week’s news and finish up their 2011 season on a series of depressing notes.

Audio: mp3 download link, other formats, feed

Subscribe with iTunes

Contact info.

You can watch 508 Fridays at 7pm on WCCA TV13.

I was happy to pitch in on the project by making a video tour of the property, cablecast on local TV.

T&G:

The total cost of the purchase is $2.8 million, but officials expect grants and private fundraising from Mass. Audubon to be used in conjunction with the town’s contribution.

While we’re thinking about dead trees, Acoustic Java now has an original copy of William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper The Liberator on display.

Jordan Berg Powers, via e-mail:

Small nonprofit Worcester community paper is looking for journalists, editors, photographers and cartoonists to start in early 2012.

Next meeting:

December 18th at 7:30pm
Community Realty
131 Highland St.

Worcester, MA

Why launch a paper?

Newsprint still remains the most effective means for communicating to the full breadth of Worcester’s many communities and to underserved constituencies. And certainly on-line content will also be part of this initiative.

Worcester deserves a multilingual paper that adequately reflects the city’s incredible diversity, real issues and vast potential. Worcester deserves a paper that uplifts, inspires and empowers us to be critical of where we are going.

The time is now to come together to speak for and to our community. The community paper has $3,000 for 3 months to get this bi-weekly paper off the ground.

This Bi-weekly paper will foster an advocacy journalism pioneered by Ida B. Wells, Upton Sinclair, Nellie Bly and Fredrick Douglas.

Statement of Purpose:

The Worcester Progressive (working name) is a nonprofit newspaper created to give voice to the majority of Worcesterites who are disaffected by the current power structure and its leaders. Its purpose is to bring light to the Wormtown that Worcsterites actually see and advocate for the people long forgotten by the city’s leaders.

This Bi-Weekly multilingual paper will be a voice to move this community forward. The Worcester Progressive will focus on substantial journalism that takes on decision-makers, empowers our community to be critical and inspires readers with the amazing work already being done.

Worcester is a great American city. But it needs YOU, the Worcesterites to take this city back, to be a partner in creating bold visions for its future, and to work together to make it happen.

We hope that The Worcester Progressive can be a place to start this much needed reform. Hope and vision, matched with strong advocacy and an unending love for our city can make Worcester a model for Massachusetts and the country as a whole. We just have to start believing that we the people can make it happen.