508 #15: The Longest Night

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

HBML is raffeling off a plush squid; the Longest Night event remembered those who’ve died homeless in Worcester, including Joe Sweet; Anthony Hmura’s disturbing blog mentions 508, and also fluoridation.

You can download the mp3 or see more formats. (I’m on the run this morning, so I’ve posted this before the file is done uploading; if you can’t download it, please wait an hour and try again. By Friday afternoon it should be all set.)

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Continue reading “508 #15: The Longest Night”

Items

Cause I can’t live loaded and I can’t live sober
And I’ve been this way since the end of October

–Aimee Mann, “I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas”

Bad Christians
The congregation at this lawn church is so cold-hearted that they’ve locked the Holy Family out on Christmas itself! Shame, shame.

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Same lawn: “Never leave a snowman behind!”
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Longest Night
On December 21, about 50 people (including Rep. Jim McGovern) gathered outside the Worcester Memorial Auditorium and inside the United Congregational Church to remember the 8 people who died homeless in Worcester in 2007.

The Longest Night
Continue reading “Items”

508 #14: Merry Christmas

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Brendan Melican and Bruce Russell. We follow up on our “disco entertainment” story; Worcester has a needle disposal plan; Java Hut and HBML are closing; snow removal.

You can download the mp3 or see more formats.

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If you’d like to leave a recorded message to be played on the show, call 508.471.3897.

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Strategies for zombie defense

Here’s a long interview with occasional Pie and Coffee contributor Scott Schaeffer-Duffy about zombies, and how compassion is a key part of defense against zombie attack.

Scott: Division and self-interest are not good solutions. Building up walls, keeping out people, not being hospitable, they’re not good solutions cause ultimately somebody’s gonna catapult a plague victim over your walls because of the bitterness. You’re gonna end up divided with each other. You gotta keep your values intact.

Mike: So actually Worcester’s success in dealing with people who are experiencing homelessness, or addiction, or whatever, maybe comes into play when we face zombie attack.

Scott: The compassionate cities are gonna fare better.

Coffee in Worcester: Honey Dew Donuts

This week, we talk about the downtown Honey Dew Donuts, and the end of Java Hut.

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Bruce: I’m Bruce Russell, aka The Snow Ghost, and we’re doing a coffee interview about the new Honey Dew Donuts, formerly a Dunkin Donuts. And my experience was that it’s not like the other Honey Dew Donuts. It’s a small place as opposed to the other ones I’ve gone to. This one wasn’t as busy.

Pie and Coffee: Well, we went there on a Saturday morning. I have to say, I thought it was a pretty comparable experience to Dunkin Donuts, except that I got a positive vibe from the staff.
Continue reading “Coffee in Worcester: Honey Dew Donuts”

Council votes for Operation Yellow Box 11-0

Joff Smith, in his enthusiasm, awkwardly proposed a more aggressive plan than the City Manager’s, and after voting for Operation Yellow Box in general, voted against the City Manager’s particular implementation; that second vote was 10-1.

Click here to download mp3 of the Council’s discussion

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This morning, pro-Yellow Box organizers wrote in an e-mail:

Thank you so much for your support. The council clearly heard our voices and responded. Without the pressure of community supporters, it really could have gone either way tonight. Last week we only knew of six yes votes and four likely no votes. Tonight was an important step in making Worcester a safer city. Thank you for making it happen!

The T&G recap includes the typical belligerent comments from Internet readers.

Operation Yellow Box: Council votes tonight

Tonight the City Council will again have an opportunity to approve Operation Yellow Box, a limited needle-disposal plan. Now that syringes are available over-the-counter in Massachusetts, you’d think everybody would want there to be safe places for disposal of dirty needles.

City Manager O’Brien: “I am confident that Operation Yellow Box will lead to increased community protection, education, and awareness surrounding the safe disposal of needles and syringes.”

The people I know with a history of IV drug use are often irresponsible, and sometimes responsible. They also have friends and associates who don’t do drugs. I’d like there to be safe places to dispose of needles, whether by someone finding one on the street, a junkie on a good day, or someone visiting that drug user and finding needles lying around.

There are people I respect who oppose needle legalization and needle exchange, who think that “harm reduction” sends a bad message. But even they support needle disposal plans. This isn’t about reducing the harm that addicts cause themselves—it’s about reducing the harm that they cause everyone else.

For more info, read Lara Jirmanus’s op-ed, and the T&G’s related position.

I e-mailed the City Council about this issue, and Dennis Irish wrote back:

If allowed to vote, (4 councilors could hold it until the next meeting) I believe the votes are there to approve this tonight. If it’s held, I am prepared to vote for a special council meeting to get it done before year end.

As I understand it, opponents of Operation Yellow Box will use up their last “time out” tonight. Changes in next year’s Council may give opponents additional opportunities to delay or bury this plan. I hope that enough people e-mail their Councilors, and attend tonight’s meeting, to make all the Councilors feel comfortable voting for this plan, without the need for an extra meeting.

508 #13: Needles

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

Note: About halfway through this episode, my voice becomes de-synched from the rest of the conversation. I cut out the most unlistenable parts, including a funny rant from Bruce about how Worcester development projects are all misguided. Hope what remains isn’t too confusing.

You can download the mp3 or see more formats.

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Show notes:
Continue reading “508 #13: Needles”

Learning to Read

I just discovered this article by Janine Schwab in PeaceWork Magazine. It’s about living in a foreign country, poetry and activism. It includes the author’s own translation of a poem by Viennese refugee Erich Fried.

Whosoever
from a poem
awaits salvation
should rather
learn
to read poems

Whosoever
from a single poem
expects no salvation
should rather
learn
to read poems.