Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
As reported in Boing Boing and elsewhere, Friday was the 6th anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo prison.
As reported in the Telegram & Gazette Worcester Catholic Worker (and reluctant Pie and Coffee contributor) Claire Schaeffer-Duffy was arrested for civil disobedience at the US Supreme Court as part of an anti-Gitmo protest.
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Bruce Russell, Cha-Cha Connor, and Brendan Melican.
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Cha-Cha mourns the closing of the Java Hut; Worcester gets traffic cameras; Mike speculates that the Main South Alliance for Public Safety is a diabolical Freemasonic conspiracy; the benches in Federal Square are gone. Mike: “David Hitch is the worst editorial cartoonist in the country.” (Typical witless example.) Also: Worcester City Councilors promise a citizen revolution.
Listen to the mp3 or other formats.
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Not on the podcast: My hero Edmund Hillary has died. I love that there’s no photo of him being the first man atop Everest, just Tenzing Norgay, either because he forgot to ask TN to take one, or because he didn’t think it was important enough to show TN how to use the camera. I also love that his first words upon returning to base camp were: “Well, George, we finally knocked the bastard off.” A true adventurer.
WorcesterActivist.org back on its feet
WorcesterActivist.org has been running on a really flaky shared server. After months of wanting to move it, it’s finally moved. Let me know if there is anything wrong (as I expect there is).
Apologizing to the indigenous
Whispers: The Power of “Sorry”:
At a recent Mass to commemorate the 190th anniversary of a California mission built by native converts, the Miwok Indians, Sacramento’s bishop-emeritus apologized for the church’s mistreatment of the early community.
It’s time for our annual conversation from and about the Mid-Ohio Valley. This year, Mark and Sarah talk about the Aeropress coffee maker, the Golden Girls, Yakov Smirnoff, “Black Pete,” and “Bubble.”
But not Barry Switzer.
Pie and Coffee: Are we going to talk about coffee first, or Barry Switzer first?
Mark: Whatever you want. I don’t care.
P: I’m drinking this cup of coffee. This is not the greatest cup of coffee I’ve ever had.
M: Yeah, it’s okay coffee, but it’s not–
Sarah: I’d say it’s solid.
M: I’d say it’s fine. I mean, that’s the thing, it’s perfectly acceptable.
Continue reading “Coffee: Aeropress”
I may as well say up front that I’m a fan of Carl Malamud’s “be the government” philosophy.
So when I wanted to check up on the details of a Worcester City Council meeting from months past, I thought: “We should archive them online.”
The Government Channel already cablecasts the meetings, so a year ago I asked the City’s law department if these cablecasts are public domain. No answer yet.
Three weeks ago, I ordered a DVD of the most recent City Council meeting from the Government Channel. I’ve been told that the ordinary turnaround time is “a couple days,” but no DVD yet.
Civic leaders like Councilors Toomey and Smith have been asking the City to make the meetings available online, but they’ve had no more luck than I have.
I’m tired of waiting. Next week I’m going to tape the meeting with my own camera, and post it at the Internet Archive. This is far from ideal, but at least it’s a step. My dream would be for Indymedia to setup a computer to automatically record and post the meetings; this would take less than $400, along with the aid of someone more skilled with Linux than I am.
Anyone want to help? Let me know.
Please RSVP for the 2008 Catholic Worker gathering by February 14.
We’re trying to get a sense of how many people will be coming to Worcester, Massachusetts, for the event.
To RSVP, e-mail theresecw@gmail.com or call 508.753.3588.
More information about the gathering is here.
508 is a show about Worcester. This week I talk with Brendan Melican and Bruce Russell.
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Brendan: “I would like to thank in general the people of Iowa, and in particular Mike Huckabee, for proving to me once again that the United States is nothing more than a running comedy sketch for the Dutch.”
Pulse Magazine loves Cha-Cha Connor. (Who could not?)
A guy tried to kill his wife “by sticking her head in a pot of spaghetti sauce.”
Scott Zoback’s notes on this week’s inauguration hint that the City may be taking steps toward widespread video surveillance; we’ll watch the inauguration video and see what exactly was said.
We parse Brendan’s tongue-in-cheek predictions for 2008.
A guy was stabbed near Bruce’s house, and his friend Jimmy was attacked in a separate incident.
There’s now a feed for low-fi versions of this podcast, suitable for iTunes; and there’s a “collection” page at the Internet Archive for 508. All the download stats are totally wrong, BTW.
People everywhere are recognizing the Snow Ghost. Mike is curating an art show at HBML.
The Bob Bourassa/Claude Dorman feud seems to have ended, as has Bourassa’s connection with the neighborhood association. (Classic Bourassa, WoMag article, sample of anti-Bourassa sentiment on new neighborhood association site.)
Despite mentioning so many negative things, Mike is really happy about life in Worcester.
Listen to the mp3 or other formats.
Cha-Cha Connor is at far right
“For I bless the PRINCE of PEACE and pray that all the guns may be nail’d up, save such are for the rejoicing days.”
–Christopher Smart, Jubilate Agno
Wow! Here’s a reading of Christopher Smart’s long, crazy, devotional poem “Jubilate Agno.” The readers are Frank Key and Germander Speedwell.
“It was written between 1758 and 1763, during which time Smart was incarcerated in Mr Potter’s private madhouse in Bethnal Green.”
Mr. Key’s Hooting Yard is at present my favorite podcast. If you like his reading voice but not his original writing, he’s also read a couple stories as part of the Escape Pod series, How Lonesome a Life Without Nerve Gas and Hesperia and Glory, both of them worth a listen.