Author: Mike

Worcester wins

“City Manager Announces City Council Meetings to Go On-Line”:

The City Manager has announced that City Council meetings will now be available on-line, greatly increasing citizen participation and government accountability.

Worcester Indymedia, with help from WCCA TV13, has been archiving these meetings for the past year, at a grand cost of $50.

This is amazing timing by the City, as I’ve done most of the archiving for Indymedia, and the project is set to end when I leave for DC next week.

Carl Malamud’s “Hack 3: Be Government” was a big inspiration:

Sometimes the best way to get government to do something is just do it yourself. That’s a strategy I previously used in posting data from the SEC on the Internet. I ran the database for a couple of years, then put a little sign up saying the service would terminate in 60 days. The SEC got it right away that free markets are based on information and started running the service. I tried the same trick on the Patent Office, but that is a much less clueful bunch when it comes to subversive goals like promoting the dissemination of knowledge, and I had to harass them for a few more years.

Hallelujah, I’m a Bum

As the economy slows in 2009, will these old-timey songs of hard times make a comeback?

Here are three versions of the old IWW parody “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.” The first is by the presumptive author, Harry “Big Rock Candy Mountain” McClintock, recorded in the late 1920s.

The other two are sung by Chris DuPuis and Mike Benedetti, backed by Stale Urine, and recorded in the late-2000s.

Related: There’s a great special about “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” lyricist Yip Harburg here.

Happy New Year!

Update: Here’s a quote from Bruce Sterling’s “year in review” discussion that seems relevant.

I’m a bohemian type, so I could scarcely be bothered to do anything “financially sound” in my entire adult life. Last year was the first year when I’ve felt genuinely sorry for responsible, well-to-do people. Suddenly they’ve got the precariousness of creatives, of the underclass, without that gleeful experience of decades spent living-it-up.

[…]

I even fret about the bankers. Seventeen percent of the US works in financial services. That’s a lot. I’ve got friends and relatives who work in those industries. I frankly enjoy tossing myself into turbulent parts of life, because I’m a dilettante who bores easily, but jeez, bankers are supposed to be the ultimate humorless brown-shoe crowd. They’re not supposed to wake up on a sleeping roll and scrounge breakfast.

A couple more Worcester journalism notes

I’m preparing like mad to go to DC; still, these 2 Worcester stories, which broke on the blogs, seemed worth pointing out.

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The release of the heavily-redacted citizen complaint records against Officer Rojas has been an ongoing fiasco–even just counting the number of pages revealed there weren’t as many as claimed.

Now we know more about what sorts of things were redacted, as Kevin Ksen compares his virgin copy of his own complaint against the version the police released. The redactions are not at random, but they are bizarre–why is it important to black out any mention of the fence at the scene of the incident?

Graphic via Wordle.

Doug “Action Geek” Chapel’s comic strip leaves Worcester Magazine
It’s less surprising that Worcester Magazine cancelled Action Geek than that he stuck around for so long after the recent sale of the magazine; after all, they fired almost everyone else who was a contributor. If you’re interested in creating a brand-new feel for the magazine, getting rid of old features makes sense.

Action Geek, while a bit too grouchy for me lately, has remained one of the reasons I open the magazine. I’ll miss it. Speaking of “brand-new feel”, the only other change I’ve really noticed under the new management is the refashioning of the “one-on-one” interview to have less personality and fewer follow-up questions. So the magazine’s become less interesting in 2 ways, without adding anything new. Maybe they will surprise us.

Doug, meanwhile, is poised to lose both influence and $1,200 a year. If the 1,000 True Fans theory is legit, he should be able to make this up with a little more focus on his internet presence. Best wishes to him in whatever course he takes.

Related: Print continues its slide by almost any way you can measure.

Christmas Eve bus wreck

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Greyhound bus crash. Icy roads. I was released from the hospital with a tetanus shot and a bandage. The front of the bus caved in, trapping the driver. He seemed in very bad shape. I was three seats behind him. The people in the seats in front of me seemed pretty hurt, but were able to walk around afterwards.

Say a prayer for everyone travelling this week, that they will stay safe.

Still haven’t made it to my family after spending 24 hours on what should have been a 10-hour trip. With luck, I’ll be there for Christmas lunch.

The Christmas Miracle, for me, is that this delay meant I connected with a friend at the Philly bus station, and we spent the long ride across PA together.

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Weary travelers. I think this is the Plainfield Rest Area on the PA Turnpike.

Some Christmas stuff

This year I somehow finished most of my Christmas chores in late November. Then things got super-busy, and the last few tasks, like writing this pre-Christmas blog post, got pushed till the last minute.

Civil disobedience through oil and gas bids
Adam sent along this inspiring story of Tim DeChristopher, who de-railed “an oil- and gas-lease sale that caught the attention of Congress and the incoming Obama administration.”

Holiday giving?
If you’re thinking of donating money to an interesting cause, and you’ve already helped your church and local Catholic Worker house, you might consider Worcester’s EMPOWER. This group has been working to start a local biodiesel cooperative, converting waste restaurant fryer oil into home heating oil. They’re raising a few more funds so they can finish crossing the Ts and dotting the Is and begin production. You can learn more about them through EPOCA (their fiscal sponsor), or I’d be happy to put you in touch with the right people.

If you’re looking for a present for post-Christmas giving, you could do worse than the Snow Ghost Community Show DVD box set, available for a $50 donation to WCCA TV13, Worcester’s cable access station (and my sometime employer). Get your copy at WCCA’s office or HBML. I’m slowly uploading the images to the Archive for your DVD-burning pleasure.
Continue reading “Some Christmas stuff”

508 #66: 2009 predictions

This is the final episode of 508, a show about Worcester. The panel is DeJongh Wells, Tracy Novick, and Scott Zoback.

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We talk about the ice storm, the response from the authorities, the reporting of WTAG, and Kate Toomey’s helpful Facebook updates with official info on the situation.

Jeff Barnard found that while the City Councilors want people to shovel their sidewalks, they’re doing a poor job with their own sidewalks.

The Snow Ghost Community Show also wraps up today. You can get a DVD set of all 24 episodes + extras with your $50 donation to WCCA TV13. Sets are available at WCCA (415 Main St.) and HBML (420 Pleasant St.).

Tracy talks about the tree loss at Cascading Waters and other Land Trust properties.

In honor of the absent Brendan Melican, we make bold predictions about what Mike will find when he returns to Worcester in May.

  • Wells: There will be movement on downtown redevelopment. Demolition will start in July or August.
  • Zoback: The various police scandals will be dragging on. Earliest beginning to a City Council/mayoral campaign in history, with record numbers of people tossing their hats into the ring. A newcomer will be the mayor.
  • Novick: Ditto on the elections; we’ll also see this with the School Board. As well, people will have their electricity back….
  • Benedetti: T&G offered up for sale. Jeff Barnard buys it with one day’s cabdriving tips.

We finish up by discussing our upcoming plans. For my part, I will spend the first part of 2009 on the 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo.

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508 #65: AIDS prevention

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Cha-Cha Connor talks with a guest about the politics of HIV/AIDS prevention in Worcester, especially as regards unprotected anal sex.

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To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

To get an e-mail each week alerting you of the new episode of 508, join the e-mail list:

Email:

We won’t share this list with others.

Stone Soup celebrates second anniversary

One of my favorite things in Worcester, the Stone Soup community center at 4 King Street, celebrated its second anniversary last night.

It was more sedate than the first anniversary party, probably because it was at Centro Las Americas, a much larger venue than Stone Soup and more appropriate to the crowd size, and because there were a couple other big events tonight so people were in and out.

A highlight for me was the murga group La Clandestina:

George sings Happy Birthday, cracking up Nori and Aiden:

Dave Maciewski:

Happy birthday, Stone Soup! May this be the second of a hundred!

(These are just some videos from my camera. You can expect more footage in the future courtesy of youth videographer Sergio Castillo, who was on the scene. He e-mailed saying, “The deal is you have to let other people know about my website.” Here you go.)

Vegan cupcakes

508 #64: Fax machines

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Tina Zlody, Kevin Ksen, and Brendan Melican.

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Sunday, December 7, from noon-5pm at Worcester’s Union Station is the “stART in the Station” arts festival.

Seth Godin, from his “Holiday Shopping Guide”:

Buy handmade items from people you like.

stART can hook you up.

There was actually some news on the PILOT/BILOT front this week, with the pharmacy school making a small annual donation to the library.

Worcester will be remembering homeless residents who died in 2008 at this year’s “Longest Night” events, leading up to Dec 21. Watch this space for details.

Worcester has a contract with a new superintendant of schools. There have been delays in the release of the Mark Rojas records.

Mike continues his local journalism case studies. Kevin says the T&G has a new investigative team, or “I-Team”, with Jay Whearly as John “Hannibal” Smith.

The City Manager recognizes Colin Novick’s good work.

Dave Winer on the death of newspapers:

They see the cliff, they know they’re headed for it, but they don’t ask how to turn the car. They don’t really want to know. I think sometimes what they want is to be missed when they lie dead in a crumpled car at the bottom of the cliff. But we don’t want that to happen. Not because we love them, but because life without them is pretty hard to imagine.

mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

To get an e-mail each week alerting you of the new episode of 508, join the e-mail list:

Email:

We won’t share this list with others.