Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
I regret that the time has come to tag a post both “Worcester” and “Wal-Mart.”
A 209,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter is part of a shopping center planned on 44 acres in Quinsigamond Village where U.S. Steel once operated foundries along the Blackstone River.
I consider myself to be the single biggest proponent of hard core, blood thirsty capitalism this side of Iowa, but Wal-Mart still manages to make me ill.
I’ll be blogging this issue over at Worcester Activist.
Last year’s Pie and Coffee “Lent” articles were an eclectic bunch.
Most Catholics either give up something, or take on a new responsibility, for Lent. They also stop eating meat on Fridays (except fish). Since becoming a vegan, I’ve been wondering what I should do. Last year, I gave up soy on Fridays, which was a pain in the neck and not very productive. This year, I think I’ll just observe a juice fast on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, since the combination of prayer and fasting always does me good, and I should try it more often.
Chinese New Year: Indymedia has an article and movie about the celebration in Worcester, courtesy Matt Feinstein. Are there Chinese Christians who feel a conflict between celebrating these first weeks of their New Year, and observing Lent?
Television: You can submit your questions about prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and other topics to Worcester’s Mayor and City Manager via Soapbox.
Catholic Worker: Houston Indymedia reports that the Houston CW is being harrassed by the Klan.
Larry Cirignano appeared at the Worcester courthouse this morning for a probable cause hearing in connection with an alleged assault at a marriage rally late last year.
I couldn’t hang around the court all morning, so you’ll get no news from me. Kevin Ksen of Indymedia and Ethan Jacobs of Bay Windows are on the scene, so some reportage may surface.
Update: Sounds like the Cirignano case is moving forward. One photographer on the scene tells me he tried to get a shot of Cirignano leaving, but that he’d eluded the press. I wandered by the court on my lunch hour, and while my photo isn’t good, it’s something.
Larry Cirignano
Update: Rock on, Ethan Jacobs:
Following the hearing, which was not open to the public or the press, Cirignano confirmed to Bay Windows that the magistrate had found probable cause on both charges, but he declined to comment further.
Telegram & Gazette update (the next morning):
Criminal complaints charging Larry Cirignano, 50, of Arlington, Va., with assault and battery and a civil rights violation were issued yesterday after a show-cause hearing in Central District Court.
[…]
Ms. Loy initially told police she was not injured, but investigators later photographed a small bruise on her elbow.
Three witnesses said they saw Mr. Cirignano push Ms. Loy “with force,†according to the [police] report.
Yesterday I staggered into the Bean Counter, ordered a coffee, and found that I’d left my money at home. A kind stranger paid my bill. So in the interests of “paying it forward,” I’ll try to emulate that generosity of spirit while recalling the fiasco of one year ago today, the Mr. Heterosexual Massachusetts competition.
Continue reading “Mr. Hetero—one year later”
Kevin Ksen case: The T&G now has this story. See also Pie and Coffee’s coverage.
Plowshares: Michael Walli released from prison. You’ll recall he damaged a nuclear missile silo dressed as a clown.
Climate: The Interfaith Walk for Climate Rescue will be in Worcester March 20-21.
Catholic Worker news: The Eugene, Oregon CW community has moved to a new location.
Come join: The Catholic Coalition for Material Cooperation with Evil.
More from the Research Bureau: Their latest report, which I haven’t read yet, apparently says 65% of Worcesterites are satisfied with the city. Also, according to the T&G, the survey respondents were 92% white. Which doesn’t sound like a good sample, to be honest. But I should read the survey before writing more.
History: Over at the wiki, check out The Anti-War and Anti-Draft Movement in Worcester, 1965-75.
Continue reading “Items”
Worcester Magazine, as of the past hour or so, has moved to the Joomla content management system.
Update: Noticed they’ve gotten worcestermagazine.com; they used to be only worcestermag.com.
Holy cow, you can now comment on articles at the Telegram & Gazette website.
I tried this out and found that:
Here’s an article with comments.
No idea how long this feature has been there. Kevin Ksen mentioned it to me this morning, so I suppose it was there yesterday. Someone with us asked: Can you still only read the last 14 days for free? Answer: Looks like it.
Lest you think hell has frozen over, the T&G’s RSS feed remains screwed up.
This morning Kevin Ksen, accused of trespassing and resisting arrest in connection with organizing and photojournalism he was doing regarding the Fox TV show “COPS”, was given a 6-month continuance, at the end of which the case will be dismissed.
The judge said: “Mr. Ksen, you stay out of trouble, the case gets dismissed in six months.”
I’ll update this post with links to better articles this afternoon.
Video update: Click To Play
To share, go to blip.tv.
T&G update: Criminal charges against local activist set aside:
[ADA] Mr. Bibaud said in his motion that he had discussed the proposed disposition of the case with Police Chief Gary J. Gemme and deemed the continuance without a plea or finding a “suitable†resolution given the circumstances of the case. Mr. Bibaud said the case involved allegations that Mr. Ksen interfered with the arrest of another individual.
The prosecutor said police officials agreed with the proposed disposition, which was accepted by Judge Despotopulos.
Another T&G update:
A reader asks: Has the case been “set aside,” or “continued”?
I think the answer is: the case has been dismissed, but in order that everyone involved can save face, it’s been dismissed with this 6-month delay/continuance. “Set aside” is surely the wrong way to put it: the case has been resolved, as far as everyone involved is concerned.
See also: Worcester man arrested for flyering?, Citizen journalist files “false arrest†complaint
A few days after Kevin was arrested in July, Worcester’s Police Chief kicked “COPS†out of the city, saying:
“I just believe it is in the best interest to ask ‘Cops’ to leave.â€
I stopped drinking coffee cold turkey yesterday. I didn’t feel bad, but I think my concentration suffered. I wrote two blog posts, both of them traditionally bloggy summaries of others’ work, and neither very accurate or pithy.
One of the ideas I had when starting this group blog was to combine the personalist philosophy with the personal; rather than commenting on news reported by others, I would write about my own firsthand experiences. Rather quickly this blog descended into traditional meta-news blogging as well. After all, another idea behind this blog was to have fun, and meta-news blogging is fun.
But a day like yesterday points up a problem with meta-news blogging. I might write a bad post about my own experiences, but I’m not likely to be inaccurate about them. Yesterday I blogged about two things I have no firsthand experience of, and so a mild deficit of reading comprehension led to both bad and inaccurate blogging. (I’ve been following the Cirignano stuff behind the scenes, but I wasn’t there for the original incident. I have zero firsthand knowledge of WoMag, and as mentioned yesterday it’s only moving further to the periphery of my awareness.)
Think not that I have learned my lesson: in the coming days, this space will feature several pieces that feature not only meta-news, but also meta-analysis. If this scares you, consult Allen Levine’s floating head for solace.
Post title taken from Stan Brakhage.
Worcester Business Journal to be sold; WoMag will be kept
WORCESTER-Worcester Business Journal and two other publications owned by Worcester Publishing Ltd., Hartford Business Journal and Mainebiz, will be sold to a new company being formed by Peter Stanton and Joe Zwiebel, two senior managers at Worcester Publishing.
Plans to sell the three business publications to New England Business Media LLC were announced this morning by Allen W. Fletcher, principal owner of Worcester Publishing, 172 Shrewsbury St. Mr. Fletcher said the sale will allow him to focus on a single publication, Worcester Magazine, which will continue to be published by Worcester Publishing but move to a new location on Water Street.
[…]
Two or three full-time positions will be eliminated, he said.
Update: T&G article, no real new details.
As a result, Worcester Magazine will leave its 172 Shrewsbury St. offices for space above Jose Murphy’s on Water Street in the old Arkus Pharmacy Building.