Author: Mike

Kate Toomey wins the prize

City Councilor Kathleen M. Toomey hereby wins the prize for Most Web 2.0 Motion:

19p. Motion-Toomey @ #11c CC – Request City Manager provide a report on the use of blogs, podcasting and posting of a brief on what occurs at Council meetings on the City’s web site. Order adopted

Our readers have commented on this in the past:

I think Kate Toomey and Gary Rosen, both of whom I kinda like, run neck and neck as the Councilor most likely to stumble upon something on the internet and turn it into a Council motion.

Councilor Rosen, you gave it your best.

This morning I began investigating whether the City Council meetings broadcast on Channel 12 are in the public domain. You’d think they would be. If so, I know some local tech activists who’d like to grab them off the Tivo and archive them online.

Kate Toomey
City Councilor Kate Toomey

Fr Bernie Gilgun’s homily, Jan 26, 2007

This is the first of what will hopefully be many recordings of homilies by Father Bernie Gilgun, from his weekly Mass at the Mustard Seed in Worcester, Massachusetts. You can download the mp3 (6.7MB) or see other formats. You can also subscribe (RSS) to the podcast.
Continue reading “Fr Bernie Gilgun’s homily, Jan 26, 2007”

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Worcester City Hall, on a cold day
Cold: Today a crew from Channel 7 interviewed Bruce about the cold weather in front of City Hall. (It was 7 degrees F and windy.) I declined to be interviewed, and the guy looked angry. Nothing personal, man, it was just too damn cold to stand around.

Podcasts: Saint Kermit will be back to a regular schedule within the next few weeks.

Websites: WCCA’s website is a fun mix of telecommunications articles, local videos, and Albanian blog posts, which can make it a challenge to find things. If you’ve been following the drama around the station’s future, there’s a new page that promises to keep the relevant links organized.

Worcester: I have an article at Worcester Activist about city government and cars.

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Mass for Mike Lawson and three others

South Bend, Indiana Tribune:

Lawson and three other men were found dead inside city manholes near Coveleski Stadium last week.

The deaths of Lawson, 53, Michael S. Nolen Jr., 40, Jason Coates, 29, and Brian G. Talboom, 51, have all been ruled homicides.

Authorities released no new information Friday regarding the deaths of the homeless men.

[Jerry] Eason spoke fondly about Lawson at the Mass held at Our Lady of the Road, a drop-in center at 744 S. Main St. About 80 people — primarily friends and a few family members — attended the Mass, which was followed by a potluck dinner.

The Mass was for Lawson, a Catholic who stayed at the Catholic Worker House, but all of the victims were prayed for.

Continue reading “Mass for Mike Lawson and three others”

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The rest of the story

There was a column in yesterday’s paper about the public meeting regarding the Worcester Youth Center’s executive director using the n-word when dealing with youths.

The author mentions that Youth Center board of directors president Allen Fletcher rambled on about race for awhile, alienating many of those present, and then left.

What the author doesn’t mention is that, immediately before walking out of the meeting, Mr. Fletcher got into an argument with another person about what he (Mr. Fletcher) considered a racist (anti-white) incident at the Youth Center. (I got the impression there was a lot of background here, none of which I am privy to.) So it was even more dramatic than the column describes.

Also, to be fair to the members of the board who spoke after Mr. Fletcher, I had the impression that they leapt to his defense in spite of his comments, not because they necessarily agreed with what he said.

In any case, while this incident was the most memorable part of the night, it wasn’t the most important. It’s disappointing that the columnist gives two sentences to the comments of the non-board members at the meeting. Because that was what touched my heart. I am proud to live in the same city as these folks.

You don’t need me to tell you what they think. You can watch the uncut video of some interviews taped after the meeting. Bits of this were also part of the latest Worcester Indymedia news video.

Lest this post be too negative, here are three nice things: Drupal 5 is out, I started a page on playing with Worcester’s webcams, and my roommate insists I link to Faith Browser. So there you go.

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Worcester's Christmas tree went into a wood chipper today

Media: The Globe and T&G are cutting jobs. Michael Ball considers this. Worcester Indymedia debuts a video newscast about the Thursday Lincoln Square peace vigil and a community meeting in response to a controversy at the Youth Center.

Church: The Diocese of Worcester has reportedly cut its annual deficit by 90% in the past three years. I know nothing about the backstory here. In other news, at least one Vatican official digs Oscar Wilde:

Our role is to be a thorn in the flesh, to move people’s consciences and to tackle what today is the No 1 enemy of religion — indifference.

City: “Back Alleys Become Commons.” I’ve seen some of this in Worcester, and would like to see more. Over at WCCA, two new videos: the latest performance from teen guitarist Desiree Bassett, and a report from another peace vigil. Finally, it’s been suggested that someone compile a list of Worcester residents not running for Mayor. The web seems an obvious place for this. Suggestions?