Worcester – Page 61 – Pie and Coffee

508 #22: Broken souls

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

[display_podcast]

The train schedule has changed; there will soon be a Worcester Green-Rainbow Party City Committee; the “connections exceeded” error on the City’s website is caused by turning off cookies in your browser; Brendan responds to Clive McFarlane’s column about strip club zoning; Mike invites you to add to How To Attend A City Council Meeting; Anthony Hmura has an amazing blog post about running into Cha-Cha at an ATM; Mike contrasts hunger strikes with Gandhian fasts; Mike connects his thoughts on the Telegram & Gazette with Bruce Sterling’s thoughts on broadcast TV.

Brendan: “Little cities like Worcester that are so homogenous, and so closeted, in its activities, that we are able to do things that are essentially illegal just a hair below the surface and nobody minds–this is the stripper factory. This is where all the broken souls come from. So for all the politicians that really think they’re on some sort of moral crusade, look at your peers . . . .”

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

They can’t move Jesus

We had 5 people with us this rainy day, fasting and praying for an end to the Iraq War.

Outside the Federal Building, a guy asked, “You’re doing this outside the federal court?” Ken said, “Yes.”

“They can’t move Jesus,” the guy said, gesturing to our sign and the building. “They can’t move Jesus!”

Panhandling rears head

From last night’s Worcester City Council agenda:

11f. FROM THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES – Request City Manager update the City Council concerning the current incidence of panhandling in the City and efforts to address same.

You may recall the City’s previous push to curtail panhandling was an ugly failure.

508 #21: Primary

508 is a show about Worcester.

[display_podcast]

This week, we begin with a Kate Toomey Facebook update. A Worcester Republican Blog post reflects national Republican discontent with John McCain. Brendan Melican talks about what it used to be like to vote Libertarian. An InCity Times reader complains about that paper’s neglect of Ron Paul. Mike talks about his latest research project.

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

Lent, Day 2

At today’s 12:10 Cathedral mass, there were maybe twice as many people as normal. Pretty cool.

We had 6 people praying and fasting after mass and at the Federal Building. No incidents. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to blog every day of this.)

Ash Wednesday, 2008

If I recall correctly, last Ash Wednesday the noon Cathedral mass was packed. This year, the church was maybe 3/4 full.

Bishop Robert McManus, after mass

After mass we began our Lenten fast and vigil for an end to the Iraq War. We started out by holding a banner near the Cathedral door, but were asked to move across the street. This was unfortunate, in that it probably left some passersby with the impression that we were protesting the church or something.

Holding a banner across the street. In the spirit of “Let no one see you fasting,” I tried to take photos of people’s backs.

All of the response I saw from churchgoers or people driving by was positive. Meanwhile, people handed out Jagerstatter holy cards to those leaving mass.

Then we went over to the Federal Building, where they didn’t care where we stood, so long as we weren’t blocking a door. I don’t have any good face-free pix of this part, so here you see Scott and Ken posing with the banner.

Nice omnibus Ash Wednesday post from Rocco Palmo. This bit sums up the point of the vigil, for me:

The crux of Ash Wednesday is one that fascinates, and rightfully so: in a world — and, indeed, in a church — too often obsessed with appearances, with shirking blame and maintaining an image of perfection (sometimes at any cost), all that gets turned inside out: I’m far from perfect. I don’t have all the answers. I can’t go it alone. What I do matters beyond myself.

508 #20: Foreclosure

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s co-host is Brendan Melican.

[display_podcast]

A listener writes about the EPA, Worcester, and water treatment. Worcester Magazine has a great cover story on adult entertainment zoning. A Telegram & Gazette reader complains that they ran a letter based on a posting on their “Speakeasy” message board. (I can’t find the original letter with a Google search–let me know if you find it.) The New York Times, which owns the T&G, is having hard financial times.

Did you know that there’s another podcast that touches on local issues? Check out Facing East.

The Lincoln-Estates Elm Park Neighborhood Association website has gone blank. Worcester Magazine ran a bad editorial about surveillance. We tie the surveillance issue to reduced revenues from water and trash.

Mike talks about his adventures archiving City Council meetings.

Guest Grace Ross explains the foreclosure crisis and how it’s affecting local residents.

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

Worcester Lenten Prayer and Fast for an End to the Iraq War

As Roman Catholics who love the Church, we listened closely to Pope John Paul II who called the 2003 Iraq War “a defeat for humanity” and to Pope Benedict XVI who said, “There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq,” and went on to say, “We should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a just war.”

We remember that, despite the Vatican’s clear opposition to the Iraq War, only one American Bishop, Most Rev. John Michael Botean, condemned it. In a 2003 Lenten Pastoral Letter, Bishop Botean called the Iraq War “objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin.”

On March 19, the Iraq War will enter its fifth year. More than 150,000 Iraqi civilians and nearly 4,000 American soldiers have perished. Hundreds of thousands of our sisters and brothers have been injured, orphaned, or left homeless.

We cannot help but wonder if this war could have been prevented with a stronger voice of opposition from all of us in the American Catholic Church. We admit our own complicity by our failure to raise our own voices more forcefully. But, even now, we believe that the voice of our Church can help end the bloodshed.

Therefore, inspired by the witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, we join concerned Catholics in twelve other dioceses around the United States to call for a Lenten prayer and fast for peace. Like Jagerstatter, the only known Roman Catholic to refuse service in Hitler’s military during World War II, we believe that the Church must not stay “silent in the face of what is happening.” Starting on Ash Wednesday, we invite all people of conscience to join us at Saint Paul’s Cathedral for midday Mass each weekday, followed by a peace vigil outside the church and, shortly thereafter, at the nearby United States Federal Building. We will conclude our prayer and fasting during Holy Week on March 19th with a special Catholic peace witness at the Federal Building.

We hope and pray that this witness in Worcester and other dioceses around the country will draw the Church closer to the nonviolent Christ and help our nation to end the Iraq War and Occupation.

Worcester Gadget Fiesta

This weekend, 4 of us played with 2 gadgets that are intended to establish new market niches and which embrace “openness”: the XO (aka OLPC, a tiny laptop for developing-world kids) and the Chumby (a tiny wifi-enabled Linux box intended to compete with clock radios).

My blog post “The Chumby Is a Waste of Money” is coming soon, but I have to admit that watching the Worcester Commons webcam on this thing was pure fun.

Whatever the faults of OLPC’s strategy, their project already seems to have scared for-profit companies into making laptops for developing-world kids. And boy, the XO is a sweet piece of hardware: playing with it, I got the same thrill as when I first used the Wii and iPhone.

Odd UI: A big plus, in my book. What’s life without challenges?

Interesting apps: Two friends, much less geeky than I, had great fun seeing what they could get this thing to do. If there’s a fine line between confusing and intriguing, this is on the right side of that line.

Durable: I’m very hard on gadgets, so I love the solid feel of the XO. This is the only laptop I’d be comfortable using as a club or cutting board.

Cute as heck: Your iPhone will look sleek this year, old-fashioned next year. A thing of cuteness is cute forever.

We were telling one friend about the arty video game Passage (via Kottke), and Nick got it running on the XO. A cool end to a cool afternoon.

508 #19: Our friend, Kate Toomey

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s co-host is Brendan Melican. This week’s guests are Jeff Barnard and Anne Lewenberg.

[display_podcast]

The City and EPA disagree about Worcester’s water treatment; we explore the social dynamics of having a city councilor as a Facebook friend. (Here’s the Cory Doctorow essay.)

We respond to some claims by Anthony Hmura, and note that his blog is totally avant garde. Brendan updates us on the median income debate. Note that he’s now Chair of the Cultural Commission!

HBML is “expanding,” and Mike won the giant plush squid.

Jeff Barnard talks about why there’s no “top story” in Worcester, and Anne Lewenberg describes the ongoing, successful Anarchist Theory and Action Skill Share Series.

Listen to the mp3 or other formats.

Update:Jeff created this fun short video using his own footage and the 508 audio: