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Zackary Sholem BergerOur old college buddy Zack Berger, medical doctor and Yiddish poet, got a shout-out on Boing Boing this week, highlighting his Yiddish versions of classic children’s books. Good job! You can order the books here. I don’t speak Yiddish, but reading them aloud is a treat anyway.

Catholic anarchism
Michael Iafrate excerpts an essay from the latest Catholic Worker. If I find the thing online I’ll post a link.

Telegram & Gazette paywall
Our local paper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette is planning to charge for some local stories on their website, starting this summer. The first few stories each day would be free, after that you’d have to pay. Jeff Barnard has an impressive rant about the modern economics of newspapers and how they relate to the T&G and its plans.

New Ubuntu released today
For the past few years, I’ve mostly used computers running the Ubuntu operating system, the most popular flavor of Linux. The latest version is out today.

Newspapers down 8.7%; T&G down 9.5%

Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

The T&G reported paid circulation declines about on par with expectations because of recent pricing changes; and also continued to report significant growth in its online audience. Daily circulation declined 9.5 percent to 71,034 Monday through Saturday; and Sunday declined 10.3 percent to 81,461.

Looking only at weekday circulation, and comparing the annual Oct-Mar reporting periods, this represents a 16.2% decline in circulation over the past 3 years.

  • Oct 2006-March 2007: 84,754
  • Oct 2007-March 2008: 81,437
  • Oct 2008-March 2009: 78,479
  • Oct 2009-March 2010: 71,034

The audience for the paper’s website is expanding, but they’re planning to erect a paywall. Jeff points out that the # of unique visitors to the site is growing 3 times as fast as page views.

508 #110: Hippopotamus

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Erica Getto and Brendan Melican.

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[0:30] Erica and Mike think the first annual Worcester VegFest was a triumph.

stART on the Street is May 15.

[9:36] Brendan thinks that violent incidents in the Tatnuck Square area do not constitute a trend and are not a reason to fear the neighborhood.

[16:08] A T&G columnist wrote about their legendarily awful online comments section—bloggers have been complaining about this for years and years, and the paper has yet to fix the problem.

[19:11] Mike had trouble today buying a Worcester gift.

[20:50] Jeff Barnard (rightly) won Worcester Magazine’s “Best Blogger.” We approve of WoMag’s devil-may-care attitude in composing this year’s “best” list. Brendan on WoMag: “They’re doing great without an editor. Don’t hire an editor!”

We endorse upcoming stuff at the Ecotarium and Energy Barnraising.

Are there blackflies in Worcester? We are not sure.

Catholic Worker Tea Party

On Wednesday, April 14, 2010, Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, Julia Skjerli, and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy of the Saints Francis & Therese Catholic Worker in Worcester, Massachusetts went to the Boston Common where a Tea Party rally addressed by Sarah Palin was held. At the edge of a crowd of about 4,000 Tea Party supporters, the Catholic Workers held signs and distributed almost 500 leaflets. Ken held a sign which read, “A Tea Party the US Needs Now.” It depicted colonists throwing boxes labeled “WAR” into Boston Harbor. Julia held a sign which read, “Cut Government Spending, End the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Now.” Scott wore a tri-corner hat and colonial garb. He rang a bell and quoted James Madison and Patrick Henry on the evils of a standing army.

Their leaflet is reprinted below:
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508 #109: Tea Party aftermath

508 is a show about Worcester. This week we mostly talk about the Worcester Tea Party.

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[0:30] Turns out the skull found in the woods near the city likely was a black woman who “appears to have suffered a brain aneurism.” Update: Skull identified as “Tyra Wilkerson, 36, of Norwood,” missing since 2006.

[2:15] Clark cafeteria workers and their supporters are celebrating a victory in the union drive there.

[3:30] We both went to yesterday’s Tea Party, either to observe or counter-protest. The T&G thinks there were more than 2000 attendees. Jeff Barnard notes that the T&G liveblogged it. Mike remembers Father Bafaro’s remarks at a 2009 antiwar rally. Didn’t see any racist or misspelled signs.

[17:10] Worcester Magazine asked local small businessmen about Walmart and found they are not really concerned. Mike would like to see some “Jim Collins-style pseudoscience” in the coming years on the impact of the Worcester Walmart. Mike talks about how part of the reason there was not more substantial opposition to Walmart was that the opposition began very, very late into the process.

[23:50] “The Heist of Lion Bank” premieres Monday. The VegFest is Saturday, 12-5pm, at the Worcester State College Student Center.

[25:40] Some Tatnuck residents are worried about trouble in the neighborhood.

[27:55] Brendan and Gary Rosen are maybe going to do a radio show.

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508 #108: Items of interest

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Greg Opperman and Brendan Melican.

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A skull was found in the woods near the neighborhood; not much more is known.

Some Atlantic Union students eschewed shoes for a day to “call attention to Third World children”. We talk about hookworms and the whole barefoot running thing.

Greg Opperman photo

As part of the Who Shot Rock & Roll photography exhibit a the Worcester Art Museum, there’s a side exhibit with local photos called “Wormtown Rocks.” Greg talks about the photos, Worcester’s Michael Jackson kid, and Louie’s bar photography. (Louie’s book is “Five Months”.) Today’s 508 is taped in the same room as the grand prize winning pic. (If you’re interested in this sort of stuff, you might also watch this video of a 2008 Bone Zone house show in Worcester. Sam’s prominent here, too.)

There will be a Tea Party protest in Worcester April 15; expect counter-protestors (thread here) and “local anti-capitalists”. (Also: Worcester Tea Partiers mentioned in TIME.) Mike spent Tax Day 2009 protesting in the same area as, though not with, the Washington, DC event.

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Easter in Worcester

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Today Orthodox Easter, Western Easter, and the anniversary of Tom Lewis’s death all fell on the same day.

I celebrated with mass at St. Peter’s and a perfect picnic.

This week Matt Fox recorded a version of “I Dreamed I Saw Tom Lewis Last Night,” with lyrics by me and inspiration from Matt Feinstein.

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This is based on a martyr’s song, though Tom was no martyr. He sure believed in resurrection, though. I think it fits.


A flower in Tom’s garden, photographed by Paul Gingras.

Holy Week items

On Palm Sunday many churchgoers hold palms during the service. I’m used to seeing people weave them into large crosses. Here are two smaller (East African?) designs that I saw for the first time.

“Song for Holy Saturday”
Following tradition, here’s a link to this poem by James K. Baxter.

“Enjoy the Silence: Triduum, sexual abuse, and the disappearance of the crucified”
Michael Iafrate:

It is truly difficult to hear the continued reports of children raped by priests and not be struck by the presence of the Crucified One there. But this presence is denied—“I do not know the man!”—each and every time church leaders and members alike remain silent or utter words of defensiveness that embarrassingly fill nearly every news story or ecclesial statement covering the abuse.

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508 #107: Pit Bulls

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Tim Hart, Pam Toomey, Brendan Melican, and Carly.

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We discuss proposed Worcester pit bull restrictions and think they are a bad idea. (You might enjoy this Malcolm Gladwell article about pit bulls.)

Clark students continue to support unionization of their dining hall workers; there have been two incidents in the past year when Leominster cops caused trouble in Worcester; it’s Holy Week; Mike is a little confused about how Michael Hlady is supposed to have scammed Venerini Academy; there’s now a documentary about Lemmy.

A late Lent bibliography

I’m just now getting into the spiritual and intellectual work I associate with Lent. Barring some quick epiphanies, this work will stretch into the Easter season.

Here are some of the things I’m planning to read and watch. No real curriculum here, just what’s on one man’s shelf.

If anything else comes in handy I’ll add comments or maybe a second post. Probably 2001 (my favorite movie) and Breaking the Waves (my favorite religious film, though not for everybody–I freaked out a friend yesterday just explaining the plot) will find their way onto my screen.