Jan 10: Benefit concert for the Saints Francis & Therese Catholic Worker

“Keeping the House Warm”

A BENEFIT CONCERT

FOR SAINTS FRANCIS & THERESE CATHOLIC WORKER HOUSE OF WORCESTER

SATURDAY, January 10, 2009, 7 TO 9:30PM

ST. ROSE OF LIMA CHURCH

RT20 NORTHBORO, MA

FEATURING MUSIC BY

KEN STANLEY & FRAN REAGAN

AND

A TALK BY MEMBERS & FRIENDS OF THE CATHOLIC WORKER COMMUNITY OF WORCESTER

CONCERNING THEIR RECENT ARREST & TRIAL

For praying for an end of the war in Iraq

ADMISSION: FREE WILL OFFERING TO CONTINUE THEIR WORK FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND SERVICE TO THE POOR.

CONTACT KEN @ 978-355-4445 – A WATER OF LIFE PRODUCTION

Nine days of prayer and fasting for an end to U.S. torture

100 Days Project to Close GuantanamoI’m joining more than 60 people on January 11, 2009 — the seventh anniversary of the opening of American detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — in a nine-day, liquid-only fast to encourage President-Elect Barack Obama to keep his promise to shut down Guantanamo and end torture in his first days of office.

At DuPont Circle Park in Washington, DC, at 12:45 pm, leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, and 9-11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, will call for an end to the Bush policies, justice for the detainees, and accountability for US crimes. 100-200 demonstrators wearing orange jumpsuits and hoods will have a prisoner procession to dramatize the plight of the detainees still at Guantanamo.

The fast ends on Inauguration Day, when we begin a 100 day campaign to close the prison.

This will be my longest fast to date. I’m skeptical about “detoxification” and other health claims made for fasting, but fasting has always cured my spiritual malaise and helped me refocus my life.

What will my fast be like? I have this goofy super-health-food protein drink, vegan but not raw. My plan is to have 2 servings a day (440 calories) of this for the first week or so, then re-evaluate. I think most of the other fasters will stick to juice. (8 ounces of unsweetened orange juice is 112 calories, and apple juice is 117 calories.) I’m also going to avoid caffeine and alcohol.

If you’ll be fasting, in DC or elsewhere, let me know and we’ll link to your account on the 100 Days website.

100 Days co-organizer Matt Daloisio talks about the campaign:

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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