Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
Happy Election Day from Pennsylvania.
Military recruitment: Adam writes:
ABC News found some U.S. Army recruiters telling prospective recruits that the war in Iraq is over and that we’re not sending people to Iraq anymore. For the record, those are both lies.
BBC: “Britain is ‘surveillance society’.” This report comes out as the powers-that-be in Worcester have announced their enthusiasm for widespread video surveillance in the city.
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Walgreens protest about labor, not needles: Some guys have been holding a protest outside a local Walgreens, with a sign calling them “No better than the neighborhood drug dealer.” Some passersby thought this was about needle legalization, but it’s actually a labor thing. I mentioned this to one of the guys with the sign, and he acknowledged that it is a confusing message.
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More McGovern: Monday night some Worcesterites asked Rep McGovern to ask the State Department to investigate the ongoing violence in Oaxaca. Indymedia and Reporters Without Borders have also called for an investigation.
Talking to the press: NECN had a clip about the opt-out and don’t-opt-out projects yesterday. This is the second interview I’ve done this week about the project. I’ve found myself increasingly describing the workings of the project to reporters, lest they think this is some massive or ambitious effort. And in an effort to explain how such a small project has produced results that look impressive to some, I’ve found myself paraphrasing sections of Getting Real, oddly enough.
Those supervising the Halloween party at Chandler Elementary included Andy Warhol and Terrie the biker chick.
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Opting out: Nothing in today’s paper about the rumored don’t-opt-out contest.
Albuquerque CW in homeless controversy: They sort of come off as jerks in this article, but this quote from their “opponents” is a classic:
“They want to start talking about Jesus, but we have legitimate safety concerns . . . .”
Peace: The South Bend Tribune has an article on St Marcellus.
Snow Ghost: Announcing The Snow Ghost Book of Scary Jokes. Available only at Happy Birthday Mike Leslie.
Democracy: If you live in Worcester, you can see my interview with Nicholas Reville on cable channel 13 this Saturday at 9am & 5:30pm, Sunday at 9am & 5:30pm, and Monday at 10:30am. If you live on the Internet, you can watch it online.
Portland: Tom Hastings arrested, profiled.
Blank Canvas: Just picked up the latest issue. Worcester has several publications that I can skim thoroughly in under five minutes. On the other hand, each issue of Blank Canvas takes days to contemplate. The first things I noticed:
Beautiful spread on Happy Birthday Mike Leslie.
Steve Siddle: “College students suck. . . . Having a large population of college students in Worcester is about as culturally significant as having an Applebees.”
And Mark Comeau has another zombie article, this time arguing that Worcester would be annihilated within 18 days of initial zombie infestation.
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This morning I drove out to the Trappist monastery in Spencer for mass and to pick up their weekly donation of food for the poor in Worcester. The autumn trees are stunning. I should spend less time in the city.
Iowa: The national Catholic Worker gathering begins in Iowa today. Four folks from Worcester will be there.
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CBGB: There’s been talk that CBGB might move to Vegas, now that it’s closed its doors in NYC. Bruce spoke out about this last night:
That’s like moving The Whisky to Worcester. That’s like moving the Old Grey Whistle Test to LA. It doesn’t work.
Darfur: You can now look at high-res satellite pix of burned villages in Darfur.
Halloween: Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kit is plain nifty. I was digging through one at a friend’s house last week. Wish I knew about it in time to order some for other friends.
Opting Out: Today I talked to T&G columnist Clive McFarlane about the Opt Out project. Taking my own advice, I wrote down what I wanted to say on an index card, and tried to avoid saying anything but those things.
Clive asked why the project only focuses on schools giving kids’ private info to military recruiters, when schools also give kids’ info to colleges. These seem like very different things to me, but I don’t know much about how schools give that info to colleges, and hadn’t really thought it through.
I tried to avoid this question in a nice way. If Clive writes a column about the project, we’ll find out if I succeeded.
After our conversation, I phoned some of the other people helping with the project, and one said to me:
Schools are not required to give info to colleges by federal law. It’s not legislated. That’s the difference.
That sounds about right to me. Back when I was in high school, we opted in to having info sent to colleges. And the policies seemed like they were under local, rather than federal, control.
(The Telegram website should really have homepages for Mr. McFarlane and Ms. Williamson. Why no respect for the city columnists?)
Big guys forever!: Today Worcester celebrated World Smile Day, a day when we smile and remember Worcester native Harvey Ball.
Some guys from the Willis Center won the pie-eating contest, saying:
I said it from the beginning. The big guys came to represent. And that’s what we did! Big guys forever!
Orange County Catholic Worker: A little update in this week’s OC Weekly.
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Worcester cops Nobel action: Congrats, Craig C. Mello.
Villani cops Slate action: Slate notes Adam Neil Villani’s post about his middle namesake, Neil Armstrong.
Scott in the news: 800 people gathered for an anti-war rally in Concord, New Hampshire, last week. One of the speakers was Worcester’s Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, who had a good quote in the AP article:
“We’re made to think that nonviolence is some sentimental gift,” said keynote speaker Scott Schaefer-Duffy [sic], co-director of the St. Francis and St. Theresa [sic] Catholic Worker House in Worcester, Mass. “Being nonviolent is strong not weak,” he said.
Telegram: The T&G reports that SMOC is closing the “wet shelter” in Framingham. A wet shelter is a place you can go if you’re homeless but not sober.
Also reported: a project by Worcester State College students reveals, “Most neighbors favor group homes.” (I’ll post some commentary when I get my hands on the report.)
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