Real Hartford

July 4th

Fireworks (probably of the illegal variety) in the Sisson/Capitol/West Boulevard/Newton St. area:

Screen and dirty windows obstructed the view. Cat nudging my arm created the blur. Oh well.

Downtown Farmers’ Market

Although the Hartford Courant had reported last week that the farmers’ market had been canceled, it was up and running yesterday. There were three or four tables set up with locally grown produce. I will try to find out if the market has been canceled, or if that was a misprint, as they say.

Riverfest: Warning– There Will Be Clowns

Festivities begin at 4pm on Saturday (July 5th) in three locations– Riverfront Plaza, Charter Oak Landing, and Great River Park (East Hartford). There will be music (Jazz Alive Quartet, Memphis Soul Spectacular, Shaded Soul, Krista, Sean Austin, Tony Harrington & Touch, Article 19, The Outriggers, The Last Chance Band, The Dramatix, and Hartford Pops). There will be “Moon Bounces” (jumping houses, to us older folks), a waterslide, and airborne jugglers. Not sure if the jugglers are consenting to being airborne or not.  If clowns creep you out, no worries. There will also be a mime and someone on stilts. The fireworks show is planned for 9:45.

On the East Hartford side, there will be police dog demos, so if you make it a habit to carry contraband around with you, probably not a good idea this Saturday. Not even if “medicinal” use of marijuana makes it more tolerable for you to be around clowns and stilt-walkers.

Free to a Good Home

These organic radishes were grown in the West End Community Garden on Girard Street.

If you like radishes (and we’ve actually met before) and want about ten that were picked this afternoon, contact me.

Hartford Advocate Blows It

If the local mainstream media are trying at all to prove that they are “journalistic force[s]”, the Hartford Advocate just damaged their own cause. This week’s edition plays into the very sensationalist and inaccurate coverage that they have been critiqued for in the past.

The cover depicts someone painting on the side of a building. The cover headline reads: “STOP TALKING ABOUT HARTFORD’S PROBLEMS.” From the start, the issue is misrepresented. As a Hartford resident, I would love to talk about Hartford’s problems. Really. I’d like for us to be having honest, informed, intelligent conversations. Unfortunately, that’s not the kind of “talk” people are most interested in, and by people, I mean the anonymous people leaving comments at Courant’s topix boards which follow most articles posted online, as well as the journalists and editors who allow misinformation and inflammatory, one-sided, and sensational coverage to be printed as the norm.

In Bulger’s article (”No Comment: A rash of violence, intemperate online comments, and outspoken critiques sharply divides a city grappling with crime and its own public image”), the issue of responsible speech becomes hinted at as one of “the man keeping the free press down.”

This is not a free speech issue. As I have written before, Perez’s motives might be pure; they might not be. Perez is not the point. He’s simply a louder voice who is saying what many of us have been saying for a few years–be responsible. The Courant, and the Advocate, and virtually every other print media already censors. They do not publish every letter to the editor they receive. They usually select the more articulate items to get ink. Rarely are such letters published anonymously– in fact, the Courant requires a phone number be provided so there is some attempt to ensure the author’s real identity. (They also practice agenda setting, but I’m not going to go there this morning) Since this is the reality of how publishing works, why is it unfathomable for some to transfer this concept to online comment forums? Because there’s unlimited space, more voices can be heard, but a moderator can also weed through them to get rid of material submitted by the totally uninformed, ignorant (you can call that racist, sexist, heterosexist, whatever), or those who resort to name-calling. What’s happening on these forums is not people talking about Hartford– it’s people with ridiculous bias jumping at the chance to be obnoxious. I doubt those who are leaving comments like one that Bulger noted, classifying Hartford residents as “humanimals, wild sows and exponential breeders” (12) are at all interested in what is happening in Hartford. To me, it seems they just wanna hate. Continue reading Hartford Advocate Blows It…

Unreal

What is the deal with administrative/operating decisions lately at the Hartford Public Library? Weeks ago, there was criticism that librarians were not contacting the Hartford Police Department when circumstances indicated they might want to do so. Now, the Mark Twain Branch and Blue Hills Branch are closing, but a source quoted in the Courant makes it sound like there are political games going on:

Leo Laffitte, a representative of the library’s union AFSCME Local 1716, said Monday he does not believe that chief Librarian Louise Blalock intends to close the branches.

“She intentionally selected those branches because she knows community activists in those neighborhoods would not allow for that to happen.”

The union suspects that Blalock has inflated the number of layoffs and the amount of the budget gap.

“It’s a scare tactic,” Laffitte said.

The idea that this is all a mess created by pig-headedness and grandstanding does not sit well with me. It costs money to operate everything. We know that. Surely there are places to make cuts that do not involve closing branches. In the meantime, how’s about not toying with Hartford residents, who are dealing with enough garbage as it is?
The library finally got around to posting notices about the closures. Nothing like a little procrastination, y’all. Both say essentially the same thing:

Hartford Public Library sincerely regrets the loss of services at the Blue Hills Branch. The branch will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, 2008. Please visit the Albany Branch and the Library On Wheels for your library needs.

Albany Branch (1.56 miles)
1250 Albany Avenue (at Blue Hills Ave.)
(860) 695-7380
Monday, Wednesday 12:00 to 6:00 PM
Tuesday, Thursday 12:00 to 8:00 PM
Friday, Saturday 12:00 to 5:00 PM

Former patrons of the Blue Hills branch are referred to the Albany Avenue branch:

Summer Reading Program:
Student Folders will be transferred to the Albany Branch. The first 100 youth customers from Blue Hills visiting the Albany Branch to check out or report on summer reading assignments will receive round-trip bus fare reimbursement ($2.00) The Teen Leader you worked with at Blue Hills will be available to help you at Albany.

Likewise with Mark Twain Branch:

Hartford Public Library sincerely regrets the loss of services at the Mark Twain Branch. The branch will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, 2008. Please visit the Downtown Library and the Library On Wheels for your library needs.

Downtown Library (1.43 miles)
500 Main Street
(860) 695-6295
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday, Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sundays 1:00 to 5:00 PM (October through May)

[…]
Summer Reading Program:
Student Folders will be transferred to the Downtown Library—3rd Floor Children’s Library. The first 100 youth customers from Mark Twain visiting the Downtown Library to check out or report on summer reading assignments will receive round-trip bus fare reimbursement ($2.00) The Teen Leader you worked with at Mark Twain will be available to help you Downtown.

The library is prepared to spend roughly $400 on bus fare. Giving a one-time bus fare voucher is more of an insult than any kind of proactive measure. This might get each patron to the library once over the summer, but it does not erase any inconvenience created by the situation.

Where else could money be saved? Continue reading Unreal…

More than Violent Acts

Hartford cares. Hundreds from Hartford and surrounding towns showed up to prove this. In the crowd, I spotted a former student of mine from a few years back, a former professor of mine from even more years back, and two colleagues–one from each place I’m employed at. There was an unofficial bloggers’ seating section, where innocent, objective reporters were being plied with strawberries by an unnamed city official. Under canopies, a dozen community groups set up to hand out literature, candy, magnets, and let people know what they offered. Knox Parks Foundation, Rebuilding Hartford, My Sister’s Place, CREC, Community Renewal Team, and Hartford Public Access were among these organizations.

A “Wall of Commitment” (giant posterboard) was set up for attendees to write on. Many used this as a place to publicly promise to make changes in their actions as related to Hartford; others used it to say what they are already doing (what organizations they are affiliated with) or what they think about the city.

The two-hour long program moved rapidly, lagging only during the extended candlelight vigil toward the end. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra performed several times during the night– a pleasant surprise for me, since I’m not the type to seek out orchestra music (or whatever kids these days call it).

Ted Carroll, President of Leadership Greater Hartford (organizers of the event) gave the greeting, which also moved along. I don’t want to be the person to point this out, but there is some irony in thanking the Hartford Courant and WTIC radio for being media sponsors of this event, since the Hartford Courant along with other local media are part of why the national media picked up on recent incidents, causing damage the Hartford’s reputation. Some on the Courant staff have written meaningful columns after this, but we should remain critical of any outlet that would post video without any context. We live in the age of the internet, when material is quickly picked up and dispersed. Few bother to investigate their sources, as Christine, Heather, and I were discussing. False information gets spread nearly instantly, and is difficult to rectify later. It’s fine to be diplomatic if a company is giving money, but let’s not forget their own role in why the event has to happen at all– even with such a great showing of people from Hartford who do care about our community, I have to wonder how much damage this will undo.

MIRA and Mind Evolution, both spoken word artists, earned robust applause from the audience. MIRA performed “I Wish We All Had Daughters,” and Mind Evolution, “When I Grow Up.” There was dance, drumming, a puppet of what I believe was a Phoenix (it was a bird of some kind, I think), and a series of “conversations” (interviews and speeches).

Rabbi Donna Berman announced that there would be a second Hartford Cares gathering held at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in July. That one will allow the community more of an opportunity to be active in the conversation.

From my chats with people, there was a lot of surprise about the number of people in attendance and the racial diversity. A few thought that the “cheese factor” would have been way higher than it was. Actually, until the grand finale of dozens of adults and children crammed on the bandshell stage, singing and swaying, it really was not corny. And for those who must know, there was absolutely no singing of Kumbaya.
Continue reading More than Violent Acts…