Real Hartford

August 2, 2008

kerri — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:40:07 +0000

Headwear from the Taste of the Caribbean and ConnectiCon.

Nerds in the Caribbean

kerri — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:44:51 +0000

This weekend is going to be a strange one.

The anime geeks have already begun to arrive for ConnectiCon. I know this because last night I saw teenage girls walking near the Convention Center wearing the standard issue boots that all female assassins in comic books are given.

On Saturday, mere inches away from the Convention Center, The Taste of the Caribbean will be jamming at the Riverfront Plaza. Crucial Massive will be playing at 3:30 and there will be limbo.

I’ve gotten invited to meet with friends at both, so I guess this will be a party-hopping kind of weekend. Any other local events going on?

More Parking in Downtown Hartford

kerri — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:13:15 +0000

This morning I saw that a shiny new bike rack has been placed inside 960 Main Street, in the lobby used for Capital Community College. Given that sidewalk space is limited and the college is already paying something ridiculous for use of the lobby, it makes sense for a bike rack to be placed there.

Coincidentally, this past weekend I finally got the part needed for my bike, so I may actually get to make use of the bike rack soon.

Downtown Housing: Workshop and Panel Discussions

kerri — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:30:23 +0000

UPSTAIRS DOWNTOWN, an all day event, is planned for Friday July 25th at the Lyceum Center at 227 Lawrence Street. Connecticut Main Street Center is sponsoring this workshop. They host four workshops each year, which are based on the “Main Street Four Point Approach.” This approach deals with organization, promotion, design, and economic restructuring.

The Connecticut Main Street Center provides the following description for the UPSTAIRS DOWNTOWN workshop:

There are thousands of buildings in America’s older downtowns with vacant upper floors. These spaces boast a central location, high visibility, complete community infrastructure, and are prime candidates for redevelopment. UPSTAIRS DOWNTOWN is an award winning initiative created to help owners reclaim and reuse these vacant upper floors, and turn them into income producing properties.

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Downtown Farmers’ Market

kerri — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:17:09 +0000

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.

More than Violent Acts

kerri — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:55:14 +0000

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.
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Kultura Borikua and more

kerri — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:45:24 +0000

The party will be at the Wadsworth on Thursday July 3rd. On the first Thursday of every month, the Wadsworth Atheneum hosts Phoenix Art After Hours, which is the downtown version of the Creative Cocktail Hour. It goes from 5-8pm and costs $5 (The film costs extra). This month they will be providing salsa music by Kultura Borikua, a gallery talk (about art) by Professor Robin Greeley (author of Surrealism and the Spanish Civil War), and a showing of the film Lovesickness (Maldeamores).