Blogs
The role of blogs in Connecticut Local Politics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 04/02/2006 - 21:27(The following is a response to a comment to a post on Connecticut Local Politics. I think it stands pretty well as a blog post in and of itself.)
While I disagree considerably with turfgrrl’s assessment that ‘blogs, and the internet in general have very little effect on political campaigns, and especially here in CT’, I want to applaud her on her post. It is well thought out and the sort of stuff I wish we saw more of here.
With that, let me make various comments. First and foremost, I don’t view blogs and the internet is substantially different for other modes of communication. Turfgrrl is right to note that while the MSM is picking up more stories online, they’ve always picked up stories from “inside” contacts. Perhaps this gets to a little bit of how the Internet and blogs are helping turn politics inside out.
Life’s Lenten Illusions
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/01/2006 - 23:37It’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve written a blog entry here. There has been so much going on that I just haven’t had a good chance to write. I’m several hundred emails behind and haven’t been able to catch up in over a month now. I haven’t been reading through my bloglines, haven’t been to any of my favorite social networks. I’m simply on overload.
Much of this is from activity around the Ned Lamont campaign. Also, various work activities for Toomre Capital Markets as well as technical difficulties for SmartCampaigns have sucked up all of my time.
Thanks for the Roller skates
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/19/2006 - 22:03“Thanks for the roller skates”, she said as she climbed on the train back to school. I smiled to myself, knowing that I had given her something valuable.
I tried to remember back to my 16th birthday. My life wasn’t particularly happy at that time. Birthdays always came with some vague hope of something special happening, some unexpected gift that would make everything all right. They were always followed by a sense of disappointment. When I was 16, the tensions around the house had only gotten worse. My parents had separated. My older brothers had set off in hopes of finding themselves, and I was home, trying to care for my mother and spending too much time arguing with my sister.
Mairead, my eldest daughter was off at school on her 16th birthday. She came home for vacation while I was on the road and I ended up only getting a little time to spend with her. She has always been outwardly appreciative of the gifts she received and I’m sure she said thanks for various tangible objects she had received, but this was different.
As we got ready to head off to the train station, she fought with her sister. Her sister wanted more attention than Mairead was able to give. How well I knew that feeling. Sometimes it seems like that sums up my whole life. She was sitting on the couch next to me and I talked about some of the things that I had gone through during my divorce.
Participatory Democracy
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/12/2006 - 22:29(Cross posted at Greater Democracy)
In 1906, John Philip Sousa told congress, "These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy ... in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal cord left. The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape."
My daughters' piano teacher mentioned this at a piano party sometime back, and it has always stuck with me. She went on to cite the piano party as an example of how Sousa was wrong. This came back to me again on Saturday, as Miranda performed at a Young Musician’s Festival in Fairfield.
