In The News
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 19:06When I started this blog, many years ago, it was intended to serve as a place where I could gather my writing from other places. Over the years, I've found more of my writing specifically for the blog. When I started at the Community Health Center, I didn't have as much time and energy for personal writing and so the tenor of the blog changed. Likewise, as the audience changes, so does my writing.
I have not been cross-posting blog posts I write for the Community Health Center here, for a large variety of reasons. However, I there have been some blog posts there that I've felt were particularly important. Today, I posted one of them. Psychiatric Telemedicine for Uninsured Patients without Stable Housing. It has a wonky title, but I hope you will stop by and read it. As an aside, SB 13, AN ACT CONCERNING A STUDY OF TELEMEDICINE SERVICES passed the Insurance committee with all 18 members at the committee meeting voting in favor of it. Unfortunately, it was tabled for the calendar.
Another topic I've been following is a very lively discussion on SpinSucks, PR Crisis for Skittles In Wake of Controversial Teen Shooting. How should Wrigley's respond to the increase in sales and people suggesting Wrigley's should donate the money "to the family or causes that would help with racial reconciliation or underprivileged communities".
With around 150 comments there, mine might get lost, so I figured I'd share them here:
John F. Kennedy once said, "When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters.One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity". It seems as if there is too little focus on the danger, and not enough on the opportunity.
Like many corporations, Wrigley's has a commitment to social responsibility.http://www.wrigley.com/global/principles-in-action/people.aspx
"We aim to make a difference by respecting diversity and encouraging inclusion, consistently improving our health and safety practices, providing volunteer opportunities for our associates and through philanthropy with real impact."Wrigley should focus on this and highlight efforts to help make communities safer. "Any kid should be able to walk safely to a neighborhood store."
Use the opportunity to build the brand's Social Responsibility cred.
In a follow up I was asked how I would advise them to do it while staying out of the politics. I responded:
I believe that focusing on neighborhood safety can be presented as a neutral issue. Everyone wants safer neighborhoods, whether they be members of Neighborhood Watch, or parents of black youth. It is a common ground, and by focusing on the common ground, they aren't giving into the activists, they are staying neutral to the politics, and are probably least likely to end up in legal problems.If I were there, I would probably look at putting money into grants to neighborhood organizations that are working towards this. I'd probably try to do a little branding with this, something like the "Safer Rainbow Initiative".
I'd probably do it as part of the Wrigley Company Foundation as part of their "sustainable local initiatives... to improve communities around the world"
http://www.wrigley.com/global/principles-in-action/foundation.aspx
What is Woodbridge, CT?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/03/2012 - 20:27No, this is not a question on Jeopardy, nor is it a rhetorical question. Instead, it seems to be a question at the center of many recent political disputes. When the Woodbridge Country Club went under, the people of Woodbridge voted to have the town take over the property to prevent the land being developed. Later, when the town tried to find ways of financing the debt incurred from the purchase, the people of Woodbridge voted against even a small part of the land being developed.
Woodbridge, CT is not a town that takes kindly to development. Perhaps it harkens back to being a quintessential Connecticut town of steady habits. It is a town with strong environmental and preservation leanings, as seen by the support of the Massaro farm and the recent moves to limit the use of pesticides in town.
This week, the focus shifted to commerce in Woodbridge, particularly in the 'Woodbridge Village District'. I grew up in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The main commercial section of town was Spring Street a road a quarter of a mile long where much of the shopping and social activity took place. It has a very distinct, small New England town feel to it, influenced by the nearby college.
I've only lived in Woodbridge for a few years, although my wife grew up in Bethany and spent much of her childhood visiting her grandparents in Woodbridge. I don't have the same times to any village district here that I had to Spring Street in the Village Beautiful.
Yet I thought about this as I listened to the discussions about the proposed gun shop in the village district. For many, it may be a simple black and white argument about guns. The NRA members very defensive of the right to bear arms, and the anti-gun activists opposed to the introduction of any new ways of guns coming into Woodbridge or the surrounding communities. There are discussions about the gun shop being near a teen center and what sort of impact that might have.
However, most of this seemed to miss the more important and more nuanced issues, what is Woodbridge? What is the village district? What sort of economic development do we want in town? What sort of shopping experience do we want people to have when they come to Woodbridge? Some of the people testifying at the Town Planning and Zoning meeting spoke about how the introduction of a gun shop to Woodbridge would make them less likely to shop in that area. Others spoke about the importance of any new retail shop, including a gun shop, going in.
Would a gun shop in Woodbridge negatively affect other businesses? Should we accept at face value the premise that any type of new retail shop is good for the shopping area? I think we need to question both of these, and return to the question, what is Woodbridge?
No respectable shop owner should want to alienate the people of the town where their shop will be, and townspeople should be careful not to drive away potential shop owners whose shops will truly fit in with the character of the town and promote enhanced commerce between all the shops.
As I listened to the testimony on both sides, I did not feel reassured that the gun shop, the way it is currently being presented, is likely to be successful and add to the commerce of town. I hope both sides can find ways to work together to address this.
Yet the gun shop was not the only topic on the town planning and zoning board meeting last night. Next on the agenda was Tasty Kale. They are looking for a zoning change to be able to dry more kale. Where the discussions about the gun shop were contentious, the discussion of Tasty Kale was light hearted. I had never heard of Tasty Kale, but their appearance at the TPZ may have been some invaluable advertising, at least to those who stayed tuned to the Government Access Television channel after the testimony about the gun shop.
It provided an interesting contrast. While I was at best ambivalent about whether or not the gun shop would add positively to the image of what Woodbridge is, Tasty Kale fit very well with my understanding; entrepreneurial, local, tied to the community, clearly providing benefit. Yes, I want to try Tasty Kale, and if it is as good as the website says, including the accolades from Faith Middleton, then I will gladly spread the word about Tasty Kale. The gun shop hasn't resonated that way.
The third request to the TPZ was from Shakti Bio Research. A long time resident of Woodbridge, who has a company in Hamden, is seeking to move the company to Woodbridge. Where does "Bio Research" fit into the question of what Woodbridge is? To me, in part because I'm married to a molecular biologist and have many friends involved in health sciences at Yale, it seems to fit in very nicely.
So, to the image of professorial environmentalists eating kale chips fits nicely. A gun shop selling 'protection' probably doesn't fit, at least the images in my mind that well, but a gun shop that is promoting safe and responsible outdoors sporting activities might have a chance.
So, what is Woodbridge, CT?
Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, Palm Sunday, April Fool's, and #hcsmct
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 04/01/2012 - 20:31Another month comes along, the cruelest month. I start off with the typical childhood invocation for good luck. There is a lot going on this month and next and it will be interesting to see what they bring. Memory? Desire?
Today was also The Sunday of the Passion, commonly called Palm Sunday. At church, we processed with palms down the street shouting Hosanna. Friends suggested other chants, "What do we want? The Messiah! When do we want him? Now!" Perhaps the triumphant entry into Jerusalem wasn't all that different from marches today.
The weather participated nicely. It was triumphantly sunny as we headed out for our procession at the beginning of the service, but by the end of the service, after reading the Passion and returning outside to gather around a large wooden cross, the weather had turned grey and dismal.
After church, Fiona and I went over to the local school where residents had gathered to help build a new playground. Unfortunately, we got there late and didn't get to help as much as we would have liked.
In the evening, we did Fiona's Radio Show, and now we are winding down the first day of April. I did take a little time to look at the various April Fool's jokes online. Being an old amateur radio operator, I liked the Google Tap prank. Setting up your phone to use Morse Code as input. It actually makes a bit of sense, although the way people have set it up does really work for people experienced in Morse Code. I looked around and there are some Morse Code apps for smartphones. I might play with some of them sometime soon.
I also really liked the eight bit Google maps. I played with those briefly today as well.
Wrapping up my thoughts for the day, there is a health challenge going on to get people to write about health issues every day for the whole month. I'll mention a few different things. First, the monthly Health Care Social Media Connecticut breakfast is tomorrow morning at The Grove in New Haven at 7:30. If you are interested in using social media to improve health in Connecticut, please try to swing by.
Folks that will be there will probably include someone for the Connecticut Health Foundation. Tomorrow is the last day to apply to be a Health Leadership Fellow. One of the groups associated with the CT Health Foundation is Health Justice CT. They just announced the winners of their Health Justice CT challenge.
Well, I guess that's it for today.
Discourse
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 03/31/2012 - 14:44The slow spring rain drags into the lazy Saturday afternoon. It's been a long week at work, and a long weekend, starting off with the dog barking at raccoons, deer, and linemen early in the morning. This has been followed by housecleaning. We are going through our belongings to get rid of things we no longer need or use, sort of like a willful amnesia, throwing out outward and visible signs of memories long gone.
At work, I spend time carefully selecting and placing words in away to help the agency build healthier communities. At home, I get time for other words. Often, they are political in nature. There are also the social words of my life on the blog, Twitter and Facebook. Yet I've been thinking a lot more about words recently.
When I get a moment, I try to watch some of the Introduction to Theory of Literature YouTube videos. I peruse content about Foucault, Deleuze and others. And, when I find a free moment, I read some poetry.
These different worlds seem so far apart. How do we bring together the beauty of words, as found in poems, with the deep thoughts of the philosophers into the discourses of daily life, especially when there are political overtones, or parts of the audience may have limited linguistic ability.
These are the things that occupy my mind on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but right now, the house is quiet, so perhaps I will nap.
Tonight No Poetry Will Serve
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/28/2012 - 20:05There was nothing epic on the journey to the office this morning. The road unfolded as it does just about every day. The parking lot supplied ample spaces. The trek up the backstairs yielded no surprises, and though the tasks were manifold, they were not Herculean.
The rain came in the afternoon. The sky darkened, the streets emptied. The hail reported in other towns did not come down where I was.
And so the day progressed, from task to task, until, as I shut down my computer, I saw the headline: "Poet Adrienne Rich, 82, has died".
She held no special place in my pantheon of poets. She simply resided there with many that I loved.
The journey home was quiet too. I fed the dog and fed myself and then sat down to write.
I'm tired now, as is too often the case. Words must be gentle conjured, and there's the challenge.
For as she said, "Tonight no poetry will serve".
