Connecticut
Post posts about what is happening in the State of Connecticut.
Red Molly at Ridgefield Public Library
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 18:52
Every year we go to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. We camp for several days and listen to folk music. It takes place in the summer, and it seems like inevitably there are rainstorms. After attending the festival for many years, the events all run together, but there are certain events that stand out.
For example, there was the year that I was going through my divorce. Mairead was probably about nine. She loved dancing at the dance tent. Generally speaking Falcon Ridge is a pretty friendly place and I felt comfortable letting her go off on her own to dance while Miranda and I went to listen to a set at the workshop stage.
During the set, came the announcement that every parent fears. Those fears are compounded if you are in the middle of divorce negotiations about who gets custody of the children in what circumstances. “Would the parents of Mairead Hynes, please report to the medical tent?”
Here, things become a little bit blurry. Did I take Miranda with me? Did I get her to stay with a friend while I ran to the tent? I don’t recall that detail, but Miranda might. What I do remember is that Mairead had been dancing barefoot on the raw plywood floors of the dance stage, and had gotten a horrible sliver. They were working on ways of getting the sliver out. They wanted to use a local anesthetic to numb her foot and they needed my permission. They also hoped that I might be able to calm her down.
In the end, there was a nurse that had a pet ferret or two, again the details are a bit blurry at this point. The ferrets kept Mairead occupied as the medical staff managed to get the sliver out. Later, we ended up getting ferrets as pets.
This has almost nothing to do with Red Molly, and just about everything to do with Red Molly. You see, Red Molly is a band that started at Falcon Ridge five years later. At the campsites, musicians get together and start making music. Three women ended up forming a band one-night singing together at the campsite.
The next day, there was one of those Falcon Ridge rainstorms, and I was riding out the storm under the dance tent. Was Mairead back on the dance floor? Perhaps barefoot again, risking another splinter? The details are blurry. Where were Kim and Fiona? I think they may have gone up to the tent, to get some food, or perhaps for Fiona to take a nap. Fiona would have been about two and a half at the time. I’m pretty sure it was the day after they had first started playing together, but things are blurry.
Maybe it was the following year, when they had their EP out. I do remember getting their EP and Kim asking who they were. Whenever I first heard them, I was struck by how good they were. In 2006 they came back and were the top vote getters on the Emerging Artist Showcase. We picked up their CDs and they ended up becoming one of Fiona’s favorite bands.
When we heard they were going to be doing a free concert at the Ridgefield Public Library, we had to go. We didn’t tell Fiona who the band was going to be until we got there. Tickets were supposed to become available at 1, the doors were to open at 1:30 and the show was to start at 2:00
We got there at about one and already the line was thirty or forty people long. We weren’t sure how many seats there were in the library room, so we waited hopefully in line. Finally a woman came along handing out tickets, and we got ours. I ran over to get hotdogs from the hotdog cart in Ridgefield. Kim had often read about the hotdog cart and wanted one of their dogs. They were very good.
Finally, the line started moving. We walked past a sign that had been put out announcing that the event was full and we were grateful that we had gotten tickets. Inside the room was already mostly full, except for a couple rows of reserved seats in the front. We sat fairly far back and Fiona grumbled. Then, they announced that children could sit on the floor in the front. Fiona went you, with a little coaxing from Kim. Next, a woman told us that two of the seats in the second row were available, since the people whom they had been reserved for didn’t show up. So, we had great seats and Fiona was front and center on the floor.
They started off with a wonderful a cappella song which I hadn’t heard before. Then, there second song, again, if I remember properly, was Summertime. Summertime is a song written by Carolann Solebello, which reached #1 on the Folk DJ Charts.
“In the middle of a field, in the middle of Kansas, in the middle of the summer on the Fourth of July. The wheat was waving. The day was waning. The stars were falling and the world was right. It was summertime and the living was easier back then.”
It is one of Fiona’s favorite songs, yet somehow, it seems like the lyrics ought to be, “In the middle of a field, in the middle of Hillsdale, in the middle of the summer at the end of July. The folks were singing. The day was waning. The stars were falling and the world was right. It was summertime and the living was easier back then.”
Well, Sunday wasn’t summertime. It was one of those first golden spring like days that Robert Frost spoke about in his poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. Yet the gold did stay. The world was right for two hours as Red Molly sang. They ended off doing an encore singing the wonderful song by Susan Werner, “May I Suggest”.
“May I suggest? May I suggest to you? May I suggest this is the best part of your life? May I suggest? This time is blest for you.”
Well, it was a blessed event. If you get a chance, go hear Red Molly play. If not, at least pick up one of their CDs.
Marrow Donor Drive In Meriden CT
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 17:22
It is hard to believe, but it’s been over a month since I learned that my friend Carol has Leukemia. Over the past month, I’ve read her story on Caring Bridge. In her recent entries, she talked about being in the beginning steps of beginning to look for a bone marrow donor in case she needs a transplant.
I’ve long known that I need to go register to be a potential bone marrow donor. It’s much different than being a blood donor. There are few variations in blood types and if you donate blood, it will get used. However, the chances of matching someone else for a bone marrow donation is about 1 in 20,000. There are six Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA). I don’t know the details on what is needed to match.
So, I went to the National Marrow Donor Program website. Doing a search for places to register, I found that there is a donor drive in Meriden today, Thursday March 5th. It will be continuing until 7:00 PM at the Ben Franklin School at 426 West Main St.
Before I headed over there, I thought I would do a quick search to get more information about the drive. It turns out that there is a Facebook page for the drive. I was the 100th person to sign up. Since then, a few more people have signed up and over 200 people have responded ‘Maybe’. Over 600 people have not yet responded.
I realize that my chances of being a match for my friend in St. Louis is much greater than my chances of being a match for Manny, the person for who the Meriden drive is for. However, the odds are probably greater that if I end up being a match for somebody, it will probably be neither Manny nor Carol. However, I hope that someone will sign up for a drive somewhere to be a possible donor for Manny or Carol.
In terms of what is involved, it is pretty simple. I showed up. Filled in a form, and took what was pretty much like four q-tips which I rubbed on different parts of my cheek. I stuck the swabs in an envelope and they will get them processed.
So, there is still a little time left, so try to get over to the donor drive in Meriden. If you can’t make that, check out the National Marrow Donor Program and see where else you might be able to register.
Where’s the Beef, Mr. Simmons?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 14:41In an Op-Ed in the New London Day, Former Congressman Rob Simmons asks, Is This A Stimulus For The Government Or For The Economy?. It might have been an interesting rhetorical question if it didn’t present false dichotomies. Mr. Simmons seems to be working from the false assumption that Government spending cannot be good for the economy. I hope he is never back in Congress because I suspect many of his former constituents benefited greatly from the Government spending on submarines.
He goes on to ask,
How did Congress conclude that spending hundreds of billions of our tax dollars on thousands of pet projects will stimulate our consumer economy?
Perhaps, it is because of looking at projects like Government spending on submarines and how the money paid to workers at Electric Boat was spent by them, as consumers, in the local economy. He continues his line of questions by asking,
If consumer spending is the goal, why not give every American taxpayer a debit card worth $10,000 with six months to spend it on consumer items.
Hopefully, however, consumer spending isn’t the sole goal. Hopefully, we have politicians that are willing to put country first and commit to projects that will make our country stronger and more secure. This strength is likely to come not only from submarines built in Groton, but also from having better roads to make transportation more efficient, from better schools to make our future workers and leaders more competitive, and from more efficient use of renewable energy to decrease our dependence on oil from instable regions.
Yes, such spending will also have the benefit of putting people to work and giving them the means to increase their own consumer spending, further strengthening our economy, but that is not, and should not be the sole goal.
He then goes on to complain about the amount spent not being enough to “even pay to replace the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge”. It sort of reminds me of a joke from an old Woody Allen film. Two elderly people are at a resort in the Catskills and one complains that the food is horrible. The other chimes in, agreeing, and complains that the portions are too small as well.
So, what is it Mr. Simmons? Do you have any real ideas about how to make our country stronger, or are you going to just complain that the servings are horrible, and too small as well. Or, to borrow another line from years ago, “Where’s the beef?”
Lions, and Rabbits, and Bears
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/01/2009 - 10:57I start another month with the childhood invocation to bring about luck or fortune, and like I did last month, add other animals into the mix. Last month, it was the groundhog, the prognosticator of the season who told us we would have six more weeks of winter.
The first few weeks, here in Connecticut were fairly mild, but it seems like the groundhog has gotten to getter with the lion. March, you will recall, is said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Well, we have a winter storm watch, bringing us the winter weather the groundhog predicted coming in like the lion.
Yet these winter advisories didn’t stop the Scum Beach Polar Bear Club from taking a dip yesterday. As we were driving home from a cold windy picnic at a park in Guilford, we saw a large group of people gathered on a beach. It was the Scum Beach Polar Bear Club gathering for their yearly party. I’ve put a few pictures up on Flickr and hope to have more up soon, as well as some reflections on the party.
Polar bears are not the only bears that have been seen around recently. The bears have also been dominating the markets on Wall Street. Will the Obama administration come in with a bear and go out with a bull? We shall have to see.
For some reason, it makes me think back to the late seventies when President Ford launched his Whip Inflation Now campaign. People would take the WIN buttons and flip them upside down to get NIM, No Immediate Miracles. President Obama is warning us against expecting immediate miracles, but I sure hope to that we can flip the no immediate miracles into a win.
So, another month starts. It isn’t the cruelest month, that is coming, but we have a foreshadow of what is to come, memory and desire.
This Week and Beyond in Social Media
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 21:35It has been another week preoccupied with computer programming, although I did get a chance to participate in some social media activities this week, as well as get through at least a little bit of my email.
It started off with a few messages that I sent out from the Woodbridge Board of Education meeting. I used ping.fm so my messages went to a bunch of different locations. My first two messages were
At Woodbridge Board of Education where there is a discussion of twenty first century curriculum linking world languages and technology
One of the students is doing a wonderful presentation of the food pyramid in Spanish using the Smartboard.
On Facebook, a Connecticut State Representative, Jonathon Pelto responded ‘wow – cool’. Over on LiveJournal, a friend from Michigan whom I met years ago when her teacher used a text based virtual world that I ran to teach a class on ‘Brave New World’ responded ‘Smartboards are sweet…especially when properly used.’
After the meeting was over, I chatted with the chair of the Board of Education as well as the Superintendent about the real time online discussion I had about the meeting. It says something important about the world our students are being prepared for. There is so much more I want to write about this when I get some free time.
On Tuesday, I received an email from another longtime friend. The Rev. Kate Heichler of Church of Christ the Healer, together with The Rev. Mark Lingle of St. Francis Church, both in Stamford, have set up a Lenten Reflections blog. Kate suggested that I might offer to help the church I attend, Christ Church, Bethany set up a similar Lenten Reflections blog.
I’ve been very busy, so I quickly threw together to live for a season and when I get a little more time will help people at the church with the blog some more.
Thursday, I went to a Mystic Sushi Tweetup. I joined @JoeCascio, @trishdarling of smashingdarling.com, and @EmrysTetu of WellnessWithFood.com at Peking Tokyo in Mystic for a dinner of sushi. We had a great discussion covering a wide selection of topics.
Today, I receive a message on Facebook from State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield inviting people to the Judiciary Committee Public Hearing. In the invitation, Gary said, “"If you care about the Raise the Age legislation and or abolishing the death penalty and you have time on Monday you should come testify." He provides information about testifying at the hearing.
As I went through my emails, I’ve found plenty of other important events. Next Wednesday at 7 PM, Kim will be speaking about election day registration at the Democracy for Fairfield County Meetup at the Silver Star Diner in Norwalk. Ned Lamont will also be speaking there about the stimulus package. Democracy for New Haven will be meeting at Wednesday, starting at 6:30 at Wall Street Pizza in New Haven having a discussion about the Connecticut budget proposal. State Sen. Toni Harp, Co-Chair of Appropriations Committee, and Sal Luciano, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 4 are among the speakers expected for an action oriented public discussion.
The Shoreline League of Democratic Women is also having a meeting the same evening. Their meeting will start at 7:30 at the Guilford Library and will host a panel of State Legislators talking about smart growth.
Then, on Thursday, the Energy and Technology Committee will hold a Public Hearing about four bills, including AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION CHANNELS, along with three other bills. I haven’t read the proposed bill closely enough to have any opinions on it, but would love to hear comments from others.
Also on Thursday, Common Cause volunteers will be helping get the spring mailing out starting at 5:00 PM at the Common Cause office at 55 Oak St in Hartford. Then, starting at 6:10 in Room 128 of the Main Hall of Yale Law School, the Yale College Democrats, the Yale College Republicans, and the Yale Law School Democrats will sponsor an event with Common Cause to discussion election day registration. State Rep. Lesser and State Rep. Winfield will be speaking.
Friday, the Connecticut Fund for the Environment will be holding its 19th Annual Long Island Sound Citizens Summit: Investing in Clean Water: for Sound health, jobs and the economy. The summit will take place from 8:30 until 3:15 at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Bridgeport.
Looking further out, there are a few important social media related events coming up. On March 12, is digiday:Mobile and digiday:Social at the W hotel in New York City. These are two half-day conferences set up back to back to talk about marketing using mobile and social technology.
On March 21st will be Newsout, “What to do when the newsroom lights go out: Options and strategies for New England communities.” It looks like it will be a good discussion with some great speakers.
Then, ending off the month is Freedom to Connect, a yearly gathering of some of the most interesting thinkers about communications and the Internet.
So, I’ll continue to try and balance some computer programming with some family time and lots of social media, both as quick messages on various sites and face to face meetings as well. What are you up to? Will I see you at one of these events?
