Both Ends of Dudley

Farm City and Garden Girls

2009-11-06T19:31:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Slow Food Boston, writer/farmer Novella Carpenter will be at the Fort Point Artists Community Store on Friday the 13th. So I get to ask the question (spoiler alert) that was making me crazy when I read Farm City
: why didn't you eat the bird killed by the dogs?

The book was a gift from someone who was reminded of me when she heard Carpenter on NPR. We both garden and raise bees in urban neighborhoods that have as much grit as dirt. But pigs and turkeys and ducks, oh my! After reading Novella, I wanted to raise my own pigs but my yard's too small and I don't own a car so couldn't schlep the enormous amounts of food necessary to keep 'em growing. Read the book!

Garden Girl is Roxbury's city farmer but I find her style a little too suburban. Give me the dumpster diving and free-ranging fowl and sow of Novella to the stifling animal pens and pristine raised beds of the Spruill/Moreno compound - even if the latter are mandated by city ordinance.

The History of the Past 30 Years in Greater Boston

2009-11-06T19:23:00.000-05:00

...in one newspaper story and all the comments it attracted.

RIP, Brother Blue

2009-11-06T18:54:00.003-05:00

These streets need more like you.

Happy Day After Guy Fawkes Day!

2009-11-06T09:06:00.000-05:00

Blowing up Parliament is not such a great idea.

Luke Isman's Bicycle Defense Kit

2009-11-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

Bicycle Defense Kit

The Bicycle Defense Kit (BDK) offers options for dealing with aggressive motorists. Contained within an altoids tin, the 8 tools vary in detectability, potential to cause damage, and legality.
Specifically, cyclists can:

Issue "citizen citations" with official-ish tickets.
Label offending vehicles with an "I was a jerk to a cyclist" sticker.
Introduce the risk of paint damage with a Jolly Rancher.
Create certain coating cremation via DOT3 brake fluid.
Make cars stink worse than their exhaust with a carefully-placed stink bomb.
Throw a trusty bolt to dent offending traffic as it passes.
Lock out loony drivers by filling their keyholes with super glue.
Cut through tire valve stems with a utility blade.

It goes without saying that you shouldn't do anything you're not fully prepared to take responsibility for. This project is meant to increase cyclist confidence, not fatalities.
Order a kit: $19.90 delivered (U.S.). Contains 3 citations, 3 stickers, and one of the rest.

If you want to build your own, check out the details (step-by-step instructions) here.

home, contact, me

The Good Society - What's Your Opinion?

2009-11-04T13:50:00.001-05:00

Click on share your thoughts and share your thoughts.

"The Measure of Our Success: How Do We Define and Attain the Good Society?"
A public panel presented by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University

In anticipation of our panel “The Measure of Our Success: How Do We Define and Attain the Good Society,” we’d like to hear from you. What do you think makes for a good society and quality of life? Share your thoughts on our blog by leaving a comment as we start this inter-disciplinary conversation.

The panel will take place on Friday, November 13, 2009 from 2:00-4:00 pm to consider this topic and present two important new publications. The first is the ‘Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report’ commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France that looks at how policy makers might go beyond GDP when measuring the well-being and quality of life of their people. Two of the authors, Amartya Sen in Cambridge and Jean-Paul Fitoussi (via teleconference) will discuss the findings. Professors Peter Hall and Michèle Lamont will then present their new book Successful Societies: How Institutions and Culture Affect Health, that integrates recent research in an effort to answer the question of why some societies are more successful than others at promoting individual and collective well-being.

Friday, November 13, 2009
2:00 - 4:00pm
Center for European Studies
Lower Level Conference Room, Busch Hall
27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA

Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate in economics; Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University; Chair Adviser of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress;

Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Professor of Economics and President of the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures économiques (OFCE) in Paris; Coordinator of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress;

Peter Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, Harvard University; Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Successful Societies Program;

Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and Professor of Sociology and African and African American studies, Harvard University; Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Successful Societies Program

Moderated by Éloi Laurent, senior economist and scientific advisor at the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures économiques (OFCE) and Visiting Scholar at CES

Free and open to the public

Link to directions

The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University
27 Kirkland Street at Cabot Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA
Tel: +1(617)495-4303 | Fax: +1(617)495-8509 | ces@fas.harvard.edu

www.ces.fas.harvard.edu

The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies is dedicated to fostering the study of European history, politics, culture, and society at Harvard. Through our graduates, who go on to teach others about Europe and to many other roles in society, the Center sustains America's knowledge base about Europe, an important contribution to international understanding in difficult times.

The Center was founded as a catalyst to bring scholars and students together to talk and think about Europe. As such, it creates an intellectual community that is more than the sum of its parts. That community is open to everyone with interests in Europe.

At One End of Dudley: fierce pussy

2009-11-03T14:44:00.007-05:00

What a cool thing to find in The Women's Room. No, I mean the women's room.

The Wire in Boston

2009-10-30T11:37:00.002-04:00

How Do We Define and Attain the Good Society?

2009-10-29T12:55:00.001-04:00

United States of American government subsidizes banks and other failing corporate greedstrosities.
Canadian government subsidizes programs to answer questions like these:

Friday, November 13, 2009

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Lower Level Conference Room, Busch Hall

"The Measure of Our Success: How Do We Define and Attain the Good Society?"

Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics; Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University; Chair Adviser of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress;
Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Professor of Economics and President of the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures économiques (OFCE) in Paris; Coordinator of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress;
Peter Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, Harvard University; Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Successful Societies Program;
Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and Professor of Sociology and African and African American studies, Harvard University; Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Successful Societies Program

CES Special Event

This panel will feature Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen in person and Jean-Paul Fitoussi via videoconference from Paris. They will discuss the findings of the recent report issued by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress that was headed by Sen, Fitoussi, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

In addition, Peter Hall and Michèle Lamont will be on the panel. Their Successful Societies Program is a Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) funded program that aims to quantify the measures of societal success. The resulting book, entitled Successful Societies: How Institutions and Culture Affect Health, integrates recent research in an effort to answer the question of why some societies are more successful than others at promoting individual and collective well-being.

---

For full background information, please visit the following links:

Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress: http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/en/index.htm

Successful Societies Program (CIFAR): http://www2.cifar.ca/research/successful-societies-program/

Successful Societies: How Institutions and Culture Affect Health (Cambridge University Press)
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521516600

Moderated by Éloi Laurent, Senior Economist and Scientific Advisor at OFCE (l’Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques).

Contact: Jason Beerman
Email: beerman@fas.harvard.edu

See the World

2009-10-28T16:59:00.001-04:00

Walk.

Cleaning House

2009-10-28T16:54:00.002-04:00

There are things you don't notice when driving or riding, things you only see when walking. State troopers and Boston public works were cleaning out someone's home under the Mass. Ave. bridge at about 10 o'clock this morning. There were blankets and makeshift beds and even a bike so someone had created an oasis in this dry, almost out-of-the-way cranny of the city. The Pollyanna part of my brain pretended that the homeless folks who lived here were woken up and moved by city outreach workers to more comfortable, safer, indoor accommodation. (I like to delude myself daily with dreams of a better world - it helps me to get out of bed. Some mornings).

And then I got to H Square and as the Spare Change news hawkers waved their papers in my face I thought, Shit! That home probably belongs to one of these people. Some hapless guy is out here in the city somewhere working a godawful job (or three) that pays less than minimum wage and he's going to come "home" on this dreary, chilly, wet evening and everything that signified his home will be gone; all the stuff he's managed to collect or assemble to make the place livable now in the dump over by Magazine St. in Roxbury. Nothing left but the rain streaked cement underbelly of the bridge.

This Place Matters

2009-10-27T15:47:00.004-04:00

It housed Hook and Ladder #1, a horse drawn fire truck and was built around 1859.

One on One

2009-10-27T15:29:00.001-04:00

Tonight, Haley House, 12 Dade St, Dudley Square from 8 pm. - 10 p.m. Mayoral Candidate Mike Flaherty answers your questions. Go. Ask. Vote.

The Donkey Show

2009-10-27T14:37:00.000-04:00

Fairies, fairies everywhere; charming, callipygian fairies. I love fairies. So I loved The Donkey Show. The first time I saw it was with a thirty-something friend who's more grunge than disco. I took advantage of the 2-for-1 ticket offer and brought her. She was glad she'd seen it but wouldn't have paid to do so. It's not her scene, she said. I was transported to fairyland. The second time was with my soon-to-be-70-year-old mother and her friends. Watching them watch and be in the show was part of the fun.

The Things I Love Most About Roxbury

2009-10-27T14:25:00.003-04:00

Discover Roxbury
Haley House Cafe
Franklin Park
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

2009-10-26T17:04:00.000-04:00

space saver

One Reason Why Roxbury is Regularly Screwed

2009-10-26T16:26:00.004-04:00

The Department of Families and Children and the MSPCC like to show their gratitude for the people working in the trenches of child welfare - those who care for kids whose parents either don't want them or are too sick to care for them or a combination of both.

This past Saturday a foster parent appreciation lunch was held at Academy Homes on Washington Street. Foster parents got lunch, simple entertainment, certificates of appreciation and gift certificates to Stop and Shop.

At one table, conversation turned to the upcoming mayoral election. Ms. State Worker thought Menino had been around too long. Ms. AFSCME, likewise, thought it was time for a change. Conversation turned to race and Ms. AFSCME stated that this country is not ready for a black president (all the more reason to get one in there) and that only reason Obama got elected was cause Dubya screwed up so badly (which is probably true). Ms. Runs Her Mouth said it didn't matter who got in - they're all the same and nothing ever changes.

"People have to create change. Everyone's gonna vote, right? Everyone here is gonna vote?"

"It's all in the hands of the lord," Ms. Runs Her Mouth asserted. "That's why I don't need to worry about it. The lord will decide."

Ms. BTD amen'd as did Ms. Stellar Foster Mom. And the retort of "the lord helps those who help themselves" was lost in the din of amens.

Looking Good at Both Ends of Dudley

2009-10-25T16:40:00.009-04:00

At one end of Dudley, you can learn about Maximon, the Santiago Atitlan Mayan Lord of Looking Good. At the other end, you can shop at this store which has been in Dudley Sq. since the '30's. (It's grated cause the picture was taken on a Sunday). Current proprietors came on board in the '50's. They sell some kick-ass wigs that'll keep you looking good. For every book store in Harvard Square, Dudley has a hairdresser or barber shop.

Maximon, who was once persecuted and made to go underground, is a partier. I don't think Harvard Sq. has a liquor store but Dudley has two on the same block and at least three more within easy walking distance. Giant Liquors is open on Sundays, thank Maximon, when the rest of Dudley is shuttered, cause if there's anything the poor and disenfranchised need, it's drugs.

Is this a great storefront or what? I see an old-fashioned soda fountain in there. Or a flower shop.

Blasphemy Day

2009-10-24T13:07:00.005-04:00

Religion is only one excuse that people use for being intolerant, condescending, and distended with hubris and righteousness. Journalism and science are two others. An auto da fe in the name of science and rationality is still an Inquisition.

Feed me instead Knowledge of Angels.

Roxbury Fun fact of the Week

2009-10-24T10:16:00.000-04:00

What is the State Rock (yes, State rock) of Massachusetts?

Stars in the Square

2009-10-24T09:49:00.000-04:00

Riding into Harvard Square Tuesday morning, I noticed a bunch of cops and a crowd gathered around the T station. Trouble, I thought, some kind of early morning, drug fueled fight. Or the Red Line crapped out again. But the crowd was eerily quiet and the cops weren't moving. Rounding the Out of Town island, I saw the film camera. All the faces of the people in the crowd, lifted toward the scene of action, resembled a mass of worshipers praying at the altar of their god. Who in this case is Fame and Hollywood. One of my colleagues, a talented filmmaker in his own right, spotted Ben Affleck. But the real stars in Harvard Square that day were Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle, Punchdrunk people, speaking at this class.

The Donkey Punch Drunk Show

2009-10-24T09:44:00.004-04:00

Unfortunate for rhetorical reasons only that The Donkey Show and Punchdrunk run simultaneously. In my excitement to spread the word about both, after seeing The Donkey Show and touring the Old Lincoln School, I rushed into work and exclaimed, you have to check out The Donkey Punch! Oops. And I didn't even know what a donkey punch was until this past summer and I wish I'd never learned.

The Thing I Hate Most About Roxbury

2009-10-24T08:59:00.002-04:00

Roxbury (like the world, I suppose) is full of incredibly bruised people. The legacy of slavery, a history of second class citizenship, racism, poverty - these are all serious bruisers. But so many folks ignore their personal pain and channel it toward thwarting good in the world. It's an I hurt, I'm gonna make you hurt too way of being. And it's most destructive coming from the folks in the area who have done well for themselves and are working (allegedly) to restore the area to its rightful place as a gem in Boston.

Victimhood, embraced too long, forges its own chains. The negativity, hostility, blaming, and subtle undermining are wearing on me. Deal with your own shit, please, and stop blaming everyone else. Thank you.

Sheep No More: Screamer in the House

2009-10-24T08:45:00.002-04:00

A cry rang out, one I didn't recognize, and it turned out to be a scream from an audience member. A scream she repeated a few times when startled. She was fine so it was kinda fun.

Another younger woman came up to me demanding, "Where do I go?" When asked that question, sometimes I shrug, sometimes I point in two possible directions at once, which is what I did for her. She whimpered and pulled out her Blackberry, its screen like another spotlight in the hall.

"Are you ok?" I whispered. She was sniffling and snuffling. She was freaked out.

"The elevator guy separated me from my boyfriend," she said.

"It's ok. You'll be ok. Go to the bar. Catch your breath. Text him from there."

So she went into the middle of the main corridor with her Klieg light of a Blackberry.

I fed her to Norman.

Cornell West For Dictator of the World

2009-10-23T17:48:00.002-04:00

Cause we all got to leave a little bit of heaven here when we go.