By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, the temperature will have moderated a bit, after a week with some cooler days toward the weekend. And it’s all fine, despite the rhododendron in the front yard having dispensed with its petals, dropping them in a soft lavender carpet along the sidewalk. Even then, there was a surprise in the offing.
Tucked behind the rhododendron was a mountain laurel, waiting to display its own pink plumage after five dormant years. Mary informed me of this this phenomenon—mountain laurels do not blossom every year. And of course, once I noticed the mountain laurel in our front yard, I began to notice them across the city. Spring heading into summer is miraculous.
A walk around the neighborhood led to other surprises, including a brief encounter with Patti Philippon, executive director of the American Clock and Watch Museum, who was pulling out of the museum’s parking lot at the end of the CT Open House Day. She said it was a good day, all-around, which is a good thing for the museum and for Bristol. I made a note to get over there one day this summer, and to check my membership. If you haven’t been, you will be pleasantly surprised—a gem right here in Bristol.
Other brief encounters: a peek into the newly opened store front for The Bakery on Maple of the corner of Maple and Federal streets in the same plaza as Parkside Cafe, a moment with a tribute to first responders in the form of a cross made of bowling balls further down Federal St., a peek into Foodies on the corner of North Main and Center streets and, on a Summer St., a peek into one of the Carrier townhouses under construction and a moment with a free food pantry on a front lawn just up the street from the townhouses.
Regarding food pantry, this: “Take what you need and please put in what you can.”
Anything interesting happening in your neighborhood, please send a short description, along with the location and a photo. I’d love to feature it on our pages.
Of course, there were a hundred other things to notice—signs for the annual Greek Festival next weekend and a Pops Concert later in the month among them. The Farmers Market opens Saturday. Check our calendar.
On a more philosophical note, one which involves of course local politics, is a question that occurred while watching this week’s City Council meeting via Zoom, a question with its origin, I am sure, in conversations with my high school journalism students. They have so many questions, including how does local government work, what is fiscally responsible on the local government versus the state and federal levels? How does a budget work? What is a capital budget as opposed to an annual operating budget? What is the deal with taxes?
The point being, from my perspective as an educator and a journalist, that more light needs to be shed on these areas, not because there is anything wrong but because this is how our society, a democracy, functions. There needs to be a baseline of understanding for the conversations to take place. And, as a journalist, there needs to be a way to assist with this conversation, both through news reports and commentary and, perhaps, community forums.
I have plenty of questions myself and even a few answers, but what answers I do have, are not definitive, which is fine with me, since my belief is that the answer does not come from a single source but through the process of discussion, evaluation and more discussion. This is one of the strengths of democracy—it’s a process that involves all of us, and that demands, from each of us, effort and understanding. It is one of the reasons, we here at TBE have undertaken this adventure—a community newspaper of the community by members of our community for our community.
Some pretty prominent thinkers take issue with the whole idea of democracy. Take Socrates, one of the lights of Greek civilization. Take a spin through history, or in this instance, YouTube, and see how his ideas about democracy include some very negative thoughts. Here’s a link to a short video, if you are interested: Socrates Hated Democracy.
Once again, if you have any story ideas, events for our calendar or neighborhood news, please send them along to editor@bristoledition.org.
And have a great week!
“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org.