By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, the temperature will have dipped again to a balmy 18 degrees, with the windchill an even balmier 9 degrees, becoming one of those mornings where the best of intentions—including Mass—succumb to a warm bed and some extra shut eye.
What happened Thursday, when the temperature rose to an unprecedented 60 degrees or so, left me shaking my head. But it was a nice shift, leaving work with the sun shining and spring weather. Yes, I am trying to make the best of it, because I do like winter and I do like snow—snow, not ice.
And then the temperature dipped again on Saturday. In the afternoon, the family—spread out from Bristol to Norwalk and Bridgeport and Suffern, N.Y.–texted back and forth when the snow squalls struck, timed perfectly with the emergency alert that roared over both Mary’s and my phone. The texts, of course, included videos complete with swinging bird feeders and swirling cascading snow sweeping across streets.
I know, as Mark Twain wrote, it’s New England, wait 10 minutes and the weather will change. I think Twain would have had a lot to say about what we’ve been experiencing lately—and not just around here.
This week the Charter Revision Commission convened for its first meeting. The commission is unique in that it is charged with reviewing the charter and, as its title suggests, deciding what to revise this time around. Its recommendations come before the City Council, and if approved, they make it to the ballot. This year’s elections include our state legislators and governor, as well as our U.S. Representative and one U.S. Senator.
At the meeting, the commission voted Jon Fitzgerald, chair; Calvin Brown, vice-chair; and Megan McKinley, secretary. They also set the schedule for public hearings: March 2 and 23, April 14, May 4 and 25, and June 15. The meetings begin at 7 p.m. The initial meeting will be held in the city council chambers but subsequent meetings will be held at another venue, since city hall renovations are slated to begin in April.
The commission will make its decision after considering suggestions from the mayor, city council and citizens. The public hearings are essential for both suggestions and feedback about which ones to add to the ballot.
The Finance Board will begin hearings, called budget workshops, on department budget requests Feb. 22, immediately following the regular board meeting at 6 p.m. They will continue into April and May when the Finance Board will vote on a final budget.
Also, regarding TBE, we are pushing ahead with intentions to secure funds to expand our reporting of these meetings as well as other news from our community.
The funding initiatives will include a GoFundMe campaign and a membership campaign. GoFundMe, or a GoFundMe type campaign, has for its goal raising funds for our next editorial push, and the membership campaign is intended to provide us with sustained funding, so that we can keep operating year after year.
Don’t be surprised when you start seeing screens popping up from time to time, notifying you that you have accessed the site for the 10th time and asking you to consider becoming a member. Memberships start at $6 a month and can go as high as you like. We love what we are doing with this model of community news coverage, but we are also realistic, and we know that we can only improve if we are a viable business.
We have chosen for our business a nonprofit model so that we can focus on our mission. We are pursuing 501(c)(3) status, which will allow people who take tax deductions to qualify, but we have not received this status. We understand that once we do receive it, the status will be retroactive.
For this week’s listening/reading, I am suggesting an old favorite, On Being with Krista Tippett. It’s a podcast that ask questions like these: “How do we want to live?” “What do we want to be to each other?” and “What does it mean to be human?”
This particular segment features Sharon Salzberg, who is one of the people responsible for introducing Buddhist meditation to Western culture, and Robert Thurman, who is the first American to be ordained a Tibetan monk by the Dalai Lama. It’s titled, “Love Your Enemies? (Really?)”
Have a wonderful 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.