A wonderful day for a wonderful event, some old writers reread and a podcast rerun to shed light on now

Posted By: David Fortier August 20, 2023

By David Fortier

Come Sunday morning, another Rockwell Summer Festival will have come and gone. Kudos to the West End Association and their partners for all the hard work that they put into making the event run smoothly, for vendors–TBE was there–and for visitors–having a bunch of great activities for the kids and some pretty good music, too.

There were a record number of vendors, 180, and a bunch of bands, 12, and all those food trucks, 13. Of course, the weather cooperated. Beautiful!

The Bristol Edition had a booth for the second consecutive year. It’s nice being out in public, not only because it provides us with an opportunity to listen to people and what they at looking for in a community newspaper, but also because it allows people to get to know us.

This year Michael Letendre was on hand to sign copies of his book about the Bristol Central Rams boys basketball championship year.

Also, we learned that some people still have yet to hear of us. We have our work cut out for us in this area, so if you are reading us and like what we are attempting, please tell people about us.

We also learned that others confuse us with the Bristol Press. Regarding the latter, we got a chance to correct this misconception. We are an independent online community newspaper serving Bristol. We are incorporated under the Central Connecticut Online Journalism Project, Inc. The Bristol Edition is the website of that entity. (Any charges for TBE will appear under CCOJP.)

Catching up on last week’s column, I mentioned that last Saturday night, when Mary and I were driving back from babysitting through the foothills of Litchfield County, we saw those terrific and terrifying lightning bolts crease the nighttime skies. It turns out, that the same night around the same time, a tornado touched down in Roxbury, according to a report from the National Weather Service.

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Reading and listening. I am making my way through Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” John Dos Passos’s “The 42nd Parallel” (the first of his U.S.A. trilogy, and Emberto Ecco’s “How to Write a Thesis.”

Hemingway is proving to be a pleasant surprise, and much different from what I remember. I have read two others earlier, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Farewell to Arms.” None of these is a first time.

Reading his works provides a good backdrop for how to the modern era unfolded, how Hemingway helped usher in this era. And I am seeing much more in Hemingway than the trope, “grace under pressure.”

Dos Passos is a contemporary of Hemingway, and while he is adventurous in his writing style–it hasn’t really held up as well. His trilogy is a sweeping, panoramic look at America through the eyes of a young male main character. The prose is more sweeping too, not necessarily attuned to detail that is found in a Hemingway story but as compelling.

Eco is a joy to read, even when the subject is very dry. Even a dry subject can come to life under the preview of a good writing. In addition, this work reminds me that writing is a discipline, and that it requires research that is more than a google search. In other words, rigor is required in serious academic endeavors. This rigor is akin to the rigor of someone attending to a physical labor, such as plumbing or carpentry. For both, there is skill acquisition and mastery over time.

Listening this week is from repeat of the Gray Area podcast, entitled “What Clarence Thomas Really Thinks.” Both Thomas and the Supreme Court have been in the news. I am guessing that this podcast is once again a timely one, since it sheds light on how recent developments have their roots in decisions that happened years ago. Click here for the episode. 

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Have a good 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. 

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