Bagging leaves isn’t so bad, is it? One more municipal election behind us and a podcast on the benefits of pain

Posted By: David Fortier November 12, 2023

By David Fortier  

Come Sunday morning, we will have bagged 20 bags of leaves, and it means we have at least 20 to go. Our next-door neighbor, Brian, has already gotten to 60 bags, maybe more. I don’t know how he feels about it, but as long as I have the time, I don’t mind. It’s refreshing being outside, and it an accomplishment to see the bags pile up. 

An aside, all the grandkids are now in their own beds. The youngest spent the first night, where else, having slid off the bed, cuddled in sheets on the floor. They range from 3 and three quarters to almost 2 years.

Earlier in the week, we held our municipal elections and the Republicans once again swept, with only the board of education and the board of assessment appeals with Democrats in minority represented seats. It is a resounding vote of confidence in the Republicans.  

The inauguration is Monday evening at Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School, and then the following night is the first city council meeting, and we are onto the next two-year term. Best of luck everyone. 

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As for TBE, we are feeling that we did a better job covering the candidates and the campaigns, and we are hoping over the next year we will continue to improve. Toward that end, please feel free to communicate your thoughts to us, and to, even, consider a letter to the editor with your comments and concerns and suggestions. 

Along the same lines, we are, with our limited resources, considering taking up several subjects with the idea of addressing them through solutions journalism. This year’s election campaigns raised a few of them. If you have a suggestion for a subject, please send that along.  

Solutions journalism, rather than simply reporting on a subject on a day-to-day, incident by incident basis, takes on an area where people are working on solutions to real problems and providing reports that allow readers to follow their progress, as well as participate if they so desire. 

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And reading and listening this week starts off with listening. Once again, The Hidden Brain podcast caught my attention with “Healing 2.0: What We Gain from Pain.” The description begins with “We’ve all heard the saying, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Got me! 

The podcast introduces psychologist Eranda Jayawickreme, who has studied the concept of post-traumatic growth, a new idea for me, and how pain can have benefits but not always the ones we anticipate. Click here for the episode. 

And reading. I finished the novel, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride. The novel delivers on its promise to be a good entertaining read—and more. By more I mean that it deals with issues we, as a country and as communities, are facing now, and not at all in a pedantic manner but an engaging one that pushes one simple idea—things are always more complicated than we’d like to think. 

The characters are real people. McBride manages to bring them to life in a way that is effortless–and effortlessly interwoven with the plot, which makes his work pretty good. He doesn’t need me to confirm this, there are plenty of reviews out there to do that, but I still feel compelled to share the good word. 

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And so here we are just a week and a bit away from Thanksgiving. Enjoy! 

“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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