By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, I will have received a new right knee. The surgery was Friday, so I am guessing that I will be recovering, found a good friend in my recliner, and have a new companion in the ice machine that will help with reducing the swelling and pain from the procedure.
We shall see.
In the meantime, TBE has started experimenting with a daily review, a digest of short articles about things that may have occurred that day somewhere in the city. It is a team effort, with contributors snapping photos and sending text to be incorporated.
The hope is that these little bits of information will provide our readers with a more complete picture of the city, oftentimes, parts that go unnoticed, like city meetings. In the end, the review may help historians piece together their own picture.
With a break in the rain, Mary and I got out to a Blues game on Wednesday night. The Blues aren’t having that great of a year, but it is still good to see them play, to hear the names of colleges from across the country over the loudspeakers. It’s a big country, and we are all connected. This is another small way to remind ourselves of that connection.
Of course, we’ve got a bunch of local teams playing their way through the summer. From local Little League, to American Legion, to the Greeners, and now with the opening of Eastern Regional play, there is plenty of sports entertainment to get out of the house, safely, and enjoy a night out.
Even with the vaccination numbers increasing, I am still leery of attending indoor activities, and much prefer the safer outdoor ones.
It’s why I am thinking that attending city meetings via Zoom or some other virtual platform is transformational. Agreed, nothing tops in-person attendance, because there is always something going on between an audience and those on the dais; however, virtual attendance allows for many more people to login and participate.
It is one takeaway from this coronavirus pandemic that may be a good one. I can think of a few others, such as, learning once again to appreciate time, time to sink into issues.
This week’s reading assign is Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. It is clearly written, thoughtful, open-minded and instructive. There are plenty of stories about real people, and while you don’t have to read them, pages of footnotes to verify sources.
I guess racism was the theme this week. I discovered a new podcast, this one by Ibram X. Kendi, who wrote Stamped: from the Beginning and How to be Anti-Racist. The podcast is Be Antiracist. It can be found here.
Be well.
“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