What about the rain, oh, the rain, and October is here; a dilemma for local news and reading and listening

Posted By: David Fortier October 1, 2023

By David Fortier

Come Sunday morning, October will have arrived—and some hoped for better weather. All the rain, the rain! I hope your basements are dry. I know of at least one friend whose family has been bailing water for the duration.  

Mornings on the porch, when Mary and I have our tea before going off on our separate ways for the day, are coming to an end. We are thinking that we might get a few this coming week. Fingers crossed.

The only big event the previous week is that the youngest’s Australian Shepherd had an unfortunate encounter with the skunk that resides under our garage. The youngest did come through, though, and washed and washed Quinn, so that there are only lingering vestiges of the encounter. 

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We are in a campaign year. (But don’t we vote every year! Whether it is a municipal election, as it is this year, or whether is it a national one, as it will be next year, voting is a given.)  

Lawn signs are becoming more plentiful, but not as plentiful as other years. One of my pet peeves that comes with the signs, and I have no problem with signs in general, is their placement. Signs should not be on state or city property, which means no signs on tree borders, in particular. There are rules against placement there.  

At the same time, lawn signs might be considered quaint these days, when it comes to campaigning. More often than not there is the use of video, messaging and Meta (nee Facebook) posts. Worlds become smaller and smaller in these areas, solely because there is a focus on one particular view rather than many views vying for attention and the best ones winning out.

How does a news venue, such as ours, which works on the community level deal with any of this? That is something we, here at TBE, are grappling with. Maybe you have some ideas. Please feel free to share them via email with editor@bristoledition.org. 

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Speaking of democracy, I am one of those dinosaurs who believes that knowledge makes a difference, so that when I tune into podcasts or read something, I am always looking for voices that are reasonable, well-researched and exist in the realm of public discourse rather than in the shadows. 

One of my go-to’s is the One the Media podcast. You might have guessed this because I have often mentioned it in these pages. This week’s OTM podcast has taken for its subject one of the people who has orchestrated the makeup of American courts, right up the Supreme Court. Check out, “”We Don’t Talk About Leonard: Episode 1.” Click here for the episode. 

For reading, I picked up an interesting paper on A.I., from a pdf I downloaded. It is a collection of essays about the effects of A.I. on different sectors of society. One of the essays is by Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart,” published early in September.  

Her essay in the collection, entitled “a field guide to the future of work,” is called “The faux-bot revolution.” In it, Taylor recasts history “automation” and its role as cutting edge, which she proves, it is decidely not—at least in most cases. Click here for the entire collection. 

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Enjoy! The week ahead looks promising. 

“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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