By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will have been at one recital for Grandchild No. 1 and heard about a second performance by Grandchild No. 2, both of the kids 4-year-olds doing their 4-year-old totally adorable thing among a bunch of others.
The ballet recital on Saturday afternoon included eight acts, among them a performance by two professional dancers. Of course, the latter was fantastic–the event was at a Bridgeport Boy and Girls Club and who would have guessed this venue would have brought such talented individuals, but here they were — but it was the kids, some toddlers and other teens, that drew the most applause.
Afterwards it was out for hot dogs and ice cream at Dairy Queen.
Grandchild No. 2’s performance was witnessed by us via video, at school among performances by all the grades. This one was based on 1950’s rock and roll, and our grandchild was dressed in jeans and a jean jacket, white t-shirt, donning sunglasses and slinging an orange guitar.
As we say around here, both performances were “Adorable.”
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Saturday was a busy day — long drive for the performance — followed by a visit to a Bristol Pride event at Good Shepherd Church and home.
We missed the cultural festival on Federal Hill Green and the premiere of a film at the Rockwell. The film is based on kids from our own Bristol Boys and Girls Club. (TBE would love to hear what people have to say about the film. Send comments to editor@bristoledition.org. Type “Film” in the subject line.
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The big news this week was the resignation of District 3 council member Andrew Howe. What follows will be an special election for the seat at a date to be determined.
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For listening, there is the Capital Isn’t podcast with Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean, entitled “Capitalism–Was: What Happened to the American Dream? With David Leonhardt.” This particular episode discusses Leonhardt’s book, “Ours Was the Shining Future,” which discusses what he calls “rough-and-tumble” capitalism “and distinguishes its laissez-faire characteristics from a more bygone, democratic version. Click here.
For reading to consider, I have visited the Bristol Public Library where this summer’s adult reading program has begun. Sign up on the library’s website to participate. Among the books I picked up is “The Universal Christ,” by Richard Rohr, “Why Fish Don’t Exist,” by Lulu Miller. (I might have been a little over ambitious because I brought home eight more books.) Click here to sign up for information.
Also, the Friends of the Library is holding its summer book sale through June 21.
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City meetings this week include the following:
On Monday, June 10
- American Rescue Plan Task Force — canceled.
- Cemetery Commission, 5:30 p.m., Bristol Historical Society.
- Zoning Commission, 6 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
On Tuesday, June 11
- Joint Meeting of City Council and Board of Finance, 6:45 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
- City Council Meeting, 7 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
On Wednesday, June 12
- Youth Commission, 6 p.m., Meeting Room 1-4, city hall.
- Persons with Disabilities Commission, 7 p.m., city hall.
- Bristol Burlington Board of Health, 3 p.m., Board of Health, 240 Stafford Ave.
On Thursday, June 13
- Retirement Board, 5 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
- Zoning Commission Special Meeting, 5 p.m., Virtual Meeting via Zoom.
On Friday, June 14
- No meeting scheduled.
TBE will do our best to update meeting times and locations, but it’s a good idea to check the agendas ahead of time for cancellations. Click here for specific meetings and times.
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One more time: A practical matter–updating your credit card information might be a little more challenging than we here at TBE might have thought. There are several things to consider.
First, if you get a message that your credit card needs to be updated, login to TBE and click on the membership tab. Here is where things can get tricky. If under billing change, a tab appears for billing, click on it and you will find the appropriate fields to update.
However, if the billing tab does not appear, it means that you need to update your information on your PayPal account or on your Stripe account.
Sorry for the inconvenience — and thank you for your patience and support.
Of course, to build a viable business, we need funding. Consider becoming a member by signing up for monthly recurring donations of $6, $12, or $24 or making a one-time donation of $60 or even better donating more. It might seem outrageous, but 5,000 members paying $6 a month would allow us to hire editors and reporters who would do a great job covering Bristol.
If you are writing a check for a donation, write the check out to Central Connecticut Online Journalism Project, our official 501(c)(3) designation. The same name will appear on any digital receipts.
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As part of our citizen journalism initiative, TBE will seeking 12 people with Bristol stories that they would like to share in the form of long-form journalism. This project involves identifying 12 people with a uniquely Bristol story, something that happened here in Bristol that says something about who we are as a community–during a specific time in our history. Please email editor@bristoledition.org if interested. Type Bristol Stories candidate in the subject line.
We will work with each person to develop a well-written long-form piece of storytelling for publication in TBE and possibly in other forms. More on this in the future.
In addition, any budding sports reporters or book/tv/movie reviewers out there? Contact editor@bristoledition.org to find out how to write for us.
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Enjoy!
All TBE readers, supporters and donors
The Bristol Edition will be limiting the number of stories non-members and free readers may access each week. This decision is based on our financial projections and, most certainly, to remind people that TBE is serious about providing accurate, timely and thorough reporting for Bristol. To do this we have devised a financial support structure that makes unlimited access extremely affordable, beginning with a $6 monthly donation.
- Non-members will be able to access four (4) articles per week.
- Free readers and people who have subscribed by email will be able to access four (4) articles per week.
- Donors and financial supporters will have unlimited access as long as they log in.
Note: Donors may have to contact TBE if they find they are being limited, since we will need to set up a membership account for you. Email editor@bristoledition.org for instructions. Sorry for any inconvenience. People with financial difficulties may write editor@bristoledition.org to be considered for free access.