By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, I will have gotten to walking a little over two miles a day, while keeping an eye on the precautions for anyone who has had a total hip replacement. Knock on wood, I sleep well, the pain is totally manageable and the exercises seem to suit me.
Speaking of sleeping, while I was getting settled for bed on Friday night, I felt a tremor trouble the mattress. I caught my breath and thought, “Earthquake?” I waited, thinking, of course, that this was really just my imagination, when again I felt a new tremor. I looked up at the ceiling fan and watched as the pull cords hanging down from the fixture swayed back and forth.
This time I called to Mary, who witnessed the swinging pull cords. She confirmed my suspicion. From there, I got online and registered the incident on the National Geological Association website, and then looked for reports of an earthquake. Saturday evening, I still have not heard whether what occurred on Friday was, indeed, an earthquake.
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And of course, now that Thanksgiving is behind us, the Fortier household has Christmas music playing 24/7.
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For listening this Thanksgiving week, try the “Honestly” podcast with Bari Weiss, well, not exactly “Honestly” but a special edition featuring StoryCorps with its founder David Isay. The podcast, “Love, Death and Gratitude: Seven Stories,” is a broadcast, that is a podcast, of some of the most poignant of the stories captured in StoryCorps.
StoryCorps, according to the show notes, “is an organization that has been gathering individual stories from across the country for over 20 years and collects them in the U.S. Library of Congress.” Its online archive has the “largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.”
The stories come from people like you and me who, most times with a loved one, enter a StoryCorps booth to interview each other. The conversations last for about 40 minutes and include some coaching by StoryCorps associates.
The stories in this podcast are prime examples of the types of conversations but also the people who sit for them. One features a mom and her son who has Asperger’s, another is about a mother who forgave the man who killed her son and another is about the busboy who prayed over Robert Kennedy as he lay dying in the hotel kitchen after he was shot.
For the episode, click here.
Among the items I read this week, one in particular caught my attention. Again it is from The New York Review of Books. The article, “Living the Nakba” by Tareq Baconi, reviews two memoirs by Palestinians whose families, specifically, fathers, held prominent roles over the past decades as the unrest between Israelis and Palestinians unfolded.
The article contains a great deal of the history of the relationships between countries and peoples that get lost in the daily reporting, especially during the recent war. The articles can be found in the Oct. 3, 2024, issue.
While clicking through streaming channels on YouTubeTV I came across “Requiem for the American Dream” that features interviews with Noam Chomsky over the past four decades. Chomsky is considered a critic of the American experiment and often dismissed as holding radical beliefs. Rarely does the media allow interviews. So this program might be a good introduction to some of his ideas.
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City meetings this week include the following:
On Monday, Dec. 2
- Police Memorial Committee, 5 p.m. Disbanded.
- Parking Authority, 6:30 p.m. Meeting Room 1-1, city hall.
- Library Board of Directors, 6:30 p.m. Bristol Public Library, 5 High St.
- Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Agency, 6:30 p.m. Council chambers, city hall. For virutal meeting, click here.
On Tuesday, Dec. 3
- Police Awards Committee, 9 a.m. Canceled.
- Ordinance Committee, 5 p.m. Meeting Room 1-1, city hall. For virtual meeting, click here.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. Council chambers, city hall. For virtual meeting, click here.
On Wednesday, Dec. 4
- Code Enforcement Committee, 9 a.m. Council chambers, city hall.
- School Readiness Council, 12:15 p.m. Zoom meeting. Click here for link.
- Arts and Culture Commission, 6:30 p.m. Meeting Room 1-2, city hall. For virtual meeting, click here.
On Thursday, Dec. 5
- Economic and Community Development Industrial Committee Special Meeting, 4 p.m. Council chambers, city hall.
- Economic Community Development Meeting, 5 p.m. Council chambers, city hall.
On Friday, Dec. 6
- No meeting posted.
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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Have some life experience in a particular business or field of study. You might be a journalist in the making. Contact editor@bristoledition.org.
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Enjoy!
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