By David Fortier

Come Sunday morning, the funeral services for Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States who lived to 100, will have concluded. I don’t intend to recount the services here, but they might be something to attend to in the days to come. YouTube has many videos with special moments from the speeches at the services and commemorations.

A favorite is from Carter’s grandson, Jason, who in a lighter moment during his tribute at the National Cathedral, said, “By the way, he cut the deficit, wanted to decriminalize marijuana, deregulated so many industries he gave us cheap flights, and as you heard, craft beer. Basically, all those years ago he was the first millennial.”

***

In the past week, you might have seen some new bylines, especially those of Katherine Daly, master’s in journalism from Boston University, and recent UConn graduate and Bristol native, Logan Williams. We are happy to be able to contract with these young reporters with the aid of a grant from LION Publishers and our donors.

These young people are working as freelancers for the time being. We hope to be able to secure future funding, but also the financial backing of the community, to be able to hire journalists as employees so that Bristol gets better and more consistent coverage.

For the meantime, we are happy to be working with these stellar young people.

In addition, you might have seen the bylines of high school students, whom we have been able to bring on board, again as freelancers, with the aid of a grant from the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame. These are Bristol Central’s Joey Pikiell and Donovan Rodriguez, and Bristol Eastern’s Gracie Brown and Emily Piendak. We are happy to be working with these students.

Part of our mission is to educate our high school students by providing them with authentic work experience in the field of journalism. They may never decide on journalism as a career, but the skill set of a journalist is a highly prized one, especially by colleges when it comes to admissions.

These skills are highly transferable, and for young people looking ahead to college, among the most highly recognized by colleges.

And finally, others of our readers might have seen Laura Bailey’s post on Facebook, announcing that she is the new managing editor. A terrific photographer, Bailey has developed into a fine journalist with a special place in her heart for Bristol. She lives here in Bristol with her husband, Peter, and school-age daughter, Aria.

***

For reading this week, I have stuck mostly with the New Yorker. The stories never disappoint. More times than not, I am not interested in an article but decide to read the first paragraph and before I know it, I am three pages in. That is what happened with “Love and Theft: Did a best-selling romantasy novelist steal another writer’s story?” by Katy Waldman.

***

For listening this week, there is the rebroadcast of “The importance of failure,” an episode from “The Gray Area with Sean Illing” podcast. Click here.

Host Illing discusses with professor and author Costica Bradatan Bradatan’s book “In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility.” While it is the beginning of the year, when resolutions are still being bandied about, one might think this episode might be labeled as self-help.

Failure, in this conversation (and the book, I am guessing because I haven’t read it), takes on a variety of “failures” and the misconceptions about failure, especially in our culture. Even the program notes fall short of grasping one of the key concepts that Bradatan focuses on.

Of course, I might tell you more, but the idea is to get you to experience the podcast yourself. If listening to a 50-minute conversation is too much of commitment, each episode is accompanied by a transcript. (Yes, reading is much quicker.)

***

Note: Once again, I am finding it terribly difficult to find music that I want to add to my own collection. I get it, things are different today. Streaming makes it so much easier to find this music–but who has the time? Any tips would be appreciated. Send them to dfortier@bristoledition.org.

***

City meetings this week include the following:

On Monday, Jan. 13

• Zoning Commission, 6 p.m. Council chambers, City Hall.

On Tuesday, Jan. 14

• Special Real Estate Committee, 5:30 p.m. Meeting Room, 1-1, City Hall. For virtual meeting, click here.
• Joint Meeting of City Council and Board of Finance, 6:45 p.m. Council chambers, City Hall. For virtual meeting, click here.
• City Council Meeting, 7 p.m. Council chambers, City Hall. For virtual meeting, click here.

On Wednesday, Jan. 15

• Budget and Finance Committee–Board of Park Commissioners, 5 p.m. Meeting Room 1-2, City Hall.
• Salary Committee, 5 p.m. City Hall.
• Board of Park Commissioners, 6 p.m. Meeting Room 1-2, City Hall.

On Thursday, Jan. 16

• Commission on Aging, 11 a.m. Room 109, Bristol Senior Center, 240 Stafford Ave.
• Citation Hearings, 3 p.m. City Hall.
• Animal Control Building Committee, 5 p.m. Council chambers, City Hall. Canceled.
• Board of Public Works, 5:30 p.m. Council chambers, City Hall. For virtual meeting link, click here.

On Friday, Jan. 17

• No meetings 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.

***

Whether you support us financially or not, we encourage you to subscribe to our daily email newsletter so you get notices of the most recent posts to our news site. There are subscriber sign-ups at both the upper right and bottom of our pages.

We have loads of followers on Facebook. If each of you subscribed, that would help with our marketing.

Again, our business model, as a nonprofit, depends on donations, sponsorships and advertising. We have a solid core of regular donors–either monthly or annual ones–but we could always use more of you if we are going to be able to one day employ regular reporters to cover the city.

Even then, we will need grants and advertising revenue. So, yes, we are a nonprofit, but do not mistake that as “free.” We have costs just like any other business.

If you can, and are able, to support us financially, click the red “Donate” button below for our donor page. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating under our own Central Connecticut Online Journalism Project.

***

High hopes that the new year has begun well!

---

Before you go!

Support local news in Bristol, CT

The Bristol Edition is an independent, nonprofit online newspaper dedicated to keeping Bristol informed and engaged. Your donation helps us deliver meaningful stories, highlight local voices, and foster a stronger community. Believe in the power of local news? Support us today!

---