IonHartford

I normally do not use this space to advertise/promote/highlight things that I personally am involved with.  Seems kinda unfair so it’s my own type of self censureship.  Normally I try to highlight good things in the city as well as complaining about things that I feel might not be for the overall goodness of our fair city.

Well, this weekend I will be involved with 3 events that are soooo kick@$$ that not even my own crappy sense of fairness can stop it.  Yes people, I now give to you (drum roll) THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!

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Ladies from the Metropolitan Learning Center

What do you think about when someone says “Community Service” to you?  Well, to me, I think of sitting in a room tutoring a younger kid for a couple of hours a week and fulfilling a certain requirement for school.  Nothing wrong with this.  I’ve participated in programs like the San Juan Tutorial Program as a kid and as a tutor that survived on the kindness of volunteers, both young and old.  I’m just saying this to point out that everytime I hear about a youth doing some community service it’s always for, what would be considered a white collar career…almost always an office type of environment.  Rarely have I seen youth gravitate to what is at the core of a good community…cleanliness.

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It’s safe to say that the days of “What’s there to do in Hartford?” are over.  Conventional wisdom has destroyed that always untrue perception of the City.  The question now isn’t “What is there to do?” but “How can I find out about it?”  While The Courant’s Cal section is to be envied in its deliverance of this type of info, their online presense suffers form the same confusion as the rest of Courant.com.  The Advocate is getting better but, lets face it, they are NOT an arts & entertainment weekly.

But quietly a small group of individuals have started to use email as their tool of choice to inform people on the cultural happenings of the city and the region.  Here’s a short list with contact info: [Read more →]

Long over due props need to goto the folks over at the Hartford Independent Media Collective.  For a number of months now they have moved over to their new online presence…and it is snaaaaaazyyyyy.

My experience working in DC opened my eyes to the world of more progressive / radical thought in the states.  I DJ’d for a wonderful low power radio station in Columbia Heights and learned about the Indy Media movement from the DC Indymedia peeps.  I was so enraptured by the experience that I came back ready to start my own…but there was one already here! [Read more →]

Photo courtesy of The 40 Year Plan

The 40 year plans’ Ken Krayeske, remembered (except by some) for his arrest by local police for the alleged harrassment of our Governor, M. Jodi Rell, has done it again.  After last night’s UConn Men’s basketball game against the University of South Florida, Ken got it in a tit for tat with UConn Coach Jim Calhoun.  Well, it was more tit than tat as Calhoun shared his trademark temper and proceeded to blubber off some stuff.

The exchange is chronicled through Kens’ lens on his blog over here, but I prefer to see Calhoun huff and puff, so there’s a video link over here.

While I might that a post game interview is not the best time to confront Coach Calhoun with questions regarding his financial holdings, my question would be…when is?  Coach Calhoun does not hold non-basketball related press conferences, and as a Coach he probably shouldn’t have to.  But… [Read more →]

As posted earlier this week, The Hartford Courant will go through another unfortunate round of layoffs.  The announcement will most likely be made this upcoming week and the cuts look like their going to be very aggressive and very quick.

I have to say that as far as blame goes, although Tribune Corp takes the lions share, I am partly responsible. [Read more →]