Predictions for an early spring, well, at least, the sun has come out; city meetings, reading, listening

Posted By: David Fortier February 4, 2024

By David Fortier

Come Sunday morning, the sun will have arrived. Saturday, one of the carwashes on Farmington Avenue had each of its parking spots by the vacuum cleaners filled and a continuous line of cars in the line for a wash. If ever there is a sign that things are looking up, weather-wise, it has to be this.

Unless of course you bank on Punxsutawney Phil, or even Connecticut’s own, Chuckles, both of whom left their burrows, indicating a short winter. Either way, fingers crossed, we’ll be here to see what happens.

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Mary and I will have attended Hartford Stage’s latest production on Friday evening. “Simona’s Search” is 90-minutes and a whirlwind of a production covering trauma, both in the lives of parents and their children. More specifically, the drama explores the phenomenon of how children suffer the effects of trauma without having been exposed to it directly but through their DNA, something science now acknowledges.

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It’s a pretty active week for meetings: Monday: Inland Wetlands/Conservation Commission, 6:30 to 10 p.m. and Parking Authority, 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday: Police Department Awards Committee, 9 a.m. with Zoning Board of Appeals, which typically meets at 7 p.m. having been cancelled; Wednesday: Code Enforcement, from 9 to 11 a.m. and School Readiness, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m.; and Thursday, Board of Finance Workshop, from 5 to 6 p.m.

Board of Education meets Wednesday, Feb. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Board of Education Auditorium.

One of the benefits of clear skies is the brilliant sunsets, such as this one on Saturday evening, with St. Joseph Church silhouetted against skies aflame with yellows, oranges, purples and reds. | David Fortier

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Reading and listening this week begins with a podcast, “How to be a Supercommunicator with Charles Duhigg,” an episode from Intelligence Squared. The Pulitzer prize-winning author of “The Power of Habit” is joined by physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski, a writer and science communicator. Click here.

For reading, I am making my way through “Ida: A Sword Among Lions,” about Ida B. Wells. It’s a big book with a big subject. Wells, who was born into slavery, became an investigative journalist who documented lynchings in the United States and advocated for women’s rights. She is one of the founders of the NAACP.

In addition, I picked up a few books at Worthwhile Reads, Bristol’s new bookstore, which opens periodically and happened to have been open last Sunday. A report will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I purchased “The Trial of Socrates” by I.F. Stone and “Commentaries on Living” by J. Krishnamurti.

Cars fill spaces at the carwash on the corners of Judd and Maple streets and Farmington Avenue on Saturday afternoon, a day when the sun broke through after days of overcast skies. | David Fortier

Stone is the muckraking journalist whose major contribution was his I.F. Stone’s Weekly, which was highly influential and counted among its readers Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Krishnamurti is the Indian philosopher, teacher and spiritual figure, whose videos can be found on YouTube. I learned about him from a high school friend and find myself going back to his writing time after time.

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Enjoy!

“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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