Good Morning. Hello. How are you? #1547
Somerville Cat Mayor election, the material used to make playgrounds and running tracks, a man running with garden shears, nostalgia about The Channel
Good morning. Hello howdy. Greetings from the Albion Park playground. Jane is attempting to do wheelies on her scooter. It is going about as well as you expect. It's a good thing the playground has one of those padded ground surfaces. Volcanic ash is it? That's what it was made from in the old days. My mother was very proud of the volcanic ash track and field track at the high school she vice principal'd. But when I had Nike as a client, and we used to go to their campus in Beaverton all the time, their track was made out of a substance called Nike Grind, a material developed in-house for track surfaces from recycled shoes. Which seemed environmental, in a way, I guess. Recycling and whatnot. But how could it be more environmental than free ash that just spews out of volcanos. But then I don't know what they do to the ash to make it into a running surface.
Will research.
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While Jane and I were sitting at the Ukrainian place this morning and I was refreshing her memory about the geopolitical situation and history in Ukraine, another jogger jogged by. Lotta joggers at this hour. But this guy was special.
He was jogging with a small pair of pruning shears. Fisker not Felco. Six inch. Needle nose. And he was pruning all the pushes that he encountered that were spilling out into the road, blocking his path.
Now; say what you want about running with scissors. Cuz this definitely seemed dangerous. But also... kind of brilliant? This street is too busy, the sidewalks are too narrow, there are tons of cars and bikes and joggers and walkers and strollers at this hour. It feels like progressive Somerville will be converting this street to one lane and one way before too long, and add some bike lanes. But not today.
(Then again it feels like Somerville would have rebelled against its fascist parking department by now. Maybe not as progressive as they seem.)
Anyway, as we were walking back to the house after breakfast, well, Solkath his eyes opened, as Dathon would say in the best TNG episode. So many branches and stems creeping onto the narrow sidewalks of Somerville. Everywhere.
Some might peg this jogging pruner as a vandal, or an eccentric. But I'm starting to come round to thinking he just might be... a hero.
Speaking of Somerville's eccentricity, it seems like there is a fairly serious election going on, wherein fifty or so cats are all running to be elected mayor of the Somerville bike path. When we were last here this spring there were one or two signs for certain cats, who were campaigning for election. Now the number approaches fifty. It really is something.
There is an incumbent, an outdoor cat who is frequently seen on the bike path. Their campaign slogan is "make cats outdoor again." But they are facing serious headwinds on their re-election.
It is not clear to me whether this is ranked choice, first-past-the-post or what. I don't even know if you need 50% of the vote to become Cat Mayor of the Somerville Bike Path. Truth be told; I don't even know if there is going to be an election.
But I am in full support of this campaign.
In more serious but less fun Somerville Electoral news, there is an actual human Mayoral election going on. I am told Jake Wilson is the man to back. You can read up on his campaign here ( https://www.jakeforsomerville.org/) and donate if you are so inclined. Though I have not yet "done the research." Since; well, I can't vote here even though I'm a renter. Tyranny.
Although I suppose I could, like, officially change my residence, vote in this election, then officially change it back to NC in time to vote for Roy Cooper. Is that legal? Can you just keep moving and voting and moving?
Will investigate. No I won't. Too much hassle. Interesting question, though.
Oh my god it is so nice out.
Yesterday we were walking back from dinner in lovely, historic, still-a-tad-townie-but-up-and-coming Magoun square and we walked by a girl of maybe 18. She was wearing a GBH shirt. I said "I saw them at the Channel!" She politely smiled. Ok boomer. Ok xer. Emma's like "The Channel closed before that girl was born." She is not wrong. It wasn't even close.
I still maintain we, as citizens, need to compliment people when they are wearing t-shirts of which we approve. I did it not 30 minutes ago with some guy in a Stripe shirt (not a "not evil" tech company but also "not the most evil" tech company). But I guess I must acknowledge it is potentially creepy when an old dude does this to a young woman. But:
I did have my wife and daughter with me
I didn’t stop or try and continue the conversation
I didnt get all gate keeping and ask her to name three GBH songs or some shit
Man. The Channel. That place was horrific and wonderful. I had built it up in my head as mythical even before I moved to Boston in 1990 because the bonus live cover of "Heartbreak Hotel" on the CD release of the "Night Music" comp by Tones on Tail was recorded at the Channel. I have multiple friends now who were at that show. Don't remind me if you were one of them. The jealousy. It still burns 35 years later.
What I did see at the Channel was many of the punk greats: Circle Jerks, Exploited, GBH, Rollins Band, Weirdos, Corrosion or Conformity, Fugazi, Gwar, Ramones.
And The Happy Mondays.
Public Service Announcement: if you are a Democratic member of the Texas house, and you need a place to lay low, come visit me. I will hook you up.
Okay Emma has relieved my shift at the playground and I am now “at my desk.” I am swamped at work, and really kind of stressed, if I am being honest. Deeply unpleasant time. Lotta potential, though. But it is tearing up my brain at all hours, making it hard for me to relax, occasionally manifesting in physical illness. I do not like it. And I can’t talk to you guys about it, which is sad. Someday. But for now, I have like six meetings this morning so I am going to go focus on my job.
In the immortal words of Albini, "hold steady as she goes.”
Got a post rock playlist for you today. All new stuff. Would wax on about all the great bands but I am out of time. But they are great. Check it out.
Until tomorrow!
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Thanks for reading.
And hey! Maybe buy one of my books!
Good Morning, Hello, How Are You vol 1.