connecticut tale of the day

the green lady of burlington

THE PRESENCE OF a benign and beautiful female ghost haunting the town cemetery in rural Burlington has been verified not only by the many area residents who have sighted her in the past thirty years, but also by Ed and Lorraine Warren of Monroe, Connecticut's best-known and most indefatigable ghost hunters. Known throughout the Avon-Burlington-Simsbury region as the "Green Lady of Burlington," this restless spirit always appears in the form of a greenish mist, but with a well-defined body and a soft, pretty face lighted by an enigmatic smile.
Perhaps because of her generally happy features, quiet ways and non-threatening actions, stories about the Green Lady usually contain some imaginative explanation of her continuing presence in the town cemetery and speculation about her identity. Also, because she may be Connecticut's most boring ghost, her legends are almost always endowed by the story-teller with elements of violence or catastrophe, using motifs well-known by folklorists to "migrate" from one supernatural legend to another. So far as they can be reasonably established, however, her identity and motivations remain a total mystery. She just materializes unexpectedly, glows green for a time, smiles her sweet smile and then disappears..........

picture: trekearth.com

Tech Tags: green+lady burlington+connecticut cemetary ghost+story

be afraid be very afraid

mccain & da liebs for 2008???????????????????????????????

Tech Tags: john+mccain joe+lieberman presidential+election

willie pep

do you know who he was? i sure do. my father is a fight fanatic. i even have a small black and white picture of willie on my living room wall. i personally don't care to actually watch boxing. i think it's barbaric. yet, i'm drawn to it. can't explain it........

Former Boxing Great Willie Pep Dies At Age 84

By TERRY PRICE Special To The Courant November 23 2006
Willie Pep, a fighter for the ages, now belongs to the ages.Regarded by many as the greatest featherweight boxer of all time, Pep died Thursday at West Hill Convalescent Home in Rocky Hill, according to his grandson, William P. Papaleo of Farmington. He was 84.Pep, considered not only a great featherweight but also one of the best fighters pound-for-pound in history, had been in failing health. He had advanced Alzheimer's disease, family members said in September, when Pep was honored during a boxing event at the Connecticut Convention Center.A child of the Depression, Pep fought his way up from the rough streets of Hartford to the top of the boxing world.Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, Pep commanded the ring with a mercurial style that often left opponents grasping at air and spectators gasping in disbelief."He was a moonbeam," said boxing historian and author Bert Randolph Sugar. "You couldn't catch him. ... Pep was music in the ring. People were rhapsodic over him."Pep captured the featherweight championship on two occasions. His total of 230 career wins is believed to be the largest in the history of boxing. He lost only 11 fights with one draw and scored 65 knockouts.Pep, nicknamed "Will o' the Wisp," fought from 1940 to 1966. He won his first 63 pro fights. After his first loss, he was unbeaten in his next 73 fights. His record after 137 fights was 135-1-1................

photo: news.bbc.co.uk/.../images/_1468722_pep150.jpg

Tech Tags: willie+pep boxing connecticut featherweight

happy thanksgiving

i wanted to link to an article by robert jensen, phd professor at the university of texas. he wrote it last year

i know others (yes, you rick) may disagree. i see it more from mr jensen's point of view. while we have MANY things to be thankful for (and believe me i am), we also have many things we must reflect upon. the sins of my father are NOT my sins but i also do not wish to commit those very same transgressions.

No Thanks to Thanksgiving

By Robert Jensen, AlterNetPosted on November 23, 2006, Printed on November 23, 2006http://www.alternet.org/story/44661/
One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting.
In fact, indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas.
Not only is the thought of such a change in this white-supremacist holiday impossible to imagine, but the very mention of the idea sends most Americans into apoplectic fits -- which speaks volumes about our historical hypocrisy and its relation to the contemporary politics of empire in the United States.
That the world's great powers achieved "greatness" through criminal brutality on a grand scale is not news, of course. That those same societies are reluctant to highlight this history of barbarism also is predictable.
But in the United States, this reluctance to acknowledge our original sin -- the genocide of indigenous people -- is of special importance today. It's now routine -- even among conservative commentators -- to describe the United States as an empire, so long as everyone understands we are an inherently benevolent one. Because all our history contradicts that claim, history must be twisted and tortured to serve the purposes of the powerful.
One vehicle for taming history is various patriotic holidays, with Thanksgiving at the heart of U.S. myth-building. From an early age, we Americans hear a story about the hearty Pilgrims, whose search for freedom took them from England to Massachusetts. There, aided by the friendly Wampanoag Indians, they survived in a new and harsh environment, leading to a harvest feast in 1621 following the Pilgrims first winter. ...........

tomorrow (or perhaps this weekend), i am going to post a series of stories (4 in total) from the los angeles times. it deals with what we did on some reservations in the 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s into today. how we allowed the land to be raped but beyond that, we left toxic waste. how when the very same toxic waste was discovered in a town in colorado (grand junction) the government paid for a TOTAL clean up. how those huts on the reservations are STILL stewing in toxic goo with many deaths and diseases thrown in.

once again, happy thanksgiving

they're whippin' 'em out at bradley international airport

in my home state! i am SO disturbed by this. NOT by the breastfeeding but by people ANYONE, even if it's ONLY ONE PERSON, thinking it's 'disgusting' or 'unnatural' OR the worst, 'SEXUAL'. to the women out there who breastfeed, i've got your back sista grrrlfrens. (not judging those who DO NOT breastfeed. i'm just saying anyone should be 'allowed' to breastfeed anywhere one is 'allowed' to take a baby)

Breast-feeding moms hold protest against Delta

Windsor Locks-WTNH, Nov. 21, 2006 Updated 12:32 PM) _ Nursing mothers are showing their support for one another in airports across the country. Their so-called "nurse-in" is in response to what they call intolerance by Delta Airlines.
by News Channel 8's Jodi Latina
Within eyesight of the Delta ticket counter at Bradley International Airport Kristy Levesque of Groton nurses her two month old daughter Naomi.
"My heart just broke for her. I just put myself in her shoes and was like, oh my gosh, what would I do if that was me," she said.
Levesque is talking about a recent incident aboard a Delta Connection commuter flight from Vermont to New York. Emily Gillette, 27, a breast feeding mom just like her, was asked to cover up or get off the plane. Gillette refused and, baby in tow, was taken off the plane.
"I was really disturbed," Levesque said.
So Levesque and six other moms joined forces today to publicly hold a nurse-in near the Delta terminal. Lactating moms at a dozen airports around the country also joined in protest.
"I'm not gonna stand up here and take off my shirt. It's about feeding my baby," Susan Parker of Glastonbury said while holding her ten month old Anna.........

previously: you can whip 'em out and more more more on whippin' 'em out

Tech Tags: emily+gillette breastfeeding delta+airlines protest

i'm not quite sure

where this dude (da liebs chose) is coming from. i know i ain't gonna trust no day-um one who was a (former) spokesperson for a conservative christian organization (even though he is jewish. odd, no?)

Lieberman hires former Christian Coalition spokesman as new communications director

Filed by Brian Beutler and Ron Brynaert
Two weeks after winning reelection as an independent due to losing Connecticut's Democratic primary, Joe Lieberman has hired a former spokesman for the Christian Coalition as his new communications director, RAW STORY has learned. The new hiree also formerly served as a senior fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a legislative director for the conservative Heritage Foundation, and as communications director to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
Fifty-two year old political pundit and activist Marshall Wittmann is very popular with Washington journalists because he often "gives good quote," according to a Washington Post profile from earlier this year.
"He's been a Trotskyite, a union organizer, a lobbyist, a government bureaucrat, a think tank cogitator, an aide to Sen. John McCain and -- despite the fact that he's Jewish -- the official spokesman for the Christian Coalition," Peter Carlson wrote for the Post. "Which raises a perplexing question: Why the hell would anybody listen to the political thoughts of a guy knuckleheaded enough to get mixed up in movements formed by both Leon Trotsky and Pat Robertson?"
Wittmann explained at the time that he may possess "an extra contrarian gene."..........

Tech Tags: joseph+lieberman connecticut marshall+whittmann

congratulations west hartford!!!

pretty cool going. i'm proud of us.

Voter Turnout Is Tops, Again

By FULVIO CATIVO Courant Staff Writer November 21 2006 WEST HARTFORD -- Nearly 70 percent of registered voters here cast ballots on Election Day, the best turnout among large towns in Connecticut, the secretary of the state announced Monday. The feat earned West Hartford the 2006 Democracy Challenge Cup, the fifth time the town has won the award since the competition began in 2000."We're thrilled," town Republican Registrar of Voters Eleanor M. Brazell said, shortly after being told the town had won the competition again. "West Hartford does have an excellent voter turnout ... because I feel that this town cares."In all, 69.4 percent or 26,401 out of 38,044 voters in town cast ballots Nov. 7. West Hartford outpaced similar-size municipalities in voter participation - in Middletown, 62.7 percent of voters cast ballots, and 62.5 percent voted in Hamden.Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz praised voters in West Hartford, along with other towns that won the Democracy cup this year, for getting out to the polls. The Nov. 7 election marked the highest statewide voter turnout for a midterm election since 1994, Bysiewicz said.In a written statement issued by the secretary of the state's office, Mayor Scott Slifka also commended town voters..........

Tech Tags: connecticut west+hartford voting mayor+slifka susan+bysiewicz

a new connecticut news blog

stop by and check 'em out!

blog net news / connecticut

made a quick stop at

sit-n-knit sunday.

got more stash (not that i need it). i'm obsessed with knitting hats for my department (for holiday gifts). they're quick AND easy! i have to make about 30 of them (for the department alone). the only problem is; i bring my knitting with me everywhere and people just keep asking me for hats so i have to add them to the list. they'll have to go to the BACK of the list now (cathy and lk excluded. they're in the front.)
(some: nashua ivy, rowan tweed, noro kureyon, suss fantasy, candia, impressions, sheep one, malabrigo and some great adarondiak caribou sock)

here's a couple i've completed. well completed the KNIT part that is. they need to be blocked (yeah, right like that's going to happen) and have the ends woven in (you can't really see all the yarn streamers, they're all tucked inside the hats. i have a habit of leaving WICKED LONG TAILS).

welcome back charlie company

thank you for serving but damn thanks for coming home more! my thoughts and prayers are for those who didn't come home

Back From Fallujah, Looking For Normal

By JESSE HAMILTONThe Hartford Courant November 19 2006 SOUTHINGTON -- Here, the Marines seem younger, the years scrubbed from their faces, no trace of Fallujah on immaculate dress uniforms.Like Rip Van Winkle's nap in reverse, the weary men of Charlie Company closed their eyes in Iraq and awoke a few weeks later in a sparkling Connecticut ballroom - well-dressed warriors returned to their prom days.At the annual Marine Corps birthday ball, they fetch drinks for dates in formal gowns, and they joke with their buddies, and the evening glows. But it's not so easy to trade their war for lighter hearts. Not all have lowered their weapons or dropped their armor since returning to Connecticut in late October. Fallujah is still fresh, and it's hard for some to believe they have made it home.The Marines' celebration is a surface thing, like the fancy uniforms dripping with new medals. Under that surface still breathes that ruined city in the desert and the marks it left on the Plainville-based troops from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines.Beneath the left sleeve of Lance Cpl. Lino Torres' dress blues, a fresh tattoo on reddened skin - four names of men who won't grow any older. Beneath Lance Cpl. James Lauber's right pant leg, the stitched wreckage of his leg, dotted with angry scars. Beneath almost 23 years worth of medals on 1st Sgt. Ben Grainger's chest, a heart condition that almost separated him from his men. Almost.And from beneath the lifted glasses, the shouted stories and the dance music, four names surface again and again. Christopher B. Cosgrove III. Kurt Dechen. Brian Letendre. And Jordan Pierson. Talk never strays far from the four who didn't survive Iraq.Every Marine left something in Fallujah. Every Marine brought something home.................

Tech Tags: charlie+company connecticut marines fallujah

cool connecticut project and web site of the day

wall of america

the mural project is in sharon and the final resting place of the mural itself will be in winsted. i tried to download a picture or two for your viewing pleasure, but they're flash and won't download. you'll just HAVE to stop by the website yourself