After some preliminary discussions with Chris Faraone and John Loftus, I am pleased to announce that I will be joining the leadership team of the new Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism as Network Director effective immediately.
March 20 was the seventh anniversary of more-or-less continuous publication of Open Media Boston. I say "more or less" because we have had a number of periods where our publication of metro news and views has slowed to a trickle for a variety of reasons. Usually because of my situation at the time.
Last Thursday, a bunch of local activists blocked two major highways on the outskirts of Boston for hours in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Whatever one wants to say about their tactical and strategic acumen, they acted decisively when others did not. And for that they are to be commended.
For many of the last 30 years, I have been in leadership of various movements for democracy and social justice in and around my hometown of Boston. In that capacity, I have helped organize dozens and dozens of street demonstrations of every type - including what's come to be thought of as "Occupy-style" marches since the global uprisings of 2011. Fast-moving, unscripted, and relatively tough for the police to stop outright.
Just a note to say that, as promised, Open Media Boston is still puttering along without a paid editorial staff. Jonny Adams and I are both working our new full-time jobs - in the corporate sector in his case, and in the higher education sector in mine - and we have a small group of paid reporters and regular volunteer contributors keeping us plied with two to four original news stories, living/arts articles and opinion pieces a week.
Over dinner last night, Open Media Boston associate editor Jonny Adams and I celebrated the end of an era. As of today, both of us have moved on to other jobs and will run OMB on a volunteer basis for at least the rest of the year.
Regular viewers should take note that I'll be away on vacation for the next couple of weeks. In my absence, Open Media Boston will be in the capable hands of Associate Editor Jonathan Adams. Folks may have noted that I haven't written editorials for a few weeks - due to repetitive stress injuries of the type that bother most writers from time to time. But I hope to get back on a more regular writing scheudle upon my return.
Folks who like what we do here at Open Media Boston, and have a few bucks to toss in the proverbial kitty, should come on down to our upcoming fundraiser “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO David Rovics, Jimmy Tingle and the Afro D All Starz” on Sunday, June 1st from 3-5:30 p.m. at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain - right off the Stony Brook T Stop on the Orange Line.
District 4 Councilor Charles Yancey's office put out an interesting bulletin a few days ago on his recent attempt to revive his decade and a half old proposal for the city to build a 14 acre $120 million Boston public high school campus on the site of the former Boston State Hospital in Mattapan.
At a May 5th budget hearing, he asked Interim School Superintendent John McDonough to tell him how many students currently attend high school in facilities not originally designed as high schools.
This week I have basically one point to make. I think it's time for the organizers of Boston's main May Day march and rally to bring the event back to downtown Boston. When the holiday started getting revived around the turn of the millennium, I was part of the coalition of mostly immigrant organizers that ran the main local May Day action in tandem with various left-wing organizations and left-wing elements of the labor movement. And we would usually hold the event downtown.
