New Blog: Talk About Norwalk!

I am so happy to introduce you to a new blog about... NORWALK! Talk About Norwalk is written by a former coworker of mine who grew up in Norwalk and currently lives there with her family. Suzanna's posts so far are the perfect balance of interesting (busting on a restaurant!) and informative (recommendation for where to take stir-crazy kids). Please check it out and pass the link on to any one you know you lives in Norwalk. I am confident that Talk About Norwalk is going to be THE blog about Norwalk.

You can also follow Suzanna on twitter at @talknorwalk. And follow me as @stamfordtalk!

Music from CT Mom, My Voice Problems

I have to share this great video from my blogger friend CT Mom. She lives up near Hartford, but always drives down for the meetups organized by Kevin of Always Home and Uncool. She was part of a flash mob that sang “Hallelujuh” from The Messiah at her local mall.

I have to admit I had a good cry while watching this. I used to be able to sing like this before some devastating voice problems seven years ago. (Geez, was it that long?) I know the word “devastating” is strong, but every activity I loved- except reading and writing- was taken away. I had been singing in the Greenwich Choral Society, a glorious chorus of one hundred, and I loved it. Suddenly my voice completely gave out after a series of Christmas concerts, and I found myself unable to not just sing, but teach, talk at even slightly noisy restaurants, and read a book to my nephews. It was the worst time of my life as my painful speaking voice continued with no resolution. Can you imagine trying to teach without being able to talk? It was a nightmare. I would call my family on the phone, and ask them to talk while I just listened, because every word I spoke hurt.

I saw doctors, had procedures- sinus surgery, endoscopy, cameras put in my throat, a tiny capsule shoved into my esophagus to test for reflux- and nothing helped. The only thing that helped was voice therapy, and I am now only able to teach with a high powered microphone. That mic is the only reason I can live a normal life now. Even with the microphone, my voice still gets tired if I talk as much as I want, and I’ve had to restructure my teaching to protect my voice.

Before I realized I needed the high powered mic system, I tried to make do with a dinky one I bought at Radio Shack, and it wasn’t enough. Teaching was still extremely difficult. It was stressful and depressing to be struggling through the work day, then have to be silent in the evenings to save my voice for another painful day at work. I ended up taking a year off of teaching, and that’s the year I started Stamford Talk. That’s the one good thing that came out of my voice problems. I learned so much about Stamford, met so many great locals, and had fabulous Stamford Talk adventures.

I try not to think about what I still can’t do- sing, go to loud events, talk as much as I want. After the benefit thrown by Stamford Notes, it took 6 weeks to recover from the vocal strain that I should have recognized was happening, but I wanted so badly to enjoy the company. I take that experience as a reminder that if I want to do my job and still be able to read to and sing with my kid, I can’t go to happy hours. It’s a bummer. I skipped my staff holiday party this year because I was afraid I’d strain my voice. It’s still a fact of my life that I have to carefully choose when and where I talk, but I owe it to my family and my students to keep my voice healthy. That sucks, because I really, really love socializing, and I've had to give a lot of that up. Thank God I have writing as an outlet for my bounty of opinions.

CT Mom's video reminded me of how much I loved making music with other people. I don't think I'll ever be able to sing again in a chorus while I'm teaching. (I did sing with the Stamford Chorale during the year I took off. It went pretty well.) I’m busy with the kid now, and happy teaching, so I feel OK about not singing. I satisfy my singing urges with the amazing Music Together class taught by Christine in Greenwich. I'm completely addicted to it.

This article points out that 10 percent of teachers leave the field because of voice problems. When I was struggling, I didn’t know about all of the high tech options that would have literally changed my life. If you know any teacher with these problems, please tell them to ask their school for a mic system. Redcat system is pretty good. My school is currently trying out a few Redcats. The Vocalight system I use is better, but it's harder to install, and I believe it's a bit more expensive.

Faces Around Stamford

I like Advocate reporter Elizabeth Kim's blog post about her "The Way We Live" series. The series looks at housing in Stamford. In the blog post, she gives the background to the article she wrote recently. The article features a security guard at the Tully Center who lives in one of the city's mixed-income housing developments; what's cool is that I totally recognized the guy from a visit I made to Tully last week. (LOVE the Tully Center.)

My world is getting small. At the grocery store yesterday, I ran into THREE different mom-baby pairs I know- two from random playground trips, and one a coworker/friend. At that same grocery store, I ran into Streets of Stamford a few weeks ago, and before that, Mrs. Streets of Stamford and Baby SOS!

This is why I must always brush my teeth before I go out and always be on my best behavior.

Oh- and in the article, you can see photos (including the one above) by Dru Nadler, who did an awesome job photographing my wedding 3 years ago. Did you know Dru does weddings? She's fabulous. Relaxed but no-nonsense. The perfect person to have around on your wedding day. Big Dru Nadler fan here.

Sarah Littman, Local Writer, on GMA- and Link to a Cute Animated Short

I just have to share Sarah Littman's blog post about her appearance on Good Morning America. Sara is a local writer and blogger. She and her son were on GMA because their Story Corps (that booth, you know, where you go in and interview someone you know?) interview was chosen out of tens of thousands to be a) included in a book about Moms and b) animated as part of a series of shorts to be shown on the PBS show POV.

Sarah's Story Corps interview is great because her motherly love, and the directness of her endearing son, are things we rarely have time to see in the busy-ness of everyday life.

Her blog post contains the GMA clip (after an annoying ad, sorry) and the inside scoop on appearing on the show. Or, just watch the GMA clip below. The clip features Sarah and her son Josh, shows part of their animated short, and also has the guy who runs Story Corps talking about the project.

If you want to see Sarah and Josh's entire 3.5 minute animated short, go to the Story Corps page. (Oh geez I just watched the whole short- totally worth the 3.5 minutes! I laughed out loud at the Claudia part.)




Sorry the grammar in this post- or is it the syntax?- is a bit off, but I don't really have the time or inclination to worry about it!

Advocate Dishing Just the Dirt I Want

I don't mean to be a gossipy jerk, but I kind of like that the Advocate has two gigantic photos of the officer who was just suspended for punching a woman in the face last summer.

I like that they went there.

People want to know who this guy is, and the Advocate is letting us know. I appreciate that, because from many of the earlier newspaper articles, he sounded like an aggressive guy that you'd want to avoid. Thank you, Advocate, for making that easier! If that's not the job of a local paper, I don't know what is. DISH IT.

You know "The Dish" column in the paper, with local celeb sightings? Well, I love that column, but the giant photos of that officer are good dish too.

I don't mean to be mean. No one is perfect, and I hope that officer is getting the help he needs to do a better job in the future. Being a cop is hard, but that's no excuse for lashing out in a tough situation.

Visit Stamford on the Cheap- for Haiti!

Malerie, author of Stamford on the Cheap, will give $5 to Save the Children Haiti for every comment on her post. I think that is awesome. Please stop by and comment, then take a gander at the rest of the site!

Bloggers and Twitterers Unite!

As you may know, Stamford Talk is on twitter. I follow a bunch of local people who seem pretty cool, so we arranged to tweetup, meeting up at a local bar the same night as our monthly blogger meetup. (Many local bloggers also tweet.)
Monster B's is a great place for a meetup because it's spacious and usually not too crowded. We had a crew of 12 or so, including
babyslanguage, stationstops, On Stamford (mfamous), Fairfield After Dark, CT Mom, and Always Home and Uncool. (If I didn't mention you, sorry, it's mostly because you don't have a blog and I figure you might not want the publicity. :)

I personally could only focus about 20% of my brain power on the tweetup because I (as always) had my baby with me. About 60% of my brain power is usually on him, and another 20% is usually spent on my general distractibility and spaciness. The people who were able to (relatively) fully focus (and drink more than half of a beer) seemed to be having fun.

It's always nice to meet people in person with whom you correspond online. Almost always, those people end up being very cool, at least in the FC!

Scandalous Bat Mitzvah, Stamford Advocate Blogs

I totally see this letter writer's point. Although I found the tawdry details of the "bat mitzvah gone awry" hilarious, it would be nice to have positive community events, such as the Mill River Playground anniversary, also covered and photographed in the paper. But,
a) does he think the Advocate has dozens of photographers to send all over town? Hello, budget cuts!
b) this is why you start your own blog; so you can cover what YOU are interested in.
Oh, and
c) this is another great reason for the Advocate to have their own blogs. There is just not enough official newspaper space for everything, so it's nice that the Advocate has started a few blogs of their own.
I don't have time to figure out how many blogs they have exactly, but the main one is Stamford 411 and it's definitely worth reading. The journalists and photographers (actually, the photographers have their own blog, In Sight) have a huge window onto life in Stamford, and the more we hear from them, the better.

Scroll down on the main Stamford 411 to see other staff blogs listed on the right.

Napa and Co. Storms the Web!

(Do they still call it "the web"?)
Cool! Napa and Co. just followed me on Twitter, which made me realize they just started a blog. I hope they keep up their internet presence, because they are a great resto and I know there are good minds behind the place! (Unfortunately, blogging also takes time, and only the most committed tend to keep it up.)
I somehow doubt, though, that Napa will do what I most would like them to do... Twitter or blog when there's a celeb in the resto? Well... maybe they could just direct message me on Twitter! So far we've had Steve Martin, DeNiro, Billy Bob, Isla Fisher and Sasha Baron Cohen at Napa... anyone else?

Reminder to all: I am extremely subtle in my celeb stalking- I do not act like a crazy fool. You can trust me with your tipoffs. When I watched DeNiro film his scene at Stamford train station, may I remind you that I averted my eyes whenever he got anywhere near me so he would not feel like I was watching him. And I've run into Dave Matthews a bunch of times (well, 3) and I played it TOTALLY COOL every time, quickly averting my eyes so he could continue his strolling/grocery shopping/breakfast. That was in Charlottesville, Va.

So, Napa and Co, if you DM me on Twitter, I will NEVER reveal that you did so, and I'll somehow blog the celeb sighting as if I stumbled upon it myself, or pretend a reader tipped me off. Or is that unethical blogging? I really don't like lying and I am really bad at it.

Stamford's Nickname: Who Cares?

Fellow Stamford blogger Kevin McKeever has a great column up in the Advocate about Stamford's quest for a new nickname. As usual, he's got some very funny lines: I could dream up far sillier yet more apt mottos -- "A City Terrified of Big Box Retailers," "Caught Between the Posh and the Poor," etc. -- but I'll refrain. That's because slogans don't reinvigorate a city. You know what does? Kevin then goes on to suggest improvements that our city should be spending time refining: education, housing, and responsible development. Go, Kevin. You struck the perfect balance between humor and opinion about a serious issue.

I am not sure if our dear Stamford needs a nickname. It seems kind of wannabe to have a nickname. Greenwich doesn't have a nickname. ("Hedge Fund Central?") Darien does, but it's the unofficial "Aryan Darien" jab. I know that Danbury is called "Hat City" (I could be wrong, which proves how pointless nicknames are) and I only know that because there's a music venue with that name. Having a nickname seems like a desperate grab for an identity. And really, the identity of a place is always evolving... so let's just chill out about the nickname. Let's officially have NO nickname.

Other cities' nicknames:
Big Apple? That's kind of cool. Like you are a big apple, and I like apples!
Windy City? That's just boring.
Hotlanta. That's a cool nickname, I guess, but it's simple and obvious, which is why it's OK. And being hot is better than being windy. If it's hot, you can go swimming, and drink margaritas poolside in your bikini. If it's windy, it messes your hair up. I do concede, I've never been to Chicago, so maybe I'm not up to speed on the benefits of wind.

StationStops Application for iPhone: Now In My Price Range!

Fellow local blogger Chris at StationStops has an iPhone app that lists Metro North schedules. It works VERY nicely, and he has lowered the price to 1.99. That is exactly what I was waiting for! I rarely need this app, so I was not willing to spend more than a few bucks on it, even though I really wanted to buy it to support my fellow blogger. NOW I am totally going to buy it. It's so much faster to go on your iPhone app rather than go online! Look for it under the name StationStops.

Also, you should follow StationStops (and StamfordTalk!) on Twitter! I mostly twitter about breastfeeding these days, but one day, when I leave the house again, I'll twitter about Stamford stuff! You can also facebook friend me under the name Stamford Talk.

Kevin's Funny Column in the Advocate

No time to be creative and clever here, but please check out fellow Stamford blogger Kevin McKeever's latest column in the Advocate. I find the first line very funny:
After watching clips of Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy going all pit bull on the Fox News Channel last month, my first thoughts were much like yours: Does he come in something besides this convenient, election-year travel size?
I'm sorry, a person being travel-size? I just like that.  The article goes on to talk about picking up poop as a form of economic stimulus.  I'm OK with poop.

My husband is on baby duty right now, which is why I'm not getting up to get the baby stirring in the crib 3 feet from me. Husband's got the monitor. Also, my husband got me over a hour nap, then almost 2 continual hours of sleep, before 1 am last night, so after the 3 am feeding, I got 2 more hours, totaling FIVE hours!!! That's awesome seeing that I only slept 2 and 3 hours the previous 2 nights. I am a new woman today. I have time to type with two hands. This feels so good.

Here's a pic of the baby in his crib yesterday.

Fairfield County Weekly Sloppily Busts on a Topic Near and Dear to My Heart

Voice amplication systems have nothing to do with why “Public School Still Sucks”- that’s the title of a not-so-cleverly constructed article in the Fairfield Weekly. The article opens by portraying the horrifying scenario of a Stamford teacher- gasp!- using technology to make it easier for students to hear her:
Newfield Elementary teacher Shelly Romano walks around with something that looks like an electric razor dangling from her neck. It's part of a RedCat amplification system, which booms her voice across her classroom via wireless infrared technology. It's not just for kids with hearing disabilities, principal Miriam Arango told the Stamford Times; it makes all students filter out every sound but Romano's voice. Arango said "the students don't even realize that they are paying more attention."

Um, I had to start using a system like this last year when the daily overuse of my voice almost ended my ten-year teaching career. I know a thing or two about the subject of voice amplification; it saved me after 3 devastating years in which I could not teach effectively, could not go out to restaurants with friends, and could not even read a book to my nephews without severe voice pain.

The article- by the FCW Editorial staff- then goes on to its main argument, which is totally unrelated to voice amp systems:
We bring up this extreme scene from a local school — the Bionic Schoolmarm with the voice in stereo — to show the kind of insanity State Rep. Jason Bartlett (D-Bethel, Redding, Danbury) wants to expose our children to for an extra two years. Bartlett has proposed a bill to increase the age at which Connecticut students can pull themselves out of compulsory education, with a parent's permission, from 16 to 18.

Clearly, if that scene seems “extreme” to the writer, he did not do much research on voice amplification in the classroom. (I recommend this Washington Post article on the subject, which describes how hundreds of DC area classrooms now use VA because of the benefits to students and teachers.) VA systems are not a form of “insanity” that brainwashes kids with a robot voice; it’s about the teacher’s voice being clear as a bell over the constant noise of 25 active little bodies in a large room. I’m sure most parents would rather their child be talked to in a calm voice through a high quality speaker system rather than shouted at by a strained voice that can barely croak at the end of the day.

The FCW author’s hook about the teacher’s mic system makes no sense in the context of his actual topic. If his point is that public school “sucks,” he’s going to need to give a better example of why. It’s not because a teacher is using a microphone to save her voice and communicate more clearly and easily with her students. (I’ll pipe up with a Stamford Talk “DUH” here.)

The article ends with an equally unclever mic tie-in:
We have an idea for a new law: Require all kids to leave school by age 16. That would force schools to drop the cosmetic makeovers and figure out how Dutch and Finnish schools teach everything useful American schools do before students hit puberty. More importantly, it would give our youth two years to do something more productive than sit in a room and stare at some bizarre woman with a blinking gadget tied around her neck.

Dude, just leave out the last line! Stop being such a smarty pants with the whole mic thing! The article would have been so much more coherent without it.
And why is the author calling that teacher "bizarre?" Did he observe her and find her behavior odd? Or did he just read one article in the Stamford Times that mentioned her, and then use its info as if he himself had actually done some research on the use of voice amplification systems?

I left a comment on the article at the FW website. This is what I said:
I don't think voice amplification systems are why "public school still sucks."
Did you interview the "bizarre woman," or did you just read about her in the Stamford Times?
If you knew anything about voice amplification systems in the classroom, you'd have chosen a different and more relevant hook for this article.
I'm not sure why you needed to insult that teacher, and criticize technology you clearly don't understand, to make a point about the required age to stay in school
Bring on the second draft with a different hook and end.

I think the article relished in the idea of insulting a person while making their otherwise perfectly rational point about public education. To call someone else bizarre, someone he probably has not met, is just strange.

I used to really like the Fairfield Weekly, but I notice more and more often that some of the articles are unnecessarily mean-spirited. That bothers me. You shouldn't insult people unless there's a good reason, and the FCW Editorial did not have a good enough reason to insult that teacher. In this case, the unnecessary meanness shows how uninformed the writer of the article is.

Thumbs Down to Trump's Styrofoam Debris!

Yeah, Advocate! I love your sassy new "Thumbs Up/Down" feature. Life is just too short not to get in little jabs, and I am happy my local paper is getting on board the opinion express. I was pleased with a recent installment:
Thumbs down to Trump Parc. Police last Thursday [Feb. 12] investigated reports that a piece of Styrofoam blew off the unfinished luxury apartment building. There were no injuries in the incident, and police reported that an inspection of the site showed that that items were properly secured...

That's all good, but the incident was an unwelcome reminder of the rain of debris that fell from the building during a relatively short period last summer, all of it much harder and hazardous than Styrofoam. In those incidents, inches or minutes meant the difference between mere incident and catastrophe. Let us hope the latest incident does not portend a return to the bad old days.
I am glad the Advocate took on the mantle of reminding Trump of that. Trump got really lucky no one was killed, and they need to not forget it.

It still pisses me off that I have to think about possibly getting my head smashed in when I drive by Trump. I am not nearly as worried as I used to be, but I still worry. A construction site towering over a very busy road-- well, that's how things are if you want development! I hear people saying-- well, Trump itself proved why that was a bad idea. The string of debris accidents was just absurd. You cannot run a loosey-goosey operation like that OVER A BUSY ROAD.

Honestly, it was like the Trump workers were taunting us, right? Crap was flying off that building left and right- wood, metal, leftover lunches- and each time we thought, Surely this latest case of a car getting smashed will be a wake up call, another incident would occur. Either the site was badly run, or the workers did not care. I do not know how else to interpret all of those incidents.

So, I agree with the Advocate: looks like Trump has shaped up, but we'd be stupid not to still worry a little.

Also, a Stamford Talk Thumbs Up to the writing style of the Trump Thumbs Down. I thought it was very succinct and descriptive. I appreciate that.

Fake Male Apologies? Obama, Phelps, Drugs

There’s an editorial the weekend’s Advocate called “Pointless apologies for victimless crimes.” Boring title, but the first few lines caught me: “American men learn early to apologize, whether we think we've done anything wrong or not. Any husband married longer than 10 days knows he's required to do this often, even if he has no clue why. Women demand contrition, even after we've denied any wrongdoing, made it clear we aren't sorry and guaranteed that the apology they're about to receive is completely insincere.”

Initial reaction: What IS this drivel?
I only make my husband apologize for very specific things, like complaining about the pediatrician interview I set up. I’m tired of doing boring grunt work, then having someone complain about my performance on that grunt work. If you don’t like my pediatrician selection methods, get off your butt and make a few tedious phone calls yourself. You’re sorry? Thank you; that takes away some of the sting of your rudeness, even if your rudeness was unintentional.

Next reaction: Oh, I see, it’s cute intro commentary about Barack Obama’s apology related to Daschle. Your point is that Barack didn’t have to apologize, but he was the bigger man and did so. Want to get on my good side? Say something nice about Barack. You can even make mean generalizations about women to set up a Barack compliment. That’s fine. No problemo.

But then, the author, UConn professor Mark Drought, goes into the Michael Phelps situation. I was actually just thinking about Michael Phelps, and how he’s just a young man, and how even though he won 8 gold medals, chances are, he’s going to do some of the many dumb things that young men do. Honestly, a bong hit is probably one of his least dangerous options, because it didn’t put his life or the lives of others at stake. When I was in college, we had several students die or get severely injured in alcohol-related incidents. Driving drunk, or getting so drunk that you fall down a flight of stairs (that happened twice at my school- one person died, one was paralyzed) are among the more dangerous dumb things Phelps could do. Drought calls Phelps' bong hit a "victimless crime." I'm not endorsing bong hits here, or marijuana use in general, but I can basically agree with that part of Drought's idea.

Drought also says that Phelps “has nothing to be contrite about.” I do not fully agree with that. Phelps should apologize. Because to kids, that bong hit is confusing.
We tell kids that drugs are bad, because, well, they often are. Drought points out that alcohol can be bad too. Right, but alcohol use is legal; you don’t have to score alcohol from a shady dealer. You’re not breaking the law if you drink alcohol over the age of 21. You are breaking the law if you are caught with drugs.

Phelps’ apology: "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."
Essentially, he said, “I’m young; I did something dumb. I realize I let the public down.” That’s a pretty accurate and reasonable statement. It’s dumb to do illegal things, especially around people who are going to take your picture and then sell it. I was disappointed in Phelps; not so much that he’d done pot, but that the kids I know had to see that.

I agree with Drought that Phelps does not need to apologize to adults; we know young men do careless things, especially at parties, especially when drinking. Phelps does need to apologize though, for the sake of all the kids who idolize him and now need to figure out if it’s cool for them to do bong hits, too.

I know it’s parents’ jobs to explain this stuff to their kids, but I think it’s silly that Drought seems upset that Phelps felt like he needed to apologize.

In general, I found the tone of this article to be too flippant. I completely disagree with the last 2 lines: “I have no idea whether Phelps is genuinely sorry for his victimless crime, or merely kicking himself for jeopardizing his endorsements by getting caught, like a husband feigning remorse for sins he's clueless about. Either way, the American public should get over it, and be mature enough to realize that Michael Phelps is moral enough to sell Sugar Frosted Flakes to our nation's youth.”

Yes, adults are mature enough to get over it, but a 10 year old does not have the life experience to put that public bong hit in perspective. As the author himself acknowledges in the last line, the issue is the message it sends to young people. So, while Phelps is probably about as moral as the rest of us, a smiling Phelps on a Kellogg’s box doesn’t quite jibe with the image of an unshaven Phelps huffing pot. Advertising isn’t about maturity and realistic expectations of people, it’s about selling an image.

And, I just don’t think the clueless husband metaphor holds up in the Phelps situation; surely he understands why people are upset. He’s young, maybe he’s dumb, but I doubt he’s clueless.

Final reaction: at least this column was written by someone local- a UConn professor- and isn’t one of those generic national columns.

Actually, looks like Phelp did get a DUI, 5 years ago at the age of 19. Thanks, Wikipedia! So, Phelps ain’t no saint, and if that tarnishes his rep, and ruins some sponsorships, so be it. I really don’t care. But I’m OK with him apologizing. It’s OK to apologize for setting a bad example for young people, especially if you do feel badly about it, for whatever reason.

From Wikipedia: In November 2004, at the age of 19, Phelps was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Salisbury, Maryland. He pleaded guilty to driving while impaired the following month and was granted probation before judgment and ordered to serve 18 months' probation, fined $250, obligated to speak to high school students about drinking and driving and had to attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) meeting. Questioned about the incident later that month by Matt Lauer on the Today Show, Phelps said it was an "isolated incident" and that he had "definitely let myself down and my family down...I think I let a lot of people in the country down."

Does the Advocate Also Endorse Palin?

Um, Advocate? I suppose it's your job to endorse a political candidate. Therefore, I am not holding it completely against you that you endorsed McCain. However, your endorsement of McCain failed to mention vice-presidential candidate Palin. I'm refraining from using the words "cracked out" (adjective form, as in, "you are cracked out"), because I'm too mature and level-headed for that, but I think it was a foolish oversight not to factor Palin's presence into your decision.

While Palin was a hoot in her cameo on SNL, I can't say enough bad things about almost every politically-oriented word I've heard come out of her mouth. It's a horror show of ignorance and unpreparedness, and that's an unacceptable situation for the vice-president. If the Advocate's editorial board is endorsing McCain, they are also endorsing Palin for vice-president and possibly president. So why don't they mention her?

Is the Advocate OK with Palin? If so, tell me why. I'd love to hear. If the Advocate is not OK with Palin, and didn't mention her because they know she is an unacceptable choice, it's irresponsible to endorse McCain. Either way, I'd like to know what the Advocate thinks. It was kind of weird they didn't mention Palin, because her out-of-nowhere selection has been a big factor this presidential race.

I've been tactfully keeping mum on politics, because Stamford Talk is about Stamford, not about my own political leanings. But when the local paper endorses a candidate but ignores his choice of an extremely problematic running mate, it needs to be called out. That's an incomplete story, and readers notice.

If you missed the real Sarah Palin's cameo on SNL, here it is:

Um, Guys? I Think We Just Got Called Uncivilized By the Greenwich Time

A Greenwich Time editor made an odd comment about bloggers- or, it may have been about you, the people who leave comments on blogs. I wasn't sure, so I thought I’d ask what you all thought.

In an op-ed, Greenwich Time managing editor Jim Zebora writes:
With all due respect to bloggers, people who write to newspapers are just the best. Our letter writers show the courage to share their views with the world - whether opining about the financial bailout, the presidential election, downtown parking or Henrietta the turkey - and they do so with their identities known to all. It's a more civilized way of making a statement than hiding behind a conjured-up screen name.
… It's especially heartening to see the informed, thoughtful give-and-take on this part of the editorial page. Reasonable people can and do disagree, and in their letters to the editor they do so in what I believe is an extraordinarily civilized way.
Unlike many blog-posters.

I’m confused about who he’s calling uncivilized. He starts out talking about bloggers (that’s me) then ends by cracking on “blog-posters.” I have no idea what “blog-posters” are. I post to my blog-- a blog is made up of posts-- but readers also post comments on blog posts. Is he busting on bloggers or commenters?

Since most local bloggers aren’t that anonymous (my photo was on the front of the Advocate this summer in an article about bloggers), and since most of the local bloggers are quite civilized, I think he’s busting on commenters.

Commenters do tend to be anonymous. However, the uncivilized, anonymous comments appear not on local blogs, but on the Greenwich Time’s own Topix discussion site. Topix is a news aggregator service that also offers a comments forum for articles. I guess the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time use the service because it's easier than running their own forum, but I think the quality of the comments suffers. The Topix website, for some reason, attracts raging xenophobes and people who you can tell are 45 but write like petulant 14 year olds. So, those must be the uncivilized blog-posters, right? Nope. Topix isn’t a web log-- aka "blog."

People, I think he’s busting on you- and me, since I comment on other blogs. I think we are the “blog-posters.”

However, in my year of reading Stamford and Greenwich blogs, none of the discussions have gone into wacko, racist, libelous territory like the ones on Topix. Therefore, I think Zebora must be confused about the word “blog,” and is really referring to the Topix commenters, not us.

Or, maybe he wanted to bust on Topix, but didn’t want to offend those people since they read the paper online, so he instead insulted bloggers. (?)

Basically, I’m telling you I have no clue who Zabora is busting on.

I do know that the “blog-poster” talk distracted from his main message, which was his admiration for the passion of local people who proudly sign their names to letters to the editor. I also know that by mentioning blogs as the opposite of civilized discussion, he misrepresented local blogs. I think he was off-topic and off-target.

I'd write a letter to the editor about this, but I'm still too confused to know what to say.

What do you raging, crazy commenters think?

Cookies. Cookies. Cookies. Another Bakery!

I am a huge fan of cookies, and this photo took my breath away. I share it in hopes that it will make you feel as joyous and optimistic about life as it made me feel. The photo is from a post about Matthew's bakery on the Advocate's food blog, The Lunch Break Chronicles, run by photographer Chris Preovolos. I'm going to try to find this bakery today. (71 West Broad St.) I'll get a huge sampling... in the name of learning more about Stamford, of course.

Now, I'm also very picky about cookies. I don't waste my time on crap cookies with no flavor or poor flavor, but I can tell that the cookie in the photo is going to be amazing. I hope that filling in the middle is caramel flavored. I hope it's sweet but not too sweet.

Chris also contributes to the Advocate's local news-oriented photoblog In Sight. I subscribe to the feeds of both In Sight and Lunch Break Chronicles, and if you are interested in Stamford, you should too. The blogs provide a little extra inside scoop on what's going on around town.

I have to mention that the Advocate's photographers are eerily cool. I've met 3 of the 4 that contribute to In Sight, and they are totally the types you'd invite to dinner or a party at your house. One, Dru Nadler, photographed my wedding, and I officially love her. Dru is as cool as Manager Mom, if that tells you anything.

There is also an Advocate political blog, Political Capitol, and a local sports blog, Overtime. The Stamford Times also has a local sports blog called Stamford Sports Scene.

Local Bloggers Compete in Charity Smackdown

Two of my blogger friends, Manager Mom and Fairfield County Child, are participating in a national blogger competition to get people to donate to school projects through a charity called Donors Choose.

Donors Choose lets teachers post proposals for things that they need in their classrooms. Anyone can go onto the site and donate as little as $5, and the money goes directly to fund the teacher proposals. Manager Mom and Fairfield County Child both picked projects to benefit local schools, like new instruments for music education or a projector for an ESL classroom. If you know anything about public education, you know that often, schools cannot afford anything beyond basic supplies. This blogger challenge is a great way to have a direct impact on our local schools.

Both Manager Mom and Fairfield County Child are my friends in blogging and real life, so I won't take sides- I want them both to do well in the challenge. I know the economy stinks right now, but even a $5 donation will mean a lot to the teachers and kids. It will also help our own Stamford bloggers make a good showing against all of those West Coast mom sites. I like competition. Even if you don't care about education, consider donating in the name of beating other people. I'm sure that's in the spirit of Donors Choose, right?

Here are the links to check out the school projects that they're promoting:

Manager Mom's page:Manager Mom's Educationpalooza

Fairfield County Child's page:Fairfield County Child giving page

Thank you for considering! I myself have been too lazy and/or stressed out and/or unorganized recently to donate, but now that I have this post up, I'm feeling like I am going to get my act together and donate today. Hm. I'm feeling preemptively proud of myself... but I'll post a comment when I actually do donate.

Forgive the ridiculous photo above (courtesy of Manager Mom). It's Manager Mom along with two other local bloggers, Always Home and Uncool and Adam B. of Adam's World. I was there that day, but I guess I didn't make it into that particular photo.

"Stamford Talk" in the Advocate! Cool!

Oh goody gum drops! I got mentioned in the Stamford Advocate today. The article is about movies made recently in Stamford. I spent a good chunk of last spring stalking local movie sets, so I got interviewed. I was happy to see I didn't say anything too stupid.

I was feeling lethargic this week- husband was in Vegas, I went to Maine (internet-less for 3 days!), just feeling kind of blah and tired- so I'm glad to have that little "name in the paper boost." I feel a little more sparkly now. See graphic above.

And now, back to work. At least we'll have politics to gossip about, big time, to keep this week interesting.