A Man for All Seasons and All People

Today, I offer a story written by Robin Lee Michel, a professional writer and journalist friend with whom I have worked and collaborated on and off since the 1990's when I retired.  

Frankly, I had hoped to write this story msyelf, but because I was unable to cover it this year, I asked Robin if she would write a story of this year's traditional tribute to the Rev . Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., held at the First Baptist Church of Southington.  Robin graciously has done so.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929 - 1968

I've attended this event in the past and for more years than I can remember and through many years I have gradually appreciated more and more the universally compelling and significant historical nature of the life and work of the great Dr. King, surely a man for all seasons and all people.

Though I may yet write a broader-reaching personal reflection on the mission and message of King, I am most pleased to present below Robin Lee Michel's story of the 17th annual celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Southington, CT. 

E. Richard Fortunato

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Guest speaker, student award winners emphasize ‘Passing it On’

By Robin Lee Michel

Southington, Conn. – To continue its tradition of remembering and honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., First Baptist Church of Southington presented a community-wide celebration, which this year was held Jan. 13, the week before the actual national holiday. 

Each year, the organizing committee invites a prominent African American to speak to his or her success and offer his or her wisdom and knowledge and insight into the legacy of King. Attendees include community leaders, the public and people of all faiths. The 17th annual event focused on the theme “Passing it On.”

Guest speaker Erik Clemons, executive director
and president of Connecticut Center for Arts and
Technology, speaks about the success of his
leap of faith in keeping with the theme “Passing it On.”

It was the guest speaker’s own concerns about the legacy he would pass on to his four daughters that transformed the life of Erik Clemons, executive director of Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology in New Haven. “What have I done…so they’d be proud of me?” he said. The short version is that he went to coll
ege, interned at LEAP, an academic and social enrichment program, and nurtured his vision to open a center which could offer free career education and youth art programs to underserved residents in New Haven.

“I took a leap of faith and left my job,” as a postal worker, Clemons said. His family was behind him all the way. His idea for CONNCAT began to grow. “That was one and a half years ago. I didn’t know how to do it but I knew I would do it,” he said.

With the entrepreneurship of highly successful retired businessman Carlton L. Highsmith on board, millions of dollars were raised while the idea began to take shape. Clemons and the board targeted local businesses including Yale-New Haven Hospital to identify careers for which eligible candidates are needed such as phlebotomy and medical coding to develop knowledgeable and qualified individuals in these fields. The training program for these professions provides the education for 60 adults in a brand new CONNCAT facility. Other adult programs include financial literacy training and employability skills.

Meeting the unaddressed needs of almost 100 underachieving public school students, CONNCAT’s new after-school programs in graphic design, photography and other arts offers a safe setting for youngsters to express themselves, develop skills, embrace the visual arts, envision post-secondary education and learn personal values as well as develop pride and realize success.

All programs are free of charge. By all accounts the program has been an astounding success and there has already been talk about expanding to other small cities. “It’s taken off in a way I never thought it would,” Clemons said.

“Whatever has been given to me I’ve made it by the grace of God. I vowed this is what my life mission would be,” Clemons said.

The two students who received the annual recognition

award, who are standing with their parents, are Jake Aparo 

of Joseph A. DePaolo Middle School and 

Turner Rodman of John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Two Southington middle school students who were honored at the program have also committed themselves to success, improving life for others in their community and passing on the knowledge, skills and compassion they hold. Each year, an eighth-grader from Joseph A. DePaolo and John F. Kennedy middle schools is selected by his or her teachers and principal for the Martin Luther King Award, which is given by the event committee. This year’s recipients were Turner Rodman from JFK and Jake Aparo from DePaolo. Both students were described by school officials as conscientious, enthusiastic high achievers who are involved in leadership programs, community service and sports, garnering the admiration of not only educators       but their peers. The accolades were generous for these young men as they received plaques of appreciation and the book, “Dreams from My Father,” by Barack Obama.

The First Baptist Church of Southington -
The 17th Annual MLK, Jr. Service on
January 13, 2013

The event concluded with prayers for the oppressed whether it is the homeless, lonely, confused and unemployed as well as the admonishment to “pass it on,” be it love, knowledge, wisdom and helping others.

Photos courtesy of the First Baptist Church of Southington

A Perspective on Long Term Relationships and Forgiveness

I offer the posting of the following poem to those who contemplate the often unspoken things that really matter in life.  Comment follows the short poem by Stephen Dunn after you've had an opportunity to read it and interpret is in your own way.                                - Quest Blogger, E.R.F.


Long Term
by Stephen Dunn

On this they were in agreement:
everything that can happen between two people
happens after a while

or has been thought about so hard
there's almost no difference
between desire and deed. 

Each day they stayed together, therefor,
was a day of forgiveness, tacit,
no reason to say the words.

It was easy to forgive, so much harder
to be forgiven. The forgiven had to agree
to eat dust in the house of the noble


and both knew this couldn't go on for long.
The forgiven would need to rise;
the forgiver need to remember the cruelty

in being correct.
Which is why, except in crises,
they spoke about the garden,

what happened at work,
the little ailments and aches
their familiar bodies separately felt.

"Long Term" by Stephen Dunn, from New and Selected Poems. Norton 1994

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Among readers of poetry, accepted form often leaves comment and critique to the unique interpretation of the individual reader.  Still, some of us are so inspired by the carefully articulated thoughts of a poet so as to open our minds to deeper thoughts of our own. .  

In reading "Long Term", by Stephen Dunn, as posted in a recent e-edition of Writer's Almanac,   I was moved to my own thoughts about lasting relationships moving beyond the unrealistic fairy-tale ending: "and they lived happily ever after".  Dunn's words bridged my own thoughts to the more realistic view of the genuine challenges and imperfections in otherwise perfect human relationships.   

The author's words go further in the genuine, though not altogether joyful reality, unmasking the pretense of traveling life's journey together without cracks and wrong turns taken in the road. 

I found that thought to be sadly true ... or, more precisely, disturbing in that stories like Cinderella and her Prince are indeed make-believe. 

Still, with insight, Dunn presents a view, which though not uplifting to souls of soul mates, is honest in its appraisal of humanity, but without presenting it as an affront to the truth of the heart and spirit of the human condition.  

The truth I see is that we are able to cope with and recover from the pitfalls of our imperfect nature and ultimately realize and accept that the imperfections of human nature are perfectly human! 
  
It would be interesting to hear other perspectives on the endurance of long term relationships and this moving poem, and its not to be forgotten poignant references to the fierce challenges of forgiveness.   More on the complexities and spiritual strength drawn from forgiveness soon.  

- Ephraim Richard Fortunato

A Special Teen Mass and Service Planned by Young People

By E. Richard Fortunato

It is my pleasure today to tell you about the work of a few young people from the Church of Saint Dominic of Southington, CT . St. Dominic is an upbeat parish in the suburban town of Southington, less than twenty miles southwest of the state capitol of Hartford. Several years ago, a young man who arose out of the ranks of the Youth Group of Saint Dominic under the guidance of Youth Minister Bev Montana, had the idea of organizing a Sunday afternoon to get as many teenagers as possible together for a special kind of spiritual event, structured specifically with a focus on the culture and lives of teens today.  Goldstein's plan grew with the help of other youth group members and college kids and it became a Catholic Teen Mass with the pastor, Fr. Ron May celebrating the Mass.  With Andy and his brother Keith's particular interest in music and a talent in musical presentations, they and others working with them made music for teens a part of the agenda and finally added a organized but relaxed mini-retreat opening the way to living life today as a Christian/Catholic teen.

St. Dominic Church, Southington, CT In the Winter Snow

This year, the Youth Group of St. Dominic has again extended the invitation to Teens throughout the community and surround area of Southington to join them.

I know they'll be pleased to welcome all teens to this special event, as detailed below. 

The Church of St. Dominic invites all teens to attend their annual TEEN MASS & Mini-Retreat to be held on Sunday, Feb. 17, at 3:30 pm at the Church of Saint Dominic located at 1050 Flanders Road, at the corner of Laning Street, Southington, CT.

The Program and Theme this year are based on Luke 4: 1-13 
"Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness" CHOICES:  WHOM DO YOU SERVE?

Jeus is Tempted by Satan in The Wilderness

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Praise and Worship – "Live" Christian Youth Music featuring Christian Singer Mark Olszyk and the ACTS Band made up of members of the St. Dominic Community!!!

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm:  Youth Mass with Fr. Ronald P. May celebrating

5:00 pm – 6:00pm:   Mini Retreat including a faith sharing talk and a journey through the life of Christ via Google Earth!

6:00pm – 7:00 pm: Pizza, beverages and other goodies!                    
Please, come join us!  All youth throughout Southington and beyond are welcome. 

No tickets are required and admission is,                      of course, free. 

Snow Removal: Brief Update From Southington Town Manager

This is the update for today at 10:00 am

Ø  Widening ops began today at 08:00

Ø  The remaining 20% of the main arteries will be completed today.

Ø  We started in the largest subdivisions today to get the most progress in the shortest time.

Ø  Crews have been instructed to move all refuse containers as they proceed to lessen resident inconvenience.

Ø  Crews have been instructed to provide two – way traffic in these areas and to achieve this by making one pass in each direction so that multiple trips can be eliminated thereby lessening resident inconvenience and workload.

Ø  Key catch basins in these areas will be located and exposed in the near future to allow for rainfall.

Ø  Parking lot restoration is in the planning stages for later this week or weekend. This may be affected by forecasted adverse weather.

 

Garry Brumback

Town Manager

(860) 276-6200

Town Manager Monday Evening Update

The purpose of this update is to inform the public that we have reached the next challenging step in the clean-up process after Winter Storm Charlotte.

After spending the last 72 hours cutting emergency access lanes through every road and subdivision in town, Town crews have transitioned to widening all routes for traffic safety. We have completed most of the main roads and are now working on secondaries and subdivisions.

In many cases, mailboxes and storm drains remain inaccessible, and it is still difficult in some places for school buses to pass by big cars and trucks. Our initial push for emergency access necessarily left as much as 5-8 feet of unplowed snow on some roadways. The widening process now requires us to push that snow off to the side.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but you should be prepared for two things as we continue:

1. Your driveway will probably get snowed in again as crews continue plowing 

2. Because of the wetness of the snow, it will probably be more difficult to clear than it was the first time.

Town staff will do their very best to limit your inconvenience; however, we will not be able to eliminate it. We do not have the option of pushing back the snow and clearing private driveways.  This would take a level of manpower we do not have and add weeks to the recovery process.

It will, therefore, remain the responsibility of individual homeowners to clear their own driveways, and please keep in mind that it may take multiple passes by town plows to widen all roads.

Reminder*** The requirement to clear sidewalks remains suspended until further notice.

Thank you for your continued patience and support,

Garry Brumback, ICMA-CM

Town Manager

(860) 276-6200

www.southington.org

Town of Southington - Monday 10 AM Storm Update

From Town Manger, Garry Brumback             Monday, February 11, 2013
                                                                             10 a.m. 

I wanted to give everybody an update as to our current status and our plans for going forward.  First, all roads in Southington had at least one passable lane as of 10 PM last night.  This morning we began widening main roads.  However, at just before 9 AM we diverted plowing to salting and sanding due to the freezing rain. As soon as our streets have been sanded and salted we will resume plowing operations this will be at 11:30a this morning.

Our priorities at this point are:

(1)     Widening main roads;

(2)     Widening secondary roads;

(3)     Widening subdivision roads.

This will not be done in sequence and oftentimes we will be working on all three at the same time.  However, people can expect their roads in the subdivisions to not be completed until Friday.

We are also evaluating our roofs and facilities to ensure that all are safe.

We will be asking for State assistance on vehicles and equipment to remove snow and will keep people apprised of the State’s response.  The Governor has declared a State of Emergency, and 48 hours of our efforts are 75% reimbursable by FEMA.  These 48 hours are of our choosing.

The State is continuing to widen the Interstate and once they complete that, they will pass on some equipment to municipalities. Next they are focusing on secondary roads but have not begun as of 10:00a this morning.

Bus and rail are operating. CL&P has restored all of their power.  The best news is that Southington never lost their power.

Next update I hope to provide around 2:30 PM this afternoon and will include an update on the status of our schools.

Garry Brumback, ICMA-CM

Town Manager

(860) 276-6200

www.southington.org

Sunday Night Update - Charlotte's Visit to Southington

Sunday evening update - Town of Southington Storm Status ...

From Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph V. Erardi

Southington Public Schools are closed on Monday.

From Town Manager, Garry Brumback

Thanks to work by Lt. Lowell DePalma in the SPD and Tony Musto in the Public Works Department we are able to post a “living” list of streets that need assistance.  We hope that these streets will all be done before tonight is over but also encourage citizens to add to this list is needed.

This will be posted on Police Facebook, Town Facebook and Town website asap.  {Town Website is www.southington.org.

Please pass on to all you are in contact with…thanks!

Garry Brumback, ICMA-CM

Town Manager

(860) 276-6200

www.southington.org