Stamford Scribes

Haiti relief effort still needed

There is a cholera outbreak in Haiti! You can help by donating to the organizations listed at the top of the right-hand column or here:

• Doctors Without Borders | MSF USA
• Partners in Health
• Americares

Help with Cure JM

Blogger friend Kevin has a special request:

Cure JM has gone from 30th to 13th place since voting on the Pepsi Refresh project started July 1, so all of your votes at http://www.refresheverything.com/makejmamemory are making a difference. Please vote EVERY DAY! $250,000 is half of Cure JM's fundraising goal for the entire year (see note below).

Mark your Calendar: Sunday, April 11 Mozart Requiem at St. John's Basilica Benefit Concert for Haiti

Benefit Concert for Haiti
The Choir of the Basilica of St. John and the Stamford Symphony to perform Mozart Requiem.

The City of Stamford will come together to commemorate the 3-month anniversary of the tragic earthquake in Haiti with a benefit concert performance of Mozart’s Requiem on Sunday, April 11 at 7:30 pm at the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford. Led by musicians of the Stamford Symphony and conducted by Eckart Preu, the performance will feature the choir of the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, its director Scott Turkington, organist, soprano Rachel Rosales and tenor David Vanderwal.

All proceeds from the concert will benefit victims of the Haiti earthquake. Members of the Haitian American Catholic Center will be collecting a suggested contribution of $25 at the door and a Donors Circle at $50 will offer reserved seating and a listing in the concert program. To contribute visit www.StJohnsStamford.com.

Everyone involved with the concert is contributing their time and talent to the project. Stamford Symphony musician Peter Weitzner commented, “The musicians, as members of the Stamford community, wanted to express their concerns and sympathies for our Haitian neighbors by doing what we do best: making music. We hope this performance of Mozart’s Requiem will bring solace to those affected by this tragedy, especially those who are longing for an opportunity to commemorate family and friends who have died.”

Visit Stamford on the Cheap - for Haiti!

from Stamford Talk: Eat, Think, Drive, Blog!

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!

Thanks, Kristine! And a special thank-you to Malerie!

AmeriCares Relief Update

First airlift has reached Haiti, delivering more than $6 million of antibiotics, IV solutions, hospital supplies and other essential aid. Our emergency response team on the ground is working with our partners already distributing this aid as quickly as possible.

Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort: How to Contribute

Not since the Tsunami has there been a catastrophe of this magnitude, I think. PBS posted this list of organizations collecting donations:

Haiti Relief Effort: How to Contribute

A New Glossy

I like print. I'm in the magazine business myself, so when I heard there was a new Stamford magazine in the works (to be published by Moffly Media), I thought, "Hey! Print! Stamford! Sign me up."

I have the premiere issue. It's certainly pretty. Very glossy, some great photography and illustration. And kudos to Moffly for having the cojones to launch a print magazine about affluence in this day and age!

But I wasn't really thinking, I guess, when I subscribed. I'm not exactly Moffly's target demographic. I'm not going to drool over pages and pages of photos of people attending benefits. Personally, I'd rather read about the agencies and organizations that the benefits are benefitting; they strike me as more interesting than the photos of the smiling, well-turned-out people who are chit-chatting and sipping beverages on their behalf. But that's not Moffly's beat. And I'm not going to earmark the page that tells me where I can buy a $1,850 mirror. And that's what Moffly's magazines are all about: celebrating luxury, high-end, affluent lifestyles.

Cure JM Awareness Day, October 2

Stamford fellow blogger Kevin of Always Home and Uncool has asked me to post this as part of his effort to raise awareness in the blogosphere of juvenile myositis, a rare autoimmune disease his daughter was diagnosed with on this day seven years ago. The day also happens to be his wife's birthday.

*

Our pediatrician admitted it early on.

The rash on our 2-year-old daughter's cheeks, joints and legs was something he'd never seen before.

The next doctor wouldn't admit to not knowing.

Toodles, Topix

Reading the Advocate online while sipping coffee is one of my daily rituals. And one of my daily indulgences has been to take a peek at the Advocate's Topix message boards, where our

fellow citizens anonymously rant about the Mill River project, volunteer vs. paid firefighters, school redistricting, the superintendent, the mayor, overcrowded multi-family dwellings, and more.

While Topix can be a forum for the aggressive, it doesn't exclude the passive; if you dislike a post, you might select a cheerful little peanut or flame graphic for "nuts" or "incendiary." If only real life were that simple. Don't like what your coworker is going on about? Here's a little peanut sticker for your lapel, sir. 'Nuff said!

Alas, no more will my eyes bug out over the madcap ravings of other Advocate readers, because the Advocate has apparently tuned into the fact that the Topix message boards are a playground for Teh Crazy. They've discontinued the relationship.

I admit, I leaned on Topix for a peek into people's experiences with the public schools in particular, since I have an almost-three-year-old at home. I learned a few things; many people did provide useful information and thoughtful posts. But I'm not entirely sorry to see the Advocate Topix boards go. Something about the way Topix was a step removed from the actual Advocate did, I think, foster dialogue that was also a step removed from civil. In fact, Advocate groundlings often ventured into unbridled troll territory, with posts reeking of racism and xenophobia. Perhaps by moving toward a board moderated by the Advocate, they might rein things in a bit. Or not. Hard to say. (What do you all think?)

I do enjoy having the ability to directly comment on a story, a la The New York Times, because I think thoughtful discourse related to an article can add dimension, but it seems that this option is for the time being only going to be available for the Stamford 411 blog posts on the Advocate. Which means we most likely won't catch a glimpse of people's myriad thoughts on the angry in-line skater.

We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll give this move a

  for "interesting."