Category: Politics

School levy in Morris: Rock, rock on!

We just got back from a very energizing School Board meeting where a number of people did an excellent job of making it clear that the kind of cuts being consider would really hurt, and making a strong case for alternatives (like increasing our levy).

Of the many people who spoke eloquently for this vital cause, stand-outs for me were Greg Thorson, Arne Kildegaard, and Dave Erickson for the MARQS group, and Dave Johnson and Dot Vick on behalf of the teachers. Greg, Arne, and Dave E. made it clear that the community realized how serious and difficult the problem was, but that there were options other than deep cuts (e.g., increasing the levy), and that there was significant support for exploring such alternatives.

Dave J. and Dot did a great job (in very different ways) of pointing out what would be lost on the arts side if the proposed cuts went through. Dot used the names of the various kids of the School Board members that had been, were, or might be involved in the music program as a great way of really bringing the message home to the Board and got a great round of applause.

There were also two very well spoken students (don’t remember their names, I’m afraid) and Athena Kildegaard on the importance of the arts for students, and a group of bus drivers who expressed significant concerns regarding the possible privatization of the school bus system.

A number of other people who spoke on behalf of not gutting important programs, and dozens of people (like us) who were there to clap and cheer at appropriate moments but didn’t actually speak. I was really impressed by the turn out, and I think the applause at various moments really helped emphasize the broad support for the message.

Pumped by all that, WeatherGirl and I worked up a MARQS logo that I dreamt up (literally – maybe more on that later). We’re thinking t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc., maybe from CafePress. I also should get it plugged in to the MARQS web site, but CSS continues to drive me crazy. I really need to just get a book and learn the rules instead of guessing and flailing :-(.

Heading to my wish list, Perfect tracks on Blue Note. It’s featured on the cover of the latest Electric Fetus catalogue, and it sounds very cool.

Currently listening to: The brilliant “Mercury blues” from David Lindley’s El-rayo X.

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Massachusetts may be fighting for the freedom of our documents (and our thoughts)

One of Microsoft’s major strategies in recent years has been to take control of or subvert standards and licensing mechanisms in ways that ensure that they can throw their considerable weight around in ways that will continue to make life difficult for those in the open source universe.

One of their most successful arenas has been in office documents, where their Microsoft Office formats (esp. Microsoft Word) have become de facto “standards”, typically without the (many, many) people involved thinking once (much less twice) about the implications thereof. Being someone who deliberately doesn’t run any Microsoft software on my computers, I’m particularly aware of just how many Word documents I get as attachments, and often rant about the many problems that can generate.

The state of Massachusetts is engaged in what could be a very important battle to change this trend. They have an Open Standards Policy that recognizes that there is a powerful public interest in ensuring that the discussion and ideas that drive and define our government, policies, and ideals can’t be lost or locked up because they’re written, distributed, or stored using closed, proprietary file formats. They are consequently requiring that at least the final “official” version of government documents be in a form taken from a list of approved, open formats. It’s all quite wonderful stuff, and I wish them all the success in the world in this important endeavor.

At the moment, however, Massachusetts officials and Microsoft are involved in key negotiations about how and whether Microsofts Office XML is an “open standard”. At first it seemed that it wasn’t going to be, but now the state says that Microsoft is willing to change some of their policies in a way that would make it acceptable. There are doubts, however, and the devil is always in the details.

Massachusetts is taking open comments through the end of March, and I think it’s of enormous importance to all Americans (and no doubt far beyond) how this turns out. If Massachusetts gets this right, along with even a handful of other states (not to mention countries – the EU is engaged in similar discussions), then it could have an incredibly powerful positive effect.

Currently listening to: the title track from Chris Cutler’s very cool new album Twice around the earth

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