Tag Archives: conference

InCity Voices

What I learned at the state Democratic conference …

By Edith Morgan

The Democratic Issues Conference was held Saturday, in Springfield, on September 19, on a mild but dry and eventually beautiful day.

Massachusetts Democrats met at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield to reaffirm their values, touch bases with members throughout the State, get some training, and hear from one another how things were going everywhere, and to lay plans for the future.
 
I attended this conference as an elected delegate from Worcester Ward 3 –  a conference that I have attended many times I the past, and which always gives me some interesting insights and renews my knowledge about the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
 
Of course, on display outside the Center were the usual signholders, touting their candidates, as well as collectors of signatures for various causes,  and distributors of pamphlets about a variety of ideas, from pleas for humane treatment of chickens and other food animals to analyses of the contrast between capitalism and democratic socialism , and the inevitable pleas to end “Citizens United”, with large signs reminding Democrats that..” corporations are not people”, and that” Money is not speech.”
 
Once inside the spacious Center, we received our credentials, which identified us by name, and also gave us the section were assigned to ..  once the convention began.
In the free time left over before the beginning of the formal part of the day, we visited the exhibit hall where rows upon rows of tables displayed materials and information about all the candidates, the organizations working toward democratic goals, or supporting various candidates, manned tables full of literature, buttons, pencils, as well as fee candies, stickers, and various other mementoes pushing their particular ideas. I have a drawer-full of pins, pencils, stickers, etc.. I have collected over the years, so I went around, and picked up various mementoes and flyers from groups that I support, signed my name onto athose mailing lists whose information I wanted to pursue further, and dropped everything I got into a very sturdy bag which was given to each of us free…
Once were  all assembled in the great hall, and the usual opening ceremonies were completed, there began a series of speakers.  I haven’t space enough to summarize what they all said, but all reiterated in one way or another what Democratic goals and achievements were. (The party platform had been sent to all the delegates by mail several days before, and I had refreshed my memory about the particular during the week.
 
For me the highlights were the appearance of Senator Elizabeth Warren, who brought us all to our feet, and fired up the assembled thousands for the job ahead.; and the speech by one of my favorite Democrats,  Howard Dean, who outlined his reasons for working in support of Hilary Clinton.  Supporters of Bernie  Sanders and O’Malley also gave impassioned representations on behalf of their candidates.

After the formal speeches and awards were completed, five resolutions were passed unanimously (the texts had been passed out among us earlier. And then we proceeded to the “Breakout sessions”, eleven educational 45-minute presentations designed to give delegates facts, techniques, ideas for better getting their message out to the public. and then we all drove home hopefully better informed and fired up to be ful participants in the democratic process.
 

InCity Voices, Uncategorized

In South Worcester: Bringing fresh produce, whole grain goodness to our public schools

January 13

The 3rd Massachusetts Farm to Cafeteria Conference

…at Holy Cross college

CLICK HERE to register!

This conferences will bring together more than 300 diverse stakeholders from across the farm to cafeteria movement who are working to source local food for institutional cafeterias and foster innovative food and agriculture learning opportunities in our state.

The conference is just over one month away.

Register and reserve your spot today!

Learn and Connect

We are finalizing the conference program and are very excited by the diverse group of leaders in the farm to cafeteria field who will be sharing their expertise with conference attendees.

Here’s a sampling from the more than 20 workshops:

Funding Farm to School

Farm to School with Locally Frozen Vegetables

Farm to Preschool Initiatives

Cooking Demonstrations for K-12 and College Food Services

Using Policy Advocacy to Increase Farm to School in Massachusetts

Getting Started in the School Garden

Farm Based Education – Urban and Rural Farm Field Trips

And so much more…

We are also very excited to announce the first ever Farm to Cafeteria Regional Networking Sessions to take place during the conference. Connect with others in your community who are involved in farm to cafeteria activities. Learn from their best practices, share your own tips, and move forward together!

We will be holding a concurrent Buyer Tradeshow and Networking Session for Farmers and Distributors.

This will be a great opportunity to make direct connections with farmers from your region and discuss local sourcing with distributors.

Registration

Registration is filling up quickly and we have a limit of 350 attendees. Register online today (ABOVE) to secure your spot. Discounts are available for students and conference presenters.

Please contact us for more information:

Massachusetts Farm to School

34 Main Street, Suite 10

Amherst, MA 01002

InCity Letters

National Conference for Media Reform wraps in Boston

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BOSTON – Sunday marked the end of the 2011 National Conference for Media Reform in Boston — an energetic and inspiring gathering that brought together more than 2,500 grassroots activists, policymakers, journalists and scholars from across the country, as well as thousands more online.

Participants explored more than 80 sessions on topics ranging from how to fix the Federal Communications Commission to Wikileaks, online organizing and disaster response to the new face of media consolidation, public and community media to feminism and immigration. Discussions spilled out into the hallways of the Seaport World Trade Center, generating new energy and ideas for the growing media reform movement.

Net Neutrality was one of the hottest topics of conversation after the House of Representatives passed a bill Friday attempting to rescind the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules. On Friday at the conference, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi condemned the vote. “No one should be guarding the gate on the Internet,” Pelosi said.

At the keynote session Saturday, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey delivered a powerful call to continue to fight for an open Internet. “In the Net Neutrality battle, when the FCC put forward its Open Internet Order, I wasn’t happy,” he said. “I wanted it to go further. … But regardless of how we viewed the FCC’s order, we all can agree the Internet needs to be an open, level playing field for everyone that can’t be controlled by a central authority, whether it’s a corporation or a country’s totalitarian regime.”

Media reformers left Boston with a renewed commitment to aggressively advocating for policies to support better journalism, sustain public media, stop runaway media consolidation, and protect the free and open Internet.

“You can’t try to appease the people who are trying to kill public and community media, people who want to kill independent journalism, the people who are trying to keep you disconnected and in the dark,” said Craig Aaron, the new president of Free Press, which organized the conference. “If you want to win, you can’t be afraid to go into the streets sometimes. But if you want to win, you also need to be at the table when decisions are being made. And that means we’re going to need lobbyists, organizers, media makers and evangelists letting people know that the media system they have right now isn’t the only option.”

Challenging the corporate domination of politics and policymaking in Washington was also a recurrent theme at the event. “If we don’t take on the corporate political machine and refuse to be marginalized,” said outgoing Free Press President Josh Silver in a farewell address, “our nation will be overrun with more poverty, more financial meltdowns, more environmental disasters, more sick people without access to health care; and a media system with less journalism, fewer independent voices and more corporate censors with names like AT&T and Comcast.”

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps urged people to continue to fight for better media, calling it the “single most important thing” needed to preserve our democracy. “Citizen action can still work, even in this age when so few people wield so much outrageous power,” he said. “Many other issues crowd in for our attention, but those other issues depend so heavily on how media treats them that their reform depends upon media’s reform.”