A Flawed Work of Art

I don't know about you but I am very relieved after having my belief I lived in a part of the country with four seasons shaken, that the winter and snow finally arrived over the weekend. I had fretted since around Thanksgiving that, despite threatening skies and unfriendly temperatures, maybe our snow was broken, but I am feeling much better about all of that now.

I also no longer look quite so foolish standing on my Flexible Flyer sled in our side yard waiting and hoping for a flake. Most days, I was what I was waiting for and I think people were beginning to talk. (Mostly about the cape I wear to complement my Superman underoos.)

I prefer flip-flops to mukluks having worn the latter for a large part of the year I was stationed at Sondrestrom Air Base, Greenland in 1976 (talk about putting the cold in the Cold War; mission accomplished) and while we don't see the amounts of snow here I did there, in my case it's more the idea of snowfall I'm less than a fan of rather than the actual white stuff.

I'd be the first to admit snow not only covers a lot of blemishes (insert the name of your least favorite derelict property here), it provides us with a literal blank canvas upon which we can create our own neighborhood, downtown or city. Seeing in the arctic expanses whatever it is we wish to see  (My wife, Sigrid, assures me when I'm snow-covered that I'm more handsome than when we married.)

Our daughter, Michelle, and I made relatively short work of the snow that more than blanketed us on Sunday helped in no small part by her Saturday afternoon sojourn outside in the midst of the swirling flakes on the first shift of snow removal.

For my part, I was enjoying a short video clip created after the dusting we had last very early Friday by Foundry 66, an activity of the Norwich Community Development Corporation in what many of us will continue to call the "old Bulletin building" for the next twenty years, actually 66 Franklin Street, hence (sort of) the name.

The video will confirm your belief that we live in a lovely city and I think Foundry 66 might be a resource for each of us in our own way to make where we live even better and to share our vision of that better place with one another.

Foundry 66 see their mission as bringing together entrepreneurs and small business folks in a shared business environment and activity center. In this case, when you hear hooves, do think of zebras instead of horses in terms of size and scale of operation.

They define themselves as a platform for projects and a meeting space for groups of independent individuals who share collective values while creating a certain synergy that can come from working alongside, rather than in competition with, one another.  In other words, think of what they do rather than who they are.

I watched the video many times (it's way less than a minute and you know it's magic because it seems to get shorter every time you watch it) while reading Mayor Hinchey's State of the City address from last Tuesday's City Council meeting.

I know you read about it in last Wednesday's newspaper, but her remarks, in their entirety are worth the few minutes of your time. It's a very thorough report by our departments and agencies on where we've been but if you read nothing else, and shame on you, then make her last paragraph where she highlights the climate of cooperation and I think you. too, will agree under the snow is a city worth living in and fighting for, waiting for you.
-bill kenny