My blog re-design is just about done, we are adding some final touches, it should be up by the end of the week or Monday at the latest.
My friends at Mannix Marketing and I have worked together to build a new platform for the blog, one that will be bolder, simpler, and very easy to read and access on smartphones and tablets as well as desktop computers.
More than half of my readers are now reading the blog on smartphones, and my blog platform, built a decade ago, is getting creaky and needs re-building.
Maria is revamping her blog as well, it will be easier for people to see her work and buy her art on Etsy.
We are adding a “live” streaming button to each of our blogs, we’re getting a Webcam for Bedlam Farm so you can follow us live as we herd sheep, make art, train dogs, talk to donkeys, host events at the farm, meet interesting people, shear the sheep, trim the donkey’s hooves.
To see these live broadcasts, all you have to is click on one button and if the camera is one, you’ll see a live broadcast. This is in part how we will revamp the Open Houses, you can come too, wherever you are..
My blog has a strikingly simple design, the photos are big and wide, so is the text and the daily essay. I don’t want to show it to you yet, I’d rather it be a surprise. The first step was this wonderful design by the artist Abrah Griggs, who is also a friend.
I asked the designers to get to the core, photos and words, and get rid of the noise and clutter. They did.
I couldn’t be happier with it, it captures the spirit of the Farm Journal, and the farm. We’re serious sometimes, but prefer not to be taken too seriously. We all need to be reminded to smile once in a while, or even every day.
I will, of course, continue the work of the Army Of Good, helping the Mansion residents, and where i can, the refugees and immigrants under siege in America.
The re-design of the blogs will cost about $8,000, fortunately Mannix agreed to give us several years to pay it back. If you wish to support this work or find it valuable, you can contribute either here, through the voluntary payment program, or here, through one-time donations.
We are simplifying the process of supporting the blog, adding “cancel” and “renew” buttons so managing support is simple. You can cancel at any time, and no financial information is stored on my site or server.
It took awhile for me to be comfortable getting paid for my work, but I am glad I did.
“Blessed are the men and women who take up hopeless causes, and fight against great odds, against powerful forces, and happily take on tasks others find hopeless. They are the true angels, the chosen ones, come to walk among us on the earth, destined to go mad with love and caring.” – Jon Katz, October 10, 2018.
One should, wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Crack-up,” be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. “This philosophy,” he wrote, “fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the “impossible,” come true.
I liked Thomas Toscano right away.
A Bronx- born former opera singer and Opera Company Director in Brooklyn, a veteran conductor and composer, Thomas is outspoken, cynical, funny, sometimes outrageous. And dedicated.
Under it all, he is a big-hearted pussycat and idealist. He could retire, of course, and live a quiet and peaceful life. He won’t, he can’t.
When you go into the studio, there is a sign asking you to sit down on a sofa and wait if you are a guest. If the door is locked, the sign says, please go away. The Fish Fry truck that is usually parked in front of the station was at the airport for a few days he said.
Tuesday, we sat alone in the studio (he is almost always alone in the studio, even while doing his marathon four hour morning talk show) and I got to sit and watch him put some music over the promo he and I had done for my radio show “Talking to Animals.” We are doing a trial run tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the embattled little radio station WBTN.
It was like a ballet, he was transfixed, muttering about the software, fingers flying over the keyboard, his love for his music revealed.
I saw this gruff and impatient man laugh and smile with the joy of creation, and I saw his heart and soul shine as he overlaid Van Morrison’s “Bright Side Of The Road” over his promo for the animal show I am going to be going tomorrow, Thursday.
He chose that song because I said I loved it, it was my favorite song.
The station has been fighting for its life for some years now, it has few volunteers, almost no staff, ancient and deteriorating equipment, few sponsors and no money to speak of. Like community radio stations all over the country and the world, there is little room left at the table when the lobbyists, corporate media companies, and government regulators get at the trough to shape and dominate the media landscape.
When is the last time you saw an actual human on Fox News or CNN?
WBTN has no lobbyist, it doesn’t even have an engineer. It has Thomas Lawrence Toscano, a social warrior who seems to live in the ratty old shack that WTBN calls home like some dogged woodland elf. I’m sure he vacuums at night.
This is familiar turf for me, I was born with a copper spoon in my mouth.
It seems I’ve been trying to outrun corporate America for most of my life, and failing. First, I saw them come for newspapers, then television, then publishing, not government. Then, of course, they came for me and you, just watch the news.
I fought and fought for many years, then fled the battlefield retreating to a farm and place and blog that no corporation has yet decided to take over or make money from.
Of course I loved Steven Toscano the minute I saw him, he is a brother, fighting the good fight for all of us, and even thought it is very difficult to see how he will win the fight to save the little station that could, it is even harder to imagine how he could fail.
For all the struggles we are going through, this is still the story of America I most love, the little guy against the giants, unable to quit or hide or retreat. Sometimes, say the stories, he or she even wins.
The giants seem to be getting meaner and bigger these days, fights like this one need to be won. There are very few places left where ordinary people get to speak their minds, or speak at all.
I’m happy to be there tomorrow, trying to put this radio show together, putting it on with Thomas. No better place for me.
When I was eight years old, I dreamed of having my own radio show. When I was 13, I had my own radio show at the Veteran’s Hospital in Providence, playing music to the patients there. When I was 15, I had a weekend radio show on public affairs, we talked a lot about the United Nations and whether or not China should be admitted.
Even I didn’t care. I know the glory of fighting lost and hopeless causes. This one just might be possible to win. You can donate here.
When I moved upstate and wrote books about animals, I did a radio show about dogs with WAMC (Public Radio/Albany) anchor Joe Donahue. I loved it, we were flooded with calls.I enjoyed it, at some point I irritated someone in power, a gift I have always had, and the shows abruptly ended).
I’ve been looking for another shot at my own radio show ever since.
People seem to grasp this latest Quixotic campaign of mine. The show will be streamed all over the country. Who knows?
I’m getting a whole bunch of questions e-mailed to me today to bring to the program, in case nobody calls. (the station call number is 866-406-9286, you can stream the show here), and lots of encouragement from the readers of my blog, we call them The Army Of Good, and I do few things without their blessing.
I hope to get a few calls, I have a fistful of questions.
They love good causes in this army, this is how we keep ourselves sane these days.
People all over the country understand the value of community, it’s fragility and endangerment in the Corporate Nation
I have no illusions. There is no sponsor, no engineer, nobody to screen the calls or process them but Thomas, I don’t know how many listeners.
He hinted that if the show worked, I would need to learn “the board” the Vietnam era studio set-up that sits bravely at the heart of the tiny radio station.
Poor Thomas, that may be the most hopeless cause of all.
So off we go, tilting at windmills, chasing dreams. This is my destiny, I think, nothing makes me happier or feeling closer to life. The point is not to win. The point is to fight the good fight. Thomas knows this, and so do I.
Bud has been with us for 10 days now, and he is really beginning to settle into our farm and our lives. He is a dominant dog, full of prey drive, and he clearly did not get much to eat when he was a puppy, he grabs at food as if it is the last he will ever seen.
He is a most affectionate dog, he loves to be touched. I can see he was manhandled, when approached quickly, he freezes and drops to the ground, although that too, is diminishing.
He jumps in and out of cars now, he loves to come along for any ride. He is playing with Fate for hours each day, and the two of them are exhausted in the evening. When I am writing, he loves to come into my study where he sits quietly and keeps an eye on many.
Tomorrow, But and I may try some therapy work again. First, I have my new radio trial show at 11 a.m. at WBNAM1270. This is a test of our plans for a one-hour “Talking to Animals” show. If you wish, you can call me at 866 406 9286 and listen to me via live streaming.
If you call, remember there is a seven-second delay so please turn down your radio.
Questions For My Radio Show. Thomas Toscano, Exec Director, WBTN
Tomorrow, Thursday, October 11, from 11 a.m. to noon, we’ll try a test run, a pilot, to see if it makes sense for me to do a one -hour weekly radio show on WBTNAM called “Talking To Animals.”
I can talk about dogs for hours and hours but I’d love the show to be a conversation, not a lecture, so I hope to get some questions. There are several easy and free ways to send me questions:
One is to e-mail me, [email protected], in advance of the show, as Cynthia has done. I’ll be happy to read and answer your animal questions on the program.
Another way, if you live within listening range of WBTN is to call 802 442-1010. If you live outside the listening range, as the vast majority of people reading this do, you can call the station and ask me a question by calling 866 406-9286.
In addition, people are asking me if the show will be podcast, i believe so, but I will have to check.
You can also stream the broadcast by going to WBTNAM.org (1370 AM) on your smartphone, pad or computer, and just click on “live.” Simple as that.
I want to thank Kathleen for being the first member of the Army Of Good to donate to WBTN, currently struggling to survive in the Corporate Media Nation.
I also want to thank Cynthia Dobbs for being the first person to e-mail me a question to read on the show: “Would you please discuss what you think are essential commands to teach one’s dog?”
Another question followed shortly: “What do you think is the best way to get a dog?” That could be an hour right there.
A third asked if there is any data on how many dogs are actually abused in America. There is.
Those are good questions and i’ll answer them on the program tomorrow. E-mail questions are a good way for people to connect with me, especially if they have to work or be outside of their homes during the broadcast. Or if they are just shy. You can also stream on a smartphone or tablet.
I first learned of Community Radio on my books tours, I loved their energy and interactivity.
Corporate media does not care to give voice to ordinary people, community radio does. Just watch cable news to see what a horror corporate media has made of our civic life.
So I’m signing up to do something for them and something for me. I’ve always wanted my own radio show, and this is also a very good cause.
I’ll be joined tomorrow by Thomas Lawrence Toscano, who will help me run the studio board and get me through the first trial run. He is the Executive Director of WBTN, and is a warrior for Community Radio.
He is working day and night to keep WBTN going.
He is from the Bronx (enough said.)
Warrior For Radio: Thomas Lawrence Toscano
The station is 96.5 on FM, but they don’t have an FM transmitter yet.
I don’t want to just be talking to myself, although I could talk about dogs and animals forever.
So call or e-mail your questions about dogs, cats, donkeys or any other animals. Live stream the show if you can and wish to. And feel free to live stream. It’s free and simple to do. It just takes one click right here.
And if you want to talk to me or ask a question or propose a topic, just call 866 406-9286. It’s free. So is my e-mail address: [email protected]
And if you like what you hear, please consider sending a donation to WBTM. You can donate right here. I’ve suggested that the station set up an Amazon Wish List to help with their urgent needs.
We can’t buy them the new FM transmitter they need (I don’t think we can) but we can help in many other ways.
The leaves turned quickly, just in the last few days, our big lush green Maple leaves are now an orange yellow, quite beautiful when set against. While I was looking through the lens, I saw the donkeys framed so beautifully, and I switched focus quickly. An image that touched my spirit.
