Some of you may remember Connie, Red and Maria and I became quite close to her in the last few years of her life. She was one of the first people Red and I worked with at the Mansion, one of the Army of Good’s first projects was to get her yarn for her knitting.
She set the tone for my work there, she also became friends with Maria.
This photo was taken in the hospital shortly before she died. She told us she was ready to go, and eager to go. She had suffered greatly.
Red still goes to Connie’s room quite often when we visit the Mansion, which we did today. Sylvie is in her room now.
Tomorrow the Mansion Director Morgan Jones leaves to take a job in Saratoga, she will be missed, I am so grateful to her for supporting my Mansion work, and Red’s therapy work.
I know she will thrive, I know she is special.
The Mansion residents loved her dearly, she always fought for them.
It was a soft sweet visit to the Mansion. I brought Sylvie 100 stamps so she can mail her letters to the people who write her (Sylvie, 11 S. Union St., Cambridge, N.Y., 12816).
Matt loves the four new sweatshirts we bought him so he can go outside in the coming chill.
Jean is walking well on her new wider shoes, and she dearly loves the comfort doll we brought her two weeks ago. She sleeps with it at her side.
Ruth is grateful for her sweatshirts and the photograph of the Memorial Service for her husband Ken that I took and had printed for her.
Joan is thrilled with her new CD music player, she especially loves Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles.
The staff says she lies down in the evening and listens to the CD’s, they calm and soothe her, she had been getting increasingly restless. She loves the music, and it has made an enormous difference to her, say the Mansion aides.
Gertha loves her new pants, they are comfortable and colorful, they supplement her dresses.
Tim is taking a lot of pictures with the used Canon Powershot we got him. He’s already worn out one strap. I hope to see some of his photos soon and share them.
Peggie is thrilled with the new laptop she was sent by a member of the Army Of Good, Kathy Gorman, she uses it every day, and says, thanks, thanks thanks. She means it. We’ll see Peggie Friday night at Bingo.
The new fireplace insert we bought is still in its box, awaiting approval from the state.
I am still searching for the right Karaoke machine to get for the Mansion.
The Mansion is a wonderful place for me to work, their needs are small and inexpensive, we can do so much good at little cost – small acts of great kindness.
If you would care to support the Mansion work, you can send a donation – small ones are very much appreciated – to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]
We are doing a lot of good there.
I was thinking of Connie today, I think she thought me how to help people at the edge of life.
I am constantly reminded that just because I have eyes, it doesn’t mean I can see. I wrote often of my struggles to find friends and keep them, yet this week, I have also been reminded that I do have friends, good ones, more than I have ever had.
It is, I suppose a matter of expectations and definitions. I’m going to do a trial run this morning of my idea for a new and intelligent radio call-in show about dogs on WBTN (1370), a struggling community radio station in Bennington, Vt.
it’s a call-in show, but I don’t expect many calls the first time, so I mentioned on the blog that people could e-mail me their questions about dogs and cats and other animals, so that I would have a lot of things to talk about.
This morning, my inbox was crammed with good, intelligent, interesting and thought questions about dogs and pets?
Deb wrote asking about dogs and vaccinations; Luanne wanted help in stopping her dog from chasing their cat around the house; Susan asked about dog breeding; A.L. wanted to know my thoughts about getting a new dog when there is an older one in the house; Cynthia wants to know what I think are “essential” commands for a dog; Susan asked about calming train, what is it and is it good for a puppy; Linda asked the best way to introduce a new dog into the household (a second dog); Sharon was upset to find landlords reluctant to allow pets in their apartments; Mary Jean’s dog likes to run, but doesn’t like to come back, she wants to know how to do that; Jackie has a dog that barks at other dogs.
There were a lot more, so many I’ve decided to write a weekly column here on the blog answering one question each week, assuming I can’t get to all of them on the radio. I think I have the right idea here, whether it works out on the radio station or not. And I hope it will.
It seems I do have a lot of friends, and they are good friends, and I am foolish and myopic not recognize that. I don’t have to touch them to see them.
As I go into the radio station, I know there are people behind me, people rooting for me, sending me questions, even calling me. Thomas Lawrence Toscano, the stations’ Executive Director, will be joining me to help figure out the stations vintage equipment.
I’m bringing two of my favorite reference books, Pets And Human Development, a classic by Dr. Boris Levinson, and Domestic Pets by James Serpell of the University Of Pennsylvania.
Our world is changing, and so is the very idea of friendship. So in a few minutes, Red and I will head out on this new adventure, my life is full of new adventures, just the way I like it.
I even heard from a possible sponsor this morning, someone who is starting a company to market CBD oil for animals, dogs and horses. Sounds like a perfect fit.
The station is WBTNAM, a community radio station. You can live stream my program, just click on “live,” it’s on from 11 a.m. to noon today, You can also call questions in to me: 866 406, 9286 (802 442 1010 if you’re in the listening area.)
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.
