Milestones can creep up on you

“If you miss the train that I am on, 

you will know that I am gone”

From Peter, Paul and Mary from 500 miles -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADN1lLEp3H0

“When I wake up, well, I know I'm gonna be

I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you”

Another 500 Miles performed by the Proclaimers -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0 

“My name is Robert Wilson

I'm from Eau Claire, Wisconsin

I've been living out of a

Suitcase now for fourteen days…”

3,000 miles by Ellis Paul ->  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13AHwW076Ao

 

“Do you love the rain, does it make you dance

When you're drunk with your friends at a party?

What's your favorite song, does it make you smile?

Do you think of me?”

10,000 hours by Dan & Shay with Justin Bieber  -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EAliOfw_2w 

 

“It was just after dark when the truck started down

The hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.

Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas”

30,000 pounds of bananas by Harry Chapin -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8I-zPmTPzM 

So all this by way of a milestone I happened to notice.  I had created 30,000 posts for Franklin Matters. https://www.franklinmatters.org/

I report on what happens in Franklin, providing citizen journalism with plenty of help from dozens of informers, readers, listeners, and commenters.

It results in a daily newsletter published successfully for 5,429 days

(and yes, that number increases each day),

That means an average of 5.5 posts per day covering meeting notes, sports results, press releases and all that matters in Franklin.

It is a labor of love and care as my public service effort for Franklin and I can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. Thank you!

Franklin Matters. https://www.franklinmatters.org/

Chamber recognition as "Member of the Month"

Catching up to a little self-promotion: "Member of the Month, Steve Sherlock, of Franklin Matters"

"When Steve Sherlock was nominated for URCC Member of the Month, it was said that he “likes and shares all of our posts.” OK. We ask everyone to like and share our posts. But when you or I like and share a post, we are on a completely different level. When Steve likes and shares the chamber’s posts, the word REALLY gets out. The brains behind the website, Franklin Matters, Steve is a one-man digital news powerhouse for the town of Franklin. He has been sharing information to empower the voters and residents of Franklin since 2007.

Steve attends around 60 meetings each year – taking him out of his house at least one night and, sometimes, as many as three nights each week. These meetings include Town Council, School Committee, and the Finance Committee, to ‘follow the money’. He records the meetings and creates posts and podcasts for his audiences. And did we mention that this is a volunteer job?

Seems like a lot and it is, but now newspapers are cutting back more and more and the first thing on the chopping block is local coverage. So, the work Steve does is even more important now than it had been in the past. Franklin Matters has more than 4,000 people in its Facebook group; more than 2,000 Twitter followers, and an email list of over 1,000 that continues to grow. And when Steve posted recent election results, more than 20,000 people viewed the results on his site. Franklin residents count on Franklin Matters and Steve for their news because they know that they can rely on his level head and just reporting.

And the volunteering does not stop there. For several years, Steve also volunteered for the Franklin Food Pantry, where he held the positions of chairman as well as secretary.

In his real life day job, Steve is the Senior Director of Information Protection for John Hancock. He has held this position, which involves security and privacy, for more than four years now. We would guess that he probably logs in more than 60 meetings a year at his day job. Steve and his wife, Dolores, have lived in Franklin since 1995 where they raised their two daughters. He is a fixture in Franklin and the town is oh so lucky to have him. Not many towns or cities can say they have such a dedicated resource.

Chamber recognition as "Member of the Month"

On LinkedIn, Steve says he has a six-word resume – Project delivered, team happy, customer elated. We can say that about Steve not only for his day job, but also for his second job – bringing the news to the people of Franklin.

So, the next time we are watching that baseball game, binge watching our favorite shows, or reading a book, we can be grateful to people like Steve Sherlock who bring our news to us without any bias. And that is more than enough reason for Steve to be the United Regional Chamber of Commerce member of the month.

Join us in congratulating Steve. Franklin Matters has been a member of the chamber since 2008 and we are grateful that he is on board with us – liking and sharing our posts. He certainly helps us get the word out."

This was shared from the Sep 3, 2019 newsletter
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/New-Jobs-on-Our-Job-Board--Executive-Express-O--Ribbon-Cuttings--and-More.html?soid=1100642858535&aid=KCq4Qlk8_Ts

Note: I did retire from John Hancock as of Sep 30 and I am thoroughly enjoying retirement!

Pond St Tour (audio)

It was a rainy day so on my walk I explored the former sewer treatment plant on Pond St in Franklin.

Here is a brief audio recording while I was in the middle of the property. For additional info on the RFP process you can jump over to FranklinMatters.org.



Check out the Flickr slideshow of the key photos of what I saw on the walk.

Photo weekend

I did get to compose my listing of 5 songs but the write up of the five stories is taking a bit longer than I thought. Took a nice good walk on Saturday to capture some photos around Franklin. Some I have posted right away, others I'll use as needed.

I updated the cover of the Franklin Matters Facebook page with the 'spring' look. No need to see the snow any longer!   http://www.facebook.com/franklinmatters


I took some photos around the old town pool, the site of the new sculpture park
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/04/franklin-sculpture-park-imagine-future.html


Here are a current set of photos of the new high school
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/04/construction-progress-new-fhs.html


I got to cook on the grill without getting all bundled up!

spring grilling

What did you do this weekend?

Bert Jacobs "takers may eat well, but givers sleep well"

"Optimism Can Take You Anywhere" was the title of the presentation and talk that Bert Jacobs gave at Dean College on Thursday evening. This was the 8th in the series by the Dean Leadership Institute. Dr. Paula Rooney thanked the Robert Kraft and the Kraft Group, last year's speaker for helping to make the connection with the Life is Good founder.

Dr Paula Rooney introduction

Bert wasn't going to talk about t-shirts. He was going to talk about how to approach life as an optimist and how that makes a difference. He touted one of the key factors in his own development as having a family dinner. "Half the world's problems would be solved if people sat down regularly to a family dinner." He father had told him he could be part of the problem or part of the solution.

He downplayed the "6:00 news" as really the "6:00 violence report." When you look around there is a whole lot of good in the world. Longevity is up. Wealth is better distributed. There is no active war at this time. Is life perfect, no. But it is not as bad as it is reported to be.

Bert Jacobs at Dean College

He touted persistence. he and his brother had five and a half years of bad ideas before they hit upon a good one. The good one being the first smiling face t-shirt who image eventually got the name "Jake." What told him that had hit on a good idea. That they had sold 48 t-shirts in an hour in Cambridge to 48 different people. They recognized they had found their market with "life is good."

They focused on finding an element of life and celebrating it. He told of his first t-shirt shop on Cape Cod. They were next to an ice cream parlor. The owner called him to order more shirts and asked if "Jake" could be eating ice cream? Sure, why not. Another idea came from a store owner in Vermont who wanted Jake riding a mountain bike. Sure, why not.

Some ideas didn't work as well as others. Oddly, they had trouble with Jake in a wheel chair. Folks were not getting the real 'life is good' message. "Takers may eat well, but givers sleep well." "Life can hurt, but play can heal."

Bert Jacobs at Dean

He told the story of how they developed their Halloween pumpkin celebrations, how they eveloved to focus on sharing their wealth and doing fund raising for kids. Life is Good Playmakers is part of the overall company. He told of their plans to expand their product lines beyond t-shirts. Hallmark is selling life is good cards. Life is good will have coffee come July. He wouldn't reveal their partner in the coffee business.  They are in talks with an auto manufacturer for a Life is good vehicle.

Bert said "authenticity builds business." "The only ones who can build a brand are your customers." Life is good does not do advertising, everything they do is by word of mouth. Satisfied customers telling their friends and spreading the word.

He closed asking the students to find their positive purpose. He said 'life is good' is spreading the power of optimism. He said, "We can't stop the waves, we need to learn to surf."


This was also posted to Franklin Matters

Birthday wish

As I take a few minutes to look back on 2012, my three word goals definitely helped me though the year.

I have learned about dealing with loss (here and here) and have worked through some challenging times with the Food Pantry. I have continued to share here and elsewhere. And laughter has definitely helped to carry me through the day.

So what is my birthday wish?

I don't expect you to follow my three word goals. It would be better for you to determine your own. You will should them. They should matter to you and those who surround you!

If you recall the lessons of Maslow's Hierarchy, food is right there on the bottom of the pyramid. It is a key building block to self actualization. I would like you to contribute in some way to your local food pantry.  Spend some time volunteering, contribute financially, or at least find out about what they are doing, how they are doing, and help to spread the word about their good work.

I support the Franklin Food Pantry because Franklin matters to me. Help me enjoy my birthday by doing something for your local food pantry!

Thank you


FYI - You can find a local food bank here  http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx

or a local food pantry here   http://www.ampleharvest.org/find-pantry.php

You can donate to the Franklin Food Pantry here  http://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/


Photo from the Turkey Trot Family Fun Run 5K held in Franklin on Thanksgiving to help the Franklin Food Pantry.  http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/turkey-trot-family-5k-fun-run-photo.html

lights sparking

The downtown area of Franklin was in a festive spirit Thursday evening as the annual Holiday Stroll took place. Sponsored by the Franklin Downtown Partnership, many of the businesses opened their doors to special activities which drew attention. A chilly evening was filled with happy voices of families as the moved from the Fire Station to the Historical Museum to the craft tables...

It was a fun evening!

More about the evening can be found on Franklin Matters here and here

The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile came to Franklin, what was I supposed to do?

For additional photos from the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile visit to Franklin on Saturday
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/08/the-oscar-meyer-wienermobile-photo-essay.html

The Boston Globe gets to "Your Town" with Franklin!

Yes, there is a "Your Town" Franklin page! A recent conversation with Globe Regional Editor David K Dahl, revealed the news and he followed up with the link.

You can view the new page here: http://yourtown.boston.com/franklin

It will aggregate information as published by the Globe and other identified sources (yes, Franklin Matters is one of them!).

This is cool!

here and elsewhere!

There are other places to find where I write. Some of you know those, some new readers may not be as familiar so this will be a quick refresher.

My regular updates on what is happening that matters in Franklin, MA can be found on http://www.franklinmatters.org/. I focus primarily on the town budget (follow the money) which means I spend as much time as I can among the Finance Committee meetings, the Town Council and the School Committee.

I also write a weekly summary of the Franklin happenings at  http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/

As I find good information for those still looking for work, I share that on the Job Search Jam Sessions webpage here http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/

While my father has passed on to a better place, some of the family history is being kept on his page - Jerry's Story: http://jerrysherlockstory.blogspot.com/

I do run regularly but have been posting less regularly on my running blog, Passionate Runner http://passionaterunner.blogspot.com/

And in a quiet moment, when I allow the muse to speak, I can capture those poetic thoughts on my poetry blog: http://www.quietpoet.com/

So if you come here and find Steve's 2 Cents quiet, there may be other places where I have been busy!

From Ben Franklin to Franklin Matters

Google continues to enhance search and the results that are presented. This video highlights the changes now available in the "Knowledge Graph"



More about the Knowledge Graph can be found on the Google InsideSearch page here
http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/05/introducing-knowledge-graph-things-not.html

Random thoughts

Busy times with Food Pantry Board of Directors work - slogging through formative documents, defining process and procedure to meet our needs today and set up for what comes later, when perhaps none around the table will be there. Not easy work getting all to the same page.

The Town Council approved the date for the debt exclusion vote (Mar 27th) and the text that was forced upon us by the state leaves out the dollar amount so it seems to be approving a 'blank check'. Who in their right mind would do such a thing is beyond me at the moment. The challenge will now be to convince folks it is a good deal and is bounded cost wise by other measures. Could have been so much simpler.

Dad's health issues haven't improved much recently. A new scan may provide some insights either today or tomorrow on his status.

Be good, learn something today. Share it in a meaningful way with someone and find a laugh or two! Doing at least these three things will make the day a success!

Citizens for the New Franklin High School

For those looking for information on what's happening in Franklin one of the major stories to follow this year will be the proposal for the new high school. I was able to report on the organizational meeting of the "Citizens for the New Franklin High School" on Thursday evening. I will not be able to take an active role in this effort. With all that is going on with the family and my work on the Food Pantry board, I will do what I can to report on the matter to keep all in Franklin informed.

Over 60 Almost 80 people have gathered here in the library in the middle of Franklin High School to start the committee to promote and advocate for the new high school proposal.

School Building Committee Chair Tom Mercer is providing an overview of the work performed to date. The various proposal put together, what was rated and ranked, pros and cons, then ultimately the MSBA invited Franklin into the "Model School" program.

Participating were at least one representative from the Finance Committee, many of the School Committee and Town Council members.

Among the items shared:

The Whitman-Hanson model school has been replicated 8 times around the state. One other model school has been replicated once. The other two model schools have not yet been replicated.

The foot print of the new building is two-thirds of the size of the existing building. It goes up three stories to reduce the foot print over the existing space.

There is 850 seat auditorium/theater in the new design.

MSBA will vote on Jan 25th to approve or deny our proposal. The School Building Committee will then come to the Town Council asking for a debt exclusion with a target date for the vote - March 27. The Town Council has final say on the debt exclusion and date for the vote.

If all goes well, ground will be broken this fall and the new building should be open in the fall of 2014.

The total cost of the project is projected to be $104.5 M
Franklin's share would be $47 M. The State will pick up 59.52% of the cost (the balance).
When the project started the expected reimbursement was expected to be 30-34%

The debt exclusion is for a twenty year period. It will be an increasing cost and then flat for the remainder of the twenty year term. Compared to an override, the debt exclusion increase in taxes will expire at twenty years. The override never expires (unless there is an 'underride' - and yes, it does happen but not frequently in MA).

Tom is doing this 'road show' several times and the schedule will continue to develop.

The group has a Facebook page
There is a Twitter account created:  https://twitter.com/#!/sayYEStoFHS
There will likely be a website (link to be added when available)

The other model schools being built with the Whitman-Hanson model are coming in on or under budget and schedule.

One of the major items bringing the current high school to warning status is the lack of handicap access. The cost to provide accessibility to the current facility still wouldn't address other issues affecting the warning status.

The current facility is experiencing a rash of electric shorts causing fire alarms. This is part of the overall infrastructure problem.

Important dates
Jan 31 - Finance Committee meeting to preview the proposal and make their vote
Feb 1 - Town Council meeting
Feb 28 - School Committee meeting

The model school is a take it or leave it proposal Franklin can get a 104.5 million facility for $47M.

"Citizens for a New Franklin High School"

Additional information on the high school project can be found in this Franklin Matters collection
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/12/collection-high-school-building-project.html

Note: this was originally posted to Franklin Matters!

Franklin MAtters: Changes afoot

Scene script:

Queue Dylan's "The times they are a changing" as background music

Focus on a cross roads with multiple options:

Announcement: I will switch the focus of my efforts from live reporting on Franklin's meetings to spending more time on the Franklin Food Pantry. I with not be live reporting on the meetings Tue and Wed this week. A more formal announcement will be made later.

Thank you for your readership. Thank you for your interest in Franklin.


Queue Pete Seeger singing "Turn, Turn, Turn" in the background.

Fade picture slowly, diminish music slowly


This was originally posted on Franklin Matters here

"silence doesn’t mean they don’t have opinions"

How to Turn Lurkers and Listeners into Advocates http://bit.ly/eJYETj "silence doesn’t mean they don’t have opinions" #the5

Maybe they don't have the proper vehicle for expressing their opinions?

Maybe they need to be enabled?

Maybe they need a little nudge?

Whatever the case, I hope to further expand the contributions from Franklin folks on Franklin Matters. I have managed to recruit some contributors. This week I will be creating a "Voices of Franklin" section that hopefully will be more 'self-service' than hand crafted.

Blogger has a feature to allow an email to post. The feature can post automatically or in draft. I have it enabled to post in draft mode. This way someone can make a submission, it stays in draft and then I can review and schedule it (assuming it meets the editorial guidelines).

This is a step toward meeting two of my three objectives this year. You don't recall what they were? Shame on you! Kidding, of course. My three word goals are "Analogy, bold, conduct"

How are you doing on your three word goals?

Serve your shareholders

Yes, a simple statement and akin in many ways to 'motherhood and apple pie'. There is controversy anew in the Milford Daily News today generated by the headline:

"Flag-burning art decried in Franklin"

You can go read the article here. Be sure to read the comments, in particular one from 'IPayAttention' where the back story or the full story on the art display at Franklin High School was put into context.

We need to remember that the mission of a newspaper is not to generate the full story. No, it is to serve their shareholders (which means to increase revenue, or to at least meet their revenue targets). The newspapers achieve revenue by selling advertising, which means that they have committed to their advertisers 'x number' of copies, or 'y number' of readers (whichever metric they use).  It is far easier to create controversy and sell papers than it is to toil away with the real story.

The Milford Daily News is not the only paper doing this. Recent events provide plenty of examples:

• The Boston Globe was taken to task for slanted coverage of the Brandeis graduation ceremony. 
• The NY Times has been taken to task for their coverage of Richard Blumenthal
• Even the Federal Trade Commission gets dinged for protecting the journalistic establishment

There are other examples, these happen to have caught my attention recently.

Why raise this?

Especially in the light of the rapidly approaching June 8th special election here in Franklin, ones point of view becomes important.

As opposed to the newspapers looking to sell copies with attractive headlines and incomplete stories, my attempts at Franklin Matters are to provide the full and accurate details. 

• I report live and on the fly from meetings. I do clean up typos and add reference links later, especially if they are missed in the live reporting. 
• My effort is a public service effort to give back to the Franklin community. 
• I will attempt to save you some time digging through the Franklin website to find info. 
• I also work with the folks in Franklin's various departments providing feedback on how to improve the information flow.

If I do share the available information properly, then you the reader (and Franklin voter) can make an informed decision before you go to the polls. June 8th is only one election day. It happens to be a critical one for the voters to determine what services Franklin will provide. Will we be able to provide almost the same services as this past year? Or will there be additional reductions in services?

It is our choice.

I'll help to provide the information. You need to do two things:

1. Get the information you need to make a choice
2. Vote on June 8th

You get bonus points if you talk with your neighbors about this and get them to vote!

Additional information on the override can be found here:

• http://investinfranklin.weebly.com/index.html
• http://franklinschoolcommittee.wordpress.com/override-page/
• http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/budget-override-collection-fy-2011.html

June 8th - special election - get out and vote!

Preparation and discussion for the special election in Franklin, MA on June 8th is underway. The comment boxes on individual items in the Milford Daily News can be interesting reading.

A series of 'frequently asked questions' are being addressed on Franklin Matters. If there are additional questions, please feel free to ask. We'll do our best to get them answered.  The first of the "FAQs" can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/frequently-asked-questions-why-should-i.html

The summary of important links regarding the June 8th vote can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/budget-override-collection-fy-2011.html

Business After Hours

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce held a "Business After Hours" networking event at Dean College Thursday evening.

Dean College was a gracious host, with good food and refreshments in their newly renovated Library and Learning Center on the Dean campus. President Paula Rooney was amongst the several Dean representatives present.

Jack Lank, President of the United Regional Chamber, welcomed everyone. Jay Leiendecker, Vice President at Dean gave some brief remarks as did Jeff Nutting, Franklin Town Administrator.

A number of business people from outside Franklin came to the event to meet business folks from Franklin and help share what they do to spread the word and expand their business.

With as many people as were at the event, I could not get to talk with all. Those whom I did get to talk with were interesting. Some highlights were:

Did you know that Digital Credit Union is developing an application to take a picture of a check with your smartphone to create a deposit into your account without having to actually bring the check to the teller or ATM machine? I will talk further with Thomaz Demoura, Branch Manager of the DCU office on RT 140 to understand how this will work.

Did you know that if you'd like to hold an outdoor wedding in the area that Country Gardens, a bed and breakfast with a special events facility would be a good place to consider? Located approximately two miles from LaSalette Shrine, I will be talking with Ralph Arguin to find out more about their services.

You may recall a conversation with Linda Waters, President, Back to Business, that I reported here from the Harvest Festival last September. The Confidence Beads that were in development are now ready and available. I will be finding out more to bring back and share here.

This is just a sample of the conversations available at Business After Hours. Consider finding out more about the United Regional Chamber of Commerce and their operations by visiting their website, calling one of their offices, or contacting me. You don't have to be a member to attend their Business After Hours, you can attend as a guest.

Why do I spend time at such events? You may have heard me say/write that something like a split tax is not a solution to our budget problems. A split tax rate creates two classes of taxpayers and attempts to shift the burden from the residential to the commercial/industrial base. That simply makes it harder to do business in Franklin. What we really need to do is not split the pie but make the pie larger! Increasing business opportunity in Franklin is one way to help our overall budget issues. The opportunity to meet and talk with the business folks is priceless!

Creating opportunities for business to operate successfully in Franklin is what matters.


This was originally posted to Franklin Matters.

Choice of language colors the conversation

"in the cross of two shadows, there lies a darker diamond" I wrote that many years ago. I come back to that from time to time. Recognizing patterns, recognizing intersections.

Kate Rutter writes:

Here’s the skinny on what I call Page Rage. Page Rage is the emotion that overwhelms you when you realize that continuing to use the term Web Page curdles opportunities for evolving user experiences. Why? Because the word is an artifact of the woefully outdated book metaphor — a metaphor that limits thinking.

The word “page” means paper and books. And although it never made literal sense, it was a helpful metaphor when the digital stuff on the web was mostly about static content…when it behaved more like books. But the capabilities and possibilities for digital interfaces have shifted dramatically.

You can read her full explanation in this weeks Adaptive Path Newsletter here.

Bill Glynn writes:

Equally disconcerting is the union’s rejection of the Superintendent’s plan, not based upon the plan’s potential effectiveness, but based upon selfish and misplaced priorities. It’s impossible to determine from this article exactly how the union came to its position and whether or not that position actually reflects the view of the faculty at large. However, the union’s position is troubling. When demands to negotiate take priority over the overwhelming need to work together, that’s a problem. When more time is spent searching the fine print of a contract or seeking a legal opinion than researching best practices for motivating and connecting with students, that’s a problem. When education is waning and students are suffering and the voice of the teacher goes unsolicited or is organizationally silenced, that’s a problem.

I suggest that you go and read the full posting on the Franklin School Committee blog here.  The Central Falls High School teacher situation is not good. It will not be solved (if it can be) in the newspapers and blogs. Especially when the readers are presented information where the words chosen are already coloring the points of view. Negotiations can not be conducted in a public discourse when the goal of newspapers is to sell papers or the goal of TV is to attract eyes to sell advertising.

The darker diamond that I opened with indicates where the two articles (Kate's and Bill's) come together. Kate is struggling with describing a website in page references where the page is not reflective of the "thing" itself.  Bill is assuming that there was no negotiation and that the teachers priorities are misplaced and selfish based upon what has been written in the papers. I read between those same lines and see a different story. I see negotiation. I see desire to help. I see a breakdown due to a miss understanding of an issue that has played here in Franklin and may indeed return.

The real issue is time. The teachers did agree to the extra summer work. They did not agree to the extension of the school day as the compensation was insufficient.

Yes, Bill can apply all sorts of adjectives to the situation. He has. Just be aware that there is an inherent bias in the words chosen. Just like Kate's issue with talking about web pages. The web is so much more than a page but continuing to talk about a page is limiting. Accusing the teachers of "selfish and misplaced priorities" assumes one takes the higher road. Taking a higher road will not resolve a negotiation that requires coming to a meeting of the minds in the middle.

What language would you choose to use?

Your slip is showing!

I have complained about Blogger's lack of spell check for the title for some time. They spell check everything else, why not the title?

Spell check wouldn't have helped me in this situation. While "live reporting" the Franklin School Committee last night for Franklin Matters, one post initially went out as "lie reporting".

Some wags would say that was actually more correct.

I just think it was interesting.