Finding Ulysses

Les Roberts will be speaking at the Trumansburg Fire House on Friday , April 28th at 7pm. It will be great opportunity to hear his views on the state of the nation. It’s a once in a lifetime chance to have someone of his caliber representing our district.

As some people offer short-sighted plans to “develop” our town into a place filled with generic franchise businesses that are found in almost every other town across America, we would do well to remember that people come from far away to visit Trumansburg and Ulysses because of our lush natural landscape and the unique kind of village life we’ve created here – not because they’re looking for a fast new pharmacy or a quick bite at a chain fast food restaurant.

Trumansburg Freecycle is an email-based group hosted by Yahoo. The idea is that people can sign up, and then post messages about things that they need, and things that they’re willing to give away. People respond to other people’s messages in order to help out or get help.

There is currently a push by some property owners to have the public subsidize the improvement of their land through the addition of new water lines that exclude the great majority of the land in Ulysses, benefitting just a few residents, but perhaps not coincidentally running exactly where Kinney Drugs and many other businesses are eager to create commercial development.

There is a committee working hard in our village to facilitate the public’s involvement in the creation of a new comprehensive plan to guide Trumansburg’s future development – and constraints on development. To keep the process open, the committee has put a blog up online.

My goodness, what lovely work there is to see on The Rongovian Embassy of Fine Arts blog. We ought not to allow such visions to remain purely private. I would love to see more of this work, this light darkness, out in our community’s homes and public places.

Trumansburg’s lawn signs against war remind me that there is more than one side to the common perception of the peacefulness of a small village.

The value of long rhythms in a constant place receives less praise than it deserves.

On April 8, out at the fairgrounds, there will be what they’re calling Crazy Cow Plop Bingo. Here’s how it works: They take a piece of ground, maybe a quarter of an acre, and fence it off, then make a grid on the ground, usually with spray paint. Then, they put a cow in the field, and wait.