Finding Ulysses » Media

Nextdoor Trumansburg Experiment Begins

Jonathan Cook — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:55:22 +0000

One of our neighbors has started our village off on an online experiment – a networking attempt using the Nextdoor web site’s structure. You’ll find it at Trumansburg Nextdoor.

Unlike other social networking systems online, this one requires a personal verification by regular old postal mail. They send a postcard to confirm your address, with information you need to enter. So, no snoopers from Enfield could crash this party.

So far, there are just three of us signed up. The way the system works is that, if there aren’t 10 more verified members in the next two weeks, Trumansburg Nextdoor will be shut down.

A network like this, used to spread news throughout our community, didn’t exist in our parents’ generation. Whether Trumansburg Nextdoor itself takes off or not, there will eventually be one or several such networks that do catch on, and that will change our lives significantly.

The technology is here, though, and I say that it’s better for us not to back away from it in fear. Is anyone else in?

Trumansburg Teens Have Sex, But Where?

Jonathan Cook — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:38:50 +0000

Teens in Trumansburg have joined in with a national campaign to defend Planned Parenthood against proposed budget cuts from Republicans in the U.S. Congress. The campaign features teenagers making videos proclaiming “I have sex”. The idea is that a lot of teenagers have sex, and not because Planned Parenthood tells them to. As long as these teenagers are having sex, shouldn’t they have access to the related services, like birth control and sexual health exams, that Planned Parenthood provides?

In many web sites promoting the “I Have Sex” campaign, the following sentence appears: “Follow-up videos have now been produced at Bard College, Oberlin College, Elmira College, in Trumansburg, NY, and from American students studying in Equador and France, thanks to social networking, primarily on Facebook.”

Try as I might, though, I can’t find a follow-up video from Trumansburg teenagers who say they have sex. Does anyone know where this video might be?

The original video – not from Trumansburg – is below.

UPDATE: The video from Trumansburg is below – and only some of the Trumansburg teens in it acknowledge that they have sex, though all declare their support for Planned Parenthood.

Drafty Driftwood Hits Rongo

Jonathan Cook — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:02:28 +0000

I appreciated the Appalachian folksy sound of Driftwood, recorded at the group’s recent performance at the Rongovian Embassy to the USA in downtown Trumansburg. Watching the video, however, my eye was distracted by the banjo player’s green knit cap, worn inside during the performance. Was the hat a statement about the politics of hair, or is the Rongo getting drafty?

Driftwood played with Holy Ghost Tent Revival. A tent? Maybe that had something to do with the chill.

It has been said that “Driftwood looks beneath the concrete and circuitry to find their sound.” Looking under concrete sounds like a rough business. These folks had better be careful of their hands.

Have You Heard Lately From Trumansburg? From Once Blue

Jonathan Cook — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:50:23 +0000

It’s not so much a video as an album cover along with the song Trumansburg from Once Blue, a one-album group featuring Rebecca Martin on vocal and Jesse Harris on guitar.

It’s May In Trumansburg

Jonathan Cook — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 03:50:41 +0000

What a glorious day it was, nearly 60 degrees and bright sun, with that ice melting right off the slick sidewalks. I saw real green grass around town today. It felt like May…

… and in some places, it was.

When I started this Finding Ulysses blog years ago, I thought that I might write on it a bit more than I actually have. Things have happened – two additional children especially – that have gotten in the way of that vision. I’d like to write more, and at more length, here than I do, and every now and then I feel bad when I see the site not so frequently updated.

I’m not feeling that way so much this evening, though, as I look on over at the official web site from the Trumansburg village government. The latest item in the news there is from May of last year, talking about the annual water quality report – the report that will be coming again just three months from now.

Yikes.

Could we arrange for the Village Board of Trustees to start a Twitter feed, perhaps? A quick Twitter search tonight does reveal that Trumansburg resident Don Ellis is a recent winner of an iPad from WSKG. What else of that sort could be shared by our local government?

In other local news, The Piggery announces on Facebook this week that it’s looking for a driver to take its products to New York City every thursday, for “CSA shares”:

“…looking for a farm driver to deliver our CSA shares from Trumansburg to NYC every Thursday starting March 10th. No special driver license needed, but a clean driving record is needed….. Please have anyone who may be interested get in touch:)”

It’s great to see anyone can offer any sort of job these days, even if it’s just one day a week. Also, I strongly respect the Piggery’s local food efforts here and at the Ithaca Farmers Market. Still – if the food travels 4 to 5 hours by road to get to its destination, how does this part of the business qualify as community supported agriculture?

Let’s get together, Trumansburg, and commit to eating more of our share of local pork – so they have less to send to Manhattan.

Cornell Short Film On Sweet Land Farm

Jonathan Cook — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:59:39 +0000

Feeling sick of winter? Wish you could be out there planting vegetables? Here’s a little video glimpse of warmer times we knew last year.

Cornell Cooperative Extension put together this short film profile of Trumansburg’s Sweet Land Farm, and posted it online a few days ago.

Summer shares of vegetables from the CSA will be available to all starting March 2.

Sautners Warn Ulysses About Water Contamination From Fracking

Jonathan Cook — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:08:12 +0000

Julie and Craig Sautner came up from Pennsylvania to Trumansburg recently to share their personal experience with the consequences of hydrofracturing to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Their only source of clean drinking water was contaminated by the process.

The following video contains their talk on the subject:

Don Barber Warns Trumansburg Of Rural Industrialization

Jonathan Cook — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:45:44 +0000

In this video from Shaleshock Media, Caroline town Supervisor Don Barber warns Trumansburg residents about the dangers of rural industrialization that come along with natural gas drilling. The video comes from a recent forum in Trumansburg about the risks of drilling that uses the controversial technique of hydrofracturing.

Susan Steingraber On Gas Drilling In Ulysses

Jonathan Cook — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:35:04 +0000

A video of Trumansburg resident Susan Steingraber speaking at a forum about the impact of natural gas drilling using hydrofracking in our area:

A More Sunny Trumansburg Playground

Jonathan Cook — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:12:12 +0000

In these darkening days, Phoulao bringing us a video from when our village was warmer and lighter, and when the Trumansburg playground was still new:

Paul Newman Released By Radio The Ape

Jonathan Cook — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 22:02:02 +0000

A post-mortem Hollywood hostage primate crime disaster?

No, a new music video by Trumansburg band Radio The Ape:

Grassroots Festival Videos Start Trickling Out

Jonathan Cook — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:47:32 +0000

Every year, as the Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance winds down, the YouTube representation of the event begins, with a wave of new uploads that lasts several weeks, well into the autumn. The first of these videos have now arrived, starting out with a touch of Zydeco.