More Than Merely Eyes Can See is a new (2024) book from Hartford author Sue Carey. A proper review is forthcoming. It’s a read for those who know Hartford well, and for those who have never stepped foot here. It’s for those who never considered that the poor have anything to contribute to society, and for those who already know that the people we pass are not nobodies.
Cafe Amore is all about love, from their name to the decor to how they treat customers. This warm and welcoming coffee shop on Main Street by the corner of Capitol Avenue was opened last autumn by two young cousins. If you were hoping for a place that feels cozy rather than institutional, Cafe Amore is waiting for you, across from the Butler-McCook House.
Speaking of warm and welcoming, First Presbyterian on Capitol Avenue — not far from Cafe Amore — makes the choice to participate in community by making free winter clothing available without requiring anyone sit in the pews first to get it. They offer free yoga and sound baths, book club, and knit & stitch group.
For a hot minute in 2020, we were surrounded on all sides by anti-racist book clubs, most of which rapidly fizzled; analyzing those short-lived efforts and in some cases failures is a conversation for another time. Not failing? The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. They’ve hosted Salons at Stowe — conversations about social justice topics — since 2008, showing commitment to change. I know you’re thinking 2008 was yesterday, but that was somehow 17 years ago. One of their current offerings is “Reading for Change,” a book club that they call a “reading group for literary activism.” Their pick for March is Imagination: AManifesto by Ruha Benjamin; for April, it’s Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond; and coming in May is Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love. These meetings are free and virtual. There are those who cynically remark that book clubs don’t do anything, but if that were true, haters wouldn’t be so obsessed with banning books.
Speaking of places with longstanding commitment to social justice, this very morning the Immanuel Congregational Church — across from Stowe and Twain — is holding a stand out visibility action. The church with the unmissable rainbow walkway says “we are protesting the unfair and illegal actions being taken by the new administration. The power we have is fueled by God’s abundant love and the LOVE we have for each other.” People will be standing out from 7:30-9 AM on Valentine’s Day 2025 to show support for the environment, along with for those who are being targeted by the current administration: “immigrants, people experiencing poverty, and LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender and nonbinary people.” This is the church that gathered over 800 people for a “Speak Out” in support of same-sex marriage in February 2004. They have ongoing actions.
These stairs:
When all that construction happened in Bushnell Park but instead of stranding commuters, they placed temporary ramps over pipes, letting people still get where they were going.
Handmade signs popping up here and there asking people to be kind.
(Note: kindness is not the same as niceness)
Last February, City Hall was a shitshow when hundreds of people who do not live or vote in Hartford showed up to derail a City Council public hearing and vote. No love for them. No love for the asshole draped in a flag who followed me around outdoors yelling blatantly antisemitic slurs at me while local law enforcement just stood by and watched. Who do I have love for? The members of a local brass band who showed up and maneuvered themselves between that bully and me, literally drowning him out with loud music. That is the creative activism that I am here for.
Someone thought that the dumpster repurposed as a bench on Capitol Avenue between Flower Street and Babcock Street needed a frog friend. How did we ever exist without this?
Right down the street at Capitol and Broad, well into autumn, the City of Hartford installed a glorious obstacle course. It could use a few adjustments, but it feels like a huge improvement. While it’s possible that HPD has just been slow about getting crash reports into the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, it looks like there have not been any collisions at the intersection since the installation.
You know what? The Stowe Center deserves another shout out for hosting a program last March that was just people looking at old scrapbooks of cats, fawning over those cats of yore, and showing each other phone photos of our cats. It was free. It was low-key.
There is a labyrinth behind the Spiritual Life Center which is sort of between the seminary, UConn Law, and the secret woods in the West End. If you walk it at this time of year in late afternoon, you might be greeted by a cacophony of crows.
The temporary fencing that was installed last spring to prevent drunken Cedar waxwings (and other birds, but mostly the Cedar waxwings) from crashing into glass after gorging themselves on fermented berries.
Hartford Stage went extra creepy and weird with their latest run of A Christmas Carol.
They aren’t just for Hartford, but by now you’ve seen the electric buses on our streets.
