Christian A. Camerota

HAMDEN, Conn. – What was supposed to be a panel discussion of the media’s coverage of the 2008 presidential election Wednesday night turned into something more resembling a Barack Obama rally.

The panel was composed of five regional media members, including Les Payne (former Newsday associate editor), Juan Gonzalez (New York Daily News columnist), Lisa Burns (Associate Professor of Media Studies at Quinnipiac University), and Eric Burns (former host of “Fox News Watch”).  The event was held in Quinnipiac University’s Alumni Hall and drew approximately 500 attendees, largely school students, faculty and area locals.

“It wasn’t as much about the campaign as it was about issues that surround it…race, gender, age,” said David Donnelly, Dean of the School of Communications.  Donnelly added, “when you’re talking about race, you probably won’t spend a lot of time talking about McCain.”

Donnelly’s point might explain why much of the discussion focused on Obama’s candidacy and its place in history.  The discussion was even entitled “History in the Making: Covering the 2008 Presidential Election.”

The New Yorker’s recent cartoon depicting Barack and Michele Obama in extremist garb served as the backdrop for much of the night, intermittently projected onto a large screen above and behind the panel’s heads.  Its indistinguishable status as either racist, satirical, or both, reflected the trouble in dealing with the complex issues at play in the election.

“I think race is being avoided because it’s difficult to talk about,” said Burns.  “When someone does talk about it, they have to worry about coming under attack.”

Burns’ last comment was oddly prescient, as the panel did come under fire for displaying a sensitivity towards Obama.  When a student asked about their apparent bias during the concluding Q-and-A session, moderator Stan Simpson (Hartford Courant columnist and host of WTIC’s “NewsTalk 1080”) assumed responsibility, saying he composed the panel.

At the end of the event, Simpson felt a poll was in order and asked the audience to vote by raising their hands.

“How many are going to vote in the upcoming election?”  All hands rose enthusiastically.

“How many are going to vote for Barack Obama?”  About half the hands rose with vigor.

“And how many are going to vote for John McCain?”  About twenty hands went up, most sheepishly and only half way.

The vote reflected the difficulties of having a truly dialogic exchange in an academic setting between media professionals and students and in a typically liberal state.

Republican voices were heard only a few times throughout the night and, even then, presented in a joking or negative way.  Two separate video clips were shown, one depicting Governor Sarah Palin’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, and the other showing an impassioned, bigoted Midwestern gathering of Republicans condemning Obama as a terrorist.

Age and gender, two of the three issues scheduled to get equal attention, also got short shrift.  Both were touched on briefly, but were dwarfed by the intensity of the racial discussion and its relation to Senator Obama’s campaign.

Not everyone felt the panel was biased, however.

“I think [the panel] had definite opinions,” said Betty Wolf, a Hamden resident, “but I don’t think they were bias, since bias usually means negative.”

Wolf’s point was well taken, as the discussion was overwhelmingly positive.  Positive, that is, if you supported Obama.

But for some, the event’s merit had nothing to do with any perceived political preference.  Rather, it was enough to be having an exchange.

“The nice thing about these forums is they force us to talk about these things,” Donnelly said.  “The more we talk about them, the better.”

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Monday night’s City Council meeting centered on finding shelter for the homeless and evicting coyotes.

Following meetings of the Administration and Finance Committees, the council’s gathering focused predominantly on whether or not to accept a report from the Administration Committee on homelessness in New London, and on adjusting regulations for the city’s homeless shelters during inclement weather.

“I think the Administration Committee…has a deplorable tendency to be unnecessarily mean-spirited,” Dr. David Hayes of Ocean Avenue said in the public comment portion of the meeting.  Hayes was speaking in reference to the committee’s past tendency to impose harsh restrictions on who is able to enter homeless shelters during evening hours.

This central issue concerned a report drawn up by the Administration Committee investigating the nature of homelessness in New London and whether or not the council should accept or reject the report as part of its formal record.  Councilmen John Maynard and Michael Buscetto III supported a motion to reject the report.

“We get plenty of reports.  But, this is a serious issue,” Buscetto said.  “I don’t think the community is looking for us to table this issue or put this in a pile of papers and pick it apart someday.  We need to take action and see what happens.”

After further discussion and a few respectful but vehement disagreements, the council voted to override the motion to reject by a simple majority.  This meant the Administration’s Committee’s homeless report would become part of the city’s record.

Two other issues surrounding New London’s homeless were also discussed, the first being a motion to direct questions about the city’s shelter through the planning and zoning committee.   This passed unanimously.

The second was a motion to lift the breathalyzer requirement at the shelter during extreme cold and inclement weather, leaving admission up to the discretion of the shelter’s director.  After consultation with the city’s attorney regarding legal verbiage, the motion also passed unanimously.

“We get to the homeless and there’s very little accountability there,” Buscetto said later.  “When I talk to business owners that are planning to come to town, they don’t say ‘hey, do you have plans on expanding your homeless shelters? Because we’re excited about that.’”

Another issue that commanded much attention was a motion to drop the city’s contract with Nuisance Wildlife Evictions, LLC, a company hired to monitor and contain the city’s coyote population, which has become an increasing problem in recent months.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Dan McSparran of Elm Street during the public comment portion. “They get $1250 a month whether they catch an animal or not…even though trapper John (of Nuisance Wildlife Evictions, LLC) has never, ever trapped a coyote.”

The council laughed in admission of McSparran’s comments and later passed a motion to drop the contract.  Mayor Kevin J. Cavanaugh assured the public they would be pursuing alternative methods of monitoring the coyote population afterward.

Lastly, the committee unanimously passed a motion to raise the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who set fire to the Jennings School earlier this month.  This motion raised the reward $1,000 to $2,500.

“I’m pleased they took care to think of the homeless during harsh weather,” Dr. David Hayes said after the meeting’s conclusion.

As for the coyotes?  Hayes responded to them, too.

“It doesn’t seem like they had much to fear, even when we did have someone that was supposed to trap them.”

NIANTIC, Conn. – For anyone set to watch the Munsell Brothers Band perform, appearances can be deceiving.

Walking into Burke’s Tavern on Saturday night, you’d be hard-pressed not to notice the eight electric and bass guitars flanking a drum set and a couple keyboards in the back of the bar.  There are a few microphone stands in front, vocal sentinels guarding the instruments.

But you’d likely have a tough time picking out the band members, as none of them sport the typically outlandish musician’s garb or appearance.

“They are more interested in showing off their musical talent,” said Michael Keltner of Waterford.

The band is an eclectic mix of the two Munsell Brothers, Keith and Mark, Dave the drummer, and Dan the keyboardist, all of whom are well into their 50s and are balding with weathered faces.  Amanda, their young, short, vivacious lead singer stands out starkly from the rest with her capricious dancing and her booming voice.

“She’s the spitfire of the band,” proclaims the band’s myspace page.  But they are also quick to point out that, “she sings with excellent power and great skill, strength behind every note.”

Hearing such a soulful, mature voice come out of such a young, petite personage is exactly the kind of surprise that the band’s music, as a whole, provides.

“Walking into a bar that’s known to have a typical cover band, it was a very unexpected but enjoyable sound,” Keltner added.

Despite their generally unassuming appearances, this band is tough to ignore when they take the stage.  Their setlist is composed of many of the staples of classic rock, including everything from ZZ Top to Janis Joplin to Carlos Santana.

Keith Munsell plays a capable, fluid lead guitar that is backed by a tight, well-rehearsed combination of keys, bass, and drums.  Keith sings well on the songs that require it, but it is Amanda’s raspy, overarching voice that sets the band apart.

Some of the highlights of the night included Melissa Etheridge’s “I’m the Only One,” and a spirited rendition of Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” about which Amanda admitted to the audience, “we play this a lot, but it’s one of our favorites.”

The Munsell Brothers Band performs mostly around the New London area, with an upcoming November show at the Bank Street Cafe, and shows in Groton and Westerly, Rhode Island leading up to that.  They play believable cover songs with some original flare, and do so confidently.

Amanda, in particular, is not lacking in the confidence department.  She proclaimed at one point, towards the end of the night, that, “I’ve been told I do Joplin better than Janis did.”

Joplin, of course, couldn’t be reached for comment on the matter.

Hartford, Conn. – Data released today by the Connecticut Department of Public Health shows a slight downturn in the overall number of new statewide AIDS cases.

The data represents the first six months of 2007, with 233 cases reported.  If current trends continue and the data is extrapolated to represent a full year, the number of cases will decrease from 540 in 2006 to 466 in 2007, a 14 percent decline.  Hartford will see the only increase, going from 88 cases in 2006 to 108 in 2007, a 23 percent uptick.

Despite the decrease, Connecticut is still, “considered one of the top 10 states with people living with AIDS,” according to the Alliance for Living, a New London-based nonprofit organization.  The Alliance’s website shows Connecticut’s case rate as 28 percent higher than the national average, 21.1 per 100,000 compared to 15.2 nationally.

Connecticut’s eight largest cities (in order: Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury and New Britain) combine to account for approximately 70 percent of new AIDS cases every year.  The trend is noteworthy because while they represent such a large portion of these cases, they only compose about 25 percent of the state’s overall population (838,424 of 3,405,565 people, according to the 2000 US Census).

Outside these cities, the number of AIDS cases is consistently much lower.  Between 2002 and 2006, the percent of cases in the rest of Connecticut ranged from a low of 29 percent in 2002 to a high of 34 percent in 2006.  If they continue at their current rate, 2007’s numbers will end in the middle at around 32 percent.
A reason for the disparity could be that minority populations tend to be much larger in urban areas.  Such communities’ struggles to contain and combat the disease and its spread are well documented.

“The disease is entirely preventable,” said Sandy Brindamour, the Alliance for Living’s executive director.  Even so, she added AIDS is still, “growing exponentially in the minority community.”

Brindamour provides a staggering set of statistics to this point.  For every white male with AIDS in Connecticut, there are three Latinos and seven African American men with the disease.  For every white woman with AIDS in the state, there are six Latinas and 23 African American women with the disease.

“Much of it comes from the denial in the minority communities about taking responsibility,” Brindamour says.  She indicates that, “the way to combat it is to dispel the stigmas of having the disease,” some of which go so far as to include the belief that wearing prophylactics of any kind are a tacit admission of having AIDS.

They are stigmas that organizations like the Alliance for Living are working hard to eliminate.  The Alliance also focuses on “improving the quality of life for people affected by HIV/AIDS,” which not only helps the afflicted, but also their friends and family who may have trouble understanding or coping with the ramifications of the disease.

For more information, The Alliance for Living can be contacted by telephone at: 860-447-0884 or by email at: alliance.for.living@snet.net.

Alan Keady thinks he has found a solution for the lack of Asian food in West Marin. His mobile Chinese Chuckwagon began serving Szechuan last week. It is parked next to the Western Saloon in Point Reyes Station, serving lunch from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm, and dinner from 4:00 to 8:00 pm, closed only on Tuesdays. Whether or not he is right will be up to his customers.

The menu will change as Keady’s ingredients do, but will feature a few staple dishes, including spicy twice-baked pork ($9). The potstickers ($7) are popular, along with the fried prawns ($8), Szechuan beef combo ($9), and Kung Pao Chicken ($9).

Keady hatched the idea of opening the eatery nineteen months ago. After finding no suitable location, he decided to make one up. He met a man in the Los Angeles area who had experience building catering trucks for the movie industry, and began to shape a box truck he had purchased locally into his kitchen on wheels. The ruck would house all the equipment necessary to prepare a full Szechuan menu.

Ten months passed while Keady ironed out approvals from the Board of Health and other governing bodies. It took another six months to complete the truck because all the equipment, except the stove, had to be customized to fit into such a small space. But finally, in late May, Keady had his mobile restaurant. It came complete with seven specially made vents fans, which protrude out of the top of the truck like skylights, and a fiery red steel exterior to suit the spicy cuisine being prepared inside.

Keady complete the task of finding a talented chef by hiring George Chung of Monterey in early June. Chung cooks Szechuan (spelled “Sichuan” in American Chinese), the type of cuisine Keady wanted to feature because of its mixture of what he said were all the best aspects of Chinese cooking: flavor, versatility, and spiciness.

The first test run came on Saturday behind the Bank of Petaluma. The grand opening follow on Sunday, despite a change of location to the new spot adjacent to the Saloon. This opening was marred when Keady’s supply of kerosene ran out, preventing him from running any of the necessary equipment. Apparently, even he underestimated the demand for a change of culinary pace and the power of word-of-mouth advertising.

“The word-of-mouth has been great,” says Carol Waxman, a Point Reyes Station resident, who initially heard of the idea from Keady’s wife Barbara, the Village Snipper.

“I smelled it all the way at work,” said Joanne Sims, who works at Coyuchi in Point Reyes Station. She and her coworker, Boog Booke, came for lunch. “We’ve been waiting anxiously for this for a year,” Book said, adding that it is “good to have a new lunch option in town.”

Keady hopes his new location will be permanent, as does Fred, the Western Saloon’s resident pug and Keady’s new mascot, who circles the wagon with his nose in the air. The rest of the staff consists of Phil Torres and Antonia Ramriez, a large group to fit into a truck just slightly larger than an ambulance. But, the tight fit doesn’t mean the food sacrifices any flavor.

When asked what his staple dish is, Keady’s bright bluegreen eyes light up behind his glasses.

“It has to be the twice-baked pork.”

This article appeared in the July 12, 2007 issue of the Point Reyes Light Newspaper.