The Buffalodown, Vol. 2, Issue 36
Stories & Events for Social Connection
- Election Day today, ICE & immigration panel tomorrow
- Musings on Music: Sally Schaefer album release
- Featured Events: 23 this week, always encouraging submissions!
- Links to the Deep End: Buffalo News alumni
Thank you for your attention!
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Please participate in free elections while we have them – vote on this Election Day if you haven’t already voted early. See your sample ballot here, and if you’re in New York State, note the statewide ballot proposal to allow skiing and related trail facilities on 1,039 acres of state forest preserve land that requires the state to add 2,500 acres of new forest land in Adirondack Park, to which I’ve yet to find any resistance. Shout out to the League of Women Voters for providing an outline of the proposal here.
Geoff Kelly of nonprofit news outlet Investigative Post (IP) reported about the sad fact that “fewer than half of the public offices on the ballot Tuesday in Erie County are contested.” In the City of Buffalo, where Geoff and IP have profiled the three candidates on the ballot for mayor – Sean Ryan, Michael Gainer and James Gardner – I’m repeating my endorsement of Sean Ryan for mayor. As I wrote here back in June in a lengthy endorsement before the usually-decisive Democratic primary – I consider this whole city to be my home; I believe that Sean Ryan cares about every corner and has the clear-eyed capacity to see us through the mess that previous mayors have left us; and I hope you’ll join me in voting for him.
Come Wednesday, with a little rest after their Election Day coverage, IP reporters will offer a panel and presentation on ICE & Immigration in Western New York at the Unitarian Universalist Church (695 Elmwood Ave, 7pm) – free admission, please join us!
The program will begin with a presentation by I-Post reporter J. Dale Shoemaker on ICE raids, arrests and detentions of migrants in the region and the detention center in Batavia. Confirmed panelists include:
- Jennifer Connor, executive director of Justice for Migrant Families
- Pamela Bos Kefi, CEO of Journey’s End Refugee Services
- Brittany Triggs, immigration attorney for the Erie County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project
- Ba Zan Lin, an asylum seeker-turned U.S. citizen from Burma
This is the first of hopefully many events I’m organizing with Investigative Post. Coming up next:
- A book club discussion on Tuesday, November 18th, 7pm, at Fitz Books, 1462 Main St., on The Death of Truth by Steven Brill.
- Geoff Kelly and Jim Heaney interviewing mayor-in-waiting Sean Ryan on Friday, December 12th, 7pm, at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Ave.
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Musings on Music
Sally Schaefer album release
Sally Schaefer is a stirring storyteller, mainly through fluid fiddling and deep digging into the history of music, people and places. Prolific onstage, she regularly submits events for the weekly listing below, including solo shows as Sallyanndra and various bands at an array of venues from libraries and town squares to bars and galleries.
This Thursday, November 6th, marks the finale of Sally’s state-funded project entitled “NYS Fiddle & Song” – “a recorded collection of folk songs and fiddle tunes about, written by, collected in, or otherwise thematically related to New York State and its inhabitants.”
For the occasion at Timeless Babez (87 Allen Street, 6pm start), Sally wrote, “Everyone is welcome – free event. There will be some complimentary light snacks and NA drinks. I will be playing a selection of songs and tunes from the album, solo with and without loop pedal (and maybe accompanied by a special guest for a song or two). It’ll be short and sweet. Peruse the shop before, during, and after the music – they carry an array of local music, apparel, and gift items – support local art and business!”
Shout out to the caring crew at Arts Services Initiative of WNY for supporting artists through the process of pursuing grant funding, as well as folks in government who persist in publicly funding the arts in the face of relentless resistance.
Sally solo with lilt and loops
Sally with fellow folklorist Tyler Bagwell
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Events in the Week Ahead
Thanks to all who’ve submitted their events! Welcoming submissions with a flyer and link to seamus@reconnecter.org
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Links to the Deep End
Deeper dives into subjects that matter for social connection
In light of my beginning to work with fellow former The Buffalo News writer Jim Heaney on events with his nonprofit news outlet Investigative Post, here’s the latest from a handful of BN alumni:
- Heaney’s weekly newsletter, an extension of his “Outrages and Insights” column in BN, leads with commentary on IP’s latest coverage along with more local and national news – recent headlines are “Our Risky Casino Economy” and “The Sorry State of Local News.”
- Jerry Zremsky just retired from 42 years at BN, 36 of which covering Washington politics, and launched a column on Substack called “This Hard Land,” “borrowing the title from a great but obscure Bruce Springsteen song, because that seems to me to be an apt description of America. It was hard to create a republic out of 13 disparate colonies, and as we seem to be proving every day, it’s hard to forge a cohesive, working vision of what America should be. But perhaps in some small way, what I write here can help us along our way.”
- Longtime BN reporter Mark Sommer, who left last year, just made his debut in The New York Times with, “‘See You in 4 Years’: Trump Drives Canadians Away From Western New York.”
- Another BN alum with a new column on Substack is investigative reporter Charlie Specht, who’s supplementing his reporting on WGRZ-TV with Buffalo Muckracker, his latest being a followup on his renowned coverage of the crises at the Catholic Diocese along with the ongoing saga of a clear coverup in the county sheriff’s office: “A bishop, a sheriff and a reporter walk into a bar…”
- Finally, from the guy who got me in the back door at BN to become a music journalist 22 years ago, Jeff Miers has his own column on Substack as well as the Why Music Matters podcast, which welcomed back the Buffalo duo from Letter to Elise to reflect on their run on NBC’s “The Voice.”
Thank YOU for reading this far and being part of it all – extra thanks to everyone supporting this work with a membership at www.reconnecter.org!
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