Woodstock CT Café

WorkInMyRoom.com was featured in the Times today as an example of a successful teenage entrapreneur (see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/jobs/28teens.html ). Laura Durst created www.WorkInMyRoom.com  in November 2007 and her web-based business was featured at the Cafe in the January of 2008….so I guess this means that the Cafe scooped the Times .

WorkInMyRoom.com changed the Cafe forever when it designed our precious “YOU MORON” cups.
Click the image to read the fine print.

Laura graduated from the Academy in June 2008 and continues to manage WorkInMyRoom.com while away at college.

a quote from the Times article:
“Laura Durst, 18, a recent high school graduate in Woodstock, Conn., in the state’s northeast corner, said that there were so few jobs for teenagers there that two years ago she began setting up a Web-based business, WorkInMyRoom.com. It provides teenagers with information and online resources to find jobs that can be done from home.

Ms. Durst said she was inspired by her mother, who also is an entrepreneur. “Seeing her work from home, where she could be her own boss, I liked the idea of that,” she said.

Ms. Durst’s revenue comes from advertising. She uses Google Ad Sense — which displays relevant Google ads on her site — and earns money when users click on them. She says she is making about $250 a month.”

Yikes! She makes more $ than the Cafe .

by Harry Stefan

The local scene is currently pretty quiet. At the state level, however, there is considerable last minute activity to put together a budget for the coming fiscal year.

What do you all think about the options for balancing the budget?

I think that it’s necessary to add some new sources of revenue (taxes). I find it logical and reasonable that those who are fortunate enough to have larger incomes should pay more taxes. I think that another tax on cigarettes generates income and discourages the continuation of a bad habit.

by Frank Corden

Congratulations to Harrison Schroeder. He represents the commitment to achievement that we hope all our children aspire to. It’s really wonderful to see students throughout our school system excelling at all levels and then when they progress to college or directly to a career. I had the pleasure of attending Woodstock Academy’s 2009 Class Night and then the commencement ceremony on Sunday to honor the accomplishments of my beautiful daughter and her classmates. Hearing the accolades and honors bestowed on many of our students is a poignant reminder, that in Woodstock the education glass is certainly more than half-full.

We do have issues in our education system, as do all school systems and we have many opportunities to improve on the education received by all our young citizens. But we are fortunate. We have a good foundation to build on. A key ingredient is engaged and committed parents, and that is a great advantage for Woodstock. Many parents have chosen to live in our beautiful town with the intent of sending their children to Woodstock Public Schools and Woodstock Academy. Our faculty and staff are skilled professionals who are doing a commendable job of developing the inherent talents of our students. The dedicated volunteers including the PTO, the Booster clubs at both the WPS and WA and the Woodstock Education Foundation as well as other volunteer contributors who are too numerous to list, do an incredible job of supporting the programs led by our faculty, classroom volunteers and coaches at all three schools. Read the rest of this entry »

When I read about Harrison’s success and heard about his mature character from others, he reminded me of my closest childhood friend, Paul. Paul and I grew up in Rowayton on Long Island Sound between Darien and Norwalk. All I had to do to get to Paul’s house on an adjacent street was to walk across our neighbor’s yard. We were very close from the age of 5 (he was Gene Autry and I was Roy Rogers; later he was a Dodger fan and I was a devout Yankee) through to the end of summer after high school graduation before we departed for college, and very different lives and career paths.

The thing about Paul was that he was the best at everything (except tennis). I recall that when we tried out for Biddy Basketball at the Norwalk YMCA (6th and 7th grade), Paul was the tallest allowed in the league and I was a relative shrimp. While Paul became the leading scorer in the league, I had to sit out the first year because of a bone spur in my right heal. Everthing we did together became a competition from playing marbles, to shooting baskets in his back yard, to the 1100+ ping-pong games we played one year; Paul kept score and won about 700 of those games. I was great for his ego and he was great for challenging me at every turn. And Paul’s parents were great for me as well because they showed me an alternative approach to life and beliefs that contrasted with my own parents. Paul’s dad was always out there playing catch with us or driving us to the movies or to the YMCA for basketball, swimming., etc. I’ll never forget Paul’s mom’s answer to Paul when she thoughtfully explained why I was not as good at ‘things’ as he was … she said something to the effect that I was growing up a little slower and that eventually I would catch up to him (I’m sure this was an ominous thought for Paul ).

I remember 8th grade as a strange year for me. On the last day of school in seventh grade, my home room teacher, Mr. Nartoff, actually got on my bus to congratulate me personally for getting high honors. I’ll never forget his thoughtful interest in me.

In 8th grade, I was more shy. Paul was already carrying Playboy magazines in his saxophone case, while I was too embarassed to accept a smart girl classmate’s invitation to accompany her to a party. In 8th grade everything changed and I became less smart and less accomplished, and this continued for some years. I was hanging on by my fingernails while Paul was number one at everything. His example gave me hope, though.
Read the rest of this entry »

News Release from Pomfret School
Debby Thurston, Communications

Pomfret, CT – Harrison Schroder, an eighth grade student at Woodstock Middle School in Woodstock, CT, was recently honored as the 2009 recipient of the Pomfret School Patrick D. Wood ‘01 Memorial Prize. The prize, given by Patrick Wood’s parents, Robert Wood and Lisette Rimer of Pomfret Center, CT, was established in memory of Patrick, a member of the Pomfret School Class of 2001, who was a top scholar, accomplished musician and outstanding member of the Pomfret School community. Patrick passed away in early 2006 at the young age of twenty-three. Annually, the prize will be awarded to the top eighth grade day student from Windham County who will matriculate at Pomfret School.

Ms. Rimer commented, “More important than rewarding ability alone, we wanted to encourage Pat’s humanity. It was Pat’s imperfection, his ability to laugh at mistakes, and his ability to take risks that made him the endearing person that he was. [Harrison] has that same level of ability and endearing qualities. He has that greatness that enables him to see concepts and grasp them quickly. And like Pat, he is a doer and a risk taker.”

Schroder, of Woodstock, is a top scholar of his grade and a member of the Math Olympiads team and chorus at Woodstock Middle School. He was elected student council President this year and was the class representative in both sixth and seventh grades. He was also captain of both the soccer and basketball teams for his school. He is a United States Soccer Federation referee for local soccer games in Woodstock, Pomfret, Thompson, and Putnam.

From Left to Right: Robert Wood, Lisette Rimer, Harrison Schroder, and Mr. Gamache (Middle School Principal)

What Mr. Powers, Mr. Rosendahl, and Mr. Shultz lacked for the June 9th referendum was Ahmadinejad’s approach. Simply deny the ballots and declare victory by a 2/3rds margin. Those days are over in Woodstock just like they are in Iran. Never again will things be the same in Woodstock.

Why do I say this?  The Democratic Town Committee played their hand and lost. I don’t mean the Woodstock Democrats lost (that includes me), it was the DTC that lost. DTC Chairman, James Kaeding, played his hand with a last minute Letter to the Editor in the Villager advocating repeal of the Board of Education while Mr. Powers, the instigator of the petition, and Ms. Wholean (DTC Secretary) soon to be DTC candidate for First Selectman signed the petition together, possibly while holding hands.

Mr. Kaeding decided not to sign the petition because it looked bad as he is Chairman of the DTC. How disingenuous.

The contrast between Allan Walker and Ms. Wholean is remarkable. For example, Mr. Walker turned back a raise this year while Ms. Wholean awarded herself a 9% raise in her final last 7 months as First Selectman. She went on to lie on WINY saying that the purpose of this raise was to guarantee that ‘there would be enough money in  the budget to support hiring of a Town Manager’ (gag me with a spoon ). Ms. Wholean handed over FOI information that she requested from the BOE, while she was First Selectman, to CPS litigator, Mr. Shultz, so that he could pursue his FOI litigation at the FOIA Commission on behalf of the Citizens for Prudent Spending, forcing the BOE to defend themselves incuring more lawyer costs.

On the other hand, Mr. Walker has been careful to show no bias as First Selectman to any party although he is a Republican. This is perhaps the exemplary role that a First Selectman should play. He has stabilized Town management while Ms. Wholean commanded in her last six months in office that no communications would be sent from the Town Hall without her approval (Yuk!). Read the rest of this entry »

The current 36 members of the RTC are listed on the RTC page in the left sidebar.

by Bill Sowka

The Woodstock Republicans are actively working on a new platform for 2009 that builds off their 2007 platform.

Like you, perhaps (to Newcomer), I found ‘Justa Simple Person’s comments quite interesting but oversimplified, particularly when he states “that the local RTC is not willing to embrace the “Big Tent” philosophy.” Not only am I wondering how he/she came to that conclusion, but also whether the RTC should embrace a “big tent” philosophy is something currently up for debate within all levels of the Republican party as they seek to define for themselves what it is this ‘big tent” philosophy actually means and what is at stake with embracing it.

Cliff Springs, author and blogger of “Dang Write”, wrote recently of the big tent philosophy and I think you’ll find his quote quite telling.

He writes: “For those of you who may not be clear on the meaning of the “big tent” philosophy, it’s basically this: our party is so big and so diverse that we welcome all who will come. In my mind, that’s the generous definition. “Big tent” is another way of saying, “We stand for nothing, so you can join us without fear of being offended.”

So while the Republicans may want to reach to a broad and diverse community, the point Spring’s is making is that we shouldn’t compromise our values just to do that. This is of course is where the debate lies.

It is my belief that the Republican party at all levels is a very diverse group. However, at their core they all share a commonality of certain values. I think that these shared values are the worthiest components of any platform because they DO appeal to a diverse group of people. It is important to uphold these values not only in order to reach this broad constituency, but also to maintain the integrity of our party as one that actually stands for something.

And actually standing for something in this day and age is something so widely needed so desperately desired.

The following quotes were taken from the NYTimes article cited by Con.

“…, pseudonymity is a benefit to the reader as well. The authority has been ceded — everything lives and dies on the quality of the writing itself. If there is to be any benefit to the growth of blogs, it is precisely that authoritative voices are forced to stand on their own merits. This is a problem for some, who attained authority without the writing chops to support it. For others, it is a challenge. Pseudonymity makes the tubes more interesting, more challenging, and far more fun than they would be otherwise.”

“While complete anonymity may enable someone to evade any accountability for intemperate or unwise remarks, the creation and maintenance of a pseudonym can have a disciplining effect on blogger behavior, and thus should be encouraged as an alternative to purely anonymous blogging and posting. Reputation effects and the desire to maintain readership can impose significant discipline. A pseudonym operates like a brand name, and the value of the brand is, at least in part, a function of how the pseudonymous blogger acts over time. This disciplining effect is hardly perfect, however, particularly when it comes to maintaining civility. . . . I believe this means that those who utilize pseudonyms should take greater responsibility for the tone and content of their own posts so their pseudonymous shield does not become a license for nastiness and snark (and I hope I was able to do this when I used a pseudonym). But I also believe that, barring exceptional circumstances (e.g. something far worse than wrong-headed criticism) other bloggers should respect the choice of others to rely upon pseudonyms.”

I was pleased to read that Allan Walker will run for a second term as First Selectman. I had an opportunity to interact with Allan in the weeks leading up to the June 9th referendum and was pleased with his handling of the petition and his unilateral decision to send the petition to a town-wide vote. I think that Allan has had a stabilizing influence in Town management and hope that he will be re-elected as the First Selectman.

That being said, I think the Republican Town Committee did a tremendous disservice to the Town by nominating Mr. Rosendahl for the Board of Education in the last election. The BOE appears to be stuck with him for 4 more years. Mr. Rosendahl obviously is bent on undermining the Board of Education. I quote Joyce Gresh, Corresponding Secretary for the Woodstock Association of Teachers (WAT):

“The WAT is dissapointed that Mr. Rosendahl falsely portrayed the relationship (the relationship between the teachers and Dr. Baran) and is saddened that a member of the Board of Education would use such divisive and malicious tactics to further a personal agenda.” (Woodstock Villager, June 19th)

The Republican Town Committee has an opportunity to make amends to the Town by nominating credible, upstanding candidates for the Board of Education. The Cafe would like to encourage potential candidates to approach the Republican Town Committee to seek endorsement.

Since the leaders of the failed petition are also the leaders of the Democratic Town Committee in James Kaeding (Chairman), Margaret Wholean (Treasurer and Kaeding’s wife), and Craig Powers, the Cafe at present has no confidence in the DTC’s nomination process (but we will have to wait and see).

If Lee Wesler, John Day, and Dick Cass would like to give us some encouragement regarding the DTC, we would appreciate their input.

The Cafe would like to support reputable candidates (Independent candidates included) for the coming election. Candidates who wish to present their case at the Cafe will have the benefit of campaign rules and will not be subjected comments (the comment section will be shut off).

Last Tuesday, referendum day, makes other days look dull. These are underestimates of visitors (blue) and page turns (green) from our StatCounter but the pattern is correct. Yesterday is the set of bars on the furthest right.

by Con

Here is a link (if I do it correctly) to a NYTimes Article on Blogging Anonymity and some attempts to ‘Out’ bloggers against their wishes. The Article is titled “The Outing of Publius” in case the link doesn’t work (search on nytimes.com):

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/the-outing-of-publius/?scp=8&sq=anonymous%20&st=cse

Anonymity came up with me when debating Steve Rosendahl on woodstocktruth.com (a website which states: “It is your choice whether to be anonymous or not”). During a back-and-forth discussion (and, I boast, when I believe I had painted him into a rhetorical corner) - he resorted to the personal and said something like ‘I was raised to stand behind my beliefs…you should show some integrity and use your real name…’

I told him that the comment was out of line and that there were numerous reasons why someone would wish to remain anonymous - reasons which do NOT relate to integrity in any way (reasons ranging from participation in the Federal Witness Protection Program to simple personal prerogative…). Of course, I told Mr. Rosendahl that I wouldn’t dignify his offensive comment by telling him my particular reason. [There are several other reasons listed in the NYTimes Article - most relate to specific situations]

Blogger anonymity an interesting issue: What ‘right’ does anyone have to their online anonymity? What legal recourse does one have if they are ‘outed’? (Does that answer change if, indeed, the exposed blogger was actually part of Witness Protection OR, more likely, someone protected by a Restraining Order - ‘outers’ should be aware of all manner of repercussions and think before they act…). What responsibility do Blogging sites have to protect Email addresses? Actual Identities? Again, what recourse for inadvertent disclosure (the ’stolen laptop’ situation) ? Read the rest of this entry »

by Becki

There are contributors here at the Café whose identities are known to us. Most have revealed themselves to us either personally, or by using their actual identities online. Nearly all of those we know participate in a positive manner and not in the unproductive manner one seems to have perfected. A small minority have the sole purpose to get to the top of the pile, to be the victor, in some twisted competition that requires all others to be vanquished.

The purpose of letting others have their say, even when it is contrary to our point of view, is not in some misguided dedication to equalizing all voices. It is to allow everyone’s individual perspective to be challenged including our own. Through the process of examining these perspectives against the challenges presented we each are given the opportunity to either strengthen our perspective with additional information or modify our position based on new information (formerly outside our consideration).

Is this messy? Does this let unsound and poorly developed perspectives have voice? Does this muddy the waters? YES, sometimes profoundly. However, any perspective worth holding dearly to should be able to survive the process and most often becomes stronger and easier to defend.

The trouble I have is with people, whose identities I do know, who still behave badly. There are two categories of this blogger-type. One is someone who uses a pseudonym to say things that they would never say if someone knew who they were because such professions are incongruous to their real life persona. The other is someone that uses their anonymity to publicly harass the administrators of the site in the effort to prove how ‘right’ they are. Both types are confounding, exasperating and ultimately adversely impact the interactions of the rest of the community here at the Café. Read the rest of this entry »

HD said “He should not assume he is anonymous - its an awfully small town - plenty of us know exactly who he is.” Is this not a veiled threat? HD likes to re-write history to suit his own needs. I understand that the UnTruth website is looking for a new owner. Might you apply HD? Admin

John, I never said TP should not contribute here, so that’s a misnomer. (Although you questioned the Cafe’s willingness to let TP speak. Admin)

The point directed to you was why, after stating that readers should judge comments for themselves, Admin intervened and headlined TP’s statements, re-stating them step-by-step, and wholly misrepresenting what TP said. You have not denied or responded to this point, and I think you should. (This of course is up for the readers to decide, not just you HD. Admin).

TP stated a few comments ago that he was anonymous, and as many contributors figured out here after Powers cracked your e-mail, they are not. That is when the large number of your contributors dropped off, and never returned. (Actually this event stimulated our readership. And our readership has continued to grow. Admin) Your lack of any editorial policy has pushed many others away (Take a look at our guidelines. If commenters don’t like the guidelines, so be it. Admin). Many people play guessing games to identify various contributors, its half the fun of it, as you pointed out when you started the Cafe and suggested a masquerade party after a time. So TP should not assume he is anonymous, that’s all. This is not a “threat” because you have chosen to mischaracterize it as such (Let the other readers judge for themselves. I believe one already has registered a negative view of your language. Admin). More accurate, loss of anonymity is certainly a “risk” of participating here, as many have learned. (There has been no loss of anonymity other than Admin. Many commenters reveal themselves by their own esoteric behavior; and the same is true for you HD. Admin)

But more important, you created this site and bear responsibility for the result (This is true. Admin). TP has not made a secret of his extreme, right-wing, anti-public education views. Providing a platform and megaphone for this individual, and allowing - often facilitating - his chameleon-like escape from serious debate, is disingenuous on the Cafe’s part (We’ll let others make their own decision on this point. Admin). Its as if you are determined to never allow the greyhound to catch the rabbit for fear that the crowds will stop coming to your racecourse. (You’re more like a miniature poodle than a greyhound, HD. Admin).

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, this is not the first time you have been charmed by an anti-public education, right wing political extremist. Ernie Wetzel was a personal and public monster, and you helped him into office. (Actually I, John, had little to do with Ernie’s rise. I’m sure Ernie would verify this. When he first ran, Ernie was pro-education. He went to the darkside afterwards. We think it was the millennium bug. Admin). This town, as you are more than aware, needs another one like it needs a hole in the head (You mean another one like you, HD. Admin). And you will have to forgive me for questioning your judgment. (Anyone can question our judgement and of course this has been done many times. We do all the time also. Have you ever questioned your judgement, HD? Admin)

But as you have pointed out in the past, its your blog, so you can run it any way you want. (Actually the Cafe belongs to everyone who uses it. There are no dictators here accept for you HD. Admin)

The Cafe asks that if you appreciate the contributions that the PTO and WEF have made to the Woodstock School System, please send them a donation to continue the momentum gained as a result of their support in this last Referendum battle.

To make a donation to the PTO, send a check to Woodstock PTO, Frog Pond Road, Woodstock CT 06281.

To make a donation to the Education Foundation, send a check to Woodstock Education Foundation,  PO Box 606, Woodstock CT 06281.

See the PTO website: http://www.woodstockpto.com/
See the Education Foundation website: http://www.woodstockeducationfoundation.org/

submitted by ‘Interested Mom’

“I would like to reply to WoodstockMom asking her where in the letter does it say we could opt out of the call system or that the PTO would be using it.  In the letter Dr. Baron states that it would be for emergencies only.”