Month: December 2019

Ken Hecht writes:

The winners of the Gloucester Holiday Window Decorating Contest are in! And of the 86 participants, by popular vote, here they are!

BLACKBEAR BARBER SHOP!
ART HAVEN!
BARRETT REAL ESTATE!
THE FRANKLIN!
FIREFLIES!

We handed out the certificates and red bows yesterday for recognition of this year’s Braggin’ Rights! Here are some photos of the winners. The number of participants and the quality of the decorations just continue to escalate! Next year will be even better!

So get around town, check out all of the decorations and do that last minute shopping locally! Support your local shops!!!

And a big thank you to all of the participants and voters!

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year, so these sunset scenes will be occurring later in the day from now until June!

The Cape Ann Community Foundation would like to THANK YOU for your support this year. Because you stepped up and ordered a Cape Ann License Plate you helped us to award grants totaling $15,000 to six Cape Ann area non-profits, Cape Ann Art Haven, The Sunrise Foundation, Education Foundation for Rockport, Generous Gardeners, Pathways for Children and Windhover Performing Arts Center. These grants helped to deliver art programs to low income elementary students, provide scholarships for addiction and sober living, a community observatory for Rockport, renovation of the Betty Smith Garden on Stacey Boulevard, enrichment activities for low income students at Pathways and the Windhover’s Mini Dance Festival. When you order a plate at Lovecapeann.com the proceeds from the plate fund the Cape Ann Community Foundation, not only for the first year but every two years when you renew.

It is easy to give the gift of a Cape Ann License Plate. All you need is:
Driver’s License
Vehicle Registration
Credit Card
If you are unsure of how to order a plate we are always available to help you at the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.

If you already have a special plate, low number plate or leased vehicle please support the mission of the Cape Ann Community Foundation by sending a check to the foundation at 33 Commercial Street, Gloucester, MA 0l930 #capeannarthaven #the sunrisefoundation #generousgardener #pathwaysforchildren #windhover #educationfoundationofrockport

Here’s a link to the story followed by my commentary

The Human Toll of the 2019 Media Apocalypse

Maya Kosoff

 

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Joey’s take:

You have to feel terrible for these people.  Anyone even remotely connected to the media world has seen this coming for the past decade.

Even though responsible journalism is probably what’s needed most right now, it’s apparently not what is wanted enough of right now.  Not wanted enough for people to pay enough to keep journalists paid for their fair and balanced content.

There’s content everywhere.  Content of varying quality, of varying reliability, of varying substance.

If you notice what’s being consumed, the attention span of media consumers has gotten shorter and shorter.

Look at a teenager’s choice of content.  90% of it are disposable snapchat stories which limit the amount of time it’s even available to be read.  It limits the time of each story is displayed.  Messages get shared and are wiped away.

For teens,  Facebook is a dinosaur.  I understand that Facebook is still a monster for us old folk but they don’t care to get involved in the latest fake outrage politically correct dialogue.  It’s meme culture.  Short hits of content consumed and disposed of.  Swiping swiping, swiping- all so disposable.

People tell you to make YouTube video’s less than a couple minutes because viewers don’t pay attention for any longer.

Video recipes are created in fast moving clips like the ones from Tasty but Buzzfeed is one of the media companies that had to lay off all it’s help.

View this post on Instagram

This hearty Sweet Potato Pomegranate Salad is a perfect side for a holiday dinner or an easy-to-pack lunch. The oranges, reds, and greens make it a festive dish, and its citrus dressing keeps the dish balanced and bright. Get the recipe, link in bio!

A post shared by Tasty (@buzzfeedtasty) on Dec 20, 2019 at 3:00pm PST

 

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Hyperlocal Blogs.   That’s where people spend their time consuming media today.

Outrage culture and psychotic negativity generated by the polarized hardcore political people has been driving people away from traditional media more and more every day.

Is anyone surprised by this?

Not good if you care about getting an honest take about what’s happening in the world without the editor’s filter but ever since cellphone cameras got to a point where photos (worth a thousand words) became as easy to share as tapping a couple of buttons, that’s the rabbit hole our society has been going.

It isn’t going to change any time soon.  Not as long as people can mindlessly scroll through Instagram and Facebook and get their little endorphin hits of laughs or controversy while avoiding real life.

Calgon Facebook Take Me Away…

 

We noticed this apparently lost hawk sitting atop a weathervane and I couldn’t help but think he was calculating his next move.

Then we noticed there was a second hawk watching and waiting. I couldn’t help but think that second hawk was saying “If only you’d just ask for directions………”

Now I will be looking at this weathervane every time we drive by this lovely barn.