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CCTV Named #1 Public Access Station in U.S. for 8th Time

Cambridge Community Television has once again received the Overall Excellence in Public Access Programming Award from the national Alliance for Community Media in its Hometown Video Festival.

I’m pleased to report that Cambridge Community Television has once again received the Overall Excellence in Public Access Programming Award from the national Alliance for Community Media in its Hometown Video Festival.

This is the eighth time in CCTV’s twenty-one year history that the station has received this award, recognizing the diversity and quality of CCTV’s programming, as well as its relevance to the Cambridge community.

CCTV competed in the highest budget category, against much larger access centers in major cities throughout the United States. Numerous CCTV producers also received high accolades in the festival:

Project Documentary’s The Dames, about Boston’s roller derby team, placed first in the Sports Entertainment category; teens participating in CCTV’s youth program were also recognized: Josh Washington and William Sheffield for their original teleplay “Homies”, Julie Pan for “King Open Extended Day Program”, Cody Romano for “Dawn”, and Alex Ayabe for his music video “Guarantee”, which he produced at Cambridge Educational Access.

Laura Asherman also received an Honorable Mention for her video “You Contribute to Global Warming”. Watch some of our finest programming from 2008 in this video! You can also view the full list of winners at http://2009.acmhometown.org/

I’ve taken several excellent courses at CCTV–in Dreamweaver, Excel, and MS Publisher; also on video shooting and editing. If you join, fees are nominal–you get $100 worth of courses for $55–less if you put in volunteer time; more if you’re not a Cambridge resident. It’s a great way to learn about new technologies, learn television production, produce videos–even host your own TV program. Check it out!

Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. HarrisCom also publishes www.blog.harriscom.com

July 8, 2009 – 1:04pm — Nilagia

"Gates-gate": A teachable moment whose time has passed

The “Gates-gate” episode in Cambridge has been called a “teachable moment.” Might I suggest that it’s a moment that has gone on too long? We get it. It’s a moment whose time has passed.
–Anita M. Harris

This blog is called New Cambridge Observer–so I guess I should jump into the fray over last week’s arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates by Cambridge Police Sergeant James M. Crowley.

Gates, 58, who is black and walks with a cane, had gotten out of a cab in front of his home on Ware St, couldn’t find his house keys and, while he and the cab driver were breaking into the house in broad daylight, someone called the police.

To begin with, I can’t understand why anyone would impugn the intentions of the woman who called the police : 911 tapes reveal that she said she wasn’t sure if it was a break-in and that she doesn’t mention race.

I CAN understand why Crowley would insist that Gates come outside after showing proof that he lived there; it’s possible, tho unlikely, that someone inside the home was dangerous, in trouble, or pressuring the owner, in some way.

I can also understand why Gates would be upset: no doubt the incident triggered memories of his own and others’ experiences of deep racial prejudice between white cops and black men. I can also understand why Gates would lash out verbally, and why his resistance would trigger the officer’s reflexive response to an unruly citizen: handcuffs and arrest.

It’s harder for me to understand why President Obama lost his usual cool and say the officer reacted “stupidly” but I’m glad that he backed off and invited both parties to the White House to discuss the matter over a beer.

A friend rightly points out that, rather than just let things go each of the parties took the extra step: calling the police; demanding to come inside, pushing back, jumping into a local fray. My friend suggests that behind all that is fear: of break-ins, of losing hard-won respect and status, of loosing criminals into the community, of criticism–in a time of war and heightened economic stress.

All true.

But now, news commentators are questioning everyone’s motives. This morning, one of them questioned Obama’s choice of drink for today’s powwow and called him a racist who hates whites; another (is it politically correct to mention that her skin appeared to be dark?) that Obama is a “racial opportunist ” whose administration is corrupt, and that he used the term “stupidly” to draw attention away from his difficulties in getting health reform through Congress.

This epiode has often been called a “teachable moment.” Might I suggest that it’s a moment that has gone on too long? We get it. It’s a moment whose time has passed.

Let me know what you think!

–Anita Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA, as is harriscomblog.wordpress.com, which focuses on issues related to media, public relations, and HarrisCom clients–such as health, science, technology and the environment. All entries are copyrighted by Anita M. Harris, the author.

Mass. Life Sciences Center sees 8-fold return in year 1

The MLSC, charged with distributing some $1B over a ten year period, invested $48.5 M in public dollars this year–its first full year of operation. The funds, in turn, have attracted nearly $359M in matching investments from companies, foundations, government, institutes and other private investors–an eight-fold return.

Over lunch at the Cambridge Innovation Center on Wednesday, Mass Life Sciences Center (MLSC) President and CEO Susan Bannister told a gathering of some 100 life science afficionados that the first year of Gov. Deval Patrick’s Life Science Initiatiative has been a success.

“There’s still capital out there and life science is a good place to put your money,” Bannister said. “By putting state money into the pot, we have ‘de-risked’ investment that the state would have had to find elsewhere”.

The funded projects–in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics and bioinformatics–could create some 950 jobs in the near term, Bannister said.

By adding employment opportunities, Massachusetts’ investments and incentives could help to absorb some of the job losses expected in other sectors, according to Bannister.

Frank Reynolds, CEO of InVivo Therapeutics, which is developing stem cell/ polymer technology aimed at halting the effects of traumatic spinal cord injury, said that receiving a $500 thousand loan just as venture capital possibilities tanked this fall made a tremendous difference in his company’s ability to proceed. ” It’s a great program,” Reynolds said. (Disclosure: I work with InVivo).

Bannister cautioned that in the current economic downturn, tax revenues are “iffy” and it’s not yet clear how much money will be available for the Initiative in 2010.

For more details, please visit Harriscomblog.wordpress.com.

—Anita Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. Continue reading “Mass. Life Sciences Center sees 8-fold return in year 1”

Opera Review: Standing Ovation for Lowell House's Otello

I never thought I was in Venice or at the Met, but the vibrancy and professionalism of the production and the performers far surpassed what I’d expected to hear–especially in a college dining hall.

I’m not much of an opera fan, but because friend Rachel was singing in the chorus I managed to take in the final performance of this year’s Lowell House production: Otello.

The Verdi opera itself doesn’t have much of a story (Rachel says it cuts back on the complexity of the Shakespearean drama to the point where it’s just the villain Iago planting the lovely Desdemona’s handkerchief in the home of his rival Cassio’s home in order to provoke her husband’s Otello’s jealousy-so I found myself thinking that, if it weren’t for the music, there wouldn’t be much there.

But the music was spectacular. Even before the opera started, the tuning up phase brought palpable energy and anticipation to the audience. And throughout, the orchestra, a mix of student and professional musicians conducted by Channing Yu (who, in his other life, an attending physician at a Boston teaching hospital) played dramatical clashes and soothing lows that provided a vibrant backdrop for wonderful singing by both professional musicians and students.

I was particularly entranced by Andrew Young, who played the villain Iago so well that he was booed, during his graceful bow, at the end). I felt that his powerful performance upstaged Brian Landry’s Otello, who, along with Malynda Davis, gave excellent performances–as did a slightly weaker Andre De Mesquita, playing Cassio. The principals, who also included Ana Ugarte as Emilia, John Erban, as Lodvico, an James Liu, as Montano, and DJ Robinson, as Roderego, were backed up by an enthusiastic (if slightly hard-to hear) chorus–including the soprano Rachel who appeared to be dressed as a boy.

I was happy to join a well-deserved standing ovation offered by the sold-out crowd.

Heads and Tales Review

If Heide Hatry’s provocative photographic show—Heads and Tales–at the Peirre Menard Gallery, (10 Arrow St. in Cambridge) is meant to shock: it does.

Hatry photo, Menard Gallery Heads and Tales

If Heide Hatry’s provocative photographic show—Heads and Tales–at the Peirre Menard Gallery, (10 Arrow St. in Cambridge) is meant to shock: it does. In fact, for a few moments, it made me fear for the mental health of the artist, who has (beautifully–even lovingly) photographed her sculptures portraying female victims of violent death.

Hatry, who grew up in Germany and moved to New York City in 2003, sculpted life-sized female mannequins from clay and covered them with untreated pigskin (a cold wet sample of which is available in the gallery with the notice: “please touch”). She added raw meat for the lips and fresh pig eyes—and in some cases, flies, safety pins, and other props—creating, according to the gallery writeup, “the illusion of life where there is none”.

Hatry then photographed the mannequins—some enlarged to 20”x 30”, others more life-size, at 12” x 18”.

Viewed from afar, the photographs appear lifelike, but close up, you realize the subjects are constructs—adding physical and intellectual layers to the artist’s statements on the horrifying situations faced by many women—and on photography’s role in bringing the inanimate to life.

Hatry’s “views” are further emphasized by accompanying tales about the “women’s” lives (and deaths) as imagined by 27 writers—some of them well known feminists.

The show is well-conceived and displayed, which makes its subject matter all the more disturbing.

The exhibit, which opened Feb 13, 2009, will run through March 15. It corresponds with the release of Hatry’s book, Heads and Tales, and with readings, book signings and the premiere of a play.

AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

Celebrating Obama's Inauguration in Cambridge

I’d expected dancing in the streets in the People’s Republic but perhaps because of deep snow and freezing cold, instead found a friendly breakfast gathering at Upstairs on the Square (photos and video to follow, if people send them to me).

Watched Obama’s eloquent speech with Harvard students at Quincy House–most listened with rapt attention, even standing for the national anthem, hands over hearts.

I was most impressed with Obama’s suggestion to those who blame the West for the state of their own nations that populations care about what governments can build, not what they can destroy–and distressed when, after the address, viewed enthusiastically by millions, the stock market took a 300 point drop.

In the evening, went back to Upstairs for drinks with Mark Hoffman, of Burlington, and Marc Kessler, of Cambridge, whose photo (above) I took with a larger-than-life cardboard Obama cutout.

We were sorry to miss free skating and hot chocolate at the Charles Hotel, readings of various inaugural addresses at the American Repertory’s Arrow Street Theater, the Harvard Bookstore’s “winedown,” and numerous house parties but, unlike the Obamas, who attended ten inaugural balls, we couldn’t be everywhere!

The New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.