Odds and Ends

1) Three cheers for a team of students from Portland’s Moore Middle School who are advancing to display their science project at a national Project Citizen showcase in Boston. Said project, titled: “Fight the White Pollution: The Dangers of Styrofoam,” was presented to the city council and school committee and proposed banning styrofoam in Portland.

2) It is eerily dark outside right now.

3) I picked up the second-ever Neighbors Network News over the weekend — the new community newsletter published by wife-husband team Heather Curtis and Ed Democracy. They don’t say it explicitly, but their mission statement hints at their purpose: to create an alternative to neighborhood organizations like the one they belonged to and became disillusioned by. In part, it reads:

“We are NOT ABOUT meetings, meetings, meetings!
We are NOT ABOUT gossip, cliques, and fights!
We are NOT ABOUT partisan politics!
We are NOT ABOUT political opportunism!
We are NOT ABOUT replacing your neighborhood organization or association!”