BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY MARCH 21, 2018) — We made it. Another winter resides now only in the books, an abstraction devoutly wished by many but not THE PLANET.

We have come to cherish snow season as part of the quadrennial Equinox. On a long, brisk walk in the semi-wilderness, we saw birds banking on the wind, a fox making tracks, and crystalized snowmelt slowly trickling under a cold sun. With the stripped trees, one can see deeply into the same woods that, in late spring and summer, shall be obscured by the green leaves of contradiction. In the evening, we gazed in “real country dark” at a sky full of stars, locating Orion’s Belt at 60 degrees in the SW ceiling with Venus blazing to the left. Diagonally opposite, the Big Dipper dripped with signs of True North.

Magnificent. A blessing.

We have also come to cherish, even covet, the “turning inside” that winter forces upon us. The snow acts as a muffle, and the silence becomes thick, offering recovery, relief, and unique self-consistencies that, at other times of the year, seem harder to come by. “Snow days” exist but not in a school context. A “snow day” is gray-white possibility.

Keep Florida. Give me a Northeast winter every time.

ORANGE ALERT — Not many outside of  THE PLANET and a few diehards gave the Syracuse Orangemen much chance of even making March Madness. The NCAA selection committee, giving the nod to coach Boeheim, gave the Orange a play-in game to determine the tournament’s final spot. Syracuse won. Then came two surprising victories, the second a shocker, against teams highly favored and better “on paper” the latter of which many picked for the championship game.

Fortunately, you don’t play on paper. You play on hardwood, and the Orange, largely on a brilliant, disciplined 2-3 zone defense, have made the Sweet 16. Next up is Duke (with Syracuse one of three ACC teams still alive). The Blue Devils won earlier this year in regular conference play in their southern barn as well as a match-up in the Carrier Dome. This time, the game is on neutral court. Duke will go against a bunch of young men who don’t know they’re not supposed to be doing what they’re doing. Moral of the story: Never trust “the experts.”

CATV CALLS — Monday night’s packed public hearing on Spectrum’s cable service highlighted a major structural fault that has long held back Pittsfield. THE PLANET writes of the demise in quality of the city’s boards and commissions. Over the years, these panels have been largely taken over by political hacks, wannabes, and the “Barney Fife” types — they love to see their name in the paper when nominated by the mayor, love to receive stipends, but hate doing the work. The city suffers, taxpayers get abused: not a good combination.

The cable commission is one such board. That commission has meekly accepted irrelevance, remaining content to have only one duty, to negotiate cable contracts. As you can judge from the results, these commissioners can’t even be relied upon to do that job. PLANET critics love to point out that THE PLANET “needs to get our s–t together” when it comes to critiquing the commission, to which we can only point out the myopia in such a statement. Such critics need to see an optimist and get their eyes checked.

Any cable commission with effective members truly interested in public service would make it clear that their participation is conditioned upon being allowed to act in ALL MATTERS concerning the city’s cable contract and the company retained to provide the service. It would be a relatively process to redefine the commission’s charter, expanding it scope. In short, the cable commission remains hidebound only because of the apathy of its members. In a healthy city, that doesn’t happen. A healthy burg is that way, invariably, because its boards and commissions serve in a vital, creative way.

The turnout gave us a rare glimpse of the kind of public input and oversight that keeps a community healthy. If only we could get citizens roused when the school department budget comes to the floor.

If only, if only, if only …

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“Convergence is just another name for coincidence. It is serendipity that’s purpose-driven” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The Usual Disclaimer.