Index:

• April Inside Cover Collage (above)
• Outside Cover Collage (below)
• Editor’s Note: “Stitches in the Quilt!”
• April Schedule
• April Gardening Tips
• Tree of the Month: Northern Red Oak
  • Quercus rubra is a large, deciduous tree native to the Northeastern and North-Central U.S. that grows to about 75 feet tall. The long-lived tree has a rounded outline, with upright spreading branches from a large single trunk.
  • One of the most commercially important tree species of New England forests, the species is under heightened surveillance by arborists due to the significant harmful impact of Oak Wilt in the Midwest and the disease’s appearance in Upstate New York.
  • The disease mainly effects the red oak group, which in addition to the Northern Red Oak includes the Black Oak, Pin Oak and Scarlet Oak, according to Robert Cole, forester for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
• Sports Check-In

If anyone wants to send in some short, clean writing with a clear call to action or motif, or art you’d like to share with attribution, please send to eastrockgazette@gmail.com.

Editor’s Note

Volume XIX: Hello friends, it’s a pleasure to talk.
The water’s already too high, and I hear the showers are
just getting started. Looking around the city, a lingering
dread remains hanging overhead. Even on warmer days,
people worry, struggle and toil to press on.

As academics flee the country, remembering the symptoms
of failing empires in their studies, the city continues to
drag its feet and stumble on the same old problems,
shaking its fists in court while monkeys in suits fling sh*t,
tear out wires and steal money out of the bank. When
obstacles arise, we must not pout, but pivot with a smile.

We must fight. For ourselves, and each other. I beg you
to go walk on the streets of New Haven, and talk to the
people you meet. Ask them their name, and then what
troubles they face. Share your concerns, too. I beg this
of everyone — not just as residents, students, renters,
homeowners, landlords, business owners, locals,
citizens or immigrants — but as people of New Haven.
As stitches in the quilt of our community.

Break down the walls between yourself and others.
Share your experiences. Advocate for causes you care
about and show up to support those who ask for help.
Show up to support those who don’t, or can’t.

Through inquisition, protest and collective action —
tributaries that feed the river of true change — we must
hold our elected officials accountable to the needs of
the PEOPLE. To remediate the blighted areas of our
society and fertilize the seeds of our city’s future.

I say it’s time to grab a shovel and start digging.
To tear out the old piping, plant some seeds and build a
new system that works for the people who need it,
when they need it. Call your Alders and Representatives.

Read the local paper and show up to city meetings. Ask
follow-up questions and don’t take no for an answer.
By working together, we bloom together.

Cherry blossoms in Spring. —JB