Bryan D. Brown

I returned from my trip to Lowell, Massachusetts relatively unscathed - and, if anything, gained a new appreciation for the New York-Penn League Class A baseball stylings of the Lowell Spinners.

Unfortunately, minor league baseball bore no resemblance to the actual reason I was in Lowell, and that was for the twelfth annual Grassroots Radio Conference (GRC). Normally, I find myself a bit out of place at these sorts of things. I am not “lefty” enough for the GRC crowd, as evidenced by the reaction to my admission, over cocktails, that I voted for John Kerry in the last election - which went over like a fart in church. I blame the Bushmills (for my admission, not the vote). The fact that I saw the vote as a vote over who would probably kill less people didn’t really win them over either. When I mentioned that I was in Oaxaca last fall during the teachers’ strike, then my then-tarnished lefty-cred was restored.

I was, however, dorky enough for the Penguin Day and the Grassroots Use of Technology conferences that were held in conjunction with the GRC. It’s like my inner lefty meets my not-so-inner dork - neither of which is entirely comfortable around other lefties (or other dorks, for that matter). But the conference was a good experience, and at its worst moments, reaffirmation that KCSB is in pretty decent shape.

Of course, the highlight of the trip was the Lowell Spinners. For $3.50 (standing room only, although the “good” seats were not that much more expensive), I got see 9 full innings of minor league baseball action in a place where baseball is not something with which you mess around. These people take their baseball seriously.

So with that conference, about six weeks of weekend obligations come to a close - and none too soon. TGIF, and have a good weekend folks.