A commenter on the original video post on the Stewart's FB page (appears to be an employee) labeled it "creepy." Well, yeah. I may never be able to eat sherbet again, regardless of the boycott.

This semester's evaluations are coming along. (Enoigh said.) We have an economic development meeting tonight, so grading will have to keep.

And...stay tuned. Another panel of "A Castleton Christmas Carol" is coming.

I thought dollar bills were the only thing Stewart's listened to, but apparently, it's a scoop of ice cream with eyeballs! And I'm the one who was called crazy?

Last week, in my post about the Stewart's song, I wrote that I felt a Nileston News brewing. Well, here it is: the first two panels of A Castleton Christmas Carol.

The shill activity continues. A new one surfaced yesterday. He alleges to be a 90+ year old WWII vet who said he is praying for me and will ask his congregation to do the same because I am mentally unstable and remind him of his daughter who is also mentally ill. LOL! My mother was furious when she read this bully's post on our FOCSS page. She said, if he os really a WWII vet, it's a wonder we won the war. And, if the FB picture is really him, it was taken 40 year ago. LOL again. I think I know who he may be, as the writing style is telling. Let me put it this way, it is someone very important over at Stewart's. At the same time the new social media person is busily threatening commenters and hiding comments. Hopefully, they are being paid adequately for this job! Ya think maybe the boycott and advocacy are working?

Today's images. Stewart's is now selectively hiding negative comments from others on their facebook page. 1,000 wasp stings hurt pretty bad, evidently.

Take away message: Boycott is working.

Take away message #2: Stewart's is a mean company. Give your business to ShopRite and Dairy Direct instead -- they appreciate Castleton!

PS Welcome new visitors.

Apparently, I have offended Gary Dake with my satire. I stood with Castleton, and Stewart's said I was unethical!

Today's fun.

 The new social media hire at Stewart's has been pumping out posts. The original post was a slap in the face, so I doctored it to be more truthful.

  But not to worry, Santa and the Spokescow are Standing With Castleton and Boycotting Stewart's.

Today as a "TBT" post on facebook, Stewart's put up the following sheet music:

This was almost too good to be true! I made some revisions, as follows:

I think that's a bit more honest for the 21st Century -- don't you?

PS I feel a Nileston News brewing

So many Stewart's images, so little time.

I plan to conduct more Stewart's advocacy efforts here, now that I can't occupy their facebook page any longer. That was always the plan, but I didn't expect it to take this long to get blocked so I had sort of forgotten about it.

It will be good to chronicle the effort in more detail here. I know it's basically all I have been writing about here, aside from a brief mention or two about the looming end of semester. But I have not been doing much writing here lately in general, as my time has been absorbed elsewhere. There is all the Castleton advocacy, from facebook and the boycott, to conversations with ShopRite, to economic development research.

I got a Kindle Fire tablet. (It's awesome.) I've been doing some reading on my regular Kindle, one pleasure book (TR & Taft, The Bully Pulpit) and one teaching-related (College Girls). And of course there is always what seems to be endless grading to do.

Wow, what a nasty day!

I'm not sure whether this is unrelated...

Last night I tweeted the boycott numbers to Gary Dake and Stewart's Shops, and I also tweeted yesterday's picture. Shortly afterwards I had the following exchange:

 Today I tweeted the Banned picture & this one from a few weeks ago.

...but, I meant the weather, of course.

Stewart's must have finally hired a social media person, because today they blocked me from being able to comment on their facebook posts. I thought it would happen much sooner! The boycott and other advocacy must be having an impact. Remember...100 people who spent $1,000 annually but now boycott = $100,000. 500 people X $2,500 annually = 1.25 million. 1,000 people X $6,000 annually = 6 million. These are not crazy or unrealistic numbers. Gas customers spend much more. It's 1,000 wasp stings.

Here's today's picture. The SpokesCow wants to Stand With Castleton.

Grand opening of the Stewart's East Greenbush mega-store today.

Great thanksgiving and now...one week left on campus! Grades due 12/22. How can this be?

ShopRite meeting was great. I think delivery to Castleton will work out really well.

Completely unrelated to all things advocacy: I got a Kindle Fire. It is perfect. I got a keyboard for it too, and plan to use it next semester in a technology classroom I have for my graduate class...which does not have a computer for the instructor.

Some things happening in our advocacy. The first meeting of the village economic development committee is set for early December. I am meeting with ShopRite about home delivery on Tuesday. And we saw boycott signs all over a house right next to the new megastore in Troy. I wonder what the spark was? It said "Stewart's isn't a good neighbor" and some stuff about greed.

On a personal mote, the semester is rapidly approaching the end, hard to believe. And our first snow was last night -- a little dusting.

 I love my recent creation:

We have boycott tee-shirts!

Although fighting a big company that is indifferent to your community's plight, and that everyone loves (as I did) is a big lift with daunting odds -- somehow I am doing it. The "Friends" are fired up, and that helps. There are other volunteers, and I'm most appreciative. Still, much falls on me, at the busiest time of the semester. But I'm not caving.

That's not to say that I think Stewart's will cave. Sometimes I think they will, and other times I think there's no chance. The Channel 13 reporter asked me on the day they locked our beloved store's door forever whether I thought our boycott would do anything to hurt Stewart's, and I said yes, that it would be like 1,000 wasp stings to the 1.5 billion dollar company. This particular sentence was the one I hoped would make the news, but it ended up on the cutting room floor.

That was OK, as the most important thing about our story is the devastating impact on Main Street -- both in terms of people and economics. I have been working on several fronts, trying to remedy all the catastrophes that the loss of our store has caused. It's not easy -- but I will keep at it.

I believe the boycott and associated negative publicity are indeed doing something! First, because they have hired shills to counter our constant presence on social media, to alternatively taunt us and pretend to be supporters, and second because I notice the East Greenbush store (boycott target # 1) is not busy! A lot of people -- more than I hoped -- are boycotting all stores, and I think maybe everyone is avoiding the new store!

I get no pleasure from this except in my darkest times, I never wanted it to get to this. I wish they would just concede, renovate our tiny store and reopen it. All would be forgiven. But until then...Stand with Castleton. Boycott Stewart's.

Our Stewart's closed on Sunday. It was a very sad day. Four unknown employees of corporate came who seemed to have little purpose aside from counting inventory and standing around blocking the aisles with plastic containers, making it difficult to shop. No free cone promotionals were to be seen.

They have now removed the sign and thrown most of the interior into a dumpster in the parking lot. The store is already listed on the real estate section of the Stewart's website with a deed restriction -- no convenience stores. We also have leaned the three to get the axe: Camden, Castleton, Saugerties.

Friends of Castleton Stewart's are in full swing, however. The company's stonewalling has only strengthened our resolve. We continue to attract media attention. The "Stand With Castleton. Boycott Stewart's" campaign is moving along. Much more to come, so stay tuned.