This week in an an op-ed about Sunday’s riots in Greece by Brian M Carney a particular sentence stood out and made me uneasy. “Almost every traffic light in the vicinity was out, smashed during the overnight vandalism.” This reminds of me of the eery feeling I got when I […]
The story was titled, ‘living very large,’ and the photo was an aerial shot of one of Los Angeles’ most massive single family homes. It looked more like a hotel, but it indeed was Hyatt hotel heir Anthony Pritzker’s newest house, tipping the scales at 49,300 square feet. Apparently these […]
When we went to Mexico last month, more than a few people voiced concerns about safety. Again and again, some Americans say they are worried about visiting a country ‘where there is so much drug war violence.’ The stats are scary—more than 40,000 deaths since the conflict began, yet in […]
Roger Salloom is an easy-going fellow. The last time I saw him was at Greenfield’s Arts Block, surrounded by friends, where he looked serene and like he was exactly where he wanted to be: About to enjoy local music at a fun local venue. He sent out an email about […]
Every day we say goodbye to another member of the Greatest Generation, those men and women who were born in the 1920s and now are passing away. I am sad to think that some of what they accomplished and the ways they built their fortunes could never happen again–things are […]
Once again I took the Megabus down to NYC, this time it cost me just $25.50 roundtrip. My reason for a Big Apple visit was a presentation by French Tourism about what’s new in France for 2012. France has a lot to crow about in the tourism world, even while […]
Where can you possibly find such joy as gliding across a frozen pond, with what feels like a mile of open ice ahead of you, and nothing but skate marks to guide your way? The ominous growl of the ice creaking, the dangerous looking holes that are now coated over […]
Yesterday was my partner Mary’s birthday, and I wanted to make sure that the present I got her was more about experiences we share together and less about accumulating more stuff. Stuff is the bane of so many of us, that we pile up into our stuffed closets, our rented […]
When my partner Mary is in a crowd, she zeroes in on the smallest citizens. She gravitates toward children since she knows them so well, after working in elementary schools as an occupational therapist for nearly 16 years. It always charms me to see this, like when we were in […]
I had a minor health problem and finally decided that it was time to see a specialist to try and solve it. Armed with the name of the specialist who practices in Springfield and Florence, I phoned their office. It didn’t take long to realize that one of the first […]
One of the things I love about Greenfield is how full it is of people who are willing to go out on a limb…to move a little further. The town and a small gang of five dedicated citizens and many supporters has teamed up for these diverse events. A video […]