At the elevator, two woman spoke in a strange language, it might have been Dutch, or perhaps even Latvian. I was coming downstairs after staying the night here on 101st street, in the Broadway Hotel, which is actually a hostel and a hotel. It’s about half and half, so I […]
The Amtrak train is silent now. We are parked at New Haven, and en route to New York’s Penn Station. I got to the station in Springfield in the dark, the streets empty, and just a few other passengers joined me on this 6 am train. I thought about what […]
Ok maybe this is a stretch, but how about if just a portion of the 400 richest Americans chipped in and donated to build us new bridges, highways and subway tunnels? In a WSJ story yesterday, Charles Landow and Courtney Lobel put forth exactly this idea, declaring that since there […]
Yesterday’s jaunt through the hills of Ashfield on Rte 112 toward Adams reminded me of the 24-year-long tradition I had with my father every October. Throughout all of those years, we held to the same itinerary, which unfolded in the far western part of the Bay State. To us, in […]
In an op-ed piece in last week’s WSJ, a man who worked on Wall St. said he was walking down the street with four associates when they were accosted by a somewhat disheveled homeless man. “Hey you fat cats!” he said. “You guys got all the money. You’re Wall Street […]
The scene is the ocean….a broad tableau of roiling sea, waves pitching up and back, and the sound is a rumbling indecipherable cacophony. That’s the movie. That’s it. It’s just one of dozens of “cutting edge video artworks from around the world,” which were shown last night in a series […]
I heard the news about WRNX last Saturday, while I was in a record shop in Easthampton full of beautiful old vinyl albums. The proprietor there is an old radio guy, who used to have a blues show. He is and was in the loop about the station’s switch from […]
It’s a rainy Thursday morning in New England. It’s the day that I begin thinking about what the weekend holds in store for me. Fall is the season with the most events happening in our Valley. Some times it’s hard to decide which one will bubble to the top. What […]
Do you do this, sit for hours with your partner, each looking at a separate laptop screen? I have noticed how often this occurs…yet my father still goes out and buys a desktop computer that he’ll only use when he’s sitting at his desk in his home office. The generations […]
There are many Pioneer Valley traditions that I’ve never observed. The Big E, for instance, for some people is a ‘not miss’ but I’ve only been a few times over the past ten years. Other events I always seem to end up hearing about after they’ve over, like the Garlic […]
Spending time up in the village of Wendell offers a new perspective on life in the Valley. As soon as you traverse Rte 63 on the way up North Leverett Road, the phone begins to weaken and then for the rest of the way, it’s no bars at all. I’ve […]
When I was very young, every Friday there was a familiar and comforting ritual. My dad would come home from work, wearing his tie, carrying his briefcase, and as he crossed the threshold of our New Jersey house he’d ask: “What night is tonight?” We kids would all answer in […]