"We Used to Hang Up on our Readers"
San Jose Mercury News executive editor Susan Goldberg made a graduation speech at Medill School at Northwestern University, that says a lot about the newspaper business…now and in the future. “News is now – or anytime I want it. And not because I’m an editor – a news gatekeeper, with […]
A TV Show—With Strings
On Friday we had a call from a man who said he made television programs for National Geographic TV, Pax Network and other cable outlets. He was Robert, then ‘Bob.’ He said that his food-themed TV show would be interested in coming to interview us, and do a television show […]
Thank God, honey, They Cancelled…Yippee!
Today’s NY Times style section included a story by Alex Williams about the joys of cancelled appointments. “Who among the harried professional class does not breathe a secret sigh of relief when drinks with an old friend, lunch with a potential client or a Saturday dinner party with college classmates […]
Loose Ends and Bears Back in Holyoke
A busy Saturday, with good things popping up all over. First, I got my scooter back, after months in the shop. The horn isn’t working and I have to kick it to start it, but it’s running and I’m happy for that. I stopped by the Learning Circle, where my […]
No Novocaine for This Tough Son
This morning in the car, I listened to Scott Simon interview a man who sounded tough. Turned out it was Teddy Atlas, a former boxer and trainer who had stories to tell. When Atlas was a kid, his father was a well-known doctor. He got a bad cut, and was […]
Stuck in the Muck of Angola’s Capital City
Angola was on page one of today’s NY Times. Sadly, this was a portrait of a Malthusian crisis, with mountains of garbage, rivulets of raw sewage, kids sliding into the muck and more than 40,000 often fatal cases of cholera. It would have taken 22,000 dump trucks just to haul […]
The Coffee Business is Up Up Up!
Today’s a lovely day and my heart is full and upbeat. Perhaps that’s because it feels like the cafe is finally reaching a point of success. People come in who’ve never been here before, they always say how nice it is in here, and at the same time our regulars […]
Plumber Gets More than He Bargained for
Reading the Republican in the cafe. A story out of Southwick told of a plumber who made an interesting discovery in the bathroom vanity he purchased at “a major retail chain.” Inside, packaged in what appeared to be parts for the vanity, was a stash of $150,000 worth of cocaine […]