Rouen, Where Young Joan Went Up in Flames
I’m in my hotel room in Rouen France and the sunlight is streaming in the window. Outside the sun feels like it’s about 5:30 pm, but shockingly, it’s just after 8. Here we are so far north and it’s just one day past the longest day of the year. I […]
Celebrating at Milestone at Camp Keewanee
Last night we joined a throng of more than 100 men, women and children at the Camp Keewanee in the sticks north of Greenfield to celebrate a milestone in the Valley. Joe O’Rourke turned 50, with a full stage of musicians, dozens of family members in special green tee shirts, […]
The Orange Store of Tomorrow
On the eve of my departure for France, I decided that I can’t resist the lure of the iPhone. So I popped into this AT&T Store and plunked down $200 on the new 3GS phone, in white. I am so enamored with my itouch that I know I am going […]
Venus & the Cellar Bar: Making Easthampton Even Cooler
I was excited when I asked Shoul where he was going tonight, Friday, my usual going out night. He said he was going to the ‘soft opening’ of a new wine bar and upscale restaurant in Easthampton, called Venus & the Cellar Bar. I hopped into the truck and made […]
Email from Iran: No Photo
I asked Parin if I could publish her photo, that I took in the desert. She replied today, as I expected, and said no. This is a photo on the bus as we drove back dancing in the aisles. This is not Parin! hinowadays we have a real bad condition […]
Buried in the Fine Print: Money for Bike Commuting
I got a press release from Brian Mullis, he runs Sustainable Travel International, and he had a good point that somehow got by me. There’s a new Bicycle Commuter Act. Buried in the fine print of the massive bail out bill is a provision to reward employers who make lives […]
Rahpeymayi: We Walk in Silence in Iran
Parin from Tehran again sends me an email from the thick of the Iran protests… hi again 🙂first of all thank you very much.(rahpeymayi) i mean we walk in silence in the street during a long distance with our want in our hands..as you certainly see in news in VOA […]
An Email From Iran
I sent out a letter to some of the Iranians I met on my trip there in November. I asked them to tell me about the situation there as they see it, and wished them the best from me and from all Americans. I told them that we supported them […]
From an Upscale Strip Club to Bring Your Own Beer
I am big reader of trends….trying to ascertain from newspaper articles which way the winds of change are blowing. A story a few days ago in the WSJ pointed to a new industry that’s having trouble…the Strip Club business. The two largest publicly-traded strip club operators are Rick’s and VCG, […]
You Must Have a Chinese Name, He Insists
Yesterday I dove back into Jeffrey Tayler’s marvelous new book about his trek across the wildlands of the former USSR, called “Murderers in Mausoleums.” At this point in his long journey he has reached Urumqi, China, a large city where many races mix. There are the usual Han Chinese, who […]
Iran’s Voters Re-Elect the Past, Many Claim Fraud
In Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been declared the Presidential election’s winner. The city took down the internet and blocked text messages, according to an AP story and protesters have been throwing rocks and making fires in the streets, tangling with black-clad police. When I visited Iran in November, I asked […]
In 25 Years, He Never Saw Penske Crack a Joke
I remember a story that a cook told me when I used to work out on Nantucket. “One time Roger Penske was here on the island with the chairman of Toyota,” he said. “He couldn’t speak any English but he liked the lobster I made for them.” My friend said […]
At the Bar, a $12 Cover Sends Me Packing
I sat at the bar at the Lady Killigrew and watched the Sox on a flat-screen, high def TV. I was waiting for Steve, who had taken the scenic route over on his scooter, enjoying the vistas of the late afternoon sun on Blue Meadow Road. Outside people were sitting […]
You’d Think Water Was Free…But It Isn’t
Being a restaurant owner is tough. I read in today’s Boston Herald about a good intentioned chef owner of a high-end Italian place in Braintree who got punished by his customers for trying to recoup some of the costs of providing glasses of water to diners. Joe Viola figured out […]
Odds and Ends on a Rainy Friday Morning
It’s been a weird Spring. It is almost never warm and sunny; instead we get these dregs of what feels like March, or the bluster and overcast skies of late fall. I am sure that I am joined by all of the citizens of Massachusetts in wishing that it would […]
She Takes Her Rooster Into the Pool
Last night while Cindy was on the phone I grabbed the TV remote and surfed to a program about chickens. It was all about the chicken business, and about people who love these creatures dearly. One Virginia man rhapsodized about the funny noises his backyard flock emits, and how he […]
The Marlboro Monopoly Act or Breakthrough Law?
Smokers are getting boxed in even more tightly. A story in last night’s WSJ said that Congress is poised to put the tobacco industry under the regulation of the FDA. To some people in the business, this actually is a huge win for tobacco’s biggest company, Altria, because it freezes […]
There’s Nobody Quite Like That Generation
As I sat in my parent’s backyard in the dappled Sunday sunlight, we talked about what we liked, and what we felt about our lives. I felt lucky to be thinking excitedly about going back to work the next day, and how great it is to love what you do […]