Nickel and Dimed: it’s the Answer to the Question: What do They Want?
About 15 minutes into New Century Theatre’s adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, its real meaning hit me right between the eyes. Watching this poignant, funny and sometimes wacky interpretation of her seminal book on the working poor’s struggle to survive in America gave me the answer to why there […]
Travel Writers Get Gifts–Topics–Every Time We Hit the Road
Steampunk? A ride in a flight simulator? YEAH, sign me up! I’m just off the phone with Juan Flores, who handles the press for the city of Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau. I’ll stop by the city en route to New Zealand in late November, and I’ll have some […]
Nantucket Memories: Visiting as a Writer is More Fun than as a Salesman
We are heading out to a place 29 miles at sea this weekend. The faraway island of Nantucket. I once traveled to this place ten times every year, pursuing sales from companies who made their fortunes during a slender window of commerce–from July 4 til Columbus Day. I’d fly there […]
A Town Potluck Dinner Brings Out Wendellites–Of Course!
We drove by and saw all of the cars, and then we saw couples, holding dishes, walking toward the Wendell Town Hall. We must have missed the email, but for sure, something big was going on last night. It was the town’s Harvest Supper, an annual event that brings hundreds […]
Around a Fire, a Fruitless Pursuit of Another Facebook Friend
I celebrated my birthday over the weekend. This isn’t usually a cause for that much celebration on my part, yet since it fell on a Saturday, this 53rd edition was a bit more festive than previous years. At a cocktail and dance party held at my home, I spent some […]
Entry into the Era of Smart Phones is Fraught with Peril and Complexity
For days and days, she anticipated the phone, it was coming any day now. UPS would bring it to door, like Santa bringing a Christmas present. She was giddy with excitement, she wanted to be able to get on the web and easily send text messages and photos. She was […]
I Hear a Pleasant Mix of Languages in My Upper Manhattan Hotel
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 […]
Amtrak Trains Will be Full When they Leave Springfield…Soon
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 […]
Let the Rich Build Bridges. No, Real Bridges
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 […]
Riding the Ashuwillticook, Inspired about How Much Fun Bike Trails Are
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 […]
Bum Spurns $1 Donation, Tossing it on the Ground
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 […]
Brick and Mortar International Video Art Festival in Greenfield: Really? That’s the Movie?
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 […]
WRNX FM Goes Dark after 21 Years of Rock
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 […]
What Am I Doing This Weekend?
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 […]
Dueling Laptops: Does This Sound Like Your House?
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 […]
Ashfield Fall Festival: A Great Sunday in the Valley
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 […]
In Ashfield, a Tower Might Rise…and Then Again, Might Not
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 […]
A Tradition of Storytelling and the Question: What Night Is Tonight?
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 […]