Heading to Montreal for Un Tour Nuit and a Sunday Ride with 15,000 other Bicyclists
I’ve got the itinerary in front of me and a new composition book to fill up with notes. I have stocked up on business cards, printed out my Google Map, and remembered to charge my devices. I have nothing here to worry about, and I’m happy to report I’ll be […]
Libyans Were in Awe of an Arab-Speaking Money Guy, So They Lost $1.3 billion
I chuckled as I read a very long account of how Goldman Sachs lost 98% of the money invested by Libya’s sovereign wealth fund, at the very start of the financial collapse in in 2008. A story in the WSJ revealed how the firm tried to compensate Ghaddafi and his […]
Italy Plane Reader: Our New Ebook to Read on the Way to Italy
I am proud to say that I like to lead. By that I mean, I am willing to be bold and venture into the new areas of publishing, travel, business and commerce that others may hestitate to move into. One venture that I’m pleased to report on this morning is […]
Big Bill’s a Shoe-in for Councilor, Look at the Crowd That Showed Up!
Who’s gonna beat Bill Dwight in the race for city councilor at large? Nobody! It was evident tonight as I joined a throng who gathered at the Florence Community Center to kick off his campaign to get back the office he once held, along with his regular gig working in […]
A Few Thoughts on a ‘Good War’ in Honor of Memorial Day
If I read as many books as I do book reviews, I’d never get anything done. In honor of Memorial Day yesterday I read an essay in the NY Times book review of a selection of books about the Big One, WWII, by Adam Kirsch. He opens with the sad […]
Bob Paquette: It Was His Voice, Not Him, That Everybody Knew
The blurb on my Facebook page took me aback. RIP Bob Paquette. What? Bob, as everyone in the Valley knows, was the voice of the morning. His familiar calm tone and steady delivery has graced our kitchen for decades. I cannot imagine turning on that familiar 88.5 fm signal and […]
It’s the Eve of the Day That I Get My Life Back
I have been writing this blog, Readuponit, since November 2004. A friend quoted me from a February 2006 post the other day when I was on my way to Cyprus. It’s a slightly exotic place that few people visit, and when I read the quoted text, I thought about how […]
Farewell to a South Deerfield Institution
I’ve reached a milestone, and forgive me for blogging about this once already. But I thought I had a deal to keep the GoNOMAD Cafe open, and alas, like many things in life, it was not to be. With the combination of recalcitrant landlords and shaky finances, the deal went […]
Are these Burgers Done? Next Time Be Careful!
“I think these burgers need to go back on the grill,” my daughter said, as we sat on the deck at the season’s inaugural barbecue. I heard what she said but it was too late, I’d already taken a big bite. She was right. so she took the burgers, put […]
In a Lifetime that Lasted 104 Years, She Spent 80 in Seclusion
Imagine living to the ripe old age of 104….and spending eight decades of that long life in virtual seclusion. I read a column called Remembrances tonight in the WSJ about Huguette Clark, a society girl who made her debut at age 20, and then married at 22. Yet despite being […]
Ed Helms: From the Daily Show to Movie Star, Singing All the Way
Of all the lovable and charming characters on The Office, Andy Bernard is to me the funniest of all. Is this because of my growing up in Ivy League Princeton, NJ, where there were families like Mr Bernard’s who brag about their Cornell roots yet are absolutely terrible at their […]
Millard, We Hardly Knew Ye
When I saw the eponymous title of a new book by a less-than-admired president, I knew I wanted to read more. Millard Filmore is a new book by Paul Finkelman that explains the background of how a barely-known comptroller of New York became President of the United States. His fortune […]
Riding the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in the Berkshires
Today was a nearly perfect Sunday. I discovered another bike trail, this one between Lanesborough and Adams, and enjoyed time with a good friend riding through wooded trails, beside lakes and streams, enjoying the breeze, the ducks, and interesting conversation. Everyone riding on the trail seemed happy, as if this […]
Yes, We Call Waiters ‘Sir’ Here–It’s Part of our Unlost Greatness
What’s the difference between the French and the Americans? Peggy Noonan writes in today’s WSJ that a striking contrast can be seen when comparing how the two countries reacted the the arrest last week of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was once considered to be the next president of France. Now he’s […]
Circumcision Ban to be on the Ballot in San Francisco
Last night I read in the WSJ that a ban on circumcision is being placed on the ballot in San Francisco in November. And that a similar ban was proposed in Massachusetts last year. How come I never heard about that? The San Francisco initiative would ban the circumcision of […]
The Earliest Whalers Were Forced to Sea by their Debts
When the first English and Dutch settlers came to Cape Cod, it turns out that they were failures at fishing. In Paul Schneider’s history of the Cape and Islands, “The Enduring Shore,” he writes that the ‘master salt maker’ on the Mayflower turned out to not know how to make […]
Have You Heard About the Postal Service Bailout?
There are some stories that you just don’t read about in very many places. I read tonight on the WSJ’s editorial page about an upcoming bail-out for the US Postal Service, which has just about reached the end of a $15 billion line of credit extended to it by the […]
Bring on the Beauty of the World, Let Me Soak It All In
What a lovely day to spend in bed, rain pounding down on the roof, reality television silently playing on the wall-mounted TV, typing out thoughts on my laptop. It’s funny to think that there was once a time that I would have been depressed by a rainy Sunday. Today, I […]