The Pension Tsunami Is Coming
Tom Devine is the Valley’s openly gay, openly right-wing blogger, and he finds lots of articles with controversial points of view that I often find myself agreeing with. , Last night’s selection of an article on Reason.com made me pause and think. It’s called “Public Employees Vs the Public Will,” […]
If Detroit’s Symphony Never Played Again Would Detroiters Really Care?
Should the average citizen of Detroit care that its symphony may be on its last legs? Terry Teachout writes in the Weekend WSJ about the struggling Detroit Philharmonic Orchestra, which now faces such a steep deficit that management is considering cutting the musican’s pay by 30% just to stay in […]
The King of Egypt Looks Wistfully at his Homeland
When Amhed Fouad II was a two-year-old, he was crowned King of Egypt. But today at 58, the man who would be king lives in isolation in the Swiss countryside. Only a few of his Egyptian friends still call him His Majesty, others call him simply Fouad. A story in […]
From Sierra Leone, Marina Goldman Brings Back Sad and Sweet
Marina Goldman is a nurse practitioner from Montague who spends a lot of time in the faraway country of Sierra Leone. Besides my travel webmaster friend Andy the Hobo Traveler, who phoned in from Ivory Coast last week, nobody I know goes to West Africa and nobody but Marina is […]
Turners Falls Soap Box Derby This Sunday!
On Sunday a Montague man named Mik’s dream comes true. I wrote about his dream back in December; he wanted to race human-powered cars down a steep hill in Turners Falls. He recalled doing this as a child, scooting down a hill in Saltaire, NY in a soapbox racer. I’ve […]
The Power and Class of New England…Goodbye George Parks!
“And now, the power and class of New England, the Minuteman Marching Band!” George Parks loved to say that every time his band would get ready to play. Since the 1970s, Parks directed the beloved UMass Band. Sadly, this week, he had a heart attack at age 57, and died […]
It’s Those Little Details That I’ll Live with for a Lifetime
Today I made a bunch of decisions that I’ll be living with for years to come. I decided on a few paint colors, (easy) and then on a carpet, a honey-colored shag, ( easy). But then it got harder when it came time to decide about flooring. I’ve got four […]
Walken’s Clever “$5 A Day” is a Lesson in Trickery
The other night we watched a movie with one of my favorite character actors…who has the distinction of appearing more than any other actor on Saturday Night Live. Christopher Walken. The movie is called $5 a day, and is the story of a father and son road trip where nobody […]
Bravo Peter Heller, Bravo for Kook!
I like it when things turn out the way you hoped they would; even in a long projecting arc from start to finish. Today I read a book review in the Recorder that was syndicated by the Dallas Morning News about Peter Heller’s new book, called Kook. Peter and I […]
Scoping Wolves with the Wolfman of Yellowstone
S Sometimes stories write themselves, while you’re traveling. It’s just so obvious what to write, that you do it, and soon enough the entire arduous task is over. Writing isn’t hard. It’s just frustrating and torturous and some times takes way, way longer than you think it will. Below is […]
Pinless Debit: The Next Zipless F@@k?
Today was the usual whirlwind, but it was controlled and ended up being a damn productive day. I learned a few new terms today when I had a meeting with some credit card processing people. It’s clever…the attractive blond sales gal was very savvy, got us interested. But when it […]
Maserati: a “Kind of Pitiable Narcissism”
Dan Neil has won my fandom for injecting wittiness and precise prose into the narrow intellectual confines of the car reviews he writes for the WSJ. Every time I see his new reviews I snap to reading them, even though I care less about cars than most men. Here he […]
Wheeee! A 14-Mile Downhill Thrill!
We celebrated the last day of business for a new adventure outfit based out of Red Lodge on August 31. As we read stories of our east coast friends sweltering in 95 degree heat, we were headed to the top of Beartooth Pass, in a biodiesel-powered school bus towing a […]
Montanans Love to Soak & Stay at Chico Hot Springs
On our last night in Montana we were treated to something with which most Montanans are familiar. We stayed at the Chico Hot Springs Resort, in the tiny town of Pray. The long straight road leading up the 110-room hotel is flat as a runway. In fact, up until a […]
In Search of the Local Cafe, Finding it in Red Lodge
I’m at the Coffee Roasters Cafe in downtown Red Lodge, and the place is full of men who don’t take their hats off when they sip their coffee. Outside the sun is bright against some distant mountains. I have a coupon for a free breakfast at the Pollard Hotel, but […]
Riding the Open Country: A Moment of Bliss
Sometimes I experience a moment that I know is transcendent. It’s a combination of where I am, what I am doing, and what it all means when put together. About 3 o’clock this afternoon, I was riding a docile horse named Domingo on the wide open countryside outside the Lazy […]
Choose the Extreme Makeover House or $39,900 Special
We drove out of the airport after arriving in Billings and the first thing we saw were a giant wall of mountains, which we learned were called ‘The Rims,” dramatic brown bluffs rising up from the flat land. The weather was bad and as we drove 65 miles to Red […]
Bears and Reefer Are On People’s Minds in Montana
As we drove up from Billings to Red Lodge, Montana, I asked our guide Joan about what people were talking about here in this small city of about 100,000. Two topics came up, which were familiar discussions people have been having in other states. The city of Billings two years […]