Today’s the big day, and it looks like the rain is going away. Snuck into the office for a bit, checking emails and thinking about the war in Lebanon, and how often Cyprus has been in the news. I traveled to Cyprus in February and wrote about it on GoNOMAD. […]
Funny Friday at the cafe. Lots of running around waiting for our relatives to come up to celebrate Kate and Francisco’s wedding on Saturday. Today I used my friend Jack’s truck to pick up tables and chairs at Taylor rental, then back in the cafe to meet with our intern […]
Scoop Jackson wrote a long piece about the fact that only four out of 305 sports columnists for US newspapers are black. He makes some angry yet understandable points. “One time about eight years ago, Michael Wilbon walked up to me during a media event at the NBA All-Star Game […]
I met a man today at the cafe who said he lived in Whately, and worked here for a local contractor. A tall, lean man, he said that he painted murals on furniture and in rich people’s homes around here and in Nantucket. He said he thought the wealth and […]
William Grimes reviews a new book by a total and utter loser in yesterday’s NY Times. He’s such a loser that it has become his calling card, ‘he savors his humiliations like fine dinners.’ The man is Toby Young, whose first book was called “How to Lose Friends and Alienate […]
Today’s Washington Post included this story about the passing of classic foreign correspondent Ross Mark. “The quintessential foreign correspondent, dashing and with an engaging Aussie accent, he much preferred globe-hopping as a reporter to staying in one place and climbing the career ladder as a London editor. According to William […]
Roy Peter Clark advises writers with his Writing Tools column on Poynter.org.Like me, he insists that details are crucial in writing for the public. “Which brings me to one of my favorite newspaper stories in a long time. It appeared in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and told the tale […]
We read the Springfield Republican today and the front page was framed in a very sad image. Mariam Shihabiyah, a housewife in Beirut and divorced mother of five, carried her pillows outside the bombed out apartment complex where she lives. The poor women isn’t a terrorist, hasn’t put out funds […]
Every morning when I wake up, I look at my watch and think about what is happening in my cafe. No matter where I am, no matter which time zone or country, I always do this. En route, I phoned the cafe about 8 to check in on whether Alan […]
Reading in Time magazine about this exciting new trend, taking a 20 minute nap at work. I’m getting sleepy just reading about it. “MetroNaps, a company that pioneered the concept of selling naps in sleep environments, is seeing the change in corporate attitudes firsthand. The New York City– based company […]
Reading the Sunday NY Times on Cindy’s patio. The languid July heat makes for a mellow surroundings, as I read Daniel Gross’s engaging column about microlending in the third world. Instead of lobbying for more government foreign aid, we should invest in and support businesses that are self-sustaining and replicable. […]
Christine Barber-Just writes a restaurant column in Hampshire Life, published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and wrote a few weeks ago about a new tapas restaurant opening up in Amherst soon. “Nation’s Restaurant News characterizes the small-plates trend as a ”revolution” that has been ”quietly gathering force since the mid-1980s.” […]