Educators from around the world are now flocking to Finland, since it’s been revealed that their schools are among the best in the world. I can attest to this after a semester with Helena my intern from Finland–who seemed more prepared, wrote with more fluency and generally did a better […]
Last night I read a NY Times article about the answer to a question President Obama posed to Apple executives last year: Why can’t the iPhone be made in the USA? Sadly, the history of this iconic device says a lot about China, sophisticated supply chains and the huge difference […]
For the first time in many months, I chose to dine at Jake’s. It was mostly because my pal Shoul was insistent, telling me that they have new owners, get great local produce, and are sporting a whole new menu. “I”m all about Jakes!” he insisted, when asked about other […]
Friday presents a conundrum to me almost every week. There is this pressure, this sense that I should have a plan, why didn’t I make a plan, what IS my plan? It’s often a night where my significant other likes to join her pals in her far-off village, and thus, […]
What is it about a doctor’s appointment that makes men so anxious? I have noticed this distinct difference between the sexes; women regularly go to check-ups and follow their doctor’s advice and don’t get nearly as wound up as we men do about simple things like the annual physical. As […]
Michael Kittredge introduced himself to the crowd of Frankin Chamber of Commerce members as “the guy who started that other candle shop down the road.” He also said that he’s now known as Bernardston’s biggest banker after eighteen months in business at the firm he started with his son Mick, […]
Snow days of yore were wondrous. When I think back on snow as a youth growing up in the village of Blawenburg, my vision of that day gets all gauzy and misty with memories as clear as a tear. I remember one snow day afternoon we had gone sledding down […]
It’s amazing how quickly a day can change, and completely spin onto its head. We were lounging around, puttering on the computer and watching TV, and the land-line rang. This is only relevant because I almost never, ever answer that old thing. It’s just never for me, since people call […]
I have a ritual of removing my old calendars off of the wall and when I put the new ones up, one page for each month of 2012, I eagerly await seeing how it will be filled up with travel. People who travel a lot have to pick their spots. […]
It’s now exactly a year since I sat right here on that auspicious date of 1/11/11 and wrote goals for the year. At the time I was reeling by owning an unprofitable cafe that was sucking the life out of my viable web business, so I remember a month later […]
I came home to the cold but found that my gloves and a brisk walk solved the problem. Then to the treasures that my mailbox always brings. Yesterday I published a story by a young writer named Jonathan David Thompson, who recalled an experience he had in Benin recently. He […]