Free email notices whenever a new article is posted. And unsubscribe anytime.
On Monday night I celebrated passover with my partner and 11 other jews and gentiles. I wasn’t sure that I was up for it, never being a big fan of religion in any form, yet after it was concluded and the fancy china was all put away, I was happy […]
Several years ago, my friend adventure writer Peter Heller wrote a book about chasing down Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean. He spent time on the Sea Shepard’s vessel and ended up writing a book about it. I thought a lot about what those Japanese fishermen must have felt as […]
Last night’s musical entertainment was a first-rate duo, to go along with our first-rate seats, right next to the stage at the Iron Horse. Charlie Hunter was there with drummer Eric Kalb, and between the two they filled the hall with a huge band’s worth of energy, rhythm and excitement. […]
It was a blustery day but sunny. It was a good day to go for a walk. As we strolled through one of the projects on the Jail-side of Greenfield, we headed downhill to a bike trail that lead to the Green River Recreation area by the Green River. Wild […]
“Take your hands out of your pockets! Stand back up there, on the curb sir!” It was a nightmare scene but one in which thankfully, I wasn’t going to regret for years and years. I felt last night great empathy for black men in America, all of whom would be […]
I’ve been enjoying a book that some might call “chick trip lit. ” What I like about Susan Jane Gilman’s Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is how cleverly she describes her traveling companion, Claire, when they are facing duress in 1986 communist China. The pair have known each […]
The map is what caught my eye. It was the familar shape of the United States, but down the middle were red checks, next to pink ones, and on the far edges, light green and dark green checks. It showed population decreases and increases for every county in the country, […]
Here is a parable I found on the web from a site called “Oceancityfools.com” Is Your Jar Full? When things in your life seem almost to much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar……and the beer. A Professor stood before his philosophy […]
We took a walk on Sunday down a road off Rte 122 that lead to water. It was a road that once connected one of the submerged towns: Dana, Enfield, and Prescott, that now lie beneath the mighty Quabbin reservoir. It was a fitful spring day, with gusty breezes blowing […]
Last night was spent in the big city. Big city, of course, to a rural guy like me being Northampton. I called my pal Jack up, who doesn’t get out of Greenfield much, and he whisked me away in his Lincoln to the Center for the Arts. There I had […]
The front cover of the NY Times business section had a ghastly aerial photo of a large patch of green, being overtaken by the desert that surrounded it. It was an abandoned golf course in Dubai, which was originally designed by Tiger Woods, just before the events of November 2009, […]
There are about six million Jews in the United States, but to many people with this heritage, their religion means little. To other Jews, it’s how they identify themselves. Some Jews are religious but many more enjoy celebrating Christmas. The topic is fascinating to Kate Feiffer, herself a Jew who […]