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Like everyone else in New England, I watched the approaching storm with trepidation.  I did the mental checklist in my head, preparing as best I could, getting gas for the snowblower.  I was confident I would be ready with my 1970s vintage orange Ariens.  We looked out our window at […]

I often think of the advantages of not being as rich as Frank Sinatra once was. That’s because when you’re a tremendously wealthy singer and movie star, you don’t get the chance to do things that are very satisfying, even if they feel like work.  Whenever I have painting to […]

I spent much of my growing up years being deathly afraid. I was terrified of what I’d read in the 1960’s popular book, The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich.  That book sent me to bed afraid that there would be so many people on earth we would not all be […]

I had to get down to New York yesterday, as the snow flew around me and reports trickled in of cancelations from the weather.  I did the white knuckle dance as far as Springfield’s Chessmen Lounge, where I parked my car and hurried to board Amtrak’s Vermonter into the city. […]

For as many years as I’ve been a traveling man, I have gravitated toward certain types of music.  I especially am drawn to Arabic music, that enchanting pulsing beat that comes with lyrics I can’t understand, adding to the mystique. I discovered an artist named Nasrat Ali Khan a decade […]

After so many years of visiting the New York Times Travel show this time of year, you’d think it would become old hat. But it’s still invigorating to don the badge and make my way onto the show floor to meet up with so many of the colleagues and friends […]

There is an exhilaration unlike anything else when you’ve just played music with a band–and done it well.  I had a moment of triumph last night at my old friend Joe’s house when I took to the full drum set and played two tunes with a spark and precision I […]

This morning I joined three of my fellow ebook publishers for a get together around a big table at my favorite Greenfield Cafe, the Brass Buckle.  Working on these projects, we tend to go it alone, so I appreciated Jeff Rutherford taking the time to get us all together to […]

Argentina is a defiant rogue in financial circles. That’s because in 2001, the country told hundreds of banks, organizations and individuals to take it or leave it. They defaulted on more than $100 million in debt, offering pennies on the dollar to the people who loaned them all the money […]