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Bob Marley Was Jamaica’s Most Treasured Man

Bob Marley Was Jamaica’s Most Treasured Man

A movie we watched on Saturday night brought back memories of a very important musician, one whom I at one time considered my favorite–Bob Marley and the Wailers.  Directed by Kevin McDonald, the film tells the fascinating story of how this son of an English army officer named Robert Nesta […]

Jim Olsen Is Moving On Up

Jim Olsen Is Moving On Up

“No, I am not opening a nightclub!” Jim Olsen told the crowd up on stage as he debuted Signature Sounds new offices in downtown Northampton. He was standing on a stage with chairs set in front of it, but it’s a listening room, a place to hear new music, not […]

The Moments When Working at Home is the Best

There are a few things that make working at a home office a pleasure. But there are also moments when you get sick of talking to the cat and wish there were co-workers sitting next to you who you could talk with about last night’s game, or what’s for dinner. […]

How to Make Our Town A Little More Livable

How to Make Our Town A Little More Livable

Last night, a few dozen neighbors and I pored over blow up aerial photos of our town.  We had gathered at the invitation of Bernie Kubiak, the town manager, who is using a HUD sustainability grant  to develop a Complete Streets and Downtown Livability Plan for the South Deerfield village […]

Paddling is a Great Way to Spend a Minor Holiday

Yesterday I phoned my friend Jack, with whom I’ve shared a Columbus Day tradition for many years. We always go on a hike some where, and I leave it to him to figure out our route.  There was a time way, way back when I used to work on a […]

Tag Sale Tips: Find the Alpha Dog

Tag Sale Tips: Find the Alpha Dog

In Deerfield yesterday, it was Tag Sale Day. I decided my garage was full enough to make it sale time. The night before I blew off my plans for socializing to focus on the task–I had to get all of this stuff out of the garage and clean off the […]

Baystate Franklin Nurses Aren’t Asking for the Moon

My daughter Kate is unhappy with how she thinks people are viewing the current nurses strike at Baystate Franklin. Some of the issues are that Baystate does not want to pay overtime to nurses who often work 12 and 15 hours days during their shifts. It’s true that for many […]

Datsun’s Coming Back, As a $3000 Car

Remember Datsun?   It’s about to make a comeback, says the president of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn. Raised in Brazil and Lebanon, he remembers the societies he grew up in, where everybody didn’t have a car. Heck, he didn’t get his first car til turned 18. A story in the WSJ […]

The Count Makes the Case for His Family’s Pencils

Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell is the eighth member of his family to run the empire that makes pencils.  That name–it’s gotta be familiar to anyone who has ever filled out an SAT test with a Number 2, or chewed  on a yellow Mongol, invented by his brother, Eberhard.  In […]

The Dog Stars Is Already a Hit, and Soon, a Movie

The Dog Stars Is Already a Hit, and Soon, a Movie

Last night we heard my old friend Peter Heller read from his new novel, The Dog Stars at the Odyssey Bookshop. There was a good turnout and we learned from Joan Grenier the owner that she had ordered 300 copies of the book. Her bookstore has a first edition club […]

When Three Sites Combine, Good Things Happen

So many things swirl around my head on this early morning. Good things, swirling hither and yon, things that I’m worried about but not bad things–just challenges.I would much rather face steep learning curves than battle deficits of income…so I’ll get on a conference call with my fellow webmasters today […]

A Man and His Ship and My Uncle the Accountant

SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built, designed by Gibbs & Cox.

When we were growing up, a big part of our family lore was that our great uncle, Frederic H. Gibbs, designed the fastest ocean liner ever built. We used to visit FH and his wife, Bess, at their summer cottage at the Weekapaug Inn on Rhode Island’s coast. Fred had […]

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