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In the Trees

In the Trees

By Stephen O’Connor

The first tree I remember climbing was the apple tree in our small backyard in the ‘Acre’ section of Lowell. There were no great trees in that yard nor on that street—no oaks or maple or pitch pine, but from the branches of that crooked tree, I could see across the railroad tracks to where the marching band practiced on a field at Lowell State Teachers’ College and hear their thundering brass, and I could wave to the man in the caboose as the train roared by. Ensconced above my tiny world, I inhaled the fragrance of the nearby lilac bush,  and felt myself every bit a prince of that domain. A tree can do that for a child.

When I was seven, our family moved to a house in a leafy and oak-crowded neighborhood in the ‘Highlands.’ My father hung a small print of the O’Connor coat-of-arms in our new house; its central device was an oak tree on a shield. I thought it must be because any O’Connor is liable at some point to pick up the nickname “Okie,” but I learned that in fact the oak tree, or darach in Irish, was sacred to the Celts, as it was to the Greeks, the Romans, and the Norse.

I remember lying on the ground in our new oak-wooded yard in my favorite sweatshirt, on which was portrayed a football player in a Heisman pose over the words: “I’m a Notre Dame Halfback.” Above me, the branches were nodding and the yellow and orange leaves shushing in the air; leaves were beginning to rock and spin and swirl earthward on the gusty autumn winds. I was as happy as I’d ever been or ever would be, and the sacredness of the oaks was something I instinctively felt.

I made friends in the neighborhood and at the local Catholic school. This was in the blessed days before video games and phones and wi-fi or cable connections. We were connected only to the people and the world immediately around us and disconnected from everything else. A boy’s life was lived out of doors, playing tag football in the street, basketball in a driveway, or running around the neighborhood in long-vanished games like Relievio.

We climbed trees carefully, but fearlessly. Robert Frost describes a boy climber:

He always kept his poise

To the top branches, climbing carefully

With the same pains you use to fill a cup

Up to the brim, and even above the brim.

The branches of the great oaks were too high for us to reach; only the squirrels could  trace those branches and leap with acrobatic skill among them. Still, the oaks provided us with ammunition for our acorn fights. We blew between our thumbs into the crowns of acorns stored in our pockets to produce a piercing high-pitched whistle. But we were happiest as we rose into the branches of pine, maple, beech and of other trees whose names I didn’t know. Every climbable tree was an invitation to what Robert Burns called the “lofty groves.”

In front of the old Marlborough Hotel on the suitably named Pine Street was a magnificent old American Elm that beckoned. With a Boy Scout knife, we carved our initials somewhere near heaven, and watched like invisible angels the passers-by in the neighborhood from our leafy perch. The hotel burned down some forty-odd years ago, and the tree was destroyed along with its shell, but it stands in memory.

Tree branches were prime seats, but we longed for some finer arboreal situation—the aerial nirvana of boyhood: the tree-house. Dan Webster and I built one in a tree behind his garage. It was merely a platform with some rails to keep us from falling out. We had to mount a ladder and then grab hold of a branch to pull ourselves up, but on that platform we found absolute contentment, chewing our Bazooka bubble gum and reading Justice League of America or Superman comics, while his mongrel dog, good old Ginger, sat at the base of the tree looking up. Our conversations are largely forgotten, but I know we discussed what we would do with super powers, which kids were the toughest, our teachers, and whether one day, the two pretty sisters who lived on Florence Ave. would let us be their boyfriends. Dan might bring up his transistor radio, in which case we might be listening to Lulu’s “To Sir With Love,” the Boxtops “The Letter,” or Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman.”

The Blithedale Romance is my favorite book of Hawthorne’s in spite of the popular preference for gables and scarlet letters. In a scene that immediately captured my attention when I read it as a younger man, the narrator ascends high into the branches of a white pine to a pleasant spot he calls his “hermitage,” a “leafy cave,” and “a hollow chamber of rare seclusion,” where he loved to sit, “owl-like, yet not without liberal and hospitable thoughts.” From that vantage, he overhears a consequential encounter between two other characters who arrive below to speak. The scene stuck in my mind, I suppose, because I identified so strongly with the perfect serenity of the man in the tree, and because I believed the scene. People rarely look up or suspect that there is any creature larger than a squirrel in a ‘leafy cave’ above them.

The modern concept of “tree-bathing” or “forest-bathing” has fostered a new interest in the healing power of trees. Scientists and arborists believe that trees communicate with each other, something like Tolkein’s “Ents.” They surely communicate with us through sun-mottled leaves, creaking branches, windy sighs and whispers and the great sudden whooshes that presage a summer storm. Above us, invisible among their verdant branches, as Christopher Marlowe wrote, “Melodious birds sing madrigals.” I’m a bit too old to climb trees these days, but I still spend as much time as I can walking among the trees.

Sometimes I stop to gaze up at a great pine rising into an azure sky, and I recall Thoreau’s words: “It is as immortal as I am, and perchance will go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.” He was outraged at an editor who removed those words as somehow heretical, but who among us can imagine a heaven without trees?

 

The autumn beauty of the trees is now fading fast, leaving, as Shakespeare wrote in Sonnet 73, “Bare, ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.” I hope that there is a heaven and that there are trees there, and maybe Ginger the dog, too, along with all the people who’ve been dear to us. Who knows? Certainly not me. But I take to heart the advice that Shakespeare offers at the conclusion of that sonnet: To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Trump’s Shock-and-Awe Cabinet Nominees – Promises kept? by Marjorie Arons Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog.

Nebraska Senator Roman Hruska once defended Richard Nixon’s ultimately failed nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court by stating, “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they?” Some of those whom Donald Trump has named for his incoming administration go well beyond mediocre. They are unfit to the point of recklessness.

Take Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. Please. This pick for Attorney General has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for possible violation of sex trafficking laws and use of illicit drugs. Known more for his outrageous antics than any responsible leadership, he has often called for demolishing the Justice Department, the CIA and other agencies overseeing justice. A friend who knows him suggested that the nomination could be a false flag, orchestrated to make an alternative terrible choice appear less awful. Clearly, resigning his seat now stops the House from voting to censure or expel him. But I have doubts. Trump also plans to lard DOJ with his personal team of criminal defense attorneys. This nomination may be the most jaw-dropping of Trump’s selections, but it is not alone.

Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has no large organization administrative experience other than serving two tours of duty with the Army National Guard. Trump likely picked him because he looked good on TV defending him, as a Fox commentator and most recently as co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend. He has written a book attacking “woke” generals and the military establishment. He looks with disdain on NATO, with whom any Defense Secretary must collaborate. This resume proclaims him manifestly unfit to lead the nation and the world through the global crises we face. ( Check out Bill Kristol’s knowledgeable assessment.)

With no scientific experience, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. atop the Department of Health and Human Services is an ominous development. A prominent anti-vaxxer and conspiracy promoter, he has said he wants to overhaul the public health system, including the “corrupt” Food and Drug administration, the Center for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health. He opposes fluoridation of water and advocates less restrictions on unvaccinated kids in schools. Candidate Trump has promised that RFK, Jr. could “go wild on health,” “go wild on the food” and “go wild on medicines.” This is scary stuff.

Immigration policies, which surely do need a thoughtful overhaul, will be an important part of the portfolio of Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning, the reprehensible white nationalist Stephen Miller. Trump’s “Border Czar” designate is Tom Homan, the family separation official in Trump One who has already said that, if some members of the family of undocumented immigrants are legal, they are free to leave with the deported members if they don’t want to break up their families. Private prison companies are already salivating over the business they expect to reap from building huge detention centers.

John Ratcliffe, who as Director of National Intelligence in Trump One got a deserved reputation for politicizing the office, is slated to be head of the CIA. Tulsi Gabbard, who was picked for his old job as DNI, has little to no relevant experience. She’ll be overseeing 18 agencies, including the CIA and FBI, and does not inspire confidence either at home or abroad. She has bonded with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and blames the Ukrainian war not on Russian invasion but on the expansion of NATO. And South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, runner up as Trump’s V.P. choice, is even more out of her league as head of Homeland Security. Maybe she’ll give everyone a dog for protection.

Are you ready for former NY Congressman Lee Zeldin as head of the EPA, with explicit directions to roll back or eliminate environmental regulations deemed potentially to interfere with business growth? Ready for a world of “unintended” consequences?

Don’t get me started on Elon Musk, who is likely to be a prime beneficiary of unbridled de-regulatory behavior. Musk seems to think of himself as a shadow president and may well become one. What? No post for pillow man Mike Lindell?

And this is only the beginning. About the most credible selection is Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. The three-term Senator served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and was a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He takes a realistic view of the dangers of China, Russia and Iran. Campaign manager Susie Wiles, the Florida political operative who has been with Trump in all his campaigns, brings managerial experience to her Chief of Staff role. Given the history of others in that position, I don’t know how long she’ll last. If she falters, there’s always loyal deputy chief-of-staff-to-be Dan Scavino, who handled Trump communications in 2024 and started out with him as a 16-year-old caddy in 1990 and then advanced to managing Trump’s Hudson Valley Golf Club.

There’s a lot more, including diplomacy-inexperienced Rep. Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador and former Governor Mike Huckabee, who passionately believes in the rapture and Armageddon, as ambassador to Israel. (How many Israelis and Palestinians know about this part of his End-of-Times agenda?)

Frighteningly, every day brings another shocking announcement. One can only hope that the Senate, under new Majority Leader John Thune, will assert its right and responsibility to approve Trump’s nominees and not bow to Trump’s announced strategy of seeking to make recess appointments, thereby circumventing Congressional scrutiny through a conventional confirmation process.

Trump clearly sees himself as a king, or dictator, naming to his administration inadequate people whose only credential is loyalty to him. His vengeance campaign has begun. His choices of people like Matt Gaetz and Robert Kennedy would be funny if they weren’t so dangerous. But they are dangerous and horrifying. I wish it were April first, but it’s November, and elections have consequences.

Lowell War Dead: Post WWII

This is the fourth and final installment of the names of those Lowell residents who died while serving in the military during time of war. Today, the Korena War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in the Middle East.

Korean War (31 names)

Alexa, Anthony C Jr

Azarowski, Richard Peter

Baron, Roland P

Bilodeau, Adrian L

Doutilier, Jacquelyn M

Busby, Edwin F

Coffee, Arthur G

Conlon, John J Bing

Delude, Felix Louis

Gamache, Melvin Paul

Gargan, John F

Giles, Ralph R

Harding, Thomas Jr

Holcomb, Francis A

Iannuzzo, Gerlando

Johnston, Robert A

Kiggins, John J

Krygowski, Francis J

Lambert, Bernard Robert

LeBleu, Joseph Arthur

Martin, Paul Joseph

McCarron, James J

McKeon, Arhtur Wallace

Ouellette, Joseph R

O’Brien, Robert J

Purcell, Francis S

Robarge, Paul N

Ryan, John F

Vandenberg, Hoyt S

Wong, Philip

Yehle, Ernest William Jr

 

Vietnam War (20 names)

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

Rudolph H. Lefebvre

Joseph L. Vallee

Peter N. Samaras

Robert F. Bigelow

Richard J. Kelley

Ronald A. Skelton

Robert W. McCluskey

Henry M. Sarmento

UNITED STATES ARMY

Donald L. Arcand

William T. Callery

John J. Carville

Peter Tsirovasiles

Paul L. Stewart

Bruce R. Baxter

Robert L. Harrison

Ronald E. Forget

Richard C. St. Armand

Walter J. Lemieux

Peter J. Bouchard

William J. Hodge

John Scott Keenan

Robert J. Laflamme

Persian Gulf War (1 name)

Finneral, George Scott

Global War on Terror (1 name)

Landry, John F Jr

Lowell War Dead: World War II

This is the third installment of the names of those Lowell residents who died while serving in the military during time of war. Today, World War II.

World War II (436 names)

UNITED STATES NAVY

Adie, Donald M
Alberghene, Bruce
Allard, Georgiana F

Balfrey, Robert E

Baron, Richard S

Beauchesne, Paul M

Beek, Robert F

Belisle, Raymond R

Bevan, James C Jr

Birchall, William H Jr

Bradford, Russell A

Brissette, Normand

Brunelle, Joseph A

Burkhart, Jacob

Byrne, Thomas H

Ceci, Lino P

Chakarian, K William

Clark, James P

Conley, Thomas H Jr

Cournoyer, Joseph A

Dailey, Owen P

Dallaire, Wilbert J

Dalli, Ernest P

Desmarias, Edward

Dumais, Armand

Ecklund, Eric B Jr

Edmonds, Clifton E

Frechette, Armand E

Galotta, Edward J

Gaudet, Arthur J

Geddes, Henry E

Genlakos, George

Gibbons, William H

Gionet, Robert C

Gleason, Thomas J

Gormley, John F

Harding, John W

Iverson, James A

Keane, Robert H

Keefe, Joseph F

Lepacki, Alphonse B

Lemire, Wilfred H

Lund, Paul I

Manning, Edward P

Marchand, Raymond O

Marshall, Matthew J

Matthews, Robert T

McPolin, James L

Metropolis, Charles

Morin, Raymond L

Morse, Kendall H

Mulvey, C Edward

Nannery, Lawrence W

Normandy, William F

O’Connor, Daniel J

O’Donnell, Richard E

O’Rourke, James S

Patrie, Howard R

Rayball, William

Raymond, John V

Redhead, Benjamin E

Runels, Ralph C

Ryan, William J

Saracino, Joseph J

Sheehan, Thomas F

Simard, Paul E

Slavin, William A

Sousa, Frank

St. Amand, Leo R

Targ, John T

Tarsa, Peter W

Taylor, Herbert H

Tracy, George J Jr

Trudel, Venance H

Tsendeas, Louis

Turcotte, Joseph A

Turcotte, Lionel O

Turcotte, Robert T

Vigeant, Paul R

Webster, Frederick L Jr

Wewiorski, Mitchell W

Whaley, Francis L

Wright, John E

Yinaopoulos, Peter P

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

Albert, Joseph E

Belley, Gerard U

Cogan, Joseph H

Dobson, Julian K

Dziegiel, Edmond J

Espinola, Edward

Fontaine, Raymond E

Fox, Bryan G

Gagnon, Warren A

Green, George H

Iannuzzo, George R

Lamson, Howard J

Leary, Joseph W

Maguire, Theodore F

Martineau, Raymond P

Murphy, Paul R

O’Sullivan, Francis W

Ouellette, Wilfred G

Quattrochi, Louis J

Quinn, James H

Roan, John J Jr

Rosewicz, Alexander C

Scondras, James P

Trudeau, Racine G

Wojas, Julian J

UNITED STATES ARMY

Ahearn, George E

Alexakos, James G

Almeida, Francis R

Anderson, Robert L

Aubin, Benjamin F

Aubut, William G

Aunchman, Gerald J

Axon, Donald E

Barry, Edward A

Bastien, Armand E

Batsakis, James

Baxter, George L

Beaupre, Thomas J

Bellegarde, Gerald J

Bennett, Hutchins C

Bentis, James

Blake, W Herbert Jr

Bonefant, Frank W

Boudreau, Henry J

Boule, Albert J

Bourassa, Frank A

Bourassa, Ralph D

Bourassa, Wilfred F

Boyle, Arthur F

Briggs, Raymond

Brodley, Francis W

Brouillette, Charles B

Brown, Everett W

Bryan, Thomas

Burke, Warren J

Caires, Americano

Caires, Charles J

Cadieux, Henry J

Callery, James J

Chalifoux, Joseph E A

Chamberland, Roland

Chandler, David H

Chandler, William W

Chevalier, Adelard J

Ciemiega, Stanley J Jr

Coffey, William J Jr

Colbath, Chester G

Collette, Joseph E

Collings, Orville R

Contakos, Anthony C

Cook, Gerald F

Cooney, Daniel P

Cooper, Robert W Jr

Coronios, Harry

Costa, Joseph

Cote, Leo R

Couchon, Lionel

Courture, Paul A

Crafts, Charles F

Cram, Alfred B

Creegan, P Joseph

Cummings, Charles H

Cunningham, H Russell

Curran, Bernard J

Curry, James M

Curtis, Calvin W

Cryan, Thomas

Daley, John J

Dallaire, Albert F

Dallaire, Arthur B

Cavides, Vernon

Davis, Eugene L

Decuyke, John

Descheneaux, Arthur J

Desmarais, John B

Desmarais, Lionel A

Dion, Omer A

Donley, Francis E

Donaghue, Michael F

Drolet, Albert J

Duffy, William J

Dufresne, Alfred R

Dufresene, Elisee

Dumont, Donald

Dunn, Raymond C

Durand, Romeo P

Ekengren, Paul A

Eliopoulos, George E

Emond, Henry A

Evens, Phillip C

Falardeau, John J

Farley, James L

Farmer, Paul A

Farris, Francis

Fay, Howard W

Fecteau, Roland

Fell, James P

Fell, John A

Flanagan, Edward

Flynn, Walter J

Fortier, Armand J

Fournier, Leion W

Galgus, Julius

Gardner, William J

Garside, Walter C

Gauthier, Robert M

Gearin, Raymond H

Gelineau, Leo H

Gentz, J Francis

Gentz, Thomas G

Georges, Arthur

Georgoulis, Esphstratios

Gilbert, Wallace S

Gillis, John J

Gilmore, Edward M

Giroux, Roland J

Gorman, Joseph P

Goward, Edward T

Gregoire, Peter W

Harley, Joseph F

Harpoot, Burgess C

Helm, Charles J

Herlihey, Raymond J

Heslin, John R

Higgins, Edward J

Hird, Winfield A

Hodnett, James J Jr

Hope, William H

Howard, Robert

Hughes, Robert E

Hunt, John C

Hurley, John J Jr

Iverson, George W

Ivos, Costas A

Jean, Roland A

Johnson, Eugene

Johnson, Norman M

Judge, Joseph F

Kanellass, Peter

Karvellas, Peter W

Katibian, Gerald J

Kazlauskas, Joseph R

Kearns, Robert T

Kelley, James W

Kelley, William J

Keter, John J

Keter, Thomas J

Kijanka, Stanley J

Koczera, Edwin J

Kostrzewa, Stephen

Koumantzelis, John G

Krupowicz, Benjamin

Lachance, Joseph J

Laferriere, Raymond L

Lamarine, Robert A

Lamoureux, Joseph H

Lane, Richard J

Lanigan, Hames F Jr

Laporte, Alphege L

Lappage, Walter D

Lazaraksi, James L

Lebednick, John C

Leddy, John E

Lefebvre, Roland

Leland, Allen F

Lemire, Lionel J

Lemire, Paul R

Lepine, Andrew F

Lequin, Camille R

Limberopoulos, Peter V

Linkiewicz, Charles A

Lippe, Roland C

Lis, John A

Lis, Walter J

Lozeau, Arthur J

Lussier, Herve J

Mack, William D

MacPhail, Wallace A

MacRitchie, Wallace E

Mahan, John J

Mailee, Ernest F

Malo, Wilfred J

Mansfield, Quentin

Martin, Douglas A

Martineau, Gerard A

Masse, Armand A

Matthew, Wilfred L

Matthews, John E

McCarthy, Timothy J

McCarthy, William J

McDermott, Vincent P

McEarlane, Paul E

McErlane, Peter J

McGuigan, John E

McInterney, Charles T

McLean, Vincent R

McManus, Thomas

McNamara, Francis J

McNamara, John R

McQuarrie, Edward F

Megdanis, Thomas J

Menton, John

Mercier, George E

Mercier, Joseph R

Michael, Edward P

Michaels, Arthur

Miller, John B

Moran, George A

Modeski, Ferdinand J

Molloy, Daniel P

Moumousis, Nicolas F

Mountford, Robert C

Mpourles, Vasilios C

Murningham, Paul L

Murphy, Cornelius D Jr

Murray, Martin P

Nadeau, Paul J

Needham, Leo M

Nelson, Ernest E

Noel, Arthur F

Odiorne, Harold T

O’Donoghue, James F Jr

O’Flahavan, John P

O’Lehey, Patrick M

Osgood, William L

O’Sullivan, John J Jr

Ouellette, Leo A

Palmer, Jackson Jr

Pater, Walter J

Painchaud, Bernard L

Pauette, Donald

Peladeau, Herman W

Perreira, Charles A

Pereira, Manuel B

Pereira, Thomas D

Perreault, Joseph V

Perry, Charles C

Perry, Douglas

Perlman, Lester R

Petropoulos, Nicholas P

Petros, Frederick R

Petrowski, Walter J

Pigeon, James T

Pikula, Adam

Polchlopek, Walter S

Potocke, Stephen

Primeau, Donald

Qua, Richard M

Quinn, John

Quinn, Thomas J

Quirke, William F Jr

Rapone, Antonio J

Reed, Lewis P Jr

Reid, John W

Reilly, John E

Reilly, Joseph M

Riley, David V

Riley, Edwin J

Robert, Herbert W Jr

Robertson, Charles J

Robey, Henry O

Rock, Leon R

Rogerson, Francis L

Rogerson, Henry J

Rondeau, Raymond J

Ross, Elmer G

Rourke, James T

Ryan, William W

Salmon, Sadie H

Sampatacacus, Sampatis G

Sawyer, Avila R

Scondras, David

Sears, Harry A

Sevigny, Gerard

Sevigny, Joseph F

Shapiro, Sumner

Shaughnessy, John J

Shaughnessy, Lawrence R

Shay, Edward W Jr

Silva, Frank E

Singelakis, Evangelos

Sirmopoulos, Evangelos L

Smith, James P

Smith, John J

Smith, Wendell

Sobolewski, William J

Soderstrom, Exel J

Soteropoulos, George T

Starr, James R

Staveley, Raymond W

St Onge, Edmond L

Stromvalla, Ernest M Jr

Sugden, Albert L

Sullivan, Edward J

Sullivan, Edward R Jr

Sullivan, James P

Taisey, Douglas S

Tarpley, John W

Taylor, Charles R

Theriault, Joseph H

Tousignant, Joseph H

Touzin, Leo J

Trottier, Robert W

Trouville, Rudolph L

Twohey, John J

Underwood, John Jr

Urbowicz, Louis

Vaillancourt, Joseph P

Vaillancourt, Nelson J

Vallee, Ernest D

Veillette, Joseph O

Vercellin, Albert J

Vergos, William

Vermilyea, Gerald R

Vieira, John S

Vurgaropulos, John

Vurgaropulos, James C

Walters, George T Jr

Ward, Lee T

Ward, William E

Wiggins, Charles L

Wintel, Russell E

Wojcik, Stanley J

Wylie, Kenneth C

Zouvelos, George

MERCHANT MARINE

Brewer, Everett S

Gauthier, Arthur L

Gillespie, John S Jr

Jones, Thomas J

Murphy, Paul E

AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE

Preble, Vernon W

AMERICAN WAR CORRESPONDENT

Crockett, Edward H