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Much has been written about the US ouster from the World Cup last Saturday with opinions ranging from “this was a great result considering all the circumstances” to “this was a squandered opportunity.” As a novice soccer fan, I hesitate to state an opinion, but it seemed that the US,…
Read More »The Spirit of Uncle Arthur at Christmas By Charles Gargiulo I remember reading somewhere that a great songwriter is somebody who can say more in just a couple of lines than most people can say about the same subject if they talked all night about it. If that’s the case,…
Read More »Nativity By Malcolm Sharps She didn’t audition for the part specifically; she didn’t need to. The instant Keith saw Katie at the casting rehearsal he knew that she, and only she, could play the vital, crucial, essential role of Mary in his Nativity. She was a natural Mary, the ideal…
Read More »Earlier this week, radio station WBUR presented an audio essay on the fuzzy origins of Chinese pie. The story included interviews with several notable French-Canadian historians and cultural observers from around New England including our own Paul Marion. A link to the audio of the piece plus a full transcript…
Read More »The United States team lost to the Netherlands yesterday at the start of the “knockout” round. At least the Americans made it into that group. They did so by defeating a tough team from Iran on Tuesday afternoon by a score of 1 to 0. The Americans dominated the start…
Read More »You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War by Elizabeth Becker Review by Richard Howe In the final chapter of her excellent book, You Don’t Belong Here, Elizabeth Becker writes that in 2015 she traveled to Cambodia to testify in war crime trials for some surviving…
Read More »Boarding School Blues: Chapter 48 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 48 “Venez, venez, venez!” The two days after the honor roll unveiling seemed endless. Singing Christmas carols became the sole focus in class. Blanche and her friends no longer bothered to twist the lyrics. Every rubber-boot step on the crunchy snow…
Read More »The Guitar By Gregory F. DeLaurier Prologue The Takamine Guitar company was founded in Japan in 1959. While it manufactures a range of guitars, it is best known for its acoustic models, many with a built-in pick-up preamplifier, so you can just plug it in an amp. The price range…
Read More »One of my hobbies is following pop culture. Note that I said “following” instead of “consuming” because when it comes to things like video games, I’d rather read about them than play them. Previously, the World Cup soccer tournament, held every four years, fell into the “read about” category but…
Read More »Thanksgiving came late in 1922. It was observed on Thursday, November 30. Still, the weather was unseasonably warm which would allow many to use their relatively new automobiles to visit distant family and friends. Just ten years earlier, automobiles were very rare and possessed only by the very wealthy,…
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