Author Archive

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Nat King Cole’s “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” linger on, offering precious time for reading and musing. Today I offer some non-fiction selections. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard is…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Summer remains the perfect time to kick back and experience the pleasures of reading. There’s still plenty of time to extend the season. The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah packed a huge emotional wallop.  By the author of The…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. There is no pretty way to lose a war, but the chaotic exit from Afghanistan over the past week  has been  particularly disturbing, especially for short-term political optics  and long-term shameful treatment of those who risked their lives to help…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Andrew Cuomo’s well crafted resignation speech proves once again you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. The speech was outwardly everything a PR person could recommend when spinning such a deplorable situation, except…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Any-reason absentee voting, expanded early voting, drop boxes, all designed to limit exposure to COVID-19, all worked to enhance Massachusetts voter turnout for the 2020 election. 3.7 million – 76 percent of those registered – turned out, the…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. When it comes to securing voting rights, rhetorical flourish will go only so far. At his eulogy for civil rights icon John Lewis last year, former President Obama waxed eloquent in support of comprehensive legislation. Last week in…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. The sign hung over Fenway Park, just under the beloved Red Sox icon. It read, “Save Doug Kahn’s Life! BWH.donorscreen.org   Kidney donor urgently needed!” A desperate move on behalf of a desperate young man. Things have never…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Backyard barbecues, beach parties, fireworks, and concerts featuring the 1812 Overture – all traditional parts of the holiday celebrating the independence of our nation.  What’s wrong with this picture?  Why, the 1812 Overture, of course. This marquee finale…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Hill of Beans, the newest novel by Les Epstein, for 36 years head of the Boston University Creative Writing Program and author of 11 books, including King of the Jews, San Remo Drive, and Pandaemonium,  is another of this writer’s novels…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Instructions for a Heatwave  is another intriguing narrative about a dysfunctional family by Northern Irish novelist Maggie O’Farrell. Set in a 1976 heatwave in the U.K., the novel focuses on the family of Gretta Riordan, an Irish grandmother,…