Author Archive

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane  is as effective a thriller as his previous books, once again taking a deep dive into the social and political environment in South Boston, this time in the lead-up to the 1974 school busing…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. The City of Newton’s shameful, illegal, and history-making 11-day teachers strike is over. Finally, Newton’s 12,000 school kids are back in class, where they belong. Those of us who have lived in Newton for a long time…

The entry below is being crossed posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Master, Slave, Husband, Wife: an epic journey from slavery to freedom by Ilyon Woo is the story of Ellen Craft, a light-skinned enslaved woman and skilled seamstress, and her husband William, also enslaved and a skilled cabinet maker, and…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Do we really need to arm the Statue of Liberty? It’s no secret that there is an immigration crisis in this country. Since Biden became President, more than three million migrants have crossed the border, and an estimated…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Governor Maura Healey’s report January 17th on the state of the Commonwealth was nearly an hour of celebration: what her new administration has accomplished, what challenges remain, how she intends to address each and every one of…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. North Woods by Daniel Mason is an exquisite book about a house in a forest in western Massachusetts, and all the people who have lived in that house going back to colonial times, starting with a pair of lovers…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Former Ambassador Nikki Haley and Governor Ron DeSantis were like two playground kids pretending to be scorpions in a bottle in Wednesday night’s debate, jabbing at each other, oblivious to the big foot about to crush them…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Few windows into today’s higher education leadership were as shocking as the testimony of three distinguished university presidents (from Harvard, Penn and MIT) before the star chamber hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron own blog. It’s bedtime for 2023. It has been an ugly year. Ukraine. Hamas’ October 7th attack. Bloodshed in Gaza. Wildfires and floods from global warming. House of Representatives chaos and gridlock. Biden’s slump in polls. Social media’s pollution of young…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Small wonder that public approval of Congress ranges between 13 and a scant 15 percent. The year started with chaos and the gelding of Speaker Kevin McCarthy after 15 marathon rounds of voting. It ends with the House commencing an…