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My nephew Philip Marion is a writer, illustrator, and practitioner in other media. He invented a comics universe called “Spoon & Packet” that he describes as “a miniature parable fora larger world”— Meet Spoon and Packet, the unlikely duo whose rebellious spirits cause them to journey from a 1950’s diner through Hell…
Read More »Today is Canada Day! Canada Day is celebrated on July 1st across the country. July 1st marks the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada. While celebrations complete with fireworks, parades, fairs, folkfests, concerts, athletic events…
Read More »Here’s another softball poem from the vault. This one was first published in the literary journal “Kennebec” at the University of Maine, Augusta. I spent many summer days in Maine during the 1970s and ’80s, visiting a friend who lived near Ellsworth. I brought this poem to a writing workshop…
Read More »I wrote this sketch several years ago just after the Fourth of July. The Cassini-Huygens space probe, according to Wikipedia, “entered into orbit around Saturn in July 2004,” and it is expected to transmit data about Saturn and its moons until 2017. In January 2005, the vehicle landed on the…
Read More »The recent rather positive statement from FERC – the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – about ENEL’s $6 million proposed bladder dam project for the Pawtucket Dam was detailed in a Lowell Sun story by Jen Myers followed by a soft “let everyone sit down and talk” editorial. The letter has…
Read More »Last week, one day around suppertime I was walking our family’s Boston Terrier on the South Common and I had what I can only describe as a sense memory. The strong sun, bright sky, dry air, grass underfoot, and voices bouncing through the park made me think that the evening was perfect…
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, opinion writer Maureen Dowd smooches Gov. Andrew Cuomo big-time for what he did. Read her column here, and get the NYT if you want more.
Read More »The capture of James “Whitey” Bulger is the talk of the town. In today’s Boston Globe, writer Don Aucoin reminds us of the books, movies and television shows inspired by the actual and mythic Whitey Bulger. The Boston mystique of “everybody knows your name” evolved into the ruthless, Nicholson-esque imagery.…
Read More »I’ve been waiting for somebody to do something like this–bring the people with money together and get them to pledge to hire more people to do things that need to be done. Ole Bill is bringing his Clinton Global Initiative to Chicago to do just that. Read all about it…
Read More »From the Prelude to Part First of – “The Vision of Sir Launfal” by James Russell Lowell: And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear…
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