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Tom Sexton, a frequent contributor to this blog, sent us a new poem that he worked on for some time. The length of a poem doesn’t guarantee that the composition was written swiftly. In the title, Yellowhead is the Yellowhead Highway, a main route in Western Canada. I like the…
Read More »Spring training reminds me of the magnetic pull of baseball in our culture, even for those of us who don’t follow the game closely. So an essay by Paul Marion on his paulmarion.com website, illustrates why baseball is so important in our culture and our lives. Organized Ball By Paul…
Read More »Living Madly: By Any Other Name By Emilie-Noelle Provost Every year around Valentine’s Day, when advertisements for engagement rings and wedding venues start popping up in newspapers and on billboards, I start thinking about names. When I was 11 years old, a friend and I would sometimes walk through the…
Read More »Who wrote Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue? By Malcolm Sharps That was the question. Correct. Who wrote Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue? The answer would appear to be a no-brainer: George Gershwin did. But it’s a less straight-forward question than it seems. If I ask the question in another way: who wrote…
Read More »This essay by Henri Marchand was first heard as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Today we continue our tradition of reposting the essay each year at Christmas. The Christmas Fruitcake: An Ageless Tradition By Henri Marchand I think there…
Read More »The 2022 World Cup will be decided by today’s France v Argentina match that begins at 10am Eastern Standard Time. (I’ll update this post after that game is over). **** UPDATE: Argentina defeated France to win the 2022 World Cup in what commentators said was the most exciting World Cup…
Read More »I’m not the only self-professed neophyte soccer fan following the World Cup. Regular blog contributor Louise Peloquin joins me in doing that this weekend, only she’s doing it from Paris. Louise sent the following observations as the city prepares for tomorrow’s championship match between France and Argentina. —RH Waiting for…
Read More »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 »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…
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