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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…

Over the next few weeks I will write about the Lowell City Council elections that took place between 1943 and 1965. The former date is the first election held after the city adopted the Plan E form of government; the second date is the first year covered by my Lowell…

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,…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Persist by Massachusetts Senator and failed Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is the kind of memoir that breathes life into a policy tract.  Warren’s campaign mantra was that for each of society’s problems, she had a plan.  She still…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barrons own blog. Paul Levy was the much-admired executive director of the Mass Water Resources Authority, who, from 1988-1992, led the stunningly successful cleanup of Boston Harbor.  He had previously chaired the Mass. Department of Public Utilities (1983-1987) and followed that…