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In 2006 I wrote the following WUML Sunrise essay.  It was inspired by a Cold War relic discovered while browsing through a salvage/antique shop. The nuclear survival guide, “Protection in the Nuclear Age”, struck me as quaint and out-of-date given that we were in a relatively warmer era with no…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Several years back, I was driving west on Route 9 in Wellesley. While stopped in the passing lane at a red light, my car was hit from behind. Since the light was still red, I got out to…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. See Marjorie’s “Autumn books Part 1” Factfulness by Hans Rosling was recommended by friends Catherine and Dana at a summertime brunch. They urged the book as an antidote to our discussion about the dystopian world situation. The book reveals…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris is an amazing debut novel by a 29-year-old man about racial and social tensions in the deep South in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.  Harris’ prose is luscious; his characters are…

The entry below is being cross-posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Ron DeSantis has had quite a summer. Running for re-election in 2022, positioning himself for a 2024 run for President, Florida’s Republican governor has been trolling Democrats, whipping up culture wars, cruelly using asylum-seeking Venezuelans as campaign props,…

The entry below is being cross-posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. It felt a little like my gasp when Hillary uttered the term “deplorables” to describe Trump supporters. That meant trouble ahead. Biden’s poorly qualified assertion that the pandemic is over may not have been quite that explosive. But it was a…

The Lowell Connector wasn’t designed to end in a Gorham Street homeowner’s front yard as it unfortunately does. The below sketch depticts the intended route of the Connector. The “extension” died when the City Council defeated the necessary eminent domain taking which would have demolished 700 homes and 150 small…

The entry below is being cross-posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. It was nearly 90 years ago that thousands of Germans gathered around bonfires to destroy books by leading writers, artists and other intellectuals, many of them Jewish. It was only the beginning of a fascist movement to eradicate Jews…

Boarding School Blues: Chapter 45 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 45: A Measure of Mirth The holidays were a week away and the excitement was palpable. Even the routine changed per the headmistress’s instructions: “in order to provide a measure of mirth to daily academic tasks, teachers will open each period…