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While watching the Gator Bowl and now Rose Bowl on TV and occasionally checking Breaking News on the Sun site and the home page of boston.com, I’ve been reading “Irish Thunder’ by Bob Halloran, a vivid account of Micky Ward’s struggles and success. Parts of the book describing life in…
Read More »Check this discussion thread from 2002 on Jacques L’Heureux’s Franco-American Connection website for the cultural significance of New Year’s Day among French Canadians. And why is New Year’s Day an official holiday in Massachusetts? Here’s the Lowell connection from worcester.bettysgenealogy.org : New Year’s Day, however, was not an American holiday. It…
Read More »I’ve never seen a copy of the newspaper written and published in the late 1920s and early ’30s by Jack Kerouac’s father, Leo Kerouac, when he owned Spotlight Print, a small printing business downtown that got washed out in the 1936 Flood. Called The Spotlight, the newspaper had items about local entertainment…
Read More »Western Avenue Studios, shown in the background above, will be open today from noon to 5 pm for the regular first Saturday of the month, Open Studios. Pay a visit and browse through all of the artists’ work spaces and perhaps even buy something to brighten up your home or…
Read More »How many times have you said something like that to yourself? What is that, a reflex reaction to psychological muscle memory of what certain days “feel” like? This usually happens when holidays get into the mix, shuffling the pattern of days off. Out with the Boston Terrier this morning on…
Read More »This was an interesting year for science. But rather than stretch for a list of the top ten accomplishments or discoveries I would like to focus in on three specific feats of technological achievement that, I think, have broad implications both for the future of science and how humanity views…
Read More »Plaque erected in Quebec City marking the spot of American General Richard Montgomery’s death. “Here stood the Undaunted Fifty safeguarding Canada, defeating Montgomery at the Pres de Ville Barricade on the last day of 1775, Guy Carleton commanding at Quebec.” Two hundred and thirty-five years ago tonight, American soldiers attacked…
Read More »Shawn Levy, my old friend from graduate school at the University of California, Irvine, is a film critic for The Oregonian newspaper in Portland. Here’s Shawn’s take on “The Fighter,” which he calls “terrific.”
Read More »My “celebrations” of New Year’s Eve have evolved through the years. Growing up, I always enjoyed watching the big college football bowl game that was on that night – I think it was the Orange Bowl from Miami – but that was back in the day when there were only…
Read More »Christian Bale as Dickie Eckland in “The Fighterr” In today’s New York Times A&E writer Manolha Dargis writes in the “”Awards” section about Christian Bale’s performance as Dickie Eckland in “The Fighter.” Dargis analyzes the portrayal and the character portrayed. Is an Oscar in the wings for Christian Bale? Read…
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