Lots of time for reading when you're waiting for broken bones to heal! Fiction to follow. After the Last Border:Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica Goudeau tells the often-checkered history of American treatment of refugees, the lofty national identity promised by Emma Lazarus’ poem on the Statue of Liberty and …
Continue reading Books for early spring, pt. 1 – non-fiction
Newsflash! Joe Biden is a candidate for reelection. It's hard not to be a little dispirited by the prospects of a replay of the 2020 election. As many as two thirds of both major parties are distinctly unenthusiastic about the expected nominees. But, while we may yearn for some shiny new thing, the chances of …
Continue reading 2024 Presidential race a high-stakes groundhog day?
Three months ago, for the first time in 13 years, I took temporary leave of my blog to deal with the fall-out (unfortunate term in this context) of having tripped and broken what turned out to be seven ribs, with some complications. Doctors said I would take at least three months to heal, and I …
( Getty Images) After three years of not being on an airplane due to COVID concerns, we decided to take a winter break. I should have chosen my words more carefully. Friends ask me how was my trip to Florida. A better question would be about my trip in Florida. It wasn't pretty. Out walking …
Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America by Hugh Eakins is a brilliant accounting of America’s slowness to embrace modern art, from the post-impressionists on. Even while Europe was enthralled by Matisse and intrigued by Picasso, those and other innovative artists were scorned by American collectors and museums. Germany and Russia were the frontiers …
Optimistic. Intelligent. Articulate. Polished. Upbeat. Confident. Michelle Wu is a great look for Boston. And so was the audience for her State of the City talk last Wednesday, one year into her term as mayor. Several thousand gathered in person for her address at the MGM Music Hall in the Fenway, and they were as …
Continue reading Wu and her audience a forward look for Boston
C'mon, guys. Get your act together. Another announcement this weekend of six more classified documents being found in President Biden's Delaware home. Repeated unforced errors from an administration that promised, unlike its predecessor, to "bring transparency and truth back to government" is not a good sign. To have a press secretary contradicted after assuring repeatedly …
Continue reading Drip, drip, drip: Biden’s Classified Document mess
You don't ski? You can't bear the cold outside? You can stay warm, cozy and energized by making friends with a book. The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis is an unraveling mystery focused on a prominent Israeli cabinet minister who, to escape a high-profile disagreement with his Prime Minister, betrays his wife by decamping with his …
We are a nation of immigrants. Democrats and Republicans have rightly embraced this foundational story for decades. The noblest articulation is embodied in the Emma Lazarus inscription on the Statue of Liberty. It is also true that, at various times throughout our history, a nasty nativist streak has led to anti-immigrant violence and punitive anti-immigrant …
Continue reading Immigration reform tops list of unmet needs
It’s time to put 2022 to bed. It was yet another Annus Horribilis with the war in Ukraine, the worst inflation in decades, some horrific SCOTUS decisions and climate-related natural disasters. The darkness was mitigated by the year's significant legislative accomplishments, a not-too-bad November election outcome (considering the predictions), and the resumption of much normal …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 