I continue to be shocked by the extreme road rage exhibited Friday on the Mass. Pike by Mark Paul Fitzgerald, 37, of Ashland, and Richard Kamrowski, a 65-year-old Framingham man . After a side-swiping encounter, after which SUV driver Fitzgerald refused to exchange information with Kamrowski, the older man grabbed a water bottle from Fitzgerald's …
Category: Culture
Non-fiction books for season’s gifts – or just for you
You're probably as sick of the daily news cycle as I am, despite the satisfaction of seeing the progress of the Mueller investigation. Still, I highly recommend House of Trump, House of Putin, by former Boston Magazine editor Craig Unger. This well researched tome documents a Donald Trump who is a wholly owned asset of Vladimir …
Continue reading Non-fiction books for season’s gifts – or just for you
Under Trump, hate has been mainstreamed
Words fail to capture adequately the shock and aching sadness at yesterday’s slaughter of 11 and wounding of others Saturday morning at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. The randomness of the target selected - it could easily have been a synagogue in Newton, MA, Shaker Heights, OH, Highland …
Summer reading part one: escape into fiction
Every year at this time I share books that that may interest my readers. What I have discovered in year two of the Trump administration is how I often have I sought escape into fiction, though it is fiction with a political edge. Waking Lions by Israeli writer Ayelet Gundar-Goshen is a thriller about a …
Continue reading Summer reading part one: escape into fiction
The war of the roses
Candide says, "We must cultivate our garden," and it's all the more important today as an escape from Donald Trump and the malevolent cacophony he brews. My garden is one reason I shall never move out of our house. But, really, how does my garden grow? The answer rests with Peter Rabbit. And Brer Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, and …
Saving equal access to the internet
Net neutrality isn't just an issue for millennials and techies. The Federal Communications Commission's December decision to change the rules governing access to the internet will affect us all. Your eyes glazing over? Our attitudes won't be so "whatever" come June 11th when the change takes effect and internet service providers like AT&T, Verizon and …
Rename Yawkey Way: yea or nay?
Renaming Yawkey Street next to Fenway Park as Jersey Street, its original name, should be a no-brainer. The reputation of the Boston Red Sox under the leadership of the late owner Tom Yawkey reinforced the sense of Boston as a racist city. In the 1940's, City councilman Isadore Muchnick had to pressure the team to …
Vietnam through New Eyes, part 2. A kaleidoscope of images
Coming from Boston, you’d think we’d be used to crazy traffic and pedestrian behavior. Boston is an Eden compared to Vietnamese cities, where the intensity of the traffic takes your breath away. Most people ride motor bikes (due to the high cost of cars and huge taxes imposed on the purchase). Many wear face masks …
Continue reading Vietnam through New Eyes, part 2. A kaleidoscope of images
Headlines I’m looking for in 2018
My New Year's gift to you is a list of headlines. I have precious little expectation that we will see them atop newspapers, magazines, newscasts or on social media in 2018. Please send your own in the comments section below. I won't do something snide like: President receives heart transplant, develops empathy and humility. Perhaps the …
RoyMooreDonaldTrumpHarveyWeinsteinAlFrankenKevinSpaceyMarkHalperinRogerAilesLouisCK,Etc
Yecch! Al Franken was a boor. A jerk. A pig. A sexual assaulter. Not like serial offenders Roy Moore, Bill Clinton or Donald Trump, but on the sexually offensive spectrum nonetheless. In 2006, on a USO tour, a photographer took his picture mugging for the camera and appearing to grope the breasts of entertainer Leeann Tweeden, …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 