Dear Angela, Reams have been written and will continue to be written about your beloved husband, Tom; hours have been spent broadcasting his myriad accomplishments as Boston's longest running mayor. History will reflect on the many things he did to leave his imprint on the city and, indeed, the region. Future generations will marvel at the …
Category: Media
Getting a grip on ebola
New York City likes to see itself as informed and sophisticated, but the city's response to its first case of ebola was anything but. The headlines screamed "Ebola in NYC." News stories on television and on the electrified sides of skyscrapers flashed danger. Photos of the doctor diagnosed, who had ridden the subway, eaten at a …
Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Today Boston Herald Editorial Page Editor Shelley Cohen has a heartfelt and candid apology for the racist cartoon it published showing President Obama in his bathroom squeezing toothpaste onto his toothbrush while a White House intruder looks on from the bathtub. The uninvited visitor asks, "Have you tried the watermelon-flavored toothpaste?" The intent of the cartoon two and …
Continue reading Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Lessons from Red Sox racist history
The best baseball book of 2002 was Boston Herald reporter Howard Bryant's Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston. Even growing up with the Red Sox, until reading the book years ago at the insistence of my non-Red-Sox-fan husband, I was never fully aware of the deep-rooted racial intolerance of the team …
Jim Foley and journalistic heroism
Islamic extremists yesterday posted a video purporting to show the beheading of GlobalPost.com photojournalist James Foley, a New Hampshire native in Syria nearly two years ago. U.S. intelligence is still not confirming the grizzly death as of 7 a.m. this morning, and GlobalPost CEO Phil Balboni has not yet confirmed the tragic event, said by ISIS terrorists to …
Is there any reason to stay with Verizon?
This month has brought several scam calls from a man with an Indian or Pakistani accent claiming to be from the IRS. FTC take notice! Also, proving what a fraud the national Do Not Call Registry is, there have been daily calls from a 406 MT exchange, with caller ID cleverly popping up the name "Evelyn Davis," …
Israel’s dilemma: how much is too much
President Obama said again today that Israel has a right to defend itself against the 1500 missiles Hamas has recently lobbed from Gaza into Israel and tunnel incursions to kill and capture Israeli citizens. But this morning he expressed concern about "the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives." The Hamas missiles …
Marathon musings: who is a hero?
Don't read this if you're tired of the non-stop coverage of the Marathon bombing. Don't read it if you're not touched in some way by the tragedy that befell individual runners and bystanders or disturbed by the assault on our community. Have there been efforts to capitalize on the grief and memorialization of the event? The profit …
Selfie, shmelfie – where will it end?
Four months ago, when the Oxford English Dictionary named "selfie" the 2013 word of the year, I had never even heard of it. In the last couple of days, it's almost all I've heard. Of course, there was the selfie taken by President Obama of himself and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a comely lass, …
Remy brings ick factor to ballgame
Despite a hailstorm today, little green shoots are starting to poke their heads up in our yard, tomorrow is April 1st and the baseball season has officially started. I'm poised to wrest control of my garden from the rabbits and welcome the season with a clean slate. Except for the Remy factor. When Jerry Remy started broadcasting from spring training, …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 