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 …
Wu and her audience a forward look for Boston
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
Drip, drip, drip: Biden’s Classified Document mess
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
Winter reading – pt. 1, fiction
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 …
Immigration reform tops list of unmet needs
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
Unlikely headlines for the coming year?
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 …
2022 departures leave big shoes to fill
As a longtime journalist (and it's still in my DNA), I have sometimes succumbed to the reporter's credo that bad news is good news and good news is no news at all. Having spent a couple of decades in that specialized part of journalism - opinion writing - , my job has been to point …
Donald Trump: focus shifts to DOJ
Yesterday's January 6th Committee hearing, its final one, was certainly historic. Never before has a House Committee referred criminal charges against a former President to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution. Yesterday, it did just that, referring Donald Trump, attorney John Eastman and possibly others for obstruction of an official proceeding, the central moment …
Warnock wins. Sinema goes Independent. Still time to exhale?
Whew! Senator Raphael Warnock was reelected to the United States Senate, giving the Democrats a 51-49 margin. But wait! Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, concerned about holding her seat in 2024, just switched from Democrat to Independent. So the numbers are now 50-49-1. Even with Vice President Kamela Harris's tie-breaking role, Warnock's win was all the more …
Continue reading Warnock wins. Sinema goes Independent. Still time to exhale?
Books to curl up with in cold weather – pt. 2, non-fiction
The Scheme by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D, R.I.) is a stunning, sobering and, indeed, chilling account of how the radical right, funded by dark money, has captured the U. S. Supreme Court. It is a well-documented review of the decades-long campaign by ultra-wealthy billionaires like the Koch brothers and the organizations they funded (think The …
Continue reading Books to curl up with in cold weather – pt. 2, non-fiction
Marjorie Arons-Barron 