Nearly eight years ago, I sat at a small table at a Peet's Coffee shop across from a pretty, pert, smart and saucy woman, the former head of the state Attorney General's Civil Rights Division and chief of its Business and Labor Bureau. A former Hale & Dorr attorney, her greatest satisfaction, she said, came …
COVID response lags, again and again
Remember Dr. Li Wenliang, the Wuhan whistleblowing eye doctor whose warnings to medical colleagues about the not-yet-identified Covid virus were dismissed by Chinese authorities as "false comments" and rumors? In January 2020 my info-holic husband told me about Dr. Li and predicted this could be the start of a dangerous pandemic. I remember our discussions …
Calling out Trump’s web of lies is just Step One
This was the speech many have been waiting for for months: the President standing in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and speaking the truth about the democracy-defying January 2021 insurrection. Conciliatory softness would just not do for the first anniversary of the lethal violence when a mob, incited by the former, defeated President, tried …
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Mary Richardson: a star has gone dark
The galaxy lost a stellar jewel last night with the passing of WCVB-TV's bright and talented Mary Richardson. Sadly, her star had gradually lost its sparkle over the seven years in which her dark disease - Alzheimer's - increasingly sucked her into the void and stole her essence. Her loss - to her devoted husband …
Saying goodbye to 2021
I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full sort, looking for reasons to be optimistic even when events in this country seem to be circling the drain and democracy seems more fragile than ever. Realism does matter because, if you aren't clear-eyed about the problems, how can you seek solutions? But, as a recovering …
Books for the holidays, pt. 3 – non-fiction
For lovers of non-fiction, two deep dives into the fragility of democracy, here and in the land in the land of its birth. These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore is a mammoth tome, published in 2018. I started reading it when it was launched; I finished reading it ten days …
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Books for the holidays, pt. 2 – more fiction
I have always followed my instincts in choosing books to recommend, so this posting is a little different. The five books explored here were selected by David Moskowitz, a thoughtful and dedicated course leader at Brandeis Lifelong Learning. Their theme is war and its impact on those directly and indirectly involved. The reader is reminded …
Continue reading Books for the holidays, pt. 2 – more fiction
Books for the holidays, pt. 1- fiction
This is Happiness by Niall Williams is not a book to be read in a hurry. Set in the remote village of Faha in County Clare, Ireland, the story is set in the 1950’s before electricity came to dirt-poor Faha. The characters painstakingly described with love and humor, the all-important pubs and church, the social …
Cong. Lauren Boebert – censure, don’t strip
MA. Representative Ayanna Pressley is filing a resolution to strip Cong. Lauren Boebert of Colorado of her committee assignments as punishment for Boebert's anti-Muslim slurs against Cong. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. With time ticking down on more serious matters, debating this issue now is not only a waste of time and a fundraising trap, but, …
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Charlie Baker and the end of bipartisanship in Mass.
GOP Governor Charlie Baker's decision to opt out of a third-term election he'd probably have won is part of his appeal to the Massachusetts electorate. His disdain for the all-too-familiar despicable aspects of today's political discourse has been reason enough to embrace him at home and place him consistently among the most favorably viewed of …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 