There Should Be A Pulitzer Prize For Newspaper Headlines
And in other news, there is a Psychic Boutique on Revere Beach Parkway, just outside Boston. A Psychic Boutique.
Kids These Days
Boston kids born in the twenty-first century take it for granted that, in the words of Mick Jagger at a Rolling Stones concert at Fenway Park in 2004, “Boston is a championship city.”
Those of us who’ve been around a little longer don’t take these things for granted. So an occasional reminder just before the start of another NFL season seems appropriate.
Al Fresco
In the Courtyard at the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts, on a perfectly beautiful Sunday.
Flags On Overpasses
I’ve been seeing more and more American flags attached to the cyclone fences on overpasses around Boston - multiple flags on each overpass, facing in both directions.
Does anyone know what message these flags are intended to convey, who puts them up, and whether they require permits?
Low-Power Indicator
We’ve had over two feet of snow in Boston over the past twenty-four hours. I’m not posting any photos of it, because I don’t want to look at it any more.
Instead, here’s a graphic of what’s left, energy-wise, after clearing most of it away.
Modern Pastry
The North End of Boston has pretty much become a theme park, compared to what it was when we lived on Beacon Hill in the late 1960s. But then, it seems like that has become the case with a lot of Boston neighborhoods.
Even though Meyer's Meat Market on Salem Street, where Harold the butcher knew exactly the cuts of meat we liked, is long gone, there are flashes of the old North End still there to see if you know where to look for them.
Modern Pastry, for example.
Established in 1930, it was named "Modern" because it differed in certain ways from the traditional home-made pastries that the first wave of Italian immigrants brought with them from the old country. It was "modern" in the context of its times - the midst of the Great Depression. The first American generation were transforming the "old ways" of pastry-making and selling, and this bakery on Hanover Street was the showcase for it.
One More From The MFA
I forgot to mention that our visit to the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts last week would not have been complete without re-connecting with Degas' little dancer.
Snowmageddon Grips Boston!
It looks like Wegmans will set a new one-day record for wine sales today.
Boston Streets
I actually drove through this area a few weeks ago, and understood this sign. But I've lived here for a long time. As a newbie Boston driver, you might be able to get your head around it if you had the time, but you don't when you're driving and someone right behind you is leaning on the horn.
Back Bay Boston Before The Pru
Back before there was a Prudential Center on Boylston Street in Back Bay Boston (and the Massachusetts Turnpike running underneath it), there were rail yards. Lots and lots of rail yards.
Point Taken: Watching The Sausage Being Made
I had an opportunity to be in the audience for the taping of the debut of "Point Taken", a new weekly PBS television show produced by WGBH in Boston, which promises to deliver reasonable dialogue about current events without all the noise. If you've been following my blog, you know by now that I am all about that, so I was pleased to accept the invitation.
I'm always interested in seeing how the sausage is made, and the invitation required only that the audience be prepared to sit still for at least two hours (which meant that bathroom breaks or early departures were out of the question). I can do that.
The premiere show, edited down to thirty minutes, was airing at 11 PM that same night, and since a lot of things were at stake here - like potential or continuing sponsorships, and syndication - the producers were under a considerable amount of pressure (and a hard deadline) to get it right.
Left to right: Monica Mehta, Tom Shattuck, Carlos Watson (host), Matt Welch, and Isabel Wilkerson
We (the audience) were seated very specifically by some optics-algorithm I was unable to comprehend. Once seated, we were directed to practice laughter and applause by the stage manager, as other production folks got their camera shots and angles just right. This all took the better part of an hour, until the director, hidden away in another room, was satisfied. The host, Carlos Watson, appeared, the guests were seated and introduced, and after a couple of false starts and re-takes, the show began. When I watched it later on television at home, the production was flawless.
The question on the table was "Is the American Dream dead or alive?" Guests Monica Mehta and Tom Shattuck argued Yes, and Matt Welch and Isabel Wilkerson argued No. And Carlos Watson kept them (and the thirty minute show) on track and in focus. The audience voted prior to and after the show, using clickers, and it looked like the "No" vote was larger than it had been prior to the show. So Monica and Tom prevailed. Good dialogue, among four bright in-touch people who know better than to shout over one another
I recommend "Point Taken" to you - it's available to stream here.
And look for me - I'm the tall guy with the white hair in the second row, on the right hand side of your screen. For about two seconds.
King's Chapel Boston
Easter Sunday, from on high.
Boston Cream Pie
Boston Cream Pie, the official dessert of the Commonwealth Of Massachusetts, was perfected in the Parker House kitchens in Boston in the nineteenth century.
Since we're staying at the Parker House, we had to have Boston Cream Pie. For breakfast. In our room.
The Last Hurrah
Over drinks yesterday evening at The Last Hurrah, inside the Parker House hotel, watching the rush hour crowds disperse from downtown Boston at the corner of Beacon and School streets, we remarked on how slovenly and poorly dressed they all looked, compared to the crowds one would might have witnessed in years past.
People in general used to take more care with how they presented their public selves. Even on civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery.
