It looked like a good-news story to revel in. The valuable pieces of artwork that were presumed missing from the Boston Public Library weren’t missing after all. They were apparently […]
Arts and Culture
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download
Iron Man run off by reporter
Robert Downey Jr. was talking up the new Avengers movie in London when his TV interviewer suddenly started asking him questions about his past drug use, his politics, and his father. Downey […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Tea Party ship off to slow start
THE BOSTON TEA Party Ships and Museum, which re-opened in 2012 with the help of a first-of-its-kind $18 million loan from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, is off to a […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download
HUBweek hubbub
Now we know what the managing director of the Boston Globe does: She enlists Harvard, MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital, and together they launch a week-long festival celebrating innovation. Called […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Union officials raise Great Wolf concerns
great wolf lodge, a newly refurbished resort and indoor water park in Fitchburg, opened to great fanfare in early June. Kim Schaefer, the company’s CEO and “Mama Wolf,” was on […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
Artificial turf, artificial controversy
IN OUR OPINION, Bruce Mohl’s short piece “Artificial Preservation” tries to create artificial controversy. Mohl finds fault with the fact that several communities are approving projects using last summer’s legislative amendments […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy
Studio report lauds tax credit
The Hollywood movie studios that benefit financially from the Massachusetts film tax credit released a report on Wednesday indicating the economic gains for the state as a whole are greater […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy, The Back Story
Preview of coming attractions
MOVIE AND TELEVISION producers in Hollywood are already expressing interest in booking a film studio in Devens that is scheduled to open this coming summer, one of the studio’s executives […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
Gore Vidal: Writer, activist, social critic
Gore Vidal was the last of an extraordinary generation of American writers who came of age during the 1940s and 1950s. Just considering the roster of talent that emerged from […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
A populist vision for US rowing
The women’s “eight” rowing entry representing the United States is poised to make history in London. These eight stellar athletes are heavily favored to win the gold, besting the British […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Education, Opinion
You’ve got to have art
In many school districts, the last few years have not been kind to arts education. Arts are among the first subjects to be cut when budgets are tightened. But the story […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
For Gateway City leaders, time to get creative
Worcester City Manager Michael O’Brien, Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. Building a vibrant arts sector has become a popular idea […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy
The great divide
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960 – 2010By Charles MurrayNew York, Crown Forum, 407 pages Reviewed by Ralph Whitehead, Jr in the america of 1960, writes Charles Murray […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy, The Back Story
Film flim flam
How vulnerable to fraud is the state’s film tax credit? That’s the question quietly being asked on Beacon Hill in the wake of a 10-count indictment against director Daniel Adams […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
What happens when a community loses its newspaper?
Holyoke City Hall, looking up Dwight StreetFor days, hundreds of callers speaking in the hushed tones more commonly reserved for funeral parlors queried switchboard operators inside the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram: […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download, Uncategorized
OH MY GOD!
Yes, that was my reaction when I read the small editorial in this morning’s Boston Globe about a small Catholic university in Pennsylvania rescinding its invitation to syndicated columnist Ellen […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion, Uncategorized
9/11 and the arts
The arts have always had a humanizing influence — rising above political differences to celebrate the transformative power of creative expression. I find myself reflecting on that as we observe […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download, Uncategorized
Back to math class for the Globe
We’re all familiar with the warning to keep matches out of the hands of children. The same should often be said with respect to statistics and reporters. Today’s exhibit: The […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download, Uncategorized
Bowling abroad
The breakdown in American civic culture and community has been well documented. The definitive treatise on this, of course, is Robert Putnam’s 2000 book Bowling Alone, which painted a picture […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
Morphing Malcolm
Malcolm X: A Life of ReinventionBy Manning MarableNew York, Viking, 594 pagesReviewed by Kevin C. Peterson during the final weeks of his life, Malcolm X, the voluble and acerbic American […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Politics
Backwater of the universe
Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society’s Crusade against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil By Neil MillerBoston, Beacon Press, 209 pagesIt’s easy to be smug when you live […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Wemmick was right
given charles dickens’s penchant for outrageous character names, the hero of Great Expectations falls a little short. I’m not talking about narrator Philip Pirrip, whose “infant tongue could make of […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Economy
Crunch time for Massachusetts gambling debate
Massachusetts is on the brink of opening the door to expanded gambling. A conference committee of six legislators, three House members and three Senators, is working to reach agreement on […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
Poker deregulation is no bluff
A guy holding a 4 and 7 draws three cards in a poker game, successfully betting he’ll pull an inside straight flush. Skill or luck? Dumb luck for an unskilled […]
