The Douglass bust is the first to be added to the Senate Chamber’s permanent collection since 1898. It now it sits in an alcove near his quote — “Truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will ultimately prevail” — which adorns the chamber.
Arts and Culture
Posted inOpinion
Book bans are bad for democracy
Massachusetts must fight against the national tide of intolerance promoting book bans, which post a particular threat to marginalized communities.
Posted inArts and Culture
Boston’s free museum plan leaves out thousands of kids
Under a new seven-month pilot program, on the first two Sundays of every month, Boston Public Schools students and up to three family members will have free admission to several Boston arts and cultural institutions. But the free admission program doesn’t apply to all young people in the city.
Posted inOpinion
Holding a mirror up to our stereotypes
The new film “American Fiction” is not merely a piece of entertainment; it is a profound commentary on the state of our cultural and media landscapes.
Posted inArts and Culture
The ‘frantic paddling’ of Boston’s food scene
Boston’s ever-changing food scene is now on the front edge of another era, one driven by the pandemic and marked not just by evolution in outdoor dining or cocktails to go, but labor unrest.
Posted inEconomy
For the ‘canna-curious,’ a new way to buy and ‘drink weed’
Theory Wellness, opening the state’s first drink-only cannabis dispensary in Medford, is betting on the growing cannabis beverage market and looking to make the process of buying and drinking marijuana look a lot more like the process of buying and drinking beer or the ever-more-popular spiked seltzer.
Posted inOpinion
Contemporations may work better than reparations
While reparations are typically linked to slavery or historic discrimination, contemporations focus on contemporary discrimination. With contemporations, there is no need to determine the responsible parties’ intention, only the impact of their decisions and actions on community and personal wealth.
Posted inArts and Culture, State Government
State seal and motto commission punts to Legislature
Although the commission raised several possibilities for the seal and motto, the panel punted a decision to the Legislature. How that decision will be made is unclear at the moment.
Posted inTransportation
Blue Line ridership disappointing during and after tunnel closure
THE SUMNER TUNNEL shutdown on July 5 prompted an increase in MBTA passenger levels on subways, buses, ferries, and commuter rail, but the increase wasn’t as big as expected and […]
Posted inArts and Culture
UMass Dartmouth exit a tough blow for New Bedford
WHILE STUDENTS ACROSS the state descend on campuses for fall move-in day, Monday was move out day for Zeph Luck. With a backseat loaded with canvases, the 26-year-old grad student […]
Posted inEducation
UMass Dartmouth arts college exiting downtown New Bedford. Who’s to blame?
THE ABRUPT announcement Monday that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts would be immediately vacating a downtown New Bedford building, where it’s been housed for […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Drag queen story hours: pulling back the sequined curtain
ON A TOASTY JUNE DAY, the tinkle of a ukulele and cheerful outbursts from children bounced around an unassuming Brookline library building. Just a short stroll from the Chabad Center […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Old North Church grapples with slavery
WINDING THEIR WAY along the red brick and red painted Freedom Trail, Boston tourists eventually find themselves in front of the Old North Church. Their eyes may seek out the […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion
1812 Overture should be dropped from July 4 playlist
PROTESTING THE BARBARIC Ukraine invasion by banning Russian music from orchestral concerts is shortsighted, but replacing the 1812 Overture on July 4th programs is long overdue. Tchaikovsky was born in Russia, […]
Posted inOpinion
Pride month is special because I am coming out
FOR ME, the Pride parades and festivals are special this year because I am coming out as bisexual. I’ve been married to my wife for almost thirty-eight years. I love, […]
Posted inOpinion
A creative imagining of the Emancipation Group statue
IN THE SUMMER of 2021, I wrote an opinion piece for CommonWealth with suggestions on what to do with the city’s Emancipation Group statue, the one showing Abraham Lincoln with […]
Posted inArts and Culture
The promise and pitfalls of relying on artificial intelligence
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS changing the way we think about authorship, art, and white collar work. It may be changing how we think, full stop. As artificial intelligence, or machine learning, […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Boston pitches libraries, affordable housing as perfect match
IN THREE BOSTON neighborhoods, home could soon be where the stacks are. The city is set to join a handful of other places that combine public libraries with affordable housing, a […]
Posted inOpinion
How arts enrich the state’s civic life
LOCAL ARTS PROVIDE a wellspring for community – energizing residents and enriching civic life. Our regions benefit from the remarkable ways that arts and cultural expression help people engage, connect, […]
Posted inArts and Culture
In end of era, Bay State Banner sold
BIG NEWS FROM the world of local news in Boston: After almost 60 years at the helm, Mel Miller has decided it’s time for a changing of the guard at […]
Posted inOpinion
As history shows, those educated in arts shape the future
THIS YEAR marks a profound milestone in how Massachusetts became a national symbol of ingenuity and creativity, leading the way in preparing new generations to take on the challenges and […]
Posted inArts and Culture
‘The Embrace’ is good art, but not good public art
I AGREE WITH those who say “The Embrace” tribute to Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King is good art. But it may not be good public art. Good public […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Ashmont Grill offered a healthy serving of community-building
IT HAS BEEN, to borrow the hackneyed line from a made-up Boston bar, a real-life place where everybody knows your name. For 18 years, the Ashmont Grill has been the […]
Posted inArts and Culture
GBH host O’Donovan faces bleak prognosis with ‘poetry and prayers’
IT WAS A MOMENT when memories were made, beautifully, poignantly, publicly. Brian O’Donovan, celebrating the 20thyear of his annual live show “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” stood onstage at Boston’s Cutler […]
