I’ve been thinking a lot about my father, who died 20 years ago this week. As has been obvious from these #stampoftheday posts, he was, for a time, an avid stamp collector. I think his collection started with Scott’s International Postage Stamp Album, Junior Edition. Published in 1933, the book it is almost three inches […]
Ben’s First Stamp Album (20 Years After My Father’s Death) Read More »
Four years ago today my wife, several neighbors, and I drove to the Alewife MBTA station to take a Red Line train to the Women’s March protest in downtown Boston. Although we tried to get an early start, the station’s lobby already was full of people trying to buy Charlie Cards, go through turnstiles and
Susan B. Anthony and the Fourth Anniversary of the Women’s March Read More »
Like many people, I cried more than once today. I cried so much, that I can’t remember everything that caused me to tear up. I cried when I watched the videos of the women who sang “Amazing Grace” and “Hallelujah” at yesterday’s memorial for those who’ve died from COVID. I choked up when I saw
My Emotional Logjam Broke on Inauguration Day Read More »
“Our long national nightmare is over,” said Gerald Ford, moments after he was sworn in as president after Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. “Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.” Tomorrow, barring an extraordinary series of events, another “national nightmare” will end. Joe
Edgar Allen Poe Celebrates the End of Our Long National Nightmare Read More »
My late brother Neil was very smart and talented. But I find it doubtful that he actually wrote a letter – in exemplary cursive handwriting, no less – to the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) in late 1955, when he was 3½ years old. And while my sister Nancy, who was born a year and
Young Neil and Nancy Ask the UN for Stamps Read More »
“Loom” is an often overused word. But it’s the right word to describe how I remember the Pulaski Skyway, a three-plus mile elevated road that connects Jersey City and Newark and crosses the Hackensack Meadowlands. In my memory, we often drove underneath the looming skyway and through the Meadowlands, which, were full of signs of
The Word “Looming” Was Made for the Pulaski Skyway Read More »
I grew up singing many of Stephen Foster’s well-known songs, particularly “Oh Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” and “Old Folks at Home” (aka “Swanee River”). But I don’t remember ever thinking about (or being asked to think about) what I was singing, only that they were catchy and fun songs. But I digress and want to go
Are You Sure You Want to Hum Along with Stephen Foster? Read More »
Today, when violent right-wing fascists have attacked the US Capital, I find it heartening to see that on January 6, 1941, at a time when the Nazis and other fascists controlled most of Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, used his State of the Union address to make a full-throated defense of democracy and freedom. Given
This is What a President Sounds Like: Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech Read More »
In the fall of 2015 and spring of 2016, when I regularly showered Harvard’s Hemenway Gymnasium after biking to work, I thought surprisingly often about Senator Ted Cruz, who graduated from Harvard Law School, which surrounds three side of the gym. For some reason, I was obsessed by the thought that Cruz, a particularly distasteful
Alaska Became a State and Lisa Murkowski Became a Statewoman Read More »
My family moved to Summit, New Jersey in the summer of 1963. Six years later, Summit, celebrated the 100th anniversary of its incorporation as a separate township. Today’s #stampoftheday, which isn’t a stamp, marks that celebration with a special envelope that was cancelled by the post office in Summit on January 1, 1969. While the
Summit, NJ Was the Tops Except Sometimes It Wasn’t Read More »