Somehow, in the midst of all the current craziness, I missed the fact that today - December 21, 2020 - is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts. As someone who grew up hearing lots about the Pilgrims - and of course being someone who lives in greater Boston - that seems like …
Topic: Contemporary Issues
Discussing the pandemic, 2020 politics, and other recent happenings
Where have you gone...James Oglethorpe? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo, woo, woo Those aren't the lyrics but they are timely because the eyes of the nation are focused on the U.S. Senate races in Georgia, which was founded as a Utopian scheme by Oglethorpe, an 18th century social reformer who is the focus of …
The great American philosopher Kenny Rogers once sang: "You've got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away And know when to run. ...If you're going to play the game, boy You gotta learn to play it right. Our current president clearly doesn't know it's time to fold 'em and walk away. He might …
In 1962, when the U.S. Post Office Department released a jingle to go with its first ever Christmas stamp. Set to the tune of Jingle Bells, it went: "Christmas stamps, Christmas stamps, making our debut We'll brighten up your Christmas cards, and speed them onto you. Don't delay, mail today, it's later than you think. We'll put them through …
"I need not tell you that the world situation is very serious," George C. Marshall said at the start of a short remarks, given at Harvard's commencement in 1947. After laying out the dire situation in Europe, Marshall, a former general then serving as US Secretary of State, discussed the broad outlines of a massive aid …
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 logo …
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 Republic …
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 11 …
Today's #stampoftheday tells the story of an ambitious, xenophobic New Yorker connected with popular conspiracy theories who unexpectedly became president and then turns out to be one of the worst presidents in US history. The president in question is Millard Fillmore, who was born on January 7, 1800 and is pictured on a 13-cent stamp issued …