Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Papers Alive

The New York Exception

Newspapers are dying? Not if you live in New York, according to the Village Voice:



On the southeast corner of 96th Street and Broadway, on any weekday morning, you would swear that the U.S. daily-newspaper industry isn't dying. In the bodega there, New Yorkers who don't already have the Wall Street Journal or New York Times tucked under their arms plunk down cash to buy the Daily News, the New York Post, and Newsday. At the nearby mouth of the subway, hawkers push the free tabloids amNew York and Metro at scurrying straphangers.

It's a scene that doesn't exist anywhere else in the country. In a city of outsize egos, you can credit some of the biggest in town for keeping alive at least the appearance of a once-thriving industry that is vanishing elsewhere. This is the biggest city in the country, and it's the capital of capitalism, but why seven dailies?


To read the article click here.

Bad Fall



The conventional wisdom on the street in that Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins is leaning towards a fall in next months's election. In the meantime, the winner of last month's primary against Higgins, Michael Bardsley, has a big thank you sign on the front of his headquarters in Florence.



But the big news in local politics was yesterday's primary in Agawam where the scandal plagued Mayor Susan Dawson got bounced. Top vote getter Derek Benton will now face former Mayor Richard Cohen for the mayoralty in November. Cohen was a good mayor when he was in office, but he is a terrible campaigner whose dull speaking style makes even his supporters cringe. Benton on the other hand, a former aide to former State Senator Brian Lees, is Mr. Personality.

Mayor Dawson must in some ways be relieved to be forced out of the public spotlight, which was no doubt very uncomfortable for her over the past year because of a scandal involving another man's ex-wife. The hard part to bear is that she now has to accept the bitter truth that her enemies have succeeded in ruining her career.

Among the Dead

A cold rainy morning today along the woodland way leading to downtown Northampton.



A good day to poke around this little cemetery in the center of Florence.



There are lots of old graves dating back to the 1800's.



This old monument is getting rather lopsided.



Despite being reinforced by stones, this tower will soon topple.



We yearn and grasp for worldly immortality, but eventually time is triumphant over us all.

Today's Video



That's Lord Russ above in March playing the Northampton courthouse steps as Elvis. Here's a classic bit of video that has surfaced of him playing outdoors in Amherst way back in 1996. Did he have more fun as a blonde?


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