I like this David Brooks piece in the New York Times about the too little appreciated importance of what we learn about life through art. I could write a similar piece about the Grateful Dead.
Like many of you, I went to elementary school, high school and college. I took such and such classes, earned such and such grades, and amassed such and such degrees.
But on the night of Feb. 2, 1975, I turned on WMMR in Philadelphia and became mesmerized by a concert the radio station was broadcasting. The concert was by a group I’d never heard of — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Thus began a part of my second education.
We don’t usually think of this second education. For reasons having to do with the peculiarities of our civilization, we pay a great deal of attention to our scholastic educations, which are formal and supervised, and we devote much less public thought to our emotional educations, which are unsupervised and haphazard. This is odd, since our emotional educations are much more important to our long-term happiness and the quality of our lives.
To read the whole article click here.
Doctor's Orders
There was an article this week in the Worcester Transcript-Telegram on Richie Neal challenger Dr. Jay Fleitman. Here's the Doctor's prescription on healthcare:
“There’s nothing worse for someone’s health than to be out of work and have anxiety about paying rent,” said Dr. Fleitman. “Our deficit spending has been enormous; it has put our economy in the hole, taxes have gone up and all that has put a wet blanket on business and economy.”
Dr. Fleitman said the current push for a public option in health care reform debate is a “Trojan horse.”
“It is a Trojan horse upon which we are building a government-run health care program where the government runs the decisions that should be left between individuals and their physicians.”
To read the whole article click here.
Holiday Pics
Cool table in Rao's in Amherst.
A sure sign of winter is the abandoned courtyard of Amherst's The Pub.
This work of "art" at UMass may be all rusty, but at least it makes a good bike rack.
For some reason the Fine Arts Center at UMass is particularly prone to graffiti. It must be that huge expanse of naked poured concrete. What does this stencil mean? It looks German to me.
The credibility of this political graffiti is undermined by the presence of Urkel.
My sister Donna and niece Emily.
Pumpkin centerpiece on my friend's porch in Northampton.
Window replacement project underway at the Forbes Library.
Jerry Garcia t-shirt and reflection in a Hamp storefront.
Words of wisdom on Green Street.
Today's Video
Psychedelic folk.
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