I don’t think I was alone among book club members in feeling that Marriage, An Intimate History didn’t live up to expectations. The biggest overarching problem with the book is its sophomoric writing: paragraphs typically run three sentences long, cheesy pop music quotes are meant as illustration, chapters are arranged chronologically rather than conceptually, and […]
I was talking to a workmate, who’s several years younger than me, and I made some joke about using a slide rule. After looks of incomprehension, I confirmed that she in fact didn’t know what a slide rule was. References to the bookworm nephew in Foghorn Leghorn cartoons didn’t work either. Is this really not […]
Maura Hennigan shouldn’t have worried about the lack of cross-questioning: the format suited her fine. She was poised, she’d done her homework, and her answers were smart. When asked about parking fines, she gave a clear answer in contrast to Menino’s evasive one. When one questioner addressed Menino with some landlord-tenant grievance that the city […]
It’s early yet in the live debate between Maura Hennigan and Mayor Menino, but my initial reaction is that Hennigan is winning on points but by carping on one city fault after the other comes across more like a city councilor than a mayor. On the other hand, I’m wondering if Menino’s response to every […]
From the tireless journalists at CBS4.
Just a reminder that Book Club meets tomorrow to talk about Stephanie Coontz’s Marriage: An Intimate History. There’s definitely lots of interesting material in it to talk about, so I look forward to it. In the meanwhile, I can’t help but be distracted by the footnotes and want to read books like Anthony Giddens’ Transformation […]
David at Blue Mass Group points to a trenchant Somerville Journal editorial against Pat Jehlen. If you want to see the faultlines between machine politics and progressive-coalition politics, I can’t think of a more concise introduction (albeit from the former’s perspective).
Also, the Globe is being unfair in its headline Menino set to focus on […]
City Council Prelim election results are in. The eight making the cut are probably no surprise:
MICHAEL FLAHERTY
17,820
13.90%
FELIX ARROYO
15,681
12.24%
JOHN CONNOLLY
14,280
11.14%
STEPHEN MURPHY
14,089
10.99%
SAM YOON
13,156
10.26%
PATRICIA WHITE
12,884
10.05%
MATT O’MALLEY
12,058
9.41%
ED FLYNN
11,088
8.65%
The Herald and the Globe have comparable analysis. Like many, I was surprised by Connolly’s strong showing - sure, he’s from a political family, but this is his first run, and his […]
Via Crooked Timber, I see that Tim Burke has a downer of a discussion on whether one should go to grad school.
Graduate school is not about learning. If you learn things, it’s only because you’ve already internalized the habit of learning, only because you make the effort on your own and in concert with […]
Since tomorrow is the preliminary city council election, here’s the rundown so far on where the at large candidates stand:
I would make some endorsement or comment on the issues at play, only so far the candidates for the most part haven’t really engaged issues beyond the level of generality. Besides, this vote is merely to […]
Many thanks to Gibran Rivera, who sent me thorough and thoughtful responses to a survey I sent all city council candidates two weeks ago. So far, he’s the only one to fill it out; I hope others follow. I will compile the responses - certainly before the final election in November, though I may not […]
Open Studios were this weekend in Jamaica Plain. I have to admit it’s the first year I’ve done them there, and it’s a fun thing to wander around the neighborhood looking at art and people’s studios, particuarly given the good weather. As I predicted, a good 90 percent of the work was either sub-par or […]
No, I haven’t forgotten my goal of self-education on foreign policy, but that’s taken the back burner here. At least for this week, a number of local bloggers are talking about health care, particularly in conjunction with a number of legislative and referenda initiatives. Blue Mass Group, organizers of Health Week here in the MA […]
Point 08 Acres has a good summation of Deval Patrick’s interview on Greater Boston last night. I myself caught only the last half of the segment, but have to say that Patrick was pitch perfect in his answers to Emily Rooney. I think his poised and down-to-earth demeanor helps ground his at-times lofty rhetorical tendencies. […]
Mark Schmitt has a must-read post about proposals to finance Katrina reconstruction spending with cuts in pork spending.
After just a few days, the project has identified over $14 billion in spending that could be cut, a small downpayment on the $200 billion reconstruction project. And a lot of it is true waste, mostly the […]