At one time, before they ripped up the rails in northwest Wellfleet, I might have hopped on a red caboose to visit Otis. I had this thought as Otis and […]
RIDING THE RAILS
With Otis on the High Lonesome
From Wellfleet, woo-wooing into the unsettling expanse of New Mexico
At one time, before they ripped up the rails in northwest Wellfleet, I might have hopped on a red caboose to visit Otis. I had this thought as Otis and […]
THE BURREN NOTEBOOK
Isn’t That Interesting?
Storytelling in a place where the natural, human, and divine worlds co-exist
I believe in the fairies. I do. It doesn’t hurt that science these days is talking about parallel universes and worm holes, and that particles are neither here nor there […]
CYMRU DISPATCH
Of Quakers and Whalers on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path
Walking in Wales, a Wellfleeter encounters a parallel universe
The way markers were all odd, deceiving us, leading us astray, bending our perception of reality. It seemed like we’d entered a parallel universe. By the time the bulls charged […]
ROAD TRIP
To Edward Gorey, Everything Was a Gem
The Yarmouth Port home of the artist known for his sense of Edwardian macabre is anything but scary
I have an image flaming in my head, and it’s glorious. Edward Gorey (or Ogred Weary, for he often used anagrams) drives up to his house in Yarmouth Port. He has […]
ROAD TRIP
Playing With Fire
At the Sandwich Glass Museum, the rise and fall of an industry and the enduring sparkle of a craft
Honestly, the word “Afro-Cuban” was not top of mind when I walked into the Sandwich Glass Museum. But as I looked in wonder at David McDermott’s huge glass sculpture hanging […]
ROAD TRIP
Playing With Fire
At the Sandwich Glass Museum, the rise and fall of an industry and the enduring sparkle of a craft
Honestly, the word “Afro-Cuban” was not top of mind when I walked into the Sandwich Glass Museum. But as I looked in wonder at David McDermott’s huge glass sculpture hanging […]
ROAD TRIP
With Ishmael, on Johnny Cake Hill
In New Bedford, the whaling museum has history both ominous and hopeful
NEW BEDFORD — Herman Melville’s Ishmael certainly must have scuffed his soles on the cobblestones of Johnny Cake Hill. I know he arrived thinking “…whenever it is a damp, drizzly […]
BLACK HISTORY
The Historical Power of Storytelling
Four books that tell difficult but true stories
The powerfully told story is the muscle of history. When it is a first-person account, a primary source, the impact is even greater. The history taught during my years in […]
BLACK AND BROWN HISTORY
Are We Like Other Towns?
Facing structural racism in a cultural oasis
A riot of culture spills forth from that hook at the end of the Cape. Provincetown is like no other place, and it seems incapable of containing itself. It expands, like […]
