PROVINCETOWN — So, this is back in the early ’60s, down in Connecticut, in some kind of factory. A bunch of guys eat lunch every day at the same table. […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Going Back to Work
On having one’s rhythm rudely interrupted by employment
It’s spring, and the town comes more alive, with increasing numbers of visitors arriving. Perhaps, like me, you are coming out of the cloistered, monkish existence of the past six […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
The Hitchhiker, Then and Now
What has changed over these 50-odd years?
On an overcast spring afternoon in 1968, I stood on the shoulder of Route 6, outside Hyannis, with my thumb out. After about 20 minutes, the drizzle began, the sparse […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
April Tourists
Hopeful visitors appear even in the cruelest month
A tourist here in early April is like a Christmas tree in July: nice looking, but oddly out of place. I am writing this during a spring school vacation week, […]
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The End of the Hammer
A reflection on those who work with their hands
I hereby make a shameful confession: I don’t know which end of a hammer to pick up in order to use one. This leaves me in a predicament any time […]
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Across the Digital Divide
A fuddy-duddy’s view of sexting
The saddest story to appear in these pages in many weeks was Jan. 28th’s “A ‘Sextortion’ Case Reveals Silent Crisis for Teens.” If you missed it, here is a brief […]
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Ducks in a Snowstorm
Reflections on Annie Dillard’s ‘great hurrah’
PROVINCETOWN — Within the silence of the snowstorm, I walk the frozen beach, boot-crunch the only sound accompanying me. The muffled white air swirls and eddies. And then I hear […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Food for Thought
On the pardoning of two turkeys
Only one of Donald Trump’s many actions in the four years of his presidency got my approval: his pardon for the Thanksgiving turkey. A local turkey was pardoned last year, […]
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The Origins of Hatred
Can we overcome differences and preserve the republic?
My last column (“The Bradford Street Wave”) came out on Jan. 7. In it, I decried the threat of violence that hung in the air and pled for reaching out […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
The Bradford Street Wave
Are we destined to descend into tribal warfare?
PROVINCETOWN — Walking along Bradford Street with my dog, I see the DPW truck coming down the hill. I know many of the DPW guys, and one of them, Paul, […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
The Year We All Became Year-Rounders
Learning to love the saddest tree
PROVINCETOWN — Once upon a time there was come unto the land a plague of broad proportions, a pestilence that brought death, desolation, and disruption, and caused many in the […]
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Tuna: A Little History
This magnificent fish is more than just ‘seafood’
PROVINCETOWN — What a gorgeous monster! First, its size: over nine feet long and over 700 pounds. Then, its unreal color: dark steel blue with green reflections, merging into gun-metal […]
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My Hoary, Helmeted Head
Happy to live in a town where everyone rides a bike
When I was in my early teens, in Pennsylvania, I worked: I had a paper route, was a stable boy, did door-to-door sales, and I saved my money. Finally, I […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Clamming: Opening Day
Our collective tension vaporizes on the flats
PROVINCETOWN — Friday morning, Nov. 6, 2020. Under a serene and cloudless wide blue sky, with a temperature in the high 50s, a scene reminiscent of the work of Breughel: […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Broken Wing
The ways of nature can be difficult to witness
Three days in a row, in late September, I went out to Race Point Beach in search of a couple of rare gulls. Three days in a row I failed […]
