On Hiatus
On Hiatus
I’m on indefinite hiatus with this blog as I consider whether I’m putting it out to pasture or transitioning it into something else. Thanks for stopping by.
First Hand: Civil War Era Drawings from the Becker Collection
This weekend we attended the opening of the First Hand exhibit, a remarkable collection of Civil War Era sketches never seen by the public before. This exhibit is special for me because I’ve been managing the website development for both the Becker Collection and the First Hand exhibit site over that last three years. Though…
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Correspondences
The Transcendentalists were fond of looking for “correspondences” between the external world and the inner world, between say the weather and one’s emotions. As I sit working on the last revisions to my dissertation (I have the week off), such connections seem pretty clear. It’s a cold, rainy march day, drab above and below. The…
Facebook and Blogging
I’ve been working on the preface to my dissertation this morning, a kind of personal narrative of how I got interested in place blogging and where I’ve ended up now as I finish up. I began wondering if the rise of Facebook has affected the blogging practices of those I’ve been following in my projec,…
Dancing My Dissertation
This last week I began the final Dissertation Smackdown, the last days of vacation I take to try to finish up the dissertation. When I have to spent extended periods of time writing, my body needs some role to play while my mind is doing most of the heavy lifting. Often my body gets involved…
Bright Leaves through a Window: A Better View
Four years ago I posted an entry with this photo in response to the election: That morning I was trying to focus on anything bright as a dark frame seemed to close in around me; this morning it feels like we’ve stepped outside into something brighter. My eyes are still adjusting, but it’s quite a sight…
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Who is My Neighbor?
This past week I’ve been reflecting on how my sense of place has changed now that a neighbor has been shot and killed across the street from where I live. While I was away last weekend, Garibaldis Pena, 27, was gunned down as he put a car seat into his sister’s car. It appears to…
The Greasy Pole in One Minute
Yesterday afternoon Ben and I biked up to Gloucester where we joined other friends to take in the annual Greasy Pole Competition (read more for Wikipedia). Despite the forecast of thunderstorms, we enjoyed a very pleasant weather for our ride and even after missing our turn in Manchester by the Sea, we still managed to…
The Heart and Soul of Places
I spent last Thursday and Friday in Woodstock, VT with a group of people invited by the Orton Foundation to discuss their “Heart and Soul” approach to planning. The invitation seemed to come out of the blue a few months ago, since I was aware of the Orton Foundation’s work but not involved with them…
Bikes Not Bombs Fundraising Ride
I’m excited to be participating in the 21st Annual Bikes Not Bombs (BNB) Bike-A-Thon on June 8th, riding 62 miles to raise money for this fine organization that promotes biking for transportation and community development. ABOUT BIKES NOT BOMBSBNB is doing many things right: recycling donated bikes, training city kids to repair bikes, sending bikes…