Monthly Archives: September 2014

“Boyhood”: the drama of life as we know it

I finally got around to seeing the movie “Boyhood.” I assume a lot of people have seen it by now since it’s been playing on Cape for weeks. Someone asked me what it’s about and it wasn’t so easy to say. As much as anything, it’s about the passage of time. Its uniqueness is in […]

Ken Burns’ America: is there another one?

I assume a lot of us spent a lot of the evenings of last week watching Ken Burns’ latest American saga, “The Roosevelts.” By linking Teddy Roosevelt with his relatives Eleanor and FDR, “The Roosevelts” tells a story of our country covering more than a century— a lot more, if you think of us as […]

Our curious lack of curiosity about NStar spraying

NStar, persevering in its bad neighbor policy, in late August publicized a list of the next victims of its herbicide spraying of plants in its power lines right-of-way. All Cape towns have officially objected to this practice, along with all our legislators, but the virtually universal condemnation falls on deaf ears. NStar and the relevant […]

Nantucket’s school-age population growing, Cape’s shrinking. What’s going on?

“School boom on Nantucket; Student population soars as immigrant population takes root.” Who knew? It was interesting to learn from Saturday’s “Cape Cod Times” front page story that while Cape schools are shrinking, part of the much-lamented youth flight, Nantucket’s are bursting at the seams. “Some public schools on Cape Cod have closed as families […]

Rooting for the deadly underdogs

September averages the busiest month for hurricanes. This year, however, for the second year in a row, the news is the lack of the huge and often deadly storms. You can detect the note of disappointment as weathermen and weather journalists watch those low pressure “waves” coming off the west coast of Africa, encountering hostile […]

Creativity and the bearing of fardels

The meaning of Labor Day, insofar as it means anything these days, is about kicking back, eating hotdogs, drinking beer, in general giving ourselves a “well- earned rest” from our labors. Something like that. Labor is the hard stuff and pleasure is its reward. But there is a school of thought that argues that that’s […]