Author
Editor’s Notebook: What, me worry?
The furnace stopped working on Sunday morning. Instead of the house slowly warming as we sipped coffee, it grew steadily colder. “Why am I freezing this morning?” my wife asked as I swallowed the last of the second cup. “Because it’s cold out,” I said with a shrug. I was tired and had no interest […]
Editor’s Notebook: Heavy lifting at the end of the driveway
I spent most of Monday morning clearing snow from the driveway. As much as I don’t want that to be read as a complaint, the truth is I don’t much care for shoveling and have nothing to gain by claiming otherwise. Granted, there’s some instant gratification to be had. Like a mowed lawn, a driveway […]
Editor’s Notebook: A chill in January
The weather app reported a temperature of zero degrees early Tuesday morning, and I took it at its word. There’s probably somebody in town with a thermometer on the sunny side of their barn who could dispute the data – who could offer proof that zero was an exaggeration or an outright lie and that […]
Editor’s Notebook: The ultimate New Year’s resolution
I wrote the headline for this notebook entry before I started writing the essay. What’s more, I wrote it without having any idea what the resolution is or what would make it “ultimate.” It’s the kind of thing a desperate writer does in the foggy wake of a long holiday. Guy Clark said, “Some days […]
Editor’s Notebook: What a year, what a staff, what a state
In most ways, getting older kind of stinks. If I don’t stretch daily, I risk injury while performing such strenuous tasks as brushing my teeth or leaning forward to pick up my phone from the coffee table. It takes all of my self restraint to not do the “slow down” gesture at vehicles I believe […]
Editor’s Notebook: The winter solstice
There’s an old fireplace in our kitchen that’s no longer functional. During a remodel sometime in the early 2000s, somebody decided they didn’t want it anymore – or maybe it needed more work than they were willing to do or pay for – and so they blocked it off. But to their credit, they recognized […]
Editor’s Notebook: Looking skyward, waiting for the wind
“Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t explain anything. I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle – a missing piece.” – Jerry Thompson (played by William Alland), “Citizen Kane,” 1941. IT IS 1978 […]
Editor’s Notebook: The barn anthologies
I awoke Monday morning to a New Hampshire wrapped in misty November gray, and so I thought I’d do a little catching up with Nathaniel Hawthorne – a misty November gray kind of guy. But he was nowhere to be found. Like a lot of his contemporaries, Hawthorne resides in my barn. The lucky ones […]
Editor’s Notebook: The things we carry
On Friday, I returned to Boston for the first time since the virus changed everything. There were seven of us in all, including three teenagers headed for a concert on Tremont Street and four adults with plans for a long walk and a quiet dinner. We took leave of the girls once they were safely […]
Editor’s Notebook: ‘Boy With Improbable Ducks’
For the first two decades of my journalism career, I worked nights in the large open space for copy editors and reporters known as the “bullpen.” Not only was it a lot of fun, it’s where I learned how to be a journalist in practice rather than theory. I paid close attention to how reporters […]
Editor’s Notebook: A weather report in mid-fall
Robert Frost tried to warn us about falling into the trap, but we’re just a couple of suckers. “Nothing gold can stay,” he said, but there we were on Sunday afternoon, casually drinking up the sunshine from red camp chairs as if we hadn’t already arrived at the archway to endless gray. I’ve lived in […]
Editor’s Notebook: Guy Clark Magical Music Hour
My older daughter was born six weeks early, arriving on her mom and dad’s first anniversary. And long before she announced her impending arrival in the middle of a quiet celebratory dinner at The Common Man in Concord, I had already started planning her musical education. I would never be able to teach her how […]