(but sometimes they do change, within strict limits)I've spoken occasionally in the past of the still-extant oral tradition in New England mill towns, the not-entirely forgotten history of inter-European ethnic rivalries and violence that once made these quaint brick neighborhoods in the northeast such violent and unquiet places to live and work, ( Read more... )

Not getting home until late last night, and between chores and errands and a late snowstorm/wind/icy patches complicating all not getting an uninterrupted stretch to read my flist until late today, I hadn't realized that yesterday was a declared "Blog Against Torture Day" (this one was not well publicized - I didn't see it anywhere but on LJ) so ( Read more... )

Just under a fortnight ago a murder was committed in NYC, one which has attracted a certain amount of national attention because it fits all the criterion of the "proper" tabloid murders - the right balance of gore, sex, sadism, fear-mongering, race-baiting, and a victim simultaneously "worthy" (ie not an unwed mother or random bystander of ( Read more... )