I think I have a new beer crush. On my trips to Ryan & Casey's, I've discovered that if I walk on past the glass cabinets of $8/six pack microbrew beers, over to where the domestics are, I can pick up a six pack of Naragansett tall boys in a can for $6.39. Not only is it down in the $6 range (Ryan & Casey's includes the 5 cent bottle deposit in ( Read more... )

There was a lot of information in yesterday's New England News Forum conference. One of the panels I enjoyed was the New England Commons panel, where a greater cooperation between the six states of New England was advocated. The New England Futures project that ran in 27 newspapers across New England was something that I paid attention to and in ( Read more... )

I've been reading the novel Empire Falls by Richard Russo. I bought it on the recommendation of the woman who replaced me at The Recorder, Karen. Karen is from Alabama and has a fundamentally different view of the Pioneer Valley than I do -- that is, she feels trapped here and wants to leave as soon as possible. She also mocks the smart-growth ( Read more... )