Opinion
The Cold Truth: Swimming Walden Pond in November
I arrived at Walden Pond State Reservation just after sunrise, recalling that a certain local resident named Thoreau once wrote, “Morning brings back the heroic […]
Why I Left the Boston Ballet
Standing in the wings before the curtain lifted for the third and final act of The Sleeping Beauty, I became acutely aware of the backstage […]
Confessions of a Twitcher
I used to do cocaine. A lot of it. As in, five out of seven nights a week. It might not be immediately apparent what […]
Why Is Sound Therapy Having a Moment?
I’d never really given much thought to the idea of sound therapy—that is, until I attended a wellness retreat at Maine’s Hidden Pond resort back […]
The Untenable Misery of Shoe Shopping for New England Weather
WHEN YOU GROW UP in Massachusetts, you grow up with weather. Sure, every place has it, but not like here. We got the best. It’s […]
Meditating on the Art of Marriage
This is a love story, both simple and tricky, as all love stories are. I will begin with the tricky part, on Lake Champlain in […]
It’s Officially Time to Revamp Massachusetts’ State Symbols
I might rag on my state for the usual reasons, like the lousy winters, the traffic, and the drivers who create it. But deep down, […]
Into the Antarctic Void: My Luxury Cruise to Breathtaking Desolation
I have a photo of myself standing high on a ridge overlooking Neko Harbor in Antarctica. I appear to be smiling, and my hatless head […]
Will the ‘Millionaires’ Tax’ Hobble the Massachusetts Economy?
Erin Calvo-Bacci is worried. At age 52, with the youngest of three daughters now in high school, she expects the eventual sale of her business—the […]
How I Learned There’s Heroism in Preparedness
April 15, 2013, was a gut-wrenching, horrible day, one in which I, as executive director of the Boston Marathon and president of the Boston Athletic […]
Take That, ChatGPT!
“God help you, you’re a writer.” This is what my cousin, Richard Frede, told me long ago. Richard was a successful novelist. His book, The […]
Boston Deserves Better than Fenway Park. Sorry Not Sorry.
The end of this month will be Opening Day at Fenway Park, a time of big hopes and slight delusions. It’s when we act as […]
The Real, Essential Backstory of ‘the Embrace’
The ceremony that took place before the monument to Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, was revealed had all the hallmarks […]
The Case Against Trying To ‘Have It All’
Walt Disney once said that if you can visualize it and if you can dream it, there’s a way to do it. Yet this was […]
To Jeep, or Not to Jeep, That is the Question
It was the first week of May 2022, and I was thinking about my car, specifically how long it was going to last. My hope […]