For the record, I have some previous experience speaking in places where I expect to be ambushed. This wasn’t one of them, though. So I got a little bit tripped up when, just a few minutes into my talk, one of the audience members in Falmouth cut in with an aggressively raised hand and an unsolicited gripe.
Dear Reader
THE MOST FLATTERING ENDORSEMENT OF ALL
As is emphasized in Dig pieces this week about topics ranging from cannabis, to housing and homelessness, to race, it’s clear that there are stark important differences between Jackson and Walsh.
OPEN SHOP: A QUICK NOTE TO READERS ABOUT UPCOMING ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES
It’s not merely out of necessity that I perform such tasks, though; over the course of the two hours I waited for people, I had the pleasure of getting to hang with a few readers. In real life!
ONE LOVE: AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO LISTENS TO JUST ONE KIND OF MUSIC?
Am I the only person who exclusively appreciates just one kind of music?
SHAME TIME: IT’S TIME TO MAKE NONVOTERS FEEL EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE
They poison our Facebook and Twitter feeds, struggling to channel their emotions and be heard. But while they’re willing to piss into the bottomless rhetorical ocean that is social media, they’re not willing to pull the singular lever that has measurable impact. Imagine the nerve.
THE WELCOME BACK COLUMN
Please take seriously that this is an amazing city because of the eclectic and kaleidoscopic mix of people who contribute to their neighborhoods and assist their communities.
MASS (KIND OF) HAS WEED, STILL OTHERS SUFFER ELSEWHERE
The hypocrisy and stubbornness is only compounded when pondering the plight of veterans, who in many cases literally have to break the law in order to get much-needed relief for injuries sustained while serving Uncle Sam and all of us.
SOMETHING POSITIVE (FOR CHANGE)
I have been wanting to share thoughts along these lines for weeks now, but it’s never the right time. Either white supremacists are rumored to be coming into Boston, or President Not-See himself says something insanely hurtful or ignorant. Or both.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY ‘LOVE TRAVELING’
When you say that you “are addicted to traveling,” or something comparably thoughtless and privileged, you are essentially saying that you can’t for the life of you understand why everyone else isn’t as interested in globe-trotting as you are.
THOUGHTS ON STANDING UP TO RACISM
I will comment on racism, though. And on the courage it takes to stand up to the mobs still among us who reject multiculturalism and denigrate those who don’t look and act like them.