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When a legendary restaurant closes, a lot of good memories go with it
This weekend marks the closing of Durgin-Park, a Boston restaurant featuring classic Yankee-style cooking that has been around for over 190 years. In explaining their decision to close, owners cited...
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Music as time machine: 1979
At my go-to karaoke place in Boston, the main stage DJ is fond of playing clips of late 70s pop music in between numbers selected for performance. When things are a bit slow, he’ll even get up and...
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Pandemic Chronicles #5: Sports-inspired nostalgia
L to R: Players Steve Kerr, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, coach Phil Jackson I know I’m hardly alone in spending more time watching television during this public health crisis. As I...
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Pandemic Chronicles #7: Adventures lost
Our study abroad group at Coventry Cathedral, England, 1981 A couple of weeks ago, our study abroad group from college met for a Zoom-enabled happy hour/mini-reunion. It was the latest gathering of our...
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Pandemic Chronicles #12: This fall, my “back to school” experience is a...
I had a feeling it might be this way. Back in March and April, when people in the know started sharing possible timelines for coronavirus treatments and vaccines, it quickly became obvious to me that...
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Nostalgia trigger: Tower Records is back (sort of)
I’m taking a short break from my Pandemic Chronicles entries to indulge in some deep nostalgia, prompted by a Facebook ad touting the online revival of Tower Records, the one-time brick & mortar...
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Yeah, I loved TV dinners
Processed, chemically enhanced goodness My childhood years overlapped with an era that a twisted nutritionist might call the Golden Age of Processed Foods. Convenience was the touchstone, and frozen,...
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Pandemic Chronicles #25: Monet, London fog, and memory at the Museum of Fine...
Monet and Boston exhibit, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (photo: DY) A greater appreciation for the cultural amenities of my home town of Boston and its surroundings has been an unintended but welcomed...
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Pandemic Chronicles #26: Old postcards as time travel experiences
The pandemic has prompted me to revive a boyhood hobby of stamp collecting, as I’ve shared in my new blog on lifelong learning and adult education (here and here). It has been an enjoyable and...
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Forty summers ago, a first-ever trip to NYC
Forty summers ago around this time, I was packing a small suitcase in preparation for a first-ever trip to New York City. This was to be a reconnaissance mission of sorts, an initial exploration of...
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