The Road From Paris To New York Upper Boston Post Road Entry #18 (UBPR #18) “Spent the Day at Worcester in Riding about with Mr. Putnam to see his Farm. He does what he pleases with Meadows and Rivers of Water. He carries round the Streams wherever he pleases.” John Adams, Diary, June 1, 1771…. (read more)
The Fabric of Dreams Upper Boston Post Road Entry #17 (UBPR #17) “When I mention Worcester to people from New England, they often give a knowing nod or laugh — this unlovely, down-on-its-luck city of dead industry and collapsing buildings. But Worcester was an engine for betterment until the middle of the 20th century, a… (read more)
Highs And Lows Upper Boston Post Road Entry #16 (UBPR #16) “We came through Worcester this afternoon, and a[re] now but 6 miles from it. This I think is where Pappa studied Law, and the appearance of the town pleased me very much; I wished to stop there this Night, but it would have made… (read more)
The Heart Of The Heart Upper Boston Post Road Entry #15 (UBPR #15) The township of Worcester is, throughout, divided into farms which wear a cheerful and prosperous aspect. The town is principally built on a single street, extending, from East to West, about a mile and a half on the road. It is situated… (read more)
This is another of the entries from my previous project, Walking the Post Road, which I have transferred over to this project for two reasons. The first reason is that it is relevant to this project in that it is a ‘ramble’ about Boston. The second reason is that the previous project was done on… (read more)
Section 1: Mount Auburn Cemetery to Belmont Street intersection. 0.3 miles. Things change. Borders change. Had I undertaken the walk described in the previous entry, along Brattle Street to Mount Auburn Cemetery, in 1753 instead of in 2018, I would have entered Watertown as soon as I crossed Sparks Street in what is now Cambridge,… (read more)
Almost a year ago I wrote an entry in which I argued that, as most of the large nations in the world are lousy at soccer and have scarcely improved in the almost 90 years that the World Cup has been staged, soccer cannot truly be called the global game. I also argued that one… (read more)
Let’s say you are a Republican candidate for President of the United States. You have talking points and policies that seem out of touch with mainstream America and you say things that the typical American, which is to say the type of person advertisers want to reach, urban dwellers with cash between the ages of… (read more)
Look, let me begin by stating that, although I have never personally visited any of the 54 counties that I am about to discuss, I am sure that they are not horrible places. Not only are they likely (having not visited any of them) quite varied and interesting, some are probably very beautiful and I… (read more)
Before I plunge into the darkness, I want to pull out from the 58 remaining counties in Pennsylvania the two or three remaining bright spots for the Democratic Party. Unsurprisingly the transformation of Dauphin and Centre, the counties I will examine briefly, is the result of increased diversity and higher levels of education. Dauphin County… (read more)
