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  • Ups and Downs

    Union Jack Off

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 01st, 2016

    Panic, greed and opportunity prevailed as Britannia once ruler of the waves sailed off the cliff. Or so it seemed.

  • Then and Now

    World at War

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 29th, 2016

    Growing up in the 1940s, the greatest generation, the world was at war. There was hope for a brighter future and better tomorrow. That day is now.

  • Here and There

    Where the Grass is Greener

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 28th, 2016

    Bhutan then India she said for winter next year as usual. "I can't stand another Berkshire winter" she explained. Actually we like those long months of hibernation with projects that never get done.

  • Basta

    Frowns of a Summer’s Day

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 27th, 2016

    In the Sistine Chapel's Last Judgement the artist Michelangelo included himself as the skin of St. Barthlomew who was flayed alive. It was a metaphor for his all consuming art.

  • Before and After

    Race Against Time

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 22nd, 2016

    In the land of nip and tuck it's against the law to get old in America.

  • Art Works!

    Commodity Trading

    By: Benno Friedman - Jun 20th, 2016

    An outraged artist comments on the trend of collecting art as commodity. Too often works go straight to storage there to ebb and flow as the market rises and falls. It is time to drive the money lenders out of the temple of art.

  • Modern Lovers

    I Luv U

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 18th, 2016

    I luv u 2.

  • Philip Kampe

    Days of Wine and Roses

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 17th, 2016

    Food and wine guy, Berkshire buddy Philip Kampe, grew up in New Orleans. All that rich food from cheese to prosciutto nearly croaked him. An artery totally clogged with the good life. His body created a natural bypass. Talk about living on borrowed time which at our age is worth a lot more than money.

  • Encyclopedia Britannica

    Dumpster Diving

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 15th, 2016

    Once treasured today you can't give away a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica. Forced with consolidating a glut of books with heavy heart our set was tossed into the dumpster.

  • Rain Check

    My Heart Belongs to Dada

    By: Benno Friedman - Jun 09th, 2016

    With regrets I turned down an invitation to lunch with fellow Berkshire resident Benno Fiedman. We knew each outer as art majors at Brandeis University in the 1960s and have been friends ever since. Evoking Duchamp's famous urinal as art his remarkable response waxed poetic.

  • Montezuma’s Revenge

    Don't Drink the Water

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 07th, 2016

    When turning on the tap do you trust the water? That used to be a problem for other nations. Like Mexico or even Europe as we discovered back in the day.

  • Long Point

    Provinctown's Art in Narrow Streets

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 06th, 2016

    As a graduate student research on Karl Knaths entailed visits to Provincetown and its historic art colony. Back then a group of now legendary artists showed at Long Point Gallery in what is now the Schoolhouse complex. I was on hand when they hung an exhibition. What remains are the grainy photos I took that day.

  • John Hancock

    Big and Bold

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 03rd, 2016

    John Hancock, the wealthiest citizen of Boston was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. His signature was big and bold so that George III, the imbecile King, would not need spectacles to read it. Had they lost it was a death warrant for the Founding Fathers. Yet again it is time to sign an enemies list denouncing a grave threat to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

  • Fear Itself

    Feel the Pulse of a Divided Nation

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 03rd, 2016

    When we rallied to defeat Nazi Germany President Roosevelt assured Americans that "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Threatened with the rise of another demagogue fear again takes hold in the hearts and minds. A hate spewing billionaire with no prior political experience aspires to rule the world in his free wheeling, insulting, gun slinging manner. For those who have lost jobs and hope his jingoism has seductive and perhaps devastating appeal. It positions our nation on the edge of global disaster. The Donald has trumped even Nixon's notorious enemies list.

  • Greylock Greenhouse

    Planting Annuals

    By: c - May 30th, 2016

    Brutal hot on Memorial Day. Picking up annuals at the greenhouse. Conversation resumed where it left off a year ago.

  • Red Scare

    Trump Rallies Brown Shirts

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 30th, 2016

    Thoughts on Memorial Day remembering those that gave their lives for democracy. The menace of Trump recalling McCarthyism and the Red Scare of the the 1950s when I was a kid. He is striving to make America greatly divided again.

  • Gloucester Poet Charles Olson

    Maximus to the Max

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 27th, 2016

    Dealing with my ancestral Gloucester heritage Charles Olson and his Maximus Poems are a hard act to follow.

  • Vacuum Cleaner

    Vibrant Medicinal Cocktail

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 27th, 2016

    Worn out from Holiday traffic at the end of the road I needed a stiff one. End of season, the summer move next week, the stash was just about gone. Just a bit of rum from egg nog season and for a mixer, yikes, the only option was prune juice. But what the heck this new concoction, The Vacuum Cleaner, was not bad and good for what ails you.

  • Bob Driscoll of Gloucester

    Merchant and Masterpieces

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 27th, 2016

    Bob Driscoll was wearing bling when we chatted in his Gloucester shop. It seems he sold it that morning on line. Lifting up a huge pile of sweaters he said "Just 20 bucks. I have rugby shirts in your size." Back in the day he designed simple but iconic poster's for friend Steve Nelson's rock club the Boston Tea Party.

  • Little Lobster Boat

    Encounter By the Sea

    By: Melissa de Haan Cummings - May 27th, 2016

    This poem was inspired by contemplating a little lobster boat. From there to the cosmic and beyond.

  • Good Harbor Beach

    Bordering Rockport's Nugent Stretch

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 26th, 2016

    Great Uncle George Nugent's vast pig farm included Gloucester's Good Harbor Beach. After lawsuits that went on for years the city got it for a pittance. Then a lawyer who landed in jail cheated his heirs of their inheritance. On the priceless land developers created Nugent Farms a condo village. Only the name remains of the family legacy.

  • Rockport

    Footsteps of Nugent Ancestors

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 26th, 2016

    A bright sunny Monday morning in Rockport the ancestral home of the Nugent clan. On the cusp of the summer season there were just a few gawkers scattered about.

  • Breakwater

    Rockport Granite

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 26th, 2016

    My grandfather, James Flynn, was a saloon keeper and bootlegger. His family settled in Canada and worked the quarries. To find work they made their way first to New Hampshire then to Rockport. The helped to cut the granite that was used to construct the vast breakwater that shelters Sandy Bay from the damage of winter storms.

  • Twin Lights

    Room with a View

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 25th, 2016

    Visiting ancestral turf in Gloucester researching Nugents of Rockport. From our room a view of the historic Twin Lights. There ancient lights and lenses long dismantled. One in Cape Ann Museum the other dashed to rocks below by indifferent blokes from the Coast Guard. Lights now automated as signifiers of direspect for the colorful past.

  • Steeple Town Minus One

    Knocking the Spire Off St. Francis

    By: Charles Giuliano - May 19th, 2016

    Finger pointing. The blame game. Vacant since 2008 St. Francis of Assisi fell into disrepair. Once condemned as a hazard razed to the concern and shame of a city once so proud of faith that it was known as Steeple Town. Now minus one.

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