A visit to the Concord Museum

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Dropped in to the amazing Concord Museum to check out the permanent exhibits. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s library, intact. Henry David Thoreau’s writing desk. (Mind if I sit here for a moment to compose this post? Why, yes, we do!) Hour-by-hour dashboard depicting each nearby town’s participation in the events of April 19, 1775. Susan Foster Jones, Director of Education and Visitor Experience; Matt Boger, Member, Museum Board of Governors; and Amanda Lahikainen, Executive Director, walked me through one of the best small museums in the entire country.

“This program is driving up gas bills in Massachusetts. Did it make customers safer?”

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The Boston Globe

Our state’s GSEP (Gas System Enhancement Program) program adds billions in costs to Massachusetts monthly gas bills and makes us no safer than we were before. You want energy affordability? The MA Senate and House can give it to you: Phase out GSEP. Language to do so awaits legislative action. Kudos to the Future of Heat Initiative and the climate advocates of Massachusetts for putting good information in front of policymakers and the public.

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ICE Air

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Kathy Madison of Lincoln Witness presented the hair-raising documentary ICE Air to a crowd impressed by the journalism but horrified about the revelations: ICE deportation flights crisscrossing the U.S. to keep immigrants in constant transit and near-constant hiding, away from their families and the lawyers responsible for helping them. To its indelible discredit, nearby Hanscom Airport is a major node in ICE’s network.

The Spellman Stamp Museum

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The Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History is a spectacular gem of an institution hidden in plain sight a couple of miles from Rt. 128 on the campus of Regis College in Weston. Drumroll on the “postal history,” please, meaning a vivid picture of communication across physical distance before and after adoption of the telephone. And, yes, Spellman is a stamp museum, but because governments have tried to regulate communication through stamps the way they try to regulate communication through the Internet, there’s a lot of just plain history and politics to ponder in Weston. I was pleased to be welcomed to Spellman by Museum leaders Joe Mullin, Brian Howard, Michael Lawson and Ken Flowers.

Protesting ICE in Burlington

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A light moment on a dark afternoon, witnessing and protesting in the parking lot of Burlington ICE with Bedford’s Rev. John Gibbons, all-around Minister of Good Trouble for social justice advocates in Greater Boston.

“Mass. to help finance another big Maine power line, this one for Aroostook County wind farms”

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The Boston Globe

Senator Mike Barrett, co-chairman of the Massachusetts legislature’s telecom and energy committee, hailed the news from Augusta as a relief in the face of Trump administration opposition to all the major offshore wind farms that were once planned to support the region’s grid. Now, only two remain: the Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind 1 projects.

“’Electricity that pours into that grid from Maine ultimately helps with the Massachusetts capacity, especially on overtaxed and hot days, and especially cold ones,” Barrett said. “It is further indication that we’re going to survive Donald Trump too. We’re adding to both grid capacity and clean energy supply in the face of non-cooperation, to say the least, from DC.”

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Celebrating Hua’s big day

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Friends and fans from Lexington and Concord joined the irrepressible Hua Wang to celebrate his 60th. Hua wears many hats, including co-president with Melanie Lin of the Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL). Our friend Shaw Wang of Concord calls CAAL the best Chinese American organization in the U.S.! Birthday talk? Maybe not!