BSO

BSO

Saturday, October 27, 2012

More Fall

I wonder what the U.S. Postal Service thinks of how Northampton treats their mailboxes?


A family of pumpkins on my street and their squash gourds.


My neighbor's cyclops punk-pumpkin.


Entrance leading to the grave of Miss Emily Dickinson.


The UMass campus looks absolutely gorgeous this time of year.


The UMass Marching Band on pedestals to promote their performance at the Fine Arts Center.


Hot Amherst band.


UMass Craft Workshop Print

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Falling

Historic Veteran's Park in Holyoke is all torn up for renovations of some sort. I hope they know what they're doing....


Amherst icons Jeffrey Amherst, W.E.B. Dubois, Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson at Raos Coffee.


Bob Dylan, Buckminster Fuller, The Moon and Jay Libardi at my house.


My friend calls his white goat "Snoopy" because he stays on the roof of his house.


My friend's hen escaped and we had to chase it all over the yard until we finally cornered it by the back porch.


It made us late for the bus so we took a shortcut across a field.


But it was so nice we walked the bikes and thereby lost the time advantage.


The beauty was worth waiting for the next bus.


Daily Hampshire Gazette columnist Dr. Jay Fleitman was in Springfield last week speaking on behalf of Governor's Council candidate Mike Franco (right) in his noble quest to block the political comeback of disgraced former Springfield Mayor Michael Albano. (kyle burns photo)


This week Franco released the following statement:

Voters need to demand transparency from all elected officials

Despite running for elected office that requires transparency, Mike Albano
(the “Kickback Kid”) has not released his client list.

Voters need to be able to trust their elected officials, and a position that affects every aspect of their lives – from worker’s compensation decisions to punishing criminals and protecting victims – needs a person that will confirm the best people for the job. That means confirmation of judges and board members based on merit, not friendship.

But Mike Albano, candidate for Governor’s Council, 8th District, does not
even reveal who his clients are. As a “one-stop shop” for consulting that
spans public affairs, government, media relations and real estate, Albano
leaves out one key detail: who he really serves. Nowhere does he list his
clients, who may be angling for appointments to the very boards that he’ll
be responsible for confirming.

“It’s well-known that, while ‘Mayor Mike’ escaped indictment, 12 of his
hand-picked cronies were convicted during his time as mayor,” said Mike
Franco, Candidate for Governor’s Council, 8th District. “Are these same 12
among his client list? Working on his campaign? Raising funds for him? The
public has a right to know.”

Franco is calling upon Albano to release his client list and tax returns for
the past seven years. If he truly has nothing to hide, if he is as clean as
he claims, this shouldn’t be a problem, according to Franco. Keeping his
client list and campaign team secret says a lot about how transparent he
would be on the Governor’s Council.


Meanwhile at the other end of the political spectrum Senator Al Franken was at the Hotel Northampton today pimpin for Dizzy Ms. Lizzy. (dann vazquez photo)


Political poetry slam at Hampshire College.


art in the window of feeding tube records

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Getting Physical

Today I went to hear a lecture at UMass entitled How the Hippies Saved Physics.


The speaker was David Kaiser of MIT's Program in Science, Technology and Society.


It was good. The lecture was based on Kaiser's book of the same name and was about how physicists who were on the fringe of the field in the 1960's and 70's eventually came to be major players in the field of quantum physics. I didn't come to the lecture with much background knowledge in the subject, yet found it fascinating. I'll have to add Kaiser's book to my endless list of things I really should read some day.

Meanwhile, here's the rising sun breaking through the trees on the woodland way into downtown Northampton early yesterday morning.


Zombies will make their yearly crawl through downtown Hamp on the 20th.


A brain eating squirrel attacked my neighbor's pumpkin.


But no one bothered this Main Street vampkin.


Life can be fleeting for a Halloween pumpkin. One day you're all happy sitting on the front steps.


The next morning they find you lying shattered in the streets.


Playing Dead at Theodore's in downtown Springfield....


A bus stop in ol' Pine Point.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

This Morning

The colors are changing and the leaves are falling upon the woodland way into downtown Northampton.


A truthteller on King Street.


People waiting for seats at the Green Bean.


The bus stop.


Autumnal psychedelia on the UMass Fine Arts Center.


The Eleventh Commandment.


Exploring the outer limits in Northampton....



Dusk at Springfield Technical Community College.