Tag Archive for: Boston

Lessons from a Year in Isolation

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by Paula Gail Benson

A year ago, so much of the life we were used to changed
as we learned that Covid 19 not only was deadly, but spreading rapidly. I have
a vivid memory of meeting with church council members and making the decision
to “postpone” our bi-annual presentation of the Living Last Supper. At the
time, we hoped this would be for a few weeks or months. We have not yet
rescheduled.

During this past year, I found myself retreating into
more solitary pursuits. I rediscovered the joys of reading books in series,
which I had not had time for in the last few years. In addition, I learned
about television programing and movies available on Apple and Prime.

Some of what I discovered took me to historical paths,
I previously had not explored. I had seen several movies and series about Henry
VIII and Elizabeth I, but I knew little about Henry VII and the War of the
Roses. Watching The White Princess, about Elizabeth of York, and The
Spanish Princess, about Catharine of Aragon, both based on books by
Phillippa Gregory, gave me a different perspective about English history and
the Tudors. In addition, going further back in time with the Brother Cadfael
stories, based on books by Ellis Peters and played by Derek Jacobi, made me appreciate
modern conveniences and customs in comparison with the medieval lifestyle.

Recently, my viewing had shifted to American history.
I discovered April Morning, based on a book by Howard Fast, that told
the story of a young man’s experience when the British troops marched from
Boston to Concord and exchanged fire with a group of colonists in Lexington,
known as the “shot heard round the world.” I tried without luck to discover
where the movie had been filmed.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Boston
for a conference. I went early and stayed late to do some sightseeing in the
area. The movie featured so many locations that were familiar to me from that
trip. In particular, I had taken photos of the stone walls along the road from
Lexington to Concord. After the colonists had so many casualties in Lexington,
they stationed themselves behind the stone walls to fire on the British troops
as they returned to Boston. Following the movie, I looked back at the photos I
had taken of those walls, having a new regard for the history that had taken
place around them.

Previously, I wrote here about watching What the
Constitution Means to Me, a filmed version of Heidi Schreck’s Broadway play
based on her teenaged experiences of competing in the American Legion
Oratorical contests for scholarship money. Having judged a local American Legion
Oratorical, I appreciated very much seeing the perspective from a competitor.

Over the weekend, South Carolina held its statewide American
Legion Oratorical competition. Unfortunately, due to Covid 19 continuing restrictions,
the national one will not take place this year.

I was pleased to be asked to participate as a judge for
South Carolina. My church hosted the competition and I found myself back in the
room where so many decisions had been made to cancel activities a year ago.


During the competition, in explaining how the
Constitution is a living document, one of the students spoke about the events
that took place around Lexington and Concord. It was wonderful to hear that a
young person had spent a year in isolation as I had, learning from the past and
appreciating its impact on the present and future.

In spite of our year
in isolation, we go on—still learning and applying the lessons of history to
our current time. Hopefully, next year will bring the opportunity to return to travels
and gatherings.

Literary Boston

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by Paula Gail Benson

I’m
going to follow in the footsteps of my blogging partner Dru Ann Love and write
about my experiences on a recent trip to Boston. It’s a city I’ve always found
captivating in books.

When
I was young, I read Esther Forbes’ Johnny
Tremain and was enthralled by the young apprentice studying Paul Revere’s
workmanship. Later, I discovered Robert B. Parker’s Boston-based, single-named
detective, Spenser, through a television series. I avidly read Linda Barnes’ mysteries
featuring cabbie and sometimes investigator Carlotta Carlyle. Not to mention
Hank Phillippi Ryan’s novels about Boston investigative reporter Charlotte
McNally and her Jane Ryland thrillers; some of Toni L.P. Kelner’s Laura Fleming
series; and Dana Cameron’s Anna Hoyt stories that take place in colonial Boston.

In
Boston’s Public Garden, a line of bronze ducks represent the characters from
Robert McClosky’s Make Way for Ducklings.
A plaque explains that the story made the Garden familiar to children
around the world and I have read that the ducks’ bronze surfaces never need to
be shined because so many little bottoms come to sit on them.

Emerson House in Concord

Growing
up, I found Boston’s neighboring town of Concord fascinating for its collection
of literary figures. In high school, I read about the three Peabody sisters:
Elizabeth, an educator and book store operator, who introduced her sisters to
their famous husbands (artist Sophia married Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mary
became Horace Mann’s wife). Ralph Waldo Emerson lived in Boston and Concord,
and Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord and wrote of its local Walden Pond.

As
far as I was concerned, the most famous Concord resident was Louisa May Alcott,
whose Little Women had been a
constant companion for me and seen me through good times and bad.

I
was extremely fortunate to find a tour that went to Lexington and Concord,
showing us not only the Revolutionary War significant sites, but also the homes
of Emerson, Hawthorne (Wayside Inn), and Alcott (Orchard House).

Orchard House

Seeing
Orchard House, made even more real Meg’s garden wedding and the attic where Jo
wrote her novels. Yes, this was the place where the four March girls grew to
become Little Women, and I rejoiced in seeing a spot that had so long filled my
imagination.

Fortunately,
our tour guide was experienced enough to make a story of the journey. He traced
the route that Paul Revere had taken, showing us the monument at the place
where Revere was captured, and even pointing out the house that belonged to the
Merriam family (of Merriam Webster fame).
Revere Monument near Concord

I also
learned also that a large portion of modern day Boston was created by years of
immigrants (many of them Irish) working to fill in habitable land around the
harbor. The hotel where I stayed was in the Back Bay. I thought the name
unique, but quickly learned it was used to describe many of the area’s buildings.
An Amazon search led me to discover a William Martin novel titled Back Bay, which traces the history, and
is now on my reading list.

Probably
the most invigorating thing I discovered about Boston was the
pride in the sense of history so clearly exhibited among its inhabitants.
Everywhere I went, from Fenway Park to the TD Garden to the harbor to the
theatre district, people told stories about the past and pointed to monuments
that commemorated important persons and events. The city was vibrant with
memories of the past and hopes for the future.

I walked near the end
of the Boston Marathon course and thought of the bombing victims. May we all continue
to hear and tell the stories of Boston and to remain “Boston Strong.”

Literary Weekend

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As the non-writer of this group, I really had nothing to say for my blog post today. But then I thought about my girl’s weekend and how we met and it was quite literary.

Thanks to Joanna Campbell Slan, Yifat C., Marla H. and I met when Joanna hosted a gathering of her beta readers to explore the setting of her Kiki Lowenstein series. So off I went to St. Louis, Missouri and had a wonderful weekend of exploration and crafting and I’ve bonded with the two women mentioned above. Bonus is that Yifat and I are both from New York and her husband grew up in the same neighborhood as me. We’ve kept in touch and every year when we had a beta babe event, off we went. . .to Florida to check out the location of Cara Mia, Joanna’s other series and last year, we went to Washington D.C. So, as you can see, books brought us together. Literary.

This year it was just us three women headed out to Boston for a girl’s weekend and as we are walking around the hotel’s neighborhood, who should we walk into. . .Joanna Campbell Slan who was meeting a classmate. Since Joanna’s had some spare time, we invited her to join us in our foray of Boston. How does literary work into this scenario. . .well, we took one of those highlights tour and the first statue that we see is Edgar Allan Poe. How appropriate to see this – my first thought was the Raven Award that was in my possession. Literary.

Edgar Allan Poe

One of the sites I’ve wanted to see was Paul Revere’s house. . .so near to closing time, there we are, with no crowd, checking out his house and I was impressed that he had 16 children who at any one time lived in the house. Then we followed the Freedom Trail to see The North Church which was the site of the light, and the “one if by land, and two if by sea” and it is a magnificent building. Literary because of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Paul Revere’s house

Other Boston sightings

Signage on wall in front of Paul’s house

The front of Paul’s house

The North Church steeple

Signage on The North Church
The North Church

And in Boston, one must visit the Cheers bar and if you can, eat there as well. The food was delicious.

Headed to Cheers for dinner

Have you ever visited the location of a book that you’ve read? Did it live up to your expectation?

The Places We Will Go, So Call Me Maybe

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Boston Skyline

By Laura Spinella
It’s been a curious couple of weeks. Not only from a writing perspective but from an everyday, tie your shoes, change of season point of view. Fall does that in New England, Maine to Connecticut selling the scenery with everything living up to the hype and gloss of a travel brochure. It’s quick and it’s bright, and you have to hurry if you want to bask in a Robert Frost moment. If you live here you notice the trees, but mostly you anticipate all the raking.  Unlike spring, a season that meanders in like royalty arriving, fall is more of an abrupt nudge to the shoulder, “Hey, I’m here—enjoy the foliage on that road not taken. When I leave, old man winter settles in for the long haul.”
In addition to crisp air and apples, a few things have made this fall different than the others I’ve spent in Massachusetts. I’ve had a friend visiting from the South. At my age, as friends go, suffice it to say she’s one of my oldest. We met under circumstances that still leave me, the writer, chagrinned. Kimberly and I were both being considered for the same job at the Union Recorder newspaper in Milledgeville, Georgia. The position wasn’t even in the editorial department, though I felt my shiny journalism degree should have easily won me the job. Not so fast. Kimberly, admittedly a more vivacious soul than I could manage if I underwent serotonin injections, got the job. Weeks later, the newspaper hired me for a different position, and after some wound licking, a friendship was forged that has lasted longer than either of us cares to note. I like the serendipity of it all, especially when you consider that we only lived in the same state for a year. Minus serendipity, we would have stopped exchanging Christmas cards decades ago.
Before
It’s fun when Kimberly visits. After her short career in newspapers, she discovered her real passion, living the word entrepreneur by becoming the most enterprising female contractor in North Carolina. The photos here show the little mountain house she rehabbed before arriving on my doorstep. Basically, when she visits we feed her well and pick her brain about what project we should tackle next in our 112-year old Arts & Crafts rehab. Tomorrow, she heads home, though clutched in my greedy grip is a plan for a customized master bedroom closet. It’s been low on our to-do list, though her brilliant design is sure to make the California Closet folks look like casket assemblers.
While I’m tickled by state-of-the-art storage, that’s a small bonus to a Kimberly visit. Having her around is more like a direct line of adrenalin to the vein. Kimberly is a doer of the highest order, making you think thoughts that seem too adventurous for an ordinary Tuesday and go places that would normally fall—well, somewhere below the urgency for a customized closet. She has a can-do attitude that, frankly, makes me want to tie her to a chair, though because she will laugh at that idea it also makes her one of my favorite people on the planet.
When considering the cathartic aspects of a visit with an old friend, I’m not entirely sure what Kimberly gained. We did tune her into Gilmore Girls and turned her onto those Harvard baseball boys—trivial pastimes for us, a fresh note of fascination for someone who doesn’t dabble in pop culture. For me, however, two things occurred that made this visit memorable. The first is completely selfish in that she insisted on, and I allowed, a cold read of THE IT FACTOR. The fragile writer ego lives for that validation, and this stamp could not have come at a more critical juncture. It’s a long road from here to next fall’s publication, and when someone sits in your chilly sunroom, demanding more tea and silence, it will make you nod with relief and say, “It’s going to be all right.” Even better is when you overhear—okay, outright eavesdrop—on a conversation that said reader has with another friend, someone you don’t even know, and is heard saying, “It was so good! I think I loved it more than BEAUTIFUL DISASTER…” As any author will tell you, this is necessary friendship fairy dust tamping down unavoidable doubts.
In addition to the places we will go when Kimberly visits, which does leave you with a slight Dr. Seuss rhythm ringing in your ears, there’s the pay-it-forward effect. Yesterday, we took the cursory trip into Boston. I enjoy this when out-of-town friends’ visit.  Mostly because it reminds me there is a beautiful city that is as much meant for residents as it is tourists. During a stop at Faneuil Hall, Kimberly hunted for the mandatory Boston sweatshirt. A bundle of energy in most regards, she is also a scrupulous shopper. I’ve learned it’s best to let her peruse at her own pace. A decision will be rendered only if and when she finds exactly what she wants. On the other hand, I like to think she uses this same careful attention to detail when choosing her friends. That or I’ve just had a lot of time to stand and think while Kimberly shops.
My point is this: I’d wandered in another direction, where my son was admiring a Berklee College of Music sweatshirt. Now, I understand what it takes to get into a place like Berklee, the bestseller kind of sales I’d have to achieve to afford this pinnacle of music education. I know that Grant is a 15-year old boy, who while talented, does not currently possess a Justin Bieber work ethic. He quietly admired the sweatshirt, only commenting on a price tag that even he construed as tourist gouging. I said, “I think we should get it.” He shook his head, tossing the remainder of his equally exorbitant Panini into the trash. “Nah, I don’t need it. Besides, I have as much chance of going there as I do Harvard.” He motioned to a rack of crimson embroidered sweatshirts, and I hesitated. While he could give the Call Me Maybe baseball boys a rhythmic run for their money, Ivy League is probably not in his future.  Instead, I took a Kimberly stance with him. “No, we’re definitely getting it. Berklee College of Music no crazier than, ‘Hey, I think I’ll write a book…’” He tugged it over his head, asked the clerk to cut the tag, practically wearing it to bed and again to school this morning. For anyone who doesn’t have a Kimberly, you’ve no idea what you’re missing. She is the road less traveled, and it does make a wicked cool difference.
Laura Spinella is the author of THE IT FACTOR, fall 2013, Penguin, and the award winning novel, BEAUTIFUL DISASTER. Visit her at lauraspinella.net