Trading One Kind of Tumult for Another: The Beatles as Antidote

As the World Series gets underway, it’s as good a time as any to celebrate the idea of fervor, in a variety of forms. I propose to start with baseball, move gingerly through politics to rock & roll, and end up at religion. Are you with me? Defined as “an intense and passionate feeling,” the word can definitely go either way—that is, there can be a kind you like and another kind you can’t stand. The fervor that Chicago fans … Read More

Going Back to 1918 and Finding More Than the Last Big Red Sox Win at Home

It was windy out there a couple of days ago, matching my sense of being caught up in the sweep of history during these late October days.  I’m in the here and now, absolutely, planning my day tomorrow like everybody else; but recent events have also had a way of casting me back, providing links with other times and even other continents.  It feels a bit like being on a trapeze, arriving at those little platforms with relief, only to … Read More