Wikipedia turns 10

Wikipedia is 10 years ago today, and though some criticize the site for inaccuracies, there was a study that showed the site to be roughly on par with Encyclopedia Britannica, the industry standard for many years. Few today would think of plopping down dollars to buy a huge set of books when the all of that information and more is available on the Internet.

I've written the first drafts for about a dozen articles on Wikipedia, but the nature of the site means that all of them have been revised and extended since I first introduced the topics. I'm most proud, of course, of the entry I wrote on East Boston. It's much longer now than when I first broached the subject in the fall of 2003, but I will forever be the person who was there first.

I refer to Wikipedia almost every day, often several times a day. It's good for a quick check of some bit of information or as a starting point for research. It seems like one of the natural uses of the Web and it often forces me to ask the question, What did I do before the Internet?

Hubster new and improved!

Well, for the first time since starting this blog I changed the design and added some features in the right-hand column, including my Twitter feed, which I seem to be using more and more. Also, note the slide-show of photos top right. I think the whole thing looks snappier.

An American classic

Fifty years ago today, Americans were introduced to Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch, as well as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, in the pages of Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Today it is one of the most widely read, widely taught and widely loved books ever written. The 1962 film, with Gregory Peck (in photo, with Mary Badham as Scout) as Atticus -- the upstanding small-town Southern lawyer who defends an innocent but sure-to-be-convicted black man -- has also gone a long way toward ensuring the story's enduring popularity.

I was assigned Mockingbird as a freshman in high school, and it was the first time I'd read something where I wanted desperately to meet the characters. It also was the first time that I'd read faster and faster in the middle of the novel -- because I was so interested in the story -- but then slowed down toward the final pages, as I didn't want the magic to end. Mockingbird made me want to write.

Harper Lee, now 84, never wrote another novel, and published only a few small items in the last five decades. Someone -- I can't find the quote now -- once commented on the Pulitzer Prize winner's dearth of writing after her wildly successful debut, saying that Lee put the truth so clearly and absolutely on the page that she never needed to write another word. Here is one piece of that truth, as Atticus speaks to his children: "...before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

'The consent of the governed'

On this Fourth of July, a key excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

--In Congress, July 4, 1776

R.I.P.: J.D. Salinger

He suddenly got to his feet. He looked at the ocean. "Sybil," he said, "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll see if we can catch a bananafish."

"A what?"

"A bananafish," he said, and undid the belt of his robe. He took off the robe. His shoulders were white and narrow, and his trunks were royal blue. He folded the robe, first lengthwise, then in thirds. He unrolled the towel he had used over his eyes, spread it out on the sand, and then laid the folded robe on top of it. He bent over, picked up the float, and secured it under his right arm. Then, with his left hand, he took Sybil's hand.

The two started to walk down to the ocean.

"I imagine you've seen quite a few bananafish in your day," the young man said.

--From "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948), by J.D. Salinger

Get yourself a cup of Jolt

The newest rendition of The Eastie Jolt is up, featuring lyrics from the young people of ZUMIX and a remembrance of the fabled East Boston Community News, which published its last issue 20 years ago.
You'll also find poetry, fiction, photography and an essay on why its important to stick together in tough economic times.

The Jolt is an outlet for creativity in East Boston. Those who live and work here are invited to contribute to the site. To submit material, send along an idea or offer feedback, email editor@eastiejolt.com.

Looking for creative souls

The response to the debut of The Eastie Jolt has been positive and enthusiastic, and the web site will be updated with new material as often as I can do so. All of the work published on the site will be archived there for future reference. I hope to have the ability for people to leave comments, but I'm not sure how to do that just yet.

I'm looking for poetry, fiction, essays, photos, memoirs and feature stories from people who live in East Boston or who have a strong connection to the neighborhood. Send your work or ideas to editor@eastiejolt.com. Check out the newly updated Jolt now.

Jolting the neighborhood

The Eastie Jolt is here. It's a magazine-style web site for writing and photographs by East Boston residents and/or about the neighborhood. The first edition will contain a pair of essays in which two women reflect on what they find most attractive about East Boston; some poetry and a short story; a feature story on a music label headquartered in Eastie; and photographs of the work of two local artists.

This, I believe, just touches on the surface of the ideas, creativity and talent of the people of our neighborhood. I hope that those who've been writing quietly or taking photographs for years will take advantage of the chance to publish their work for a local audience and that those who haven't done anything creative will be inspired to do so.

Check it out here -- The Eastie Jolt -- and let me know what you think.

Coming soon

Soon I hope to debut an online magazine-style outlet for creative writing and visual art by residents of East Boston. It's an idea that struck me this summer, and since then I have solicited some contributions and purchased a web site. The difficult part for me has been the technical side -- actually setting up the site -- and that is delaying an announcement of the first "edition" of the 'zine. (If anyone has some HTML skill or knows someone who'd do a small bit of "pro bono" work, let me know.)

Stay tuned to the blog for more details on the site and its debut, and contact me if you are from Eastie and interested in submitting fiction, poetry, photography, essays and/or feature stories.

John Updike, 1932-2009

I must admit to having not read much John Updike -- and most of his work that I have read has been in the form of literary criticism published in The New Yorker. Still, at his death yesterday, Updike was America's preeminent man of letters -- and one who spent much of his life in nearby Beverly -- so I cannot allow his passing to go unremarked.

In a 1990 interview with The Boston Globe, the prolific novelist, poet, essayist and critic said this about writers:

There's a kind of confessional impulse that not every literate, intelligent person has. A crazy belief that you have some exciting news about being alive, and I guess that more than talent is what separates those who do it from those who think they'd like to do it. That your witness to the universe can't be duplicated, that only you can provide it, and that it's worth providing.

Year one: Success!

One year ago today I started this blog as a vehicle for me to express opinions without sending friends a constant stream of emails. I've attempted to post at least once a day and for most months that worked out, though more recently I've slowed down a bit. Still, this will be my 379th entry, so I've succeeded over all.

I had just a handful of readers until East Boston's special election for state rep brought attention and hundreds of comments over the summer. The number of comments has slowed significantly since then, but I think the site still gets viewed by more people than I originally imagined, which is a good thing.

There are only hours remaining in 2007, as time rolls ceaselessly onward, never pausing to allow us to catch our collective breath. In these final moments of the current year let me offer wishes for a joy-filled 2008 to everyone, and let us end with the words of Scottish poet Robert Burns:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

On the web

The University of Massachusetts athletic department web site has posted a story that I wrote a few weeks ago about one of their athletes. Michelle Libby is a freshman on the UMass women's softball team, and the newspaper group I used to work for asked me to catch up to her and to write a piece on how things are going so far.

Libby hasn't played much this season, but her coach indicated that she is part of the team's future. Michelle, as she had been at Sacopee Valley High School, was friendly and cooperative when I spoke with her after a game at Boston College. The story ran in the Sacopee Valley Citizen, the weekly that Current Publishing puts out in western Maine, and UMass picked it up just recently.

Hard knock lives

Maybe the best story I wrote in my two years covering sports for Current Publishing -- which puts out eight weekly newspapers in suburban Portland, Maine -- was a piece on concussions called Hard Knocks. For the story I talked to high school athletes who received concussions as well as a doctor who specializes in brain injuries, a school nurse, an athletic director and a few athletic trainers. My conclusion was that concussions are much more serious than we thought even just ten years ago.

Today there is talk that an NFL player who committed suicide last fall might have been affected by the numerous concussions he received in his playing days. Also, there was a book published recently called Head Games that looks into "Football's Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues," as the subtitle says.

My story, by the way, was one of three I wrote that were chosen by the Maine Press Association to receive first-place awards. If I can toot my own horn for another moment, the judge of the contest wrote, "An important, anecdote-spiced story about concussions in high-school sports, a significant issue ignored for decades in a macho world. Well-written, well-researched, and well-done."

3...2...1...Happy blog year!

I am ringing in 2007 with my first attempt at a blog. As a number of friends can attest, I frequently offer opinions on a multitude of issues either in person or via email, and I often pass along links that I find interesting. Now I'll post these thoughts, ideas and items of interest on The Hubster, if only to satiate my ego and, more importantly, to keep me writing.

I hope to post consistently, and I encourage anyone who comes across my scribblings to offer feedback by leaving a comment. Thank you.