DRAWING ON LESSONS he learned as a seminarian, social worker, and then probation officer, George Kelling became a major thinker on law enforcement, envisioning a new approach to policing that combined a strong regard for public safety with a keen sensitivity to community concerns and perspectives. When Kelling died this spring, at age 83, William […]
CW in Depth
Posted inArts and Culture
In Holyoke, arts education takes front seat
SIX-YEAR-OLD JUAN patted an inflatable ball as he peered out of his blue-rimmed glasses. Which way to send the ball? What could he knock down? Juan was playing “human bowling” in Kat Lorenzi’s kindergarten class in Holyoke. The objective was to get the ball to bounce off a few of his classmates, and figure out […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Western Mass. ‘Hilltowns’ look for a foothold
THE ARRIVAL OF warmer weather means visitors will be flocking to the Berkshires, where a set of towns come to life as summer homes to renowned music and dance enterprises at Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow. They add to a year-round arts economy in the region anchored by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North […]
Posted inPolitics
Healey vs. Trump
IN A 2016 FUNDRAISING PITCH just after Donald Trump was elected president, Attorney General Maura Healey said she wouldn’t hesitate to take the incoming president to court if he carried out his “unconstitutional campaign promises.” She insisted her role as “the people’s lawyer” is the “first line of defense against illegal action by the federal […]
Posted inBook Review
Reforming capitalism to save it
IN THE FIVE YEARS since the publication of Thomas Piketty’s runaway bestseller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, rising inequality has yet to force any consensus on what to do about it, while the macro trends of globalization and automation continue to make America unequal. Now, at the start of the 2020 election cycle, actors of […]
Posted inPolitics
Richie Neal’s big moment
RICHARD NEAL, consummate policy guy and inveterate old-school pol, had come to talk pensions. But after a March 21 roundtable in Boston, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was yanked back to the issue dogging him for months — when would he request President Trump’s tax returns? The question seemed to […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Was ‘Reefer Madness’ right?
IN THE MID-1930s, a church group financed a film intended to frighten parents about the dangers their children face from marijuana. “Reefer Madness” portrayed cannabis as a powerful drug capable of sending users into psychotic, violent rages. The movie has become something of a cult classic in recent decades, mocked as a laughable example of anti-drug […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Dialing up the road safety debate
ROOTED IN ONE of the most abominable facets of the nation’s past, racial profiling remains a risk today for drivers of color. At the same time, the havoc caused by motorists distracted by smartphones, a triumph of ingenuity and engineering, presents a uniquely modern hazard on streets and highways. Efforts to grapple with those two […]
Posted inArts and Culture
King’s English
PAUL ENGLISH DIDN’T invent the idea of building a monument in Boston to the foremost civil rights hero of the 20th century, but in the parlance of the high-tech world where English made his millions, he was the angel investor who helped launch it. There was untapped demand in Boston for a suitable tribute to […]
Posted inArts and Culture
The healing power of art
THE YOUNG GIRL had endured bullying and been called ugly. She was told she had a unibrow by one of her male classmates. At her therapist’s office, she was “withdrawn and disengaged.” She refused to finish a self-portrait she had started the previous week, instead picking up another piece of paper and painting two eyes […]