Hitchhiking

When I was a boy, I often hitchhiked into town or to the beach. Nobody thought twice about it. Nowadays, most people are "pathologically averse" to hitchhiking and associate it with perverts, rapists and serial killers.

Martha's Vineyard continues to be the exception, where I still occasionally thumb a ride from the ferry to the house, or pick up people of all ages who simply want to get where they need to be.

The New Yorker ~ Emily Flake

Hillary's Emoji

Another timely and sardonic New Yorker magazine cover by cartoonist Barry Blitt. But he missed an obvious one.

The New Yorker ~ Barry Blitt

The New Yorker ~ Monica Lisa

Happy Spring!

Photograph ~ Lanny McDowell

Rembrandt's Only Seascape

It was 25 years ago this week that Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee was stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by two thieves dressed as police officers. Two other Rembrandt paintings, a Vermeer and a painting by Manet were part of the heist; all cut from their frames which remain hanging in the museum.

Storm on the Sea of Galilee ~ Rembrandt

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ~ Boston, Massachusetts

1965 in Pictures

The Atlantic Monthly online features a collection of photographs from 1965, summarized as follows:

"A half-century ago, the war in Vietnam was escalating, the space race was in full swing, the Rolling Stones were on world tour, the bravery of those who marched to Selma led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and the St. Louis Arch was completed. The United States occupied the Dominican Republic, Malcolm X was assassinated, NASA's Mariner 4 flew by Mars, race riots erupted in Watts, California, and Muhammed Ali defeated Sonny Liston. Let me take you back 50 years into the past now, for a photographic look back at the year 1965." 

Most of these photographs are familiar, if not iconic. And then there's this photo of the Mount Hermon School (my alma mater 10 years later) Silliman Hall science building fire that raged during the annual football game against archrival Deerfield Academy on November 24, 1965.

Robert S. Van Fleet ~ Silliman Hall ~ Mount Hermon, Massachusetts

P.S. A more detailed story about the fire and photograph was reported on May 5 in The New York Times.

On the Rocks

The Cape and Islands have had an unusually brutal winter.

As things begin to thaw, melting ice flows are arriving on Wellfleet beaches.

Dapixara Photography

Dapixara Photography