Love in Film & Fiction: Heart Day 2021

Happy Valentine’s Day!  It seems appropriate to present a mix of films and fiction that capture different kinds of love.  Romantic love and longing, platonic friendship, and married love. ON THE SCREEN Loving (Netflix) This historical film about Richard and Mildred Loving is a testament to love and devotion through hardship and ostracism.   In 1958, Richard, a white man, …

Tidy Tidbits: Home Viewing

RECENT VIEWING Black Politics One Night in Miami  (Amazon Prime)  Set in February 1964, One Night in Miami brings together four Black men on the cusp of fame or notoriety. It’s the early days of the Civil Rights era.  Boxer Cassius Clay has just defeated Sonny Liston, and this gathering of friends is partly a celebration of that victory.  It’s …

Tidy Tidbits: Reading & Watching

MEMOIRS:  OF GEOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY Mill Town:  Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault Kerri Arsenault grew up in the small town of Mexico, Maine, adjacent to neighboring Rumford and home to an active paper mill.  Like the river Androscoggin that runs through the region, her memoir meanders along a nonlinear path.  We learn about her immediate family and her …

Movies, Mystery & More

WHAT A WONDERFUL WEEK! The inauguration of Joe Biden as U.S. President and Kamala Harris as Vice-President was marvelous and memorable in so many ways. A reset in tone, a return to competence, a series of firsts, and the beginning of an administration more representative in gender, race, background, and experience than the previous one. …