moon traveller herald

[This also appears on our Progressive Gauge blog. ] - Few may have ever heard of Ted Fujita, the professor of meteorology who diligently researched the paths of tornados after arriving from Japan in the 1950s. But his work changed the way people in the United States prepare for weather, go about their lives and travel by air. His ways of analyzing wind, weather and related phenomena were unique, based on his own home-brewed forensic techniques. His mix of keen observation, statistical acumen and persistent pursuit of details are a guidepost for anyone pursuing any kind of analysis. Determination to counter and rise above the criticism of staid colleagues helped too. He brought to the world a greater understanding of tornados, which were still a near mystical event in the American Midwest in the early and middle 20th Century, but one that gained greater attention as military aviation and commercial air travel expanded. His endeavors also included a vital study toward the end of ...

Thinking now and recalling one Father’s Day past. I was visiting the Hingham Mass home-house, with not much to offer in way of a gift. But, the same as in most any visit, I asked if there was a chore I could  help with, and ended up sweeping out the garage. It was a beautiful day with sunlight streaming in through the open garage door – the dust specks  kicked up by my brooming looked like little gold planets in the streams of light -- and my father was there, watching approvingly as I swept up. All of a sudden he looked at me, smiled, and said: “You know, Jack, you were the answer to our prayers!” I was taken aback, wow! Then he continued. “You weren’t what we prayed for, Jack, but you certainly were the answer to our prayers!”

Before pursuit of commerce led her to throw slow pitches for the Fox News Bears, Maria Bartiromo was a trading floor reporter par excellance. Her presentation touched Joey Ramone,  laying up in his Village shack, day trading, and composing his final opus: Dont Worry About Me. 

When the Pandemic was rolling in my friend Peter Bochner said ‘why don’t we plan to do something – look to the future? Get out?” The plan was to go to a lecture in June sponsored by the Jewish Arts Collaborative in Newton – it was   talk by Josh Frank who has produced a graphic novel based on a near mythical unmade movie that Surrealist giant Salvador Dali planned for the Marx Bros. It was called Giraffes on Horseback Salad. Peter is my Surrealist Brother and I said ‘yes’. Well lo and behold – I don’t think we could have imagined this – but lockdown is still going on, at least in terms of gatherings of a few dozen or so old Marx Bros fans. But the event took place on-line via Zoom and I took notes. Josh Frank adapted an unearthed Dali story, reimagined it in graphic novel format. He hunted down the lost story and adapted it to what it could have been, with the help of Manuela Pertega as the illustrator she lives in Barcelona Spain. Frank really provided an engaging, ca...

Jack Vaughan 3 · City Hospital Blues This "Talk Song" goes back about 10 or 15 years at least. The story is that my Uncle Charles was on Intravenous Feeding for 30 days in Boston City Hospital during the 1919 Influenza Pandemic. I had been listening to an LP of Cecelia's - the "Arhoolie Bad Luck N' Trouble" release, which included the haunting Essie Jenkins' "Influenza Blues"-- and came to re-imagine my uncle's illness, through the spectre of Essie's poetic rumination. So, it is her Influenza blues through the lens of a family history. I was reluctant to trot this out, though it came to mind as we are in our own COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. But I am glad to post it now along with some explaination. As we know it, the IV feed was new and experimental technology at the time. My uncle was obviously in very difficult straits. As we know it, my grandmother spent most all of the 30 days at Charles's bedside praying, and for us his rec...