Things Fall Apart And Come Together

The public hearing, as mandated by Massachusetts state law, into the closure of the Farren Care Center in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, took place on September 16th. It was farcical. We are, as you may have noticed, in the middle of a pandemic, so ‘public’ in this case, meant ‘phone-in’. Except all the official notifications sent out gave the wrong phone number, corrected in haste and incompletely on the day of the hearing. It was both ridiculous and heart-breaking. Ridiculous with the justifications for this cynical act of injustice, heartbreaking with the testament of Farren relatives, guardians, workers and ex-workers pleading for the extraordinary work that is done in this neglected and underfunded building to be allowed to continue. Firstly, the Farren Care Center should not be closing. Secondly, the Farren Care Center should not be closing during a pandemic. Thirdly, Non-profit In name Only (NINO) is a thing. The Farren, as people around it call it, is a Skilled Nursing Facility...

Steve was finally off on his Great American Road Trip, from New Hampshire to Minnesota, and I was finally off on my Mini American Road Trip, from New Hampshire to Auburn NY. Bear in mind, reader, that I first rode a motorbike one year ago, passed my motorcycle driving licence one year ago, bought my first bike one year ago, and that there are at least five months of the year when you cannot ride a bike at all in this part of the world. Bear in mind too that I am 62, and that my second bike, bought in June of this year, weighs 840 lbs and vrooms with 1700cc . Bear in mind all this and marvel at my audacity. Or, as the wife biker (matching Harleys, his ’n’ hers) at the Holiday Inn in Auburn NY said “You’re crazy, lady”. There’s a freedom in leaving behind familiar roads and flying into the unknown. We rode to Brattleboro VT, so far, so humdrum, then up the thrilling route 9 towards Wilmington and Bennington. I took the lead, because I knew the road well, and the Doppler effect hit me har...