The branches draw winter

Through the small tall bathroom window the December yard is gray and scratchy, the tree calligraphic. 

-- Dave Eggers

'Relay'

From top, "Compliments'' (fabric, acrylic medium/pigment, handprinted rice paper), by Erica Licea-Kane; "Miniature World, Victoria, BC'' (archival pigment print),  by Mary Lang; "Release'' (acrylic on panel), by Lynda Schlosberg, in the group show "Relay'' at Kingston Gallery, Boston, Jan. 4-29.

Winter moths laying eggs for next year's defoliation

By ecoRI News staff

KINGSTON, R.I. — Winter moths should be fluttering around porch lights and car headlights any day now, laying eggs that may lead to another spring of defoliated and dying trees.

That’s the warning from Heather Faubert, who runs the Plant Protection Clinic at the University of Rhode Island. She said the adult moths — an invasive species native to Europe — begin emerging from the ground around Thanksgiving and die before the New Year.

“I’ll be very curious to see what happens this year,” said Faubert, who annually monitors the insect’s population. “Their caterpillars defoliated 27,000 acres in Rhode Island in the spring of 2015, but even though we had winter moths everywhere last year and I saw a zillion eggs, they caused almost zero defoliation.”

Last year’s statewide defoliation, which began after winter moth caterpillars had long become inactive, was caused primarily by gypsy moths and, in some communities, forest tent caterpillars.

Faubert believes last year’s strange winter and spring weather negated what she expected to be a dire season for winter moth defoliation. Winter moth eggs typically hatch during a warm spell in April, but last year they began hatching during a warm period in late March. Two weeks later, in early April, temperatures dropped well below freezing and probably killed many of the caterpillars.

“I went looking for dead caterpillars but didn’t find many,” she said. “Maybe the caterpillars hatched too far ahead of the foliage development, so they didn’t have anything to eat. I’m not sure what really happened, but it definitely had something to do with our screwy weather.”

With little defoliation occurring last year from winter moths, Faubert said it’s possible that there will be fewer adult moths flying around during the next month. But that doesn’t mean Rhode Islanders should expect little impact from the insects.

“Each individual female can lay hundreds of eggs, so it could still be a bad year for defoliation in the spring,” she said.

What’s worse, according to Faubert, is that the combination of several years of defoliation in a row and the extended drought conditions could mean that more trees will die in the coming year.

“Defoliation is very stressful to trees,” she said. “That alone can kill trees. But having drought conditions is the worst thing that can happen to a stressed tree.”

What can homeowners do this winter to combat the effects of winter moth caterpillars? Not much. Faubert said attempting to kill the flying moths is useless since only the males fly. The females crawl up tree trunks to lay their eggs.

“Lots of people try using those adhesive tree bands, but the moths will just lay their eggs right below the band, and many of them can make it across the bands,” she said.

In an experiment she conducted last year, Faubert placed two tree bands, separated by about a foot, around one tree. The first band caught 207 female winter moths, while the second one caught 138. It’s unknown how many made it past both bands.

One strategy Faubert is deploying to control winter moth populations is the release of a tiny parasitic fly that lays its eggs on tree leaves. When the winter moth caterpillar consumes the eggs while eating the leaves, the eggs hatch inside the caterpillar and the fly larva eat it from the inside out. The fly has succeeded in controlling winter moth populations in Wellesley, Mass., and it appears to be on its way to doing so in Seekonk, Mass., as well.

Faubert released the flies in seven locations  between 2011 and 2015, and she hopes to soon see signs that it’s beginning to work.

“It’s still too early to tell, but we hope the flies will get our moth population down to manageable levels,” she said.

'Rethinking Robert Frost'

1974 stamp.

From poet/farmer Mike O’Connell’s piece about the last years of the charming, terrifying and still usually misunderstood Robert Frost, “Rethinking Robert Frost: I’ll beat the drum/ till it cry sleep to death’’. To read it, hit this link.

“For all {Robert} Frost’s hide-and-seek, for all his escapes into and out of the underbrush, in the end you can’t miss him. He hogs the road, blocks our way, hectors us until we understand him wrong or right. ‘It hurts like everything,’ he once wrote, ‘not to bring my point out more sharply.’ After his own conflicted fashion, he was straining with agitated heart to do this until the end. And as we witness the new century’s continuing stream of director’s-cut editions of his writings, we begin to see, {many} years after his death, what Frost meant about a willful return to earth. His ‘lover’s quarrel with the world’ endures; his prickly conversation with his reader goes on.’’

George Washington's rules of civility are in no danger of being followed

George Washington, as painted in 1797 by Gilbert Stuart, a Rhode Islander.

The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation
by George Washington·       .

The use of the long s (ſ) and uniqueness of spelling and phrasing are as found in the original manuscript.

·       1ſt Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Reſpect, to thoſe that are Preſent.

·       2nd When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not uſualy Diſcovered.

·       3rd Shew Nothing to your Freind that may affright him.

·       4th In the Preſence of Others Sing not to yourſelf with a humming Noiſe, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.

·       5th If You Cough, Sneeze, Sigh, or Yawn, do it not Loud but Privately; and Speak not in your Yawning, but put Your handkercheif or Hand before your face and turn aſide.

·       6th Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when others ſtand, Speak not when you Should hold your Peace, walk not on when others Stop.

·       7th Put not off your Cloths in the preſence of Others, nor go out your Chamber half Dreſt.

·       8th At Play and at Fire its Good manners to Give Place to the laſt Commer, and affect not to Speak Louder than Ordinary.

·       9th Spit not in the Fire, nor Stoop low before it neither Put your Hands into the Flames to warm them, nor Set your Feet upon the Fire eſpecially if there be meat before it.

·       10th When you Sit down, Keep your Feet firm and Even, without putting one on the other or Croſsing them.

·       11th Shift not yourſelf in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your nails.

·       12th Shake not the head, Feet, or Legs rowl not the Eys lift not one eyebrow higher than the other wry not the mouth, and bedew no mans face with your Spittle, by approaching too near him when you Speak.

·       13th Kill no Vermin as Fleas, lice ticks &c in the Sight of Others, if you See any filth or thick Spittle put your foot Dexteriouſly upon it if it be upon the Cloths of your Companions, Put it off privately, and if it be upon your own Cloths return Thanks to him who puts it off.

·       14th Turn not your Back to others eſpecially in Speaking, Jog not the Table or Deſk on which Another reads or writes, lean not upon any one.

·       15th Keep your Nails clean and Short, alſo your Hands and Teeth Clean yet without Shewing any great Concern for them.

·       16th Do not Puff up the Cheeks, Loll not out the tongue rub the Hands, or beard, thruſt out the lips, or bite them or keep the Lips too open or too Cloſe.

·       17th Be no Flatterer, neither Play with any that delights not to be Play'd Withal.

·       18th Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but when there is a Neceſsity for the doing of it you muſt aſk leave: come not near the Books or Writings of Another ſo as to read them unleſs deſired or give your opinion of them unaſk'd alſo look not nigh when another is writing a Letter.

·       19th Let your Countenance be pleaſant but in Serious Matters Somewhat grave.

·       20th The Geſtures of the Body muſt be Suited to the diſcourſe you are upon.

·       21ſt Reproach none for the Infirmaties of Nature, nor Delight to Put them that have in mind thereof.

·       22nd Shew not yourſelf glad at the Miſfortune of another though he were your enemy.

·       23rd When you ſee a Crime puniſhed, you may be inwardly Pleaſed; but always ſhew Pity to the Suffering Offender.

·       24th Do not laugh too loud or too much at any Publick Spectacle.

·       25th Superfluous Complements and all Affectation of Ceremonie are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be Neglected.

·       26th In Pulling off your Hat to Perſons of Diſtinction, as Noblemen, Juſtices, Churchmen &c make a Reverence, bowing more or leſs according to the Cuſtom of the Better Bred, and Quality of the Perſon. Amongſt your equals expect not always that they Should begin with you firſt, but to Pull off the Hat when there is no need is Affectation, in the Manner of Saluting and reſaluting in words keep to the moſt uſual Cuſtom.

·       27th Tis ill manners to bid one more eminent than yourſelf be covered as well as not to do it to whom it's due Likewiſe he that makes too much haſte to Put on his hat does not well, yet he ought to Put it on at the firſt, or at moſt the Second time of being aſk'd; now what is herein Spoken, of Qualification in behaviour in Saluting, ought alſo to be obſerved in taking of Place, and Sitting down for ceremonies without Bounds is troubleſome.

·       28th If any one come to Speak to you while you are are Sitting Stand up tho he be your Inferiour, and when you Preſent Seats let it be to every one according to his Degree.

·       29th When you meet with one of Greater Quality than yourſelf, Stop, and retire eſpecially if it be at a Door or any Straight place to give way for him to Paſs.

·       30th In walking the higheſt Place in moſt Countrys Seems to be on the right hand therefore Place yourſelf on the left of him whom you deſire to Honour: but if three walk together the middeſt Place is the moſt Honourable the wall is uſually given to the moſt worthy if two walk together.

·       31ſt If any one far Surpaſseſs others, either in age, Eſtate, or Merit yet would give Place to a meaner than himſelf in his own lodging or elſewhere the one ought not to except it, So he on the other part ſhould not uſe much earneſtneſs nor offer it above once or twice.

·       32nd To one that is your equal, or not much inferior you are to give the cheif Place in your Lodging and he to who 'tis offered ought at the firſt to refuſe it but at the Second to accept though not without acknowledging his own unworthineſs.

·       33rd They that are in Dignity or in office have in all places Preceedency but whilſt they are Young they ought to reſpect thoſe that are their equals in Birth or other Qualitys, though they have no Publick charge.

·       34th It is good Manners to prefer them to whom we Speak before ourſelves eſpecially if they be above us with whom in no Sort we ought to begin.

·       35th Let your Diſcourſe with Men of Buſineſs be Short and Comprehenſive.

·       36th Artificers & Perſons of low Degree ought not to uſe many ceremonies to Lords, or Others of high Degree but Reſpect and highly Honour them, and thoſe of high Degree ought to treat them with affibility & Courteſie, without Arrogancy.

·       37th In Speaking to men of Quality do not lean nor Look them full in the Face, nor approach too near them at leſt Keep a full Pace from them.

·       38th In viſiting the Sick, do not Preſently play the Phyſicion if you be not Knowing therein.

·       39th In writing or Speaking, give to every Perſon his due Title According to his Degree & the Cuſtom of the Place.

·       40th Strive not with your Superiers in argument, but always Submit your Judgment to others with Modeſty.

·       41ſt Undertake not to Teach your equal in the art himſelf Proffeſses; it Savours of arrogancy.

·       42nd Let thy ceremonies in Courteſie be proper to the Dignity of his place with whom thou converſeſt for it is abſurd to act the ſame with a Clown and a Prince.

·       43rd Do not expreſs Joy before one ſick or in pain for that contrary Paſsion will aggravate his Miſery.

·       44th When a man does all he can though it Succeeds not well blame not him that did it.

·       45th Being to adviſe or reprehend any one, conſider whether it ought to be in publick or in Private; preſently, or at Some other time in what terms to do it & in reproving Shew no Sign of Cholar but do it with all Sweetneſs and Mildneſs.

·       46th Take all Admonitions thankfully in what Time or Place Soever given but afterwards not being culpable take a Time & Place convenient to let him him know it that gave them.

·       47th Mock not nor Jeſt at any thing of Importance break no Jeſt that are Sharp Biting and if you Deliver any thing witty and Pleaſent abtain from Laughing thereat yourſelf.

·       48th Wherein wherein you reprove Another be unblameable yourſelf; for example is more prevalent than Precepts.

·       49th Uſe no Reproachfull Language againſt any one neither Curſe nor Revile.

·       50th Be not haſty to beleive flying Reports to the Diſparagement of any.

·       51ſt Wear not your Cloths, foul, unript or Duſty but See they be Bruſh'd once every day at leaſt and take heed that you approach not to any Uncleaneſs.

·       52nd In your Apparel be Modeſt and endeavour to accomodate Nature, rather than to procure Admiration keep to the Faſhion of your equals Such as are Civil and orderly with reſpect to Times and Places.

·       53rd Run not in the Streets, neither go too ſlowly nor with Mouth open go not Shaking your Arms kick not the earth with your feet, go not upon the Toes, nor in a Dancing faſhion.

·       54th Play not the Peacock, looking every where about you, to See if you be well Deck't, if your Shoes fit well if your Stokings ſit neatly, and Cloths handſomely.

·       55th Eat not in the Streets, nor in the Houſe, out of Seaſon.

·       56th Aſsociate yourſelf with Men of good Quality if you Eſteem your own Reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad Company.

·       57th In walking up and Down in a Houſe, only with One in Company if he be Greater than yourſelf, at the firſt give him the Right hand and Stop not till he does and be not the firſt that turns, and when you do turn let it be with your face towards him, if he be a Man of Great Quality, walk not with him Cheek by Joul but Somewhat behind him; but yet in Such a Manner that he may eaſily Speak to you.

·       58th Let your Converſation be without Malice or Envy, for 'tis a Sign of a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Cauſes of Paſsion admit Reaſon to Govern.

·       59th Never expreſs anything unbecoming, nor Act againſt the Rules Moral before your inferiours.

·       60th Be not immodeſt in urging your Freinds to Diſcover a Secret.

·       61ſt Utter not baſe and frivilous things amongſt grave and Learn'd Men nor very Difficult Queſtians or Subjects, among the Ignorant or things hard to be believed, Stuff not your Diſcourſe with Sentences amongſt your Betters nor Equals.

·       62nd Speak not of doleful Things in a Time of Mirth or at the Table; Speak not of Melancholy Things as Death and Wounds, and if others Mention them Change if you can the Diſcourſe tell not your Dreams, but to your intimate Friend.

·       63rd A Man ought not to value himſelf of his Atchievements, or rare Qualities of wit; much leſs of his riches Virtue or Kindred.

·       64th Break not a Jeſt where none take pleaſure in mirth Laugh not aloud, nor at all without Occaſion, deride no mans Miſfortune, tho' there Seem to be Some cauſe.

·       65th Speak not injurious Words neither in Jeſt nor Earneſt Scoff at none although they give Occaſion.

·       66th Be not froward but friendly and Courteous; the firſt to Salute hear and anſwer & be not Penſive when it's a time to Converſe.

·       67th Detract not from others neither be exceſsive in Commanding.

·       68th Go not thither, where you know not, whether you Shall be Welcome or not. Give not Advice without being Aſk'd & when deſired do it briefly.

·       69th If two contend together take not the part of either unconſtrained; and be not obſtinate in your own Opinion, in Things indiferent be of the Major Side.

·       70th Reprehend not the imperfections of others for that belongs to Parents Maſters and Superiours.

·       71ſt Gaze not on the marks or blemiſhes of Others and aſk not how they came. What you may Speak in Secret to your Friend deliver not before others.

·       72nd Speak not in an unknown Tongue in Company but in your own Language and that as thoſe of Quality do and not as the Vulgar; Sublime matters treat Seriouſly.

·       73rd Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring out your Words too haſtily but orderly & diſtinctly.

·       74th When Another Speaks be attentive your Self and diſturb not the Audience if any heſitate in his Words help him not nor Prompt him without deſired, Interrupt him not, nor Anſwer him till his Speech be ended.

·       75th In the midſt of Diſcourſe aſk not of what one treateth but if you Perceive any Stop becauſe of your coming you may well intreat him gently to Proceed: If a Perſon of Quality comes in while your Converſing it's handſome to Repeat what was ſaid before.

·       76th While you are talking, Point not with your Finger at him of Whom you Diſcourſe nor Approach too near him to whom you talk eſpecially to his face.

·       77th Treat with men at fit Times about Buſineſs & Whiſper not in the Company of Others.

·       78th Make no Compariſons and if any of the Company be Commended for any brave act of Vertue, commend not another for the Same.

·       79th Be not apt to relate News if you know not the truth thereof. In Diſcourſing of things you Have heard Name not your Author always A Secret Diſcover not.

·       80th Be not Tedious in Diſcourſe or in reading unleſs you find the Company pleaſed therewith.

·       81ſt Be not Curious to Know the Affairs of Others neither approach thoſe that Speak in Private.

·       82nd Undertake not what you cannot Perform but be Carefull to keep your Promiſe.

·       83rd When you deliver a matter do it without Paſsion & with Diſcretion, however mean the Perſon be you do it too.

·       84th When your Superiours talk to any Body hearken not neither Speak nor Laugh.

·       85th In Company of theſe of Higher Quality than yourſelf Speak not til you are aſk'd a Queſtion then Stand upright put of your Hat & Anſwer in few words.

·       86th In Diſputes, be not So Deſireous to Overcome as not to give Liberty to each one to deliver his Opinion and Submit to the Judgment of the Major Part eſpecially if they are Judges of the Diſpute.

·       87th Let thy carriage be ſuch as becomes a Man Grave Settled and attentive to that which is ſpoken. Contradict not at every turn what others Say.·      

88th Be not tedious in Diſcourſe, make not many Digreſsigns, nor repeat often the Same manner of Diſcourſe.

·       89th Speak not Evil of the abſent for it is unjuſt.

·       90th Being Set at meat Scratch not neither Spit Cough or blow your Noſe except there's a Neceſsity for it.

·       91ſt Make no Shew of taking great Delight in your Victuals, Feed not with Greedineſs; cut your Bread with a Knife, lean not on the Table neither find fault with what you Eat.

·       92nd Take no Salt or cut Bread with your Knife Greaſy.

·       93rd Entertaining any one at table it is decent to preſent him with meat, Undertake not to help others undeſired by the Maſter.

·       94th If you Soak bread in the Sauce let it be no more than what you put in your Mouth at a time and blow not your broth at Table but Stay till Cools of it Self.

·       95th Put not your meat to your Mouth with your Knife in your hand neither Spit forth the Stones of any fruit Pye upon a Diſh nor Caſt anything under the table.

·       96th It's unbecoming to Stoop much to ones Meat Keep your Fingers clean & when foul wipe them on a Corner of your Table Napkin.

·       97th Put not another bit into your Mouth til the former be Swallowed let not your Morſels be too big for the Gowls.

·       98th Drink not nor talk with your mouth full neither Gaze about you while you are a Drinking.

·       99th Drink not too leiſurely nor yet too haſtily. Before and after Drinking wipe your Lips breath not then or Ever with too Great a Noiſe, for its uncivil.

·       100th Cleanſe not your teeth with the Table Cloth Napkin Fork or Knife but if Others do it let it be done with a Pick Tooth.

·       101ſt Rince not your Mouth in the Preſence of Others.

·       102nd It is out of uſe to call upon the Company often to Eat nor need you Drink to others every Time you Drink.

·       103rd In Company of your Betters be not longer in eating than they are lay not your Arm but only your hand upon the table.

·       104th It belongs to the Chiefeſt in Company to unfold his Napkin and fall to Meat firſt, But he ought then to Begin in time & to Diſpatch with Dexterity that the Sloweſt may have time allowed him.

·       105th Be not Angry at Table whatever happens & if you have reaſon to be ſo, Shew it not but on a Chearfull Countenance eſpecially if there be Strangers for Good Humour makes one Diſh of Meat a Feaſt.

·       106th Set not yourſelf at the upper of the Table but if it Be your Due or that the Maſter of the houſe will have it So, Contend not, leaſt you Should Trouble the Company.

·       107th If others talk at Table be attentive but talk not with Meat in your Mouth.

·       108th When you Speak of God or his Atributes, let it be Seriouſly & with Reverence. Honour & Obey your Natural Parents altho they be Poor.

·       109th Let your Recreations be Manfull not Sinfull.

·       110th Labour to keep alive in your Breaſt that Little Spark of Celeſtial fire Called Conſcience.

In search of lost roses

''God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.''

-- James M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan)

In Providence, think big? Tall shadows of prosperity in Boston

Photo by Sam Weber

From Robert Whitcomb's Nov. 24 "Digital Diary'' in GoLocal24.

“They all laughed at Rockefeller Center
Now they're fighting to get in
They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin’’

From the ‘ 30s song “They All Laughed,’’ with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira.

A bit of what’s wrong with Rhode Island popped up recently in remarks by Arnold “Buff’’ Chace, a Providence real-estate owner/developer and a scion of an old southeastern New England family. (One of the family’s enterprises became internationally known after Warren Buffett turned the family’s old textile company, Berkshire Hathaway, into a huge, and hugely successful, investment company – a sort of mutual fund for the affluent.)

Mr. Chace said of New York developer Jason Fane’s  recent proposal to put three skyscrapers (one 55 stories high), with condos and apartments, on Route 195 land in downtown Providence:

“The scale is a problem for sure. Buildings of that type are not part of the character of our city, and I think it would be a big mistake.’’

First, let us bear in mind that these buildings would compete with Mr. Chace’srental units.

But more to the point, why would it be bad if such towers changed the “character’’ of the city and state.  Is the current “character’’ all that good? Wouldn’t construction of such towers tell visitors and residents alike that Providence was becoming an exciting and dynamic place on the move instead of an often depressed, fiscally fragile place that has seen very little economic growth for years? And what’s wrong with skyscrapers? They are a symbol of hope and aspiration that would look great indowntown Providence and could be seen for miles around. Thank God for the little old skyscrapers that downtownProvidence has now that tell visitors that the city once had a thriving economy and so might have one again.

“If I were to do the same project in New York or Toronto, people would love to live in it. And it would be easy to finance, but it wouldn’t particularly stand out,” Mr. Fane told the Providence Business News. “This is where Providence would have an opportunity to change its self-image.”

Of course,  it’s healthier if local wealth and job creation come before residential development, or at least simultaneously.  Big real estate development usually follows local wealth creation, as do  the “hospitality industry’’ and philanthropy.  The big long-term wealth creators are: Inventing things, manufacturing things, growing and catching things, investing things and shipping things. So we hope that, for example, bio-tech, design and other job-creating sectors finally move into the Route 195 area to provide the income with which people could buy or rent in the likes of those towers.

But let’s not throw cold water on a proposal that could give people the hope that Providence can become a major and prosperous metropolis again.

When John D. Rockefeller Jr., assisted by his son, Nelson, built, and battled to fill, huge Rockefeller Center, in midtown Manhattan, in the Great Depression, many thought  that they were on a fool’s errand. But the expression of faith in New York demonstrated by the spectacular project helped turn Gotham around.

Providence needs to show similar energy and faith. The three-tower plan might or might not work, but  in any case the city desperately needs big, dramatic projects, which will bring in smaller ones, too. 

xxx

Booming Boston, for its part, is so rich that it has the luxury of dealing with  a multitude of real and proposed high-rise projects. Consider the 340-foot tower proposed for near Fenway Park. The Red Sox oppose the current version of the project.

 “We have strong concerns that this proposed project would create an unacceptably tall and impactful 29-story building in very close proximity to Fenway Park, and which might have significant negative impacts on the surrounding neighborhood as well as our historic ballpark itself,” David Friedman, the team’s senior vice president for legal and government affairs, told the Boston Planning & Development Agency.

It’s part of the growing controversy in Boston over proliferating skyscrapers putting some buildings, parks and other places in shadows for some of the day. But the owners of these proposed buildings can pay so much in property taxes in what has become truly a world city that it’s hard to tell them to go away, and most Bostonians seem very happy to have them anyway. Compared to Providence, it’s a nice problem to have. “The Hub’’ has become a very exciting city, especially compared to its Dickensian dreariness in the ‘50s.

Maybe beggars, such as Providence, can’t be choosers.

A kiss is still a kiss

"Carnevale,'' by David Jones, in the "Fall Juried Members Exhibition,'' at the Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, Mass., through Jan. 21.

Chris Powell: Bad manners at 'Hamilton'; Hartford is bankrupt

For the sake of argument assume that the vice president-elect, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, is an awful person, as are Donald Trump and everyone who voted for them. That still would not excuse Pence's treatment the other week by the cast of Hamilton during his attendance at the show on Broadway.

As the show ended and the cast took its curtain call, one of the actors stepped forward, called attention to Pence's presence in the audience, and, addressing him, said the cast is "alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us," adding that they hoped that the show "has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

It was as if there had not just been an election campaign full of rhetoric about "American values" and as if Pence hadn't heard it and responded to it already, if not to everyone's satisfaction. The cast's stunt was only self-righteous posturing and bad manners from people who are a little too full of themselves.

Pence should have expected it and he claimed not to have been bothered by it, though, of course, Trump couldn't wait to inject himself into the issue indignantly, as if he had finished assembling the new national administration and had run out of things to do.

"The theater must always be a safe and special place," the president-elect proclaimed. But in a free country the theater doesn't have to be anything. It can be like a presidential campaign: safe or unsafe, special or mediocre, vile or sublime, stupid or thoughtful. Anyone can put anything on the stage and anyone can attend or not.

But one doesn't pay extravagantly for a ticket on Broadway to be singled out as the target of the political grievances of actors who can't bring themselves to let the audience draw its own political conclusions from their work.

The Hamilton cast indicated that its main concern about the coming Trump administration is immigration, Trump having campaigned against illegal immigration and having at first equated all Mexican immigrants with criminals and all Muslim immigrants with terrorists. But Trump has been reprimanded pretty well for resorting to such stereotypes and as a result has begun moderating his position, while his critics have not yet acknowledged any problems with immigration. No, Trump's critics seem perfectly happy with the uncontrolled immigration that the country has tolerated in recent years, despite its threats to the working-class wage base, national security and the country's democratic and secular culture.

The refusal of the governing and intellectual classes to acknowledge those threats is one reason the election turned out as it did.

xxx

Hartford is supposed to get Gov. Dannel Malloy's permission before filing for bankruptcy, but in effect the city has already gone into bankruptcy without it. That is, the city is threatening to stop paying its dues to the regional water and sewage-treatment agency, the Metropolitan District Commission.

Hartford's threat has caused the MDC to instruct its other member municipalities to put money aside to cover the city's share of the agency's budget, amounts that for some towns will exceed a million dollars a year.

This is silly because Hartford does have the money to pay the MDC. The city is just choosing to divert water and sewer money to pay others instead, like city employees, vendors, and lenders. City government figures that it's easier to stiff fellow MDC members.

But if the MDC responded to Hartford's delinquency by turning off the city's water and sewer service, the city instantly would come up with the money, nothing being more important than water and sanitation. The suburban delegates to the MDC should stop being such patsies and instead tell Hartford to stiff someone else.

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer, in Manchester, Conn., and an essayist on social and political issues.

Year-end dread

“It's a queer sensation, this secret belief that one stands on the brink of the world's greatest catastrophe. For it means the fall of Western Europe, as it fell in the fourth century. It recurs to me every November, and culminates every December. I have to get over it as I can, and hide, for fear of being sent to an asylum.” 

-- Henry Adams

It's a good mixer

"Northern Waters'' (mixed media), by Phyllis Ewen, in the show "Inventing 3D Landscapes,'' Dec. 1-Jan. 14, at Brickbottom Artists Association, Somerville, Mass.

A de Tocqueville weekend in Vermont

The Bradford Congregtional Church

From Robert Whitcomb's Nov. 24 "Digital Diary'' column in GoLocal24.

In most years for the past quarter century, I’ve joined a bunch of malefriendsand driven to Bradford, Vt.,  a small town on the Connecticut River, on the weekend before Thanksgiving to eat at a game supper in the Congregational (aka “Congo’’) church there. It’s held in an assembly hall beneath the nave as the church’s major annual fund-raising event. The food is a wide range of game,  including beaver (yuck!), elk, venison, pheasant, wild boar, rabbit and some other animals. (Too bad they don’t  offer alligator, which is quite good.)

I generally avoid meat, mostly out of sympathy for the animals and a little bit because of health. But the game dinner is for a good cause, and maybe some of the animals being served are road kill anyway.

It’s tasty enough but the trip has been mostly an excuse to get together and catch up once a year. It’s also a bit of Americannostalgia.

The small-town folks manning the supper are a delightful mix of old, young and middle aged. (Some of the teens look a bit as if they’d be drafted against their will into acting as waiters to bring the cider, coffee and dessert – always gingerbread – to the tables.)

There are always a lot of what I used to consider “old people’’ staffing the long buffet tables;  I am their age now. Most of the “old people’’ we first encountered in 1990 have gone to their reward, including, I think, the blue-haired lady who used to pound out tunes from old shows such as Oklahoma! on the upright piano in the nave to amuse those waiting to be called by number to go downstairs to the chow.

There’s a big kitschy picture on the wall in that hall showing a boy Jesus teaching his elders; it must date from the late 19th Century. At least this Palestinian kid wasn’t blond, unlike in my Sunday school books in the ‘50s!

The church needs painting and I’d guess, like most mainline Protestant churches, its membership is down, so it was nice to help out a bit to keep the place going.  For various reason this was my last year attending this little annual event but it’sbeen edifying to participate insuch a good-hearted community endeavor, and find out what the contemporaries in my little group were up to as they moved from middle to old age.

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59), who wrote on the special importance in America of community organizations for a healthy civic life and local democracy, would have liked the Bradford Game Supper. “The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens,”  he wrote.

And Norman Rockwell would have found a subject for a magazine cover or two in this escape from the increasing sleaziness of American life.

It snowed in the hills on our way back to southern New England. Winter is pressing in.

David Warsh: The accidental president

Cast your mind back a couple of years ago, to the six weeks when the presidential campaign of 2016 was gearing up.  Lukewarm Jeb Bush decided at Thanksgiving with his family in 2014 to throw his hat in the ring. Suddenly in January Mitt Romney jumped into the race – for all of three weeks. What I’ve heard since from various insiders is that his children were reluctant and his fundraisers told him no. Had his backers pushed ahead, there’s a good chance that Romney would be president-elect today.

The 2016 election was a fluke, the result of a desire on the part of the leaders of both parties to refight the election of 1992, when Bill Clinton surprised George H. W. Bush and H Ross Perot got 19 percent of the popular vote (but no votes in the Electoral College). 

 The shock to blue-collar workers then was trade with Mexico and Japan; in the last 10 years, it was China. Bush faded early. Clinton carried 24 years’ worth of baggage.  So splintered was the Republican Party that 17 candidates declared. This time the outsider slipped in – a 70-year-old billionaire willing and able to flout every convention.

Staffing up is now drawing most of the attention, but getting to know Trump’s closest advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen Bannon is even more fundamental. More than a year ago, Bannon was the subject of a prescient article by Joshua Green in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. It revealed, among other things, that Bannon was the force behind Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Clinton Rich (HarperCollins, 2015).

That plainly partisan account, by Peter Schweizer, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, nevertheless succeeded in calling widespread attention to the novel institution that was the Clinton Foundation. Aroused by the book, rogue FBI agents, past and present, forced Director James Comey to issue his controversial letters to congressional committee chairmen shortly before the election. (His dilemma was widely misunderstood.)

Similarly, it is pretty widely recognized by now that it was Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close counselor, who ran off from the transition team New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. There was Bridgegate, of course. Less noticed was the fact that as U.S. attorney for New Jersey 10 years before, eager to rise in Republican ranks, Christie prosecuted Kushner’s father, a real estate developer and prominent Democrat, for income-tax evasion.  

Kushner remained fiercely loyal to his father throughout, flying down Sundays to Alabama for more than a year to visit his father in federal prison. Still less well known is the nature of the prosecution.  Here’s the way that Gary Silverman described it in the Financial Times:

“Not only had the elder Kushner admitted to filing false tax reports, he also acknowledged hiring a prostitute to seduce his sister’s husband so the encounter could be filmed by private detectives in his employ. The tape was then sent to his brother-in-law and sister’s home in an ill-fated attempt to stop them from helping prosecutors.’’

So much for meeting the top guys inside the Trump White House.  Over the next few weeks, there will be a steady stream of news about nominations and appointments.  After Jan.  20, the next four years will be a constant tussle between Trump and the “elite’’ he despises — the press and, of course, mainstream economists of both parties in particular. Martin Feldstein and Lawrence Summers have already weighed in. Expect appointments to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors to give him the most trouble.   After that come, in no particular order, foreign relations, national defense, domestic policing, health care, Social Security, tax reform, global warming and trade.

Only slightly less interesting is the contest for leadership of the Democratic Party. Tim Ryan, 43, of Ohio, announced he would challenge Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, 76, of California, for the top Democratic leadership spot in the House. The eight-term congressman was at first judged to be a longshot – Pelosi has led Congressional Democrats for nearly fourteen years, longer than former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. 

 But Ryan has succeeded in delaying a vote.  In fact the choice would seem to be a no-brainer. The Democrats have lost 60 seats from the majority they held in 2009.  As WBUR broadcaster Jack Beatty observed, the average home price in Ryan’s heavily Democratic district, which includes Akron and Youngstown, is around $50,000; in the San Francisco district that Pelosi represents, it’s $1.1 million. Pelosi’s net worth is more than $100 million; Ryan’s is around $200,000   A vote is scheduled for Nov. 30.

Donald J. Trump is certainly smart enough to be president, but in one respect he is especially ill-equipped for the job’s most important requirement – that of narrator-in-chief.  It always seemed likely to me that had Hillary Clinton been elected, she would serve only one term.  My guess is the same of Trump. Should he choose not to run, the GOP has Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Ben Sasse, Tom Cotton, and, yes, Ted Cruz.  Competitive Democratic candidates have yet to emerge. Sooner or later, calm opposition to the accidental president can be expected to put the Democrats back in the White House. The redistricting game takes longer.

David Warsh,  a veteran financial journalist and economic historian, is proprietor of Somerville, Mass.-based economic principals.com, where this first ran.

Not the Trump inaugural

"Party Lines'' (oil on canvas), by Robert Freeman, in the show "Robert Freeman: New Works,'' at Adelson Galleries, Boston, through Dec. 18.

The gallery says he's "revisiting themes of race and culture in ... eight oil paintings of African Americans at formal social events, including two large triptychs. While his exhibition statement notes that much has changed over the past half-century — including the election of the nation’s first African American president — questions of identity and inclusion remain.” One thinks of the black upper middle class that made Oak Bluffs, on Martha's Vineyard, an early resort for African Americans.

Llewellyn King: The flood of fake news on the Web gives hate a powerful delivery system

There is an ill wind blowing across America. Sometimes it is a foul gale, other times just a smelly zephyr. But it is as evil as it is nauseating, as noisome as it is cruel. It blights good fellowship, throttles reasonable discourse, and brings threatening clouds for the future.

Lies, insinuations, fabrications and distortions are not new to politics, but now they have an awesome delivery system: fake news on the World Wide Web..

Fake news likely inspired a man to storm into the public library in Barrington, R.I., on Nov. 10, and verbally attack a young patron. Wearing a Trump hat and T-shirt emblazoned with “Racist Cracker 88,” he approached her, chanting, “Obama is out! We control this place now!” The librarians called the police, and the man was escorted out.” To this buffoon, literacy was akin to elitism, liberalism and moral decay.

A fringe of the already fringy alt-right believes that the election victory of Donald Trump established a new order of self-righteous bigotry, as though decency has been repealed, kindness put on hold and common sense sent to the jailhouse.

A quiet block of small businesses on Connecticut Avenue in the Chevy Chase section of Washington, D.C. has become a focal point for the venomous malice of fake news on the Internet.

On one side of the road is a Washington institution: the book store Politics & Prose, a favorite place for authors to talk about their books on C-SPAN. Across the street are two neighborhood restaurants: a large family pizza place, Comet Ping Pong, and a small French bistro and craft shop, Terasol.

All three establishments have been the victims of fake news, which alleges that they are dealing in pedophilia, asserting that Hillary Clinton, her presidential- campaign manager, John Podesta, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who have been customers, are kidnapping children and holding them in tunnels under the pizza place.

Sabrina Ousmal, who with her husband Alan Moin, own Terasol, has also been under attack. Here, I feel a personal involvement. Ousmal worked for me for more than a decade, and she and Alan are personal friends of me and my wife, Linda Gasparello.

Alan works full-time at Terasol, while Sabrina is the assistant publisher of The Energy Daily, which I founded in 1973 and sold in 2006.

She has been besieged with hundreds of e-mails, spreading a vile story of child molestation and kidnapping and even suggesting that The Energy Daily is an alternative energy publication. Not true. It covers the electric utility industry and the government nuclear complex with dogged determination.

Politics & Prose is under attack, presumably, because the owners, Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine, had worked as Washington Post reporters, and Muscatine was a speechwriter for First Lady Hillary Clinton.

The police and the FBI are on the case. But this is a new perversion of truth and the perpetrators enjoy the courage that comes from anonymity: the courage of the ultimate bully.

The implications here go far beyond one block of small businesses in Washington.

The problem as I see it is that people love to hate and once that infection has taken hold, it is resistant to cure. I have seen people warming themselves at the fires of hate around the globe; in South Africa, where the Afrikaners and the English traded in hate, as did the Xhosa and the Zulu; in Zimbabwe, where the hate was stirred by its evil president, Robert Mugabe, between his Shona people and the Ndebele.

It has been stirred up, largely by a section of the press in Britain toward the continent, particularly the French. This, in the name of sovereignty, has led to the slow, almost ritual economic suicide now playing out in London.

Hate is at work daily in the Middle East, where it is the one thing people cling to: the paradoxical love of hating. Now there is a hate front here. 

Llewellyn King (llewellynking1), a veteran publisher, columnist and international business consultant, is executive producer and host of White House Chronicle, on PBS, and a longtime friend of New England Diary. This first ran in Inside Sources.

Don Pesci: Of 'sanctuary cities' and the Fugitive Slave Act

Sanctuary, when practiced by governors rather than churches, is nullification, a common practice infamously deployed by the Southern states during and after the Civil War.

Henry David Thoreau, author of “Slavery in Massachusetts,’’ was what might be called a-party-of-one nullifier. Thoreau famously refused to pay a tax that might have been traced, even indirectly, to the purchase of a bullet used by slave owners to recover the “property” they had lost after the infamous Fugitive Slave Act had been passed. That law lit the bonfire of resistance among abolitionists in Massachusetts. Thoreau no doubt would have encouraged those in his audience who heard his address – for reasons unknown, seldom circulated in schools – to do the same, but the monk of Walden Pond knew the limits of audacity. Refusing to pay a tax, he went to jail himself, as ever a party of one.

The Fugitive Slave Act was for Thoreau an offense to the moral sense, and he was particularly incensed with the churchmen and journalists of his day who did not condemn a law that forced honest citizens to return self-liberated slaves to their owners. His fiery comments on the media of his day were far more severe than those of a petulant Donald Trump.

The reader is invited to speak the words aloud as they were delivered; he will then hear the notes Christian morality adds to defiance:

“Your tax is commonly one cent daily, and it costs nothing for pew hire. But how many of these preachers preach the truth? I repeat the testimony of many an intelligent foreigner, as well as my own convictions, when I say, that probably no country was ever ruled by so mean a class of tyrants as, with a few noble exceptions, are the editors of the periodical press in this country. And as they live and rule only by their servility, and appealing to the worse, and not the better, nature of man, the people who read them are in the condition of the dog that returns to his vomit.

“The Liberator and the Commonwealth were the only papers in Boston, as far as I know, which made themselves heard in condemnation of the cowardice and meanness of the authorities of that city, as exhibited in '51. The other journals, almost without exception, by their manner of referring to and speaking of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the carrying back of the slave Sims, insulted the common sense of the country, at least.”

What should we do when we meet a law so morally offensive it begs to be defied? The brief answer is -- disobey the law and go to jail.

However, once defiance of the law is taken up by governors, the moral calculus on sanctuary cities changes. One cannot listen long to Governors Mario Cuomo (of New York) and Dannel Malloy (of Connecticut) without realizing that – possibly for political reasons – they seem incapable of making work-a-day distinctions between legal and illegal immigration. Mr. Cuomo speaks as if Jean Jacques – an illegal alien sentenced to 17 years in a Connecticut prison for attempted murder -- were his grandfather, an Italian immigrant who likely was legally processed at Ellis Island in New York.

On release from prison, Mr. Jacques, a convicted criminal illegal alien, was supposed to have been deported to Haiti by The U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). That never happened. Released from prison, Mr. Jacques murdered Casey Chadwick in Norwich, Conn., stabbing her 17 times and disposing of her brutalized body in a closet. Mr. Jacques was an illegal alien and a criminal, and he had precisely nothing in common with Mr. Cuomo’s grandfather, a legally processed immigrant.

ICE is authorized to enforce immigration law – but not in Connecticut’s sanctuary cities, whose chief executive officers defy federal law and ICE’s Congress approved mandate. When this defiance of law is sanctioned by governors, the umbrella of sanctuary is raised over the whole state. Would Mr. Malloy, a supporter of sanctuary cities in his state, cooperate aggressively with a federal action to prosecute mayors in his state who defy federal law?

Legal immigrants are not illegal immigrants, and illegal immigrants who have additionally committed illegal acts while in the United States illegally fall into a separate category that should not be welcomed in sanctuary states like Connecticut. These distinctions should not be lost on mayors and governors who have determined – for political rather than moral reasons – to engage in precisely the kind of nullification practiced by Jim Crow Democrats in the post-Civil War South for political rather than moral reasons. There is no direct moral umbilical cord connecting ICE’s failure to deport Mr. Jacques and Mr. Cuomo’s grandfather or Mr. Malloy’s defense of governmental sanctuary for illegal-alien criminals.

Don Pesci (donpesci@att.net) is an essayist, mostly on political and cultural matters, who lives in Vernon, Conn.

Todd McLeish: Feral cats are ravaging the wildlife around us

A feral cat with prey.

Via ecoRI News

A new book examining the complicated issue of cats and wildlife has re-opened a difficult discussion that has long pitted animal welfare organizations against biologists, birdwatchers and the environmental community. And the position taken by authors Peter Marra and Chris Santella is doing little to make that discussion any easier.

You can tell by its title, Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer, that the authors don’t pull any punches. Marra, who directs the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and Santella, a journalist, argue that drastic action is necessary to curb the massacre of birds and small mammals caused by feral cats and house cats that are allowed to go outside.

After reviewing thousands of reports, pet-owner surveys, cat regurgitation studies, academic research and other data, they calculated what they say is a conservative estimate: Cats kill up to 22 billion small mammals, 4 billion birds, 822 million reptiles and 299 million amphibians in the United States annually.

“More birds and mammals die at the mouths of cats than from wind turbines, automobile strikes, pesticides and poisons, collisions with skyscrapers and windows, and other so-called direct anthropogenic causes combined,” they write.

What’s more, the authors say that feral cats are also a hazard to human health. Feral cat colonies where humans provide food to the felines attract raccoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes, easing the spread of rabies. Cats also carry a variety of diseases that can be transmitted to humans, from a bacterium that causes a life-threatening infection in cat scratches and bites to a parasite that can cause birth defects when pregnant women are exposed to cat feces.

The authors call feral cats an invasive species and say the only answer to solving the problem is what is euphemistically called “trap and remove,” which means capturing the animals and euthanizing them.

“No one likes the idea of killing cats,” they write. “But sometimes, it is necessary.”

It’s unclear how many feral cats live in  little Rhode Island, but all the interested parties agree it’s too many. Estimates range as high as 250,000, though state veterinarian Scott Marshall said it’s probably closer to “tens of thousands.”

He established a Feral Cat Working Group in 2010 after receiving innumerable complaints about the animals. The group, which includes members from animal welfare groups, academia, environmental organizations and public-health agencies, hired a student from the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine to census known feral cat colonies in the state. She found 302 colonies, mostly in urban areas, with a total of about 4,000 cats.

It’s believed there are many more colonies than those she surveyed, plus thousands of uncounted cats that aren’t part of established colonies and an estimated 60,000 house cats whose owners let them go outside.

“Cats are a serious problem for wildlife,” Marshall said. “Their hunting instinct isn’t diminished by feeding them. A pet cat that is fed at home still brings birds and rodents home. We can’t deny that they’re having an impact on wild birds, rodents and to a lesser extent reptiles. They kill whatever they can get.”

According to Marshall, feral cats live very short lives. Their life expectancy is less than two years. Half don’t make it out of kittenhood; 75 percent don’t survive one year, and 85 percent die before their second birthday.

“People don’t realize that when animals are dying young in large numbers, they have a miserable life and a miserable death,” he said. “They’re struck by cars, exposed to parasitism, die of exposure, get ripped to shreds by predators. They don’t live good lives.”

He agrees with the authors of Cat Wars that, unfortunately, the best solution is euthanasia.

“Given the tools we have, that’s the only way to solve it,” Marshall said. “If a male contraceptive were available, that could be effective, but right now nothing else works.”

Most of the animal-welfare groups in Rhode Island disagree. Vehemently. They argue instead for a method called “trap, neuter and return,” or TNR, in which feral cats are captured at colonies, brought to clinics to be spayed or neutered, and returned to their colony. Advocates say it’s the most humane alternative to euthanizing the animals, and because the cats can no longer reproduce, the colonies will eventually disappear.

Gil Fletcher, a member of the Feral Cat Working Group who runs a cat-rescue organization called PawsWatch, acknowledges that not all of the animal-welfare groups agree with the “return” component of TNR, and because there are numerous small grassroots groups advocating for feral cats, there is considerable tension among them. But, he wrote in a recent e-mail, “it goes without saying that any form of large-scale lethal approach to reducing the free-roaming cat population (trap and euthanize, hunting, targeted poisoning, etc.) is an anathema to this group.”

Fletcher is pushing for municipal governments to adopt the TNR approach, because the feral-cat problem is one he equates with other community concerns addressed with taxpayer funds, like anti-littering campaigns and roadside beautification efforts.

While he barely mentions the impact of cats on wildlife — other than to disagree with the cat predation numbers Marra and Santella claim — he said “the cat people” and “the wildlife people,” as he calls them, all seek to remove free-roaming cats from the outdoor environment. Their “interest, motivation and their presently favored means are poles apart, but the end goal is the same,” he said. “By all logic, they should be natural allies.”

Part of the reason they aren’t, according to Marshall and the scientific community, is that there is no evidence that TNR works. In practice, feral cat colonies managed with TNR don’t get smaller and disappear. Instead, the populations remain mostly the same and the animals continue to kill wildlife. To be successful, at least 80 percent of the cats in a colony must be spayed or neutered, and the colonies must be constantly monitored as new animals arrive.

“TNR seems to be the panacea that animal-welfare groups endorse, but there’s virtually no evidence that it’s effective,” Marshall said. “Everybody wants it to be effective, but it’s very labor intensive, expensive, and ultimately it’s ineffective. Unless people can shut down new inputs into the colonies, it’s doomed to fail.”

The one thing that Marshall and Fletcher agree on is that it will be nearly impossible to address the issue of feral cats in Rhode Island without public support for whatever strategy is chosen. And they both say the public won’t support a widespread euthanasia effort.

“The science would say that cats should be removed from the environment, but emotions run very high and there is no public support for removal,” Marshall said. “I personally don’t like the idea of tolerating their existence, because in my opinion the lives and deaths they experience are far less humane than trapping and removing them.”

The authors of Cat Wars, however, are less concerned with the sad lives of feral cats and more concerned for the welfare of wildlife and the environment. They say that of all the threats to birds that are directly or indirectly caused by humans, cats are the easiest problem to fix, especially when compared to complex issues such as climate change.

“To me, this should be the low-hanging fruit,” Marra is quoted in Smithsonian Magazine. “But as it turns out, it might be easier stopping climate change than stopping cats.”

Rhode Island resident and author Todd McLeish runs a wildlife blog.

Looks like the quintessence of late November

"Morning Fog, Land's End'' (on the coast of Hingham, Mass.) by Russell duPont. Copyright Russ duPont Photographs.

I have long felt that Russell duPont is one of the greatest photographers in the history of New England -- Robert Whitcomb

James T. Brett: Holistic approach needed to address New England's growing energy crisis

At a recent energy forum hosted by The New England Council, Gordon van Welie, CEO of ISO New England — our region’s power grid operator — described New England’s electric reliability this coming winter as “precarious.”

And, van Welie warned, with more power plants closing down and the strain on available natural gas supplies for heating and electric generation unrelenting, by 2019 keeping the lights on in extreme cold weather threatens to become “unsustainable.”

The situation is all the more challenging when you consider that our region has no native sources of gas, oil, or coal, and little opportunity for adding large-scale local hydroelectric power. New England pays markedly more for energy relative to the rest of the country because we are “at the end of the pipeline” for energy supply. This affects the region’s economic competitiveness both for businesses choosing to locate or expand here and for their employees and the energy bills they pay. For many businesses, high energy costs are the number-one challenge to succeeding, growing, and adding jobs in New England.

In the coming months and years, policymakers face challenging, interrelated, and far-reaching decisions about how the region meets its future power needs and environmental policy mandates, from what energy sources, and at what cost for businesses and consumers across the region.

The New England Council recently published a report, “The New England Energy Landscape: History, Challenges, and Outlook,” that aims to offer an impartial, unbiased explanation of the fundamental issues facing policymakers in the New England energy debate.

On questions about natural gas supplies, imported hydro, renewables, nuclear power, and more, the council doesn’t take sides. But we want to stress three key points from the report to policymakers:

All these energy decisions are tightly interrelated, far more so than many may realize. Promoting more energy from one source for cost or environmental reasons will affect the economics and viability of every other kind of energy. That in turn will affect how we meet 2020 and 2050 emissions mandates — and at what cost.

Given that our six states share a single power grid, policy goals in any one New England state will undoubtedly affect its neighbors. Massachusetts’s and Rhode Island’s desire for more wind energy may require new transmission lines in Vermont and Maine; Maine’s and New Hampshire’s desire for greater gas supplies may require expanded gas pipelines in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Rather than approaching questions about renewables, gas, nuclear or imported hydro as one-off choices that end at state borders, we encourage our region’s leaders and energy stakeholders to take a more comprehensive, holistic approach to tackling our energy challenges.

The New England Council looks forward to continuing to be an advocate for reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound energy for our region, and serving as a leader, convener, and supporter of regional discussions and negotiations — and national legislation and policies — that will bring about the best energy future possible for all New Englanders.

James T. Brett is the president and CEO of The New England Council, a nonpartisan alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth.

Charles Pinning: Recalling my disastrous Thanksgiving trip to lovely Little Compton

Friends (Quaker) Meeting House in Little Compton.

Speeding by the pastures and farms that lead out to Sakonnet Point and the ocean there was, for me, no prettier drive anywhere than through Little Compton, R.I.

I’d left Baltimore early in the morning in my old Jaguar sedan, which was performing admirably (knock on the walnut dash), and now under a darkening royal blue sky I no longer chewed upon the guilt of not spending Thanksgiving with my family back in Virginia, but pressed on with a mindless glee toward the expansive compound of my girlfriend’s family.

There was Bonnie, willowy in her bell bottoms and there was her scrawny sister, Suki, and her preppy brother, Rex, and their handsome mother and father

I put the special chipotle cranberry sauce I’d made before leaving Baltimore into the fridge and Bonnie and I took a walk to the beach with her sister.

Leaving the house, her brother said, “What kind of car is that anyway?

“It’s a Jaguar,” I said. “Mark Nine.” I’d bought it used for $600 when I was in high school, but  there was no need to divulge that.

I’d brought a borrowed Canon camera and asked Suki to take few pictures of Bonnie and me.

“This is a pretty fancy camera,” commented Suki.

Her parents seemed to have forgotten that although I attended college at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, I was not studying to be a doctor despite the international fame of Hopkins’s medical school. Rather, my interests were writing and acting. I reminded them I’d spent the summer doing summer stock just down the road at the Carriage House Theatre.

“Right-o” said Mr. Fort.

I’d met Bonnie in June at Wilbur’s General Store. She was buying chicken salad.

“Is it good?” I asked her.

“It’s the best,” she said.

Then I saw her at the beach. Heart Attack!

Bonnie went to Brown University, in Providence, and we bounced back and forth a few times after school started.

I spoke of George McGovern, whom I’d just voted for in my first eligibility, against Nixon, and how the Vietnam War had to end. “So much stupid, needless death!”

After dinner, I read a little story I’d written about meeting Bonnie at Wilbur’s then at the beach. Mrs. Fort complained about the annoying sticky door at the foot of the backstairs leading up to the bedrooms and the popping sound that it made.

First thing in the morning, I grabbed a tube of Door-Ease out of my toolbox and took care of the sticky door and its popping sound.

At lunch I passed around my cranberry sauce. Suki said, “What’s this?”

“Cranberry sauce,” I said. “It has a little kick. You’ll like it.”

The family talked about their upcoming Christmas trip to Bermuda.

I excused myself and went up the backstairs to my room to get a ceramic bulldog I wanted to give to her mother and father. The family had strong Yale ties and the university’s mascot is a bulldog. When I came back down through the door that no longer made a popping sound Mrs. Fort was talking.

“I just don’t like him, Bonnie. That car he drives is so ostentatious and—”

“Making us listen to that story,” said Suki.

“He always needs to be the center of attention,” said Rex.

“He’s arrogant,” said Mrs. Fort. “He thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. And why isn’t he having Thanksgiving with his own family? Doesn’t he have a family? Who are they, anyway?”

I waited for Bonnie to say something in my defense. Nothing came. I drew a deep breath and walked into the dining room.

“I’m going to be leaving now,” I said, and I handed the little bulldog to Mr. Fort. “This is for you. Thank you for not speaking ill of me.”

He looked down at the table, nodding his head. He died on Christmas in the next year. Mrs. Fort lived on another 30 years. Rex fatally contacted a tree skiing at Gstaad, and Suki married a wealthy Mexican avocado grower.

Bonnie….Bonnie and I still enjoy swimming in Little Compton whenever possible. It’s taken us awhile to understand each other, but we’ve persisted and have largely found it a worthy effort. Regular pilgrims we are, I suppose.

Charles Pinning is a Providence-based novelist and essayist.