Tradition Versus Change

Maddie's Sail Loft, a Marblehead, Massachusetts institution, sounds like the sort of place where I would like to hoist a few. Alas, Maddie's is no more, and the reasons why come down to divides that probably reflect those taking place in lots of places in the United States where new wealth is supplanting working-class locals: newcomers versus locals, outsiders versus townies, working class versus the affluent, old economy versus new, tradition versus change.

Deval Patrick's Inauguration

Deval Patrick's inauguration as Massachusetts' first black governor marked a historic moment in not only Massachusetts, but national politics yesterday. What is especially important is the way in which Patrick's success seems to have mobilized an oftentimes invisible black political class in the state and indeed across New England. Perhaps the most powerful symbolic moment in Patrick's swearing-in was the fact that he placed his hand on a Bible that once belonged to slaves.