Category Archives: Uncategorized

I was fascinated by a birder’s observation that sparrows sing louder on the Rose Kennedy Greenway than in places in the countryside because they need to sing over the ambient noise in the big city. Years earlier, I had heard … Continue reading →

Spring reflections from the Rose Kennedy Greenway and a brief swing South … Took a nice trip in May to North Carolina to visit old friends, who are among the many retirees from New England who’ve settled down there. The … Continue reading →

Pick at this … Tunapoo or Duck? Yankee or help? I don’t know if it’s the book Joanne got me about forever chemicals poisoning water supplies or the second straight Indian dinner, but last night, I dreamed I was pregnant. … Continue reading →

Couldn’t get the doggie into the selfie frameAlong with the indoor statuaryIn the great room of my recurring dreamBut there was a delivery of tons of fish and shellfishI said it came from the BeveridgesThe US “progressives”Not the beverage of … Continue reading →

Can’t picture Billy in the fashionable pink slacks, but I’m sure the balding figure he has his arm around is me. And that’s Nastya watering the wildflower garden-to-be.

The season for gathering bloom data on the Rose Kennedy Greenway is over for 2025. But I was pleased to visit other phenology volunteers today at the Greenway offices to debrief about the data-gathering process for 2025 and possible improvements … Continue reading →

A sequestered wisdom tooth that should have gone years agoBut Foxx’s whirlpool’s got such seductive furnitureIt’s so pleasant retrieving root fragments or jawbone

“I don’t disagree.” “The answer is I don’t know.”

I have a vivid memory of this event as a UFO-curious youngster. Reignited by a recent trip to Wakefield, NH, of all places. As the The New York Times reported at the time, “Up at the farm, a group of … Continue reading →

I was pleased to publish this piece authored by Patricia Steiner in The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) in August 2014 … Business advisor and Northeastern University professor Patricia Steiner explores theories of self-awareness and self-deception as applied … Continue reading →

The 2025 celebration of Ukraine’s independence at Boston’s Government Center featured a flag raising and short talks by immigration advocates. When the speeches ended, a US Marine Corps band began playing contemporary hits on the adjacent section of the plaza. … Continue reading →

Not so-fellow-travelers thought Joe Walsh would’ve made greater music if he lived a cleaner life.“Not the fucking Eagles,” I said several times (and mentioned Keith Richards). I related a childhood memory of an object melting pond ice in the very … Continue reading →

My brother Mike and his wife Jane bought this antique colonial house in Rowley, Mass., in 1978. Mike and Jane, both public school teachers, worked hard to rebuild and restore the colonial home faithful to its early 1700s origins. Mike … Continue reading →

I was pleased to publish this piece by Diya Kallivayalil in The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) in March 2021 … NEJHE has spilled much ink (pixels?) on stories related to trauma, the coronavirus pandemic and immigration, treated as mostly distinct issues. In … Continue reading →

I was pleased to publish this piece by George McCully in The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) in April 2021 … “There has been a growing consensus among authorities, especially in the Trump era, that the U.S. is … Continue reading →

My sister Jean passed away last November. Recently, Jean’s (and my) great niece Sasha Malley, while studying in the Scripps College Premedical Postbaccalaureate program in California, arranged for this memorial bench to honor Jean. The bench sits on a newly … Continue reading →

Lost my shirtWalking to the high schoolon OdellWhich at first seemed emptyLike it was not a school dayStopped for breakfastSmoked a joint, unlike meOdell turned into a grand old downtown Boston shopping street near the State HouseSaw a fancy store … Continue reading →

The day after Saint Patrick’s Day, I made my first visit of 2025 to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, where I’ve been a volunteer phenologist for three years. I did my customary check of the Greenway bubblers. No water turned on … Continue reading →

Note the pilcrowDon’t just change … change up You can smell the petrichorThat good old geosmin, sweetening near the shoreThough you’re a freeborn man of the USA, they attack you as some kind of queerBe biting your tongue for four … Continue reading →

Some of my proudest moments as editor of The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) came when I was able to use my brother Tim’s paintings to illustrate articles. See some of the NEJHE articles with Tim’s artwork here. … Continue reading →

Sad to say goodbye to sister Jean in November. Jean left this earth on November 10 at age 82 due to complications from Covid. Besides being a great sister, Jean was cherished as a loving—and fun-loving—aunt to 10 nephews and … Continue reading →

Even with my earbuds inLittle Johnny JewelHas the local dogs barkingLike being young, in love with BackstreetsBefore time crawled in three-hour increments Break the grid with meSo inaction’s not complicitySome gout, some doubtWhen I’m out and aboutLooking for a G-spout … Continue reading →

Your disease’s range expands by tropicalizationYour product’s integrity dips through financializationYour complexity is compromised by disinformationYour writer’s block hardens circumelectionWaiting for the gift of sound and vision

Brother Bill got me a viking shipAs a childWhile he read me BeowulfAnd practiced some Greek Son Bill proclaimed a goal to “topple orthodontics”But I wonder if he should have started with dentistryWith its business model to hurt you enough … Continue reading →

I hear the local gun rangeCheek to jowl with the rink where the hockey dad murdered a refereeWith his bare handsNow they are beginning to assert their right to start a militiaIf things don’t go their wayIf there’s no crosschecking … Continue reading →

Observing blooms on the Rose Kennedy Greenway from mid-August to Labor Day weekend had me paraphrasing Frederick Douglass: What to a volunteer is Labor Day? Actually, the change of seasons evident on the Greenway during the period had me feeling … Continue reading →

I’ve been captivated by a book on herbs that combines the text of 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper with usage information updated in the 1980s in part to help avert poisonings that were surely a byproduct of the original. Besides … Continue reading →

A few sweltering Wednesdays ago, I spent my 12th day of this 2024 season observing blooms on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The temperature topped 90 degrees for the third day in a row and the eighth day of the previous … Continue reading →

Going out for dinner in Revere recently conjured up many unrelated memories. A collage really. The restaurant was along what I always called the airport road, which was near the marsh road and broken up by various dangerous traffic circles. … Continue reading →

A few thoughts …

I had to go in my friend the congressman’s house for something. Exhausted, I flopped into an old bed in one of the rooms. Someone else got into bed beside me without saying a word. I snuck out of the … Continue reading →

Hoping for a party at the corner of Vine and HighI was guzzling Phisohex since the Zarex tap ran dry This year’s extravagant calendar arrived, addressed to a journal editor who chased a trainAs future Harvard lawyers were forced indoors … Continue reading →

I began volunteering as a phenologist on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in spring 2023 and returned a few weeks ago for the 2024 season. Peppermint-striped tulips are flowering along Pearl Street. Grape hyacinths create purple blankets; anemones whitish carpets. Hellebores … Continue reading →

Is it wrong to find the “strong woman” concept as annoying as the “strong man” concept?For some I’ve met.It’s not them, it’s me.Isabel writes: “illness was her way of avoiding boring household duties, her marriage, herself. Sadness and boredom were … Continue reading →

I prepared for a recent trip to South America by reading short stories by Jorge Luis Borges. I think a combination of those surreal stories and a recommended typhoid shot gave me crazy dreams before departure. To make a long … Continue reading →

Patrick O’Donnell eased his heavy frame into the Ritz bar. He was there to meet his fellow old-timers Jacques Pierre and S.P. Youlcie. At the bar, O’Donnell orders a peaty whisky. Pierre has a glass of wine. But O’Donnell was … Continue reading →

Click here to view printed issues of NEJHE and its predecessor Connection. The New England Board of Higher Education began publishing a quarterly journal, titled Connection: New England’s Journal of Higher Education and Economic Development, in magazine format in 1986. … Continue reading →

I was fixated by a[n] opossumIn my dark yardTelltale rat tailPointy nose close to the groundAs it sniffed in close circlesFar from playing dead.

My oldest brother Bob, historian, social observer and role model, died nearly 35 years ago after an unsuccessful heart transplant. One doctor quipped that there was not a heart big enough to replace Bob’s. Memories of my childhood feature Bob’s … Continue reading →

2024 and again, the media and otherwise sane people are giving attention to the insane Trump.

Stuck on steampunk images … two-minute mysteries and whatnot. Nagged by a paramecium-shaped floater. After making cappuccinos in a hotel machine, I dreamed a friend made up like Einstein was demonstrating how to froth milk. At one point even adopting … Continue reading →

Did you ever try to assassinate Georgie Passinate You end up in a big fat crate And that ain’t all. Co-authored by Steve Toronto Harney during the George Ausosable sessions.

Nice, France, had two associations for me (besides Niçoise salad). One is a robbery in which burglers hid out in the sewers and, as I understood it, feasted on French sandwiches before sneaking through a wall and grabbing the booty. … Continue reading →

The sound of crickets brings back good memories of late summers and uncertain memories of falls. And a phrase like “paw break” I associate with Spenser’s queen throwing up frogs and toads. Long way from up on the double divide, … Continue reading →

In 2021, dozens of female students at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County, Fla., had their yearbook photos edited to have their cleavage removed, leading to a public outcry and lots of media coverage. “Reporter Ben Ryan of … Continue reading →

Fairytale Of New York. A family favorite of ours … and not just at Christmas. Fall In Love With Me. Iggy Pop or Japan by the same name found a place my desperate heart at times. Fantastic Voyage. Not Raquel … Continue reading →

Inspired by the story of George Orwell caring for his roses while writing masterpiece essays, I looked forward to a retirement spent partly watching over the plants on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. Sure, I got a bit stressed over whether … Continue reading →

I’m hoping the green water in this Reading Town Forest pond has a natural cause (though it brings back a childhood memory of the Nashua River near Fitchburg, painted green by the junk of paper mills, plastics companies and other … Continue reading →

I have long planned a book on my music playlist. And I’ve posted a few passages in advance in case I don’t live to see the book. Similarly, my nephew Stefano and I have joked about publishing a coffee table … Continue reading →

Or is this entire blog a so-called tabula rasa? Reminds me of rickety road and the cut-through to Carlman’s Pond where Knighty insisted the water under the frozen ice was made potable by the cold temps. Though it may have … Continue reading →

In October, I wrote to NEBHE colleagues to let them know I would be retiring from the organization and the editorship of The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) in early January 2023. While NEBHE has been my job, … Continue reading →

From 1990 to 2010, NEJHE Executive editor John O. Harney wrote quarterly columns on angles in higher education and New England for The New England Journal of Higher Education and its predecessor Connection: The Journal of the New England Board … Continue reading →

I recently took on the shitty “task” of updating our media list. More an observer and critic than a marketing analyst (and certainly not a newspaper entrepreneur), I quickly saw the job as a record of the sad shuttering of … Continue reading →

What does it mean that I dreamed about Weaf in a bear-fur coat and joked that he should wear a yellow hunter’s vest so he’s not shot and I suggested extra feta which made Sasha very upset and that a … Continue reading →

Could it be the approach of opening day that made me dream the New England Board of Higher Education assigned me to celebrate the Boston Red Sox franchise? And this while the board has explored a new reparative justice project. … Continue reading →

Even Mitt Romney’s seeming gaffe about Russia in 2012 seems timely. Even numb-nut Republican politicians are grandstanding by urging boycotts of Russian vodka. (And some Dems too; it’s life during wartime.) Even LinkedIn’ers are taking a break from their job-hunting … Continue reading →

The time signature change in the somewhat sappy “We Can Work It Out” reminds me of this one.

This dream seemed laden with symbolism. I mean heavy. To me anyway. I was on my favorite rocks near Lynch Park. Rocks from which I’d once suggested my family cast my ashes, with or without Coast Guard permission. There, a … Continue reading →

Better than “Chief Happiness Officer”

In their high school sports days, the kids used to call nearby Winchester Losechester. But the town, with its pretty river features, often drew us in for walks and a few restaurants. Most recently, I was captured by this mural … Continue reading →

Hieroglyphs and Rufus Porter. I was at a place I knew in the dream to be Kate’s house. An imaginary one I half-remember from somewhere. Old, very spacious, some parts not totally renovated. Looking in an upstairs room with fascinating … Continue reading →

Something dug up from a time when I had more soul … I heard your poetry almost rose from the dead and a rush of energy rose toward your head and deep regret filled what you said. I watched my … Continue reading →

An old piece from the New York Times called “This Life: The Stories That Bind Us” included a suggestion from a management type that “families create a mission statement similar to the ones companies and other organizations use to identify … Continue reading →

New England has been clearing out its homeless camps. Most recently, Worcester Police on Oct. 20 cleared an estimated 10 to 25 tents out of woods along the Blackstone River directly behind Walmart. The crews hired by the state and … Continue reading →

When Billy was searching for colleges, we thought of trying to get Irish citizenship in order to get free tuition at the University College of Dublin. Joanne had the Irish-born grandparents on one side that could save big money in … Continue reading →

Can any of this be considered good for the cause of education? From Whiteboard Notes … Microsoft Acquires Tutor Marketplace: Tech giant Microsoft announced that it has acquired the San Diego-based TakeLessons, the tutoring marketplace that allows students to connect … Continue reading →

Do I have to draw you a diagram? **** Just read an interesting tweet from Jason Stanley@jasonintrator who IDs himself as a philosophy professor at Kale University. I learned this week that an expression to avoid in describing the current … Continue reading →

That was a line I perverted from politicians who promised a chicken in every pot. But I delivered it with Mussolini-like theatrics from the rose garden at Lynch Park in Beverly. I’ve had a long connection with homarus americanus, writing … Continue reading →

I recently tuned into a webinar on “Intersectionality in Action: A Conversation with Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw.” My daughter-in-law, a non-native-English speaker, naturally wondered what “intersectionality” meant. As would most native English speakers. I made a traffic joke. That all I … Continue reading →

I used to talk a ballgame about quality of life then business models now sometimes intersectionality in case there’s any doubt let me assure you I don’t know shit

Reading a very serious paper noting “misapprehension called spacetime,” I was taken back to a timeless wish: “Press your space face close to mine, love.”

I saw this posted recently on Twitter … A friend of mine is creating an RPG and is seeking: * Black illustrators * Chinese illustrators (based in America or in China) * Indian illustrators (based in America or in India) … Continue reading →

Piling on can be odd even for a good cause … like all the well-meaning organizations being sure to post their abhorrence of the latest well-publicized hate crime … and well-meaning beneficiaries who “reply all” to share their thanks for … Continue reading →

What’s worse, joining the multitudes pursuing perverse incentives to earn a spot in college rankings by US News & World Report … or qualifying for a feature story about college amenities in Town & Country? A few years ago, as … Continue reading →

Got more evidence that pop culture is passing me by with this piece on “dark academia” in a recent edition of The Huntington News, the student newspaper at Northeastern University. Learned that “Dark academia began years ago on Tumblr as … Continue reading →

Recent walks rediscovering open space in my hometown show some progress (though a bit sanitized) since the days when “the only relatively green space in the area winds along utility rights of way.” These more recent walks have reminded me … Continue reading →

Worth remembering when people say that the attempted coup at the Capitol reminded them of a Banana Republic. We not only bought the bananas … but also propped up the republics.

On Dec. 31, 1999, the U.S. turned over the Panama Canal to Panama. Ten years earlier, the U.S. invaded Panama, and overthrew Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. (Noriega was commonly referred to with that compound modifier as if it were part … Continue reading →

Social media messing. It’s interesting that some people get hooked on how many likes their Facebook posts garner. I find the fewest likes are often the most meaningful. And generally, the incentive to gather a crowd strikes me as precisely … Continue reading →

The NEJHE beat is semi-locked down, but not out. A little of what we’ve been following … Counting heads. New enrollment figures show higher education reeling under the weight of COVID-19 and a faltering economy on top of preexisting challenges … Continue reading →

Interesting to see the rinky-dink town where my mother and I went to visit cousins Sara and Gerry caught up in the current racial reckoning … but it’s overdue everywhere. My memory of that Sanford visit at age 10 or … Continue reading →

From time to time, we revive the presentation of facts and figures called “Data Connection” that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). Among 112 … Continue reading →

A recent pitch I got might as well have been from Gaylord Perry. “Do you have time to spitball a few story ideas? I’m still able to facilitate a chat with our lead researcher analyst and/or a higher-education expert, if … Continue reading →

When I saw it was inspectors from the U.S. Postal Service that arrested blowhard Steve Bannon, I couldn’t help thinking of this ditty I wrote titled: In Response to the Man who Sends Insane Packages …  

Dreamed I was back in Santiago, trying to show colleagues La Moneda where Allende was killed and trying to get into a subway station that was built like Boston’s old Government Center station and appeared to have no ways in. … Continue reading →

I recently rode my bike 50 yards or so down a dead-ended “private road” in my hometown. On my turn around, I heard a man who had been mowing his lawn, yell, “Can I help you?” “I’m all set,” I … Continue reading →

I’m no arbiter of style, but I play one at work. I’ve been editing our customized supplement to the AP Stylebook for decades. Our guide has always begun with the notice: “The following are NEBHE/NEJHE-specific style guidelines, meant to supplement … Continue reading →

Many predicted that Donald trump’s instinct to lie would mean Americans wouldn’t believe him if there were a national emergency. There were many. He kept lying, including through coronavirus. **** Amazing how they even sound like assholes when they’re doing … Continue reading →

NEBHE was having its board meeting at Lynch Park. Part of the agenda was a tour of a new hotel being built there (a very typical NEBHE mtg agenda item.) I told my colleagues that my nephew, the “jazz musician” … Continue reading →

128 was one of the first concepts I knew And constant As a child, riding with my mother to my father’s work in Gloucester As a teenager, cowering as Gopher hit 100 mph and Harry flipped his bug As a … Continue reading →

Did I forget to mention, forget to mention EOD and COB?

Seven Aprils ago, we flew home from St. Petersburg, Russia, to a Boston locked-down after the Boston Marathon bombing. A different kind of lockdown than today’s inspired by coronavirus. It was a strange world event to view from Russia before … Continue reading →

A few items from the quarantine … Wisdom from Zoom. COVID-19 has been a boon for Zoom and Slack (for people panicked by too many and too-slow emails). Last week, I zoomed into the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) … Continue reading →

AdviniaCare at Wilmington, the nursing home I knew as Woodbriar, announced plans to care for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and in need of oxygen support. Couldn’t help thinking of it as my alma mater. I even remember the annoying voice … Continue reading →

In Ukraine, locals stoned buses carrying evacuees from Wuhan to a health spa in Novi Sanzhary. The violence was blamed partly on the fact that Ukrainians don’t trust the info they get from their government. Can you imagine such a … Continue reading →

“The Coronavirus Matters. The Stock Market Doesn’t,” noted the intercept.com. Trump and his disciples obviously disagree. **** In the age of coronavirus, some of the few recommendations come too naturally to me: drink lots of liquid and avoid crowds. Still, … Continue reading →

From time to time, we revive the presentation of facts and figures called “Data Connection” that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). Percentage of … Continue reading →

On the train Every head is bouncing Sideways Only a little bit But it seems like Concussion scientists should know.

ICE-y conditions. MIT recently alerted its staff that federal immigration officials would be checking the status of foreign postdoctoral students, researchers and visiting scholars in the sciences, and urged them to cooperate. … Meanwhile, an Iranian student, returning to study … Continue reading →

Casey Dylan Harney and I had a very close relationship. He was named by my brother Tim when adopted as a puppy near Amherst, Mass. I called him Casey-Basey-Facey, August-Doggest and many other names. Coaxed him with Liv-A-Snaps and Chew-eez. … Continue reading →

As a young editor, I was very pleased with myself to hook the high-profile Alan Dershowitz to write a piece for our relatively unknown journal. Joanne and I went to see the Harvard law professor talk up and sign his … Continue reading →

Son Billy and new daughter-in-law Nastya during August 2019 ceremony in Kharkiv …               Newlyweds with Harneys after Kharkiv ceremony …           And during December 2019 North American celebration in … Continue reading →

In 2010, I proudly bestowed on my beloved children my once-beloved collections: the cards, the stamps, the coins, the postcards … even the napkins. Yes, it was a heartfelt, but practical, Christmas gift on a year when I was behind … Continue reading →

These have been typically odd times for smaller-league pro sports in New England. … Railers: Team’s trek to St. John’s, Newfoundland, is no easy feat … Worcester Telegram, Jan. 2, 2020. The PawSox depart R.I. for Worcester, Mass., even though … Continue reading →

If putting out my old Gourmet magazines for trash pickup was traumatic, getting set to donate my music CDs was devastating.

Two instances shook my faith in becoming a so-called professional writer. One was when my oldest brother, a historian and writer himself, saw a piece I had written on the-then new AIDS epidemic and wondered how I could write so … Continue reading →

Donald Trump seems to be a teflon president. Less than half the nation’s popular support is enough to keep his travesties alive. But many think his teflon protection could not withstand recession. Our journal has been editing the proceedings of … Continue reading →

So sad to line up the old Gourmets for trash pickup as part of a general move to downsize my paper junk. I think my sister-in-law in Toronto bought us our first Gourmet subscription, shortly after the death of her … Continue reading →

“Rosneft’s global expansion served a double purpose: first, to augment declining production in domestic brownfields with international projects, and, second, to contribute to Russia’s real and perceived geopolitical posturing.” So wrote my son about Russia’s state-owned oil company in a … Continue reading →

I got a call out of the blue from a man who designed maps we used on the cover of our Fall 2006 edition of The New England Journal of Higher Education titled World Ready? A New View of the … Continue reading →

9:15 morning train from Woburn (that’s Anderson to you) on the B&M (that’s Commuter Rail to you) near a young boy, who asks his mother approximately every five seconds: “Is that the train museum? … Is that the train museum? … Continue reading →

Loco sueño. In one dream, I had a job interview in Madrid. To my surprise, they were looking for someone who spoke fluent Spanish. A woman who greeted me in the lobby tried to tell me how to say “Welcome” … Continue reading →

Red letter day In a way Lunch where they call saag palak A walk from Wakefield One stop down the track With two nice stops At Reading on the way back

A reporter called today about demography and the enrollment problem colleges are experiencing. All I could think of was the the crusty old demographers who said this part of the equation was simple because we know the story of birth … Continue reading →

Andrew Delbanco is a professor of American Studies at Columbia University, author of several books, including 2012’s College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, and president of the Teagle Foundation. His latest book, The War Before the War: Fugitive … Continue reading →

Our Twitter content allows us to bring readers a larger resource base—a larger canvas, in a sense—than NEJHE articles alone. We urge you to see us as parts of a whole. Every NEJHE item automatically posts to Twitter, but we … Continue reading →

From time to time, we revive the presentation of facts and figures called “Data Connection” that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). Change in … Continue reading →

From time to time, we revive the collection of facts and figures called “Data Connection” that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). The latest … Continue reading →

From time to time, we revive the collection of facts and figures called “Data Connection” that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). The latest … Continue reading →

From time to time, we revive the collection of facts and figures called “Data Connection” that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (formerly Connection). The latest … Continue reading →

(Cross-published on nebhe.org by John O. Harney.) With votes still being counted and recounted and candidates already pondering their next campaigns, the 2018 midterm elections have left an indelible mark on New England and its representation in Washington, D.C. New … Continue reading →

For several fearful years, I’ve received a Daily Digest from International SOS and Control Risks warning of dangers to world travelers. The threats range from ebola to anti-immigrant unrest to a “persistent threat of militancy.” The wording is usually negative: … Continue reading →

Tweets, despite their limited characters, can offer some pretty telling narratives. In May 2017, we ran a piece titled Real Tweets, Fake News … and More from the NEJHE Beat, and then followed up in November with Chance of Tweetstorms. … Continue reading →

When Teddy Green got a plate in his head And Donnie drank too much before the junior high dance and had his stomach pumped

This was the immigration center near North Station. Now peddling a different “American Dream.” Same neighborhood as Public-Private Sweat Houses …

Post-Labor Days. For many, that means time to put away the white pants and relish that last summer getaway. Few will reflect on the true meaning of Labor Day (and May Day) or the too-often-denigrated labor movement in general. Fewer will … Continue reading →

Why is that not in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles?

Employability … Ever since my organization latched onto that term, I’ve careened between the ideal of meaningful work for everyone (a sort of benevolent twist on the Soviet five-year plan), the grim sense that education is merely job training, and … Continue reading →

About 20 years ago, I wrote a series of columns for an online periodical called BusinessToday (spun off from the Boston Herald of all pubs) … A snowy day in April gave me an excuse to upload the pieces to … Continue reading →

Tweeting is getting a bad name under President Trump. But let me implore you to pay attention to NEBHE’s Twitter feed @nebhe. You won’t see any posts at 2:30 a.m. But it’s about the closest thing we have to a … Continue reading →

Sanctuary? How will higher education fare under a President Donald Trump? The campaign’s misogyny shouldn’t sit well with a student body that is now majority-female. Its disavowal of climate changes won’t impress research universities. And the xenophobia won’t help economies … Continue reading →

Every September, I get a new fix of inspiration at the Business Innovation Factory (BIF) summit of innovators. Last week, I was at BIF’s 12th summit, my sixth. My main inspiration this year came from Dave Gray. The founder of … Continue reading →

Fruits of our labor. With terms like task creeping back into the language (as both a verb and a noun), the true origins of Labor Day may be as remote to today’s students as Lupercalia. The day, of course, is … Continue reading →

  Pecking orders. Harvard and Cornell recently tied for the U.S. higher ed institutions that educate the most CEOs who run U.S. companies listed by Forbes in the top 100. We would often pore over such lists of where top … Continue reading →

More Underrepresented Groups. Even before Americans began retreating from educational equity amid the recent backlash against “political correctness,” our empathy was directed at a fairly traditional set of underrepresented populations: African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and students with disabilities (many … Continue reading →

Poaching. Florida Gov. Rick Scott invited Yale University to bring its $25 billion endowment to his state after Connecticut legislators proposed taxing Yale to address the state’s budget shortfall. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (who incidentally was just named winner … Continue reading →

Of all the fascinating sights on my recent trip to Holland and Belgium, this control tower in Rotterdam harbor stands out. Several of these towers control traffic in and out of the busiest harbor in Europe. Imagining a job in … Continue reading →

Spring Has Sprung? You’d never know by the snow on the ground in many parts of New England, but the announcements of spring commencement speakers at the region’s higher education institutions have begun. Capt. Richard Phillips will deliver the commencement … Continue reading →

I’ve been working overtime proofreading our annual directory of New England colleges and universities. It has one problem for which there’s no proofreader’s mark. Like so many things, it has become totally quantitative. If you’re smart and judgmental, perhaps you … Continue reading →

Woman next to me in scampo is yapping to friend about aging parents’ bad driving … oldest story in book … parents want to downsize … says “note to self” blah blah … Bet they don’t know Buzzy’s was nearby … Continue reading →

Last week, I was at Providence’s Trinity Rep covering BIF2015, the Business Innovation Factory’s summit of innovators. It was BIF’s 11th summit, my fifth as a guest. I was attending under a quasi-media category called RCUS, standing for the BIF … Continue reading →

Interesting how much this post from the YouTern blog sounds like a guide to conformity and exploitation … Employers Agree: These Are The 10 Most Popular Soft Skills [Infographic] Posted on May 27, 2015 by YouTern Maybe even more than … Continue reading →

The international desk I’ve commented on has suddenly become the national desk! United States: St Louis, environs: Avoid all protests as security precaution due to potential for unrest Travellers in and around the city of St Louis (Missouri state) should … Continue reading →

Monday, April 6 At 6:44 a.m., a suspicious red light was reported in an empty house. At 11:55 a.m., a caller reported that a FedEx truck had been parked for several hours near Imagination Station. At 1:54 p.m., a past … Continue reading →

Do more with less is a rarely questioned mantra in an age of austerity. But higher education consortia can turn that declaration on its head, allowing each partner higher education institution (HEI) to do more with more. Consortia can offer … Continue reading →

Via my Daily Digest from International SOS and Control Risks (see More Trouble in Burkina Faso) … From Cameroon … “Avoid all travel to Extreme North region, non-essential travel to border areas north of Garoua due to Islamist extremist incursions … Continue reading →

Do I have to become like the aging rockstars who wind up playing what they imagine to be their own hits to dwindling audiences? If so, I must suggest this Editor’s Memo headlined Thank You, Gadflies. We really were broaching … Continue reading →

A piece my brothers and I put together about our mother’s cooking long before such DIY cookbooks caught on …

We’ve been posting a lot lately on “middle skills.” Somehow reminiscent of Western Europeans tapping their center-of-the universe perspective to coin the term “Middle East.” Is a similar perspective at play to know when a skill is “middle,” rather than … Continue reading →

“The Great Recession and not-so-great recovery applies to all of us.” That was University of Southern Maine professor Charlie Colgan’s quip at last week’s New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) conference noting that Maine was just two-thirds of the way back … Continue reading →

More than 250 higher education leaders from campuses across the U.S. met last week in Boston for the 2014 Presidential Summit on Climate Leadership. The summit was organized by Second Nature, the supporting organization for the American College & University … Continue reading →

All the talk of Boston hosting the Olympics in 2024 brings me back to our Spring 1999 Connection exploring policy priorities. We had worked with UMass Boston to survey New England movers and shakers and households on their opinions about  … Continue reading →

Must make sense to have news coverage of massacres in Gaza and Ukraine follow the more important local stories of fires and car crashes. But I admit I got a tingle that the 16-year-old abductee from New Hampshire returned home … Continue reading →

Just read on @CareerBuilder … “The top 3 turnoffs for hiring managers: – Lack of eye contact – Disinterested appearance – Inappropriate attire.” Glad I didn’t want that job.

College admissions time is here, the traditional one anyway. That time of year when journalists used to use the cliché of a fat envelope (you were accepted and here’s some marketing crap) or a thin one (you were rejected, so … Continue reading →

It was comforting to see so much support among my colleagues for a recent vote by the New Hampshire House to allow in-state tuition rates at public colleges for students who are in the country “illegally.” In-state tuition at the … Continue reading →

Got chance to tour a Western Mass. “advanced manufacturing” facility with colleagues who are focused on science, tech, engineering and math (the “STEM-cell stuff,” as one Norm Crosby-esque boss of mine/former pol used to botch it). The tour gave me … Continue reading →

I was at Providence’s Trinity Rep last week covering the Business Innovation Factory’s (BIF’s) summit of innovators—BIF’s ninth, my fourth. The lineup of speakers—“storytellers” in BIF parlance—included puppeteers, rebels at work, an innovative rabbi, educators and assorted other visionaries. The audience: about … Continue reading →

Burkina Faso: Plan journeys avoiding opposition rallies in Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso on 28 July due to risk of unrest Disruption on 28 July is likely and unrest possible in the capital Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso (Hauts-Bassins region), where several opposition groups plan … Continue reading →

Could it be the Zimmerman verdict That made my niece’s nutty neighbor Who made it out of Chelsea (or was it Lynn?) On real estate to move up the coast to luscious spot in Beverly To jump especially hard on … Continue reading →

One of the most difficult aspects of moving our journal from print to web only (and crushing our modest art budget along the way) was increasing our reliance on stock art. The real artists we had used, at their best, … Continue reading →

My brother Bill’s poem about my father has been published in the Somerville News at http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/37515. I was only seven when my father died. As I told brother Bill, most of my memories of my father are actually memories of … Continue reading →

It’s not often you see a college build an administration before your eyes—especially not a nearly 200-year-old world-class icon of liberal education. But Amherst College is doing just that by drawing a lot of administrative talent from its New England … Continue reading →

Why hasn’t the name Joseph P. Kennedy II come up in discussions of the Bay State’s open U.S. Senate seat or soon-to-be-open governorship? His nonprofit Citizens Energy Corp. and its call Joe-4-Oil campaign is all about compassion for people who … Continue reading →

My son this week left for St. Petersburg (not Florida as some neighbors guessed, but Russia). Study abroad but with the added challenge of a whole different alphabet. I remember St. Petersburg as Leningrad. It looked in pictures like an … Continue reading →

AlterNet reported recently that Maker’s Mark Bourbon House and Lounge in Louisville, Kentucky, barred blacks who planned to hold a party at the restaurant. I know you can’t tar large groups—or brands—with one brush, but the Louisville story brought me … Continue reading →

The American Scholar is one of the most thoughtfully edited magazines published today. The journal has been published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society since 1932. Its title (which seems too hoity-toity for me to allow fellow train riders to … Continue reading →

The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) held its eighth annual collaborative innovation summit in September 2012, and the key, as always, was the art of storytelling. No themes, said summit facilitator and BIF founder and “chief catalyst” Saul Kaplan. You decide … Continue reading →

My brother Bill is an English prof, who focuses, among other things, on stories and movies about Boston. He lent me a 1988 “eco-thriller” called Zodiac. It is packed with references to Boston and to polluted waterways—which has been a … Continue reading →

It’s that time in Reading when they launch an aerial assault on the mosquito larvae—soon-to-be damn pupae. Which inspires some itchy memories. When I moved to Reading nearly 20 years ago, the town was dull but relatively green. I could … Continue reading →

If you won the lottery tomorrow, how would you spend your time? Being a good social scientist, Jack Cheng, a former UMass Boston art historian, said he would go to Walmart, the new Peoria, and ask that question. “Most of … Continue reading →

How a missing person case in Tewksbury, Mass., was resolved recently with a lot of help … (From the Chelmsford, Mass. Patch) “In a press release, Tewksbury Police Chief Timothy Sheehan thanked the public for their assistance and detailed the … Continue reading →

With mixed feelings, I watched my son go off to Spain for two weeks of work on a farm in Galicia. Mixed because there’s nothing more educational and emboldening than foreign travel. And there’s no place I know more beautiful … Continue reading →

Education as a field gets the rap for taking too long at things. Not being businessy enough. Accountability taken to silly extremes. Having pre-meetings to plan meetings. Then post-meetings to evaluate meetings. Rigor is sacred. Technology is everywhere. The calendar … Continue reading →

My son Billy sent me a dozen or so of his drawings that he conceded scribbling during his AP Euro class. I couldn’t have been prouder. I don’t know who Kingsley is. But Billy says his fez was inspired by … Continue reading →

On my walk to work, I pass the old Overseers of the Public Welfare … and kitty-corner, tight to the almost-Foxian Channel 7 News, the new Overseers of Private Welfare. I imagine that both smell of sweat.

AP reports that the New Hampshire’s Division of Travel and Tourism Development settled on mountain peaks, trails and waterways for its new brand identity to promote tourism. The report notes: “A survey of consumers and tourism representatives in 2010 showed … Continue reading →

My brother has been drug (kicking and screaming like most of us) into the digital age. See timothyharney.com.

My friends from Beverly have gathered at weddings and, now, a funeral. Greg’s recent death at age 48 prompted me to dig up these scarce photos of the group from two weddings. And recall lots of stories that can’t be … Continue reading →

We’d been on a run of taking vacations as a family. Usually in the summer and usually to Europe. But more and more I want to flee New England during its cold, snowy winter to someplace warm. This year, we … Continue reading →

Always thought I’d find something interesting or valuable in the $1 used books I used to buy. But I never did. Until, I bought a two-volume history by Henry Steele Commager and Samuel Eliot Morison, and found this card inside … Continue reading →

What would it be like if work and play were more alike? That was the dangerous question raised by Stanford University behavioral scientist Byron Reeves at the BIF-7 conference in downtown Providence on Sept. 20 and 21. Reeves had met … Continue reading →

This early 1970s ad for the New England Whalers of the upstart World Hockey Association plugs the WHA’s plunder of aging NHL stars, including some of my beloved Bruins. The inset photos feature Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers (“Cheesy get back … Continue reading →

Surcharge for not paying parking fee at train station in Reading, Mass., shoots from $1 to $21 …

Moving from print to web was inevitable for our New England Journal of Higher Education and its predecessor Connection. But a bit traumatic for me as editor since 1990. In those print days, I fancied myself an “artist” of a … Continue reading →

Another “Short Course” resurrected … this one from the Spring 2007 issue of Connection before we “re-branded” the journal as The New England Journal of Higher Education … a bit of social commentary and an opportunity for me to quote … Continue reading →

Just drove Billy home from the University of Vermont, and the ride through Vt. and N.H. reminded me of this piece I had written as a “Short Course” a few years ago in The New England Journal of Higher Education … Continue reading →

The bookstore in the South End where I bought my calendar of radical heroes and Shane MacGowan’s “diary.” It’s a nice walk too, through neighborhoods that are now more chic than radical chic.

The following was “crossposted” at http://www.nebhe.org. The old “Data Connection” had no headlines nor subheads. Among the subheads here, “State Work” is a vague reference to my nephew Stefano’s book by the same name. “Guns” and “Sports” sadly go together … Continue reading →

I’m not crazy about Wired magazine. The type is too small and the content too nerdy. But the February 2011 issue is fascinating. The cover stories on “The Underworld Exposed” feature pieces on dark-side subjects ranging from selling body parts … Continue reading →

Payless ShoeSource Celebrates Black History Month With Third Annual Payless Inspiring Possibilities Scholarship Program to Support the Future of African American and Other Minority Youth TOPEKA, Kan., Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — In celebration of Black History Month this February, … Continue reading →

For nearly 20 years, the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (and its predecessor Connection), which I edited, featured a quarterly collection of facts and figures called “Data Connection.” It was a sort of ripoff of … Continue reading →

My very first job was at a local greenhouse run by a former relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles. I started at $1 an hour. The reliever and his wife were able to circumvent the minimum wage law under some … Continue reading →

Ten years ago, Beloit College of Wisconsin found a gimmick that won it a yearly splash in the media spotlight. It was 1998 when the college first released its Beloit College Mindset List of “cultural touchstones” thought to shape the … Continue reading →

The late Bob Woodbury graced the pages of NEJHE a few years ago when the journal was called Connection with a thoughtful scolding of U.S. News & World Report’s annual college rankings. The popular news magazine’s college rankings, Bob noted, … Continue reading →

My brother Tim taught me much of what I know about life and art. These videos describe some of his life as an artist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wkkXzOLYyw&feature=related

After touching our toes in the digital waters, The New England Journal of Higher Education is now taking the full dip. It’s a deep plunge driven by economic realities and the shifting preferences of readers, many who are “digital natives” as likely … Continue reading →