This September 2023, a triumvirate of world class art is occupying the main galleries of Cape Ann Museum, in Gloucester Massachusetts. The stellar Edward Hopper and Stuart Davis exhibits are joined, across the hall from Hopper, by a group of artists, many of whom both worked with and knew Hopper …

Nostalgia, Peter Anastas’s final completed novel, is a work of the ‘speculative real,’ a prophetic history of Gloucester that shows what happens in America’s oldest fishing port when the forces of economic development set off a building spree, with high-priced condos going up across the harbor …

On any scale, Schulz’s job at Amnesty was one of the hardest imaginable. Exactly how hard—and interesting, exasperating, gratifying, and sometimes absurd and humorous—he reveals in a beautifully written volume that speaks clearly and poignantly to the reader. While by no means an easy read, …

I’d like to tell you about the huge “killer” clams I’ve photographed on Indo-Pacific coral reefs. And I will. But first, I’d like to pay homage to our local softshell clam (Mya arenaria), famously harvested in my hometown of Ipswich, Massachusetts, which is located just a few flaps of a gull’s wing from Cape Ann. …

As we enter the brief beach season of New England, many of us hope to maximize the pending days of relaxation and salty air. What has become a secondary experience is the company of increasingly aggressive seagulls, who also have their summertime plans: plundering human food. …

Mooney’s Manifesto is Greg Gibson’s new book, a roman à clef, fictionalized version of Greg’s haunting life experiences. And yes, the best damned novel I’ve read in a long time. Like few characters of fiction ever could, Mooney got to me. Now I cannot get him out of my head. …

You’re a salamander. A spotted salamander in a forest on Cape Ann. Spring has arrived and you’ve been sheltered underground in an abandoned mole tunnel for the last eleven months. …

It is Saturday afternoon at 16 Rogers Street, where Jeff Weaver holds court from a corner in his gallery. People drift in and out of the space, a mix of old friends and passersby, with Jeff engaging all in relaxed conversations. The gallery, situated in the heart of Gloucester with a short walk to Café Sicilia, …

The essay was first published in the Stanford News, September 6, 2022. We are reprinting a version edited for length and Stanford University centric content, but without altering the themes of philosophy, science, and art. The article also reveals the little-known manipulation of stellar images …

Last Halloween, I downloaded an app: Dream.ai – since then I’ve made/saved over 3000+ ‘picreations’ on my phone, having rejected 10 x more in the process. I continue to be astonished by these bizarre, mysterious, highly sophisticated pics. Simply tap-tap-tap in a few words, and virtually instantly …

Unless you’ve been hiding under a large rock in Stage Fort Park, you know by now that in 2023 Gloucester will celebrate the 400 years since the ‘discovery’ of this unique port by the not-so-altruistic speculators of the Dorchester Company, a colonialist conglomerate of Puritan merchants and traders …

In September, the Dry Salvages Festival celebrated T. S. Eliot's early years summering in Gloucester, and their influence on his body of poetry. Included in the program was a collection of artifacts, many borrowed from Harvard's Houghton Library and displayed in the Cape Ann Museum Library. …

7/7  Received an email with several pics from Willie: We are here in Valparaiso on top of this steep hill, the green one in the middle is our AirBnB /// this section of town is really decorated /// holy crap!! Taking tons of street pics ...

Many of our regional artists will travel beyond Cape Ann, to add additional extraordinary vistas to their portfolios. Lynn Maguire, a well-known member of the local cultural scene, along with 14 other artistic travelers ...

A glorious June afternoon, Spring in full bloom, overcast but balmy, a perfect day for a joy ride. There is no nicer journey, while staying close to home, than to picturesque Ipswich. …