John R. Carroll (2025)

08/07/2025

Driving around town yesterday, I heard this NPR piece by Maggie Ryan with Little Rock Public Radio about the senseless, soulless cutting of 90 federally funded Job Corps centers run by contractors across the country, which would end the program for 21,000 students and make some 20% of them homeless. The story brought to mind my own Job Corps experience back in the late '70s, when I returned to Cincinnati (where I had previously…...

Driving around town yesterday, I heard this NPR piece by Maggie Ryan with Little Rock Public Radio about the senseless, soulless cutting of 90 federally funded Job Corps centers run by contractors …

03/06/2025

The hardworking staff has been a (mostly) proud resident of the People's Republic of Brookline for a (mostly) good 45 years, so we were understandably drawn to this item in Steph Solis and Mike Deehan's always informative Axios Boston yesterday. It's actually even more draconian than that, as Vivi Smilgius and Sam Mintz report in Brookline.News. On Wednesday, the town’s legislative body approved a controversial by-law banning the sale of foie gras in restaurants as well as by individuals and stores in Brookline....

The hardworking staff has been a (mostly) proud resident of the People’s Republic of Brookline for a (mostly) good 45 years, so we were understandably drawn to this item in Steph Solis and Mi…

08/03/2025

The hardworking staff has long admired the journalistic work of New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers (rhymes with shivers) during his years as a relentlessless war correspondent (Afghanistan, Libya, Syria), a tireless champion of military veterans, and - most recently - a firsthand witness to the drone war in Ukraine. That last topic is much in the news lately in the wake of this week's stunning New York Times…...

The hardworking staff has long admired the journalistic work of New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers (rhymes with shivers) during his years as a relentlessless war correspondent (Afghanistan, Liby…

01/01/2025

Among the many holiday traditions here at the Global Worldwide Headquarters of Campaign Outsider (duck the malls; do not bring me some figgy pudding), one of our favorites is the annual Running of the Photographers - that is, tallying the various photojournalists' work in the New York Times special section, The Year in Pictures. In keeping with our Holiday Bakeoff tradition, the hardcounting staff has assessed the excellent work of the Grey Lady's standout shutterbug Boswells over the past 12 months....

Among the many holiday traditions here at the Global Worldwide Headquarters of Campaign Outsider (duck the malls; do not bring me some figgy pudding), one of our favorites is the annual Running of …

07/09/2024

As I've mentioned previously in this space, I did seven years in Ohio from the late '60s to the mid-'70s: A four-year stretch at Xavier University in Cincinnati, followed by an extended rehab stint after eight long years of Jesuit education. (Many of the gory details can be found here, but definitely not for the faint of heart.) Regardless, as a semi-proud Musketeer, back in 2020 I…...

As I’ve mentioned previously in this space, I did seven years in Ohio from the late ’60s to the mid-’70s: A four-year stretch at Xavier University in Cincinnati, followed by an ex…

29/07/2024

From our kissin' cousin (Frog Division) at Ask Doctor Ads Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out. Dear Dr. Ads, There I was, minding my own business and leafing through the Weekend Wall Street Journal, when I came across an ad for a New York auction house offering “the Babe Ruth jersey worn during one of the most iconic moments in sports history” – the home run he hit in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs, which, according to legend, he “called” by pointing to center field right beforehand....

From our kissin’ cousin (Frog Division) at Ask Doctor Ads Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out. Dear Dr. Ads, There I was, minding my own business and leafi…

03/05/2024

Well the Missus and I trundled over to The Fens the other day to check out Songs for Modern Japan: Popular Music and Graphic Design, 1900–1950 (through September 2) and say, it was swell. “Songs for Modern Japan: Popular Music and Graphic Design, 1900–1950” explores how sheet music covers provide a window into Japanese society and culture during this period of immense transformation....

Well the Missus and I trundled over to The Fens the other day to check out Songs for Modern Japan: Popular Music and Graphic Design, 1900–1950 (through September 2) and say, it was swell. “Songs fo…

16/04/2024

Well the Missus and I trundled out to Chestnut Hill the other day for a second look at The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde (through June 2) at Boston College's McMullen Museum of Art and say, it was just as swell this time. The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde examines the participants and artistic output from 1949 to 1959 of the Taller de Santiago de las Vegas, a ceramic workshop on the outskirts of Havana....

Well the Missus and I trundled out to Chestnut Hill the other day for a second look at The Lost Generation: Women Ceramicists and the Cuban Avant-Garde (through June 2) at Boston College’s Mc…

21/03/2024

To borrow a phrase from former President Barack Obama, the news media is currently getting all wee-weed up about the coming cicada apocalypse this spring. Here's how Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs defined the term to NPR's Robert Siegel at the time (August of 2009, for those of you keeping score at home). SIEGEL: Gibbs defined getting wee-weed up as when people, and I quote, "get all nervous for no particular reason." Finally, he came around to this....

To borrow a phrase from former President Barack Obama, the news media is currently getting all wee-weed up about the coming cicada apocalypse this spring. Here’s how Obama spokesman Robert Gi…

29/12/2023

As you splendid readers no doubt recall, an annual tradition at the Global Worldwide Headquarters is the Counting of the Photogs in the New York Times "Year in Pictures" special section published at the end of every December (previous photo finishes here). The Year in Pictures 2023 comes literally wrapped in human tragedy, with this image spanning the front and back covers....

As you splendid readers no doubt recall, an annual tradition at the Global Worldwide Headquarters is the Counting of the Photogs in the New York Times “Year in Pictures” special section…

21/11/2023

Well the Missus and I trundled up to the Granite State over the weekend to check out the newly installed exhibits at Manchester's Currier Museum of Art and say, they were swell. We started at Fabricating Modernism: Prints from the School of Paris (through January 7), which features artworks that "constitute a small portion of an extensive collection of prints committed to the Currier Museum of Art....

Well the Missus and I trundled up to the Granite State over the weekend to check out the newly installed exhibits at Manchester’s Currier Museum of Art and say, they were swell. We started at…

15/11/2023

Well the Missus and I trundled over to The Fens the other day to catch Mondrian: Foundations at the Museum of Fine Arts (through April 28) and say, it was swell. In the years around 1900, before Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) created some of the most recognizable abstract canvases of the last century, he turned his eye to the characteristic sights of the Dutch landscape: canals, windmills, fields, flowers, and trees....

Well the Missus and I trundled over to The Fens the other day to catch Mondrian: Foundations at the Museum of Fine Arts (through April 28) and say, it was swell. In the years around 1900, before Pi…

John R. Carroll