Tommy Devine's Online Journal

• True Romance

  Number of comments: 5
  Boys in Love
  
  It's always assumed that young guys are cold, ruthless predators when it comes to sex. Some obviously are, but the majority are not, according to this study:
  
  
  
  Boys and girls report similar feelings of "love" in a relationship, the authors [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 4:16pm EST
  by Tom

• Vonnegut at Smith

  Number of comments: 2
  More Flashbacks
  
  Okay people, I've been rummaging through the vaults again and have unearthed a few out of print gems that I'll be posting in the coming days. Let's start with this reprint from the May 22, 2001 edition of Tommy Devine's Online Journal:
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  by Tom

• True Education

  Number of comments: 1
  The Kind You Never Forget
  
  I like this David Brooks piece in the New York Times about the too little appreciated importance of what we learn about life through art. I could write a similar piece about the Grateful Dead.
  
  
  
  Like many [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 12:59pm EST
  by Tom

• Beatnik Comics

  Number of comments: 2
  Mostly Disappointing.
  
  
  
  With fewer and fewer people reading books these days, it is no surprise that a lot of literary stuff is being made available in comic book form. When the popular artists Harvey Pekar, Ed Piskor and others united to do a collection [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 11:30am EST
  by Tom

• Gratitude

  Number of comments: 3
  Happy Thanksgiving!
  
  The lights looked really nice in Northampton last night.
  
  
  
  Today was the community Thanksgiving dinner put on by the Amherst Survival Center at the Lutheran Church.
  
  
  
  The yard of the partyhouse next door to [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 2:12pm EST
  by Tom

• Hampenings

  Number of comments: 2
  Around Hamp
  
  Most pumpkins have gone bad by now, but as my neighbor's porch shows the small ones seem to have longer lives.
  
  
  
  As another of my neighbors has discovered, when pumpkins turn rotten they can become depraved to the point of' [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 2:08pm EST
  by Tom

• UMass Criticized

  Number of comments: 7
  By Prominent First Amendment Advocate
  
  
  Angela Davis caused a UMass free speech controversy in the 70's.
  
  Nationally respected free speech advocate Harvey Silvergate weighed in on the recent free speech controversy at UMass over the cancelled invitation of a leftist terrorist. Not surprisingly,' [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 3:29pm EST
  by Tom

• Jack's Advice

  Number of comments: 1
  Writing Tips.
  
  
  
  I can't believe I never saw this before! It's a list that Jack Kerouac once wrote of the "essentials" of writing which he called Belief and Technique for Modern Prose. Here's the list with my comments after each one based on my' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 4:59pm EST
  by Tom

• Lightfooted Thunderbolt

  Number of comments: 2
  Or the Last of the Narragansetts?
  
  
  
  I have to laugh over the details of the arrest last weekend of Springfield poltitical villain Frankie Keough. He got busted for breaking into his former second home in Rhode Island (odd how so many "public servants" in [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 4:10pm EST
  by Tom

• Past Judgement

  Number of comments: 2
  Old Reviews
  
  Okay people, just one more day of nostalgia as we look at these old reviews I wrote.
  
  
  
  I finally understand this pirate craze thanks to seeing the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean a few weeks ago. I saw it [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 5:58pm EST
  by Tom

• Springfield Starship

  Number of comments: 4
  More Oldies
  
  Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth (or at least the concert stages) I was a misbehaving teenager attending acid rock shows in the Springfield area armed with a beautiful topshelf Yashica camera I got for a pittance from a B&E artist I knew (as in Breaking and [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 11:45am EST
  by Tom

• Invisible Bear

  Number of comments: 3
  Barely There.
  
  This morning I came upon this sign along the woodland way leading into downtown Northampton.
  
  
  
  People who live along the woodland way often let their cats run free. They don't realize there are things in the woods that are dangerous' [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 1:25pm EST
  by Tom

• Timothy and Charles

  Number of comments: 1
  Leary and Manson
  
  I'm still working my way through Robert Greenfield's biography of Timothy Leary, the Springfield native who ended up in prison with insane murderer Charles Manson. Indeed, as this little excerpt shows, Folsom prison was a long way from Indian Orchard.
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 1:03pm EST
  by Tom

• Vagina Farce

  Number of comments: 4
  A Flashback
  
  Here's a reprint of a long out of print post I wrote on January 23, 2004 about a controversy in Amherst:
  
  
  
  I was on my way to purchase my three morning papers (the Springfield Republican and then depending on who has' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 2:47pm EST
  by Tom

• ACORN at UMass

  Number of comments: 1
  Founding Father Speaks
  
  
  
  Wade Rathke (above) the founder and former head of the controversial "community organizing" group ACORN paid a visit to Western Mass, speaking at Springfield College yesterday and at UMass today. Rathke has deep roots in our Valley, having begun his career [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 6:20pm EST
  by Tom

• Capuano in Amherst

  Number of comments: 2
  At the Black Sheep
  
  
  
  All of the candidates for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy - with the exception of the frontrunner - appeared at UMass last night. In an unusual twist, the candidates from both parties appeared together, instead [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 2:51pm EST
  by Tom

• Neal's Challengers

  Number of comments: 5
  A Year Before the Vote.
  
  The election results on Tuesday strongly indicated that the political tide is turning against the Democrats just one year after they swept into office on a wave of "hope" with Barack Obama. Of course it's best to take these off year election trends with' [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 12:03pm EST
  by Tom

• Stray Shots

  Number of comments: 4
  Assorted Ones
  
  With the voting over, the harvest in and the last of the leaves falling, our Valley is now awaiting the arrival of winter, nevermind these last vestiges of Fall on my neighbor's steps.
  
  
  
  I like my neighbor's chilltown stove.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:14pm EST
  by Tommy

• Election Night

  Number of comments: 4
  At City Hall
  
  
  
  In the political prognostation racket there are two types, those who pretend to know what's going on and those who really do. There's no question which group I belong to after last night, as I was right in my predictions about [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:55am EST
  by Tommy

• Waiting

  Number of comments: 1
  On Election Day
  
  This is the polling place where I went to vote this morning before work.
  
  
  
  Einstein theorized that gravity distorted reality but he was wrong - politics does.
  
  
  
  
  When I went downtown to [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:58pm EST
  by Tommy

• Endorsements

  Number of comments: 6
  And Predictions
  
  
  
  Oh no, don't tell me we've slithered around to another local election! Well, I guess I must do my duty and advise you how to vote. Not that I expect you to follow my advice, I certainly don't allow anyone to tell' [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:55am EST
  by Tommy