By Mickey Friedman December 22, 2017 Ever since Trumphoria descended over the land I’ve done a fairly lousy job as the volunteer Communications Director for Penguins United. But the time has come to dispense with Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump…
Author: Mickey Friedman
The Great Dying Two
By Mickey Friedman December 11, 2017 It was called “The Great Dying.” Peter Brannen described it in the New York Times: “The planet’s most profound catastrophe struck 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, killing 90…
The Smith and The Wesson World
November 28, 2017 By Mickey Friedman There is a deep black hole into which words about automatic weapons fall. You can thank Justice Scalia and his logic defying linguistic analysis for expanding the Second Amendment’s well-regulated militia’s musket defense of…
Gold Stars
By Mickey Friedman November 12, 2017 God Bless those whose anger against Washington still brings their blood to a boil; whose hatred of Obama keeps them up at night. Who, every day, with undiminished yearning, live to see Hillary behinds…
Bend Over
By Mickey Friedman November 2, 2017 One man told us the meeting was great; the other was so concerned by what happened he called him a moron. Which isn’t so unusual considering how many of us are morons, and how…
Taking The Knee
By Mickey Friedman October 16, 2017 My journey to rediscover the history, heart and soul of the Co-operative Movement led me back to native son, W. E. B. Du Bois. And how appropriate, because few can shed greater insight into…
Co-operation – Part Four
October 8, 2017 By Mickey Friedman In “Black Reconstruction,” W.E.B. Du Bois asks and answers: “What did it mean to be a slave? It is hard to imagine it today … One estimate is that the maintenance of a slave…
Co-operation – Part Three
September 20, 2017 By Mickey Friedman Home, and to the work of Great Barrington’s native son, W.E. B. Du Bois, and a chapter in the history of Co-operation that few appreciate. And, thankfully, in these days of Charlottesville and racism…
Co-operation – Part Two
By Mickey Friedman September 16, 2017 Even as Rochdale thrived, there were many challenges. In 1850, according to Holyoake’s history: “The rapid increase of the members had brought together numbers holding evangelical views, and who had not been reared in…
Co-operation – Part One
By Mickey Friedman August 22, 2017 Miles Ashworth was a weaver of flannel. James Daly was a joiner. Joseph Smith, a woolsorter. James Wilkinson, a shoemaker. Of the original members of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers of Lancashire, England, some were…
Let’s Park
By Mickey Friedman August 7, 2017 Margaret came to Fuel to talk about my last column about Great Barrington. She wanted to know more about how I would solve the problems. So let me first suggest a solution to the…
They Come and Go
By Mickey Friedman July 24, 2017 Friends say they increasingly avoid Great Barrington. There’s less and less for them here. Losing Martin’s reminds me when folks gathered there, at Melvin’s, or ordered breakfast from Ruth at The Cricket. Once Frankie…