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Nantucket Book Festival a must for fans of literature and island fun

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

I have an idea for the perfect book club: It’s held in a beach town, covers topics diverse as the literary world itself. It’s accessible – and free. And some of the world’s most beloved authors join in.Such a literary treat exists, thanks to the Nantucket Book Festival, now in its 11th year.From June 15-18, the Festival will bring you up close with famed writers like Sebastian Junger, Tracy Kidder, Jodi Picoult, Luke Russert and more.You’ll find famed Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists, National Book Award winners and finalists and New York Times bestsellers –  ready to chat all things literary with you at the beach, the bar, or elsewhere on the island.And yes, it’s pretty much free. While some of the events do require a ticket, the vast majority of talks and events are completely free, something the festival takes great pride in.That means you can grab a hotel room or home rental – or even just hop the easy to take Hy Line Ferry back and forth for a ...

Documentary puts spotlight on cultural phenom of ‘Midnight Cowboy’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

Award-winning documentarian Nancy Buirski looks back to see what combusted to make the now-classic 1969 Oscar-winning Best Picture “Midnight Cowboy,” still the only X-rated movie to win that top prize.“My vision wasn’t about the making of ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ it was about the moment of ‘Midnight Cowboy,’” Buirski said in a phone interview.Her “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Making of Midnight Cowboy,” “looks at the film in the context of the time. Because the film has been successful and continues to resonate, it tries to help us understand why it does — the culture, the politics and all of that.” It screens in as part of the Provincetown International Film Festival Thursday.“Midnight Cowboy” was wild stuff in the anti-authoritarian ‘60s where feminism, gay, civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests were changing the landscape.  The film’s mix of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll follows the friendship between naïve Texan Joe Buck (Jon Voight in a star-making performa...

Graham: SPLC labels Moms for Liberty a hate group

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

When Republican presidential candidates like Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump appear at the Moms for Liberty Summit in Philadelphia at the end of June, their hosts will be a “hate group.”At least that’s the claim of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a far-left political organization that is drawing scorn for labeling Moms for Liberty and other parental rights organizations as “extremist organizations.”  The SPLC even includes them on the same “hate map” as neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.Another GOP candidate, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, just held a town hall in New Hampshire with Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice. Like many SPLC critics, he dismissed the attack as “a farce.”“The SPLC is a tentacle of the woke-industrial complex,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m proud to be the first candidate to sign the Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge.”While often presented in media reports as a neutral authority on hate crimes, the SPLC makes no secret of its left-of-center politics. In its rep...

Put aside feelings and support son at games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

Q. My ex and I broke up three years ago. He’s recently remarried, and he sent me an email saying that his wife will now be accompanying him to our 8-year-old son’s Little League baseball games. She has not been nice to me over the last year, and the thought of her going to the games makes me very uncomfortable. I’m thinking I’m going to back off attending my son’s games because I don’t want to deal with my ex and this woman.A. When you have had a history of run-ins with your ex and his partner, it’s easy to understand why you predict the worst. However, you have to remember who is really hurting when you spend a lot of time anticipating a negative outcome: you!Agonizing about what may happen simply keeps you upset and really has no effect on your ex. He has moved on.Here’s where applying the 10 Rules of Good Ex-Etiquette for Parents comes into play. They are rules to live by that allow you to take the everyday headbutting and turn it into a more positive experience. (You...

Local stages boast a bounty of summer theater delights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

This summer theater season features military commanders – both cute and terrifying. It will have romances – both cute and silly. It will have blood lust and old fashioned love, cults of personality and cults of plants, and loads of explorations on how and why societies go wrong. From dance to Shakespeare to “Do-Re-Mi,” Massachusetts summer stages have so much to offer.“Rooted,” the Lyric Stage, now through June 25We’ve all done it. Accidentally start a cult, that is. Emery Harris is a loner living in a treehouse with her plants. Emery’s only contact to the outside world is her sister, Hazel, and her plant-centric YouTube channel. But when Emery’s channel goes viral and the citizens of her small town come to view her as a botanical messiah, she is forced to confront the public. Lyricstage.com“Private Lives,” Gloucester Stage, Gloucester, now through June 25Noël Coward’s 1930 play begins with ex-husband and wife discovering they picked the same French hotel to honeymoon with their new...

Dear Abby: BF has zero plans for financial future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband died three years ago, and I met someone shortly after. This man is kind and loving, and he treats me well. He happily moved with me to another state to be near my family. I’m 67, and he is 63. I’m retired, and hopefully have enough to live on for the rest of my life, although as everyone knows, anything can happen.My concern is that this man gives his two children so much money every month that there’s none left over to help with any of our household expenses. He knows he will have to wean them off financially before he retires. I’m loath to ask him to stop, because I don’t want to lose him over this issue. However, I didn’t budget having to support him for the rest of my life.He hasn’t saved any money for his retirement. When I’ve asked why he sends them all his money, he says that when he and their mom divorced, it upset them and he feels guilty (it has been 18 years!), or when he gets old and senile, they’...

Youth environmentalists bring Montana climate case to trial after 12 years, seeking to set precedent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Whether a constitutional right to a healthy, livable climate is protected by state law is at the center of a lawsuit going to trial Monday in Montana, where 16 young plaintiffs and their attorneys hope to set an important legal precedent.It’s the first trial of its kind in the U.S., and legal scholars around the world are following its potential addition to the small number of rulings that have established a government duty to protect citizens from climate change.The trial comes shortly after the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature passed measures favoring the fossil fuel industry by stifling local government efforts to encourage renewable energy while increasing the cost to challenge oil, gas and coal projects in court.By enlisting plaintiffs ranging in age from 5 to 22, the environmental firm bringing the lawsuit is trying to highlight how young people are harmed by climate change now and will be further affected in the future. Their testimony...

Smokestack implosion to bring decades of Detroit trash incinerator stink to an end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The looming smokestack of a shuttered trash incinerator whose stench sickened and angered Detroit residents for decades is coming down in a controlled implosion scheduled for Sunday morning.The plan to reduce the smokestack to rubble is almost the final phase in the facility’s yearlong demolition, which should be completed by July, according to the city.The facility has stood near the interchange of Interstates 94 and 75 for more than 30 years, just a few miles northeast of downtown Detroit. Before closing in 2021, fumes and the rank odor of burning trash could be smelled for miles, but were strongest for residents of nearby streets, raising concerns about pollution and the impact on residents’ health.The approximately 330-foot-tall (100-meter-tall) incinerator operated by Detroit Renewable Energy opened in 1989. Up to 5,000 tons (4,535 metric tons) of trash were burned there per day.“The presence of this incinerator has been a real pain point for this com...

Julien Alfred powers Texas women to track national championship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

Julien Alfred, one of the most dominant athletes in the history of Texas Track and Field, had accomplished so much in her career but didn't have a team outdoor national championship to her name. That is until Saturday.The Longhorns women's team, who hosted the event at Mike A. Myers Stadium, claimed the 2023 National Championship for the first time since 2005. The hosts won with a dominant 83 points, 32 clear of Florida in second place. Alfred helped power Texas to gold as a team in the 4x100 meter relay. The graduate student also finished first in the 100 meter and 200 meter races."What a way to end," said Alfred about her college career. "I came here at 17, finished my final race at 22. And I'm proud of myself, proud of my team...I'm so happy. I'm so grateful."Alfred noted how the team title was the perfect way to go out. While she was a big contributor, a number of teammates were key as well. Rhasidat Adeleke made a huge splash winning the 400 meter."I was coming on off the home ...

Video captures family of coyote pups playing outside L.A. home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:27 GMT

A Southern California homeowner received an adorable surprise as a family of coyote pups spent some quality time together outside of his home.Security video captures an adult coyote appearing on the driveway followed closely by a litter of pups as they convene for playtime in Montecito Heights.The video was taken early Saturday morning just after midnight. The homeowner tells KTLA the coyotes had built a den at the bottom of his yard. Home security video captures a family of coyote pups playing together outside a Montecito Heights home on June 10, 2023. (Ricky Green)As the coyote parent patiently awaits the children outside, the feisty, energetic pups are seen leaving the den one by one. Just when you think enough pups have appeared, even more continue strolling outside until all seven kids are finally together.Under the parent’s watchful eye, the pups are seen darting around, exploring and play-tackling each other.The spirited pups are left to play around for a bit before it’s...