Marty Barrett: The Flight of the Mavervorl

--5.28.2008--

Podcast: Edmund Fitzgerald on the MTA

The latest Fogelfoot effort strives to weave a tale of maritime peril on the railbound Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Influences here were Gordon Lightfoot and Johann Pachelbel, and I believe it is the only instance in western literature in which a former Bay State governor is linked with a line from "Evangeline."

That said, it probably stinks and you'll hate it.

See also: The Flight of the Mavervorl on iTunes

Labels: fogelfoot, massachusetts, music, podcast

--8.22.2007--

The past is sometimes a lie

Last week I needed to renew my registration, walked into a California Department of Motor Vehicles office carrying prepared paperwork I'd downloaded, took a number, and 16 minutes later I was done. I thought of calling an ambulance to meet me and my aneurysm outside, but I survived.

Once, in Massachusetts, I spent seven hours at a DMV. Once, in New York, I spent six hours at a DMV, doing the same thing that took me 16 minutes last week.

This morning I went to a gas station with three banks of double-sided filling islands. Only the island I'd parked near (x) had no number. I quickly looked at the visible numbers as I approached the cashier. It looked like this:

I asked the cashier if I could have $20 on (x=Pump 7).

In seventh grade I was confident that I would never use algebra in everyday life. And I am still correct; if that were an algebra problem, I would be credited $20 at the nonexistent Pump 6 and 1/9.

Instead, I used analogies. Thanks again, tenth grade English teacher Sheila Hallissy! First you taught me Antony's Funeral Oration, now you're saving me cash on gas!

See also: Stopping by Brutus on a Snowy Evening

Labels: abstractions, california, education, los angeles, massachusetts

--5.01.2007--

Lowell, Massachusetts, USA

I went back to Lowell, where I was born and lived the first 17 years of my life (I'm 19 now) for about :30 this past weekend.

I haven't spent any time visiting the city's historic areas since I was a National Park Ranger there, so on my way to my Uncle Frank's birthday party I took a self-guided tour, not hitting nearly as many places as I would have liked (or visiting with anyone not related to me).

These are the Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River. It's nice to see a river with water in it now and then.

Click here for a gallery.

All that's left: That was the week that was, Center for Lowell History, Tyler Park

Labels: lowell, massachusetts, photos, travel