{"id":216,"date":"2006-07-02T23:32:49","date_gmt":"2006-07-03T04:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2006\/07\/02\/happy-happy-seals\/"},"modified":"2006-07-17T02:43:42","modified_gmt":"2006-07-17T07:43:42","slug":"happy-happy-seals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/07\/happy-happy-seals\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy, happy seals"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON — A grand day. The conclusion of the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists<\/a> always is a morning business meeting of the entire membership, at least those who don’t have especially early flights back home.<\/p>\n

I grabbed My Beloved Wife (MBW, not to be confused with BMW, one of which she once owned as a single gal) immediately on adjournment so we could take a subway train to the Kennedy Presidential Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Excellent presidential collection, not too heavy on the love. There also were rooms concentrating on Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, along with space on Edward Kennedy, implying his space would grow at some point. I appreciated that Jackie spent some time as a newspaper photographer and columnist. Not only that, but hanging in her room was a cartoon she drew while Jack was a senator, washing his socks in a hotel room sink. MBW and I could emphasize, and pleased that even the born-rich don’t send everything<\/em> to the hotel laundry.<\/p>\n

We’ve visited the Clinton and Johnson libraries so we had a baseline on impartiality. They’re not, but all included controversies and crises. The impeachment is noted at the Clinton but not so much the Starr Report. MBW also has seen and loved the Carter library.<\/p>\n

The Kennedy is especially extraordinary in its architecture, by I.M. Pei. (On Wednesday, June 28, we enjoyed Maine’s Portland Museum of Art, designed by a partner of Pei), In Boston’s, you don’t feel like you’re on a boat, it’s just evocative of the best of sailing, more of a dream of grandeur and floating.<\/p>\n

We returned to downtown for a tall-ship sunset cruise into Boston Harbor, with enough time to walk in to a Legal Seafoods and make reservations for 8:45. The boat was solid, the crew friendly and encouraged not only questions but participation. After being coached to yell “Ho” when a skipper cries “Heave,” I hoisted the foresail and MBW a Chardonnay.<\/p>\n

We had a few minutes before dinner so we stopped at the nearby wall of the New England Aquarium, as it was mostly a glass side of the seal tank. Great idea: Passers-by are lured to pay admission by seeing at their eye level some five cute seals swimming about. We walked to another side of the outdoor exhibit and read four male and one female seal lived there and originally there had been two. The aquarium seemed large, but if you were a seal accustomed to an entire ocean, maybe not. We saw two seals front to back and looked around to make sure no small children were there. We realized it was three seals that close to one another. Were they cramped? Were they bored? Was this what you saw when you linger at a zoo’s primate exhibit for more than five minutes?<\/p>\n

Well, yes. All three seals it turns out were more gay than happy.<\/p>\n

Look at the time. Let’s move on to the restaurant. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON — A grand day. The conclusion of the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists always is a morning business meeting of the entire membership, at least those who don’t have especially early flights back home. I grabbed My Beloved Wife (MBW, not to be confused with BMW, one of which she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boston-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":372,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/11\/teddy-the-greatest-kennedy\/","url_meta":{"origin":216,"position":0},"title":"Teddy, the Greatest Kennedy","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2007 Ben S. Pollock When I clicked on C-SPAN2 midday Tuesday I did not know Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., was giving a speech important enough to make the national news. He was criticizing George II's veto of a big domestic spending bill. Big Ted, Old Ted, swatting at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/06\/naders-nadir\/","url_meta":{"origin":216,"position":1},"title":"Nader’s nadir","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Tuesday, June 1, 2004. Ralph Nader won't hurt John Kerry, and if he does, the tall Brahmin will deserve the loss. Just like Al Gore. I don't believe Nader cost Gore the election. Nevermind the numbers and the Electoral College; the number indicate damage. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":402,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/01\/the-green-candidate\/","url_meta":{"origin":216,"position":2},"title":"The Green Candidate","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Four years ago Charlie Rose interviewed Garrison Keillor, who said something so provocative that for a detectable millisecond Rose was speechless, a rarity. Keillor of course was on promoting A Prairie Home Companion, but early on they discussed the just-ended 2004 election, where the progressive Keillor nailed John Kerry's defeat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/01\/carve-buchwald-on-rushmore\/","url_meta":{"origin":216,"position":3},"title":"Carve Buchwald on Rushmore","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A great columnist passes. It's Art Buchwald, about whom I wrote nearly a year ago, when he'd been in hospice just a few weeks and well before he recovered enough to get thrown out. Actually he was a part of my master's thesis of spring 2003, which researched the apparent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":323,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/passable-port\/","url_meta":{"origin":216,"position":4},"title":"Passable Port","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, following a Senate committee endorsing a similar measure (so that whole body likely will follow), overwhelmingly (379-45) approved a 17-month delay in mandating U.S. citizens showing their passports when flying back from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. (\"Congress passports\" as key words for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":213,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/06\/over-before-you-know-it-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":216,"position":5},"title":"Over Before You Know It","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"BOSTON -- In any year you have extraordinary times, where many are surprises. That's to be expected. A few instances are scheduled, and their worth increases with planning. I've attended every annual summer conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists since 1999 except 2004's in New Orleans. I love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Boston Blotter"","block_context":{"text":"Boston Blotter","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/boston-2006\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}