Monthly Archives: November 2015

William Wegman

Weimaraner guy.

The Weimaraner is a doleful looking fellow, occasionally used by police forces when they are out of German Shepherds. German, of course.

William Wegman has made a living out of snapping his Weimaraners and he just did a splendid layout for Bloomberg Business on Xmas gifts. The images are hilarious and outrageous, and any dog lover will enjoy them. Click the image.


Click the image.

The Freedom Trail

American history.

My son’s trip to Boston to check out prep schools coincided nicely with his history studies in intermediate school where he is in the middle of colonial and revolutionary American times, so at his teacher’s suggestion we took the Freedom Trail tour over the weekend to better soak up the history abundantly on display in downtown Boston.

The Trail covers over a dozen historical sites and is led by a guide dressed in period costume.


The Trail map.

Here is Winston, suitably bundled up, on Boston Common, ready to start the tour:


Bundled up and ready to go.

A goodly amount of time is spent at the Granary Burying Ground, named for the 12,000-bushel grain storage building that was once next door, which is the last resting place of Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams amongst others.



Wealthy individuals like Peter Faneuil enjoy large tombs.
Our tour guide is dressed in period slave costume.


Paul Revere’s tomb.


Sam Adams not only signed the Declaration of Independence, he also brewed beer, made to this day.
The picture on the beer bottle label is of Paul Revere.


The Boston Latin School. There is no spire as funds ran out!
Dating from 1635, it’s the oldest public school in America.
Five signers of the Declaration of Independence attended Boston Latin:
Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, and William Hooper.


The old State House. Built in 1713 to house the colony’s government,
the Old State House was at the center of civic events that sparked the American Revolution.
The Boston Massacre took place right outside.


Another tour guide in period costume.
We enjoyed beautiful weather on the tour.


Built in 1729, Old South Meeting House was not a church,
but rather a meeting house for the Puritans to worship.
It was in this House that the momentous decision was
made to dump British tea in the harbor, rather than pay taxes.


A poster advertising the Trail.


The trail wends through many small alleyways.
This old bookshop typifies the setting.


Sign designating the original location of the Old Meeting House.


Faneuil Hall. Often referred to as “the home of free speech” and
the “Cradle of Liberty,” Faneuil Hall hosted America’s first Town Meeting.

All snapped by Winston and dad on iPhone6 cameras.

HBS

The best of the best.

For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.

Calvin Coolidge reminded Americans that “The business of America is Business” and nowhere is this better shown than in the most famous of business schools, Harvard Business School. While HBS no longer dominates the ranks of CEOs of America’s largest companies – an affinity with dropping out and unkempt looks dominated by ‘hoodies’ being the thing today – a graduate of HBS has a meal ticket every bit as valuable as one from Harvard Law or even Harvard itself. Those who deny that ‘it’s who you know, not what you know’ never got admitted to any of these.

So no surprise, then, that in further capitalizing on my son’s Unfair Advantage, our week long visit to check out New England prep schools for him saw us dropping in on HBS. To say we left overawed hardly does the visit justice.


Winston on the steps of the Baker Library.

From the library’s site: “The Baker Library holds comprehensive special collections that record the evolution of industry from the 1400s to the present. The HBS Archives, manuscripts and rare books document the individuals, organizations and theories that shaped, and continue to influence, the global business world. ”


The main study room inside the Baker Library – a palpable sense of purpose.

You can see a brief video made by my son below:

In the great liberal tradition of American education, all the buildings are open and no one asks for ID or access rights.

Aldrich Hall is special – each level is replete with bay windows which form discrete, compact study areas for a handful of students. The atmosphere is hushed-respectful, as is the whole campus. No ra-ra-ra knuckle-headed sportsmen here.


Winston dressed for the occasion, inside Aldrich Hall, a Rockefeller donation.

From the Hall’s site: “Rockefeller suggested that the building be named for his father-in-law, Nelson W. Aldrich, who represented Rhode Island in the US House of Representatives from 1879 to 1881, then in the US Senate from 1881 to 1911. Aldrich, a notable financier and leader of the Republican Party, was chairman of the National Monetary Commission and the Federal Reserve. A driving force in international trade and monetary policies, he was sometimes called the “authentic voice of J.P. Morgan.” ”


The Dean’s House.

As befits the master of the world’s most storied business school, the Dean’s residence yields nothing in splendor to the rest of the HBS campus. From the site: “The Dean’s House was designed by Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott. Construction was completed in 1929, two years after the dedication of the first 12 HBS buildings and just two years before the death of George F. Baker, the prominent banker who funded the construction of Harvard Business School’s original campus. The brick, 10,978-square-foot Georgian Revival-style building includes a gracious entry hall, study, living room, dining room, kitchen, and pantry on the main floor, with a circular staircase leading to a sitting room, bedrooms, and baths on the second and third floors. The surrounding garden was part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s original landscape design. ”

Any visit to Boston should see the tourist at HBS, for there are few more splendid experiences to be had.

All snapped on the iPhone 6.

The Boston Public Library

Outstanding.

Housed in a splendid McKim, Mead and White building dating from 1895, the Boston Public Library is the largest municipal library in the US, numbering almost 24 million pieces. The public reading room in the main building is breathtaking in its beauty, size and, well, silence:

Located in Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood, it’s an essential on any visit to the city, along with Harvard and MIT.

iPhone 6 snap.