Today is Straw Hat Day

May 15th is Straw Hat Day the beginning of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com. Straw hats may be worn until Felt Hat Day which is September 15th.

Saturday is Felt Hat Day

September 15th is Felt Hat Day the end of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com/. Straw hats may not be worn again until Straw Hat Day which is May 15th.

Today is Straw Hat Day

May 15th is Straw Hat Day the beginning of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com. Straw hats may be worn until Felt Hat Day which is September 15th.

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

"Your stick should be of plain Malacca or other wood, with either a crooked or straight handle. The only ornamentation allowable is a plain silver or gold band, or top; but perfectly plain is best form." -- Emily Post, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home (1922), Chapter 34, "The Clothes of a Gentleman."

"Alfonse" holds the sticks.

Of the lady's walking stick Miss Post was silent, for, as it so many matters of dress, ladies are free to accessorize at will. The gentleman's wardrobe choices are few and defined. Speaking of definition, "Malacca," according to Merriam-Webster.com means "made or consisting of the cane of an Asian rattan palm (Calamus rotang)." It is from the common use of cane for men's sticks that "cane" has come to signify a walking stick of whatever construction. However, careful speakers always distinguish between "cane" and the more general term "stick."

Ebay is a good source for vintage sticks, which being fashion accessories were frequently non-weight-bearing. If you need assistance with mobility or stability you should seek out a weigh-bearing stick made to the correct length for your height. I have found the business www.fashionablecanes.com to be an excellent and affordable source. They have a large variety of shafts and handles. Their sticks are rated for the maximum weight they can safely bear. And, their website has instructions on how to determine the correct length of stick for you. This is extremely important as a stick that is too short or too long may actually aggravate the medical condition that indicated use of a stick.

Thursday is Felt Hat Day

September 15th is Felt Hat Day the end of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com/. Straw hats may not be worn again until Straw Hat Day which is May 15th.

100 Years of Massachusetts House Speakers

by David Trumbull
May 15, 2009

“In Massachusetts the worst men get into the Legislature. Several members of that body have lately been convicted of infamous crimes. Men of indigence, ignorance and baseness, spare no pains, however dirty, to carry their point against men, who are superior to the artifices practiced.” – Elbridge Gerry at the Constitutional Convention, 1787.

Over the fifty years from January 1959 to January 2009, nine men serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives were elevated by their peers to Speaker of the House. Of those nine politicians—every one a Democrat—four, John F. Thompson (Speaker, 1958-1964), Charles Flaherty (1991-1996), Thomas Finneran (1996-2004), and Salvatore DiMasi (2004-2009) resigned the speakership in disgrace, dogged by charges of legal or ethical lapses. One Speaker, Thomas W. McGee (1975–1984), was found so wanting even by the low standards of his fellow Democratic legislators that he was dumped from that leadership position in favor of George Keverian (1985–1991). Keverian left the post, and state politics, in 1991, after losing the Democratic party primary for Treasurer of the Commonwealth.

In the fifty years prior to that, 14 men served as Speaker, 12 Republicans and two Democrats. None, as far as I know, left office in disgrace or disfavor. About half went on, after their speakerships, to run successfully for higher office in state or national government. Among them Republican Christian Herter (Speaker 1939-1942) was later elected U.S. Representative and Massachusetts Governor and served in high positions in the Republican Administration of President Eisenhower and under Democratic Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. (1949-1952) went on, after his leadership in the State House, to serve ten years as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Perversely, as the quality of the men in the office of Speaker declined, the average length of time in the office increased, from around three-and-a-half years for Speakers in the first fifty year period to around five-and-a-half years for those in the more resent fifty-year period. Of course I have my bias, but one has to notice the absence of scandal and the generally high level of personal and professional conduct of the Speakers in the period when Republicans were dominant, supplying 12 of 14 Speakers.

Sunday is Straw Hat Day

May 15th is Straw Hat Day the beginning of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com. Straw hats may be worn until Felt Hat Day which is September 15th.

This is Washington’s Birthday and I Can’t Tell a Lie

Today is WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY, a federal and state holiday to honor the hero of the Revolutionary War, the Father of His Country, and the first President of the United States. Of the 43 men to serve as chief executive of the Union, only Washington is so singled out for honor with a federal holiday.

That many persons now call the third Monday in February “Presidents Day” is an indicator of our lack of discrimination and devaluing of true accomplishment and fame. To put it in perspective, Catholics believe that each of the 265 popes was the Vicar of Christ on Earth, infallible in matters of faith and morals, and yet fewer than 80 have been added to the calendar of Saints (and no less erudite writer than Dante placed some of the popes in Hell), but common American usage honors equally the great Washington and the least noble and least accomplished of men to hold the office by jumbling them all together on “Presidents Day,” the equivalent of declaring each a “secular saint.”

Slighting of Washington by calling his birthday “Presidents Day” also errs by neglecting the 29th of May, which by state law (Mass. Gen. Laws Chap. 6 Section 15VV) is our PRESIDENTS DAY, in memory of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidge and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, former presidents from the Commonwealth

Virginia, home of eight presidents, including Washington, beats us out in total number. But here in the Bay State we have something the Old Dominion lacks. We have in our midst the Washington Library—About 800 books and pamphlets from George Washington’s personal library at Mount Vernon given to the Boston Athenæum by a group of Bostonians in 1848. The books themselves are priceless and only serious scholars need apply for permission to use the collection. However, in 1997 the library published a catalog so the rest of us can see what sort of books the great man was reading.

Books on history and government from Washington’s library include his personal copy of Common Sense, the tract by Thomas Paine that was so influential in promoting the revolutionary spirit. The General, of course, had several books on military science. Remembering that Mount Vernon was a working farm, we are not surprised to find books on agriculture and practice arts such as carpentry and horsemanship. President Washington’s mind ranged beyond those necessary topics, for we also find books on religion, linguistics, and poetry.

I could lump Washington in the same group with some of the lesser men who occupied the White House—but that would be a lie.

Getting It Off Your Chest

POST-GAZETTE - Res Publica
Getting It Off Your Chest

by David Trumbull -- February 18, 2011

It is said that Ronald Reagan always put on his suit-coat and would never step foot in the Oval Office of the White House in his shirtsleeves, such was his respect for the office of the Presidency of the United States.
In 1840 much of the city of Washington was shocked by the installation, in the Capitol Rotunda, of a sculpture of George Washington, bare to the waist in the manner of a classical Greek statue of Zeus, by Boston artist Horatio Greenough (1805-1852).
“The man does not live, and never did live, who saw Washington without his shirt!” said Virginia Congressman Henry A. Wise (1806-1876). And Boston’s leading architect, Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), said the work of art made the Father of Our Country look like he was “entering or leaving a bath.” The outcry was such that the statue was moved outdoors and neglected for several years. It is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Earlier this month New York Congressman Christopher Lee resigned after press reports that the married man had posted a shirtless photo of himself in response to a personal advertisement on craigslist. Meanwhile, freshman Tennessee Congresswoman Julia Hurley credits her previous job at Hooters restaurant for her success. Well, I guess they both just wanted to put the “party” back in Republican Party. As the ancient Roman statesman M.T. Cicero said “O tempora o mores,” which translates roughly to “where are we going and what are we doing in this hand-basket?” As always, be sure to turn to the pages of the Post-Gazette to stay abreast of the news.

[David Trumbull is the chairman of the Boston Ward Three Republican Committee. Boston's Ward Three includes the North End, West End, part of Beacon Hill, downtown, waterfront, Chinatown, and part of the South End.]

Tomorrow is Felt Hat Day

September 15th is Felt Hat Day the end of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com/. Straw hats may not be worn again until Straw Hat Day which is May 15th.

Saturday, May 15th is Straw Hat Day

May 15th is Straw Hat Day the beginning of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com. Straw hats may be worn until Felt Hat Day which is September 15th.

Today is Felt Hat Day

September 15th is Felt Hat Day the end of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com/. Straw hats may not be worn again until Straw Hat Day which is May 15th.

Remember the Working Man on Labor Day

POST-GAZETTE Res Publica
Remember the Working Man on Labor Day
by David Trumbull
September 4, 2009

In just over two weeks voters in Boston will give their suffrages in the preliminary election of mayor and city councillors. Four men vie for two slots on the final ballot for mayor. Each will appeal, especially around this Labor Day weekend, to the many men and women of Boston who daily don jeans, work-shirts, and hoodies, and go out—in the heat of summer and cold of winter—to perform the manual labor that makes it possible for the winner of the election—and a great many of the rest of us—to wear a suit to the office where if we break a sweat it is in only a figurative sense or because the air-conditioning in on the fritz. The would-be councillors, likewise, must sell themselves to laborers with a plea to elect me to a better-paid and less physically demanding position than yours and I’ll remember you and try to make your life better too.

Of course, Labor Day is not about only manual labor. In an increasingly white-collar workforce the division of labor and management is less stark than when Labor Day observances started in the 1880s. But it should be more than just another three-day weekend or a fashion milestone.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day goes back to 1882 and while the precise origin is unclear, that agency credits, at least tentatively, Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, as the father. As my father was, for many years, a member of that union, I’m pleased to embrace that version. Massachusetts’ adoption of Labor Day as a legal holiday in 1887 was one of the first in the Union. By 1894 with a majority of the states having adopted the holiday it was finally enacted as a federal holiday.

Formerly cities and towns celebrated Labor Day with parades honoring the working man. Sadly the significance of the holiday has receded. A check of the calendar on the City of Boston website revealed no municipal Labor Day festivities planned on or around the day. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts website acknowledges the holiday and points visitors to information on the origin at the U.S. Dept. of Labor website. But the Commonwealth appears to have done no better than the City of Boston in organizing any official commemorative of the debt we all owe to the working men and women of the Bay State.

This Labor Day pause and reflect on the meaning of the day. Give thanks to millions—those not celebrated as Washington politicians or Hollywood stars—who do the work of this great nation.


David Trumbull is the chairman of the Boston Ward Three Republican Committee. Boston's Ward Three includes the North End, West End, part of Beacon Hill, downtown, waterfront, Chinatown, and part of the South End.

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

David Trumbull is on vacation on Cape Cod this week. This repeat column originally appeared in the Post-Gazette of August 24, 2007.
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Wayby David Trumbull
August 7, 2009

Thanks largely to talk radio, we are aware of unnecessary, counterproductive and out-right harmful government projects to build bridges to nowhere and highways to expedite the destruction of American jobs. At the same time the roads and bridges we depend on daily are unsafe and overdue for maintenance. This is just one symptom of the crisis in leadership in Washington and on Beacon Hill.

My colleague Patrick McNamara and I have become fascinated with this question of leadership. We believe we have found some answers in the latest findings of science and in ancient history and literature.

Our claim is that wise leadership is central to the establishment of order in human society. Conversely an unscrupulous leader is central to production of disorder in society. Two styles of leadership are identified: 1) a prestige-oriented style where the leader attains his leadership position via a reputation for high moral character and accomplishment. 2) a dominance-oriented strategy where the leader attains his leadership position via an ability to politically manipulate and dominate his opponents. Both styles of leadership find their evolutionary roots in the need to develop cooperative enterprises and systems of trust between individuals and in the need to punish free-riders or individuals who seek to benefit from cooperative enterprises without contributing any of the work required for
success.

Like the ancient biographer Plutarch, we believe that leadership is relational and that the motivations of leaders and followers are keys to understanding leadership and change. We also find that leadership has moral dimensions. We therefore make a distinction between transforming and transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is the process whereby one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of valued things. Transformational leadership has a greater moral content in that it transforms followers into moral agents and leaders in their own right. We show that these lessons on leadership can be found in the ancient Greek philosopher and biographer Plutarch.

Plutarch taught and wrote in the Roman Empire in the second century of our era. The aim of his successful school of rhetoric and philosophy was to turn boys into men with the intellectual and moral strength to be leaders. His theory of leadership is worked out and illustrated in a series of biographies of leaders of the classical age. He argued that emulation of the moral and intellectual virtues of others could trigger leadership skills in anyone who had a little ambition. We look at Plutarch's insights into emulation and leadership; we then summarize the scientific literature on emulation and leadership theory. We then conclude with recommendations on how to incorporate emulation as a focus into future leadership studies.

Our book, An Evolutionary Psychology of Leader-Follower Relations ( ISBN: 1-60021-562-9), is available from Nova Science Publishers (www.novapublishers.com)

Beer is Proof that God Loves Us...

A recent study shows beer better than water after exercise.

This is a good time to set the record straight. Benjamin Franklin did not, as is so frequently asserted, say "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Anyone who has read his Autobiography knows that Dr. Franlin had a low regard for beer and beer-drinkers.

Dr. Franklin was, however, a wine drinker, and he wrote--

We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy. The miracle in question was only performed to hasten the operation, under circumstances of present necessity, which required it. --Letter to Abbé Morellet (1779)

Buy a Poppy for a Disabled Vet

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The Torch: be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

—John McCrae (1872-1918)

Each year I see fewer and fewer men on the street wearing remembrance poppies on Memorial Day, since 1971 celebrated on the last Monday in May. One year I couldn’t even find anyone selling “Buddy Poppies,” the paper replica flowers that the Veterans of Foreign Wars sell to raise money for disabled veterans.

For more than 75 years, the VFW's Buddy Poppy program has raised millions of dollars in support of veterans’ welfare and the well being of their dependents. According to the VFW, the name “Buddy Poppy” is registered with the U.S. Patent Office. The VFW has made that trademark a guarantee that all poppies bearing that name and the VFW label are genuine products of the work of disabled and needy veterans. No other organization, firm or individual can legally use the name “Buddy” Poppy.

When you buy your Buddy Poppy to wear this Memorial Day you will be giving material aid to a disabled veteran. And when you wear your Buddy Poppy you will remind to everyone who sees you of the meaning of Memorial Day.

The American Legion also sells crepe paper poppies for Memorial Day. That is another fine organization worthy of your support.

Although the United States Department of Veterans Affairs states “The wearing of poppies in honor of America's war dead is traditionally done on Memorial Day, not Veterans Day” many of us do join our friends from the British Commonwealth nations in wearing the red poppy of remembrance on November 11th as well.

This Memorial Day remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion to cause of liberty.

Friday is Straw Hat Day

May 15th is Straw Hat Day the beginning of the season when men may wear their straw boaters and Panamas rather than the fur felt fedoras, porkpies, homburgs, and bowlers that we wear (You do wear a hat, don't you?) the rest of the year. For more information see http://www.thefedoralounge.com. Straw hats may be worn until Felt Hat Day which is September 15th.

Filene's Basement To Sell Boston Store

Filene's Basement To Sell Boston Store

Since the Basement closed "temporarily" so they could destroy Downtown with that pointless hole in ground I have done all my clothes shopping online or with two little old Italian tailors on Pearl Street. I tried Macy's a few times but gave up after never finding what I was looking for (not exotic items, just shirts and ties). That place is so badly laid out that I never did find the men's department, if they have one. But in trying to find it I felt like a WWI doughboy in a mustard gas attack 'cause apparently there is no way to enter the store without passing through at area of vile stench they call the perfume department.

Then I went to Marshalls, TJ Max, and H&M. At least I could find the men's department. It was very small and all three had precisely the same items at exactly the same prices and not a thing I would take if they gave it away. The selection was as varied as that of a Moscow, USSR department story circa 1959. Suits, yep we got 'em two-button, center -- you gots two colors to chose fom. Shirts, sure we got dress shirts, all spread collar, one-button barrel cuff, your choice of six colors and two in stripes (but they only come in a size 15). None in my size (which is not an odd size). Casual shirts, you betcha , four selections of prints, all straight collar and 2-button barrell cuff. None with sleaves long enough for me (it's not like I'm some freak-o-nature or basketball player, just a normal build plus ten pounds overweight). Swimsuits -- about a half-doz. models, all too small for anyone who has eaten in say the last four months.

No wonder retail is dying!

Oh, and I passed by the formalwear shop on Milk St (by "formalwear" they mean, of course a mixture of semi-formalwear and outlandish costumes that band-leaders formerly wore in the warmer months). Half of their display window is given over to t-shirts that look like they were used to clean up used motor-oil spills. I predict that shop won't be around much longer either.

An Ember Day Prayer

Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, who of thy divine providence hast appointed various orders in thy Church: Give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to all who are called to any office and ministry for thy people; and so fill them with the truth of thy doctrine and clothe them with holiness of life, that they may faithfully serve before thee, to the glory of thy great Name and for the benefit of thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Tennyson's Ulysses

When I get to the part where Ulysses addresses his mariners I am always reminded that he has no mariners, for they perished on the voyage home--some through the accidents of fate, some through their own foolishness, and, yes, some as the result of Ulysses' own arrogance and risk-taking. And yet I am equally confident that if they had it to do over they'd be on that little ship with Ulysses again. He gave them high adventure, visits to wondrous lands, and a part in an under-taking greater than themselves.

The final lines are often quoted out of context; that's a pity, for like Ulysses and his men, you need to get through the whole thing to "earn" them.

Ulysses
Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honoured of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers;
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breath were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this grey spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle —
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me —
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.