Showing posts with label Emily Dickinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emily Dickinson. Show all posts

Friday, July 11, 2014

Arresting Miss Emily

Emily Dickinson stands before Judge LoConto on July 7th

Amherst police arrested Emily Dickinson, age 30, back in February for stealing a credit card and her mother's prescription drugs, an all too familar combination resulting from substance abuse.


A business day doesn't go by at the Eastern Hampshire District Court without a drug related problem coming before a judge.  

And in Amherst, where the other Emily Dickinson is arguably our most famous citizen, the misery associated with drug/alcohol abuse is certainly on the short list for pernicious problems that need to be solved.

 The Dickinson Homestead

Judge LoConto placed Ms. Dickinson on probation for a year with a $65/month fee and unscheduled drug/alcohol screening.

As she was leaving the Judge, sounding sincere, wished her "good luck" and reminded her the Probation Department is there to help.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Frosty Morning

"There's a certain slant of light, Winter Afternoon" 


Now you know why Miss Emily had an "aversion" to winter.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Historic Building Sold (Again)


 40 Dickinson Street, Amherst 

Amherst College, the number one landowner in town, just purchased the former Paige's Chevy, aka Classic Chevy, building at 40 Dickinson Street for $474,000.  A tad more than the former owner of Classic Chevy business paid for it back in August ($325,000) but still well below its assessed value of $548,200.

Thus if it goes off the tax rolls, like the vast majority of Amherst College owned property, it will no longer pay the town treasury just over $10,000 in annual property taxes.

The two-story brick building to the rear of the more recent office addition dates back to 1880,  so if Amherst College is going to raze the building to "put up a parking lot" they will need the permission of the Amherst Historical Commission.  Currently the Commission has the power to implement a one year demolition delay to protect historic structures.

The property also touches the overgrown remains of "Kelley Square", another historic, albeit forgotten, piece of history intertwined with the most historic figure in town history.

Or as faithful servant One-Armed Tom used to call her, "Miss Emily."


Sunday, September 8, 2013

Were toward Eternity –

The original black wrought iron gate has returned 

After an almost two month absence, workers completed installation yesterday of the now completely refurbished 155-year-old wrought iron fence that encloses the burial plot of Emily Dickinson and her family in Amherst's historic West Cemetery.

The $52,300 project, using Community Preservation Act funds set aside for historic preservation, was overwhelmingly approved by Amherst Town Meeting -- like any project relating to Emily Dickinson.

Because my friends, as icons go, the "Belle of Amherst" is priceless.

Don't worry, it's a rubber mallet

The final glossy coat has a shine that would wake the dead
Took the "Dickinson kinsfolk" long enough ...
Trinkets adorn the top of Miss Emily's gravestone

Flowers and a new fence for Miss Emily (and Lavinia)

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

All In A Name (Or Place)



Google just announced the top 50 "digital capitals" of all 50 states, and by gosh Amherst is #1 in the state!  Well, not our Amherst ... the one in New Hampshire.

Except Google sort of confused them with us via the Emily Dickinson hometown reference.  Umm ... and you guys made fun of Apple Maps?

But you're right about one thing:  Amherst, Massachusetts, Miss Emily's hometown, is indeed a gem.

MassLive reports

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Come A Little Bit Closer


 Lavina and Emily Dickinson:  still together

Fans of our most famous town resident -- "The Belle Of Amherst" -- can now get even closer to the rock star of a poetess.  The ornate black iron fence that enclosed the Dickinson family burial plot for 155 years has disappeared.

 Miss Emily receiving visitors early this evening

No, not stolen.  Amherst Town Meeting appropriated $62,000 in Community Preservation funds to have the fence refurbished, so it had to be carefully dismantled and taken off site.

And when it returns it will be good for another 155 years -- as will Miss Emily's poetry. 



Only the footings remain

Monday, June 3, 2013

Guarding Miss Emily

A hawk sits high on a branch hanging over West Cemetery this afternoon

Could have used this carnivorous sentry over the weekend as two college aged youths were caught breaking & entering  the Dickinson Homestead on Main Street early Sunday morning, not far from the Dickinson burial plot in historic downtown West Cemetery.

Amherst College police foiled the would be cat burglars.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Radiant In White


Amherst History Museum displays Emily Dickinson's only surviving article of clothing: white dress (photo by Jim Wald)

On March 14 the Amherst Community Preservation Act Committee will decide the cosmetic fate of Emily Dickinson's simple, unlike her, white dress ... which has not been cleaned since the early-1980s. And even then, a task probably not all that properly performed.

What is the cost of professionally dry cleaning Superman's cape?  $1,000.  Yes, pocket change.

Although the Amherst Historical Society is also requesting an additional $20,000 for improvements to the Strong House, home of the Amherst History Museum.  The museum is located next door to Amherst's other downtown gem, the Jones Library.

Town Meeting will have to approve the CPA committee's recommendations, but they usually do.

Via the CPA Amherst has been good to our resident icon over the past few years, appropriating money to renovate/preserve the black ornate iron fence around her final resting place in West Cemetery, improving lighting and signage around the cemetery itself, and helped with a small amount of seed money for the transformation of the landscape around Miss Emily's home.

While our reclusive poetic genius was indeed, wrapped in white for her funeral then lovingly ensconced in a white coffin for her final journey to West Cemetery, it's more of an urban legend that she dressed only in white.

Still, this simple -- but priceless -- white dress is all we have.  Also priceless?  Respect!





Tuesday, November 6, 2012

How would Miss Emily vote?




The Amherst of old (before UMass/Amherst became the giganormous flagship of higher education) was a L-O-T more conservative than we are today.  So I would have to imagine our beloved reclusive poet Emily Dickinson -- never able to vote in her lifetime -- would have supported our current Senator, Scott Brown and Republican challenger, and former Governor of our liberal state, Mitt Romney for President.

And since she was brilliant, Miss Emily would also have been smart enough not to tell anyone in the Amherst of today how she voted.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Another Miss Emily?

 A mature Emily Dickinson?

Perhaps having only one known daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson has added to her mystery and allure over the years.  Not that she needed that, mind you.  Her poems speak for themselves. As loudly now as ever, even 126 years after she was called back.

Miss Emily, coffee at Rao's 

If my great, great grandfather Tom Kelley, Miss Emily's loyal "domestic", was still around he could give a positive ID one way or the other.   Of course he would also report that there was never anything especially notable about Emily Dickinson's physical wrappings, at least not nearly so compared to what emanated from her core.


Dickinson Homestead Museum, pride of Amherst  (College and the town). Miss Emily's room 2nd floor corner windows facing west&south

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Miss Emily Returns


Miss Emily Dickinson at the Amherst Farmers Market (she refused to comment)

 

Monday, May 21, 2012

A Historic Decision

Tonight Town Meeting will decided the fate of the most historic neighborhood in Amherst, choosing to preserve forever the look and feel of the sacred Dickinson Homestead and immediate surrounding area, or allowing the creative whims of any owner who buys a piece of our collective core.

Henry Hills House built 1863
Leonard Hills House, built 1864 

Two ultra prime building lots on Main Street below Henry Hills House
The Hills Houses built by father and son, designed by architect William Fenno Pratt
First Congregational Church (center)  opposes historic district restrictions
Tacky signs like this (on left) would be regulated by Historic District rules--but they probably are now anyway
Railroad Street Station, built 1853
The Evergreens, home to Austin Dickinson, built 1856

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Occupy Miss Emily


So in addition to a throng of outsiders who descended on Amherst for the Extravaganja pot festival or UMass Soccerfest on Saturday, a small group of historic Civil War reenactors also set up camp on the Dickinson Homestead east lawn, less than a musket shot from town center.

Had it occurred during her lifetime Miss Emily probably would not have noticed, since her upstairs windows faced south towards Amherst College and west towards downtown.

But she certainly took note of the great fire that devastated "merchants row"--most of the downtown--in the dead of night, July 4, 1879.   Her reclusive room became a front row seat:  "We were waked by the ticking of the bells--the bells tick in Amherst for a fire, to tell the firemen.  I sprang to the window, and each side of the curtain saw that awful sun.  The moon was shining  high at the time and the birds singing like trumpets."

Her ever protective younger sister told her it was only fireworks celebrating the July 4th holiday.   "Vinnie's only the 4th of July I shall always remember.  I think she will tell us so when we die, to keep us from being afraid."

Less than seven years later, set against a rising fog, Miss Emily was called back.  As always, loyal Lavinia was near at hand--perhaps whispering reassuringly that everything would be okay. 

Civil War camp, east lawn Dickinson Homestead

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Called Back

 
A continuously changing collection of trinkets and mementos adorn EED's tombstone

 
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage 

Miss Emily's final resting place, centered in West Cemetery, is enclosed by an ornate black wrought iron fence constructed in 1858 for one of the elite families of Amherst--the Dickinson's.

Today the tranquil site enclosing four tombstones attracts visitors from all over the world, almost exclusively to pay homage to the "Belle of Amherst".  And it has been showing its age for too many years now.

More recent plaque looks fine
 The original 1858 gate was stolen in the 1970s and returned in 2004

Next month Amherst Town Meeting will consider recommendations of the Community Preservation Act Committee, whose sole charge is to sort out capital requests concerning Recreation/Open Space, Affordable Housing and Historical Preservation.

Enter the Holy Grail of Amherst history, the decaying fence that has protected the Dickinson family for over 150 years. The $40,000 request, added to $21,000 appropriated two years ago, will allow for complete refurbishment of the entire fence to good as new condition.

The renovation will start this summer and is expected to be completed before first snowfall, although the fence will have to be disassembled and taken off site.

Since Emily Dickinson is arguably the most famous citizen in our 250+ year history, it's a safe bet Town Meeting will approve the spending article.  Although the occasional curmudgeon does point out that perhaps Amherst College with its $1.6 billion endowment and owner of the Dickinson Homestead now turned Museum should shoulder the cost.  After all, her grandfather Samuel Dickinson founded Amherst College. 

But Miss Emily does not belong to Amherst College; she belongs to us all.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Shadow O'er the Art

Miss Emily gazes at the tree casting a shadow

Created by artist David Fichter in 2005, using $35,000 in privately raised money, the historic mural along the side of West Cemetery (where Miss Emily is buried) still looks striking. And yes, as senior planner Jonathan Tucker pointed out on Facebook, the graffiti "artists" have shown proper respect (or maybe it's the special coating/sealer that went over the finished work).

Meanwhile, on an adjacent wall...

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Those daring young men...

Shumway Landscaping still cleaning up after the Halloween weekend storm

A brave worker going after sky high, large "hangers" on the grounds of the Emily Dickinson homestead. Nice to see Amherst College using local contractors.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

"I'm nobody! Who are you?"

Dickinson Homestead

Miss Emily's poetic title reminds me of a line from one of the greatest speeches of all time: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here." But we do remember--and history took tremendous note of Abraham Lincoln and those ten sentences delivered on the battlefield of Gettysburg that November afternoon.

Just as the world has long remembered Emily Dickinson, "The Belle of Amherst."
Marathon room 4:15 PM First Congregation Church

Early this morning volunteers commenced reading aloud her entire portfolio of known poems, all 1,789. When I stopped by the First Congregational Church around 4:15 PM they had just hit 900, a little over half done. Marathon indeed! I think they could use a few more Irish servants.

And into the night


They complete the task (although I'm sure most of the readers would not use the word task) at 10:01 PM.

Friday, January 29, 2010

The Catcher retires

Coming of age in 1969 as a freshman at St. Michael's High School in Northampton you could not help but be smitten by J.D. Salinger's stunning work, 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Plus, the similarity between Mr. Salinger and Emily Dickinson, The Belle of Amherst, was strikingly similar.

My freshman English teacher Sister Bernard Francis whom we all called "Bernie"--but never to her face--had assigned a book report presentation before the entire class on any novel that struck our fancy.

I decided to accompany my daring talk on 'The Catcher in the Rye' with a photo slide show almost like a PowerPoint presentation ; and, being the rebellious Holden Caulfield type, I could not resist shooting the scene where Caulfield--who hates profane graffiti especially when it is within the view of children--erases a "Fuck you," while noting he can't possibly erase them all.

Probably one reason 'Catcher in the Rye' is high on the list of books banned from schools and libraries--although equally high when measuring books taught in public schools.

But this was St. Michael's, a classic old style private Catholic school. The nuns could do whatever they wanted, including corporal punishment.

For my final slide I projected a rather large "Fuck You" etched in white chalk on the red brick exterior of the school; I took the photo holding the camera in my right hand while my left hand used an eraser to cover only the F--so everybody instantly got the idea.

Yes, it caused a bit of a group gasp. And then almost everyone turned to look at the teacher who was sitting in the back of the room with the lights down. Her face had turned scarlet red--readily noticeable against the backdrop of her black-and-white nuns habit. But she said nothing.

As she slowly got up from the small wooden student desk and walked toward the front of the room, I was sure my hand would soon be stinging from the impact of a wooden ruler. She simply said, "Thank you Mr. Kelley, return to your seat."

In those few moments, as she angrily approached me, the angst between her roles as an English teacher and Catholic nun played out, and--fortunately for me--the English teacher won.
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Miss Emily (of course).

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you — Nobody — Too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! They’d banish us — you know!

How dreary — to be — Somebody!
How public — like a Frog —
To tell one’s name — the livelong June —
To an admiring Bog!
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My other blog reports

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Dickinson Homestead renewal

About 100 folks attended the ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday morning on a gorgeous day (much like the day of her funeral) to celebrate the historically accurate grounds makeover for Amherst's deservedly most famous resident, Emily Dickinson.


The $275,000 project paid for by 17 private donors (one of them kicking in a "challenge grant" of $125,000) with a little town seed money to start the planning process ($15,000 in CPA funds which I supported in Town Meeting back in 2005) the entire project required less than a year.

Since Emily Dickinson confined herself to an upstairs room or beloved garden, the Homestead grounds comprised a significant part of her physical world--tended to by Irish servants who later honored Miss Emily's final written request that her white "coffin [was] not driven but carried through fields of buttercups" out the back to a final resting place in West Cemetery.