Thanks to my picture appearing on this page a few hundred times these past 43 years, I gain comments from complete strangers in public places.
Mostly quick compliments or stern criticisms, both welcome. It’s the only job I know where competence is measured as much in opposition as in approval.
Mostly I enjoy it. Still hear the cracking voice of the fellow who cautiously approached me a dozen years ago in the produce section at Market Basket, before asking: “Was that you who wrote about Cleveland?”
My usual response is, “Depends on what you have in mind,” but this fellow was so shy, I had to play it straight:
“Yes. The Rock Hall, the Lakefront, the architecture, Great Lakes Brewery, live music in public parks, dates to catch the Red Sox and Celtics…”
“I’m from Cleveland,” he managed to say, “that’s the first time I ever read anything good about my home town.”
Lately, I have nothing good to say about the archival center at the Newburyport Public Library, but I am being asked why it is back in the news. My guess: Two recent letters nicely summed up by their headlines:
“When stewardship fails” (May 13) by Walt Thompson and “Archival center is a shell of what it used to be” (May 18) by Ghlee Woodworth.
Full disclosure: Both writers are my friends, and we three were among the petitioners to the Newburyport City Council to investigate City Hall’s role in the disastrous moves that erased the archival center’s volunteer program and railroaded the regionally acclaimed archivist out of her position.
To their letters, I’ll add my own, “McCauley threw open the windows” (May 13), a tribute to the former councillor upon hearing of his untimely passing. In it, I describe the moment when McCauley took on the leading role of making the library investigation happen.
What prompted my two friends to write about the formerly renowned archival center? Not sure, but from what I’ve read and heard, the list of complaints from researchers and historians who thought they could access it as readily as in the past, has been growing.
Complaints are now finding their way to the library’s board of directors, which always includes new members who likely find that serving the mayor who appoints them and doing the right thing is a bit like joining the Trump administration.
Problem is that the incompetent mayor managed to dodge all accountability for the destruction of the archival center despite the findings of the investigation that, in the words of one local historian, should have been “a career-ending document” for him.
This brings me to the question being put to me since my last column, “Crimes-R-Us and other musical acts” (May 21): For all of the ridicule I hurl at Republicans in Washington, D.C., why am I not at Newburyport’s weekly Saturday rallies on High Street?
I’m honestly torn. Among the many issues noted on their signs is the censorship of books. Where were the people holding those signs during the prolonged destruction of NPL? If they can see it in Florida and Tennessee, why their blind eye to State Street?
Did those holding signs citing the 2019 Mueller Report pay any attention to the equally damning 2025 report on the Newburyport Public Library?
Some hid behind pathetic excuses for complacency such as, “There’s a lot we don’t know.” (So why weren’t they asking?) Even subsequent first-hand reports of a toxic work environment in the clerk’s office did not stop them from endorsing the smiling mayor’s re-election.
And, oh, how they love those photo-ops with him in City Hall.
Apologies to most folks at the Saturday rallies, but there are at least a dozen among you with whom I want nothing in common. If, on any given Saturday, you happen to join the weekly rally in Ipswich instead, I’ll gladly answer any question or criticism of this.
Thanks to my picture, I’ll be easy to find. No matter if I have no idea who you are.
Critique Jack Garvey, resident of Newbury, at hammlynn@gmail.com or at https://buskersdelight.home.blog/