KIOSK HELLO

Lee, Massachusetts, a beautiful town and to an outsider, a patriotic one of sorts at that. It’s massive white Romanesque style church built in 1857, Main Street and Joe’s Diner gives it an All-American touch, in a good way. Rockwell, the most American of American painters we all know and some possibly love, was buzzing around Lee and in 1958 he painted “The Runaway” at Joe’s for the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post”. (If you are in the area it’s interesting to spend an hour or so at the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge) Hungry around the same time we were in Lee we detoured into Joe’s and had that relatively unknown in my book but who the heck knows the real story dish called “Grapenut Pudding” ( a New England favorite according to “Yankee” magazine among others) and we shared a coffee milkshake, it was a beautiful moment and reminded me of why I love this country deep down under the MANY layers of our current quagmire. Massachusetts is chock full of American history, we all need a little pride in our place of origin to make things happen, let’s hope the next election goes well. Happy July 4th from the heart of New York City!