From Liberty Street

The Harvard Square Commentary is an online weekly magazine which was started several years ago by my friend, retired history professor Ernest Cassara. Last year Ernest got tired of the hassle of managing a web site. So, with the assistance of my brother, I agreed to take over as managing editor. I had been writing a weekly column for Ernest, titled From Liberty Street. So when I took over the editorial duties. I continued with the column. In it I tend to address political and social issues but occasionally diverge to other subjects. From Liberty Street appears first in the Harvard Square Commentary and, then, a week later, is posted here.


Brief Items on Public Issues

When I was a boy in Atlanta, the feature of the Journal that most appealed to me was a short boxed commentary -- usually no more than 200 words -- which appeared on the front page everyday under the title "Piney Woods Pete Says." I went to Piney Woods Pete even before I went to the sports page, and I carried his thoughts around in my mind all day and tried to match them with what I saw going on around me in the world. It may have been that that Piney Woods Pete dealt mostly in commonplace sensibility, but for an eight year old boy reading his pieces was stimulating.

Both the title and the style of Piney Woods Pete are too provincial for today's readers, but in his spirit, I've placed on this site four sets of commentaries that resemble him, at least in length.

  • On and Off the Mark: These are responses to opinion makers and public officials, and tend to be political in nature.

  • Images Rising: These are remarks about television, movies, and the internet, and rise from the sense that attitudes are being shaped more and more by what people see on screens, and less and less by what they take off of pages. I regret the change, but I think it's nonetheless underway.

  • Readings: These are brief notices which arise from the conviction that literature, before it is anything else, is a thing to be stirred together with life.  They seek to counter the literary dogma that edification and aesthetic pleasure are incompatible.  Here, I approach literature broadly, referring not only to fiction and poetry but also to any speculative field of inquiry, such as philosophy, educational theory, or history.

  • Products and Services: This is a page for commenting on how we spend our money, what we get for it, and whether the people we pay are giving us fair value for our dollars.


Out and About

These are photographs supported by short essays which comment on places and the influence they've had on me. It makes up a kind of homespun sociology. Since I live in Vermont, most of the scenes will come from Vermont. But when I visit elsewhere, I'll try to find places that will be of interest to other travelers.


Essays and Reviews

Here I include a sampling of the papers and public addresses I've produced over the years.


Archives for Past Topics
(Click on the title to view the archive.)

Bulletin Board: Text to be composed

That’s The Way I See It: The Point (or WNCS) was a Montpelier radio station, which offeres commentary three times a week from a panel of a half-dozen Vermonters selected to present a range of opinions.  I had been a WNCS contributor for twenty years.  My pieces were broadcast every other week from September through early June.  The person with whom I worked at WNCS in Montpelier has left the station. So that means there will be no more "That's The Way I See It." Consequently, we've decided to drop it from our list of active topics and keep it on the site simply as an archive.

Using "Family" as an Adjective: I started with the assumption that groups who push what they call "traditional values" had interesting thoughts that would be worth examining on an ongoing basis. But my investigations have convinced me they don't have vital thoughts. What most of them have are prejudices they aren't willing either to analyze or discuss. To keep saying that, over and again, is of little value. So, I've decided to drop this topic.


Persons or publications wishing to reproduce anything on this site,
or who would like to have ongoing reproduction rights, should write to

John R. Turner, 45 Liberty Street, Montpelier, Vermont, 05602
or e-mail  jrturner45@comcast.net.


©John R. Turner

All images and text on this page are the property of
Word and Image of Vermont

This site is designed and managed by Neil Turner

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This site exists to promote the pleasures of discussion and to nudge us all -- myself included -- an inch or two towards decency.
On and Off the Mark:

From Liberty Street:


After Nietzsche:

Out and About:

Images Rising:

Products and Services:

Essays and Reviews:
You're welcome to get involved in, or comment on, any of the activities listed below.

John R. Turner
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