This New England

The Black Death, in the Toggenburg Bible (1411).

How will the flu pandemic, if that's what it is, affect college commencements, of which New England famously has many?

Will the usual groups of thousands of people be broken up into small, closed-circuit-TV presentations in Cloroxed seminar rooms, from which students and parents will listen to the speeches of fevered honorary-degree recipients? Will degrees be awarded by email?

Just how impersonal can college bosses make it in the age of media-driven anxiety about health hazards -- real or (mostly) imagined? Will the personal-injury lawyers be lurking in case college administrations aren't "prudent'' (or paranoic) enough?

Meanwhile, hyper-vigilant Providence Mayor David Cicilline has asked people not to shake hands in his city because of swine-flu fears. Of course, it has always been dangerous to shake hands in Providence. You might end up in the river or something.
Just signal your intentions with other hand gestures.

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter is a strange, reclusive figure. There is something very 19th New Englandish (or Jane Austenish) about the man, who is retiring and moving back to his "dirt-colored'' (to quote the AP) farmhouse (once owned by his grandparents) in rural Weare, N.H., near Concord. He plans to make renovations there to better house his vast collection of books.

He's a fanatical reader, and likely to become a luminary of the local historical society. Can they get him to run for the Board of Selectmen?

He sets a good model by deciding to retire at 69, instead of hanging on for dear life as long as he can, as do far too many Supreme Court justices. He has reportedly worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, when the court is in session. Having no spouse or children eases the way. Much of that time is spent reading legal documents.

Certainly dealing with text is a lot less complicated and stressful than dealing with humans, who, after all, might have swine flu, or at least bad tempers and prying eyes.

Now he can read what he wants (mysteries? Back copies of Yankee Magazine? Architectural plans for restoring the Old Man of the Mountain?) and enjoy the vivid, even violent seasonal changes of New Hampshire. This public figure has other interests -- how nice. (A left, Kindred Spirits (1849), by Asher B. Durand)

XXx

At the current rate of state legislation, it looks as if in a couple of a years all the New England states will allow the use of "medical marijuana,'' with the concept of "medical necessity'' becoming increasingly elastic. They'll also all have gay marriage. Which change will have the most cultural effect?

In any case, the verdant hills of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine may soon have a cash crop to rival maple sap. The region's average altitude may soon exceed Colorado's.

XXX

"An Associated Press analysis shows the median pay package for CEOs of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7 percent to $7.6 million in 2008.''

Poor lambkins.

 Tags  college commencements David Cicilline David Souter maple sap medical marijuana N.H. Weare

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