Philocrites

Meffa.

by Philocrites

So did the Dalai Lama come to your city to bless a Buddhist temple? Do you have one of Zagat's top-rated bistros in your neck of the woods? Did Krispy Kreme choose your town to launch its statewide invasion? The answer is yes if you happen to live in the new spiritual, culinary, and trendsetting capital of Massachusetts.

The article includes Unitarian bonus trivia about Lydia Maria Child's "Over the River and Through the Woods" — written about a singular wood and a grandfather's house in Medford — and James Pierpont's "Jingle Bells" — written apparently "in a pub on Salem Street." ("Funky town: For diversity, affordability, and doughnuts, there's no place like Medford." Ed Siegel. Boston Globe 9.20.03, C1, C6.)

Regarding Pierpont: Savannah trivia junkies may protest, "But he's ours!" And here we bump up against the nuances that tourists always hate and tour guides usually forget. According to a copy of Savannah magazine I received from a friend, "In 1852, the Rev. John Pierpont Jr. came to minister to the [Unitarian] congregation. His brother, James Lord Pierpont, became the church's organist and conducted children's singing classes. James Pierpont's holiday classic "Jingle Bells" was copyrighted during his tenure in Savannah."

Aha! (See "Troup Square Jewel" by Lisa Lane, Savannah Jul/Aug 2001: 47-51; thanks, P.G.!)

Shopping for the Dalai Lama.

And speaking of Medford, my friend Hank Peirce, the minister of the funky Unitarian Universalist church in the funky town, tells the Boston Phoenix about his recent adventures trying to decide what do you give the man who has nothing?

(This entry was expanded 9.20.03 19:35:41.)

Copyright © 2003 by Philocrites | Posted 20 September 2003 at 8:54 AM

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