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My final column for the Foxboro Reporter: “Goodbye, Farewell And Amen: The Writer Steps Off The Stage”

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter, and in edited form for the Boston City Paper, July 2019

“The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life? That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” — Walt Whitman

After 23 years, I have certainly contributed a verse. Quite a few actually. And I feel at this point, it’s time to pass the torch.

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My thoughts on Star Trek: Picard

October, 2020

I’ve wrapped up Star Trek: Picard last night. Liked it very much, more than I thought I would. In some ways I felt it was a bit padded. Too many character sub-plots, too many story lines — would have been much better with, say, five or six episodes rather than 10.

Acting, cast, special effects all great; the story is a convoluted and even hard to follow at times but the payoff in the final episode (Picard and Data saying good-bye) was worth it and seeing the Rikers again also poignant.

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Binge-Watching Star Trek Discovery during COVID-19 — a VERY entertaining Trek

by Robert Gillis
5/2020

One of the benefits of quarantine (such as it is) — I’m halfway through Star Trek: Discovery Season 2.

The reviews I read all talk CANON. And how the show violates canon.

As a die hard Trekker since 1982 who can quote entire movies (really) and knows what year Kirk took command of the Enterprise (2265) and knew Uhura’s first name 30 years before it was made canon (Nyota), and gets every reference and Easter egg and homage, I find more and more I don’t really care about visual differences in continuity, what is canon and what isn’t, why changes are made, what is official and what is not.

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Black Lives Matter
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Black Lives Matter

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Boston City Paper, June 7, 2020
https://boscp.com/2020/06/07/commentary-by-robert-gillis/

It has happened to me TWICE this week that I have said, “Black Lives Matter” and someone responded, “All lives matter.” You are not wrong that all lives matter, but you are *spectacularly* missing the point. People of color, for centuries, have been KILLED by white people — for no reason except the color of their skin.

To my uninformed white friends, allow me to explain in a way you might understand.

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America 2020: Protests, Violence, Racism — Divided We Fall

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter
May 31, 2020

I grew up in a very poor section of Dorchester. The Parish was (and is) quite diverse — White, African American, Hispanic and Latino and many other cultures and races and creeds.

The School Yard: In my school yard, blacks and whites played together, talked and interacted and it was no big deal what color someone was. We were all poor kids from the same neighborhood.

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Do not feed the online trolls in the comment section and Facebook groups

by Robert Gillis
May 16, 2020, 2…, maybe 3 A.M.?

i think it was the guy who said sunshine kills COVID-19 that finally pushed me over the edge.

You just cannot debate with stupid people.

People have different opinions, cool. Don’t agree with me, no problem. We can talk all night.

But I am a huge fan of reality, facts, and science.

I will no longer engage the people or argue just for the sake of argument, the trolls who insist that the sun is neither hot nor bright, just to kick the hornet’s nest.

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After fifty years, WAAF-107.3 signs off in Boston

By Robert Gillis

Since Tuesday, I have been listening to 107.3 WAAF most of this week as the DJs past and present say good-bye and share memories.

Tuesday the announcement came down that the station is off the air as of tonight, sold. New format starts tomorrow.

Yeah, there’s satellite — but the end of another longstanding terrestrial statios like WAAF is a loss to Boston and another list of casualties of independent station like WCOZ, WFNX, WBCN, etc.

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Welcoming Ghosts of Christmas at the North Shore Music Theater with David Coffee

December 21, 2019:

And then this happened. Once again having the privilege to speak with David Coffee, Mr. Ebeneezer Scrooge, and tonight congratulating him on his 26th year in this incredible version of A Christmas Carol 🙂 SO good to be back in Beverly to see this again! — celebrating Christmas at North Shore Music Theatre.

David Coffee has played Ebeneezer Scrooge for over 25 years and I have seen this performance about 10 times since 1993.

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New Electronic Sign For The Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center / Orpheum Theater Deserves A YES Vote At Town Meeting

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 5/2019

Our annual town meeting will be May 13, 2019, and I would like to use this space to encourage you to vote YES on a somewhat controversial citizen’s petition.

Article 17 references the Marylyn Rodman Performing Arts Center (The Orpheum). Specifically, allowing a change in the town policy regarding electronic signs within 1000 feet of Foxboro Common. I urge you to vote YES on this article and allow the new electronic sign to be installed.

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Incendie Notre Dame de Paris; image by LeLaisserPasserA38. Usage here licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org; all copyright remains with original owner.
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The Church still stands: Remembering the promise of Easter Sunday after the Notre Dame Cathedral fire

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper, 4/2019

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” — John 2:19

Years ago, when I worked for Honeywell-Bull, I traveled to our parent company in France to do some software work and meet the team there. During the brief non-work hours and one weekend, I visited Louveciennes, Versailles, Angers, and Paris. It was awe-inspiring for a kid from Dorchester to walk the streets of these historic cities.

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Twenty-Five takeaways from Sunday’s Patriots Super Bowl sendoff rally, Sunday January 28, 2019

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 1/2019 and the Boston City Paper 2/2019

1. I am SO glad the weather wasn’t what we had last Sunday; no way this event would have been held in those icy storm conditions – it was cold (28) but no wind, just seasonable for January – nothing we’re not used to. We bundle up, we’re ready! Some folks have been here since 4:00 AM!

2. Susan and I go in and head toward the “Foxboro Resident” tent, we get a special VIP lanyard and we’re ON THE FIELD.

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Dinner with Mom brings back Memories of Christmas Past

by Robert Gillis
Published In The Foxboro Reporter 12/2018

This past Friday at my weekly visit to Mom, over two helpings of chicken broccoli Ziti, Mom and I caught on news, gossip, and then got down to doing a few things around the house. I always ask Mom to have some tasks for me to; it makes me feel needed, I tell her. We got the Christmas tree up last week and she has already decorated and I spent time rigging up the star to stay in place with a MacGyver solution of a coat hanger.

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Washington Capital
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Washington 2018: Have you no sense of decency?

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and The Boston City Paper, 10/2018

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. … Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?” — Attorney Joseph Welch, speaking to Senator Joseph McCarthy, 1954

“Be decent, and don’t make it about yourself.” — Rachel Maddow, MSNBC 8/27/2018, speaking to the White House.

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My 3:00 A.M. Facebook Reboot Get a grip folks. It’s only Facebook)

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper, 9/2018

Social media, particularly Facebook, has been in the news these past months for various reasons. It’s very easy to get boggled by the sheer number of ways people communicate these days – Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Tumblr, Facebook, the list goes on and on.

I thought I would share my recent experience with Facebook.

A few weeks ago, I stayed up into the wee hours and deleted the great majority of my content on Facebook going back many years.

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“Open your eyes,” a story of my encounter with two homeless people

 
By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and the Boston City Paper, 7/2018

“When I close my eyes, so I would not see / My Lord did trouble me / When I let things stand that should not be / My Lord did trouble me / Did trouble me / With a word or a sign / With a ring of a bell in the back of my mind / Did trouble me / Did stir my soul / For to make me human, to make me whole”
– “Did Trouble Me,” by Tom Jones

For the six years I worked in Boston, I encountered many homeless people.

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