Statue of James Michael Curley. Photo Credit: Molly Feit

I’m Irish, and I grew up in Massachusetts. Never mind that I grew up in the western part of the state, in the Pioneer Valley, a place true Bostonian’s believe is so far west, it’s practically upstate New York. Growing up, I thought of Boston as the big city, and loved my occasional visits with my family, mostly to go to Fenway Park. Boston was a wonderful place for me, and as soon as I could, I moved here; I have never left.

When I came to Boston, I didn’t know anything about James Michael Curley. This is what I did know: city government was controlled by the Irish. I knew of the hyper parochialism of South Boston’s Irish community, and even though I didn’t have a strong connection to my own Irish identity, when moving to Boston I felt I was moving to an Irish town.

Bobby’s War, originally uploaded by WBUR.

“[The decision to invade Iraq] was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions—or bury the results.”
– Ret. Lt. General Gregory Newbold, Marine Corps

“You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees.”
– Kaiser Wilhelm to departing German troops, August 1914.

As we observe Veteran’s Day this week, the war in Iraq will be heading into its sixth year. We did a show last November on the cost of that war on many of those who return. PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The numbers are staggering. It’s the war that never stops. Much of what we know about it we’ve learned since the war in Vietnam, when the phrase was coined…in the cases of so many living dead who came back. Even now, forty years later, substantial numbers of Vietnam vets are turning up for the first time at Veterans Administration hospitals with symptoms of PTSD.

Bobby’s story, which you can listen to here, says more than the numbers ever could about the cost of our wars and the sacrifices of those who fought them.

They’re calling this Saturday (October 4th) the Inaugural celebration of the Rose Kennedy Greenway.  Eventually we’ll get used to calling it that or “the Greenway” (just as we’ll always call Boston Garden, “the Gahden” no matter which bank has bought the name rights).  But for now and for those of us who’ve lived here for a while,  what we picture isn’t the Greenway but that which it replaces: The Elevated Central Artery, that wretched hulk of rusting steel that elevated traffic congestion and split the city from the waterfront like a gutted codfish.

David Boeri’s been visiting the new Rose Kennedy Greenway.  Here’s his tour of the project.

The show has been on summer vacation, but now we’re back, with a program about the Rose Kennedy Greenway.  What are your thoughts on one of the biggest urban park projects in the country?  Check back for updates on the show, and pictures from our reporting trips to the Greenway.  Click here to hear about plans for the show.

A question on this fall’s Massachusetts state ballot would abolish the state’s income tax.  Let us know what you think of this controversial idea.  Leave comments below.