Two styles of leadership
By Adrian Walker – Globe Columnist / September 4, 2010

Walking up to Hassan Williams’s campaign headquarters in Roxbury, you’re greeted by an unusual tableau: Polaroid shots of storefronts in depressed parts of the Second Suffolk Senate District with heavy iron grates over the windows.

Another set of Polaroids tells a different story. It depict the bright lights of the South End and Chinatown. It is, quite literally, a stark tale of two districts.

“I want every community in this district to look the same,’’ said Williams. “To me, that’s what this campaign is about.’’

The major issue in this race seems much the same to his opponent, incumbent Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz. “It’s tough times out there,’’ she said in an interview this week. “People are really hurting.’’

But a shared interest in economic issues might be the only thing that links the rivals in this race, in which Chang-Diaz is running for her second term.

Frame it for young eyes – A brief museum foray can bring artworks to life for a curious child
By Sebastian Smee – Globe Staff / September 3, 2010

Museums, it’s easy to forget, were once for adults. High-ceilinged places with a muffled, whispery ambience, punctured sporadically by the echoing clack of adult shoes, they were ideally suited to illicit rendezvous on rainy days or courtly, courtesy-filled outings for retirees.

Now, every museum this side of Tbilisi sees it as central to its “mission’’ to function as a kind of day care for kids and a crutch for desperate dads and moms hoping to kill a few hours and provide — against all odds — something culturally edifying into the bargain.

Well, I’ve done my fair share of it, too — but, up until recently, almost never willingly. Exposing one’s children to great art in great museums is all very well for most people. But for me, a professional art critic, I’ve long suspected it’s the dumbest mistake in the book.

Mine are only 5 and 3, but already I can see the writing on the wall. “My old man was an art critic,’’ I can hear my son yelling from the top of the fireman’s pole as his crew gears up to respond to a shrieking fire alarm at the Museum of Fine Arts. “I spent my whole childhood being dragged through museums. Let the damn place burn!’’

Body of artwork – Witch City Ink owner believes tattoos are finally getting some respect as a form of creative expression
By Joseph P. Kahn – Globe Staff / September 4, 2010

Tattoo artist Natan Alexander, owner of Witch City Ink in Salem, is producing the ninth annual Boston Tattoo Convention, happening this weekend.

Q. What’s on tap for this year’s convention?

A. You’ll get to see over 150 tattoo artists, some great vendors and special events, fashion shows, even a bikini contest. You can get a tattoo while you’re there, too.

Q. You recently spoke at the Institute of Contemporary Art on the art of tattooing. Give us a synopsis.

A. My message was: Tattoos are an art form, and it’s time for them to be respected as such. That artistic tattooing should take its rightful place in the arts community, because in 10 short years we’ve gone from the back rooms to the city’s cultural institutions.

Q. Tattooing wasn’t even legal in Massachusetts before 2000. What was the biggest obstacle to its acceptance?

A. Biggest legal obstacle was a lack of regulatory mechanisms. In cultural terms, it was changing public perceptions of who tattoo artists are, what sort of people get tattooed, and how safe it is. We had to overcome a lot of negative stereotypes.

1998 – Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.  More anniversaries.