Luke Hill
@masscommons.bsky.social
Posting about: books, food, history, music, politics, religion, sports…and anything else that comes to mind. https://masscommons.wordpress.com/
The #FugitiveSlaveAct - The Battle for Anthony Burns “We went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs & waked up stark, mad Abolitionists.” masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/t...
The Fugitive Slave Act – The Battle For Anthony Burns
After the rendition of Thomas Sims (April 1851), the flurry of initial skirmishes (the Crafts’ escape, October 1850; Shadrach Minkins’ liberation, February 1851) in Boston over the Fugi…
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Morning Song - Black Coffee by Ike & Tina Turner “Here in America, the land of the free/You can get what you want, if you got some do-re-mi….” #FunkyFriday masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/m...
Morning Song – Black Coffee
Yes, Ike & Tina Turner’s 1972 deep cut “Black Coffee” is about sex. (That’s clear from the first six seconds of the track.) But it’s about so much more, too. ̶…
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The #FugitiveSlaveAct - The #Rendition of Thomas Sims "a momentous event...because it was the first recorded instance of a fugitive slave legally returned from New England into slavery.” masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/13/t...
The Fugitive Slave Act – The Rendition Of Thomas Sims
The same week Shadrach Minkins was arrested in Boston, bricklayer Thomas Sims escaped his enslavement in Savannah GA by stowing away on a ship bound for Boston. Once ashore “…he made th…
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Morning Song - I Love You by Asie Payton "I know you're out there somewhere, loving another guy...." #blues masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/13/m...
Morning Song – I Love You
Loving a woman who’s loving another is a seemingly inexhaustible source of great blues songs. Today’s exhibit, from deep in the Mississippi Delta, is Asie Payton’s crackling ̶…
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Morning Song - There's Hope by India Arie "It doesn't cost a thing to smile, You don't have to pay to laugh, You better thank God for that." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/12/m...
Morning Song – There’s Hope
“Every time I turn on the T.V.,Somebody’s acting crazy…Gas prices – they just keep on rising,The government – they keep on lying….” Check out the verses (e…
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Morning Song - Hot Like Fire by Aaliyah "...a laid-back, steamy, sultry summer jam perfect for flirting, romancing, or something more." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/11/m...
Morning Song – Hot Like Fire
Aaliyah’s semi-obscure 1997 trip-hop song “Hot Like Fire” is another example of musical geniuses at work. It starts with Aaliyah herself, one of the great silky voices of the 1990…
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"You can recover from pretty dramatic mistakes." #money #investing Dan Messeca on #MoneyUnplugged with @chrishillalx.bsky.social www.moneyunpluggedpodcast.com
Money Unplugged Podcast
Listen to Money Unplugged with Chris Hill. The new podcast from long-time host and executive producer of Motley Fool Money podcast and radio show.
moneyunpluggedpodcast.com
Morning Song - I'll Wave my Hand by Rev. Clay Evans & the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church Choir "...singing glory to God." #Gospel masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/09/m...
Morning Song – I’ll Wave My Hand
“…singing glory to God.” The Black church is more or less the polar opposite of “the frozen chosen”, those congregations whose devoutness is expressed by their ability…
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Morning Song - Some Kind of #Blues by Benny Carter & Oscar Peterson "...the grand old men of #jazz... jamming exuberantly..." Enjoy. masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/08/m...
Morning Song – Some Kind Of Blues
Benny Carter was one of the grand old men of 20th century jazz. Born this day in 1907, Carter was a composer, arranger, bandleader, trumpeter, clarinetist, and, most notably, one of the pioneering …
masscommons.wordpress.com
Morning Song - Up, Up & Away by The 5th Dimension "...the apotheosis of sunshine pop..." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/m...
Morning Song – Up, Up & Away
Last year Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” won 5 Grammys. It had only happened once before: in 1968 when The 5th Dimension won 5 Grammys for “Up, Up & Away”. The two…
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Morning Song - My TIme is Expensive by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown "...and I'm trying to make it last." #blues #timevalueofmoney masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/06/m...
Morning Song – My Time Is Expensive
You could major in finance at business school and learn mathematical formulas with which to calculate “the time value of money”. Or you could pull up a chair, order a shot, and listen t…
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"It's a tool, not a treasure." #money Ross Anderson on #MoneyUnplugged with @chrishillalx.bsky.social www.moneyunpluggedpodcast.com
Money Unplugged Podcast
Listen to Money Unplugged with Chris Hill. The new podcast from long-time host and executive producer of Motley Fool Money podcast and radio show.
moneyunpluggedpodcast.com
Morning Song - Wave by Patti Smith "...the way your face was, It made me feel exactly like... we were waving to each other." #PopeJohnPaulI #PopeLeoXIV masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/05/m...
Morning Song – Wave
And some songs appear on this little blog more for the story behind the song than for the song itself. Like “Wave”, the title cut and closing track from Patti Smith’s 1979 album. …
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Morning Song - Route 66 by Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five "It winds from Chicago to L.A, More than two thousand miles all the way..." #FirstRuleOfCoverSongs masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/04/m...
Morning Song – Route 66
By the time Louis Jordan got around to covering “Route 66”, over a decade had passed since Nat King Cole’s original recording crossed paths with Jordan’s reign as the best-s…
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Morning Song - Cruisin' by @BookerTJones & The MGs "That band can take me "Cruisin'" anytime." #soul #instrumental h/t: PP/KH masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/03/m...
Morning Song – Cruisin’
I’m glad Booker T. & The MGs finally won a Grammy (Best Pop Instrumental Performance) in 1995*. That band can take me “Cruisin'” any time. *It was over three decades and dozen…
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Morning Song - I Need You to Hold My Hand by the Jackson Southernaires "Lord You know that I'm Your child, And I'm doing the best that I can, When my way gets so hard, You know, I just don't understand..." #gospel masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/02/m...
Morning Song – I Need You To Hold My Hand
If The Jacson Southernaires’ 1981 gospel hit, “I Need You To Hold My Hand”, calls to mind Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”, that’s only…
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Morning Song - Stonewall by the Milt Jackson Quartet "...elegant, innovative, and swinging..." #jazz Enjoy. masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/08/01/m...
Morning Song – Stonewall
Born this day in 1923, vibraphonist Milt Jackson is best known as co-leader of the elegant, innovative, and swinging Modern Jazz Quartet, which grew out of Dizzy Gillepie’s big band. To celeb…
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Morning Song - Tukka Yoot's Riddim by Us3 "Because di riddim it cool, riddim it nice, riddim it sweet, riddim in check..., 'Cos a #riddim and #blues, riddim and #jazz...." masscommons.wordpress.com/wp-admin/pos...
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The Last Best League by Jim Collins "They still use wooden bats in the Cape Cod League...and admission is still free. If you can’t make it to a game but wish you could, reading 'The Last Best League' is the next best thing." #baseball masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/t...
The Last Best League
Jim Collins’* 2004 book The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream is a delightful and unabashedly nostalgic book and now is the time of year to read it, while New England summer…
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#MagnificaHumanitas: #AI, #Slavery & The Development Of #Doctrine In #History “It exists within history, as do all of us and as does a pilgrim Church.“ h/t: @johntmcgreevy.bsky.social & @commonwealmagazine.org masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/m...
Magnifica Humanitas: AI, Slavery & The Development Of Doctrine In History
Historian John T. McGreevy has an insightful, concise reflection on Magnifica Humanitas in the June issue of Commonweal. It’s well worth your time to click the link and read the whole thing. …
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Morning Song - High Hope by @Glen_Hansard “I’m working on a high hope, And if it all works out, you might just see me, Or hear from me in a while….” #RIP masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/m...
Morning Song – High Hope
Traditional Irish music has two modes: raucous, shouting sing-alongs and bawl-your-eyes-out ballads. Glen Hansard could do both but he excelled at updating the latter form, with gorgeous, keenly ob…
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#MagnificaHumanitas - Poet & Prophetess of #Redemption "God has already shown the strength of his arm; he has already scattered the proud, cast down the mighty, lifted up the lowly, filled the hungry with good things & sent the rich away empty-handed." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/29/m...
Magnifica Humanitas: Poet & Prophetess Of Redemption
(One in a series of posts on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding The Human Person In The Time Of Artificial Intelligence.) There’s much more to Magnifica Hum…
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Morning Song - I Got You Babe by @ub40official.bsky.social & @chrissiehynde.com "...you’ve got something better than a brand-new song; you’ve got a cover that breathes new life into an old one." #FirstRuleOfCoverSongs masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/29/m...
Morning Song – I Got You Babe
UB40’s remake of Sonny & Cher’s schmaltzy hippie love ballad, “I Got You Babe”, was a #1 hit in Great Britain’s summer of 1985 and it’s all (well, mostly) be…
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"My first memory of #money is seeing the offering plate at #church." @blairhduquesnay.bsky.social on #MoneyUnplugged with @chrishillalx.bsky.social www.moneyunpluggedpodcast.com
Money Unplugged Podcast
Listen to Money Unplugged with Chris Hill. The new podcast from long-time host and executive producer of Motley Fool Money podcast and radio show.
moneyunpluggedpodcast.com
#MagnificaHumanitas - Rebuilding #Jerusalem, Not Building the Tower of #Babel #WayOfNehemiah “The narrative shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all...." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/28/m...
Magnifica Humanitas: Rebuilding Jerusalem, Not Building The Tower Of Babel
(One in a series of posts on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding The Human Person In The Time Of Artificial Intelligence.) Like a good preacher, Leo begins (#7-10)…
masscommons.wordpress.com
Morning Song - Old Advice by Upstate “Keep your eyes on the prize, keep your hands steady…” masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/28/m...
Morning Song – Old Advice
The video for indie-folk band Upstate’s 2015 playful and unabashedly retro”Old Advice” is set in a 1950s-era diner, but the music (like the wisdom it embodies) dates back decades …
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#MagnificaHumanitas: The Dignity of the Human Person, not "Pro-Life" "The fundamental #dignity of each person, therefore, is neither acquired nor earned, nor does it need to be justified." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/m...
Magnifica Humanitas: The Dignity Of The Human Person, Not “Pro-Life”
(One in a series of posts on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding The Human Person In The Time Of Artificial Intelligence.) Someone else has counted (or will) how m…
masscommons.wordpress.com
Morning Song - #Blues After Hours by Pee Wee Crayton "...easing into the new week..." masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/m...
Morning Song – Blues After Hours
Here at this little blog we’re easing into the new week with West Coast bluesman Pee Wee Crayton’s 1948 #1 R&B hit, “Blues After Hours”. You’re welcome to join us.
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Morning Song - (Holding On and) I Won't Let Go by Dorothy Love Coates & the Gospel Harmonettes "Remember the day, remember the hour, The Lord saved me with His holy power..." #gospel masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/26/a...
Afternoon Song – (Holding On And) I Won’t Let Go
Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes released “(Holding On And) I Won’t Let Go” in 1969…after Martin and Malcolm were killed, after Bobby Kennedy was killed, as …
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Morning Song - Johnny's #Blues by Johnny Hodges "...it’s like you can hear new worlds being born." #jazz masscommons.wordpress.com/2026/07/25/m...
Morning Song – Johnny’s Blues
Born this day in 1907, Johnny Hodges held the lead alto sax chair in Duke Ellington’s Orchestra for decades and in doing so largely established the expansive universe in which jazz saxophonis…
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