I think one of the things that saddens me about Newburyport’s growing “fluidity” (see earlier post) is it’s growing blandness.

One of the things that I like so much about “Newburyport According to X” is that it reflects the feisty, unbland Newburyport that I loved so much.

I may have agreed or disagreed with a lot of the folks, but colorful they were.

Yes, folks like Byron Matthews and Erford Fowler are still very much about, but it feels as if their color is muted.

Whether you liked Tom Ryan or not, he was mucho colorful.

And the “old boys” clashing with the “newbies” created spark and a colorful tension.

And it feels as if so much of that “tension” in Newburyport is gone, like the gutted insides of so many historic homes. Obviously, many, many folks are glad of the “calm,” but for this artist and blogger, that lack of color feels like a tremendous loss.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport