There have recently been some letters regarding how things were in the past and about not wanting a new store coming to town that might threaten older businesses, things like that. Having grown up in the halcyon days of the 1950s and 60s, I can certainly relate to those feelings, and I would like nothing more than to walk into the house and find a big pan of my Grandmother’s apple crisp there waiting for me.
But things change.
And I’m not crazy about change and have lots of nostalgic feelings for the past, I wonder how we went from my father’s favorite, The Mills Brothers, along with Frank Sinatra and groups like the Temptations and Supremes to today’s rap, yet I also realize that my grandparents must have been shocked by the likes of Mick Jagger and Alice Cooper. (Actually, I was shocked by Alice Cooper myself).
But things change.
When I was only about five, my best friend and I, David Fournier, would walk out into the woods up the street to our lean-to and mess around, and then one day Dave said that they were going to take his house and build a highway. I thought he was crazy, but sure enough, within three years Route 495 roared through our Massachusetts community along the N.H. border north of Boston. Dave’s family moved to Kansas City.
Things change.
Soon our quiet little street was full of traffic and the tiny N.H. towns became expensive bedroom communities. The spot where our lean-to was is today covered by a Lowe’s. The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, and their star pitcher of the day, Sandy Koufax, made the then mind-blowing salary of $125,000. His Dodger counterpart of today, Clayton Kershaw, makes a tad over $30 million a year now.
Things do change.
It’s hard to figure why, and while I am no admirer of the current president, I must say much of his support, it must be said, is fueled by fear and dislike of change, not that I am accusing anyone of being in that category. 
There are many reasons that all this has happened, and I actually have a whole analysis of the causes, and maybe I will write some out sometime, but right now I have to go take my apple crisp out of the oven. I’ve never been able to make it quite as good as my grandmother’s was, but it will do.
Jim Morisseau
Cornwall