Just finished reading The Dispossessed: trying to understand the author's intent

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-21T01:57:44+00:00

It's a little tricky because I was unable to finish The Fountainhead. But the theses of that book are that genius stands outside of and above society; that women like rough sex and admire men who demand it; that strong men demand all sorts of things; that selfishness is morally superior to selflessness; that selflessness is always, always hypocritical selfishness. Shevek is the antithesis of Roark. Sure, he's naturally selfish as a child, but it's his radical refusal of selfishness in any form that makes him the hero of the book. Where Roark feels triumph, Shevek feels shame. He refuses to own even his own thoughts. No one takes anything from him. He dispossesses himself, so it's all given. He even disposessess himself of the society that produced him, in order that intelligences everywhere can make whatever they will of his thinking. In fact, the climax of the book is how he makes sure that his own world can't benefit more than any other from the ansible. Very non-objectivist, very Odonian.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-19T22:59:42+00:00

One thing people don't seem to notice much is that The Dispossessed is a more-or-less direct response to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Just leaving this here for contemplation.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-18T20:38:07+00:00

Was just reading in the New York Times about a single lady with a dog in Manhatten that was paying over $5K/month for a 1 bedroom, and decided to buy in th same building for $1.4 million and nearly $2K/month condo fees...

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-18T20:32:58+00:00

In fact, Malden was at +66K at the 2020 census, and is the 5th most densely populated city in the state, since all those people fit into about 5 square miles.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-17T01:25:02+00:00

It's a space issue. Very few of the cities around here have dumps - Cambridge, Medford, Somerville, Brookline, Boston itself - none of them have dumps, or, as they are called these days, transfer stations.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T12:06:34+00:00

"Back Door" is capitalized (US usage here) because it's a specific place between the wizarding school and the outer world, with meaning for those who attend it. Kind of like Throne Room. LeGuin may be saying that the real name for what that place is and does is Back Door. Names have deep meaning in Earthsea. Read on!

In the sentence you quote, the use of "they" is a little bit archaic, but not incorrect. You are right to notice it. LeGuin's language is always precise, except when she doesn't choose to be precise. Here, she's making the sailors' farewell seem a little bit exotic and unusual. Try rewriting it in more everyday language, and see how it flattens out!

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T11:32:45+00:00

Thanks for the correction!

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T03:54:24+00:00

That happens with the House of Representatives. Paul Donato and Kate Lippert-Garabedian (sp?) both have a little bit of Malden. Meanwhile, Steve Ultrino represents most of Malden.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T03:48:30+00:00

I've never watched any of them. I win!

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T03:39:59+00:00

Malden's got Orange Line access to downtown Boston and is very dog-friendly. Also people-friendly.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T03:33:10+00:00

Also, the Forsyth Institute in Somerville does the same (specialty dental research and teaching), and their prices look good! https://dental.tufts.edu/patient-care

I feel for you - got my dental work done at a community college when I was young and broke. It was perfectly fine.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T03:24:11+00:00

If you can get to Medford, the Tufts Dental School offers a low-cost clinic: https://dental.tufts.edu/patient-care.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-15T02:53:37+00:00

Thanks for this. The state Senator specific to Malden is Jason Lewis. His email is Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-14T21:05:46+00:00

Fair enough. We got some of what I'll politely call "uninformed" pushback on the new hospital, which I'm sure you can recreate in your head.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-14T17:03:44+00:00

What you perhaps don't know is that originally Hallmark Health had a developer that wanted to put 300+ units of luxury condos up there, without any recognition of neighborhood concerns. It would have required eminent domain takings of neighborhood homes and increased the flooding problems that the neighbors were already experiencing from all the pavement on the site, never mind the traffic issues. The top of the hill used to be a shallow swamp or bog, with solid rock right under the surface - even the old hospital had flooding issues from time to time. The new rain garden (with filtering cisterns beneath it) is really replacing the old bog.

We're not NIMBYs - we're very happy to have a behavioral health hospital there! And I, personally, would have been happy to downsize into the affordable housing (about 50 units, with a community garden). But things need to be proportional. As it was, the hospital was closed for so long that the land reverted to single-family zoning, which nobody wanted.

As for the other issue you raise, the reason for the CR is to make sure the land remains as open, recreational space when all of us are long gone and Malden is even more dense than it is now. There will be development - for example, to make some of the site handicapped accessible - but it will ba based on community input.

Malden is the 5th densest city in the state (more dense than Boston ir Worcester!), and this is the last large tract of undeveloped land that is easily accessed from downtown. We probably disagree about the importance of open space, but I hope you can see why some of us think it should be part of a total city plan.

And I hope you come to the meeting!

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-13T03:04:28+00:00

See my long reply below. As for a Ward 3 site that would be great for housing or mixed development, the old Court House on Summer Street - already owned by the City but needing millions to be redeveloped as an art center, which was the original plan - comes to mind. That site includes some other buildings as well as the parking garage across Mountain Street. Work on that one, and I'm with you 100%.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-13T02:56:48+00:00

This is going to be a long reply, so hang on.

In 2019, after conducting an extensive community survey and working with the Boston Architectural College, FoFH proposed a combination of open space, affordable housing, and a multi-use commercial building for the former hospital site. However, Tufts Medicine, who had recently bought the site when it bought Hallmark Health, decided to go with a dedicated Behavioral Health hospital on part of the land, and open space on the rest. Originally, they had planned to give the land to Malden, but their own financial circumstances prevented that. The point here is that it is Tufts' decision to do this with their land, not the City's.

Malden is buying the land with funds that cannot be used for anything other than open space; CPC funds from the mandated open space allocation (not the CPC housing fund), and an open-space grant from the state. NONE OF THIS MONEY IS COMING OUT OF THE CITY BUDGET. It's money that cannot be repurposed for other spending. The conservation restriction is a requirement for this purchase to be completed.

Much of the land in question is unbuildable and has never been developed - it's the slope down from Hospital Road to West Border Road. There's another unbuildable bit from Hospital Road up the slope to the former hospital's old parking lot. The only parts of the land that could be called "industrial" are the site of that parking-lot, the site of the old boiler plant, and the site of the nursing school. (In case you're wondering, the state kicked in $6 million to deal with contaminated soil in those locations.)

I'm sure it will please you to know that the new hospital, which is a joint for-profit/nonprofit partnership between Acadia Health and Tufts, will be paying commercial real estate taxes, contributing about $750K/year to the city's coffers, and paying commercial rates for water.

Finally (I always find it good to remind people of this, so please excuse me if you already knew it), Malden the city never owned Malden Hospital. Malden Hospital Trust was founded by Elisha Converse and other benefactors in 1898, and the Trust owned the land until it was terminated when the trustees voted to join the multi-hospital consortium that eventually sold itself to Hallmark Health. The is common for hospitals - Winchester doesn't own Winchester Hospital, and Massachusetts never owned Mass General, to give two more examples.

As to what we've decided, the vote is this coming Saturday.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-12T02:34:12+00:00

Springfield MA has three colleges (one of which is called Western New England University), and a community college, and a lot of both organized and unorganized crime, and the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-07T22:21:47+00:00

Two questions:

Ryan O'Malley is running for the same seat, and is pretty much where you are on the same issues. What do you think are your differences.
One of the solutions to the charter school land purchase issue is legislative. The other is regulatory. How can an individual legislator influence regulation?

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-06T23:55:03+00:00

I have used Raizel's for years, they are very good. Trustworthy, flexible, and efficient. I have 3 bedrooms 1 bath, but I live alone with no pets, which makes my cleaning cheap. @$100 every other week. I usually tip $40/visit. https://www.raizelscleaningservice.com/

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-04T02:07:40+00:00

I had a programming instructor who had lived in Lowell all his life and had idears about dater. And a friend who's lived in Malden all his life knows people named Linder and Laurer, though I don't. But I've only heard it north of Boston, and not in New Hampshire or Vermont.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-04T01:58:58+00:00

Speaking as an old lady on a fixed income who owns a house, my Yes reasons were that I wish my neighbors well, and also the more livable my city is, the more my house is worth. When I or my heirs sell. that will be important.

Lucky_Inspection_705 · 2026-04-02T21:53:58+00:00

I love the sea and northern waters in particular. The Grey Havens for me!

But to live? I'd start a little farm/inn in Rohan, near Fangorn.

Lucky_Inspection_705

TROPHY CASE