David K. Leff, Essayist, Poet, Lecturer

A City's Accidental High Meadow

Ensconced in the angle created by the junction of two interstate highways and less than a five minute ride from the stone and glass towers of downtown, it’s the wildest open space in the city.  Once a  rough swale along the Connecticut River, after almost three-quarters of a century accepting trash the now closed Hartford landfill rises like a mesa about 130 feet above the surrounding landscape.

Parading Community Spirit: Marches for All Seasons

With Independence Day just behind us and Labor Day not far away, this is the heart of parade season.  And not only does everyone love a parade, as the old cliché goes, there are parades varied enough for everyone to love.  Though small, my home state of Connecticut is big on parades that range from the proudly offbeat to the quaint and dignified.  Essex has its Groundhog Day procession led by a ten foot tall critter in costume and residents banging pots, while Canton’s old fashioned Memorial Day event featuring veterans, the high school band, antique cars, Scouts, sports teams, and fire trucks has changed little in generations.

Topography and Destiny at Gettysburg

The sesquicentennial of the Civil War battle of Gettysburg on the hot, humid days of July 1, 2 and 3 1863 is no ordinary anniversary.  A place of pilgrimage for visitors around the globe, Gettysburg resonates not just in the American past, but as one of the epic turning-point battles of history, like Waterloo and Stalingrad.  This small Pennsylvania town was important 150 years ago as the confluence of ten roads, and remains significant because many of today’s social and political currents—from civil rights to the extent of federal power—continue to flow through this community that turned the tide of conflict leading to Union victory.

Gettysburg’s rolling terrain punctuated by north-south ridges and patched by fields and forest is beautiful not just for its pastoral allure or as a monument dotted sculpture park, but because armed with a modicum of information and imagination a visitor can clearly visualize the action merely by driving and walking the landscape.