Blogs →
Mel Allen's New England
Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His career at Yankee spans nearly three decades, during which he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel.
In his pursuit of stories, he has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, picked potatoes in Aroostook Country, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. Mel teaches magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and is author of A Coach's Letter to His Son.
Role Reversal
The strange, always mysterious process by which a child grows up
June 1, 2009 at 10:11 AM | 6 Comments | Post a Comment
When you read this, I'll be, by the grace of God and the pilot's skill, in Japan. I've traveled some in the world, but never beyond a six-hour flight, and as I type this, I have no idea at all how I'll spend some 15 hours on an airplane. I suppose I could write my stories that are overdue. Or read one of those great classic books we always promise we'll read on vacation. But we never do, always ending up with some cheesy magazine, or a novel with short paragraphs and heroes and villains and lots of plot. I imagine some of the time I'll reflect on the strange, always mysterious process by which a child grows up and moves out into his own world — a world I'll now visit, speaking not a word of the native language. I'll be dependent on my son's knowledge. He will, in a sense, be sure I cross the street and look both ways.
The Hardwood Blooms of Spring
Woodpile envy
May 26, 2009 at 2:22 PM | 1 Comment | Post a Comment
Every day I walk a few miles in the neighborhoods of my town. These days, more and more houses are sporting a sure sign of spring: cords of firewood, neatly stacked and beautifully arranged as if by a sculptor. No sooner do we get through one winter than we get ready for the next. The sight of wood, seasoning in the open, or under the cover of a roof or a plastic canopy, is as comforting to us who live in country towns as anything I know.
Why People Love New England
(Even When They've Never Been Here)
May 5, 2009 at 10:01 AM | 7 Comments | Post a Comment
A few weeks ago, a reader named Dawn Rigoni left this comment on my blog: "... I'm one of those people who is 'homesick for New England' even though I've never lived there. I've dreamed of living in Vermont ever since I was little, even though I've never been; my favorite school librarian moved away to Weathersfield, Vermont, when I was a child and sent me a postcard, and ever since, I've felt that my heart belongs to a place I've never set foot in ... Please know how fortunate you are to live in such a beautiful corner of the world!"
The Old Volumes of Yankee Magazine
A Trip Down Memory Lane
February 23, 2009 at 4:42 PM | 4 Comments | Post a Comment
In a small room on the second floor of Yankee are bookshelves lined with the old-timers—the bound volumes of the magazine since the day we began in 1935. I came on board in October 1979, so naturally I feel more kinship with the volumes that date from my arrival, sort of like an album of family pictures where I know all the faces. The ones from before then still feel like family, but from another time, the great-uncles and -aunts I never really got to spend much time with.
Where People Fly
Ski Jumping Makes a Comeback in Brattleboro,Vermont
February 18, 2009 at 9:23 AM | Post a Comment
This past Sunday I drove west about 30 miles, to Brattleboro, Vermont, where the best of what a core group of people in a community can do was on full display. From the early 1920s, when outdoor visionary Fred Harris, founder of both the Brattleboro Outing Club and the Dartmouth Outing Club, brought Brattleboro to the forefront of ski jumping in New England, Harris Hill has seen people fly.
