For the first time in a couple of years, I climbed the steps to the Friends House not as a resident but as a guy with no way in. I had to remind myself not to use the special doorbell code for housies who’ve forgotten their key. Instead, I pressed the bell once and […]
Shortly after getting off the plane in San Francisco last week, I went to my first AA meeting. A friend invited me to tag along to the gathering where she’s been a regular for years. It was an open meeting — meaning visitors were welcome — and my friend had been asked to tell her story as […]
I’ve written previously about Talking Rock, the device we use at house meetings to share what’s going on in our lives. Whoever happens to be sitting closest to the rock (it lives on the fireplace mantel in the library) grabs it and spends a couple of minutes updating the 20 other housemates. The revelations range […]
One advantage of reading a newspaper in print is the chance you’ll stumble into something good you never would have searched for online. Like Tom Farragher’s first-house piece in the Boston Globe’s revamped Sunday real estate section. Telling the story of the Connecticut house where he and his wife, Joanie, learned to be husband and […]
Several months into our year in this room, it’s time for a check-in. There’s no probationary period for new residents at Beacon Hill Friends House (no cracks, please, about how lucky that is for us). But the time seems right to ask how it’s going. There’s nothing like returning from a trip to provide a […]
A Year in a Room 