Jay Atkinson is the author of City in Amber, a historical-fictional story of Lawrence, Mass. Since he was a child growing up in Lawrence, he wanted to write about the city, a place he “loved the way you’d love a broken-down alcoholic uncle who used to be a champion sprinter.” Atkinson teaches writing at Salem State College and plays for the Amoskeag Rugby Club in Manchester.

Generally, the Capitol Center for the Arts sells tickets to returning patrons or people who recognize a show title like Hairspray.

That puts staff in a predicament when they want to bring an unknown performance to the state.

To serve Moroccan dishes, chef Robert Donovan often gives a little geography lesson to customers who visit Rachida’s Restaurant and Bar in Milford.

With things being calm for a few more days until the Patriots get to Arizona, it’s a good time to hit some neglected topics that have shown up in the mail bag — where we haven’t been for a while.

It’s official: HD DVD has lost the next-generation DVD format war, vanquished by the might of Sony’s Blu-ray.

Or so analysts all over the tech scene are saying. The tide has certainly turned, but projecting the winner now might turn out to be a fool’s errand.