By Roxann Wedegartner / The Rag Blog / February 14, 2026
Royalston, Maine, resident, author, and journalist, Allen Young, is at it again. His latest book, From the Octagon – People, Places, News, Views, is an informative, delightful, easy-read collection of fifty-nine profiles, articles, and opinion pieces from his days as a reporter and columnist at the Athol Daily News, along with his writings for the Rag Blog out of Austin, TX. The Rag Blog is, in its publisher’s words, “… the latest in news and views from the progressive front.” It’s founded and produced by “old friends” of Allen’s from his Underground Press days. I confess that I know a couple of those founders as well. Decades ago, before moving to Franklin County, I was a journalist in Houston, Texas, writing for the Houston Chronicle and friendly with what passed for progressive activists.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve known Allen personally for many years and consider him a friend and colleague. Now that all the confessions are out of the way, let’s get to this latest book. OK, one more confession. When I first moved to Franklin County, I covered eastern Franklin County towns, school districts, and Orange District Court as a reporter for The Recorder. Many of the people and places in this book are also familiar to me.
The Octagon featured in the title and pictured on the book cover does not refer to the geometric shape we know, but rather to Allen’s handmade octagon-shaped house, located at Butterworth Farm, an intentional community in this remote Worcester County town. Allen’s office, or writing lair, is on the top floor of the house, where most of his writing takes place. The stories are compiled into four sections, starting with People and ending with Views. Again, not the beautiful views that this part of Massachusetts is known for, but rather Allen’s opinions on everything from the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant to Drag Queens and the proper siting of solar arrays to Ethel Rosenberg, an American woman who, along with her husband Julius, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and executed by the United States government in 1953. Allen’s parents were also active in the American and International Communist movement. Coincidentally, as a college student in New York City, he visited family friends who lived in an apartment building across the hall from an apartment where the couple who adopted the Rosenbergs’ two boys, now Robert and Michael Meeropol, lived.
The bulk of the book is devoted to his profiles of eastern Franklin County and North Quabbin residents, each with their own great story. The People section is my favorite part of From the Octagon, People, Places, News, Views. I think of it as a book of life lessons taught by everyday people living among us. Some of the captivating stories include At Ninety-four Jerry Chaisson is Still Drumming, which tells of a nonagenarian drummer, Jerry Chaisson, and his much younger millennial friend and musician, Ethan Stone. Together, they performed monthly music sessions at the senior center where Jerry lived with his wife, Jerry on drums, and Ethan, a recording artist, playing songs from days gone by. Another story, Athol’s Last Iceman Shares Some Memories, features Ronald Legrande, whose family once operated the Athol Ice Company, which harvested large cakes of ice from local ponds and delivered smaller cakes to homes for “ice boxes,” which were early refrigerators cooled by placing the ice in a compartment below the food shelves. Ron and other local teenagers often helped with the ice harvest. As electric refrigerators became standard, these ice companies closed.
Additional familiar names may resonate with residents, such as Michael Humphries from Warwick and Northfield—a furniture designer and cabinet maker known for using locally sourced, unique wood in his creations; Gene Bishop and Herman Goldfarb are remembered as doctors and peace activists in Remembering Gene Bishop and Herman Goldfarb, Two Doctors and Activists for Peace; Larry Buell, profiled in At Seventy, Petersham’s Larry Buell Maintains His Environmental Vision; Abbey Plotkin, honored in Abbey Plotkin: Her Good Heart Gave Out; and two artists: Susan Marshall of Orange and Sonja Vaccari of Royalston, featured in Is a Muralist a Contortionist? An Acrobat? Read About It Here.
In the Places section, readers are presented with several accounts detailing Allen’s travel experiences. For example, A Visit to Provincetown provides insights into his journey by fast ferry with his sister, offering both a personal perspective and a concise history of Provincetown’s transformation from a predominantly Portuguese fishing community with a substantial maritime industry into a significant Massachusetts tourist destination inclusive of gay men, lesbians, and heterosexual visitors alike. Additionally, Monkeys, Birds, Beaches, People, and Planes: A Trip to Costa Rica narrates his activities as a 69-year-old traveler among younger companions in their twenties and thirties, engaging in river rafting, wilderness camping, and zip-lining.
Another noteworthy entry is Small Monuments Found in Many Places, which examines the origins of various “unexpected plaques and structures throughout the Quabbin region.” This article caters to readers interested in uncovering the histories behind local historical markers. Specific examples include Orange’s Peace Statue in Memorial Park; the plaque in Hardwick identifying the Hardwick Fair as the oldest in the United States; the Athol History Trail, which features signs commemorating significant past events such as Indian-Settler conflicts, the Sentinel Elm, and the Underground Railway; and Barre, MA’s prominent Civil War Monument.
In News, there is A Peek into the Massachusetts Legalized Cannabis Business, about the early days of the legalized cannabis business in the North Quabbin, juxtaposed with A Deadly Disease Hits the North Quabbin: Heroin Addiction, about two physicians, Ruth Potee, MD and her husband Stephen Martin, MD who have committed to “combatting a deadly disease that destroys people’s lives”. It profiles their work in their capacity as local physicians in the North Quabbin and Franklin County, treating heroin addicted patients and fighting the opioid epidemic. Workers Credit Union’s Rich History Linked to Immigrants recounts the history of this credit union founded in Fitchburg, with a branch in Athol, and its ties to North Quabbin’s Finnish Community. It contains a surprising account of its beginnings as a radical financial institution. Rarely are the parts of a published book, such as Acknowledgements orAbout the Author, interesting to readers. However, I would also encourage you to read these sections.I will end this book review where it began, with the author’s Dedication, his idea of who the ideal reader would be, which states: “for people everywhere striving for community, social justice, peace, democracy, and a healthy planet Earth.” Enjoy!
