This 1946 Dodge truck is being restored by the vocational program at Machias Memorial High School. The truck was originally owned by a Shell service station, which only became apparent when layers of paint were sanded away. What a treasure! I'd like to have the door to hang on my wall; I was afraid to ask whether it would be painted over, especially since the plan is to drive the thing and there is therefore no real alternative--so far as I know.

I recently read Shop Class as Soulcraft, a book about the virtues of real work--as opposed to the smoke and mirror shenanigans of Goldman Sachs--where the end result is something that works. Unfortunately vocational programs across the country have been gutted. Matthew Crawford, the book's author, wonders why we are training kids to work in cubicles when it is the trades (such as plumbing) that can't be outsourced.

Well, I'm not doing the book justice; read it if you get the chance.