Something upbeat

It's a beautiful holiday weekend, when we celebrate the enduring virtues of this country, which will survive present conditions and regimes. So let me recommend one piece today that, while not especially Hub-centric, will lift your mood and your faith in the arts. In the Globe, New York University Prof. David S. Reynolds celebrates the 150th anniversary of the publication of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and says America still needs Whitman's ecstatic poetry. Whitman's embrace of all men and women, of all colors and creeds and classes, his worship of the natural world as opposed to, say, religion and politics, make up an elixir we need more than that next Mojito. "Cheer!" he declared. "Is there anything better in this world anywhere than cheer - just cheer? Any religion better? Any art? Just cheer!"