Boston was missing its own literary magazine until a bunch of writers and people who loved writing met at the Plough & Stars and decided to start their own magazine: Ploughshares (which just celebrated its 100th issue at — where else? — the newly refurbished Plough & Stars). Every issue had a different editor. Michael Mazur and Ralph Hamilton were among the cover artists. The poetry cooperative Alice James Books started in Cambridge. Askold Melnyczuk founded the more politically oriented Agni (now housed at BU, with Sven Birkerts as editor). Novelist Anne Bernays started PEN New England, a branch of New York’s PEN American Center. Freedom-to-write panels and Discovery evenings (Sue Miller, Ha Jin, Susan Orlean, and poets Tom Sleigh and Mark Halliday were among the discoverees) continue to this day. Gail Mazur, Martha Collins, Ellen Wilbur, and the late Beatrice Hawley organized round-the-clock anti-nuclear readings.

Nostalgia comes easy. Yet when I walk through Harvard Square, go to the opera, or try to find a book or a record, I can’t help thinking about what’s missing, and that the few things that are still around are more precious to me than ever.

Lloyd Schwartz is a contributing editor for the Boston Phoenix.

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