Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category
Civics lesson
A certain kind of bias has long been suspected in public education but has always been vigorously denied. So, I commend Wakefield School Committee member Greg Liakos for his honesty and forthrightness this week in loudly and proudly confirming what many have long believed.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: bias, civic education, civics, civil discourse, classroom, demagogues, democracy, Donald Trump, education, Greg Liakos, learning, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, parents, Politics, President Trump, School Committee, schools, students, teachers, teaching, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
2020, we hardly knew ye
We couldn’t wait to kick 2020 to the curb, and indeed it was a rotten year in many respects. The pandemic brought illness and worse to the old and vulnerable. For the rest of us, it was a year of prohibitions: on going out to eat, on walking around the Lake, on attending church, on […]
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Tags: 2020, business, court, COVID coronavirus, DPW, Fire Department, flags, Humor, lockdowns, Mark Sardella, Memorial Day, News, Opinion, pandemic, plastic, police, Politics, prohibition, social media, straws, Town Meeting, Veterans' Day, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Warrior logo, Winship Mansion, wreaths, Youth Council, Zoom
The longest year
Time flies when you’re having fun, which explains why 2020 has been the longest year since the asteroid traveling at 40,000 mph crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, wiping out nearly 80 percent of life on earth and disappointing thousands of spring breakers. Kind of puts 2020 in perspective, doesn’t it?
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: asteroid, business, coronavirus, COVID-19, defund, facemask, Festival Italia, fun, Holiday Stroll, holidays, Humor, hybrid, jobs, July Fourth, Mark Sardella, Mask Police, masks, Massachusetts, mute button, Opinion, pandemic, plague, police, Politics, Saint Nick, Santa Claus, School Committee, schools, supermarkets, Town Council, unmute, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, work, Yucatan, Zoom
Holiday Gift Guide
What’s the perfect Christmas gift for a member of the Wakefield Memorial High School Class of 2020? Why, a copy of the Town of Wakefield 2020 Annual Street List, of course! This handsome volume features a graphic on the front cover offering congratulations to those who graduated in this most memorable year.
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Tags: 2020, Board of Selectmen, Christmasm gift, Class of 2020, directory, dwellings, Election Day, graduates, holidays, homes, households, houses, Humor, MA, Mark Sardella, mask, Massachusetts, neighbors, Opinion, precinct, residents, Street List, town, Town Clerk, Town Council, town hall, Town of Wakefield, voters, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, WHS
Sustainability theater
Good things, as they say, come to those who wait. Unfortunately, so do bad things. You may recall that on last spring’s Annual Town Meeting warrant, there were a couple of articles aimed at expanding the town’s plastic bag ban and prohibiting certain types of food packaging. These measures were sponsored by the same folks […]
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Tags: ban, businesses, Climate Change, compost, consumer, containers, economy, environmentalism, food, Global Warming, Humor, lockdown, Mark Sardella, merchants, Opinion, plastic bags, plastics, Politics, polystyrene, prohibition, recycling, restaurants, shopkeepers, stores, styrofoam, sustainable, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Happy Columbus Day!
Let me be the first to wish you and yours a happy Columbus Day. This year’s holiday is doubly special because it’s not just the second Monday in October. Monday also happens to be Oct. 12, which is traditional Columbus Day. It will be exactly 528 years ago to the day that the great Italian […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 5 Comments
Tags: cancel culture, China, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, COVID-19, Elia Sardella, explorer, genealogy, History, human rights, Humor, immigration, Indians, Indiginous Peoples Day, Italian, Italian-Americans, Italy, Luisa Padellaro, Mark Sardella, masculinity, Massachusettts, Native Americans, Nina, Opinion, Palermo, Pinta, Politics, Santa Maria, ship, Sicily, Steve Sardella, Wakefield MA, woke
Mailing it in
It’s adorable how people still refer to Nov. 3 as “Election Day.” We’ve had “early voting” for a couple of years, which began the process of diluting the meaning of Election Day. Now, with the totally unnecessary concept of “mail-in voting,” we’re told that we may not even know the result of the presidential election […]
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Tags: 2020, Anthony Fauci, ballots, cash, COVID-19, early voting, Election Day, elections, Franklin MA, Humor, lottery, mail, mail-in voting, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, November 3, Opinion, post office, presidential election, Teresa Burr, USPS, voter fraud, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
The worst summer
Monday is Labor Day, meaning that the Summer of 2020 will finally, mercifully, be over. So long, COVID Summer. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. It was the summer of face coverings, cancellations and quarantines, as opposed to concerts, camp and cookouts. Everything was canceled, including local favorites like the Fourth […]
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Tags: 1816, arctic, August, cancellations, climate, Climate Change, COCID-19, cold, concerts, Connecticut, coronavirus, crops, fireworks, fossil fuels, frost, Global Warming, heat, Humor, July, June, Mark Sardella, masks, Massachusetts, Mother Nature, New England, New Hampshire, Opinion, Parade, Politics, Red Sox, snow, summer, Vermont, volcano, Wakefield cold, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Waltham, weather
A cry for change
It’s taken far too long, but I now see the light. Change is needed. Now. In the words of the old hymn, “I once was lost, but now am found / Was blind but now I see.” Like many, I’ve resisted change. Change is hard. It forces you to think.
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Tags: Amazing Grace, businaess, change, coin shortage, coins, dimes, epiphany, Federal Reserve, Humor, Lynnfield, Lynnfield MA, Mark Sardella, MarketStreet, money, nickels, Opinion, Panera Bread, pennies, Politics, quarters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
