Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category
Prohibitionist’s Journal
by Mark Sardella If you still buy into the myth that potheads are mellow, live and let live types, try suggesting that weed might not be the next penicillin. To paraphrase an old saying, hell hath no fury like a stoner scorned. Oppose legalization of marijuana and, if you’re lucky, the worst they’ll call you […]
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Tags: alcohol, cannabis, children, cigarettes, Colorado, drugs, education, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, OD, overdode, pot, prohibition, prohibitionist, stoner, substance abuse, tobacco, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, weed
A League of Their Own
As you may have noticed, protesting is back in vogue. Beyond the immediate complaints, it’s hard to know exactly what has spawned the recent resurgence in this trend of seeking redress of grievances by “singing songs and carrying signs,” as The Buffalo Springfield once sneered. Maybe part of it is aging Baby Boomers and their […]
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Tags: Assisted Living, Baby Boomers, Brightview Senior Living, Buffalo Springfield, demonstration, Koch Brothers, Mark Sardella, protest, Shelter Development, social justice, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Zoning Board of Appeals
Commencement Address
Greetings parents, guardians, students, faculty and other stakeholders. On behalf of this professional learning community and its educators, it is a pleasure to welcome you to today’s commencement exercises. I am pleased that you were able to leverage your resources in such a way as to join us today. Our strategic plan for this afternoon […]
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Tags: commencement address, diploma, education, educator, eduspeak, faculty, graduate, graduation speech, jargon, learning, lingo, Mark Sardella, pedagogy, school, schools, student, teacher, Wakefield Daily Item
The Simple Art of Voting
Every time there’s a low-turnout local election or Town Meeting (or both, as we recently had in Wakefield) talk inevitably turns to ways to improve voter turnout and participation. On the surface, it seems like a noble idea. “How can we make voting easier?” people wonder, as if voting were a task akin to climbing […]
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Tags: apathy, elections, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Politics, Town Meeting, vote, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Size Matters
Does size matter? Yes, it does. But if you’re a member of the Wakefield Zoning Board of Appeals, there’s a limit to the number of hours you want to spend talking about it. Size is the biggest issue for many opponents of the Brightview Senior Living facility that Shelter Development is proposing to build on […]
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Tags: Assisted Living, Brightview Senior Living, Charles Tarbell, David Hatfield, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Shelter Development, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, ZBA, Zoning Board of Appeals
The Big Ask
Wakefield School Department officials have acknowledged that their requested 11.4 percent budget increase for FY 2016 is “a big ask.” The largest piece of that increase is $1,176,875 (3.8 percent) for “contractual salary obligations.” Another $658,174 (2.1 percent) is for SPED tuitions and $628,218 (2 percent) goes to fund salaries related to the newly instituted […]
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Tags: Big Ask, budget, Christopher Callanan, Daniel Sherman, Dr. Stephen Zrike, Edward Dombroski, Finance Committee, Gerard Leeman, Mark Sardella, school, School Committee, schools, Wakefield Daily Item, William Boodry
The high road to hell
There will very likely be a ballot question in 2016 seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. We know this because the activists who in 2012 successfully perpetrated the “medical” marijuana scam are the same people who are now working on the 2016 ballot question to make pot available for recreational use. So much for […]
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Tags: addiction, alcohol, Colorado, drugs, high, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medical marijuana, opiates, pot, recreational marijuana, Wakefield Daily Item, weed
Winter Parking Ban Revisited
Wakefield, MA eliminates winter ban on overnight on-street parking Last December, I wrote about a storm brewing on Wakefield social media related to the winter parking ban. The ban, which has been in effect so long no one can remember when it started, prohibits overnight parking on the street from Dec. 1 to April 1 […]
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Tags: Betsy Sheeran, DPW, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, parking, plowing, Public Works, Richard Stinson, snow, snowplow, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, winter, winter parking ban
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 pm at the Savings Bank Theater – Wakefield, MA Those who attend Wednesday’s opening lecture of the 2015 Sweetser Lecture Series at The Savings Bank Theater are in for a treat. Speaker Casey Sherman is not just an author and journalist. He is a born storyteller, entertainer and showman who […]
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Tags: Albert DeSalvo, author, books, Boston Strangler, Boston Strong, Casey Sherman, crime, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, speaker, Sweetser Lecture, The Finest Hours, The Savings Bank Theater, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, writer
Mark Sardella 