Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category

New Year’s Day is the day on which many people embark on self-improvement programs. Not me. On January 1, I subjected my self-esteem to a beating by going to see The Social Network, the 2010 movie about the founding of Facebook by a brilliant Harvard student, Mark Zuckerberg, who has gone on to become the […]


The New York Times reported this week that WikiLeaks claimed to have obtained Santa Claus’s 2010 Christmas list and would release the names of millions of people worldwide and the gifts that they would be receiving on Dec. 25. It was unclear how WikiLeaks obtained the list, but it is believed that a low-level elf […]


Nativity Seen

10Dec10

Being a Wakefield native isn’t what it used to be. Not so very long ago, being able to say that you were born and raised here was seen as something special – a distinction that one could lord over those who moved here, for example, a mere 20 years ago (tourists). Of course, it’s always […]


Old School

18Nov10

The town is preparing to accept bids from developers that will determine the future of the Franklin School, and if things go as expected, another of a generation of nine schools that the town built around the turn of the 20th century will enter a new phase in its long existence.


When all was said and done after this long campaign season, Tuesday’s election directly impacted Wakefield, Massachusetts in a couple of key ways. Two of Wakefield’s longtime representatives in the state legislature will no longer be there. Running for Lt. Governor as Charlie Baker’s running mate, Wakefield’s Sen. Richard Tisei suffered the first loss of […]


Memorialize a veteran With Veterans’ Day approaching, Wakefield Selectman John Encarnacao wanted to remind people that they have available to them a unique and permanent way to memorialize the veterans in their family – by contributing for a memorial paver for the “Veterans’ Walk of Remembrance,” which will encircle the new World War II Memorial […]


At Lyric Stage in Boston When The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby debuted in London and then on Broadway, it took on the character of a major theatrical event. The same is expected when David Edgar’s stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic makes its New England premier at Boston’s Lyric Stage October 21 […]


“Girl Revived After Going to Bottom of Lake,” read the headline on the front page of the July 22, 1935 Wakefield Daily Item. “Presence of mind exercised by her male companion,” the story reported, “and prompt work by the Wakefield Police with the inhalator saved the life of Miss Mildred Bickerton, 21, of 881 Huntington […]


At Gloucester Stage Company through September 12 In the opening scene of TRAD, 100 year-old Thomas shuffles over to wake his improbably ancient father who is sleeping on a wooden cot. That absurd premise sets the tone for Mark Doherty’s hilarious fable set in the Irish countryside. TRAD is also a grand way for Gloucester […]


When I tuned in to Fox 25’s morning news on Friday, August 27, I wondered why it had been pre-empted by an episode of the Phantom Gourmet. Seriously, I understand that Wakefield wanted to grab the opportunity to showcase itself as a “dining destination,” but Friday’s “Zip Trip” show from Wakefield Common featured enough food […]