Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category
Old School
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.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, History, Opinion, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Beatrice Moody, buildings, Daily Item, Dorothy Remick, Elizabeth Brawley, Elizabeth Strout, Franklin School, Greenwood, Greenwood School, Hamilton School, Hilda Hayden, Hurd School, James Bolton, Jim Bolton, John J. McCarthy Senior Center, Lincoln School, Montrose School, Nazareth Academy, schools, teacher, teachers, Thomas Allard, Tom Allard, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts, Warren School, West Ward School, Woodville School
Two Partings, One Huge Loss
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 […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Charlei Baker, Donald Wong, election, elections, Mark Falzone, Massachusetts, Politics, Richard Tisei, Saugus, Scott Brown, State House, state representative, State Senator, Wakefield, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass
Henry’s Heroics
“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 […]
Filed under: Blaney Blog, Columns & Essays, Family, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Arthur Philbrook, Blaney, Blaney Blog, Blaneys, Boston, Boston MA, Henry Bagwell, Irish, Irish-Americans, John G. Gates, Lake Quannapowitt, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mildred Bickerton, Roxbury, Wakefield, Wakefield MA
TRAD is an Irish Feast of Words
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 […]
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Tags: acting, actor, actors, Billy Meleady, Carmel O’Reilly, cast, Colin Hamell, drama, Gloucester MA, Gloucester Mass, Gloucester Massachusetts, Gloucester Stage Company, Ireland, Irish, J Michael Griggs, Jayscott Crosley, John Malinowski, Mark Doherty, Nancy E. Carroll, play, playwright, playwrights, priest, Rachel Padula-Shufelt, stage, theater, theatre, theatres, TRAD, tradition
Ghosts of Pleasure Island
The dry summer of 2010 lowered the water levels of the ponds at Edgewater Office Park in Wakefield, Massachusetts, revealing 50 year old artifacts from the Pleasure Island amusement park (1959-1969) which once sat on the site. Pleasure Island opened on June 22, 1959. It was built on 80 acres of swampland just off Route […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 4 Comments
Farewell Esther, and Thanks
On August 19, 2010, a crowd gathered at the First Parish Congregational Church in Wakefield, Massachusetts to say a final goodbye to a woman who spent decades looking out for the weakest of God’s creatures. Esther P. Nowell died August 8, 2010 at the age of 92. She was the founder, prime mover and force […]
Filed under: Cats, Columns & Essays, Community, Opinion, Profiles, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: animal, animal rights, animal welfare, animals, cats, Daily Item, dogs, Esther Nowell, Esther P. Nowell, First Parish Congregational Church, humane society, leg-hold trap, leg-hold traps, Mark Sardella, P.A.W.S., PAWS, Protection of Animals in Wakefield Society, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
When most people think of Oscar Wilde’s plays, the one that often leaps to mind is The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde’s lighthearted comedy of manners. So it’s refreshing to see the Gloucester Stage Company present one of Wilde’s darker, more complex works. Not that An Ideal Husband isn’t funny. It’s Oscar Wilde after all, […]
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Tags: Achilles, acting, actor, actors, actress, actresses, An Ideal Husband, Angie Jepson, Brendan Powers, Carrie Ann Quinn, comedy, Daniel Morris, David Remedios, drama, Fragonard, Gloucester, Gloucester MA, Gloucester Massachusetts, Gloucester Stage, Gloucester Stage Company, Julia Noulin-Merat, Karen MacDonald, Kenneth Helvig, Lewis D. Wheeler, Marsha Smith, Molly Trainer, olay, Oscar Wilde, plays, playwright, Reviews, stage, stages, The Swing, theater, theater review, theaters, theatre, theatre review, theatres
Mark Sardella 