Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category
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 […]
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Reviews, theater | Leave a Comment
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, […]
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Reviews, theater | Leave a Comment
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
All aTwitter
As recently as a few weeks ago, my resolve was holding firm. There was no way that I would ever be on Twitter. About a year ago, I finally caved to virtual peer pressure and signed up for a Facebook account long after most of my eventual FB friends had been updating their statuses for […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion | 2 Comments
Tags: Anneli Rufus, Beta, Betamax, blog. blogs, blogging, cable, cable television, cable TV, Comcast, computer, Daily Item, dial up, dialup, electronics, flickr, hermit, hermits, high-speed Internet, home computer, home electronics, Internet, journalist, loner, loners, Luddite, modem, MySpace, Party of One, Party of One: the Loners' Manifesto, PC, personal computer, social media, technology, Twitter. Facebook, VCR, VHS, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, web, writer
Parade of Pols
Maybe I’m the only one, but I like seeing the politicians in the Wakefield (MA) July 4th Parade. The marching bands are great, and they provide an element of entertainment relief in what would otherwise be an endless stream of pols. But the main reason I go to the parade every July 4th is to […]
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Tags: 4th of July, 4th of July Parade, Alley Oop, Anthony Guardia, Bill Hudak, candidate, candidates, clown, Craig Spadafora, Daily Item, David Lucas, Donald Wong, election, elections, Eric Estevez, Fourth of July, House of Representatives, Independence Day, Independence Day Parade, JFK, John F. Kennedy, John Tierney, July 4 2010, July 4th, July 4th Parade, July Fourth, Katherine Clark, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Senate, Michael Day, Monica Medeiros, Parade, parades, Paul Brodeur, politician, politicians, Richard Tisei, Scott Brown, Senator Scott Brown, Steve Grossman, US Senate, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Independence Day Parade, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
“You too?”
“You too?” That may have been the most frequently uttered greeting among survivors at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life held last weekend at the Beasley Oval behind Wakefield High School. Survivors were easy to identify at the Relay by their purple t-shirts. All other Relay participants got white t-shirts when they checked in. […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Opinion, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: American Cancer Society, Daily Item, Mark Sardella, relay, Relay for Life, survivors' lap, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield Relay for Life
Mark Sardella 