Archive for the ‘History’ Category
All in the timing
With the various measures they pass on the federal and state level, lawmakers come up with some interesting ideas when it comes to their own powers. They even think they can control the weather by passing climate regulations. (I wonder what the Supremacy Clause under Article VI of the Constitution says about the doctrine of […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: adolescent, clock, day, Daylight Saving Time, government, laws, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts Legislature, night, sleep, students, sunrise, sunset, teenagers, time, time zones, timepiece, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, watch
Standing up for US
It’s cool to be patriotic again. It hit me at last week’s Veterans Day observance in Veterans Memorial Auditorium at the Galvin Middle School. I sensed that something was different when I walked in and saw the huge crowd, many of them with red poppies in their lapels. And not a single safety pin in […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: America, Colin Kapernik, flagVeterans Day, Galvin Middle School, John Bohling, Mark Sardella, National Anthem, patriotism, Pledge of Allegiance, protest, red poppy, safety pin, soldiers, United States, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Massachusetts
Surly voting
Call me old fashioned. Call me a slave to tradition. But I’ll be voting on Tuesday, Nov. 8, on what used to be known as Election Day.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: apathy, ballot, candidate, drivers license, early voting, election, Election Day, fraud, ID, identification, MA, Mark Sardella, polling place, Sudafed, turnout, vote, Voter ID, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Massachusetts
Primitive Social Media
Wakefield is getting good at hosting really big parties: Festival Italia, the Holiday Stroll and Independence Day are prime examples. Soon to take its place alongside those is the upcoming Halloween spectacular, “Haunted Happenings.” But what if you can’t make it for some reason? What’s the next best thing to being there?
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: books, Climate Change, comedians, Cyrus Wakefield, Facebook, Festival Italia, Fourth of July, History, Holiday Stroll, Humor, Inaugural Exercises in Wakefield Mass., Instagram, Internet, John S. Eaton, Mark Sardella, media, newspaper, Opinion, Paul D'Angelo, phones, poetry, Politics, press, social media, South Reading, Tritter, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, weather
The 8.8 percent solution
It’s even worse than I thought. A couple of weeks ago, we discussed Voter Fatigue and the steps that our state and local governments are taking to aid us in performing that onerous civic duty known as voting. But until Thursday, September 8, I had no idea that for more than 90 percent of us, […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: elections, Fenway Park, flyers, Humor, lawn signs, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, Phyllis Hull, Politics, primary election, selectmen, voter, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item
Fine print
Lately, I don’t feel like my week is complete until I’ve been lectured by a millennial about one thing or another. Usually it’s about the evil of plastic bags or how many genders there are or how the Founding Fathers all smoked hemp, dude. The usual venue for these sermons is social media, where I’m […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Baby Boomers, citizenship, civics, education, Facebook, First Amendment, Founding Fathers, Freedom of the Press, Great Depression, Greatest Generation, hippies, Invasion of Normandy, Mark Sardella, media, millenials, mosquito, News, newspapers, Olympics, peace movement, Politics, press, schools, social media, Stephen Colbert, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Zika
Smoke signals
There has been much hand-wringing of late regarding the opioid abuse crisis. As there should be. But when it comes to dealing with substance abuse, we know what works and what doesn’t work. Our long history with alcohol and tobacco provides a blueprint, if only we would follow it instead of looking for other dangerous […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: alcohol, beer, booze, bud, drugs, drunk driving, herb, Jeffrey's Package Store, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, pot, smoke, smoking, substance abuse, tobacco, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed
Mark Sardella 