Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Women’s March
On the heels of the devastating news that only men applied to serve on new Public Safety Building Committee came the bombshell that no women were among the top 50 highest paid town employees. What’s a girl to make of this during Women’s History Month? In the real world, most people understand how the list […]
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Tags: boys, Carol Antonelli, COPS, employees, female, firefighters, gender, girls, Health Director, Humor, Kim Smith, male, Mark Sardella, men, misogyny, Opinion, pay, police, Politics, salary, sexism, social construct, Tax Collector, Town Clerk, town hall, Wakefield Daily Item, women
Eight men out
Who couldn’t have seen this coming? The folks who took the “man” out of selectman now want to manipulate the gender composition of other boards. So much being gender neutral. Recently, the Wakefield Town Council advertised for candidates to serve on the crisply-named “Public Safety Building Re-Assessment Committee.” In mid-November, the notice was posted widely […]
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Tags: committee, Facebook, female, gender, gender neutral, Internet, ladies, male, Mark Sardella, Mehreen Butt, men, nail salons, Permanent Building Committee, PSB, Public Safety Building, Public Safety Building Re-Assessment Committee, selectmen, sex, Town Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, women, Zumba
Take a hike
Throughout his decades as a steady presence on the local scene, he has cultivated an air of quiet reserve. But now, one of Wakefield’s most iconic figures has finally broken his silence. Some may find what he had to say shocking. In an exclusive interview with the Wakefield Daily Item, the character known affectionately as […]
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Tags: ableism, Artichokes, bronze, climate, goat yoga, gun, History, Humor, interview, Lake Quannapowitt, male, man, marble, Mark Sardella, men, minuteman, Opinion, parody, rifle, Rockery, satire, soldier, Spanish American War, statue, The Hiker, Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson, Toxic Masculinity, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Pretty Vacant
“Isn’t it a shame about all the empty storefronts downtown?” “Which ones are empty?” “Well, I haven’t been downtown lately. Nobody goes there anymore because there’s too much traffic and not enough parking.” “Oh.” There’s one myth almost as persistent as the one that Wakefield has become so overdeveloped that there’s no room for an […]
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Tags: Boys & Girls Club, business, economy, hippies, John Devlin, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Molise, myth, Nonnos, Piece O Pizza, Procol Harem, Sixties, social media, storefronts, stores, Tommy James & the Shondells, vacancy, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Yogi Berra
The town and the city
Once upon a time, there was a perfect little town that had the perfect number of people living in the perfect number of homes. That perfect little town had perfect little downtown with the perfect number of perfect little shops, selling perfectly adorable items to the perfect number of customers. Then, the town fathers let […]
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Tags: 600 North, apartments, Brightview Senior Living, building, commuter rail, condos, development, Dunkin' Donuts, factories, fairy tales, Families, housing, Lisa's Family Pizzeria, Malden MA, Mark Sardella, MBTA, population, smart growth, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Landing, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Station, zoning
Cold comfort
‘Tis the season to be banning things. You’ve no doubt heard about efforts to ban the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. And that’s not even the most absurd example. It’s becoming harder to argue that the War on Christmas is a myth when stories like the following keep surfacing. In 2018, 69 years after it […]
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Tags: Altamont, Baby It's Cold Outside, ban, Benny Goodman, Christmas, Gillette Stadium, Gimme Shelter, Hells Angels, hippies, joke, love, Lynn Stuart Parramore, Mark Sardella, Mick Jagger, misogyny, peace, Rolling Stones, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Trader Joe's, Under My Thumb, understanding, Wakefield Daily Item, War on Christmas
Apathy grips Hub
When the New England Patriots are in the playoffs, people can’t wait to hang their Patriot flags and put out their Patriot signs, banners, pennants and even display their inflated Patriots lawn ornaments. Sometimes even before the regular season ends. You can’t drive half a mile in town without seeing Patriots everywhere. So, what are […]
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Tags: 1960s, America's Pastime, American Football League, baseball, basketball, Boston, Dick Stuart, Dodgers, Eddie Bressoud, Fenway Park, hockey, Humor, Impossible Dream, Jim Gosger, John Henry, Ken Coleman, Lenny Green, Mark Sardella, Mel Parnell, Ned Martin, New England Patiots, NFL, Opinion, Pleasure Island, Red Sox, Robert Kraft, Sixties, soccer, sports, team, Tom Brady, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, World Series
By MARK SARDELLA GLOUCESTER – “Bringing history to life” is about as cliched as it gets, but it happens to be an apt description for what Gloucester Stage’s current production, The Agitators, succeeds in doing. Mat Smart’s play takes us into the 19th century world of icons of equal rights Frederick Douglass and Susan B. […]
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Tags: 15th Amendment, 19th Amendment, abolitionist, drama, equality, Frederick Douglass, Gloucester Stage, History, Jacqui Parker, James Ricardo Milord, Mark Sardella, Mat Smart, play, Rochester NY, Sara Elizabeth Bedard, slavery, Susan B. Anthony, The Agitators, theater, theatre, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, womens suffrage
Street view
Monday was like Christmas in August for me. Did the town rescind the plastic bag ban? Did the Town Council go back to being the Board of Selectmen? Sadly, the answer to both of those questions is “no.” But something almost as good happened. The 2018 edition of my favorite book was released. I’m not […]
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Tags: 1936, 2018, Board of Assessors, Board of Registrars, Board of Selectmen, books, Christmas, directory, female, genders, Humor, inclusivity, male, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, Politics, residents, Street List, Town Council, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, World War II Memorial
Mark Sardella 