By MARK SARDELLA
Easily, the strength of Gloucester Stage Company’s current production, Cyrano, is in the performances of the professional cast. The five-member cast plays a multitude of roles in this adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 classic Cyrano de Bergerac by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers.
Continue reading ‘A fast-paced ‘Cyrano’ at Gloucester stage’
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Tags: Andrea Goldman, Brenda Withers, Cyrano, Edmond Rostand, Feremiah Kissel, Gary Ng, Gloucester Stage, James Ricaro Milord, Jason O'Connell, Mark Sardella, Nicole Washington, Paul Melendy, play drama, Robert Walsh., theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item
How to vote
There are few responsibilities easier for citizens to fulfill than voting. Last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court agreed, at least when it comes to requiring voters to be registered before election day. It’s a safeguard that allows city and town clerks to verify the eligibility of each would-be voter.
Why anyone would be against that is beyond me.
The SJC unanimously upheld the state’s 20-day voter registration deadline, passed in 1993 by the Massachusetts Legislature – you know, the representatives that we the people elected.
The ruling was a crushing blow to those who believe citizenship should be all benefits and no responsibilities.
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Tags: apathy, Attorney General, early voting, elections, Mark Sardella, notification, Open Meeting Law, public meetings, Public Safety Building, registration, SJC, Stephen P. Maio, Supreme Judicial Court, town hall, Town Meeting, Tpwn Clerk, voter fraud, voters, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Why Bother?
It’s a question that lots of people have to be asking themselves in the wake of Tuesday’s election results.
Anyone who attended Annual Town Meeting and sat through a two-and-a-half hour presentation and debate and then voted with the overwhelming majority in favor of the Public Safety Building project could hardly be blamed for wondering why they even bothered.
And those were the people who had the least invested in it.
How must the Permanent Building Committee be feeling? They had more than two years invested in this project. Two years of long meetings listening to alternately dizzying and mind-numbing amounts of information and possible solutions.
Why did they bother?
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SMWs Unite!
If there’s anyone more insufferable than a Social Justice Warrior, it’s a Social Media Warrior.
However irritating they may be, at least Social Justice Warriors can usually parrot some tired talking points in defense of their positions.
All Social Media Warriors care about is being one of the cool kids. They’ll say whatever they think will get them the most “Likes” on Facebook.
Take the recent brouhaha over the liquor license request of Tequila’s Mexican Cantina (aka the greatest eatery north of the Rio Grande).
Most of those opining on social media didn’t bother to read the newspaper story, much less watch the WCAT video coverage of last week’s discussion at the Town Council meeting.
All they know is that we need a Mexican restaurant in town and so what if the owners have had a few run-ins with the law in the past. That’s no reason to worry about handing them a license to sell intoxicating beverages.
And if the police are against giving them the license, well then, these fellows must be nature’s noblemen, the innocent victims of some sinister plot to persecute them.
The Board of Selectmen granted the liquor license to Tequilas last February, pending the results of routine police fingerprinting of the two prospective owners.
And what do you know? After running their prints through the police database, it turned out that both men had a history of involvement with the criminal justice system. So, the town withheld releasing the license pending last week’s Town Council meeting.
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Tags: alcohol, Board of Selectmen, COPS, DUI, eatery, fingerprints, food, Greenwood Plaza, law, law enforcement, liquor, liquor license, Mark Sardella, police, Police Chief Rick Smith, restaurant, Richard Smith, SJW, SMW, Social Justice Warrior, Social Media Warrior, Tequilas Mexican Cantina, Town Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Polymnia pays tribute to Elvis
Memorial Hall in Melrose was “All Shook Up” last Saturday night as the Polymnia Choral Society presented its “Tribute to Elvis, the King of Rock.”
Polymnia and the King share a historical timeline.
Polymnia was founded in Wakefield in 1953, the year Elvis Presley recorded his first demo at Sun Studio in Memphis. In 1956, the year that Polymnia moved its concerts to Memorial Hall in Melrose, “Heartbreak Hotel” was released, becoming Elvis’s first big hit.
Saturday’s concert featured 20 classic Elvis tunes, from the hard rocking “Return to Sender” and “Burning Love” to the mellow gospel of “Peace in the Valley” and “I Believe.”
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Tags: Eileen Worthley, Elvis Presley, Jillian Casa, Lauren Abramson, Mark Sardella, Melrose MA, Murray Kidd, music, Polymnia Choral Society, rock, She Major, songs, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
I’ll resist calling it “entertaining,” but it has been fascinating to watch the ongoing feud between the Wakefield Farmers Market and The Bread Shop.
A year ago, Farmers Market manager Wendy Dennis initially denied The Bread Shop’s application to have a table at the Wakefield Farmers Market but later grudgingly relented after The Bread Shop brought their case to the Board of Selectmen and the issue exploded on social media.
For their part, the owners of The Bread Shop reluctantly agreed last year to a restriction imposed by the market manager on what they could sell so as not compete with other market vendors selling similar items (cookies and granola). The Bread Shop owners were just glad that they had succeeded in getting a table at the Farmers Market, so they kept their heads down and didn’t rock the boat. Baby steps.
Continue reading ‘Fear & Loathing at the Farmers Market’
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Tags: artisan, bakery, Board of Selectmen, bread, cheese, competition, elitist, food, France, fruit, hippie, Humor, locally grown, Mark Sardella, Opinion, pastry, Politics, shop local, social media, Socialist, The Bread Shop, Town Council, vegetables, vendors, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Farmers Market, Wendy Dennis
The vaping lot
It’s been an open secret for some time that vaping is a serious problem at Wakefield High School and at high schools everywhere.
Vaping, if you don’t already know, is short for “vaporizing,” in which cartridges containing nicotine or even THC concentrate from marijuana, are vaporized rather than smoked. This is what e-cigarettes do. There are various devices used for vaping, but the popular one among the kiddies today is something called the “Juul.”
If you don’t believe it, take a ride up Hemlock Road and pull into the parking lot directly across from Landrigan Field. This is the so called “Junior Lot” because this is where WHS 11th graders who drive to school park their cars. (I should say, mommy and daddy’s cars.)
The first thing you’ll notice is the litter everywhere despite the availability of trash barrels throughout the lot. (This is the generation that cares very deeply about the environment.)
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Tags: addiction, coyotes, drugs, e-cigarette, election, environmentalism, Facebook, Humor, Juul, Landrigan Field, lawn signs, litter, littering, marijuana, Mark Sardella, News, nicotine, Opinion, parking lot, Paul DiNocco, Politics, seagulls, smoking, students, teenagers, THC, tobacco, Town Council, trash, vape, vaping, vapor, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, WHS
Town Meeting Manual
Annual Town Meeting is over but November’s Regular Town Meeting will be here before you know it. Since there are always new people moving into Wakefield and new people reaching voting age, a few observations and helpful tips may be in order. You’ll of course want to bookmark this column for future reference.
First, a bit of history. Like “Board of Selectmen,” Town Meeting dates back to colonial times and is uniquely and deeply rooted in New England history. So obviously, we have to get rid of it.
In the meantime, to fully participate in Town Meeting, you need to be registered to vote. This used to be an onerous task that involved leaving your house. Now you can register to vote online or by mail. We even automatically pre-register high school students age 16 and older. The idea is to get them to vote as many times as possible before they get jobs and start paying taxes.
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, column, definitions, election, Galvin Middle School, History, homonym, Humor, Mark Sardella, New England, Opinion, pep rally, Politics, soccer, terms, Town Council, Town Counsel, Town Meeting, tradition, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, warrant
Just rewards
I’m a big believer in giving back. So, I would like to repay a debt that is long overdue.
Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) have been giving me advice for longer than I can remember (and that’s a long time, as they often kindly remind me). Whether it comes in the form of writing tips or sharing their vast expertise on the business of newspaper publishing, I have learned so much from the feedback of SJWs.
But like all good teachers, SJWs teach more by example than exegesis.
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Tags: advice, censorship, Community, compost, folks, giving back, Humor, Mark Sardella, newspaper, Opinion, patriarchy, Politics, progress, protest, Resistance, safety pin, Same Cooke, SJW, Social Justice Warriors, sustainability, teachers, truth, virtue signaling, Wakefield Daily Item, WakefieldMA, writing
Board of Selectmen, 1647-2018
WAKEFIELD – The Board of Selectmen passed away with little fanfare this week after a bout with a virulent strain of political correctness. It was 371 years old.
Born in 1647, the Board of Selectmen was the child of Lynn Village and Redding. It was later adopted by Reading, South Reading and Wakefield.
The Board of Selectmen spent its entire career working for the town, overseeing the Police and Fire Departments, setting the tax rate and granting licenses to liquor establishments and used car dealers. It controlled approximately one quarter of the town’s budget. In its younger days, the Board of Selectmen presided over Town Meeting until the first Moderator was elected in 1682.
In its youth one of the Board of Selectmen’s proudest accomplishments was negotiating the purchase of the land now known as Wakefield from the Indians in 1687 for the price of 16 pounds sterling silver currency.
In its spare time, the Board of Selectmen enjoyed marching in parades, speaking at Veterans and Memorial Day ceremonies, issuing proclamations, dedicating monuments and cutting ribbons.
It was pure New England, and until its recent illness, the Board of Selectmen took pride in its roots and its unique regional moniker.
The Board of Selectmen was predeceased by the Brookline Board of Selectmen, the Amherst Board of Selectmen and a handful of others. It is survived by Boards of Selectmen in hundreds of communities around Massachusetts and the other New England states.
There are no visiting hours, but time will be set aside for public participation. There will be a three-minute limit per person.
In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked to donate to the
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Toxic Masculinity.
Services will be held at the First Church of Words That Matter.
Internment will be in the trash heap of history.
…
[This column originally appeared in the April 26, 2018 Wakefield Daily Item.]
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Tags: Amherst, Board of Selectmen, Brookline, Fire Department, History, Humor, New England, Opinion, political correctness, politically correct, Politics, Reading MA, selectmen, Town Meeting, Toxic Masculinity, tradition, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
Mark Sardella 