‘Wakefield 150’ Time Capsule
Kudos to the Wakefield Independence Day Committee for deciding to go with the 150th birthday of the Town of Wakefield as the theme for the 2018 Fourth of July Parade.
This was the decision I’ve been hoping for since I wrote a column about it last April. But I can’t claim credit for the idea. I hadn’t done the math and was not even aware that 2018 was Wakefield’s 150th anniversary until I heard it from Bob McLaughlin, who heard it from Jeff Wakefield, the great grandson of Cyrus Wakefield II. The Cyrus Wakefield for whom the town is named had no children, but Cyrus II was his nephew and ran his uncle’s vast business empire after the original Cyrus’s death.
So, credit Jeff Wakefield, now living in Canada, for coming up with the idea of celebrating the Town of Wakefield’s 150th anniversary.
Continue reading ‘‘Wakefield 150’ Time Capsule’
Filed under: Feature stories, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Profiles | Leave a Comment
Tags: 150th, 1868, 2018, 2118, anniversary, Betsy Sheeran, Cyrus Wakefield, gender binary, gender neutral, hookah, Jeff Wakefield, July 4th, July Fourth Parade, Juul, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, plastic bag, Reading, Robert McLaughlin, South Reading hookah, Street List, time capsule, vaping, Wakefield 150, Wakefield Dail Item, Wakefield Independence Day Committee, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warriors, William Carroll
Santa’s List 2017
It’s late December in Wakefield, and you know what that means.
Santa has made his list and checked it twice. But it no longer matters if you’ve been naughty or nice, because it’s 2017 and Santa doesn’t make moral judgments. Who is Santa to determine bad or good for anyone else?
That being said, and buoyed by yesterday’s tax cut announcement, Santa is in an especially generous mood this year, so let’s go right to the list.
To Police Chief Rick Smith: a private jet.
To Brian Fox: a ridiculous costume.
To Paul DiNocco: a gift certificate to Caryn’s Sports Bar.
To the Wakefield Human Rights Commission: pink hats and safety pins.
To the Wakefield Police Department: a buyer for 10 Mansion Rd.
To Jim Lapery: a sump pump for the next time he wants to drain the swamp.
To Wakefield Public School Students: a real snow day.
To the Civic League: a real conspiracy.
To Green Street residents: an ark.
To Town Clerk Betsy Sheeran: a Street List.
To the School Committee: 4 percent.
To Selectman Brian Falvey: a search party.
To Rep. Paul Brodeur: a comb.
To Building Inspector Jack Roberto: rodeo tickets.
To the Board of Selectmen: a gender-neutral snow person of color.
To Israel Horovitz: Viagra and mistletoe.
To motorists on the Route 129 rotary: drivers ed.
To National Grid: EMF neutrality.
To the transmission line abutters: whale oil lamps.
To Bob McLaughlin: an underwater camera and a harpoon.
To Town Counsel Tom Mullen: a new title to avoid confusion with Town Council. (Santa suggests “Attorney General.”)
Well that about does it for this year. If you didn’t appear on the list, don’t feel slighted. That was your gift.
[This column originally appeared in the December 21, 2017 Wakefield Daily Item.]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Betsy Sheeran, Board of Selectmen, Brian Falvey, Brian Fox, Caryn's Sports Bar, Christmas, EMF, gifts, Green Street, holidays, Human Rights Commission, Israel Horovitz, Jack Roberto, Jim Lapery, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Moby Dick, National Grid, Paul Brodeur, Paul DiNocco, pink hat, presents, private jet, Richard Smith, Robert McLaughlin, rodeo, Route 129, safety pin, Santa Claus, School Committee, snow man, Street List, Thomas Mullen, transmission line, Wakefield Civic League, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department, Wakefield Public Schools, whale oil lamp
By MARK SARDELLA
The wave of sexual misconduct allegations that has been toppling prominent men in politics and the entertainment industry has reached Wakefield.
The Board of Directors of the Gloucester Stage Company and its founder, world renowned playwright and Wakefield native Israel Horovitz, have permanently severed ties amid new allegations of sexual assault made against Horovitz.
Continue reading ‘Israel Horovitz accused of sexual assault’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, News, Profiles, theater, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ad Rock, Adam Horovitz, Al Pacino, Beastie Boys, Elizabeth Dann, Gloucester Stage Company, Harvey Weinstein, Israel Horovitz, Jeff Zinn, Jill Clayburgh, Jocelyn Meinhardt, John Cazale, Kevin Kline, Liz Neumeier, Louis C.K., Maggie Smith, Maia Ermansons, Mark Sardella, My Old Lady, New York Times, plays, playwright, sexual assault, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Widow's Blind Date
Short and sweet
Dunkin’ Donuts announced recently that it is considering shortening the name on all of its stores to simply, “Dunkin’.” A few select stores around the country are now testing the truncated name, including one in Boston.
This move could have serious implications for a town like Wakefield, which has a Dunkin’ Donuts on every corner (and thankfully not one Starbucks).
Continue reading ‘Short and sweet’
Filed under: Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Academy Award, Board of Selectmen, Boston, Clark Gable, Darling Ingredients, Dunkin' Donuts, General Mills, Gingerbread Construction Company, Gone With the Wind, Hattie McDaniel, Honey Dew Donuts, Lord and Taylor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Oscars, Pleasure Island Road, Ralph Lauren, Robert Half Comany, Starbucks, Vivien Leigh, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield School Department
By MARK SARDELLA
Supporting the arts and local artists would be a good enough reason to attend Quannapowitt Players’ “Suburban Holidays Six,” especially since at least three Wakefield residents are involved with the current show as actors, directors, producers and playwrights.
But you don’t need an altruistic reason to go see this year’s festival of short holiday plays. Be selfish. Go for the fun and entertainment of watching these seven clever and original short plays written and performed for the sheer love of doing it. And since it is a fundraiser, you have all the justification you need to take a break from the holiday madness for a night of live theater.
The show gets off to a strong start with “Stranger Than True (or Kind of True) Crime Stories from the Files of Bob the Cop – Case #2: Who Sleighed Santa?” Written by Cary Pepper and directed by Wakefield’s own Patrick Cleary, this cleverly-written comedy features Wakefield resident Brian Sensale in the lead role as Bob the Cop.
Bob is a hard-boiled dick in the best tradition of Leslie Nielsen’s “Naked Gun” cop Frank Drebin. And if, like me, you’re a sucker for good puns, this play will quickly draw you in. In this episode, Bob the Cop is called in to investigate the mysterious death of Santa Claus.
Continue reading ‘QP scores with ‘Suburban Holidays Six’’
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Feature stories, Humor, News, Opinion, Reviews, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Al Pirnie, Andrew Quinney, Anne Louise Breslin, arts, Barbara Bourgeois, Blair Howell, Brian Sensale, Cary Pepper, Casey Stephenson, Chris Rose, Christmas, Donna Corbett, Estella Dattoli Matthew Garlin, Estella Orfanos, Evelyn Howell, Frank Drebin, Glenn Wakeley, holidays, Jackson Hughes-Page, Jaime Hennessy, Jenny Hughes, Joan Luz-Holt, Jodie Putnnam, John Pease, Kathy Bedard and Melissa Reda, Kerry Moe, Leonard Chasse, Leslie Nielsen, Lisa Burdick, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Matt Garlin, Patrick Cleary, Quannapowitt Players, Reading MA, review, Robin Doupe, Ron Wackowski, stage, Steven D. Miller, Suburban Holidays Six, theater, theatre, Valerie Whiteneck, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Where’s the outrage?
One thing that there’s no shortage of on social media is outrage. Democrats are outraged about Trump. Republicans are outraged about Hillary (and Trump).
And apparently everybody’s outraged about underground power lines.
Whether on social media or real life, sometimes it seems that there isn’t enough outrage where it’s truly warranted. That’s why it was encouraging recently to see some genuine outrage from the Board of Selectmen when they got the results of the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey for Wakefield.
Wakefield’s Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator Catherine Dhingra was at the selectmen’s meeting to go over the latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey results.
There were a number of alarming statistics that came out of the 2017 YRBS, not the least of which is that regular marijuana use spiked 10 percent among Wakefield High School students in the past year. And 25 percent of WHS students admit to driving while stoned. Continue reading ‘Where’s the outrage?’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Board of Selectmen, Brian Falvey, Catherine Dhingra, drugs, Ed Dombroski, Facebook, Humor, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Opinion, outrage, parents, Politics, pot, power lines, social media, teachers, teens, Tony Longo, WAKE UP, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, weed, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, youth teenagers
By about 11 p.m. Monday night, we should have a pretty good idea what Wakefield’s future will look like.
Will the town retain a semblance of the working-class normalcy that has been its hallmark for generations? Or will it veer off in the direction of more genteel communities fond of banning everyday useful items like plastic bags, Styrofoam coffee cups and plastic water bottles?
Will Wakefield remain the proud home of the Warriors? Or will it become a place where the word “selectman” is offensive and sports logos and team names are changed because a few suburban soccer moms think somebody might be offended?
Continue reading ‘Resist the bag-banning revisionists’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 6 Comments
Tags: ban, Board of Selectmen, Dunkin' Donuts, gender studies, Hiker statue, Honey Dew Donuts, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, name change, New England, Opinion, plastic bags, plastic bottles, Politics, selectman, Styrofoam cups, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warriors, wroking class
Town Meeting alibis
It’s almost time for that biannual funfest known as Town Meeting, so start dusting off your excuses now.
“Nobody told me about it.”
“I have to work that day.”
“I have kids.”
Wow, with extenuating circumstances like those, it’s a wonder anyone ever shows up.
All kidding aside, nobody gives a rodent’s hindquarters whether you show up or not, least of all me. The only reason the excuses come up at all is because somebody complains about something that resulted from a Town Meeting action.
Then someone else (like me) asks the obvious question: Which way did you vote when this came up at Town Meeting?
You know the responses (see above).
Continue reading ‘Town Meeting alibis’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: attendance, Betsy Sheeran, electronic voting, Facebook, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, municipal government, newspaper, Opinion, Politics, Town Clerk, Town Meeting, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, web site
Happy traditional Columbus Day!
As every kid in America used to know, it was on Oct. 12, 1492 that Columbus discovered America. Most kids also learned the little poem that began, “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” I learned it in kindergarten at Miss Hope’s progressive Studio School on Montrose Avenue.
Do schools still teach that poem to kids? That’s a rhetorical question. As my education continued at the Greenwood School, I learned more details about Columbus’s heroic voyages. Continue reading ‘Happy traditional Columbus Day!’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: America, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, explorer, Greenwood School, History, holiday, Hope Dillaway, Humor, Indigenous Peoples Day, Italian-Americans, Mark Sardella, Opinion, Politics, Studio School, United States, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
A ban for all seasons
Anyone at Town Meeting on that night last May could see that it was going to be close. Personally, I thought the plastic bag ban was going to fail narrowly if put to a YES/NO vote.
But before it came to that, a third option miraculously surfaced! “Let’s refer it back to the selectmen for more study!” As soon as I heard those words, I knew it was over. Some form of plastic bag ban was all but inevitable.
Any committee the selectmen appointed to study banning plastic bags was never going to recommend not banning them. So now we have what will be sold at the upcoming November 6 Town Meeting as the “new and improved” plastic bag ban.
And you thought the silliest thing on the Regular Town Meeting warrant was renaming the Board of Selectmen.
Continue reading ‘A ban for all seasons’
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 1 Comment
Tags: business, customers, Edward Dombroski, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, merchants, Opinion, plastic bag ban, plastic bags, Politics, selectmen, shopping, store, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 