RIP, Rosaline (Blaney) McKenzie
On Saturday, August 28, 2010, we interred the ashes of my aunt, Rosaline (Blaney) McKenzie with her mother Rosetta Blaney and younger sister, Margaret Blaney, in the Blaney plot at New Calvary Cemetery in Boston.
Aunt Rosaline died earlier this year, months short of her 90th birthday. She was my mother’s older sister and the last surviving sibling among her three sisters (Anne, Rita and Margaret) and one brother (Henry “Bud” Blaney).
Continue reading ‘RIP, Rosaline (Blaney) McKenzie’
Filed under: Blaney Blog, Family | 1 Comment
Tags: Blaney, Boston, Boston MA, Boston Massachusetts, cemetery, Doyle's, Dpyle's Cafe, Frances Kilday, Gerry Burke, Irish, Jamaica Plain, John Blaney, New Calvary Cemetery, priest, Pudgy, Rosaline Blaney, Rosaline McKenzie, Rosetta Blaney, Roxbury
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 behind the Protection of Animals in Wakefield Society, better known as “PAWS,” a humane organization that now reaches far beyond Wakefield.
I’ll leave it to others to enumerate Esther’s countless accomplishments with PAWS and her work on behalf of animals. I can best illustrate it through my own personal experience.
Continue reading ‘Farewell Esther, and Thanks’
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, and he skewers the British upper classes like few others can. The Daniel Morris adaptation of An Ideal Husband adds a layer of gender bending that mostly works and mirrors the play’s themes surrounding upper class male and female roles in Victorian England.
Continue reading ‘Gloucester Stage Company’s “An Ideal Husband” is a theatrical tour de force’
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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
“Tell Scott Brown to stop obstructing progress on global warming.”
“Tell Scott Brown to stop voting with Wall Street.”
“Tell Scott Brown to Release $700 million in Federal Relief Money to Massachusetts.”
“Tell Scott Brown to Extend Unemployment Insurance.”
Those are just a few of the advertisements that have run on TV, radio and the Internet since Scott Brown was elected to the United States Senate last January. Somebody tell Scott Brown that he sure is causing certain special interest groups and unions to spend a ton of their members’ money.
Continue reading ‘A “Telling” Time for Sen. Scott Brown’
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Tags: ad, ads, advertisements, boat, boating, boats, canoe, Climate Change, Edward M. Kennedy, election, elections, Global Warming, John Kerry, Kennedy, Martha Coakley, Massachusetts, political ad, political ads, political advertisement, Politics, Rhode Island, RI, row boat, rowboat, Scott Brown, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Scott Brown, Senate, Senator John Kerry, Senator Kennedy, Senator Scott Brown, special interest group, special interest groups, Ted Kennedy, Unemployment Insurance, union, unions, United States Senate, US Senate, Wall St., Wall Street, yacht, yachts
The Nuns Next Door
Nunsense at Next Door Theater in Winchester
Greater Boston residents now have another space where they can see professional theater artists ply their trade. Nunsense, the current offering at Next Door Theater in Winchester, MA is a good-natured energetic musical comedy with a clerical bent.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Reviews, theater | Leave a Comment
Tags: actor, actors, actress, actresses, Aimee Doherty, Brian Milauskas, Caylin Campbell, Dan Goggin, Erik Fox, John Henry Burns, Meredith Stypinski, musical, musical theater, musicals, Nancy Curran Willis, Next Door Theater, nun, nuns, Nunsense, Sarajane Mullins, Shana Dirik, show, sister, sisters, song, songs, stage, theater, theaters, theatre, theatres, Tim McShea, Winchester, Winchester MA, Winchester Mass, Winchester Massachusetts
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 years. But I was drawing the line with Facebook. I would not Tweet.
In my personal life, I have been slow to adopt electronic technology. I was one of the last people in North America to get a VCR. Once I did, I wore several of them out in quick succession. When the technology migrated to DVD players, once again I held the line. My VCRs worked perfectly well, I reasoned. When one of them breaks, maybe then I’ll get a DVD player, I resolved, but not one day sooner.
Eventually, of course, I caved once again. One can stand the peels of laughter only so long. I now own two DVD players. Full disclosure: I still have two VCRS too. (For the record, they are VHS – it’s not like I’m running Betamax or something. I’m no Luddite, after all.)
When home computers came along, again I held off. It might just be a fad, I reasoned, and if it wasn’t, I’d at least wait until they perfect them. By the mid-‘90s, I was satisfied that the personal computer was here to stay and took the plunge.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion | 2 Comments
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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 see which politicians will show up.
My interest in the parade of politicians likely started when I was a young kid in the late 1950s and saw John F. Kennedy march in the Wakefield, Massachusetts parade. At the time, I had no idea who JFK was, but I remember to this day the buzz of excitement among my adult family members as Kennedy marched past us. He embodied my parents’ generation’s hopes of seeing the first member of their generation elected President of the United States. I suspect that for me, going to see the parade every Independence Day is at least partly rooted in a wish to recapture that faded memory. Continue reading ‘Parade of Pols’
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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.
As soon as I arrived and donned my t-shirt, I was greeted by Richard, a man I’ve known for years. He was wearing a purple t-shirt.
“You too?” he said.
Continue reading ‘“You too?”’
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
The Better Part of Valor
At least two candidates for State Representative are happy that they kept a safe distance away from any and all podiums on Memorial Day in Wakefield. Two others are probably now wishing they had.
At the time, getting up and speaking at an event that was likely to draw town officials and the media probably seemed like a politically sound idea to Melrose Alderman/State Rep. candidate Monica Medeiros and her competitor from Wakefield for the seat, Eric Estevez.
Republicans Medeiros and Estevez, along with David Lucas, are running for Katherine Clark’s 32nd Middlesex District seat, while Clark runs for the senate seat of Richard Tisei, who is running for Lt. Governor. The winner of the Sept. 14 Republican Primary will face the only Democrat in the race for Clark’s seat, Melrose Alderman Paul Brodeur.
Continue reading ‘The Better Part of Valor’
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Tags: Anthony Guardia, Bill Walsh, Daily Item, Donald Wong, Eric Estevez, holiday, Katherine Clark, Mark Falzone, Mark Sardella, Melrose, Melrose MA, Melrose Mass, Melrose Massachusetts, Memorial Day, Monica Medeiros, Northeastern University, Paul Brodeur, Politics, Richard Tisei, state representative, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Crowds Turn Out for Memorial Day Observances
A bright, sun-filled sky and seasonable temperatures greeted those who attended yesterday morning’s Memorial Day observance at the West Side Social Club and the afternoon ceremonies on Wakefield Common.
“Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the sacrifices and service of American soldiers and veterans,” Chief Warrant Officer John McCune told those in attendance at the WSSC’s morning program at Mouton Field.
As keynote speaker at yesterday’s WSSC event, Wakefield native McCune talked about the significant meaning that Memorial Day had for him as an Army Reserve officer attached to the Pentagon.
He recalled arriving at the Pentagon just 18 hours after the 9/11 attacks. “All I have to do is close my eyes and see the Pentagon and the World Trade Center,” McCune said. “Now I understand how soldiers in World War II felt when they talked about Pearl Harbor.”
Continue reading ‘Wakefield, Massachusetts Honors Its War Dead’
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Mark Sardella 