BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG VEHICLES
Like cell phone users who won’t shut up and drive, people who cruise around with their headlights permanently set in the “blind” position are a menace and a danger on the roadway. I used to think that the problem was just people who left their high beams on by mistake, but I now realize that there is more to this than meets the eye.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion | Leave a Comment
THE COLDEST SUMMER
Sure, it’s been cool so far this summer. The average daily high temperature for July has been 77.6, almost 4 degrees below the normal average high of 81.4. The average mean temperature for the Boston area has been 3 degrees below normal.
You think that’s bad? Try the New England summer of 1816. That’s the year known as “The Year There Was No Summer.” Snow fell in Massachusetts on June 7. People referred to 1816 as “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death.”
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, History | Leave a Comment
COMMENCEMENT DAY ADDRESS
Most schools have already secured their commencement day speakers, and again this year, my phone hasn’t rung. But if the featured graduation day speaker for your college, high school, middle school or driving academy should happen to cancel, I am ready to fill in at a moment’s notice. To prove that I’m fully prepared to step into the breach, I have already written my commencement address, which follows.
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MORE PEDDLERS? JUST SAY NO
“Anyone who sells merchandise by going either from town to town or from place to place in the same town, either on foot or from any animal or vehicle, is acting as a hawker or peddler. No vendor has a right to a specific location.”
–Chapter 210, Code of the Town of Wakefield
Somebody remind me. Why do we need any peddlers around Lake Quannapowitt?
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CLICHE DAY
Friday, November 3, 2006 is Cliché Day. I kid you not. Would I lie to you?
Now that I’ve let the cat out of the bag, please don’t shoot me. I’m just the messenger. It’s right here in black and white, in Chase’s 2006 Calendar of Events. “Use cliché’s as much as possible today,” advises Wellcat Herbs and Holidays, the sponsor of the observance.
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Paul Shanley Preached Here
For many years, his name was preceded by the title “Father” or “Reverend.” Then the Catholic Church stripped those titles away as he became known by a different title: alleged child rapist.
Finally, we can drop “alleged,” substitute “convicted,” and we now have the name by which he will henceforth always be known: Convicted Child Rapist Paul Shanley.
Perhaps some don’t realize how close to Wakefield, Massachusetts this case is. Shanley began his now well-documented reign of terror as a parish priest at St. Patrick’s Church in neighboring Stoneham in the early ‘60s. The young priest had a special rapport with youth, and soon became known for his work with young Catholics. Even then, his ministry reached beyond Stoneham, as he spoke to youth groups at other area churches, including Wakefield.
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Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks at the Regattabar in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Thursday, August 3, 2006.
I’ve seen Dan Hicks perform in various incarnations of his act dozens of times over the last thirty years, mostly in the Greater Boston area, but once in San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall for an early ‘80s reunion concert with the early Hot Licks featuring Maryann and Naomi.
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Mark Sardella 