The naked and the masked
With COVID on the wane, last week everyone in Wakefield was finally liberated from the imperative to cover their faces. Everyone, that is, except those least at risk from the virus: school children. That’s what’s known as “following the science.”
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) lifted the state’s indoor mask mandate last week, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has said that masks no longer need to be worn in public schools as of Feb. 28. When two of the most alarmist state agencies are saying masks can go, you know that everybody is done.
Everybody, that is, except certain overwrought local officials, who can’t seem to let it go.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: Ami Wall, Amy Leeman, Anthony Chui, children, COVID, data, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Public Health, DESE, DPH, education, Families, health, Humor, illness, kids, mandate, Mark Sardella, mask mandate, masks, Massachusetts, nurse practictioner, Opinion, pandemic, Politics, schools, students, Suzy Veilleux, testing, Thomas Markham, unvaccinated, vaccinated, vaccination, vaccine, vax, virus, Wakefield, Wakefield Board of Health, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield School Committee, Wakefield Town Council
Magic bus
Like most of you, I had never heard of “transportation equity” until a week or so ago. It’s one of those terms that members of the Woke Community toss around in casual conversation believing everybody knows what it means, because everybody they know does.
You probably thought “equity” was the value of your home minus what you still owe on the mortgage.
How quaint. Turn off Fox Business and put down the Wall Street Journal, insurrectionist.
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Tags: Amesbury, Boston, bus, Cambridge MA, Cambridge Mayor, electric vehicles, equity, Everett, EVs, fare-free bus service, free bus service, Humor, Jonathan Chines, letter, Malden, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MBTA, Medford, Mehreen Butt, Melrose, Newburyport, Newton, Opinion, pilot program, Politics, public transportation, Rowley, Somerville, Sumbul Siddiqui, taxpayers, Town Councilor, Town Meeting, transit, transportation equity, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Town Council, Watertown, Winchester, Worcester
Return to ‘Wakefield Tonight’
Many years before I became an ink-stained wretch, I toiled in another branch of local media. It was way back in the last century, the 1980s, to be precise, when I produced and directed Wakefield’s first regularly-scheduled TV comedy/talk show.
Cable TV was new and all the rage. Cable companies vied for lucrative contracts in every city and town. They would promise the world in order to secure the right to provide cable services to a municipality.
And that’s where the competition ended. The successful cable provider had a monopoly in that community for the next 15-20 years. None of this “choice” between Comcast, Verizon and RCN like we have now.
One of the carrots that cable companies dangled in order to win those contracts was local programming – television that would originate in your very own community. The companies would make grandiose promises of a “state-of-the-art” television studio in your town where professionals would train local people in how to produce television programs “by and for the community.”
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Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Community, Feature stories, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Profiles, Reviews, Television, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1980s, Bill Downwes, Bob Brooks, Bob Lazarus, Bob Seibel, Boston, cable TV, camcorder, Carl Yarde, Chance Langton, Charlie Brooks, Charlie Golub, Comcast, comedians, comedy, comedy clubs, comics, Community Television, Elaine Gold, Gary Stuart, Giggles, Internet, Janeane Garofalo, Johnny Carson, Jon Rubin, Linda Franklin, local TV, Massachusetts, monopoly, Open Mike, Prince Pizzeria, public access television, RCN, Rich Ceisler, smartphone, Sony 1800. Betamax, stand-up, Steve Faria, Stu Wiley, talk show, Television, Tony Morewood, Tony V, TV studio, verizon, viideo, Wakefield Community Access Television, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Access, Wakefield Tonight, Warner Cable, Warner-Amex, WCAT, YouTube
Ethos, pathos and logos
Having endured two previous School Department “forums” on the Wakefield Warrior logo, my expectations were not high for last week’s “Warrior Logo Community Forum.”
Somehow, it still managed to disappoint.
For one thing, it was held via Zoom, which hinders participation by the less technically adept while favoring a demographic more comfortable with technology. If you don’t believe Zoom presents a technical roadblock for many people, consider that the forum started almost 15 minutes late because those in charge of running it encountered – you guessed it – technical problems.
Last week’s forum was billed as an opportunity for members of the Wakefield community to offer their input regarding a new logo to replace the old Warrior logo.
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Tags: American Indians, Bayrd Family, caring, chat, compassionate, courageous, Douglas Lyons, fierce, football, forum, global community, gridiron, Humor, inclusive, Indigenous peoples, Jim Landrigan, Landrigan Field, logo, Mark Sardella, Native Americans, Opinion, Politics, respectful, School Committee, schools, sensitivity training, sports Wakefield Warriors, strong, students, teachers, technology, Town Election, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, welcoming, Zoom
Santa is coming!
The Daily Item has obtained, through a Freedom of Information Act request, a partial copy of Santa’s Christmas list. As journalists, we believe in the public’s Constitutional right to know what our local officials and others will be receiving in their stockings and under their trees on Christmas morning.
The North Pole Information Agency has grudgingly complied with our request. (Like they had a choice.)
Through its press office, the North Pole released a statement calling the release “a regrettable breach of the trust that Santa Claus has worked hundreds of years to establish. After this, how can anyone speak freely while sitting on the lap of a bearded stranger in a red suit?”
That’s the price of transparency, Big Guy. Ho, ho, ho.
As our gift to our readers, the Daily Item has decided to publish the unedited list. Don’t blame us. We’re just the messengers.
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Tags: Ann Santos, Betsy Sheeran, Bill Renault, Board of Health, Brian McGrail, Donald Trump, Ed Dombroski, Edward Dombroski Jr., elections, FOIA, Fred Rich, gift, Humor, Jeff Kehoe, Marian Ryan, Mark Sardella, Melrose, Merry Christmas, Mishy Lesser, North Pole, Opinion, Politics, present, Santa Claus, School Committee, Stephen P. Maio, Suzy Veilleux, Town Council, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights CommissionChristmas, Wakefield Public Schools, WCAT, Youth Council, Zoning Board of Appeals
Logo logistics
Apparently, the Wakefield School Department doesn’t have enough on its plate at the moment, so last week administrators announced plans to push ahead with developing a new high school sports logo to replace the Native American image that was so heinous it took three quarters of a century to determine that it was offensive.
Presumably, the process of choosing a new logo will require somewhat less time.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 9 Comments
Tags: amends, atonement, Bandstand, community forum, Critical Race Theory, curriculum, decolonization, diversity, Douglas Lyons, education, equity, Eurocentrism, Golden State Warriors, Hiker, Humor, inclusion, Indienous people, Mishy Lesser, Opinion, Politics, schools, students, teachers, Upstander Academy, Upstander Project, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield School Committee, Wakefield Warriors, Warrior logo, Western Civilization
Honorable mention
It leapt out at me as I drove past the marquee sign in front of the high school.
I wasn’t annoyed so much as bemused. I took a picture and posted it on Facebook with the light-hearted comment, “Did they run out of letters?”
The responses from the local “Kindness is Everything” community were anything but light-hearted.
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Tags: Christmas, Easter, holiday, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, patriotism, School Committee, schools, sign, Spring Break, veteran, Veterans' Day, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Junior High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, WHS, Winter Break, WMHS
Happy fall celebration!
When we spoke of a war on Christmas, they rolled their eyes.
They told us to “grow up” when we wanted to keep our high school logos.
They said cancel culture was a myth.
Now, they can’t believe that the forces of diversity, equity and inclusion want to cancel Halloween.
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Tags: cancel culture, Columbus Day, COVID, Critical Race Theory, culturally responsive teaching, diversity, equity, fall celebration, groupthinkHalloween, Humor, inclusion, Julie Kukenbergerger, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose, Melrose Public Schools, Opinion, Politics, School Committee, schools education, social justice, students, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warrior Logo, War on Christmas, Youth Council
Decolonizing Columbus
I love Columbus Day because it reminds me of a bygone era before children were taught to hate their own country, its founding and its history.
Now, we teach students that they live on stolen land and are descended from genocidal oppressors. Must do wonders for their social emotional wellness.
Our local Human Rights Commission wants to have Columbus Day changed to “Indigenous People’s Day” in Wakefield. They would have gotten it done this year, but they were so busy decentering whiteness that they got a late start and ran out of time.
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WAKEFIELD — Greenwood native Thomas A.C. Ellis has written a new, comprehensive history of Wakefield’s role in the Civil War. It is a worthy companion to other volumes written on the history of the town.
Ellis is an independent Civil War historian who decided to write the book after he searched for information regarding Wakefield’s contribution to America’s Civil War and found it to be lacking. Further exploration and preliminary research revealed a rich history. His book, “Wakefield’s Civil War Service, A History and Roster,” focuses on the epic actions of the Town of South Reading (now Wakefield) from 1861-1865. Meticulously researched, the book chronicles the contributions of Wakefield men and women in America’s bloodiest war.
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Tags: battle, book, Civil War, Confederacy, Cyrus Wakefield, History, Lakeside Cemetery, Major Horace M. Warren, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, military, Richardson Light Guard, South Reading, Thomas A.C. Ellis, Tom Ellis, union, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield’s Civil War Service, women
Mark Sardella 