Posts Tagged ‘FDR’

Today, October 12, is traditional Columbus Day. It was 531 years ago today that the Genoese explorer became the first European to set foot in the Western Hemisphere. No big deal, according to those who want to cancel Christopher Columbus because he violated “norms” that the world wouldn’t discover for another half millennium. The cancelers […]


Not so long ago, Italian-Americans were actually seen as a disadvantaged group that faced real discrimination. For that reason, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the first federal observance of Columbus Day in 1937 to recognize the contributions of Italian-Americans and to assure them of their rightful place in American history. “We are celebrating today the […]


Weekend Warrior

11Oct19

As we head into the long Indigenous Peoples Day weekend, let us take a moment from our apple picking, leaf-peeping and farmers market excursions to reflect upon the true meaning of the holiday: to show how much more virtuous and woke we are than those who still call it Columbus Day.


Bad examples

17May19

Bad ideas seem to be finding their way to Wakefield with some regularity of late, which is why you should always be aware of what’s going on in nearby communities. Forewarned is forearmed as they say, and in Massachusetts there’s never a shortage of “initiatives” to be forewarned about. Let’s start with the least dubious […]


Election Ennui

18Dec09

Congratulations to the voters of Wakefield, Massachusetts. One in four of you came out to vote in the recent special primary election to choose Teddy Kennedy’s successor in the US Senate. Wakefield’s 26 percent participation was nearly double the statewide turnout of 14 percent. Somewhere, the Founding Fathers must be beaming with pride. In the […]