Posts Tagged ‘holiday’
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 […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 5 Comments
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
Big bang theory
When is a firecracker just a firecracker? If you were in Wakefield — or anywhere else in the country — on July 4 weekend, you probably noticed a dramatic uptick in the volume of amateur fireworks compared to other years. You were not alone. “Fireworks complaint” was far and away the dominant entry in the […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Abe Lincoln, America, Christopher Columbus, conspiracy theories, coronavirus, COVID-19, explosions, fireworks, Founding Fathers, Fourth of July, George Washington, government, holiday, Humor, Independence Day, July 4th, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, patriotism, Politics, shutdown, United States, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Weekend Warrior
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.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Berkeley, Board of Selectmen, CA, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, Europeans, farmers' market, FDR, First Peoples, football, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, History, holiday, Human Rights Commission, Humor, inclusive, Indians, Indigenous Peoples Day, Italian-Americans, Landrigan Field, Mark Sardella, men, Native Americans, Opinion, Politics, progressives, Roman Empire, Town Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warrior
Bad examples
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 […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Board of Selectmen, Columbus Day, FDR, holiday, Humor, Indian, Indiginous Peoples Day, League of Women Voters, LWV, Marblehead, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Native American, North Andover, Opinion, Politics, Somerville, Town Meeting, vaping, vote, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, white privilege
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 […]
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
End of Year Observances
When I speak of “end of year observances” I’m not attempting to concoct a new euphemism for “the holidays,” although, now that it’s come up, it seems as good a place as any to begin. I won’t talk about any “War on Christmas,” which is probably about as worthy of serious consideration as the “War […]
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Tags: Christmas, ethics, holiday, holidays, marijuana, Mark Sardella, moral equivalency, New Year's, Seasons Greetings, Wakefield Daily Item, War on Christmas
Marching Orders
I love a parade. I’m especially fond of the Wakefield, MA Independence Day Parade, having attended most of them since the Eisenhower Administration. Over the years, I became less interested in the clowns and more interested in the politicians. In other words, my tastes haven’t changed very much. The 2012 Wakefield Independence Day Parade featured […]
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Tags: Daily Item, Donald Wong, Elizabeth Warren, Fourth of July, holiday, John Tierney, July 4, Mark Sardella, Parade, parades, Peter Koutoujian, politicians, Richard Tisei, Sen. Scott Brown, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Independence Day Parade, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
Columbus: the Man and the Myth
Another holiday, another opportunity to vilify the United States. Actually, the upcoming Columbus Day holiday is just a warm-up for the Thanksgiving main event. We know the narrative by now. Christopher Columbus was not a heroic explorer who discovered a new world. He was a villain who set in motion the centuries-long American reign of […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Opinion, Politics, Profiles | 3 Comments
Tags: America, Americans, Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Columbus Day, discovery, explorer, explorers, Genoa, holiday, holidays, Indians, Italian, Italians, Native Americans, United States
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 […]
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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
Classic Christmas tale at Stoneham Theatre The historic Stoneham Theatre re-opened as a professional regional theater in December, 2000 with A Christmas Carol as its very first production. After bringing Dickens’ classic back for the next several seasons, in 2005 and 2006 Stoneham Theatre staged adaptations of a more modern classic, A Christmas Story. Whatever […]
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Tags: actors, Christmas, Daily Item, holiday, holidays, Miracle on 34th Street, play, plays, review, Reviews, show, shows, stage, Stoneham, Stoneham MA, Stoneham Massachusetts, Stoneham Theater, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield news, Wakefield newspaper, Wakefield newspapers
Mark Sardella 