Posts Tagged ‘Humor’

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 […]


Anyone at Town Meeting on that night last May could see that it was going to be close. Personally, I thought the plastic bag ban was going to fail narrowly if put to a YES/NO vote. But before it came to that, a third option miraculously surfaced! “Let’s refer it back to the selectmen for […]


In the run-up to the Nov. 8, 2016 election that legalized pot in Massachusetts, how many times did you hear that legalizing recreational marijuana would never lead to increased pot use among youth? I heard it dozens of times, in paid advertisements, in op-ed pieces and on social media. The level of denial that legalization […]


Name shaming

21Sep17

Wakefield’s inexorable slide from a proud, blue collar, working class town to the precious PC world inhabited by communities like Cambridge, Concord and Lexington accelerated just a bit this month when the Board of Selectmen decided that it would, after all, like to change its name to one that does not have the word “men” […]


At long last, I’ve seen the light. I’m admittedly a slow learner, but it has come to my attention that some readers find my weekly entries in the space needlessly caustic. Some might say “snarky” or even “mean.” I was deeply troubled when I learned of this. The knowledge that my writing may have caused […]


Parade of days

01Jul17

A thought occurred to me while anticipating the Wakefield July Fourth Parade. As important as Independence Day is, it overshadows other early summer observances that just don’t get the respect they deserve. It’s like having a birthday on Christmas. Nobody notices. Well, I’m here to right this wrong, because fighting injustice is what I’m all […]


Let me be the first to say it. Hot enough for you? I know, it’s barely 70 degrees, but after the February weather we had earlier this week, today feels like Death Valley. It doesn’t get reliably warm around here until the summer solstice. Then it’s summer until about the Fourth of July, and it’s […]


Zoned out

20May17

I know some people don’t like me to write about marijuana, but the subject has been in the local news a lot lately and it’s kind of my job. So this constitutes a trigger warning for those delicate flowers of the Cannabis Community whose heads tend to explode when I write about pot. (Rest assured […]


The older I get, the more I hate winter. I hate Old Man Winter almost as much as CNN hates the President of the United States. I have no proof, but I’m convinced that winter is a Russian plot to turn the United States into Siberia.


I want to state up front that this column may have been hacked by the Russians. So if you find anything objectionable, you know who to blame. (Snarky lot, those Ruskies.) The New Year is known for lists. New Year’s columns typically feature lists of “bests” and “worsts” of the previous year. Predictions for the […]