Posts Tagged ‘Opinion’
Charging forward
If you thought the local plastic bag ban passed by the town a couple of years ago was bad, take heart. It’s about to get a lot worse. The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a measure that would ban plastic bags statewide. The State Senate is now debating the legislation before it moves on to the […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: ban, business, carbon tax, charging station, CVS, electric vehicles, electricity, environmentalists, EV, Farmland, flaring, food, fossil fuels, Humor, Karen Spilka, legislature, litter, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MGLD, natural gas, Opinion, plastic, plastic bags, Politics, power, sea turtles, Senate, straws, Wakefield Daily Item, WakefieldMA, Walgreens
Neutral zone violation
If one thing is certain in this crazy, mixed up, gender neutralized world in which we find ourselves, it’s that you can’t win. Literally. The Wakefield High School Field Hockey Team learned that the hard way last week. The local girls got bounced from the playoffs by a Wayland team — that included boys. Would […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, boys, chairman, chairperson, co-ed, coed, Ed Dombroski, female, field hockey, gender neutral, girls, Humor, Julie Scott, male, Mark Sardella, men, Opinion, Politics, sports Warriors, Town Council, Tri-Board, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wayland High School, Wayland MA, women
Teachable moment
“Demands on classroom teachers are now laughable,” Wakefield Education Association president Will Karvouniaris told the meeting of the “Tri-Board” last week. If any members of the Town Council, the School Committee or Finance Committee were amused, they didn’t show it. The town’s three top boards were meeting in joint session at the Galvin Auditorium last […]
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Tags: budget, children, class size, Finance Committee, finances, fiscal, History, Humor, Mark Sardella, mythology, newspaper, Opinion, Politics, quid pro quo, School Committee, schools, teachers, Town Council, Tri-Board, union, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Education Association, Wakefield MA, WEA, William Karvouniaris
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
All the rage
Well, our long, hot summer is finally over. OK, it wasn’t that long. Summer around here never is. But if you don’t think it was hot, tell that to the woman who had a cup of hot coffee thrown at her while sitting in the Dunkin’ Donuts in the Junction one morning last July. As […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: anger, caffeine, cars, coffee, coffee shop, decaf, driving, Dunkin' Donuts, football, heat, Humor, Mark Sardella, Opinion, rage, road rage, stop sign, summer, tailgating, Toxic Masculinity, traffic, truck, Wakefield Daily Item
Friendly advice
Summer is winding down. Conditioned by the school year, people are squeezing in that last bit of leisure time and resting up for the post-Labor Day ramp-up of activity. It’s also a truism that late August is a slow news period. That’s not the case at National Public Radio, where the news never rests, all […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment
Tags: boys, emotions, female, friendship, gender, Humor, Julia Furlan, macho, male, Mark Sardella, masculinity, men, Niobe Way, NPR, Opinion, patriarchy, Politics, research, society, Thomas Page McBee, Tom Brady, Toxic Masculinity, Wakefield Daily Item, women
Charging ahead
We’ve already established that the only thing keeping you from trading in your Subaru for a Schwinn is the lack of bike lanes. Now it turns out that all it will take to get you into a new electric vehicle is for the town to install a few public electric vehicle charging stations. So, which […]
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Tags: battery, bicycles, bike lanes, capitalism, car, cars automobiles, charging stations, Climate Change, cost, electric vehicles, electricity, EVs, fossil fuels, gas, gasoline, Global Warming, Humor, Mark Sardella, Mazda, money, Opinion, planet, Politics, supply and demand, Town Council, transportation, vehicle, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, WMGLD
A simple plan
If you’re looking for someone to blame for bike lanes, look in the mirror. That’s in effect what the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is saying in a recently released document called the Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan. MassDOT has developed the Bike Plan “to be an actionable investment strategy to guide its decision-making and bicycle […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 5 Comments
Tags: America, automobiles, bicycle, bike lanes, bikes, biking, cars, Climate Change, emissions, environment, Global Warming, greenhouse gas, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassDOT, Opinion, planet, Politics, skydiving, soccer, solar, transportation, travel, United States, vehicles, wagonm Radio Flyer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, windmills, yoga
That’s entertainment!
“How do you do it?” is a question I am frequently asked. “How do you sit through all those boring government meetings?” I should probably answer that I selflessly attend these meetings in order to be your eyes and ears. I should say that I go to these meetings so that you don’t have to. […]
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Tags: agenda, Ann Santos, Common Street, control, Edward Dombroski, entertainment, government, Humor, Jonathan Chines, Julie Smith-Galvin, Mark Sardella, meetings, Mehreen Butt, Opinion, Paul DiNocco, Peter May, Politics, soap opera, Stephen P. Maio, theater, Town Council, town hall, Wakefield MA, warrants
Native tongue
As has oft been stated, Wakefield is a welcoming town, for both visitors and new residents — especially new residents, whom we have a habit of electing to public office before they’ve even finished unpacking. A couple times a year, Wakefield offers an orientation program for refugees from other communities. It’s called Wakefield 101, where […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 4 Comments
Tags: Americal Civic Center, Bandstand, Board of Selectmen, elections, Forest Glade Cemetery, Frist Parish Congregational Church, Galvin Middle School, Humor, Lake Quannapowitt, Lakeside Cemetery, language, Mark Sardella, natives, North Ave., Old Burial Ground, Opinion, Politics, Rockery, The Common, The Hiker, tourist, town hall, townies, vote, Wakefield 101, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, West Side
Mark Sardella 