Posts Tagged ‘Opinion’
The cost of learning
If there is one group of individuals about whom a discouraging word must never be uttered, it’s public school teachers. Wakefield teachers have been without a contract since last summer, which you’ve probably heard as their supporters have been using social media and other means to spread the word.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: budget, class size, contract, DPW, education, Galvin Middle School, Greenwood School, Humor, Mark Sardella, negotiations, Norma Rae, Opinion, police, Politics, Public Safety Building, salary, School Committee, School Department, schools, students, taxpayers, teachers, Town Meeting, union, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Education Association, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Walton School, WEA
Old school
Coming on the heels of the great news that the Greenwood School would at long last be getting a new roof came the even better news that the 123-year-old structure would not support solar panels on the new roof. There goes the planet.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: bicycle, building, carbon footprint, Climate Change, coal, construction, cycling, Envision Wakefield, Global Warming, green, Greenwood, Greenwood School, Humor, Mark Sardella, Opinion, Politics, roof, solar panels, Town Report, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, walking
Condo Condescension
Since it’s the New Year and a new decade, it seems like a good time for your periodic reminder that Wakefield is not in fact turning into “Condoville” or “Malden” or any of the other haughty labels that the snobs on social media like to toss around. What’s wrong with condos? Or for that matter, […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: apartments, buildings, business, condominiums, condos, development, downtown, factories, factories of Appeals, Greewood, housing, industrial, Malden, Mark Sardella, Master Plan, mixed-use, New Year, Opinion, Politics, revitalization, Tonno, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Station, West Side, Zoning Board, Zoning Bylaw
Fixing elections
When any person or group tells you that they want to “reform” the way we conduct elections to make voting more “fair” and increase voter “participation,” your BS detector should go off. Because when it comes to elections, one thing and only one thing matters: winning. When proposals are advanced to change how elections are […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Bob Dylan, Climate Change, Democrats, diversity, election reform, elections, ethnicity, gender, high school, Humor, ideas, journalism, legislature, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassForward, MassINC, newspapers, nonpartisan, NPR, Opinion, partisan, PBS, policy, Politics, press, problematic, race, ranked-choice voting, Republicans, study, taxes, Tisch College, Tufts University, voter fraud, voter registration, voters, voting
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 […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
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
Mark Sardella 