Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Town Meeting alibis
It’s almost time for that biannual funfest known as Town Meeting, so start dusting off your excuses now. “Nobody told me about it.” “I have to work that day.” “I have kids.” Wow, with extenuating circumstances like those, it’s a wonder anyone ever shows up. All kidding aside, nobody gives a rodent’s hindquarters whether you […]
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Tags: attendance, Betsy Sheeran, electronic voting, Facebook, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, municipal government, newspaper, Opinion, Politics, Town Clerk, Town Meeting, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, web site
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
A ban for all seasons
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 […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 1 Comment
Tags: business, customers, Edward Dombroski, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, merchants, Opinion, plastic bag ban, plastic bags, Politics, selectmen, shopping, store, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Dear Wakefield High
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 […]
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Tags: 2016, cannabis, Catherine Dhingra, Cheech & Chong, driving, drugs, election, Galvin Middle School, high, Humor, legalization, marijuana, Massachusetts, medicine, Opinion, Politics, pot, potheads, stoned, stoners, Wakefield High School, weed, WHS, WMHS, youth, Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Name shaming
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” […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Ann Santos, Board of Selectmen, Brookline, definition, dictionary, Ed Dombroski, election, gender neutral, History, Humor, man, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mehreen Butt, men, name, Opinion, PC, Peter May, political correctness, Politics, Rena M. Colson, sex, Steve Maio, Tony Longo, Town Meeting, tradition, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, women
Our beautiful Lake
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 […]
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Tags: apology, civil rights, civility, column, constructive, diversity, hate, human rights, Humor, inclusivity, Lake Quannapowitt, marijuana, Matk Sardella, mea culpa, multiculturalism, Opinion, Politics, pothead, reefer, sarcasm, satire, sensitivity, snark, sustainability, tolerant, uplifting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed, white privilege
Parade of days
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 […]
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Tags: air conditioning, Canada Day, Cinco de Mayo, Climate Change, CNN, dog days, fake news, Fourth of July, Global Warming, handshake, holidays, Humor, Independence Day, July 4th, nudism, Opinion, Parade, Politics, Tom Brady, US Constitution, voting, Wakefield MA. Massachusetts, Wikipedia
Name that board!
Right on the heels of the plastic bags crisis, the latest issue to rock Wakefield is what name we should use for the town’s executive body. For the past 370 years, “Board of Selectmen” has done quite nicely, but no more. The position contains the word “man” (and in the plural, “men”). In 2017, this […]
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Tags: attorney, Board of Selectmen, Cyrus Wakefield, gender neutral, History, humpr, lawyers, man, Mark Sardella, men, Opinion, Politics, select board, selectboard, selectman, tradition, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Warriors, Xena Warrior Princess
Town Meeting highs and lows
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 […]
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Tags: attendance, Bill Carroll, democracy, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Open Town Meeting, Opinion, Politics, Reading MA, Representative Town Meeting, solstice, Special interest, summer, sun, taxes, Town Moderator, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 