Tonight

 

Encounter

He cut in front of my intended path of travel.

 

I could feel the sweat droplets freezing between the frown lines of my forehead,

like little beads nestled between corduroy ridges.

The dreaded trek back to my apartment from the gym.

 

I moved to my right and he moved to his left. When we collided, I said, “Excuse me.”

His right eye looked into my eyes, his left eye still in the shadows of the street lamp.

 

He had trash bags in his hands. He was wearing an old flannel shirt.

He must be doing the late-night garbage run.

I kept walking.

 

I looked over my shoulder. He was reaching into the university garbage barrel.

He was lifting things out.

 

He was homeless and he looked just like my Grandpa in that red flannel.

 

By CATHERINE MOORE

 

Merry-Go-Round the Frog Pond

BOSTON, Mass. (10/28/2008) -- Sunday afternoon, 30 horses made their debut at the Boston Common Frog Pond carousel opening.

The General Manager of the Boston Common Frog Pond, Bob McKeown, said that the carousel, which is open for a trial period from October 25 through November 9, received an enthusiastic reception from its clientele. McKeown said that he was surprised that the carousel riders were not just children.

“It’s obviously mostly kids who enjoy the ride,” said McKeown. “But we did receive an enthusiastic comment card from a 50 year-old woman, and a wedding couple stopped by yesterday to take a ride, as well. The guy was still in his tux.”

McKeown said that he tried to snap some photos of the newlyweds riding the carousel with his camera phone, but they came out blurry.

McKeown, General Manager of the Boston Common Frog Pond since May 2008, has over 20 years prior experience in ice rink management. “I’ve been in the skating business for many years,” said McKeown. “In 1988, I started my job running the Arlington Ice Rink. The buck stopped with me. I was there for 14 years.”

McKeown’s career in ice rink management then led him to oversee operations at the Chelmsford Forum ice rink in North Billerica, Massachusetts, where the UMass Lowell hockey team used to play.

Dressed in a light green Boston Common Frog Pond t-shirt, evergreen pants, and a matching hat, McKeown stood out in the rain on Tuesday. He showed off the sleek new herd of horses on the merry-go-round, outside of his pond-side office building.

McKeown refused to take a photograph with the horses, saying that he was not allowed to show the detailed tattoos that snake down both of his bare arms.

“Even though they (the tattoos) are Disney and kid-friendly,” he said, “I really shouldn’t (show them).”

Due to the continuous rain, McKeown said that he had to shut down operations all day Tuesday. “We can’t open because it’s all slippery and wet,” said McKeown. He said that plans to introduce this carousel to Boston Common have been in the works for around four years and the Foundation cannot afford to have any accidents caused by the rain.

Boston Common Frog Pond Foundation Chairman, Thomas A. Kershaw, introduced the carousel idea to the Frog Pond Foundation and has been pushing for its implementation ever since. Kershaw, a Boston Businessman and owner of the Hampshire House, Cheers Beacon Hill, Cheers Faneuil Hall Marketplace, and 75 Chestnut restaurant, is a central figure in the Frog Pond facility management, along with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. The Frog Pond Snack bar is also under the supervision of Kershaw’s restaurant chefs.

The Boston Common Frog Pond, open for winter skating since 1997, continued to expand to what is now an almost year-round gathering place for local residents and visitors. Open November to March for public skating, the Frog Pond becomes a reflecting pool in the spring and fall, and finally it transforms into a wading pool for the months of July and August.

The carousel is a part of the recent effort to expand recreational offerings at Boston Common Frog Pond during the off-season.

“We are trying to fill in those fall and spring months,” said McKeown. “We are hoping, come March, when we close the skating rink that we can have the carousel up and running permanently.”

The Boston Common Frog Pond is more than a recreational facility for public enjoyment. The Foundation also reaches out to the community through Philanthropic work. The Boston Common Frog Pond works with the Red Sox Foundation in the winter to teach kids how to skate and hires summer employees from the Boston Youth Foundation.

McKeown said that the Frog Pond had a great group of high school employees from the Boston Youth Foundation, this past summer.

“I really enjoy teaching young people who have never had a job before,” said McKeown.

Although the addition of a carousel to the Frog Pond was calculated to affect business in the spring and fall, McKeown said that he sees potential for the carousel to function for a longer period of time.

“I know that Tom (Kershaw) would like to see it open until January 1, for the holidays,” said McKeown. “We will never say never.”

McKeown said that the Boston Common Frog Pond Foundation is contemplating several other changes to the events calendar, in addition to the presence of the new carousel. McKeown said that he has been brainstorming and he would like to add some several “theme night” skating events throughout the year, as well as an art show around the reflecting pond, and summer electric sailboat races. He said that he hopes to hire an activities director who could oversee arts and crafts of the facility.

“We are just trying to look to expand programs in whatever way we can,” said McKeown. “I’m all about the children and the senior citizens. It’s that smile on their faces when they come up to the snack bar to purchase a ticket or get a cup of cocoa that gets me.”

November 19, 2008, Boston Mayor, Thomas M. Menino will once again cut the ribbon to open up the Boston Common Frog Pond for the first night of skating in the 2008-2009 season. The opening night festivities will include visits from local sports team mascots including the Boston Red Sox Green Monster, Nutcracker characters from The Boston Ballet, and Lucky from the Boston Celtics. Visit http://www.bosotncommonfrogpond.org/.

By CATHERINE MOORE

Doctors Now Prescribe Books

BOSTON, Mass. (10/21/08)--The heavy, red-furred dog costume, worn by Dr. Perri Klass’s 13 year-old son, Anatol, was just one of several costumes donned by volunteers, Sunday. Story book legends came to life at the Seaport Hotel in Boston Harbor at the annual Reach Out and Read “Read and Romp” event.

Norman Bridwell’s children’s book character, Clifford the Big Red Dog, was led around to greet youngsters on the arm of his mother, one of the early members of the Reach Out and Read organization.

Dr. Perri Klass joined the Reach Out and Read (ROR) organization 16 years ago, with a passion to promote literacy. She said that today, according to Reach Out and Read statistics, 35 percent of children who enter kindergarten lack the basic language skills they will need to learn to read.

These children come from mostly from low-income families. Without intervention, those children will have low literacy skills and poor economic potential in their adult lives. This is where Reach Out and Read comes in, providing books, while promoting literacy by educating parents on the importance of reading to children at early ages.

A journalism and pediatrics professor currently at New York University, Klass returned to Boston this past weekend on her annual trip to Beantown for the Read and Romp. Despite relocating to New York City for her career, Klass continued her volunteer legacy as a Reach out and Read medical doctor on the Board of Directors.

The Reach Out and Read organization, started in 1989, was an attempt by pediatricians and primary caregivers to become more involved in their clients’ lives. They went beyond conventional healthcare to give low-income children a chance. These doctors and nurses left behind tradition in order to tell parents about the importance of reading in child development. Upon each check –up visit, nurses and doctors provide parents with information on how to read to children at each developmental age as well as sending each child home from his or her appointment with a new book to keep as his or her own.

“The books hold so much meaning, so much pleasure, and so much possibility,” said Klass. “It is so much fun for parents to see their child enjoy a book. It’s inspiring. It’s what we want all children to have. We want every child who comes into the office for medical care, to leave with a book in hand.”

The Read and Romp is a Reach Out and Read event, co-sponsored by the Cabot Corporation, Walden Media, and Scholastic Inc. The event brings in over 80,000 dollars each year that is used to buy books for more than 4,000 ROR programs nation wide. The Read and Romp has helped more than 3.3 million children explore their favorite books.

This year the Seaport Hotel Plaza conference room was transformed into a storybook land, featuring 11 stations, each focusing on a favorite children’s book with an activity to accompany it.

Margaret Wise Bloom’s The Runaway Bunny station gave children the opportunity to coddle live baby bunnies. Next door at Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar station, children make their own butterflies out of clothespins and coffee filters. Laura Joffe Numeroff’s book If you Give a Mouse a Cookie station was in the center of the room and children could decorate their very own cookies. The timeless book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton, recreated a “construction zone” in one corner of the room, with trucks and blocks scattered all over the floor. Throughout the afternoon, the storybook characters literally came to life for the children to enjoy. Clifford the Big Red Dog was joined by Frog and Toad from Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad are Friends as well as several other characters. The children and their parents were busy as bees, moving from station to station as they share each other’s pleasure.

“I think for all of us that work for the program in any capacity,” said Klass. “It’s all about the pleasure that parents and children get together, from reading.”

More than 60 volunteers spent time and energy planning this year’s Read and Romp. Co-chair of the event committee, Kirke Hall from Westwood, MA, said that she has been involved with Reach Out and Read for more than 12 years and she has been working at the Read and Romp for all five years of its existence. “A friend got me involved,” said Hall.

With her husband and both of her children present at the event, Hall said that she got her whole family involved. “ROR can offer its full five year program for a mere $40 per child,” said Hall. “That means that by the time the child enters kindergarten, he or she will have a home library of at least 10 books, and parents who understand the great importance of reading aloud.”

One of a handful of paid employees working the event, Matt Ferraguto has only worked as the communications director for ROR since last December, but he already says that promoting literacy is the “best job ever.” Before ROR, Ferraguto worked as the public relations representative for Senator Kennedy and Congressman Lynch on their political campaigns.

Ferraguto explained that ROR’s crusade is not to teach reading, but to let parents know of their responsibility to read to their children, far before the kids are actually learning to read by themselves.

“I’m about to have my first baby,” said Ferraguto, referring to his wife’s pregnancy. “If it were not for ROR, and if I did not work here, I would never have known that you should read to a 6 month old baby.”

Ferraguto said that studies have shown that spending time talking to a child from infancy to the toddler years can prove to be a much more effective form of preparation for kindergarten than planting children in front of the television.

Abbie Bloom, the event coordinator employed by ROR, said that she thinks the best part about the event is that it is “impossible not to have fun.” Bloom, who has helped to plan the past three Read and Romps, is also planning an ROR fundraiser for adults in the springtime.

“The ‘Read, Romp and Rock’ event is a non-traditional gala fundraiser for adults that will be held on April 3^rd this year.” Bloom said, “It’s at The Estate venue, and it will feature dinner by the bite, music, dancing, and games.”

“It’s the perfect night out for, parents, many of whom have brought their children here today and will continue to show their support for ROR by attending the gala in the spring,” she said.

Michael and Joy Surprenant were not only in attendance at this year’s Read and Romp, but they were also sponsors of the event. The Surprenants said that their monetary donation to the event is a reflection of their investment in the importance of reading. They have been bringing their five year-old son to the event since he could walk and he has come to look forward to it.

“We started to support ROR and attend the Read and Romp while we were still reading out loud to him,” said Mrs. Surprenant. “Now he’s starting to read on his own; beginner books. He loves it. That’s part of why we want to promote ROR, we want to let everyone enjoy reading.”

By CATHERINE MOORE

Peace Not War

BOSTON, Mass. (10/11/2008) -- Military mother Anne Chay used to hold up a poster that read “Bring my son home.” Now the sign says, “Don’t send my son back!”

Chay stood with members of the Massachusetts chapter of Military Families Against the War on Saturday, October 11, 2008, speaking out against the war in Iraq. The organization was one of over twenty groups that gathered at Boston Common to protest the war and commemorate October 11, 2002. This was the date that the United States Congress authorized President Bush to use military force in Iraq, hence, the start of the Iraq War.

Chay, from Andover, Massachusetts said that her son, John, who served his time Iraq with the U.S. Army’s infantry division of the one hundred twenty-third brigade, is due to discharge October 23, 2008.

The date is bittersweet, however. John is concerned that he will receive his reactivation notice during his vacation period and he does not want to return to the Middle East. Instead, John recently considered a permanent discharge from the U.S. Army and joining up with the Massachusetts National Guard.

Chay said that her son’s decision to transfer to the MA National Guard is based on fear. “It’s because he’s concerned about being reactivated. He doesn’t want to go back,” said Chay. “These kids can’t get out. And they don’t want the military looking over their shoulders all their lives. Let’s face it if the military wants to find him, they will. So it’s better for him if he just goes through the steps and transfers to something more local,” Chay said.

Chay explained that she was “mortified” when her son enlisted at age 18. She said that he knew he didn’t want to hang around and get in trouble after high school. Chay said that, like many other high school graduates, John saw the military as a great career choice. “The military promises students free college tuition and an opportunity to travel the world,” said Chay. “Instead, they get the equivalent of one year of college tuition paid, which is nothing, and they travel to one desolate desert location.”

Despite her son John’s grievances against the army, and his determination not to return to Iraq, Chay said that he has gained some quality characteristics during his time in the military. She said, “John has grown up a lot and he has made some great friends.”

While he was deployed in Iraq, Chay said that she lived on edge with constant fear. Chay said, “Once my doorbell rang (which never happens) at eight at night. I was so scared that my son was dead.”

Chay said that since her son was deployed to Iraq, she has become much more educated on the war and its implications. “Once you get that personal connection, you have to get involved,” said Chay. “Originally, I sort of fell for the government’s ploy. I saw the war as something that we had to do. But then I read literature from all sides. I started to look into it. I don’t know what our government is doing. It is very discouraging.”

Chay explained that although she is proud of her son, she is not proud of the war our country is fighting. “I think we have made the American image worse (globally). The war is a travesty all the way around,” Chay said.

Chay participated in the peace rally on Saturday because she said that she thinks that she can make a difference. By educating the public on the underlying truth of the nature of the war, Chay believes that people will vote to end the war, by choosing democratic candidate Barrack Obama in the upcoming November presidential elections.

“People need to make a connection between the financial expenditure of this war and the present economic crisis in the U.S.,” said Chay. “Our country has already spent 3 trillion dollars. Where is that coming from?”

High school students from Oyster River High School, outside of Lee, New Hampshire, agreed with Chay. They traveled 2 hours to Boston Saturday morning to participate in the peace rally in Boston Common, but they didn’t mind the ride. These politically active youth think that the amount of money that the U.S. government has already spent on the war in Iraq is unacceptable and they want something done about it.

Brett Chamberlin, 17, said that change would start with a complete federal withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Chamberlin said, “Besides the human rights implications, it (the Iraq war) is extremely pertinent to our generation. We (the next generation) are going to be the ones taking the financial tab.”

Liza Richardson, from Concord New Hampshire, greeted Chamberlin with a hug, as she joined the New Hampshire group at the protest. Richardson, who attends Parker Academy in Concord, NH, works for the New Hampshire Peace Action organization.

“This war matters to me a lot,” said Richardson. “It think it’s totally unnecessary and really, really sad. Even though it’s been going on a long time, I still think there’s a chance that we can end it earlier rather than later, and I want to do my part.”

Richardson was optimistic, saying that she thinks that by redirecting Pentagon spending, the U.S. could take a major step in the right direction towards ending the war and getting American priorities in order.

By CATHERINE MOORE

What Makes Me Tick...

            Throughout my life I have been fortunate to embrace many different travel opportunities that have broadened my view of the world and have cultivated within me a compassion for people, as well as a desire to tell their stories through broadcast journalism.

             I developed a love for travel my freshman year of high school when I accompanied my church youth group on a philanthropic outreach to Panama City, Panama. We traveled in dug-out canoes up the San Juan River and visited remote villages that remain unaffected by the modern world. We supplied the villagers with food, money, and supplies (such as weed-whackers) to aid them in clearing their land, in order to plant crops.  After spending two weeks with the Panamanian children, I was certain that I wanted to travel with my youth group again, the following summer.

            In June 2004, I traveled with the same church group to El Paso, Texas where we spent three and a half weeks aiding the poverty stricken Mexican citizens who inhabited the border towns in the region. Every day we would pile into a mini-van, laden with food, blankets, and stuffed animals for the children. We would cross the border into Juarez, Mexico and distribute the much needed supplies. For two separate weeks we also set up a children’s day camp at one of the Mexican church compounds. We used our mini-van to transport children from around the city to the church, where we gave them their first taste of summer camp.

             I remember spending steaming hot afternoons dressed in a heavy corduroy jump suit, while the sweat on my forehead made the clown make-up I was wearing run down my face. Dressed in costumes, we sang with the children, played games, provided snack, and did art projects. The boys in my group would start soccer games with the scrappy Mexican children, out on the grassless dirt compounds.

            Due to these prior experiences, I was not the least bit hesitant to apply as a senior for the Media Efficiency and Democracy in Action (MEDIA) exchange trip to Amman, Jordan. Made possible by the support of the U.S. Department of State and The United Palestinian Appeal (UPA), a local NGO called Project Harmony sent ten American high school students to spend the month of April 2006 in Jordan’s capital, Amman. This was the first exchange program that Project Harmony had sponsored to the Middle East.

            After 8 weeks of training in Arabic, as well as cultural education training, we flew sixteen hours to Amman, where we met up with our five Jordanian and five Palestinian refugee counterparts. The exchange trip included supervised trips around Amman where we observed and deconstructed media images, allowing the city's environment to serve as a living classroom. Armed with pens, paper, video cameras, and other media technology, we put our media education skills to work creating video journals and interpreting media images through writing, drawing, and speaking.

            We visited multiple organizations such as The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Development (JOHUD), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and The Queen Zein Al-Sharaf Institute for Development (ZENID) where we gained an increased understanding of issues affecting youth in Jordan. We also had the opportunity to visit historically and culturally significant sites such as Petra and Jarash and we spent days traveling through the Palestinian refugee camps of Al-Baqa’a, Wihdat, and Zarqa outside of Amman.  There were many times during the trip when I realized that I was witnessing history.

            We experienced the culture and traditions of the Middle East firsthand by staying with host families while we were in Jordan. I was also privileged to write a weekly column in the local newspaper back home, where I was interning at the time. I wrote daily accounts of my experiences that I emailed to the editor-in-chief of The Valley Reporter in Waitsfield, Vermont. These accounts were published for the local community and served as a successful means of communication between the MEDIA team members and our local community back home.

            This was my first experience as a correspondent for a news agency and it has since proven to be one of the most memorable moments in my life, thus far. During this trip, I became sure of my desire to pursue a career in journalism, continuing to learn about people, cultures, and sharing these experiences with the world.

            As an extremely outgoing, charismatic individual, I feel that television broadcast reporting is the best journalistic medium for me to work in. I am an individual who enjoys the fast pace of the broadcast world, as well as the social and performing qualities of the profession. I feel that the personal interaction involved in broadcast can often be the most effective form of journalism. A reporter plays an important role in informing the viewer about topics of the utmost importance in their lives.

By CATHERINE MOORE

Immigrants Rally to Stop "ICE" Raids

            BOSTON, Mass. (10/08/2008) -- Almost 400 years after the first European stepped off the Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts Immigrant Rights Advocates feel it is necessary to defend the 21^st century immigrant’s claim to American citizenship.

            Supporters of immigrants’ rights gathered to fight for justice for immigrant families in the United States Wednesday evening from 5 to 6 p.m. at Boston City Hall Plaza. These activists joined forces to call for a moratorium of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Businessmen, religious congregations, college students, and recent foreign immigrants all stood together on the plaza steps to demand the suspension of these mandated actions by the US federal government. The protesters wanted to put an end to immigrant deportation and abusive treatment. Furthermore, they demanded that the federal government supply immigrants with a path to citizenship.

            Shuya Ohno, a representative from the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), spoke from personal experience when he stepped in front of the large crowd on the cold, concrete steps of the Boston Immigration Court located in the JFK Building on Boston City Hall Plaza. Ohno, who migrated to the U.S. at the age of six, said that he could still remember what it felt like to be a newcomer in a foreign place.

            “When I first came to this country, we didn’t speak a word of English,” said Ohno. “I remember vividly how frightened, scared, and confused I was.” Holding the microphone with a trembling hand, Ohno described the chaos and danger of the post-Vietnam era in the U.S. for immigrants.

            Ohno said, “I remember how my parents were frightened to go out to work, to go to the grocery store. I know they tried to hide their fear from me, but as a six year old I could feel it and all I wanted was to protect my parents. For myself, I wanted someone to kneel down and tell me that things were going to be okay.”

            With this imagery in mind, Ohno began to tell the growing crowd of immigrant supporters some of the recent stories of U.S. mal-treatment of immigrants. Last year, the federal government of the United States mobilized over 500 ICE officials to raid a factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts that was staffed mostly by women making leather packs for the US troops in Iraq.

            Ohno traveled to New Bedford to aid the 350 immigrant families that were devastated by the deadly attack. “I am stilled haunted by the sights and sounds of the children crying, terrified that they will never see their mothers or fathers again. I wanted to comfort these children and tell tem that everything was going to be ok, but I couldn’t. All I could do was to work to tell as many people as I could about what was happening,” said Ohno.

            As the dark sky spit down occasional raindrops, the crowd surrounding the immigration rally did not diminish. As suit-coated professionals completed their workdays, they left their offices that overlook Boston City Hall Plaza and passed by the conspicuous immigration rally. The commotion of the picketers and chanting of “Stop the Raids! No more Deportation!” lured travelers to the booming microphone shared by speakers and the guitarist/ vocalist, Valentina Paez.

            Twenty-two year old Lance Butler said he was drawn to the rally as he was skateboarding past City Hall Plaza with a friend. Butler said that he was surprised to run into the event, because he had no idea it was taking place that night. “I’m actually kind of psyched,” said Butler. “It (Immigration Advocacy) seems like a really good idea, considering that we call it (the US) the land of the free, but all of these people are unable to live here legally.”

            Butler, originally from Randolph, Vermont, lives and works in Lynn, Massachusetts. He said that he had never heard of ICE raids before, but that the information is very depressing. “Immigration hasn’t really affected me personally so that is probably why I don’t really know a lot about the issue. But I’m glad they are here rallying today, because now I know.”

            Reverend Kim Crawford-Harvie shared the podium with the other speakers at the rally. Crawford-Harvie revealed in an interview after the rally had concluded that she has been a pastor at the Arlington Street Church for over twenty years. A member of the Unitarian Universalist denomination, Crawford-Harvie said that the Arlington Street Church has long been an advocate for immigrant rights. Crawford-Harvie was joined by many of her congregation members at the rally to show their support ff immigrants and to represent their organization.

            “We are weary of the ICE raids and what it is doing to destroy immigrant families, not only in the Commonwealth, but really nationally. But when it hit New Bedford last year, we really felt the shock waves and we took it really personally,” said Crawford-Harvie.

            Crawford-Harvie said that one of the main goals of the Arlington Street Church is to provide sanctuary for immigrants. She said that the American “draw-bridge concept” held by many Americans against immigrants, is “totally unacceptable.” Crawford-Harvie said, “There needs to be a pathway, a clear pathway for legal residency in this country that makes it possible for people to experience the same freedom of immigration that our ancestors had. It’s like we got here and it’s really good, so we are pulling up the draw bridge and you can’t come in.”

            Sharing her personal experience with the present US immigration policy, Crawford-Harvie said, “I actually was touched by this issue because a member of my congregation had been here since he was a small boy and for awhile I don’t think he was aware that he was un-papered. He went right through the school system in East Boston and he graduated from that high school. He went on to work in a local hospital, and then one day in the middle of the workday, immigration arrived and arrested him. He was brought to prison, which is where I ended up visiting him.”

            Although she went to court on his behalf three separate times, Crawford-Harvie said that her friend was deported to El Salvador three years ago. “He got off the plane in El Salvador with no family, knowing no one. He didn’t even speak Spanish,” said Crawford-Harvie. She noted that as far as her friend knew, he was American and he had no ties to El Salvador.

            “How could this have happened?” Crawford-Harvie said was a question that she was continually asking herself. “This is an upstanding young man, a great contributor to my congregation and society at large. He hasn’t hurt anyone, he pays his taxes, what went wrong?” she said she asked federal officials. Crawford-Harvie said they told her “We are really sorry but he just doesn’t have the right papers for him to get back here.” She said that she is doing everything she can to help her friend return to his “home” country in the United States.

            The President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Reverend William Sinkford, spoke directly to immigrants about reuniting families such as the one Crawford-Harvie describes. As the chief representative of the many church groups present at the immigration advocacy rally, Sinkford reminded his congregation why they were there fighting for immigrant rights.

            “We hear a lot of talk about family values these days,” said Sinkfold. “I’m here to tell you that we, those of us standing here, value immigrant families. The Gospel instructs us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We cannot stand by as work place raids violate our dignity and that of our neighbors.”

By CATHERINE MOORE