O'Reilly Drives throughout State for U.S. Senate Seat

BOSTON, Mass (09/04/2008) -- As he slumped into the driver seat, Ed O’Reilly surveyed the damage. The car floor was blanketed with pamphlets, cardboard boxes, containers of peanuts and business shoes; suit jackets and ties hung from the doors. Any passenger willing to ride shotgun would need to plan an entrance before placing his feet.
    “Fifteen months and there’s just 12 days of this left,” he said.
    Since June 2007, O’Reilly has practically lived out of his car campaigning to become a first-time United States Senator for Massachusetts. But it all ends next Monday with the Democratic congressional primary where he will challenge 2004 presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry for a spot in November’s general election.
    “This campaign is all about being on the ground and meeting people,” he said “I think that’s a big difference between me and John Kerry.”
    O’Reilly said western Massachusetts voters have been particularly receptive of his campaign, which stresses single-payer healthcare, renewable energy projects reinvested in local communities and tax fairness, among other things.
    “It’s an area of the state that John Kerry ignores,” he said. “They resonated with the idea that ‘John Kerry is aloof, that he doesn’t care about Massachusetts, that he’s looking for higher office all the time.’”
    Mounting an attack against an opponent as powerful and well known as Kerry, while trying to capture the attention of voters caught up in this year’s historic presidential election, O’Reilly has had his work cut out for him.
    “It’s worth thinking about what the incumbency advantage really means,” said Boston University political science professor Andrew Reeves. “Part of it is certainly name recognition. Meanwhile, the challenger has more limited avenues for getting his name out there. So a voter that walks into the booth with no information might cast their vote for Senator Kerry based on name recognition alone."
    Related is the issue of money. While Kerry has raised more than $10 million for his re-election campaign, O’Reilly has collected just about $500,000, according to a Center for Responsive Politics website.
    “Incumbents have a much better means to fundraise,” Reeves said. “They’ve proven that they can win, and people like to donate to winners. Mr. O’Reilly’s campaign contributions are probably quite limited because people don’t know him and because there is very little chance that he’ll win.”
    Jamaica Plain resident Mike Ball, who has been reading stories about the Senate race online, said he has noticed more news alerts detailing Kerry’s actions in Congress as of late.
    “Everybody has said (O’Reilly) hasn’t a shot in hell at winning, that it’s a waste of his time and resources,” Ball, 60, said. “People are saying Kerry’s power of incumbency is huge, and they’re probably right. But Ed has done a tremendous amount to inspire Kerry.”
    O’Reilly repeatedly prodded Kerry to agree to a debate, a proposal Kerry rejected until two weeks ago when both campaigns settled on a half-hour WBZ debate. The debate, which aired Sunday morning, focused on Kerry’s vote to authorize the Iraq war in 2002. That decision six years ago prompted O’Reilly to consider a run for Senate.
    O’Reilly, who grew up in Massachusetts, said his working class background allows him to better connect with residents than Kerry can. As a criminal defense attorney for 25 years, O’Reilly also served as a Gloucester City Councilor in the 1980s and as a school committee member in the 1990s. He was a firefighter for Watertown, Amherst and Gloucester, where he currently resides.
    "I went to law school at night, and I went to UMass-Amherst paying my own way by working in a factory,” he said. “I think that all those go towards being able to relate to ordinary Americans and what they’re going through now. I think (John Kerry) is out of touch not just with the voters in Massachusetts, but with ordinary Americans.”
    Upon learning of O’Reilly’s run for office last week, Hyde Park resident Jacquetta Van Zandt, 29, said she was glad to see someone challenging Kerry for the Senate seat.
    “I haven’t seen Kerry since he ran for president, and he’s supposed to be from Massachusetts,” she said. “Because I believe in the community and local government, I think this is important.”
    Van Zandt reflected that if she had not attended Thursday’s candidate forum at English High School, she would not have known about O’Reilly nor would she have considered voting for him.

BROOKLINE- 09/24/08

BROOKLINE, Mass. - Every year, Brookline Booksmith competes against its rival bookstore in Harvard square for Boston Magazine’s “Best of Boston: Books” title. Its welcoming atmosphere in Coolidge Corner competes with Harvard Book Store’s presence in the heart of Cambridge, but what makes Brookline Booksmith a seven-time title-holder is the eccentricity of its customers and the town where they live.
When Lori Kauffman, Brookline Booksmith book buyer describes her customers, she thinks of “someone very intelligent, engaged with ideas…someone who has strong opinions who isn’t afraid to share them.” Indeed, Brookline is home to two political leaders such as former President John F. Kennedy and 1988 democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis; witty late night talk show host Conan O’Brien and renowned author of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer. Today, Brookline continues to produce a legacy of strong minds, and is one of the most educated and affluent towns in Eastern Massachusetts.

Located about four miles from downtown Boston, Brookline preserves the image of a quaint American town from the 60s with neon lights glowing from the Coolidge Corner Theatre and students urging people who pass by to vote in the upcoming elections. Amidst the quaint Victorian brownstones, Zagat-rated restaurants and peaceful green parks, there are 55,000-plus residents in Brookline, according to the most recent Massachusetts Department of Revenue report. A 2000 Census Bureau report says that almost 75 percent of these residents have jobs in management and professional occupations, and earn a median income of about $66,700 a year; about $25,000 more than the average American. The number of registered voters also surpasses that of neighboring towns; approximately 80 percent of Brookliners are registered to vote, compared to Dedham and Newton, whose voter participation lies at around 60 percent, according to 2006 Division of Local Services report."

“Our readers are incredibly opinionated and spirited,” exclaims Kauffman as she explains her book-buying thought process when she chooses books to buy for Brookline Booksmith. “Books on medicine do very well here…probably because we have a lot of doctors who work and live close to the medical center in Longwood,” Kauffman says. “Our customers tend to get a lot of their [book] news from National Public Radio and from the New York Times…and very often we’ll see an increased demand for those titles.”

Jim Conley, a resident and former contributor to the Brookline TAB, is a part-time professor at Emerson College. At night, he teaches graduate programs in writing for marketing, but during the day, Conley dedicates his time to observing and reporting about Brookline’s town government activities on his news blog, “On Brookline”. Conley covered cronyism issues within the town government when he wrote for the Brookline TAB, and continues to exert pressure on the Selectmen to make the town government’s actions more transparent to its residents.

Conley argues that he sees the town government creating a dichotomy between different parts of Brookline. He argues that there is a distinct socioeconomic line between North and South Brookline, and that the government meets the 10 percent low-income property accommodation quota by pushing these developments into North Brookline. “There are two Brooklines; the North and the South. In the South, you’ve got the one-family houses, and the North where all the apartments are.” Conley asserts that “there’s a conflict of interest between the selectmen and the people; the town government doesn’t want to see the low-income housing in their area.”

Jesse Mermell, Brookline Selectwoman says that currently, the town government’s main concern is maintaining financial management and efficiency. A lover of Brookline’s neighborly feel and its urban atmosphere amongst the myriad of amenity shops throughout the area, Mermell says that Brookline “has the best of both worlds.” As a student, Mermell moved to Brookline after she transferred to Boston College in Chestnut Hill, where she received a degree in political science. After serving on the Democratic State Committee, Mermell was elected in May 2001 as Brookline’s only Selectwoman. Mermell says she also enjoys the area where she works in the Town Hall, which is near another cultural hub called Brookline Village, in South Brookline. Mermell resolves that “the most important thing is to live up to the standards that we promised our voters,” as she wants to ensure that Brookline’s town developmental budget plans are managed.

The recent downfall in Wall Street may have been the culprit in casting a shadow on Brookline, where property values are high. According to the Brookline assessor’s office, the median price of a single-home in Brookline was $1,023,550; approximately five times the national median price of $239,000. However, the 2008 median price for a single-family Brookline home suffered a $50,000 drop at $986,900.
“I think that right now, Brookline is in the same situation as many towns across America,” assesses Mermell about the housing market. She says “it’s a tough time for everybody.

Recently, for the first time in about 14 years, voters approved an override, which increased property taxes above 2.5 percent in an effort to help home sellers and investors, according to Brookline’s Deputy Town Administrator Sean Cronin. Cronin oversees one of the town government’s most recent establishments, the Efficiency Initiative Committee, which currently manages Brookline’s public safety staffing, town maintenance and consolidation. Although Cronin lives outside of Brookline, he is involved in many government committees and says that the town is “a great working place.”

Despite his skepticism towards the town government, Conley seems hopeful of Cronin’s Runkle School initiative, which organizes the development, construction and renovation for the Runkle School. “The general philosophy of education is pretty good,” says Conley. “On the whole, the schools do a good job in spite of themselves.”

While Kauffman isn’t sure whether the effects of the economy have impact on Brookline Booksmith customers, she’s confident that the book industry will not suffer an immediate bust. She also admitted that the Brookline Booksmith clientele tend to be customers with high salaries in professional fields, so their income is less-likely to fluctuate with the economy. “General wisdom says that books are more recession proof than other luxuries because in relative terms, books are more expensive but they’re not at the same price as an airplane ticket or an opera seat.”

Adam Conway, employee of New England Comics seems to affirm Kauffman’s hypothesis on book sales. He suggests that if there’s a change in sales, it’s in the genre or title of comic book. “Ten percent of all sales went to trade paperbacks [publications of series like Batman or X-Men] after Dark Knight,” Conway explained. Conway also observed that customers have gravitated towards mini-series, which read like T.V. show scripts that delve into themes concerning heroism and moral ambiguity. “With the war in Iraq and things like that going on, all of us need to see that ‘moral line’ in uncertain times. Like Obama’s popularity, for example; people want freshness.”


Conway, an Emerson College graduate moved back to Boston after spending a year at his home in Ohio. “I moved back because I really liked the city,” said Conway as he explained that he enjoys the comfort and convenience that Brookline offers. “I’m a vegan and there’s lots of place to eat in Coolidge, so that’s good.” Conway also values the accessibility to the city. “I really liked the city [Boston] and how it’s not too overwhelming like New York. Brookline is kind of like the center of the star of where I need to go.”

Photos by Yumi Araki.

BU Field Hockey

B.U. fell to Old Dominion 2-1 Saturday Afternoon at Jack Barry Field.

Volunteers push green living at city expo

By Andrew FitzGerald

BOSTON (Sept. 28, 2008)- Perpetually gray skies were not enough to dampen spirits at Boston's first GreenFest, a showcase of environmental issues and job opportunities held last weekend at City Hall Plaza.

Though a nongovernmental organization held the event, staff members said City Hall threw its full support behind the convention as part of a long-standing commitment to green policies. Mayor Thomas Menino launched a number of environmental initiatives during his latest term, including buses at Logan International Airport that run on compressed natural gas and the appointment of a "bike czar" to encourage cycling in the city. A small wind turbine, one of many of Menino's widely publicized testaments to the idea that Boston takes environmental concerns seriously, peeks above the roof of City Hall from the edge of the plaza.

Dozens of groups manned tables under a sea of damp white tents peddling everything from organic food to Zipcars to massages. Some offered for-profit services while others simply came to spread awareness about a particular environmental cause.

At her table, Boston Vegetarian Society president Evelyn Kimber talked of "devastating impact" meat production has on the environment, including wasted foodcrops, excessive water use and the spread of diseases. The group supports any degree of meat-free eating, though a vegan diet free of all animal products is the best, she said.

Though she rented a table at GreenFest for an environmental cause, Kimber also advocated vegan meals because of the implications meat, dairy and egg production have for the treatment of animals. Her table was covered with literature depicting cruelty to animals at slaughterhouses and dairies around the world.

"The pictures are hard to look at, but it's important that people know," she said.

Some of the images of animal mistreatment may have been disturbing, but Kimberly remained outwardly upbeat. People can eat just as much good food without animal products, she said. Those who attend the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival in November always say they are surprised by vegetarian options.

"They think it'll be hard or austere or sacrificial, and they come to these events and find it's not hard at all," she said.

While Kimber touted the benefits of a meat-fee diet, her friend Janie said little but nodded approvingly from her perch cradled in Kimber's arms. The 17-year-old Yorkshire Terrier was there "for outreach," Kimber said, just like her.

The environmental showcase was the first of its kind for the newly minted nonprofit Foundation for a Green Future, a coalition of local environmental groups founded less than a year ago by Roslindale activist Karen Webber. Foundation board member Jennifer Boudrie, who directs the city's Sustainable Business Leadership Program, estimated thousands of people came to see the dozens of covered tables at the convention throughout the weekend despite the dreary weather.

The event was specifically geared to appeal to Bostonians from many different communities, not just those who are already interested in sustainable living, Boudrie said.

"It's not just for people that are tree huggers," she said. "This is for everybody."

Brittany Myers, a sophomore at Lasell College in Newton, said she came to the event to find out new ways to help the environment as well as to network with other students with similar goals.

Myers said she started her own environmental student group last week when she found her college was not helping its pupils recycle. Armed with a mission and a handful of eager volunteers, the group went to the local recycling center and demanded their own bins, Myers said.

Myers beamed as she walked toward a live band playing on amps powered by two men leisurely pedaling on stationary bicycles. As a gospel singer took to the stage, Myers said she couldn't see why youth her age would rather sit at home than work to help the environment.

"You could take about a half hour out of your day, and it wouldn't kill you," she said.

Reporting on Mexico's widening war

By Andrew FitzGerald

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – (Sept. 25, 2008) Alfredo Corchado admits feeling occasional pangs of guilt when he strolls along the neatly manicured grass of Harvard Yard, when only two months ago he was flitting along the dusty U.S.-Mexico border exposing brutal drug cartels as a reporter for The Dallas Morning News.

“It’s great to walk around and not always look back,” he says, glancing over his shoulder one Thursday afternoon out a coffee shop window. “But I also want to get back to it.”

In fact, Corchado plans to return to Mexico as soon as his yearlong fellowship with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ends – back to the place where drug runners rule entire towns with impunity and more than 3,000 civilians died in 2008 alone. "A new record," he said.

Corchado has spent the last 11 years working for the Morning News, mostly in Mexico City as the paper’s bureau chief for Mexico and now all Latin America. He also spent time with The Wall Street Journal and the now-defunct El Paso Herald-Post.

Finding sources on the drug trade in Mexico is a daunting task made even harder by threats to journalists themselves. In 2007, five journalists were killed or disappeared in Mexico, according to the annual report of Reporters Without Borders, a group that advocates for journalists’ safety.

Most journalists take precautions to protect themselves, Corchado said, because they know police won’t help them. In some towns, law enforcement is literally nonexistent – a May 31 New York Times article reported the entire police force of a town called Villa Ahumada fled a day after gunmen killed their police chief. Most police who stay in border towns are widely thought to be corrupt.

“The cartel leaders reach out to them,” Corchado said. “They say how much are you making? I can triple that.”

A WIDENING WAR

Other criminal gangs have deeper connections to the north than just distributors. An elite military unit of the Mexican Army known as the GAFES received training in the United States to fight border cartels, but may be fighting some of their own rogue members, according to a Nov. 15, 2005 report by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Some 35 to 38 ex-GAFES became “guardian angels” for the drug cartels, Corchado said, bringing all their special ops expertise and military discipline to help the traffickers keep an iron grip on the most lucrative smuggling corridors. These rogue soldiers became known as the Zetas.

The Zetas came into closer contact than Corchado would have liked at a bar in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico in March 2005. Corchado said he was drinking with the publisher of a local daily in the border town when a man entered the room and made the sign of a pistol with his hand and pointed at them.

Corchado remembers thinking, “Maybe this is the way people greet people here – you know, ‘bang, bang.’ People are getting shot here all the time.”

Corchado’s friend quickly ended that illusion. The bartender, too, told the two men they would have to leave because they were not safe.

The two men decided to stay longer because no one had come to speak to them, until the man who threatened them left, Corchado said. Then another came in, sat down beside Corchado and his friend, and told them he was from the Zetas.

“He says, ‘Look, you’ll be fine here as long as you don’t ask where the Zetas train,” Corchado said.

On the other hand, the man said, if Corchado dug too deep into the Zeta’s location and top leadership, the gang would film themselves killing him and send the video to his family. To prove this, the man handed Corchado the address of his parents’ home in Texas. The next day, Corchado boarded the first flight to Dallas.

Since he was “on the radar screen,” Corchado’s newspaper sent him to Washington, D.C. for training in tactics to avoid getting killed in a war zone, where he sat with about a dozen other civilians, mostly contractors heading to Iraq, learning how to evade kidnappers and militants.

At one point, Corchado said the Morning News proposed he travel in an armored car, an idea he quickly rejected because it would be impossible to get any reporting done. Instead, he plans to take less drastic precautions like traveling in large groups.

‘NOT LOOKING FOR SYMPATHY’

The job of reporting in what some call a war zone is made all the harder by the Mexican public’s lack of interest in far-off killings that don’t immediately affect them. Until this year, Corchado said most journalists were though of as “collateral damage” in the war on drugs.

“That attitude is changing and it’s changing pretty fast,” Corchado said. “It’s hard to get any empathy from the Mexican public, but I think as the war widens, you’re starting to see it.”

The conflict became broader than ever Sept. 15 after a man lobbed a grenade into a crowd of revelers celebrating the country’s Independence Day in Morelia, Mexico. At least seven people were killed, and the federal government accused drug cartels of the attack after Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent thousands of troops to the area to suppress them, according to the Associated Press.

Roberta García, a French teacher who lives in Mexico City, admitted she feels less sympathy for journalists than for other civilians who do nothing to put themselves in drug dealers’ way.

“The risk that comes with it is just part of what they do,” García said. “No one should be have to be harmed, but it has to be considered because narcos are extremely dangerous criminals… the situation is really bad when violence gets to people who have nothing to do with it, who aren't drug dealers or policemen or journalists. That's when I think the situation is frustrating, unfair, and helpless.”

For now, Corchado is taking advantage of the extensive resources and more peaceful environment Harvard offers to complete a paper on drug violence, a topic he knows well. He said he will continue to report on the ground as best he can, but within reason, repeating a maxim spoken by reporters who cover dangerous areas.

“No story is worth your life” he said. “If you’re dead, you can’t report.”

Berklee Students Play More Than Just Music

Jimmy Gately, captain, coach, and center for the Berklee Ice Cats, draws up the next drill during their practice at the Simoni Ice Rink in Cambridge on September 23, 2008. (JO 308/MARGARET DeJESUS)

By Margaret DeJesus (marg88@bu.edu)
BOSTON-(Sept. 24, 2008)-- Drumsticks, guitar picks and hockey sticks? It may sound like an odd combination but not to the members of the Ice Cats, Berklee College of Music’s hockey team. Yes, Berklee has a hockey team and its players find time to balance their passion for music with their love of the game.


“I’ve played it (hockey) my whole entire life. Why would I stop playing now?” said Charles (Charlie) Silva, a 22-year-old music education major at Berklee.

The prestigious music school located in the heart of Boston along Massachusetts and Boylston Avenue isn’t known for its sports and doesn’t even have an athletic department but that didn’t stop John Kingsley from posting flyers around campus and online that expressed interest in starting a hockey team in 2006. A bunch of students, including Silva, showed up for the first meeting and “the rest is history,” according to Kingsley who graduated from Berklee with a guitar performance degree.

“We start getting questions as early as just after acceptances go out about how to try out, how to get involved, and does it really exist,” said Director of Student Activities Emily Page in an email.

Come Together
The team initially had their share of hurdles to overcome from figuring out the school’s colors to paying for ice time and jerseys.

“The things that are pushed into college sports like the mascot, the school colors, the logo, no one knew that. Now we had a hockey team and we had to find out all that stuff,” said team captain Jimmy Gately in an interview with fellow teammates last Friday in a Berklee study lounge.

They learned Berklee had a mascot named Mingus the Cat and red and grey school colors, which they adapted to maroon and silver on their jerseys.

The hockey hungry musicians had to front hundreds of dollars of their own cash the first season for ice time at rinks for practice, for referee fees, and for jerseys and equipment. But as time went on, Berklee found ways to help support them.

“The more and more we showed the school what we could do, the more they helped out,” said Kingsley, the brainchild of the club, in a phone interview. “For a school that had basically no athletics, they responded really well.”

Today, the Berklee bookstore sells jerseys, baseball hats and other hockey merchandise with part of the proceeds going to the hockey team according to the director of student activities.

Battle of the Art Schools
The Ice Cats played their first season in the NESHL, New England Senior Hockey League where they posted an 8-15-1 record. Their opponents were usually older men, sometimes former athletes, of varying skill levels and no checking was allowed.

John “Pie” McKenzie, a two time Stanley Cup winner with the Boston Bruins in the 1970s, volunteered to coach the team for their first season after learning about them from a Boston Globe article.

According to defenseman Brian Mullen, one of the highlights of that year was “getting to practice in TD Banknorth Garden and suiting up in the away team’s locker rooms the day after my 21st birthday.” The Garden is home to the Boston Bruins NHL hockey team.

The team now plays in the more aggressive and competitive ACHA, American Collegiate Hockey Association where they were 9-3 last season. They played against club teams from schools like Tufts University, Middlesex Community College, Suffolk University and Bentley College.

The annual Boylston Cup game, initially organized by Kingsley and Gately in 2006, against Emerson College is when the students of Berklee come to cheer on their team as it’s the most advertised game of their season. Money is also raised for the Ice Cats through ticket sales at the Boylston game.

“An idea we've been tossing around is to one day make it like a mini Beanpot with a couple of other schools involved,” said Gately. “For now it’s just a Boylston street battle of the two art schools.”

Berklee won their self made trophy two years in a row after defeating Emerson.

“It’s fun to play against all the teams but the rivalry against Berklee is definitely more energetic than any other,” said Alan Gwizdowski, captain of the Emerson Lions, in a phone interview. “We started our club teams at around the same time, played in the same leagues and we both funded it ourselves, so we were kind of in the same boat as them.”

The Boylston Cup is also fun, according to Gwizdowski because it pits the “filmmakers against the music guys.”


Goalie Zachary Zinger makes a glove save off of a high slap shot during the Ice Cats shooting drill. September 23,2008. (JO 308/MARGARET DeJESUS)

Musicians by day, hockey players by night
After a day’s work of recording, practicing scales or hammering out drum solos, the students get together on Tuesday nights at the Simoni Ice Rink in Cambridge to take a step back from music.

“To be at a music college and to have an outlet where I don’t have to talk about music all the time is a nice release,” said Gately.

“It’s always going to be about the music. This is ultimately just a fun thing on the side for Tuesday and Saturday nights,” said 22-year-old Mullen, a professional music major in drums, adding that some of the guys can’t always show because they have gigs scheduled.

During their 90 minute practices the players may work on basic passing drills, conditioning and skating exercises as well as offensive strategies. When asked how they stay in shape, Mullen, Gately and Silva burst out laughing.

“We tried doing off-ice practices but people weren’t really into it. There are some kids who do, but in the month before the season starts we run a lot of conditioning drills at practice,” said Gately.

The players who for the most part rely on their hands for their musical craft are careful but not overly concerned about getting injured.

“It’s a risk we take, not because we are really competitive hockey players or anything, but because we love playing hockey and we want to have fun playing it,” said Zachary (Zac) Zinger, the team’s 19-year-old goalie.

Gately, who will also act as coach for the team again this season, warns students before trying out that it may not be the best idea to get involved if they haven’t played in a few years or aren’t comfortable on skates. Most of the now 18 player squad, which at one time had a couple of female players as well, has had some experience in high school.

Zinger, who averaged only two goals against per game, and top scoring forward Breton McNamara won the state championship together when they played for the Quaker Valley Quakers in high school in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Ice Cats are also composed of players with different musical backgrounds, which they say is another added benefit of being on the team.

“You actually come to respect more different types of music. Since I respect Zac, I’m more likely to open myself up more to his style of music (jazz composition),” said drummer and left winger Charlie Silva.

“We may never have met had it not been for the team,” said Zinger, who said he gets a taste of heavy metal and Dave Matthews Band among other things when he hangs out with fellow players.

There’s not much music to be heard out of the Ice Cats locker room before games, although Zinger suggested “playing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song from the commercial might be funny to psych out the other team one day.” There is always the possibility of an air guitar or air drum solo however, according to Silva.

John Kingsley said he had no idea what would happen when he posted up those flyers and never would have dreamed that the team would get so much recognition so fast, let alone a mini spot on a NESN show and a Boston Globe article during the winter of their 2006-2007 season.

“I know we won’t be the fifth Beanpot team or anything but to give Berklee even just a little outlet like this for its students to share in is great, and I feel privileged to have been part of that,” said Kingsley, who now lives in Nashville and just got off the road playing guitar with ZZ Top.

The Ice Cats kick off their third season this October against Middlesex Community College.

PHOTO GALLERY: Boston Bruins Training Camp at TD Banknorth Garden

BOSTON, Mass. (9/20/08 )Players of the Boston Bruins listen as Coach Claude Julien gives instructions for the next drill at TD Banknorth Garden. (Photo By MARGARET DeJESUS)

BOSTON, Mass. (9/20/08) Patrice Bergeron takes a break with teammates during practice. The center sustained a season ending concussion in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers last October. (Photo By MARGARET DeJESUS)

Project Runway Fanatics Try to Make it Work in Boston

By Jenna Nierstedt

(jenna.nierstedt@gmail.com)

BOSTON, Mass. (Sept. 15, 2008) -- Alana Coppola arrived late but immediately projected an air of confidence, looking well beyond her 17 years in a green wrap dress and pair of cheetah print high-heeled shoes.
Looking for her big break, the high school junior drove two hours from her quaint Cape Cod neighborhood for a crash course in the fashion industry, part of Boston’s tenth ever Fashion Week.
“More than ever I am very excited,” she said following the event. “The fashion industry is a way bigger world than I thought before.”

About 50 guests crowded a conference room of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square for Fashion Prep, a panel discussion led by six professionals exploring the diverse ways to work in fashion.

Recalling the lack of resources he encountered as an aspiring designer, Jay Calderin, Boston Fashion Week Founder and Executive Director, said he established the panel discussion last year to provide young people with “direct access to speak to professionals in the industry.”
“There isn’t a lot information out there on design schools, so it was nice that they had this,” said Christine Hayes, who attended with her 15-year-old daughter Taylor. “Now we have a broader idea of what’s out there.”
Panelists led a discussion on educational training, getting started in the business and flourishing in the competitive world of fashion.
“Without a background in the technical aspects of design, I’d be timid to go into fashion,” said Gina DeWolfe, of her education at the School of Fashion Design located on Newbury Street.
Erica Corsano, a fashion journalist who also produces and styles fashion shoots, encouraged attendees to jump into internship opportunities eager to learn anything related to fashion.
“Not everyone is the next “Project Runway” winner, but you can still contribute to the fashion community,” Corsano said.
Panelists stressed that entry-level positions required a lot of grunt work and were not always in the area of work with which they were most passionate or comfortable.
“I worked late and organized stock closets more times than I ever wanted to,” said Moxie Agency representative Sophie Zunz, of her first job with L’Oreal cosmetics. “But I loved it at the same time…because you get a bird’s eye view of the various pieces. I found ways that I could be involved in so many elements of the job.”
Panelists also provided a view of available work opportunities in such a competitive field.
“New York is cutthroat, but if you can make it there, the experience is priceless; the training ground is incredible,” Corsano said. “In Boston there are fewer opportunities so it’s competitive in a different way. But don’t get caught up in it; stay true to yourself.”
Calderin agreed, interjecting to say, “It’s all been done before, but it hasn’t been done by you. How are you going to serve it up? The minute you try to compete with what others are doing, your own vision gets diluted.”

Downtown demonstrators pitch variety of causes

By Andrew FitzGerald

BOSTON - (Sept. 12, 2008) Braving the rain, the city government and the determination of thousands of busy office workers, a group of demonstrators pressed passersby in Downtown Crossing Friday for a moment of their time.

"Have you heard about the Cuban Five? This is what we're here about. Take this."

Most of the business crowd flew by the gauntlet of signs and demonstrators in sandwich boards without even taking a pamphlet. Sometimes a pedestrian extended a curious hand for the literature without slowing down. Rarely did someone stop to talk.

Still, organizer Nancy Kohn, 59, of Jamaica Plain, said if she doesn't stand here, no one else will.

"You be as visible as you can," Kohn said as she passed out fliers under an awning across from Macy’s. "It's up to people like us to get the word out."

Kohn, a short, red-haired woman who looks half her 59 years, started the event along the side of Macy's and Filene's department stores to publicize the Cuban Five, a group of Cuban nationals convicted in U.S. federal court for espionage in 2001.

The five are all serving prison sentences for what the U.S. government called a conspiracy to commit murder. The accusations against them sound ripped out of a Cold War novel, including the name of their purported spy agency: the Wasp Network.

Supporters of the five contend the men intended to stop militant exile groups from making terrorist attacks against Cuba. In 1997, Cuba suspected exiles were responsible for a series of attacks on hotels in Havana that killed at least one Italian citizen, according to a June 3, 2006 Washington Post article.

Kohn said convincing the public to notice the Cuban Five, let alone sympathize with them, has proven difficult. She has written an op-ed piece that is still unpublished.

"It's not for want of trying," Kohn said with a sigh. "But sometimes, I get really frustrated."

Other demonstrators said they shared Kohn's irritation with the media.

"We found that even activists in this country haven't heard of it because there's such a media blackout," said Kevin Dwire, 52, of East Boston.

Like many demonstrators, Dwire used the event as an opportunity to support the Five while at the same time campaigning for his own cause, socialist presidential candidate Roger Calero. Cuba is a good example of how socialism benefits the working class, he said.

To illustrate his point, Dwire cited the example of Hurricane Gustav — a storm that he claims killed "thousands" in Haiti and the Dominican Republic last month but few to none in Cuba. Though poor, Cuba mobilized all its resources to preserve citizens' safety while its Caribbean neighbors let people fend for themselves, he said.

The Associated Press counted at least 70 people dead from the hurricane in Hispaniola, compared with none in Cuba.

Kohn said she also explicitly tied Gustav into her invitation to the demonstration, thinking that the Downtown Crossing Association, which grants protesters permits for the area, would find an event for hurricane relief more palatable than the issue of the Cuban Five alone.

Demonstrator Charlie Welsh of Brighton, who came specifically to support the Cuban Five, said most demonstrators met through "loosely organized" social forums where activists of different stripes meet to share news.

Though the demonstrators here came from diverse ideological backgrounds, they all said they were united solely by a common concern for the fate of the Five. Some said they were socialists or agents for "social justice," while others said they simply took an interest in Cuban affairs.

Kohn admitted she stumbled upon the case by chance. An avid baseball fan, she said she went to a game in the 2006 World Baseball Classic in Puerto Rico and ended up rooting for Cuba.

"Some of the Cuban media saw me wearing the hat and thanked me for supporting them," she said, pointing to a bright blue cap with the Cuban flag on it.

The more Kohn learned about Cuba, the more she said she became frustrated with the fate of the Five. Eventually, she traveled to the island to see for herself. She said the nation was filled with posters lionizing the Five.

Now back in the United States, Kohn continues fighting for the cause of a nation she has only seen twice. Though the men have been incarcerated for more than seven years, Kohn said she still has hope the Supreme Court will overturn their convictions.

"The Court has made some really good decisions this year on Guantanamo, so I'm hopeful," she said. "I don't think I'm being optimistic if I think that things can change."

Dinner Table Brings Community Together

BOSTON,Mass. (Sept. 12, 2008) A collection of small tables make up Boston’s Longest Dinner Table along the Children’s Museum Boardwalk. By 5:30 p.m. the chairs are still
empty due to rain. (Photo By MARGARET DeJESUS)








By Margaret DeJesus
(marg88@bu.edu)

BOSTON-(Sept. 9,2008) -- When eight dinner bells rang out on Friday night, a diverse crowd of about 200 people dug into their food and enjoyed a meal together at the Boston Children’s Museum.

Bowls of blueberries, baskets of apples and rows of giant turkey sandwiches along with a variety of dishes brought by the guests completed the dinner party thrown by the museum to bring people together for a meal.

Boston’s Longest Dinner Table: A Giant Potluck for Boston was originally to take place along the museum’s waterfront boardwalk from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. with a range of outdoor activities for children. Once the rain started to come down, the staff remained optimistic and adapted quickly by moving the many chairs and tables inside the museum.

Although no records were broken as hoped, the goal of gathering people together from all walks of life to share a meal was achieved as families still attended and stragglers joined in on the fun from the museum.

BOSTON,Mass. (Sept. 12, 2008) ) Families wait to enjoy dinner at the Boston Children’s Museum on the half size “Longest Table” moved inside. By 7 p.m. the once empty table is full, seating about 200. (Photo By MARGARET DeJESUS)

“I like the concept of a bunch of people sitting down in the community to eat together with everyone contributing something,” said Steve Holt of East Boston who brought salad, quesadillas and brownies for dinner.

“People sitting down together at the dinner table to talk, you don’t really see that anymore,” he said. Holt and his wife Chrissy managed to convince two friends to come after forwarding an email out about the details of the event.

Megan Dickerson, the manager of community programs and partnerships at the museum, came up with the idea and modeled it after a series of dinners hosted by another community outreach program she had worked for.

“Here we sit like frogs on a lily pad, frogs on a lily pad, waiting to be fed,” sang Dickerson during the event while standing atop a chair. The children and adults echoed the song in unison while clapping. She then struck the cowbells with a smile signaling the time for everyone to take a bite of food together.

Families were asked to bring their own meals to enjoy while sandwiches and fruits were donated by Boston Organics, Whole Foods and KidFresh food companies.

Jamell Hankins, the co-event producer was pleased with the turnout even though the table was half of what it would have been had it not rained.

“Getting all these people to mingle and sit down together is amazing,” he said.

“Boston is really diverse and some neighborhoods seem to be divided up by race. This is great because it brings communities together,” said Mena Lam, one of the Teen Ambassadors who worked at the event.

The BNY Mellon CityACCESS Teen Ambassadors are fluent in various languages and work with the museum and volunteer in Boston neighborhoods like Roslindale. They spread the word about the dinner at six cultural festivals throughout Boston during the summer.

“This is the most successful indoor museum activity I’ve been too,” said Karl Geneus, a fourth year Teen Ambassador and freshman in Bunker Hill Community College.

“A place like this makes people more accepting of each other,” he said.
Face painting, games and a dance party in the outdoor tent were some of the activities also offered to families.

“This is the first time we’ve tried something like this. People seem pretty happy,’’ said Ginny Zanger, the Vice President of the Children’s Museum. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll try it again.’’