Salem is a great town to walk around in. Fall is a great time to walk around Salem. Salem, Massachusetts has a lot of history. Of course, the big thing everyone remembers is the Salem Witch Trials. Not exactly something to be real proud of. However, Salem took this lemon and made a witch's brew!
Quite a few years ago, the town decided to tie their woeful witch history to Halloween. They came up with a number of spooky events and christened the two weeks before Halloween as "The Haunted Happenings". They had a public relations hit.
They kick off the Haunted Happenings with a night time parade through downtown. A lot of the spectators dress up in costumes and its tons of fun. It's a lot of fun for kids, as long as their not too squeemish. Some costumes can be graphic.
The trouble is, after a couple of decades this witch thing has gone a little too far. It seems that every shop downtown is nothing but witch junk. There's witches, actually folks dressed as the traditional pointed black hat witch, walking up and down the streets handing out brochures to psychic readings, wax museums, horror shows and macabre boutiques. Halloween is fun but, come on already. Did I tell you, Salem has a lot of history?
How about a few more shops that highlight the maritime history of Salem. Salem was a major seaport at one time. Yeah, there is a pirate museum but there could be much more. The town is trying to capture seafaring days by reconstructing Derby Wharf to look as it did in the 1700's. However, there needs to be much more to balance off the witches and goblins. But, you know, that Dracula's Castle is wicked cool.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
I'd Like to Help, Son, But You Don't Even Vote
Hey, did you get out and vote this week? Oh, that's right, this was only a primary. Why bother voting in those things, right. There's no winners in those races. Primaries don't matter, the real election is in November.
Hello, this is part of the democratic process! We call ourselves the greatest democracy in the world and here in the state of Massachusetts less than 15% of the voters turn out to the polls. Turn out was reported to be very light across the country.
As a nation we should be ashamed of ourselves. We tout the advantages of democracy to the rest of the world. We send our young kids to fight wars to uphold democracy and over three quarters of the country doesn't give a shit that elections are going on. This is the shining example of self governing we would like others to emulate?
Be a part of your community. Be a part of your government. Be a part of solutions. Take part in democracy, it would suck to lose it.
Hello, this is part of the democratic process! We call ourselves the greatest democracy in the world and here in the state of Massachusetts less than 15% of the voters turn out to the polls. Turn out was reported to be very light across the country.
As a nation we should be ashamed of ourselves. We tout the advantages of democracy to the rest of the world. We send our young kids to fight wars to uphold democracy and over three quarters of the country doesn't give a shit that elections are going on. This is the shining example of self governing we would like others to emulate?
Be a part of your community. Be a part of your government. Be a part of solutions. Take part in democracy, it would suck to lose it.
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Kid and his Comics
I read comic books. I love comic books. I have had a relationship with comic books for a very long time. I can honestly say that my appreciation for the printed word came originally from the pages of Green Lantern, Aquaman and Thor rather than any book assigned by teachers.
I can still remember as a kid the pleasure of opening up a new comic fresh from the corner store. The labors that went into obtaining that book were great. Comics cost twelve cents at the time and those twelve cents didn't come easy. Soda bottles had a two cent return on them back then and I remember scouring the neighborhood looking for six bottles in order to have enough to secure a new issue of Detective Comics featuring Batman. Of course, every other kid in the neighborhood was scrounging for the same number of bottles. Ah, but that's one of the reasons you made friends.
With a friend, who might be as good a scavenger as you, you could round up a dozen bottles or more and you had a great afternoon of reading ahead of you. The trick was to make sure you made friends with someone with the same tastes in comics.
However, I was pretty flexible when it came to the various titles that were out there. I started out with the typical Superman and Batman stuff. Early on, I stayed with a lot of what DC had to offer. I read The Flash, Green Arrow and Sgt Rock. Later though, it was Marvel Comics that hooked me. Marvel had a different style of writing and characters that seemed more alive. Marvel let you into the thoughts of their characters and damned if they didn't seem to be thinking a lot like I was. Some characters, Spiderman in particular, seem to be going through the normal problems of being a teen or young adult. Yeah, you might have superpowers, but you still have to get a date for the prom! So, I kept reading the comics right along with my assigned reading of Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities and Julius Caesar. Of course, by now I had to suppliment the bottle hunts with a Sunday paper route. I needed more comics and they went up to 15 cents.
My desire for comics did wane a bit as I went through high school. After all, I needed to line up a date or two myself. Later, when I found myself in the service, I had a chance to rekindle the craving. Servicemen stationed overseas end up with a lot of down time cooped up in the barracks. The Post Exchange store realizes this as well as anyone else. So, they provide a lot of reading material. Yes, men left to their own devices will purchase a fair amount of glossy magazines of a certain genre, however that can only occupy just so much of your time. So, the Exchange also stocks comics, lots of comics. And, there is always a lot of reading, swapping and collecting of comics going on in all branches of the service.
Eventually, you move on and get on with living your life. Work, marriage, mortgage, kids, it takes up a lot of time. And, time seems to get more precious as it moves along. But, recently, I've made it a point to set aside a little time for an old fond pastime.
I still read comics and I still love comics
I can still remember as a kid the pleasure of opening up a new comic fresh from the corner store. The labors that went into obtaining that book were great. Comics cost twelve cents at the time and those twelve cents didn't come easy. Soda bottles had a two cent return on them back then and I remember scouring the neighborhood looking for six bottles in order to have enough to secure a new issue of Detective Comics featuring Batman. Of course, every other kid in the neighborhood was scrounging for the same number of bottles. Ah, but that's one of the reasons you made friends.
With a friend, who might be as good a scavenger as you, you could round up a dozen bottles or more and you had a great afternoon of reading ahead of you. The trick was to make sure you made friends with someone with the same tastes in comics.
However, I was pretty flexible when it came to the various titles that were out there. I started out with the typical Superman and Batman stuff. Early on, I stayed with a lot of what DC had to offer. I read The Flash, Green Arrow and Sgt Rock. Later though, it was Marvel Comics that hooked me. Marvel had a different style of writing and characters that seemed more alive. Marvel let you into the thoughts of their characters and damned if they didn't seem to be thinking a lot like I was. Some characters, Spiderman in particular, seem to be going through the normal problems of being a teen or young adult. Yeah, you might have superpowers, but you still have to get a date for the prom! So, I kept reading the comics right along with my assigned reading of Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities and Julius Caesar. Of course, by now I had to suppliment the bottle hunts with a Sunday paper route. I needed more comics and they went up to 15 cents.
My desire for comics did wane a bit as I went through high school. After all, I needed to line up a date or two myself. Later, when I found myself in the service, I had a chance to rekindle the craving. Servicemen stationed overseas end up with a lot of down time cooped up in the barracks. The Post Exchange store realizes this as well as anyone else. So, they provide a lot of reading material. Yes, men left to their own devices will purchase a fair amount of glossy magazines of a certain genre, however that can only occupy just so much of your time. So, the Exchange also stocks comics, lots of comics. And, there is always a lot of reading, swapping and collecting of comics going on in all branches of the service.
Eventually, you move on and get on with living your life. Work, marriage, mortgage, kids, it takes up a lot of time. And, time seems to get more precious as it moves along. But, recently, I've made it a point to set aside a little time for an old fond pastime.
I still read comics and I still love comics
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Enemy at the Gate
Even though there is a lot of talk about how this country shouldn't be the policeman of the world. The fact is, we go ahead and do it. We go ahead and get ourselves involved in the affairs of other states on a regular basis. We try to make a lot of it look good by going to the UN. We see some other country that seems to be rocking the boat and we drop a dime at the UN Security Council. In a lot of instances we insist on throwing sanctions on the country causing unrest. Sometimes it leads to something more serious.
Currently the big bad guys are Iran and North Korea. These two states seem to be heading towards acquiring nuclear war heads. If these two regimes go nuclear chances are it will cause some instability. And, that's the whole idea about this policeman role we've taken on. Instability is not a good thing in this global community.
Well, if that's deal, aren't we kind of asleep on the job when it comes to our own back yard. There seems to be some heavy instability going on in Mexico and as policeman the US seems to be sitting in the donut shop. Do we know if anyone is running that country? And, who can blame the people there for fleeing to the north. Does Arizona really think they are going to stop them by putting up a No Trespassing sign?
Why isn't the US doing a little more towards stabilizing the situation in Mexico? The drug cartels now have the run of the country. They are knabbing mayors and prosicuters off the streets and executing them. Mass graves are now being found. This is our next door neighbor. You know a bar fight can many times spill out into the street. It is possible that the violence south of the border can spill into the southwest on a much larger scale than it has already.
Being the cop on the beat shouldn't we be checking on what's going on next to the station?
Currently the big bad guys are Iran and North Korea. These two states seem to be heading towards acquiring nuclear war heads. If these two regimes go nuclear chances are it will cause some instability. And, that's the whole idea about this policeman role we've taken on. Instability is not a good thing in this global community.
Well, if that's deal, aren't we kind of asleep on the job when it comes to our own back yard. There seems to be some heavy instability going on in Mexico and as policeman the US seems to be sitting in the donut shop. Do we know if anyone is running that country? And, who can blame the people there for fleeing to the north. Does Arizona really think they are going to stop them by putting up a No Trespassing sign?
Why isn't the US doing a little more towards stabilizing the situation in Mexico? The drug cartels now have the run of the country. They are knabbing mayors and prosicuters off the streets and executing them. Mass graves are now being found. This is our next door neighbor. You know a bar fight can many times spill out into the street. It is possible that the violence south of the border can spill into the southwest on a much larger scale than it has already.
Being the cop on the beat shouldn't we be checking on what's going on next to the station?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
NSMT
I visit my mother at a nursing home in Beverly, Mass. on a regular basis. The whole nursing home thing is not a great scenario and something I wish Mom was not subject to. As it stands, its the safest thing for her now and its a pretty damned nice place - as nice as those places can be.
Anyway, I drive by Dunham Road on my way to the home. Dunham Road in Beverly is where the North Shore Music Theater is and it has been great to see traffic coming in and out of Dunham Rd. Not real great for my commute but great to know that shows are going on at the theater again.
North Shore Music Theater closed last year due to financial problems. It was sad to see the curtain go down on this place. I'm by no means a regular theater goer but it was comforting to know we had this place on the North Shore where you could take in a quality musical. The venue also hosted some big name acts in a theater-in-the-round setting. It was always a good night out without having to travel into Boston.
Earlier this year, William Hanney, who also owns Theater By The Sea in Rhode Island, put up the cash to buy NSMT which by this time was owned by Citizen's Bank having acquired the theater through auction. Hanney wants to see the NSMT work on the North Shore. I do, too.
So, take in a show. I know I plan to.
Anyway, I drive by Dunham Road on my way to the home. Dunham Road in Beverly is where the North Shore Music Theater is and it has been great to see traffic coming in and out of Dunham Rd. Not real great for my commute but great to know that shows are going on at the theater again.
North Shore Music Theater closed last year due to financial problems. It was sad to see the curtain go down on this place. I'm by no means a regular theater goer but it was comforting to know we had this place on the North Shore where you could take in a quality musical. The venue also hosted some big name acts in a theater-in-the-round setting. It was always a good night out without having to travel into Boston.
Earlier this year, William Hanney, who also owns Theater By The Sea in Rhode Island, put up the cash to buy NSMT which by this time was owned by Citizen's Bank having acquired the theater through auction. Hanney wants to see the NSMT work on the North Shore. I do, too.
So, take in a show. I know I plan to.
To Blog or Not to Blog
OK, I'm back again. I thought I owed an appearance here to my faithful audience. By the way, I really thank the two of you for checking in occasionally to see what kind of drivel might be expounded here. Hasn't quite been worth the peek, has it? Maybe after the lengthy lapse I can give it another go.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Meals should be Happy
It's always good to know that we have so many groups out there looking after our well being. Just a few days ago, fast food chain McDonald's was put on notice by one of these watchdog groups, that if the hamburger giant didn't stop putting toys in their Happy Meals they would be sued!
Now, Happy Meals have been around for a good many years. These meals are packaged in a cute little box with cartoon charaters on the sides. The themes of the boxes change from time to time and are many times tied into a movie promotion. Inside the box you get a burger and fries and a soda comes with it. Quite often the deal includes a little toy and we're not talking anything fancy here. It's usually a cheap little plastic figure that may be broke or lost before you make it back to the house.
Well, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (Believe me, I'm not making this up) thinks that this is a dastardly practice by McDonald's. "It's a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction." Yep, that was a statement from their spokesman. Now, I never realized there was a Center for Science in the Public Interest but its obvious they are a busy group. They claim that using toys to intice children instills bad eating habits. The soda wth the burger and fries is fine but throw in that five cent piece of plastic and you've got a real problem on your hands.
Years ago, in the early sixties, it was a big deal to stick a little toy in a box of cereal. The cereal companies would market the hell out these cereals. Most often on a kid's TV show. Well kids begged their parents to buy these cereals. I still remember collecting the characters from the Sky King television show.
Most of those breakfast cereals weren't the greatest nutritional meal to be serving the kids. But, you know what, it was up to the parent to make the choice of what to feed their children. The director of this CSPI says, "multibillion dollar corporations make parents' job nearly impossible by giving away toys". Well, no its not nearly impossible to do the right thing for your kids. Yeah, the kids are always going to want to go with those toys. If I carried the family purse back in those sixties, I'd buy a box of that cereal every day to get the Sky King toy I wanted. My parents didn't do that though, they did what they thought was right.
So, maybe the CSPI should look into suing the parents who aren't doing the right thing. Maybe they should find out why some parents think its alright to feed their kids burgers and fries on a daily basis. A Happy Meal now and then should be reserved as a treat for the kids. A reward after a great game of soccer or a well executed dance recital. Oh, and yeah, sometimes the toy can be used to intice the little one to finish up that meal so you can get home to watch The Bachelor.
Now, Happy Meals have been around for a good many years. These meals are packaged in a cute little box with cartoon charaters on the sides. The themes of the boxes change from time to time and are many times tied into a movie promotion. Inside the box you get a burger and fries and a soda comes with it. Quite often the deal includes a little toy and we're not talking anything fancy here. It's usually a cheap little plastic figure that may be broke or lost before you make it back to the house.
Well, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (Believe me, I'm not making this up) thinks that this is a dastardly practice by McDonald's. "It's a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction." Yep, that was a statement from their spokesman. Now, I never realized there was a Center for Science in the Public Interest but its obvious they are a busy group. They claim that using toys to intice children instills bad eating habits. The soda wth the burger and fries is fine but throw in that five cent piece of plastic and you've got a real problem on your hands.
Years ago, in the early sixties, it was a big deal to stick a little toy in a box of cereal. The cereal companies would market the hell out these cereals. Most often on a kid's TV show. Well kids begged their parents to buy these cereals. I still remember collecting the characters from the Sky King television show.
Most of those breakfast cereals weren't the greatest nutritional meal to be serving the kids. But, you know what, it was up to the parent to make the choice of what to feed their children. The director of this CSPI says, "multibillion dollar corporations make parents' job nearly impossible by giving away toys". Well, no its not nearly impossible to do the right thing for your kids. Yeah, the kids are always going to want to go with those toys. If I carried the family purse back in those sixties, I'd buy a box of that cereal every day to get the Sky King toy I wanted. My parents didn't do that though, they did what they thought was right.
So, maybe the CSPI should look into suing the parents who aren't doing the right thing. Maybe they should find out why some parents think its alright to feed their kids burgers and fries on a daily basis. A Happy Meal now and then should be reserved as a treat for the kids. A reward after a great game of soccer or a well executed dance recital. Oh, and yeah, sometimes the toy can be used to intice the little one to finish up that meal so you can get home to watch The Bachelor.
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