12.21.22 - Volume 1, Issue 5

Big change coming to Salem port seen from West Shore Power plant site to serve as terminal for offshore wind projects

BY WILLIAM J. DOWD

Within the next three years, the Salem skyline when viewed from Marblehead’s west shore will change as developers transform a 42-acre site around the Footprint Power plant across the harbor into a wind turbine

terminal.

The Salem Harbor Wind Terminal would become the second port of its kind in the Bay State, the other residing in New Bedford.

But while the project is viewed by state officials as an important step away from Massachusetts’

reliance on fossil fuels, at least one local resident is urging his neighbors on the West Shore and beyond to stay vigilant as the project goes through its extensive permitting process.

The Salem terminal project is a public-private partnership forged between Crowley Wind

Services Inc. and the city of Salem, with AVANGRID serving as the port’s anchor tenant through its Commonwealth Wind and Park City Wind projects.

Crowley will develop, build and operate the terminal to support the construction of

wind turbines offshore. The site would act as a hub for the staging and partial assembly of turbine components, including blades and tower sections, to be shipped in from across the globe and prepared for offshore

m UNIcIPAL m ATTerS

Bump outs get mixed reception

Traffic-calming measures seek to improve pedestrian safety

BY WILLIAM J. DOWD

Traffic-calming measures at three crosswalks along West Shore Drive, Smith Street and Pleasant Street have received a mixed reception from residents, according to social media, emails to the Marblehead Current and to town officials.

Many take issue with the installation of bump outs, which Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said essentially extends sidewalks/paths into the street.

“The current best practice out there in the traffic management world is to have bump outs,” said Kezer. “They shorten the distance that pedestrians have to cross. The fact that the road is narrower causes drivers to slow down.”

Bump outs also act as a visual cue to drivers to be alert, look out for pedestrians and reduce their speeds, Thatcher said.

The sidewalk extensions have been strategically placed where the Marblehead Rail Trail cuts across

Less bulky Fort Sewall cameras coming in coming year

BY KRIS OLSON

The question

Reader Tom Dailey happened upon workers taking down cameras at Fort Sewall on Dec. 9. He spoke to the workmen, who said the cameras were being taken down because they were “too bulky” but asked if we could investigate and provide further details on why the cameras had been installed in the first place and why they were now being removed.

The answer

Looking to protect the million-dollar investment and a real cannon at a remote location, the Fort Sewall Oversight Committee funded the installation of the cameras through its donation account, Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer explained.

“There have been instances of vandalism at the fort in the past, including during the construction process, so there

Dear Readers, We couldn’t be more thrilled with the reception you have given the Marblehead Current. We knew Marblehead was a special place, with generous people but, wow, your enthusiasm has exceeded our expectations.

We have met our initial advertising goals and we exceeded our NewsMatch fundraising target before we reached the end-of-year deadline! We have exciting plans for 2023 including a special print issue on Jan.

As we gear up for next year, we are giving our staff a well-deserved holiday break. We will pause our print edition next week, but you will find breaking news online at www. marbleheadcurrent.org. We are committed to our News for People, Not for Profit mission and your support is the greatest gift of any season.

Warmly, the Marblehead Current Board of Directors

COURTESY PHOTO/TOM DAILEY

On Dec. 9, workers remove security cameras that had been installed at Fort Sewall. Resident Tom Dailey took the photo with the workers’ permission.

Current Photo/Nicole Goodhue Boyd

Lisa Spinale lights a candle with her granddaughter, Savvy Williams, 8, as others pass the light during a community menorah lighting Sunday, Dec. 18 at Temple Emanu-El. For more photos, see Page 4.

hosted a community menorah lighting. The event featured donuts

(sufganiyot), latkes, dreidel games and a performance by magician George Saterial.

PAWS & cLAWS

Maverick, Yorkshire terrier, is a happy, loving fellow

» SEX: Male

Maverick is an adorable 9½ year young pup. He is a happy, loving fellow. He enjoys going for walks and has a lot of energy. Maverick was cared for in his earlier years but came to us as a neglect case. Even though neglected, he is happy to be around everyone.

He was neutered when he came to the shelter and is doing well on getting housebroken. He does well with other dogs and wants to be friends with them but is still a little frisky so he has not yet met another dog that likes him. He

is good with cats and respects their boundaries.

He would love to be a companion pet though he is fine when left alone. He enjoys going for car rides. Due to his age we would not put him with young children. He is healthy and up to date with his vaccinations. If you think you can provide a loving, caring home that he deserves, fill out an application. He is not at the shelter but in a foster home.

Meet the owners of Creature Comforts and Pawsitively Marblehead

BY MELISSA STACEY

Erin and James McCarthy, who own and operate Creature Comforts & Pawsitively Marblehead at 52B Atlantic Ave., answered the questions below for Discover

Marblehead’s weekly business profile.

Tell us about Creature Comforts & Pawsitively Marblehead.

Creature Comforts & Pawsitively Marblehead (CCPAWS) are businesses that are centered around your pets!

Creature Comforts is our pet service side of the business, which includes our doggy daycare (and adorable dog buses!), dog walking and in-home pet care serviceswhere we’ve cared for everything from cats to bearded dragons to chickens!

Pawsitively Marblehead is our boutique shop, located on Atlantic Ave, that features toys, accessories, and gifts for the pets and pet lovers in your life! We focus on carrying quality, local brands that you wouldn’t typically find in larger chain pet stores, and we love collaborating with other local businesses to create unique pet products.

Both businesses were started by Brooks and Ned Williams over 20 years ago, and James and I happily took over the reins (or leashes in this case!) from them in 2019. As an employee of theirs for 7 years

The Marblehead Current news-in-brief is compilation of need-to-know, general and short news items culled from various sources published on Mondays. Marblehead residents, governmental entities and nonprofits can email 150- to-200-word

before this transition, I knew many aspects of the business already, but it has certainly been quite a learning experience to be on the owner’s side of things now. We love working directly with the animals we take care of, as well as with our customers and clients to figure out the best products to help enrich the lives of their pets…and getting to drive a dog bus now and then isn’t a bad way to spend the day either!

What is the best piece of business advice you ever received?

The most important piece of business knowledge that I’ve received is how important it is to have reliable staff - they truly are the core of our business, and we wouldn’t be able to do what we did without them. When dealing with people’s pets, it really is like dealing with a member of their

news items for inclusion in the weekly list to wdowd@ marbleheadnews.org with “For the Current Companion” in the subject line.

Holiday closures

Municipal offices and

COURTESY PHOTO

family, so being able to trust and rely on our staff is critical. This was especially important when James and I welcomed our son Everett last year - we relied heavily on our manager Amy and the rest of our staff to hold down the fort as we adapted to life as first-time parents. We are so thankful for our awesome team and their never-ending enthusiasm for the animals we care for!

What is your favorite spot in Marblehead?

James and I can both say hands down that our favorite spot in Marblehead is Chandler Hovey Park. We just love everything about the lighthouse, and have quite the collection of different photos, paintings, and trinkets of it around our house … so much so, that we often joke that we live in the Marblehead Museum! I

buildings will be closed in observance of the following holidays:

» Saturday, Dec. 24:

Christmas Eve Sunday, Dec. 25:

Christmas Day

» Monday, Dec. 26

» Monday, Jan. 2: New Year’s Day

Curbside collection

In observance of the Christmas Day on Sunday, Dec. 25, trash & recycling will be picked up one day late on the following days: Monday trash & recycling will be collected on Tuesday, Dec. 27

» Tuesday trash & recycling will be collected on Wednesday, Dec. 28

Wednesday trash & recycling will be collected on Thursday, Dec. 29

» Thursday trash & recycling will be collected on Friday, Dec. 30

Friday trash & recycling will be collected on Saturday,

Dec. 31

grew up sailing from Marblehead along the Maine coast and have always appreciated how different and unique our lighthouse is compared to the traditional white lighthouses you see in most places.

What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

You may already know that prior to owning CCPAWS, I worked at the New England Aquarium for 10 years in both the Rescue & Rehab Department and the Marine Mammal Training Department, but what you may not know is that part of my job in the Rescue Department was driving an ambulance (yes, an actual medical ambulance!) that we had outfitted to respond to animals including sea turtles, seals, and stranded dolphins and whales. And I have to say, driving a dog bus is actually easier…go figure!

To learn more about Creature Comforts and Pawsitively Marblehead, visit https://www. ccpaws.com/.

The business spotlight is a new weekly feature, published in a partnership with Discover Marblehead. Discover Marblehead is “dedicated to the promotion of our majestic seaside town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Our mission is to highlight local businesses, tourism, community events, and attractions through social media, email marketing, and community outreach.” To learn more, visit https://discovermhd.com/.

In observance of the New Year’s Day holiday on Sunday, Jan. 1 trash & recycling will be picked up one day late on the following days:

» Monday trash & recycling will be collected on Tuesday, Jan. 3

Tuesday trash & recycling will be collected on Wednesday, Jan. 4

» Wednesday trash & recycling will be collected on Thursday, Jan. 5

Thursday trash & recycling will be collected on Friday, Jan. 6

» Friday trash & recycling will be collected on Saturday, Jan. 7

The Transfer Station will be closed: Saturday, Dec. 24, Monday, Dec. 26, Saturday, Dec. 31 and Monday, Jan. 2.

2023 Town Warrant open

Marblehead Select Board

voted on Nov. 16, 2022, to open the town warrant for the 2023 Town Meeting to be convened on Monday, May 1, 2023. Deadline to submit citizen’s petitions is Friday, Jan. 27 at noon.

For a citizens petition form, visit: https://bit. ly/3Fwi9k1. Deadline for boards and committees to submit an article is Friday, Jan. 20 at noon.

Volunteer at the Public Health Dept.

Residents may volunteer to serve on the Marblehead Recycling Committee, which is appointed by the Board of Health. The committee promotes recycling through articles in local media. The Swap Shed is another place where volunteers can help.

NEWSROOM

Managing Editor - Will Dowd  wdowd@marbleheadnews.org Consulting Editor - Kris Olson kolson@marbleheadnews.org Staff Reporter - Leigh Blander lblander@marbleheadnews.org Sports ReporterJoe McConnell jmcconnell@marbleheadnews.org

CONTRIBUTORS

Tristan Ashlock Linda Bassett Scot Cooper Laurie Fullerton Mark Hurwitz Brenda Kelley Kim John Lamontagne Pam Peterson Chris Stevens Linda Werbner

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gene Arnould Jessica Barnett Ed Bell James Bryant - President Virginia Buckingham - Secretary Kate Haesche Thomson

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Kathryn Whorf

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY

RELATIONS

Marion Warner Greely FOUNDERS Jessica Barnett Ed Bell  Leigh Blander  Will Dowd David Moran Kris Olson ADVISORS

Francie King Donna Rice

Marblehead News 217 Humphrey St.  Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945 781.910.8658 info@marbleheadnews.org www.marbleheadCurrent.org

Marblehead Current is published every Wednesday by Marblehead News Group, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is mailed to all homes and businesses in Marblehead, MA 01945.

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N e WS IN brIeF marbleheadcurrent.org A2 Wednesday, December 21, 2022 Marblehead Current CP_MBHC_20221221_1_A02 Lux Leisure Essentials for your Active Lif estyle 40 ATLANTIC AVENUE • MARBLEHEAD, MA Follow us on lnstagram @twinlion.co

CO-CHAIRPERSONS

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» Size: Small

Erin and James McCarthy with their son, Everett, own Creature Comforts and Pawsitivley Marblehead.

DIScOV er m A rbLeHe AD

installation, according to the company’s website.

John Berry, Crowley’s director of terminal operations, said Marblehead residents will see quite a bit of activity on land and on the water.

“They are going to see some of the tower sections as they come in,” Berry told the Marblehead Current. “Though they will be prominent on the site, the tower sections won’t be as tall as the stack of the [liquefied natural gas] plant. To consolidate the area, tower sections will be placed vertical and laid down.”

A steady stream of vessels between 400 and 500 feet will be dropping off and picking up turbine components.

“Marblehead and Salem residents will certainly see more vessels coming in and out, which will be a little bit of a new experience and development for the port,” Berry said. “They’ll also see a big crane that will be used to load and discharge tower sections.”

As the Bay State’s second terminal, Salem’s port would be a centerpiece as Massachusetts strives to meet its goals to decarbonize and transition to renewable energy. The state is planning to establish wind farms that collectively generate 5,600 megawatts of power.

The Bay State has already contracted for 3,000 megawatts (one wind turbine can produce between 13 and 20 megawatts, according to Berry) across four projects:

» Vineyard Wind, 1,800 megawatts

» Mayflower Wind, 804 megawatts

Commonwealth Wind, 1,232 megawatts

Mayflower Wind (residuals), 405 megawatts

A game changer

The opportunity for Salem to serve as a wind terminal came about fairly quickly, and Mayor Kim Driscoll. Driscoll, the state’s next lieutenant governor, has pointed to Gov. Charlie Baker and the White House as major catalysts for a groundswell of offshore wind projects.

“President Biden has led a more amplified effort to accelerate offshore wind as a means to supply renewable energy,” said Driscoll in 2021.

“The state has identified [the Salem] port as a key part of the needed infrastructure to support offshore wind.”

The Salem Port Authority and Crowley landed $45 million from the state government and $33.8 million from the federal government to support investments in the port’s infrastructure.

“We are going to need to get all the funding we can get for our project,” said Berry. “It’s going to take a lot of private-public investment in order to get these projects to the market.”

Preparations for Salem to serve as a wind terminal will include the construction of a 700-foot-long wharf and

bulkhead that will be able to handle oversized and heavy cargoes and serve as a loadout and assembly location.

Crowley projects construction will create 200 full-time jobs, and post-construction operations will create another 200.

“The project is moving quickly,” Driscoll said. “We’re learning a lot. I think the industry is only growing, and we’re excited to be able to position Salem to take advantage of the opportunity to grow this particular industry here.”

The scope of work for the terminal will include:

LAYDOWN YARDS: Two laydown yards will provide space for pieces of the wind turbines called “nacelles” and “towers.”

TRANSITION YARD: The transition yard will connect between the two laydown yards and provide additional storage.

PRE-ASSEMBLY AND LOAD AREA: This area is planned for pre-assembly, staging and loadout activities adjacent to the bulkhead and wharf.

WHARF AND BULKHEAD: Area improvements will provide adequate landside and waterside structures for loading and unloading of vessels.

BERTHS FOR VESSELS: Several berth areas are anticipated to accommodate berthing and moorage of wind turbine installment vessels (WTIVs) for loadout operations as well as heavy transportation vessels (HTVs) for inbound deliveries.

ON-SITE EQUIPMENT: Equipment such as transport vehicles and high-capacity cranes will be on site to assist in moving the wind blades and nacelles.

A little background

Footprint Power plant’s predecessor, a coal and oil-fired plant, resided on 65 acres of the Salem waterfront property. When Footprint bought the land, it demolished the old plant and built the natural-gas plant, leaving behind 42 undeveloped acres.

“The coal plant was demolished beginning in 2014, and a site environmental remediation effort was undertaken,” Crowley wrote on its website for the terminal project. “The original 65-acre site has since been divided into two lots. Footprint Power sits on 23 acres, and the terminal would be on Lot 2.”

Berry said the plan is for shovels to go into the ground next summer, beginning a “very aggressive construction

schedule” that would wrap up sometime in 2025, with the terminal becoming operational in 2026.

Once operational, the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal will support a number of offshore wind projects.

“The first two projects deployed from Salem by AVANGRID will provide 2 gigawatts of clean power,” Crowley’s website notes. “This is roughly equal to removing over 500,000 vehicles from our roadways or powering over a million homes with clean energy.”

Crowley must procure 10 local, state and federal permits before construction work gets underway, including from the Salem Conservation Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Salem Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.

“We’re going through a pretty extensive permitting process to get all of the environmental green lights, if you will, to start to develop the property,” Berry said. “There’ll have to be extensive rehabilitation of the berthing areas to support the heavy weights.”

Berry characterized the latter work as “a real big investment.” Construction workers will use steel and concrete to reinforce key sites and support very heavy loads.

“The back lands will also be improved for strength and stability,” said Berry. “And that will be the areas where these components will be laid down, organized, inspected and

prepared for offloading into the wind farm installation.”

Salem’s 42 acres and port are ideal for a turbine terminal, Berry said.

“Salem’s natural deepwater harbor is very attractive to be able to bring vessels in and ship them out with big turbine components,” Berry said. “The fact that Salem has no overhead obstruction is very desirable.”

More than an eyesore?

While Salem may be “desirable” to the developer, residents of Marblehead’s West Shore should be taking a more critical view of the project, wrote Gregg Thibodeau of Marblehead, the author of a call to action circulated among members of the Naugus Head Association Dec. 5.

Thibodeau, retired engineer with over 40 years of experience and the father of two Marblehead firefighters, said he has done a close read of the port’s 500-plus-page permitting document, including the design plans for the port.

Through that research, he has come to believe that the project’s “major impact on Marblehead” has not been made plain in the community presentations to this point.

“You will also be disappointed as was I that there was no mention of the impact on Marblehead nor on the harbor’s extensive recreational boating activities,” he wrote.

To support the heavy wind turbines and their components, construction of the new 400-foot jetty wharf and the

416-foot-by-66-foot preassembly and load-out deck will require driving approximately 600 pilings into bedrock, Thibodeau noted.

He also noted the extensive dredging operation to provide the water depth needed for the large ships that will be coming in and out of the port.

As Thibodeau sees it, four major forms of pollution will impact Marblehead and Salem Harbor during both the construction of the facility and the ongoing assembly of the wind turbines: noise, lighting, water and air.

“The noise from the 24x7 pounding pile driving alone will have a major impact on the quiet enjoyment of the harbor’s recreational users and Marblehead’s West Shore homeowners,” he wrote. “There will be an especially devastating impact if the work proceeds during the summer months, which seems to be the plan.”

To Thibodeau, it is obvious that the size of the windmills’ blades and towers will necessitate the use of heavy duty cranes and other equipment to unload them from the ships that will deliver the components, move them around the site during assembly, and then load them on the ships and barges for delivery.

That equipment, typically diesel-powered, will only add to the air and noise pollution, Thibodeau argued.

Thibodeau also has concerns about high-intensity lighting that might be used for overnight operations.

All of that is before even getting to the “major visual impact” on the harbor, Thibodeau continued.

Thibodeau urged his fellow Marbleheaders to engage with the permitting process.

“Comments during the permitting process can really make a difference in mitigating the impact on recreational boating and those of us who live on the West Shore,” he wrote.

He opined that a priority should be preventing the demolition and pile driving between May and October.

Thibodeau also suggested that West Shore residents should insist on setting reasonable times for the construction work to avoid excessive noise at night, as well as lighting designed to reduce the impact on boaters and West Shore residents, and remedial measures to minimize noise and emissions from the construction equipment.

“Now is the time to mobilize!” he concluded.

Voting for the 2023 Marblehead Festival of the Arts logo opens

Three logos submitted by North Shore artists have been chosen to be voted on by the public. There were 65 entries and the judges had a hard time narrowing it down to just three. You can help choose the Winner! Vote on your choice through December 27, 2022.

Vote for the Logo that you want to be on the Festival’s publicity and our 2023 logo products sold during the 57th Marblehead Festival of Arts, which will be celebrated over the 2023 4th of July weekend – July 1 - 4, 2023.

You can vote at these Marblehead locations: Abbot Public Library, Arnould Gallery & Framery, Blue Canoe, F L

Marblehead/Swampscott

honored during a Logo Premiere at a Marblehead Restaurant

The judges for the year’s contest were Mary Melilli, Graphic Artist and Professor of Media and Communication at Salem State University; Wayne George, owner of F L Woods Nautical Merchants, Marblehead; and Kristen Nyberg, owner of Nyberg Design, trained in illustration and design with over 20 years of experience working as a designer and project manager in the architectural signage industry and the 2019 logo winning artist.

Woods Nautical Merchants, Maria’s Java Sun Coffee, JCC, Marblehead Arts Association, Marblehead Bank, Marblehead Jacobi Community Center,

YMCA, National Grand Bank, Plus Cafe, and The Landing Restaurant. There is also voting at the Salem and

Swampscott Public Libraries.. Look for the Ballot Poster at these fine locations.

The winning artist and the finalists will be introduced and

in January, The public is invited to come and celebrate.

A collage of the three Marblehead Festival of the Arts logos.

A draft schematic drawing of the proposed Salem Harbor Wind Terminal.

The Salem Harbor Wind Terminal will reside on the parcel labeled ‘Lot 2.’

COURTESY PHOTO / MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES A schematic drawing outlining operating and planned Atlantic offshore wind farms.

COURTESY PHOTOs / CROWLEY WIND SERVICES, INC.

A panoramic photograph of what the Salem Harbor Wind Terminal could look when it is fully operational.

NYTimes honors students for personal narratives

BY LEIGH BLANDER

Two more Marblehead High School students have won honors in a New York Times essay writing contest. This month, freshman Serena Nyberg and junior Max won honorable mentions for their 100-word personal narratives. (The Current is not publishing Max’s last name to keep him safe and to discourage harassment.)

More than 12,400 teens from around the world submitted essays to the contest. Judges chose 13 winners, 23 runners-up and 46 honorable mentions.

“I am trans, I was born female,” Max said, discussing his 100-word narrative. “When I was young and imagined my life as an adult, it was as a woman. Being trans, there’s a part of myself that had to mourn the loss of that woman.”

One line of Max’s essay reads, “She lived loudly, fearlessly laughing at whatever the world threw at her. When I changed my name, I laid her to rest. With every passing week, her voice disappears into mine.” (Read the full essays below.)

Nyberg is an artist and wrote about her relationship with her

beloved sketchbook. “I haven’t had a lot of life experiences and my sketchbook represents me, all my ideas.”

“When I’m drawing, I become panicky with anticipation, restless, the image begging to

be created. I look down and it’s done. I finally breathe,” reads a line from Nyberg’s essay.

Max has entered several New York Times writing contests, but this essay was his favorite.

“I like the creativity of

narratives,” he said. “There’s a freedom in writing in your own voice.”

Max and Nyberg are students of MHS English teacher Jenn Billings. She has been encouraging students to enter New York Times contests for six years. Since then, about a dozen Marblehead students have won top honors or honorable mentions.

Last year, MHS students Mimi Fallon and Carrie Linde (both now seniors) won top honors for writing and recording a music video called “Outed” about Fallon coming out as gay. Another student, Courtney Duffey (now a sophomore) won for her piece of visual art called “Amidst the Blaze,” representing her reactions to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

“This makes the world of writing real for students,” Billing said. “It’s a place for kids to show off their skills. I always have great entries - every single year.”

‘A Funeral for the Girl I Was’ Max,

MHS junior

She longed for a house by the sea with three cats. She loved getting lost in books, consuming

First lights: Hanukkah begins

stories with a never-ending hunger. She relished listening to the rain, watching water hang on every branch and roll down car windows. She lived loudly, fearless laughing at whatever the world threw at her. When I changed my name, I laid her to rest. With every passing week, her voice disappears into mine. I wish having my body didn’t destroy hers; it was beautiful, and I hope she knows I never hated her. I mourn for the girl I could have been.

‘The keeper of creativity’ Serena Nyberg, MHS freshman

My sketchbook is tattered and bruised from hours of creativity. When I reach for it, pages hanging by a thread, I can’t help but be consumed. Consumed as I watch an imagine flow from my mind, through the pencil, onto the paper. My brain is jammed with ideas that I can’t seem to execute fast enough. When I’m drawing I become panicky with anticipation, reslstess, the image begging to be created. I look down and it’s done. I finally breathe. The weight of the idea has been stolen by my sketchbook. The keeper of my creativity. Of me.

West

Marblehead Town Planner

Rebecca Cutting said “severe crashes” have occurred at the Pleasant Street trail crossing in the past, including a pedestrian fatality. She said several cyclists have been struck and injured there as well.

“In all three locations, decreasing the overall width of the roadway, bump outs are designed to serve as a visual cue to drivers and bicyclists using

have been plans from the outset of the renovation project to put in security cameras as a deterrent,” Kezer said.

Members of the Fort Sewall Oversight Committee worked with

the road that there is a crossing there,” said Cutting. “The idea is they increase the visibility of pedestrians who are waiting to cross a street and the visibility to drivers on the road.”

She went on to say that extending the sidewalk into the

Police Chief Dennis King to devise plans to monitor the fort with security cameras while not invading the privacy of the neighbors, Kezer continued.

“The committee also focused on historical accuracy in the design process of the project, with the intent that

street prevents drivers from illegally passing cars on the right. Rapid flashing beacons and signs will soon be or have already been installed to complement the bump outs.

Marblehead resident Lisa Gery said she sees the traffic-calming

the cameras would blend in to adhere to the design principle,” Kezer said.

But once the security equipment—which includes apparatus supporting the communications links for the cameras—was installed, it was found to be far more obtrusive than

measures as “some feeling the need to micromanage local roads.” She said many have felt the impact of the narrowing of the road near the Tower School during drop off and pick upwith longer lines and wait times down West Shore Drive.

“When I was growing up, we learned how to cross the street: You look to the left; you look to the right, and you cross the street,” said Gery in a Sunday interview. “The work recently done [to the crosswalks] lull people into a false sense of security that cars aren’t dangerous - but they are and you can get hurt.”

Gery added, “A police officer posted near any of the crosswalks with a radar gun once

expected, according to Kezer.

“Fortunately, the Health Department is working with the same vendor to provide additional security at the Transfer Station, so the cameras and other equipment will be moved from Fort Sewall to be used at the Transfer Station instead,”

Kezer said.

a week would slow people down way more than those flashing beacons.”

Meanwhile, since the bump outs were installed, some drivers flattened their tires after they hit the bump outs. Others expressed concern that snowplow operators will ram into the sidewalk extensions during snowstorms.

“Change is always difficult for some people. New traffic patterns take time for drivers to learn to adjust their driving habits,” said Marblehead Department of Public Works Director Amy McHugh. “The DPW has received positive feedback from pedestrians who utilize these improved crossings.”

The Fort Sewall Oversight Committee and town staff are now working with the vendor to find a more appropriate solution for the fort.

“We are now working with the vendor to come up with a less intrusive system and will have more details on that in the

coming months,” Kezer said.

Have you seen something around town that has made you curious to know “the rest of the story,” as radio host Paul Harvey used to say? Snap a photo—or tell us where we can—and send your questions to info@ marbleheadnews.org.

Marblehead High School students Max (left) and Serena Nyberg

Shore Drive near the Tower School, Smith Street near the post office and along Pleasant Street near Mohawk Road.

From P. A1

Adam Greenberg carries his son, Jake, 18 months, who is sporting his Hanukkah pajamas.

Sherice Siegel, 5, shares a laugh with her mom, Alanna.

Ariel Pedan and his brother Ilya Pedan ready their menorah.

Current Photos/Nicole Goodhue Boyd

Savvy Williams, 8, looks on as Betty Dyer and Linda Ham help light their menorah during a community menorah lighting Sunday, Dec. 18 at Temple Emanu-El.

Lisa Spinale lights a candle from Rabbi David Meyer’s shamash.

MARBLEHEAD CURRENT PHOTO / WILLIAM J. DOWD

The traffic-calming measures installed along Pleasant Street near Mohawk Road.

Senior spotlight: Dave Dragan

BY LEIGH BLANDER

Name: Dave Dragan Age: 81 Place of birth: Everett

How long have you lived in Marblehead?

Nine years. We moved here because we wanted a good school system for our granddaughters (who live with him).

What is your fondest childhood memory?

Going to Hampton Beach for 10 days every summer. We’d rent a cottage and just run loose. We’d hit the penny arcade, go swimming and sit on an old inner tube and just float.

What jobs have you had and what was your favorite?

I served three and a half years in the Navy, from 1958-62, in the North

Atlantic and Mediterranean, I joined the Army from ‘62-’65. Later, I served in the Army National Guard from 1980-1996. I worked at Transitron Electronic testing diodes and transistors. Then I worked at GE in Lynn for almost 35 years where I did a little bit of everything, including test mechanic and technical writer. After GE, I worked at Lockheed, where I wrote instruction manuals for jet engines. I think that was my favorite.

What’s the biggest change you’d seen in the world?

Technology. I’m tethered to this thing now (pointing to his cell phone). I even have it hooked up to my hearing aids. I use it to play games like Sudoku.

What’s your biggest accomplishment?

My family. I’ve been married for 52 years and have two kids and two

granddaughters. I love them.

What moment in history is most vivid in your memory? 9-11. I lost a co-worker on that first flight. She was at GE and we knew her from line dancing in Salem.

What piece of advice do you have for young people today?

Get a good education in something that makes you happy. If you want to be an electrician, be an electrician. If you want to be a plumber, be a plumber. And then stay with it.

Dragan works 20+ at the Council on Aging, serving lunches, driving vans, setting up for classes and events and more. In fact, so many people ask him, “Dave, can ya…..” that his nickname is now Kenya.

“Been There, Done That” is a regular column spotlighting Marblehead seniors.

Dave Dragan.

WILL be OKAY

e V erYTHING

ANcHOrS AND SAILS

Latitudes and attitudes

BY BRENDA KELLEY KIM

“These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes Nothing remains quite the same. Through all of the islands and all of the highlands If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”

—Jimmy Buffett

Who doesn’t love a Jimmy Buffett quote? He’s all about new adventures, never looking back but instead focusing on the future. My father taught me not to look back, but once a year, it can be an excellent way to ensure the path you’re on is getting you where you want to be. I like to take inventory of the work I did during the year, how it could be better and if it’s still serving me. I check in with friends and family, see how they are, and if they need anything because it’s easy to get caught up in my own issues and forget to check on those around me. Resolutions are not my thing; they never work out, but it’s always good to think about what you might do differently going into a new year.

When my children were small, September was when I would find a new project or start feeling the anticipation of new adventures to come. Back to school is when the lazy beach days of summer come to an end, and the challenges of another academic year begin. Would their teachers like them? Would they still see their old friends or make new friends? What about the work? Would it be more difficult? Could they stay caught up, especially with sports and activities also in the mix?

Now my children are done with school, it’s this time of year when I take stock of everything.

Also, there are the school supplies; who doesn’t love the siren call of Staples, with fresh pencils, smooth pink erasers, and the glow of neon yellow highlighters? Throw in a new binder and some magic markers, and for me, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Now that they’re done with school, it’s this time of year when I take stock of everything.

One thing I always consider when thinking of the past year is whether or not there were any moments when I did something adventurous. Back in June, I was on vacation in Alaska, and I rode a horse. At one point, I loosened up on the reins, because I got a little cocky thinking I was a real cowgirl. The next minute I was tossed on my butt in a meadow. Still, it was an adventure. Given the past two years of lockdowns, shuttered schools, and closed businesses, most people need to let loose and do something entirely out of their comfort zone. Nothing dangerous, of course; if you’ve never even hiked in the forest, you’re probably not someone who should climb Mount Everest, but otherwise, it’s good to challenge ourselves.

I have the attention span of a gnat on Red Bull, so I’m constantly coming up with something to do that I haven’t done before, but it’s usually pretty tame. Just the other day, even though I had “Poppin’ fresh” biscuits in a can in the fridge, I tried to make my own. However, any adventure I come up with in the kitchen carries a risk for me. For example, I’m not allowed to have real candles because you start one small fire, and your kids lose their minds and start researching assisted living facilities. Biscuits, the real homemade ones, are delicious, though, so I had to try to make some. It was a total fail in the sense that they were awful, but it was a win for trying something new.

I’ve also reorganized my living room, another hardly adventurous move, so now that it’s done, I’ve invited some neighbors for a bit of holiday cheer. Entertaining is fraught with peril for me since I frequently fail at it. Some minor calamity always tends to happen when I have a party. This year it was moving a piece of furniture and finding a really awful dog stain under it. Penny, the wee pug, is now an endangered dog, and she knows it since she slunk away when I started screeching at her and is probably hiding in a closet.

Looking to the new year, I will make sure to spend a bit more time out in the open and going to new places rather than staying at anchor in the same spot. But, like the song says, “Oh, yesterday’s over my shoulder, so I can’t look back for too long. There’s too much to see waiting in front of me and I know that I just can’t go wrong.”

Brenda Kelley Kim is a regular columnist for the Marblehead Current.

Let’s play patience BINGO!

BY VIRGINIA BUCKINGHAM

We all know there are global supply issues holding up the delivery of everything from furniture to computer chips, but who knew that a ship-full of patience was stuck somewhere out at sea.

At least it seems that way, if the fraught drivers on main streets and in parking lots of malls and grocery stores are any indication.

I know my patience in these final, frantic holiday and year-endeverything-must-get-done-now days is sorely lacking and I suspect I’m not the only one.

It’s not just the jam-packed holiday to-do list at fault. Our technology-enabled instant gratification culture has done plenty to make even the most patient saints amongst us in a hurry to gratify and satisfy.

What I didn’t know is that patience can be cultivated, like plants in a garden. While patience is in short supply, tips for developing it are endless, if you search for them on the Web. I’ll summarize the top tips I recently found.

First, though, let’s agree on which kind of patience we want to cultivate, now, right now, before that guy steals our parking spot. It turns out there are at least three kinds of patience — interpersonal patience, life hardship patience, and daily hassles patience.

The first, the kind you need to have when your spouse forgets, again, to bring the trash cans in, is self-evident. The second, also known as perseverance, is how you get through hard times. It’s the third I’ll focus on here - daily hassles patience. Put more academically, it is the kind of patience which allows us to develop “the capacity to tolerate the discomfort that arises when things aren’t as we’d like them to be,” according to one mindfulness website.

Apparently, this kind of patience is readily cultivatable! Or so says clinical psychologist Scott Beam, PsyD in an article featured by the eminent Cleveland Clinic. “It’s kind of like dancing,” he said.

“Some people are naturally better at it than others, but everyone can

It turns out there are at least three kinds of patience — interpersonal patience, life hardship patience, and daily hassles patience.

improve with practice.”

Here is a sample of tips I found with some of my non-academic color commentary.

» Stop multi-tasking (HAHAHAHAHAHHA)

Use a time-management tool (i.e., something more advanced than the alarm I set on my phone to go off five minutes before every scheduled meeting.)

Eat healthy (I feel like that tip is on every “be a better human” list, but sure.)

» Choose slow (Is that an actual choice?)

» I felt my neck muscles tightening as I scrolled through more tips, while simultaneously checking texts on my phone. Then I found these sort of more do-able ideas:

» Fake it ‘til you make it. Pretending you are patient makes you feel more patient. (I can do that!)

Increase your tolerance for waiting by waiting longer (Hmmm, choose the longer line at CVS?)

» Delay gratification by putting your online selections in a shopping cart to review later. (Defeats the point of Amazon

Prime but sure.)

Regularly unclench your fists and/or teeth, and relax your shoulders (Your dentist and chiropractor will thank you.)

Be playful, don’t take yourself – or your unfinished tasks — too seriously.

Ah, I totally can embrace that last one. So, in that spirit, please see the very first, inaugural, one of a kind, “everything will be okay” Patience BINGO game, in print, and also linked here https://bit. ly/3HD75Ty.

We will play the “coverall” version. When you do one of the items listed in the squares in the stressful, I mean, festive days ahead, “X” it out on the card. When you’ve filled the entire card, yell BINGO as loud as you can, even if, especially if, you are in a public place.

Then laugh out loud, again (If you’ve filled the card, you have already done that at least once.) I promise you’ll feel more patient than you really are. If not, then I guess you can try improving your dancing. Wishing you happy, and patient, holidays.

Virginia Buckingham is a regular columnist for the Marblehead Current and a member of its board of directors.

We want to hear from you

The Marblehead Current loves to get letters to the editor. There are just a few rules you need to know.

Generally, letters should not exceed 500 words. The Marblehead Current reserves the right not to publish submissions over the word limit and may instead return the letter to the writer for editing.

Letters must include:

1. The author’s name. Unsigned letters and form letters will not be published.

2. The name of the street the author lives on in Marblehead. Only the street name will be published next to the author’s name — not their full address.

3. For every letter, we will need an author’s daytime/ cell phone number (not for publication) for verification purposes.

4. If letters seek to introduce into a discussion purported facts that are not commonly known, writers may be asked to provide the source for those purported facts.

5. Letters must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday to be published in the following Wednesday’s print edition of the Marblehead Current. Letters will be published to our website at the earliest opportunity, after verification.

Email submissions to info@marbleheadnews.org.

While the Marblehead Current will make every effort to let writers have their say, it reserves the right not to publish letters.

BY FRANK YETTER

Tommy Jordan was livid, enraged by something I’d written in the previous week’s Reporter editorial page. It was sometime in the 1980s – a Friday, probably, the day after the paper hit the streets. Jordan had stormed into our office on Anderson Street, pipe clenched between gritted teeth beneath his signature Greek sailor’s cap. Red-faced, primed for a harangue, he demanded facetime with whatever “commie” had written the editorial to which he took exception.

the erosion of local media. “Since 2005, more than a quarter of the country’s newspapers have closed. Those that survive have shed journalists at an alarming rate: There are roughly 60 percent fewer journalists working in newspapers today than in 2005,” the Times wrote.

appreciated the importance of having a local source of information, even though he tended to view the Reporter as a misbehaving child he couldn’t bully into compliance.

Frank Yetter

That was me.

What transpired between Tommy and me that day isn’t as relevant as the fact that it happened at all. It was grassroots democracy at its finest; electoral politics head to head with the Fourth Estate. Tommy, chairman of the board of selectmen, had a bone to pick with the guy who ran the local paper, and he was determined to vent his spleen.

The symbiotic proximity of newspaper staff being available, to simply be present to take whatever offered – be it complaint (often) suggestions (occasionally) or compliments (sometimes) - was all part of the act of reflecting the Marblehead community in a pulp and ink mirror. We’d get the paper out each week and then wait for the critics to emerge. They wrote letters, opposing op/ed pieces, or, like Jordan, stopped by for a chat over the service counter carefully marshalled by office manager Jackie Oldham.

This weekly exchange created a lovely balance, a give-and-take relationship that somehow benefitted all, kept residents informed, and kept an eye on those in power.

Over the years, something broke the tenuous thread between communities and their local papers. Economically ravaged by evaporating advertising revenue and unable to halt the exodus of readers to the clutches of the internet, starting in the late 1990s papers perished by the hundreds across America. It was an unprecedented collapse of the industry that in my opinion took important aspect of democracy along with it.

The New York Times recently published an analysis lamenting

GU eST cOLU mN

The Times piece quoted a recent Northwestern University study on the effects of declining local journalism which found “significant evidence that the erosion of local journalism has accelerated some of the worst trends in our civic life. In communities without a credible source of local news, voter participation declines, corruption in both government and business increases, and local residents end up paying more in taxes and at checkout,” the report concluded.

While Tommy loved to remind me “we’re not in Moscow” when I rebuffed his regular efforts to claim sovereign rights over editorial policy, I think the former selectman would agree that the town would have been worse off without a paper for him to brood over. He would have chosen someone else to run the paper, but that was a bitter pill he had to swallow.

Tommy would have heralded the arrival of the Current. He

CP_MBHC_20221214_1_A01

Some local pols nurtured adversarial relationships by holding members of the Fourth Estate in self-righteous contempt. Others – like Tom McNulty, Helaine Hazlett and Larry Alexander – became cherished friends, respectful participants in the quirky dance that went with the media-government construct.

Our love of the town bound us together; a delicate balance of interests, ideas and motivations that created an ongoing ballet to the community’s benefit. We shared vested interest in the public works, police and fire, our schools. We’d bump into one another at local shops (I will claim to my last breath that one of Helaine Hazlett’s monologs while I was buying milk for my kids’ breakfast at 730 on a Saturday at a convenience store on Tedesco Street weighed heavily in my decision to find a new job). We’d exchange pleasantries on the town’s sidewalks. Toss an occasional barb across the street at one another. Share insider news (i.e., gossip) while waiting for a steak bomb at Ben Rhodes’ Super Sub. The Reporter was the link that connected us, a role I trust the Current will assume in Marblehead.

The Reporter was an anomaly in the industry: home delivered, free (by legions of kids pulling wagonloads of threesectioned tabloid editions, when I was editor), generally valued and respected (we won an award as the best weekly newspaper in New England one year), and profitable. Its decline over the years broke my heart, and when its current owners gave up and shuttered it, I felt the reverberations across the Atlantic from my new home in England.

How would residents keep tabs on what was going on in their community without Tweeting themselves into fits or separating into warring Facebook page camps?

Everyone benefits from a healthy, active and engaged local newspaper, particularly when it’s run by the likes of those stewarding the Current. They are experienced, smart, and (this is important) caring people with a common purpose that’s held the industry together since its nascent days: newsgathering integrity, honesty, and fairness. As a nonprofit, the Current is exempt from some of the economic realities that became little more than leverageable assets when the private equity predators took over the Reporter’s parent company. That’s a good thing that will benefit the community.

Newspaper pros don’t fall into the jobs, and they surely don’t do it for the money. And they bring to the table skills and standards sorely lacking in the uneducated, ill-prepared and unrestricted wilderness of social media. I’ve always felt the role of the editor was one of the most misunderstood and unappreciated pillars of a community.

Chief: Body-worn police cameras coming

reception to it.”

21st century police transparency and accountability. This will enhance public safety and safety for our officers. There’s been no

BY KRIS OLSON

Marblehead, King is starting to look into the cameras and all they entail. “There are a lot of things you need to account for before you bring them into operation,” he said. Those considerations include cost. King estimates it will cost the town about $45,000 a year to lease and operate the cameras. “We need to identify where the funding sources are coming from,” he said. Then, there’s staffing. “Who

mUNIcIPAL mATTerS

Marblehead migrates to cloud-based budgeting software

BY WILLIAM J. DOWD

From

The power of small gestures

BY CHRISTINE MCCARRISTON

I moved from Marblehead many years ago, but some of my heart remains somewhere between Marblehead Harbor, Abbot Hall, and the places I and my family called home over the years. I’m thrilled to know Marbleheaders once again have a mirror held up to their collective face.

Newspapers create a sense of place. They highlight a community’s strengths, weaknesses, comings (births) and goings (deaths) and teach us about where we live as the de facto chronicle of local events. Read the Current. Write to it. Complain about it.

Marblehead just restored one of its crucial foundations.

It deserves your support.

Frank Yetter is the former editor of the Marblehead Reporter.

Christine McCarriston

The “grand gesture” gets a lot of play in movies, especially romantic ones, but the less-than-grand gestures are the ones that sustain us. True to the saying “it’s the little things in life,” the smaller gestures are the ones that get us through the day and often help us get up the next day.

Grand gestures usually require lots of thought, preparation, and money, but the small gesture can be carried out on the spot and might even hold more weight. My sister recently bought breakfast for the person ahead of her in line—not really a big deal, but it made the day of the recipient. Cathy had been at a concert the night before, still made it to work by 6 a.m. and with the fun and music still in her, she was moved to pay for the woman’s pre-work meal.

Of course, the woman was shocked and tried to talk Cathy out of it, but my sister explained that doing this small gesture would start her day off right, too. She’s right; it’s a great feeling to cheer someone up. It didn’t cost Cathy too much but started the woman’s day on a positive note.

Sometimes the small gesture is longterm, making it even more appreciated.

At winter’s first frost last year, I asked to bring my geranium plants to our office. I knew they would live in the space with the wall of windows there, and they would die otherwise.

DELANEY, P. A4

family’s grief in his new book, ‘A Heart That Works.’

shine in holiday concerts all month

The only problem was that I am not in that office every day, and even when I am, I work in another area. The life of my plants was really in the hands of our department clerk Marion, who said she would water and care for them.

Boy, did she work magic! Under Marion’s green thumb, the plants got food and water and had their dead leaves plucked regularly.

Well, I guess my connection to her yellow shoes really shone through because a couple of days later she said: I have something for you. Then she gave me the shoes (she knew they’d fit me)! They were like-new; she had hardly worn them.

CONCERTS, P. A4 BUDGETING, P. A3

From our Mariner family to yours, happy holidays. Thank you for your support.

Heather, Michael & Phil

When Marion was out for six weeks due to surgery, she left us detailed notes of how to run the department without her. On the list was how to care for my plants. The four plants thrived and came back home blooming and beautiful. My blossoming geraniums are a reminder of Marion’s kindness.

To learn visit www.marinermarblehead.com, stop by Welcome Center at 31 Atlantic Ave

This year at work I have bonded with a woman in the next department over our similar fashion sense. I have known her only a few months, but each morning, Roscio greets me with a happy hello, and we often engage in fashion commentary.

The other day she wore a lovely daisy print dress yellow sweater, and the cutest yellow heels. Yellow is my favorite color, and I just love a yellow shoe, so I gushed over them (of course, who wouldn’t?!) and asked where she got them.

I couldn’t believe it. She insisted I keep them because “you love them,” she said. Well, yes, I do, but I didn’t mean for her to give them to me. I put them on, walked around her department, and her coworkers all told me how great they looked on me. You know who else they look great on? Roscio!

Roscio’s gift made my day, my week. I came home and looked in my closet for the perfect outfit to compliment them and do my fashionable friend Roscio proud. Her gesture felt grand to me. Those shoes will stand as a symbol of the impact small gestures can have.

My mother is the queen of kindness and has cornered the market on her own version of the small gesture. No matter what anyone in the family is needing, wanting or celebrating, my mother has her special way of lifting us up.

Years ago, my daughter was sick, so my mom gave her “Sorry You’re Sick Money.” It wasn’t much but just enough to brighten Shanna’s day and give her something to look forward to while she wasn’t feeling great.

But my mother wasn’t done. Shanna’s

sister got “Sorry Your Sister Is Sick Money.” Jenna was happy, and the rest of us got a chuckle. Again, it wasn’t much money but such an unexpected gesture that we still remember it with a smile.

Recently, I paid for the ice cream of the man ahead of me in line at Terry’s when the credit card reader went down. He was baffled when I said to add it to my order but finally gave in and let me pay. As he walked away with his frozen treat, he said, “No one has ever bought me an ice cream in my 64 years.” The $6 added to my bill was a small price to pay for such an impression on him.

Many of us came to realize the importance of everyday matters and the small gestures we missed so deeply during the pandemic lockdown. Despite us all experiencing the same pandemic, we truly do not know what people are going through or struggling with. A free breakfast, some “Just To Cheer You Money” or a fabulous pair of shoes you pass on to someone who loves them could make a huge difference in their day.

The joy such small gestures will bring you is simply a bonus.

Marblehead resident Christine McCarriston is a former local reporter and editor of the Lynn Sunday Post who now works as an English language development coach for the Lynn Public Schools. She is also the author of a children’s book, “Jenna’s Troublesome Tooth.”

A family that hurts … and helps Delaney’s new book ‘doing what it is supposed to do’

Epstein Hillel School hosts STEM night

On Thursday, December 8, Epstein Hillel School hosted its Family STEM Night, an annual event that is open to the community. Over 100 children attended and participated in interactive, hands-on STEM experiments inspired by the theme, Caring for the Earth.

Activities included a build-your-own wind turbine challenge; a simulated oil spill cleanup; a candy erosion experiment; a robotics recycling challenge; a microscopic air quality analysis; and much more.

Second grade student, AJ Jasilli, of Marblehead said his favorite activity was the ocean clean-up challenge. In this activity, participants used recycled materials to create an original tool that would

remove trash of all shapes, sizes, and densities from a large bucket of water. “I like to build stuff, and it was fun to scoop the trash out of the water!” said Jasilli.

STEM Night participants each got a “passport” that provided locations, descriptions, and agerecommendations for

the various activities, so students and their families could map out their own routes and choose the activities that seemed most exciting to them.

“Some participants preferred to spend their time doing a deep dive into a single STEM activity. They stuck around in one space until they mastered

that particular challenge,” said EHS’s STEM Coordinator Lea Winkler. “Other participants wanted to complete as many of the activities as possible, so it was a fastpaced, active event for them.”

Winkler says this flexibility made it an

especially fun evening, because there were no requirements for participation. It was experiential learning in an environment that felt more like a social gathering.

Epstein Hillel School’s seventh and eighth grade students— as part of

their ongoing leadership course— assisted EHS faculty members with running the STEM challenges for the younger participants. At the end of the evening, the teens got to participate in their own “Amazing Race” style competition that took them on an adventure throughout the school solving STEM challenges along the way.

“I’ve gone to STEM Night since I was in Kindergarten,” said eighth grade student Rachel Meltzer. “This year, it was so cool to have a special STEM challenge just for us after we worked hard helping out with the little kids. Our challenge required teamwork, and it was a competition, so that made it even more exciting.”

eDUc ATION

Yoni Yaakov and Eitan Brochstein review a clue in their ‘Amazing Race’ STEM challenge for seventh and eighth grade students.

COURTESY PHOTO / EPSTEIN HILLEL

Gwendolyn Cullen and David Koren analyze and compare air particles from Lynn, Marblehead, Somerville, and Swampscott, in the ‘I Breathe What?!’ experiment.

Ethan Goodwin tests out the wind turbine he built to see if it will power the tiny lightbulb on the turbine. It worked!

Nina Moroz Katz and Eliyah Winer simulate erosion by shaking jars of candy in water.

A sense of human

BY BOB BAKER

Among attributes inherited from my parents is a Bronx Irish sense of humor from dad and what I call a “sense of human” from my mother. A “sense of human” is simply compassion for our fellow Homo sapiens. I’ve made good use of dad’s gift of humor throughout my life, but need a wakeup call every now and often in the humanity department.

popular culture, literature and the arts in the country.

Bob Baker

Editor-in-chief Jack Fischer created the position especially for me (“I want you to be my Thurber”: alluding to New Yorker legend James Thurber, who started out in a supposedly similar catch-all assignment called “Front Desk”).

Item 7a on my job description, “Deal with crackpots and unpromising authors,” took flesh in the person of Michael Sieniawski, a wealthy white Russian émigré to Brazil who wanted to do an article on Brazil for Harper’s.

***

UConn, 1957. It’s the Saturday night cocktail bash of our fraternity’s big spring weekend, and everybody’s too beautiful to be true. The room fair glistens with the sheen and preen of shiny hair, chiseled features and radiantly plumed princesses.

The banter, fueled by firewater, is at fever pitch. Full of myself, near raging to be heard above the storm of cheer, I suddenly realize Peg’s no longer there beside me.

Where the hell is she?

There. In that sullen corner of the lounge. Sitting beside— you gotta be kidding—Joe Grummel.

Peg Dawson, the love of my life, who came all the way from Vassar for the weekend—there beside Joe “The-Biggest-GeekGod-Ever-Made” Grummel. Who’s only a member because he’s a “legacy”: his father was a member. Who’s about 12-feet tall, with a 2-foot nose and moose eyes. Who, when he laughs, sounds like a cross between a jackass and a rooster.

Yup. That Joe Grummel. Not only that, they’re talking. Joe Grummel is actually having a real live conversation with someone. What’s worse, Peg is laughing at things Joe is saying.

Now comes the worst part.

In a momentary settling of the uproar, the rooster bray of Joe Grummel’s laugh resounds the room! All eyes are yanked to the corner—my girl and the everlovely Joe Grummel! Shamed. I’ve been publicly shamed.

Minutes later, when she returns to my side, I ask ... “Why?”

Those eyes on mine. “Oh, Bob, I had to. I looked over and saw him sitting there all by himself. He just looked so sad. So very very sad. And we were all having such fun. And then I really looked at his face. That wonderful sad face of his …

“Can’t you see, Bob? He’s so homely, Bob, he’s... he’s... beautiful. And he’s just as nice, Bob. Just as nice.”

In Japan, appreciation of the beauty to be found in imperfection is called “wabisabi.” It translates to Peg Dawson in English.

***

I came to New York in September 1960, having squeak-byedly graduated UConn, with a major in partying and a minor in English—and through a series of minor miracles, it’s now November 1961, and I’m newly minted administrative editor on the masthead of Harper’s, the oldest magazine of ideas,

As Fischer outlined it to me: “Your job is to let him wine and dine you and be nice to him; he has connections with the Kennedys. But ultimately, discourage him. Diplomatically.”

Here’s a speed-read of my get-togethers with the urbane, well-threaded-cologned-andbuffed Sieniawski.

First meeting: The Oak Room at The Plaza for a quick drink and then over to The Kennedy Suite at The Carlyle for a Jet Set cocktail and hors d’oeuvres soiree where everybody is parlez-ing the francais save moi.

Second meeting: Lunch with half-dozen Jet Set males arguing like Valley Girls about polo ponies at the quite exclusive Brook Club.

Third meeting: Despite the fact I’ve informed Sieniawski his article is not an immediate prospect for Harper’s, he asks me to meet him for lunch at the impossibly chi-chi Cote Basque. As we’re bidding goodbye, he hands me his card: “Come visit me, Bob. My guest. Anytime. My place... Brazilia or Sao Paulo. Both, if you choose.”

As I burst forth from Cote Basque, I see a cab easing along. Running and frantically flagging madly away, I damn near stumble over some stupid guy sprawled out on the sidewalk. But being quickfooted from basketball days, thank God, I’m able to vault the stupid bastard— just as the cab screeches to a halt! Whew. Lucky timing. Great footwork. Close-assed call.

On the way downtown, it... WHONK... hits me—like a sledgehammer.

“You jumped over that poor guy, Bob! Remember how disgusted you were when you were in that bus and saw them walking around that guy passed out in front of the public library when you first got here, Bob!? Is this what a year-and-a-half of New York has done to your sense of humanity, Bob?! Time to reclaim your soul, Bob. Time to move the hell on.”

All of which is a necessarily foreshortened way of explaining how I bit the bullet and, in a matter of three months, exchanged a possible fast-track career in publishing in the mecca of success, New York, for publishing and then advertising in Boston, and ultimately my God-intended home... Marblehead, where humanity rules.

Bob Baker is Baker Advertising and author of the memoir, “When Life Was Wow!”

SUSTAINA bLe m A rbLeHe AD

Tackling the climate crisis through storytelling

BY LOUISE BULLIS YARMOFF

“Failure of imagination,” according to Wikipedia, is a phrase indicating a circumstance wherein something undesirable, yet seemingly predictable, was not planned for.

Climate change fits that definition to a T. For decades, scientists have been warning of environmental degradation caused by our fossil fuel fed lifestyle. But we have failed to plan for damage mitigation, and we are now at a tipping point.

One of the reasons for our laggard behavior could be a literal failure of imagination; an inability to truly imagine what our own personal lives would be like after a climate disaster. That’s where films, TV shows and books can help, by telling stories that incorporate climate change, stimulating our imagination and ultimately impelling us to take action.

So far, however, fiction is reportedly not doing this very well.

According to climate and storytelling nonprofit Good Energy, most TV and film scripts are ignoring the climate crisis. “Good Energy” recently analyzed more than 37,000 TV and movie scripts produced between 2016 and 2020 and found that only 2.8% of the scripts included any climaterelated terms such as “global warming,” “sea-level rise” or “solar panels.” Even fewer (just 0.6 percent) explicitly mentioned the term “climate change.”

And many bestselling books are no different.

Authors and screenwriters face a dilemma: they want their works to address the important issues of our time, but they also want to entertain. Thankfully, the news media is expanding coverage of climate change (ex: the Boston Globe’s “Into the Red” coverage), but we also increasingly feel a need to escape from daily reality. And the last thing we want is to be preached to about a subject that stresses us out already.

The last thing we want is to be preached to about a subject that stresses us out already. So, “Good Energy” advocates for a realistic depiction of the climate crisis. Not all fiction needs to mimic disaster films like “The Day After Tomorrow.”

So, “Good Energy” advocates for a realistic depiction of the climate crisis. Not all fiction needs to mimic disaster films like “The Day After Tomorrow.” References to heat waves, new energy policies or clean energy solutions can be worked in where they make sense, while allowing the story to go where it needs to in terms of characters and plot.

Two works of fiction born right here in Marblehead do just that: Marblehead resident and National Book Award-winning author Julia Glass’s most recent novel, “Vigil Harbor,” and Sustainable Marblehead founder John Livermore’s upcoming movie, “Tipped: The Point Beyond.”

On January 26 at 7pm at the Old Town House, Sustainable Marblehead will host a book talk with Julia Glass to discuss her work.

“Vigil Harbor” is, according to Penguin Random House, part of a growing branch of literature dubbed Climate Fiction, or Cli-Fi, which deals with the effects of climate change on human society.

As Amazon describes it, the book takes place “a decade from now, in the historic town

of Vigil Harbor, where there is a rash of divorces among the yacht-club set. A marine biologist despairs at the state of the world, a spurned wife is bent on revenge, and the renowned architect Austin Kepner pursues a passion for building homes designed to withstand the escalating fury of relentless storms. Austin’s stepson, Brecht, has dropped out of college in New York and returned home after narrowly escaping one of the terrorist acts that, like hurricanes, have become increasingly common.”

Clearly fiction, but also, by Glass’s own admission, based on her home turf of Marblehead.

“Tipped: The Point Beyond” is also set in a small seaside New England town in the near future. Filming is set to take place in Marblehead. According to Livermore, the movie tells the story of three generations of a family living on the precipice of an irreversible climate tipping point and unfolds against the backdrop of world events, as the global climate is starting to spin out of control.

Livermore and his wife, Kelley, his partner on the film, aim to go beyond feeding the imagination of their film’s viewers. They want to motivate people to take meaningful action on the climate crisis.

Tipped: The Point Beyond is the first step of the “Moviement,” which, according to Livermore, will combine a visual entertainment experience with a collective action movement. The companion Empowerment website will ask each member of the audience to take three easy actions which, together, are designed to create an unstoppable wave of peoplepowered climate action.

These two works of fiction, and others like them, will hopefully help us picture why it’s necessary to take action to stop climate change now.

Louise Bullis Yarmoff is the executive director of Sustainable Marblehead.

Still have shopping to do? Here are some ideas

» WHAT IS IT? Handpainted Marblehead themed ornaments: Abbot Hall, Chandler Hovey Lighthouse and the Bell Buoy

» WHO IS IT FOR? Anyone who has a Christmas tree and loves Marblehead

» WHY DO YOU LOVE IT? Because local artist Emma Garfield (EDG ART), who grew up here, paints them—and they are STUNNING! Only available at Scribe Paper & Gift.

» COST: $40 each

—Submitted by Grace Cole

» WHAT ARE THEY? J.O.J. Frost Coasters, a set of four full-color coasters featuring different scenes from J.O.J. Frost’s iconic paintings of Marblehead

» WHAT IS IT? Serving tray, walnut and epoxy, with handles and food-safe oil finish.

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Michael Weiss Designs, 10 Tioga Way, michaelweissdesigns.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Wedding gift. Custom inscription, hand engraving

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? Distinctive. Our unique design—shape, trim, handle.

» COST: Serving tray $275; custom hand engraving, $50 to $100

—Submitted by Michael Weiss

Puddle Toys, Marblehead Mercantile, Shubie’s, Abbot Hall Gift Shop, and Sweetwater Trading Co., garrettcallahan. com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Children of any age can enjoy the book, but specifically ages 1-8. It’s also a great gift for grandparents or friends/family members that love Marblehead!

» WHAT IS IT? The Dinner Club: a booklet containing (12) $20 gift certificates, one for each month of 2023

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? The Landing Restaurant, 81 Front St., thelandingrestaurant.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? A great gift for the foodies in your life, or just buy one for yourself!

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? This guarantees a visit to The Landing at least once a month for the year. Enjoy great food and views with tremendous hospitality.

» COST: $100 (a $240 value)

—Submitted by Robert Simonelli

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? The book is a fun and playful way to explore more of Marblehead and engage more with the town! It helps children learn more about where they live or love to visit while also encouraging them to learn the alphabet using places they might see every day.

» COST: It is available online for $29.99, but the price varies at the different stores in town.

—Submitted by Garrett Callahan

» WHAT IS IT? Fluff and Tuff

Holiday Mouse dog toy

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Worldlypets, 112 Pleasant St., worldlypets.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Dogs

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? Durable, adorable, and a good squeaker

» COST: $20.99

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Marblehead Museum, 170 Washington St., marbleheadmuseum.org

» WHO ARE THEY FOR? Anyone who appreciates Marblehead history, folk art, and J.O.J. Frost.

» WHY DO YOU LIKE THEM? Frost’s artwork is so bright and lively, and each detail tells a story of Marblehead’s history.

» COST: $12

—Submitted by Lauren McCormack

» WHAT IS IT? Gift certificate for professional organizing

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Make Peace with Organizing, 19 Columbia Road, makepeacewithorganizing.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Female, working mom, seniors who are downsizing

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? Rachel and her team provide customized organizing solutions for home, business and life aimed at decluttering, enhancing productivity and creating a peaceful, confident and calm environment.

» COST: $240 for three hours of professional organizing

—Submitted by Rachel Carlino-Dangora

» WHAT IS IT? Custom-designed Marblehead icons beach towels

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Discover Marblehead, 2 Pickett St., discovermhd. com/shop/

» WHO IS IT FOR? Great gift for beach, boat and Marblehead lovers

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? We love these towels because they were designed by local artist (and friend) Stephanie Krauss Verdun, and they include some of our favorite Marblehead icons.

» COST: $31

—Submitted by Melissa Stacey

» WHAT IS IT? FORM 01945 gift card

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? FORM 01945, 14 Bessom St., FORM01945.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Anyone!

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? We like this because you can inspire someone to create healthy habits by finding ways to move their body, find community, and gain strength!

» COST: Minimum of $24

—Submitted by Kelly Lorenz

» WHAT IS IT? Holiday Sugar Plum Santa Claus figurine

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Hestia Creations, 13 Hawkes St., hestiacreations.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Santa Claus collectors and those who would like a jolly Santa at any age.

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? This festive Santa Claus figurine is decorated in traditional red Santa outfit adorned with Christmas candies, gingerbread house and Christmas pudding.

» COST: $125

» WHAT IS IT? Wooden oyster shucking kit

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Little Harbor Lobster Company, 3 Beacon St., littleharborlobster. com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Oyster lovers!

—Submitted

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? Makes oyster shucking easy!

» COST: $25

—Submitted

» WHAT IS IT? Introduction to sailing, summer 2023. Give the gift of sailing with a two-hour sail around Marblehead for two people. Do you have a friend or loved on who ever wanted to try out sailing or has simply wanted to get out on the water? In this two-hour adventure, we’ll take you out for a sail aboard Satori, our 22-foot keelboat, where we’ll provide light instruction on how to sail with great views of Marblehead from the water!

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Satori Sailing, 20 Bassett St., sailsatori.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Age target: Adults over 18, male/ female, anyone with a sense of adventure who has an interest in getting out on the water!

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? We think this is a unique gift idea—it’s an experience that will be so memorable and fun, and it’s something that the gift giver and receiver can look forward to happening all winter!

» COST: $185

—Submitted by James Ashton

» WHAT IS IT? “M is for Marblehead” children’s picture book. It is an alphabet book that uses playful rhymes and exciting illustrations to help children learn the ABCs and explore Marblehead.

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Book is available at Mud

—Submitted by Diane True

» WHAT IS IT? Marblehead Massachusetts long-sleeve T-shirt

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Marblehead Mercantile, 132 Washington St., marbleheadmercantile.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? This shirt comes in adult sizes ranging from small to 3X-large, offers a variety of different colors, and is designed with a relaxed fit and twill-taped neck and shoulders for extra durability.

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT?

This shirt features our classic compass design printed on Comfort Colors long-sleeve tees, made from 100 percent cotton, pre-washed fabric, which allows the shirts to stay true-to-size and become softer with each wash. The shirts’ color palette features soft yet rich colors, which provide a vintage look that will remain for the life of the garment.

» COST: $36

—Submitted

» WHAT IS IT? Gift card sale and discount on products

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Dayles European Skin Care & Med Spa, 261 Washington St., Daylesmedspa.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? Men, women, and children, usually ages from 10 and up

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? Gift cards are great for any occasion

» COST: $10 and up

—Submitted

» WHAT IS IT? 13x10 wood-framed Marblehead photograph

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Fred Marco Photography, 264 Washington St., fredarcophotography.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? All ‘Headers who love their town!

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? It will bring MHD lovers joy all year round.

» COST: $50

—Submitted

» WHAT IS IT?

»

»

»

» COST: $35

—Submitted

by Joanne D’Alessandro

by Bryn Samuel

by Abby Schalck

by Dayle Ciampa

by Fred Marco

by Xhazzie Kindle

COMPILED BY KRIS OLSON

We

»

»

mug is perfect for all ages and genders.

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? I drink my morning coffee every morning in one; there’s just something special about them. It’s my go-to gift idea to both Marbleheaders and visitors!

» COST: $24 —Submitted by Alicia Dermody

in style!

» COST: $185 for large w/handles (11 inches x 11 inches), $85 for small (6.5 inches by 9.5 inches)

—Submitted by Donna King

» WHAT IS IT? Larimar pear shaped pendant with a sterling silver chain.

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Boston Designer Jewelry Imports, 4 Nashua Ave., Bostondesignerjewelryimports.com

»

» COST: From $25; student tickets are just $10.

—Submitted by Anthony Silva

» WHAT IS IT? Mittens made in Marblehead from recycled sweaters. Each pair unique.

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Bus Stop, 85 Washington St., busstopclothing@ comcast.net

» WHO ARE THEY FOR? All ages love these.

»

» COST: $35

—Submitted by Kathy Bruin

» WHAT IS IT? Shard Mug

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Brass ‘N Bounty (Shiplights), 70 Front St., Shiplights. com

» WHO IS IT FOR? You name it! This Marblehead-inspired

» WHAT IS IT? Pop the Bubbly acrylic trays

» WHERE DO YOU FIND IT? Living Swell Marblehead, 34 Atlantic Ave., Suite C, livingswellmarblehead.com

» WHO IS IT FOR? 21-plus, for the entertaining crowd

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? These cool acrylic trays are useful and stylish, display

» WHO IS IT FOR? Female, mid 30s to 60 years old, wanting to dress up an outfit or dress down with a pair of jeans. A wow piece that you need to take another look.

» WHY DO YOU LIKE IT? It’s a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry. Larimar is a rare stone and can only be found one place in the world, the Dominican Republic. The sea blue color reminds you of the ocean.

» Cost: $360

—Submitted by Christine Lucas

Lori Ehrlich, former Marblehead state representative, gives farewell address

BY LORI EHRLICH

The full text of the farewell speech that former state rep. Lori Ehrlich presided over on the floor of the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Monday, Dec. 12. Ehrlich held the 8th Essex District seat for 14 years until she joined the Biden Administration as the Federal Emergency Management Administrations Region 1 administrator on Jan. 31. Marblehead resident Jenny Armini will succeed her when state lawmakers are sworn into office on Jan. 4, 2023.

Thank you Mr. Speaker, and through you to the members. It is a distinct honor and delight to be able to say that one…..last….. time.

Deep appreciation to you Mr. Speaker, for yielding the floor to me for a proper farewell after I had little time for goodbyes before joining FEMA in January. FEMA is a great federal agency, guided by a noble mission, and chock full of devoted compassionate public servants. President Biden and Administrator Deanne Criswell have made resilience in the face of climate a major strategic direction at FEMA so I am working under many of the same principles as I did during my time here in the House.

Today, I am filled with nostalgia so thank you, dear colleagues, for the warm reception today.

It truly seems like just yesterday, but nearly 15 years ago I stood with the Gentleman from Arlington and now Congresswoman Katherine Clark, to be sworn in after a special election. Katherine, one of our chamber’s great exports, will soon be the Minority Whip in the US House. Sean, once the youngest rep ever elected, will always be a friend and fellow traveler. Now that I too have made the leap to the federal government, do all you can to keep Sean here!

My parents used to remind me to stay humble and never forget where I came from. That sentiment applies to my Ukrainian ancestry as well as my birthplace of Lynn, MA. As a proud member of the Lynn delegation that advice served me well. Lynn has a formidable team here with Danny Cahill, Pete Capano, and Don Wong, joined by our Senate partner, Brendan Crighton, and for most of my tenure, Tom McGee. I name them here, all Gentlemen from Lynn.

Representing Marblehead, Swampscott, and Lynn, I’ve seen five new schools built and ground is now broken for a sixth. After decades of activism, nothing was more personally satisfying than witnessing the demolition of the site of the old coal plant in Salem, except maybe seeing Wenham Lake, drinking water for 80,000 North Shore residents finally cleaned up. For the health and education of my district and the North Shore, I could not be more proud.

I was fortunate that my time in office spanned the entirety of former Speaker Robert DeLeo’s tenure as Speaker and was honored to serve as the first Chair of the Export Development Committee for four years. MassPort oversight during a time of unprecedented growth at both the Connolly Terminal in South Boston and the International terminal at Logan Airport gave me an appreciation of our state’s place on the world stage.

I will forever be grateful that both the current and former Speakers had faith in my abilities. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your friendship from before you were Speaker. I will not forget that we first got to know each other while inauspiciously touring that dump in Worcester! Needless to say, it was uphill from there!

Your warmth and steady hand are just what this chamber needed to guide us through a global pandemic and to counter the current rash of hate and extremism. And though my session as House Chair of the Municipalities Committee was not completed, I enjoyed hearing every-single-bill filed in this busy committee before I moved on.

One thing I already miss is bill filing. The Mass General Laws are a moral document of the code of ethics that bind us together as a Commonwealth. What an indescribable honor to be able to draft a change; or several.

I’m proud to have seen

through non-compete reform, a good samaritan protection law, and several animal welfare laws including most recently the antipoaching law.

Over the course of 12 years, I led passage of several laws dealing with explosive and climate warming gas leaks in our aging infrastructure. I was joined by the gentleladies from Somerville and North Andover before and after massive gas explosions rocked the Merrimack Valley.

At a time when we both had daughters on college campuses, the gentlelady from Pittsfield and I saw through “An Act regarding sexual assault on college campuses” which now requires campus-wide surveys and makes the adjudicatory process more fair.

With so many local news outlets closing their doors, for the sake of our democracy, I passed a bill creating a press commission to study and make recommendations to avoid so-called news deserts. My district has since become an incubator of ideas as three news outlets with three different models are competing for the town of Marblehead’s readers. **This seems like a good time to give a well-deserved shout out to the hard working journalists of the State House News Service. I already miss your daily barrage of words.

I have so much respect for the legislative process which often begins with our own lived experience. What an honor it was to be invited to the Obama White House three times because of my filings. Working with our esteemed US Senators Markey and Warren on related national bills was a thrill for the greater potential of each issue.

I loved traveling the world with so many of you, and glad we narrowly avoided causing

international incidents in Israel, Turkey, South Korea, and Japan. We expanded our cultural horizons while bonding through shared experience.

Not enough is said about the hundreds of wonderful people in this building who support the work we do. As for my own talented staff over the years, Preyel and Tina were my latest superstars among an incredibly dedicated crew. That’s where the magic happens.

The indefatigable Clerk’s office with my friend and constituent Steve James at the helm, are all shockingly cheerful when midnight rolls around. Steve, I will miss the honor of nominating you next session.

The hardworking Gentleman from the North End and his staff in HWM, the Speaker’s phenomenal staff, JK and the rest of House Counsel, Court officers, DCR rangers, Chip and Michael, engrossing, and the business office, thank you, thank you and thank you! What a stellar group of people!

Also a tip of the hat to Governor Charlie Baker: It was fun being each other’s constituents from rival towns!

Senate President Karen Spilka, you are a friend and talented leader of a great chamber of friends and former colleagues. To both, your compassionate service and partnership are why good things happen in our State House.

And lastly, nobody runs for office by themselves. Our families unwittingly come along for the ride. My daughters, now 27 and 30, grew up holding mom’s signs and rallying their friends and teachers to join in. When I had a bad day, they felt it so much worse.

But through my public service, they found their voices at a young age which guided their career choices in meaningful

ways. My eldest daughter Casey is now a geneticist at Embark Veterinary in Boston and my youngest daughter, Jamie, is a 3L at BC Law spending her clinical year with the Innocence Project. With Bruce by my side, I had someone who always believed in me, even when I didn’t.

It has been the honor of my professional life to represent my constituents on Beacon Hill, an honor that I’m sure will be felt by my successor, Jenny Armini, when she is sworn in next month. As the first woman in this seat and mother of daughters, being a trailblazer and role model was important. I am relieved to see our ranks have mostly been filled back in after two very close House races, but we’re not yet close to parity. How exciting though that by next month, five of the six Constitutional officers in our state will all be women!

Massachusetts will have our first elected woman and openly gay Governor. Progress is happening here.

Public service is a calling. We grow through this work as we open ourselves up to the pain of others, and celebrate, for them, when we succeed.

At the same time, life is a journey, and sometimes a wild ride. As I have come to appreciate this past year, it is also breathtakingly precious and way too short. To be able to spend it with a loving family doing meaningful work with compassionate colleagues is a life well lived.

This is not goodbye. Maybe you’ll even see me again in these hallowed halls as I have a few more bills in mind. As for now, for your friendship and the positive change you send out into the world, from the bottom of my heart, thank you and farewell.

Mr. Speaker, for my last time, I yield the floor back to you.

COURTESY PHOTO / STATE REP. JAMIE BELSITO

Former state rep. Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead presides over a farewell speech on the floor of the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Monday, Dec. 12

Courtesy photo

Former state rep. Lori Ehrlich in the State House

Indoor track teams open season with convincing wins over rival

BY JOE MCCONNELL

The Marblehead boys and girls indoor track team could not have asked for a better start to the season after beating rival Swampscott last week at the new Track at New Balance facility in Allston. The girls won going away, 75-11, while the boys took care of their Big Blue counterparts, 53-33.

“Zachariah Pike, David Alpert, Henrik Adams, Sienna Velandry, Emma St. George and Abbie Goodwin endured a tough day, when the JV 1,000-meter run was shifted twice with no guarantees to run, but Zach, David, Henrik, Sienna, Emma and Abbie volunteered to run the 4-by-400 relay, and they all put together solid races,” said coach Nolan Raimo. “It’s frustrating the timing of the meet worked out the way it did, but the character they displayed was phenomenal. There were no complaints, and there was a ton of effort among this group.”

Raimo added, “I also appreciated Le’Daisha Williams, Grace Mortenson and Maya Mahoney for stepping back from the relay race, so their teammates could run on very short notice. It’s stuff like this that makes us a special team, and although it may seem like a little gesture, it makes a big difference in the long run.”

55-meter girls hurdles

Devin Whalen (9.48) is on a mission this season, according to Raimo, and it started in the opener with a first-place finish. Claire Davis (second, 10.21) and Ana Vina de Garnica (10.89) followed her across the finish line.

“The hurdles take a month, if not more, to get back into the flow of the event,” Raimo said. “Ana is a foreign exchange student from Spain. She is an incredible athlete, and after sprints one day she came to do the hurdles, and was ripping through them like a seasoned veteran. This hurdling group, including Elise Burchfield, are undoubtedly the strongest in the conference.”

55-meter boys hurdles

Alex Hersey led the way for Marblehead with a .03 personal best over his time last year (8.78). He was followed by Errol Apostolopoulos (second, 9.09) and Marc Grazado (fifth, 10.02).

“Marc (Grazado) posted a halfsecond personal best against Swampscott,” Raimo said. “It should be an exciting battle for best hurdler in the conference between Errol, Alex, Leo Sheriff (Beverly) and Patrick Senfuma (Peabody).”

Girls 55-meters

Ava Machado (7.86) captured first, followed by Sadie Halpern (second, 8.07) and Gabby Hendy (third, 8.16).

“Ava was the top 300 NEC freshman last year, but after a terrific spring campaign in the 100 she’s now focusing on the shorter sprints. Ava’s 7.87 places her seventh in the record books,” said Raimo. “Freshman Sadie Halpern also recorded a

top-10 time for the record books. To have three of the top seven places in the dash occupied by freshmen and sophomores is unheard of in track.

“Rachel Delisle, who ran under the alias of Rachael Albert, finished third overall in the JV dash out of 67 competitors, while beating pretty much half the conference’s varsity runners,” added the veteran Marblehead mentor.

Boys 55-meters

Harrison Curtis finished second with a fast time of 7.03, followed by Thomas Carlson (third, 7.17) and Matt Mahan (fifth, 7.33).

“Curtis has had an extraordinarily successful

early start to the season from a both training and leadership perspective,” said Raimo. “He has worked with a lot of our newer sprinters by helping them understand the event and training methods. Tommy Carlson also ran the fastest sophomore time across the conference.”

Raimo added, “Jake Bobowski and Riley Schmitt ran quality first races with times of 7.62 and 7.64, respectively.”

Girls 300 Cate Trautman decided to jump up to the 300 this indoor season, and she unsurprisingly found success, coming out on top with a time of 45.15.

Le’Daisha Williams (second,

46.63) and Morgan Zion (third, 48.18) completed the sweep.

“Cate finished second and Le’Daisha fourth overall across the entire conference,” said Raimo, “and the Marblehead JV 300-meter girls also had quite the showing, seizing first, fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 14th, 15th and 21st place out of 40 participants. Cora Gerson and Isabel Mortensen led the way with blazing fast sub-50 times of 48.22 and 49.71 in their first 300 ever.”

Swimmers begin with close win over Peabody

BY JOE MCCONNELL

Marblehead High School swim team hosted Peabody on Dec. 8 at the Lynch/vanOtterloo YMCA pool to begin a brand new season. The town’s coaching legend for decades had this year’s edition of the Magicians ready to win the close meet, 93-78.

Jack Grady, Greg Podstrelov, Cole Brooks and Logan Doody (1:47.1, state cut) came out on top against the Tanners in the 200yard medley relay. Clementine Robins, Song Waitekus, Finn Bergquist and Anna Coleman (1:59.48, state cut) was close behind in second place.

Cole Brooks (1:52.21, state cut) and Clementine Robins (2:00.24, state cut) topped the ticket in the 200-yard freestyle. Ian Chemel (2:03.45) was fourth.

Cale Nelson (2:13.34), Gary Podstrelov (2:16.65) and Bella Takata (2:21. 35, state cut) swept the 200 IM. Brinleigh Callahan (2:28. 20) did not score any points, but she still made the sectional cut.

Logan Doody (22.87, state cut) accounted for first place in the 50-yard freestyle. Anna Coleman (26.49, sectional cut) was third, and Sophia Weiner (26.62, sectional cut) fifth.

Jack Grady (210.95 points, sectional and state cuts)

ended up second in the diving competition. Caroline Crosby (138.40) and Maxine Hall (116.70) finished fourth and fifth.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Brooks (54.49, state cut), Gary Podstrelov (59.87) and Finn Bergquist (1:03.54, state cut) took home the top three spots.

Cale Nelson (54.63), Brady Leveroni (55.21) and Coleman (59.41, sectional cut) were the top three in the 100-yard freestyle. Weiner (57.93) did not score any points, but she still made the state cut.

Will Cerrutti (5:42.02), Cece Robbins (5:59.63) and Ezra Reid (6:07.48) dominated the 500yard freestyle after sweeping the

event. Callahan (5:54.42) did not factor into the scoring, but she still made the sectional cut.

Grady, Nate Rosen, Doody and Brooks (1:36.75, state cut) captured first in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Robins, Weiner, Waitekus and Coleman (1:48.65, state cut) came in second.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Doody (59.68, state cut) and Ian Chemel (1:04.53) finished first and second. Emiyah Setalsingh (1:13.76) accounted for fourth. Grady (58.44) made the state cut in this event, despite not scoring.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Bella Takata (1:12.33, state cut), Waitekus (1:13.75, state cut)

and Monica Pechhold (1:25.94) experienced similar results.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Leveroni, Luke Rosen, Cerrutti and Nate Rosen (4:06.64) teamed up to finish first. Weiner, Robbins, Bergquist and Takata (4:10.21, sectional cut) were second.

College update

Robins has committed to Williams. Coleman is heading to Colby. Diver Cait Mullins will be moving onto St. Anselm next fall to play soccer.

The Magicians had a week off after the Peabody opener to practice some more, before hosting Danvers on Dec. 22.

Coach Sue Guertin’s

Courtesy photos / Cat Piper

Marblehead High School boys indoor track junior Will Cronin, freshman Will Cruikshank and senior Isaac Gross, from left, are shown at the starting line to begin the two-mile event against Swampscott last week at the new Track at New Balance facility in Allston. Gross ended up winning the two-mile with a blazing fast time of under 10 minutes.

From left, Marblehead High School girls indoor track senior captain Claire Davis, senior captain Cate Trautman, sophomore Ava Machado and senior captain Devin Whalen are all smiles after they and their teammates defeated rival Swampscott to open up the season last week at the new Track at New Balance facility in Allston.

Marblehead High School boys indoor track senior captain Ryan Thompson is shown running and winning the 600 against Swampscott last week at the new Track at New Balance facility in Allston.

New era in boys hockey begins perfectly

The Mark Marfione era got off to a successful start after his Marblehead High School Magicians shut out host Gloucester Wednesday night, Dec. 14, 4-0.

The Marblehead boys led, 1-0 after one period, when junior captain Hogan Sedky lit the lamp from sophomore Kyle Hart.

The Magicians scored twice more in the second. Senior forward Drake Wyman notched the team’s second goal less than two minutes into the frame, with Hart picking up his second assist of the game. Hart continued to produce offensively, this time scoring a goal from Sedky to account for the second marker of the period.

Sophomore forward James Caeran was credited with the final goal of the game in the third period on the power play, with Hart collecting his third assist of the game. Captain Chris Locke was credited with an assist on the scoring play, as well.

Senior goalie Griffin Winter made 19 saves to do his part in the shutout win.

The Magicians were set to open the home season at Salem State University’s O’Keefe Center on Saturday, Dec. 17 against Masconomet.

Boys basketball beats Beverly in opener

The Marblehead High School

mHS VA rSITY ATHLeTIcS ScHeDULe

Wednesday, Dec. 21

boys basketball team defeated Beverly, 86-78 to begin a new season on Tuesday night, Dec. 13.

The Magicians rallied with a late surge to secure the opening night triumph against a club that played for the state sectional title at the TD Garden in 2020, and was a top seed (eighth overall) last year entering the state tournament in Division 1. They ended up losing to Central Catholic in a Round of 16 game.

Tyrone Countrymon was the star of the game for the Magicians, pouring in 32 points to lead all scorers. Nick Lemmond was next in line with 15 points. Ryan Commoss and Miles O’Neill netted 10 apiece.

Girls hoop team drops close one to Beverly

The Marblehead High School girls basketball team came up just short against Beverly in the first game of the season Tuesday night, 33-28.

“I give our kids a lot of credit. They fought hard at both ends of the court,” said coach Paul Moran. “We still have some things to work on, but for the first time out on the court against another team for real it was a good game.”

Senior captain Isabella Ferrante and classmate Sara Bosio paced the offensive attack for the Magicians with five points apiece. Carla McGowan was credited with two points

and three rebounds. Senior captain Stella Monaco accounted for three rebounds.

Following a game against Salem Dec. 16, Moran and his 16 varsity players will be getting ready to head to Florida for a two-game tournament next week in Orlando. They will join up with the boys team, who will also play a couple of games in the Sunshine State.

“Without (boys basketball coach) Mike Giardi’s efforts, this trip would never happen,” said Moran. “(Giardi) set it all up that will also include an academic program, so the players can keep up with their studies.”

Compiled by Joe McConnell.

TBD girls basketball vs. TBA at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, Florida 4 p.m. boys basketball vs. New Castle Red Hurricanes at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, Florida 5:30 p.m. wrestling vs. Salem at Salem High School 6:30 p.m. boys ice hockey vs. Essex Tech at Essex Sports Center Thursday, Dec. 22

TBD girls basketball vs. TBA at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, Florida 1 p.m. boys basketball vs. Tennessee at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, Florida

6:30 p.m. swimming/diving vs. Danvers at Lynch-van Otterloo YMCA Friday, Dec. 23

6:30 p.m. girls ice hockey vs. Gloucester Salem State O’Keefe Center Monday, Dec. 26

8 p.m. boys ice hockey vs. Beverly at Talbot Rink, Gloucester Tuesday, Dec. 27 TBD boys ice hockey vs. TBD at Talbot Rink, Gloucester Wednesday, Dec. 28

7:30 a.m. wrestling vs. Pentucket at Pentucket Regional High School 11 a.m. girls ice hockey vs. Burlington at Burlington Ice Palace Thursday, Dec. 29

Noon boys and girls track vs. Winthrop at Marblehead High School 6:30 p.m. girls basketball vs. Essex Tech at Essex Tech 7 p.m. boys ice hockey vs. Woburn O’Brien Ice Rink Friday, Dec. 30

9:30 a.m. indoor track: girls and boys NEC Freshman/Sophomore Meet TBA Gloucester High School 4 p.m. boys basketball vs. Danvers at Danvers High School

Boys 300 Sebastian Pantzer ran away from the field with a first-place finish and a great opening time of 39.45. He was followed by Jack Burke (third, 42.86) and Slater Johnson (fourth, 43.67).

“Sebby’s indoor season was cut short last year due to an injury, but now he came out ready to run without fear,” said Raimo. “Sebby is a bit of a track bookworm. He presents new ideas seemingly every week about how to drill or think about form, while Jack and Slater have diligently worked hard so far this season, and their efforts have paid off after running awesome races as first-time participants in this indoor event.

“Graham Tips was fired out of a cannon to run an impressive 42.44 to take fourth overall in the JV race,” added Raimo.

Girls 600

Marblehead took first and second thanks to the efforts of Grace Mortenson (1:49.12) and Sofia Grubor (2:04.18).

“The 600 is a very challenging race to pace, so seeing these two compete so successfully in their first try is very encouraging,” said coach William Herlihy.

“For perspective, Grace’s 1:49.12 would have put her in sixth place during the NEC Championship Meet last year.”

Boys 600

Ryan Thompson is a man on a mission, and he couldn’t ask for a better start,” said Herlihy. “He won the race in a very fast 1:27.87 time after battling a speedy Gloucester runner during the tri-meet. His time would have won the NEC championship last year.

“Event newcomers Xavier Grazado (1:42.81) and Sean Heenan (1:52.43) finished

third and fourth, respectively, and really stepped up when challenged while running this difficult race,” added Herlihy.

Girls 1,000

Veteran leaders Maya Mahoney (3:50.84) and Piper Morgan (3:54, a four-second personal best) topped the ticket, with Savannah Caruso (4:00.52) coming in fourth, just under two seconds behind the third-place finisher.

“This is a tough event that has higher speed demands than one might think,” said Herlihy, “but expect those times to keep dropping throughout the season with this crew.”

Boys 1,000

Gabe Bayramian ran a solid race, winning it in 2:58.55.

Nicholas Regnault (3:15.40, a two-second personal best) then ended up third, and Peter Sullivan (3:18.62, personal best)

fourth to round out the top three Marblehead runners.

Girls mile

The Marblehead girls swept the mile with solid performances from Ada Merrigan (16:15.99, first), Cat Piper (6:23.97, second) and Maren Potter (6:31.04, third). “Cat was only three seconds shy of a personal best, which is a great sign for so early on in the season,” said Herlihy.

Boys mile

“Ryan Blestowe got off to a fast start coming through with a win in 5:10.69, only five seconds short of his personal best, which is a sign of good things to come for him this season,” said Herlihy.

Jonah Potach (5:44.11) was second to pick up three more points for his teammates.

Girls two-mile Newcomer Angie Fischer

finished second (14:30.36), which is a significant drop from her two-mile split of 16:00 in the Clipper Relays this past fall. Anne Simcoe took third (14:49.82), an 80-second drop from her Clipper time. Martha Heffernan (14:56.91) accounted for fourth place, a 20-seconds improvement also from that Clipper event.

Boys two-mile Isaac Gross took first, but more impressively for him he was able to drop 12 seconds off his previous best time, while also breaking the 10-minute mark with a jaw dropping 9:57.48, while running alone the whole race.

“Only a handful of Marblehead runners have ever reached this milestone,” said Herlihy.

Will Cruikshank picked up a third-place finish (11:24.62), while shaving 45 seconds off his cross-country 2-mile trial time. Will Cronin finished fourth in 12:21.20, a 30-second improvement from his crosscountry trial time.

Girls high jump

Keira Sweetnam finished first after leaping 4-10, followed by Ava Machado (second, 4-8) and Campbell Crane (third, 4-6).

“In highly technical events such as the high jump, it takes a few weeks to get in the rhythm, and the success of these three this early is a great sign,” said Raimo. “Campbell had a 2-inch personal best jump that she established last year in her first competition.”

Boys high jump

Errol Apostolopoulos led the way for Marblehead after clearing 5-6. He was followed by Graham Tips (second, 5-4).

“Errol had an awesome final attempt at 5-8, and I look forward to seeing him jump throughout the season,” Raimo said. “Graham cleared 5-6 a few times at practice last week, but

attempting 5-6 after immediately running the 300 spelled doom.”

Girls shot put Rachael Albert finished first with a throw of 26-4, and was followed by Lillian Reddy (third, 23-10) and Hannah O’Brien (sixth, 18-11). Lillian Reddy had the farthest throw in the conference last week for a freshman in her first meet.

“This is coach Plunkett’s first season coaching indoors, and I look forward to seeing the progress of the whole throwing squad during the next three months,” said Raimo.

Boys shot put Riley Schmitt finished third with a throw of 37-6, and was followed by Alex Hersey (fourth, 35-6), Anthony Vizy (28-0) and Matthew Mahan (25-11).

“Throwers essentially live in the weightroom. They are always talking about and thinking of new ways to improve their power. I’ve learned quite a bit from them,” said Raimo.

Girls long jump

This was not a scored event—essentially it was just for practice— but Whelan, Davis and Vina de Garnica still finished fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively across the conference with jumps of 13-11, 13-10 and 13-7.

“For not having any practice or any way to practice in our fieldhouse, this was a very successful day,” said Raimo.

Boys long jump

Will Cruikshank finished eighth overall with a leap of 15-1, and Claduio Gusmao Gonzalez was 10th with a jump of 14-7.

“As mentioned previously for the girl jumpers, they had no way to really practice this event beforehand, and so to stick a few good jumps in is great preparation for later on in the indoor season and for the outdoor track season, as well,” said Raimo.

Courtesy photo / Cat Piper

Marblehead High School girls indoor track senior captain Cate Trautman is shown running and winning the 300 against Swampscott last week at the new Track at New Balance facility in Allston.

The town’s Mayflower connection

BY PAM PETERSON

Isaac Allerton came to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620 and was originally a part of the Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth. He left Plymouth due to conflicts resulting from his inclinations to speculation and personal free trade, strictly forbidden by the Mayflower Compact.

Allerton came to Marblehead with the intent of establishing a fishing enterprise, and he did. He worked for the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Matthew Cradock.

Moses Maverick of Marblehead was also part of the early fishing enterprise.

Together, Allerton and Maverick built what was to become Marblehead’s extremely prosperous fishing

industry. Their success was based on a series of smart business decisions. Maverick and Allerton owned their own ships and built warehouses and fish flakes. Some of the fishing was undoubtedly done by seasonal fishing vessels, which increased the number of fish that were caught. They worked hard, under, under extremely primitive living conditions. But by 1632, Marblehead was able to send off an entire shipload of cured fish. This was promising enough to attract more settlers, most of them fishermen from the eastern coast of England and the Channel Islands.

Allerton left Marblehead in 1635 and handed over all his

property at that time to Moses Maverick. Maverick went on to be one of Marblehead’s most important founding fathers, building the fishing trade and serving the town of Marblehead. He became a selectman when the town was established and served for many years.

Allerton’s daughter, Remember, married Moses Maverick, and it is through her that the “Bible Box” came to be in Marblehead. Family tradition states that the box came over on the Mayflower. It was an early gift to the Marblehead Historical Society.

Pam Peterson, the chair of the Marblehead Historical Commission, is a regular Marblehead Current columnist.

Rate

Rate B - Small Commercial Rate: Base Charge-$18.50/month; All Energy usage$0.1971/kilowatt-hour (kwh).

Rate C - Large Commercial Rate: Base Charge-$61.75/month; Monthly Demand Charge- $ 6.00 per kilowatt, where Demand is defined as the highest 15-minute kilowatt registration recorded in the billing period; All Energy usage- $ 0.1722/kilowatt-hour. The Monthly Minimum Charge is $151.75 per installation.

Rate G - Water Heating (Existing Customers only – No New Installations): Base Charge$8.25/month; All Energy usage-$0.1482/kilowatt-hour (kwh)

Rate S - Electric Thermal Storage Heating (Existing Customers only – No New Installations): Base Charge-$11.00/month; All Energy usage-$0.1593/kilowatt-hour (kwh).

For all rates above, the Energy usage (kilowatt-hours) is subject to the MMLD Purchase Power Adjustment Clause in effect.

Other terms apply. Complete rate terms can be found on the individual rate documents filed at the Mass DPU. The individual rate documents are also available for review by visiting the MMLD office at 80 Commercial St., by calling the MMLD office at 781-631-5600, or by visiting the MMLD website at marbleheadelectric.com.

Respectfully, Marblehead Municipal Light Department 80 Commercial Street Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945

Popularly known as a ‘Bible Box,’ these slant lid boxes were used in colonial times to store important documents and other valuables, including bibles. This box belonged to Remember Allerton, whose father Isaac Allerton came to the New World on the Mayflower. Remember Allerton married Moses Maverick of Marblehead.

BY BIANCA HEZEKIAH

“All

the Bright,” by Jason Reynolds

perfect for readers who like realistic fiction.

My Rage,”

by Sabaa Tahir

A family extending from Pakistan to California deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness.

“The Bone Spindle,” by Leslie Vedder

Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north, and Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him. Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi--until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle. Now she’s stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.

“Family of Liars,” by E. Lockhart

A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts. A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow. A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy. A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.

Carrie Sinclair tells the ghost of her son Johnny about the summer of 1987, when “the boys” arrive on Beechwood Island, setting off events that will haunt her for years to come.

“Firekeeper’s Daughter,” by Angeline Boulley

Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother. After witnessing a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths— keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?

“The Girl from the Sea,”by Molly Knox Ostertag

Fifteen-year-old Morgan can’t wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. Morgan’s biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl.Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn’t seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own.

“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” by Holly Jackson As her senior capstone project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi is determined to find the real killer in a closed, local murder case, but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.

“Heartstopper (Series),” by Alice Oseman Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player NIck Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for

Charlie, who doesn’t think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.

“I Must Betray You,” by Ruta Sepetys

In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer, but he decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country.

“The Inheritance Games (Series),” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes When a Connecticut teenager inherits vast wealth and an eccentric estate from the richest man in Texas, she must also live with his surviving family and solve a series of puzzles to discover how she earned her

inheritance.

“Loveless,” by Alice Oseman

Georgia has parents who are still in love, two sets of grandparents that are still together, and a brother who married his girlfriend, but at eighteen she has never even kissed someone (not even her lesbian best friend, Felipa) or particularly even wanted to; at the prom afterparty she is surrounded by couples making out, and she really does not know what is wrong--but in college she comes to understand herself as asexual/ aromantic, and to capture the part of her identity that has always eluded her.

Young adult staff favorites Bianca Hezekiah, Young Adult Librarian, recommends this list of recently published books for teens. Having just returned home to the North Shore after ten years in New York City, Bianca is excited to connect with a new generation of teen readers.

“Ain’t Burned All

Nonfiction and poetry can be intimidating genres to try out, but this spectacular graphic novel is a great entry point.

Across dozens of pages of artwork, three powerful sentences illustrate the unique blend of trauma felt by Black communities in 2020. A short but profound must read.

“Allies: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, and Trying Again,” by Shakirah Bourne, Dana Alison Levy

Do you tend to freeze when social situations get awkward or intense? In this collection of essays, 17 YA authors share their experiences with allyship and let readers know that it’s okay to ask for respect, it’s empowering to stand up for others, and there’s always room to grow. A range of engaging voices and perspectives makes this collection as relatable as it is insightful.

“Dreyer’s English: Good Advice for Good Writing (Adapted for Young Readers),” by Benjamin Dreyer Who knew language could be this fun?

Whether you dread writing papers or love penning new stories, there’s still a ton to learn about grammar, writing, and the way we form sentences. It’s neat to read (and think) about how technology has changed the way we communicate through writing, and the lighthearted tone in this book makes it fun and accessible.

“Enemies,” by Svetlana Chmakova

The Berrybrook Middle School books are some of my favorite graphic novels, and this new installment does not disappoint! Sibling rivalry, changing friendships, and complicated feelings all come together in a delightfully relatable story

“If You Could See The Sun,” by Ann Liang

When quiet student Alice gets so stressed out that she actually becomes invisible, she’s convinced that becoming a spy is the answer to all her problems. Set in Beijing, this is a great blend of contemporary fiction, hopeful romance, and a bit of thrilling danger. It’s always nice to read a story that takes place in a totally different cultural setting, and the magical realism element here makes this book even more special.

“Message Not Found,” by Dante Medema

When Bailey loses her best friend Vanessa to a fatal accident, she is overwhelmed by the tragedy. Suspicious of foul play and consumed by grief, Bailey uses texts and social media posts to create an AI program of Vanessa. It’s better to have some version of her best friend than have her totally gone… right? An exploration of friendship, loss, and grief, this is also a totally riveting mystery.

“See You Yesterday,” by Rachel Lynn Solomon

You only get one chance to make a first impression… Unless you’re stuck in a time loop. Barrett is determined to reinvent herself as she starts college, but does personal growth even count if you keep reliving the same day for weeks? This quirky, lighthearted romance is a nice readalike for Nicola Yoon’s Instructions for Dancing.

YA librarian’s most anticipated

These three books are at the top of my to-read list!

“Foul Lady Fortune,” by Chloe Gong

“The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen,” by Issac Blum

»

BY BRIAN FLYNN

Y Staff Spotlight

Laurie-Sue Rodrigues, Director of Association Health & Wellness Operations

Staying healthy and active during the holidays can be challenging with all the yummy treats and holiday gatherings planned around food and festivities, but there are lots of ways to stay on track with your health goals and enjoy the season. The Y’s Director of Association Health & Wellness Operations Laurie-Sue Rodrigues has been helping people stay strong, active and healthy all year round for more than 10 years.

Rodrigues oversees the Y’s Health & Wellness team of fitness instructors and personal trainers in Marblehead as well as six other Y locations across the North Shore. She is committed to sharing her expertise with innovative tools and strategies customized to fit a person’s individual health goals. Her enthusiasm is contagious and her ability to encourage everyone to find their best self through exercise, eating well and being kind to yourself is what makes her the perfect person to share some tips for getting through a holiday season filled with food and fun while keeping a clear focus on your health.

Here are 5 tips to help you stay healthy during the holiday season:

Sign up for a holiday race with family and friends. Not only will you get some physical activity, but you’ll also support your community.

» Go for a walk. Instead of napping

right after your feast, take a stroll with the family. You’ll burn some of those calories off and spend more quality time with loved ones.

» Don’t skip your regular workouts. Even if it’s only 15-30 minutes, getting your blood pumping for a little while does a world of good.

Find ways to reduce your holiday stress. Stress increases the amount of cortisol in your body, which makes you feel hungrier and promotes fat storage. Take a yoga or mindfulness class.

Make a good night’s sleep a priority. You need the energy to choose healthy foods and to be physically active throughout the holidays.

Need a more trackable plan? Try our “Find Your Fit Challenge”

We know that everyone’s fitness goals are different and we are here to support you in your health and wellness journey. Join our new challenge to Find Your Fit at the Y this holiday season and into the new year. We will give you the extra motivation you need to get or stay fit.

Simply download the Y mobile app and take the challenge today! It’s easy as 1,2,3.

Download the Y mobile app and track your progress.

Log 15 workouts between now and January 31, 2023. Any type of workout counts: fitness floor, in-person group exercise class, YMCA360 class/workout, in-studio class, run or walk outside.

Whatever works for you!

Complete the challenge and there will be a drawing for two prizes valued at

$250!

The Y has hundreds of group exercise classes, aquatic fitness, pickleball, squash and more to keep you active, engaged and connected all winter long. We also have a special group for active older adults called the Y Connectors.

From floral arrangement classes to our walking club, Connectors is a great way to meet new friends and have fun.

“The Killing Code,” by Ellie Marney

Interested in learning more about the Connector’s group and activities? Email Lauren Pohlmeyer at pohlmeyerl@ northshoreymca.org to be added to our email list.

Healthy mind & dody for you, stronger community for everyone!

Join the Y Dec. 15 - Jan. 15, and you’ll be entered to win one year of free membership, plus we’ll waive the joiner fee or if you decide to pay the joiner fee we’ll donate it to our annual campaign which supports our mission and helps us continue to make a positive impact in our community.

The Y offers meaningful membership where you can share in a mission to strengthen the community. The Y provides lifesaving swim lessons, affordable housing, childcare, camp and reduced senior membership for active older adults. Not a member? Take a tour and see all the wonderful things available at your Y. Contact Jane Rizza at rizzaj@ northshoreymca.org.

About the YMCA

The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits, strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. For more than 160 years, the YMCA of the North Shore has been the foundation of the community. It serves more than 40,000 members and program participants in 25 cities and towns across the North Shore and in Southern New Hampshire.

The Y’s Laurie-Sue Rodrigues works with a member

MARBLEHEAD CURRENT ILLUSTRATION / WILLIAM J. DOWD

A collage of the most check ed out young adult books of 2022.

Houses of worship service schedule

CATHOLIC

OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA 85 Atlantic Ave. 781-631-0086

» sosmarblehead.org

» Regular Mass Schedule

» Saturday Vigil: 4 p.m.

» Sunday: 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. Every weekday (Monday-Saturday): 9 a.m.

Advent Reconciliation: Wednesdays, 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m.

» Christmas Mass Schedule: Saturday, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve Vigil at 4 p.m. Chruch and center 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

» Sunday, Dec. 25 ~ Christmas Morning Mass at 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

First Church of Christ, Scientist

» 134 Elm St. 781-631-3868 fccsmarbleheadma.wordpress.

com

» Sunday Church Service: 10-11 a.m.

» Sunday School (open to children and young people under the age of 20): 10-11 a.m.

Wednesday Testimony Meeting: 7:30-8:30 p.m.

» Reading Room (in church building): Open just after Sunday service and before Wednesday testimony meetings

COMMUNITY CHURCH

GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH

» 17 Pleasant St. 781-631-9343 gracemarblehead.org

Discipleship Class: 9:15 a.m.

Sunday

» Worship Gatherings: 10 a.m.

Sunday

» Grace Kids (Grades K-5): 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday Prayer Gatherings: 1 p.m.

Thursday

» Men’s Bible Study: 6 a.m. Friday

CONGREGATIONAL

OLD NORTH CHURCH, THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN MARBLEHEAD 35 Washington St. 781-631-1244 onchurch.org

» Longest Night Worship, Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

» Christmas Eve services: » 5 p.m., FAMILY SERVICE This high energy service is a chance for families and all those who are young at heart to gather to celebrate the ‘reason for the season’. We’ll sing carols. We’ll hear the Christmas Story. We’ll create together a tableau of the manger and birth. We’ll have fun.

8 p.m., TRADITIONAL SERVICE: Filled with all the music and mystery we cherish, we will celebrate the birth of Christ. Familiar melodies and story will reconnect us with memories and meaning. Quiet candlelight will brighten our hearts.

11 p.m., COMMUNION SERVICE: This quieter service will culminate the holy season with song and sacrament.

» Christmas Day, Sunday, Dec. 25, 10 a.m.

New Year’s Day: Its Christmas Communion, and the church will sing the liturgy and prayers of Communion to the tunes of Christmas carols. The “relaxed and informal service” begins at 10 a.m.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ANDREW, EPISCOPAL

» 135 Lafayette St.

781-631-4951

standrewsmhd.org

Regular Sunday services (Rite II of the Episcopal liturgy): 8 a.m., spoken service; 10 a.m., musical service

» Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30 a.m.: Gospel

Reflections on Zoom

Alternate Tuesdays, 11 a.m.: “This Magic Moment” Memory Café on Zoom, a judgment-free zone for those with memory loss and their caregivers

» Second Saturday, 8:30-9:30 a.m.: Coffee Cups informal conversation

and fellowship ST. MICHAEL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

26 Pleasant St.

» 781-631-0657

» stmichaels1714.org

» Sundays: Holy Eucharist, Rite II, 10 a.m.; in-person and online on church’s YouTube Channel

Wednesdays: Morning Prayer, 9:30 a.m. on Facebook Live

» First Sundays: Choral Evensong (September through May), 5 p.m.; in-person and online on church’s YouTube Channel

Christmas Worship Schedule: Saturday, Dec. 24: 5 p.m., Christmas Pageant and Holy Eucharist, Rite II

» 9:45 p.m., Choral and Organ Music

» 10 p.m., Festive Eucharist, Rite II Sunday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day

10 a.m., Holy Eucharist, Rite II Sunday, Jan. 1: Christmas

» 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite II

JEWISH

TEMPLE EMANU-EL, REFORM CONGREGATION

» 393 Atlantic Ave. 781-631-9300 emanu-el.org

Shabbat: Friday, 6 p.m., in person and on Facebook Live

» Torah Study: First and second Saturdays of month, 10 a.m. on Zoom

Religious School: 9 a.m. Sundays

Senior Connection: 11 a.m. Tuesdays

» Mah Jongg: 7 p.m. Tuesdays

TEMPLE SINAI, CONTEMPORARY CONSERVATIVE SYNAGOGUE

1 Community Road 781-631-2762

» templesinaiweb.org

» Kabbalat Shabbat: Fridays, 6 p.m.

» Shabbat Service: Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

Minyans: Saturday, 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Monday, 7:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 7:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. (at Congregation Shirat Hayam, Swampscott)

» Tuesday, Dec. 20: 1:30 p.m., Sisterhood Book Club Thursday, Dec. 22: 11:30 a.m., Lunch & Learn

» Friday, Dec. 23: 6 p.m., Freilach Friday service with dinner following

» Saturday, Dec. 24: 5 p.m., Havdalah, Chinese food and a movie

LUTHERAN

CLIFTON LUTHERAN CHURCH

» 150 Humphrey St.

» 781-631-4379

» cliftonlutheran.org

Weekly worship service: Sunday, 10 a.m., live stream on Zoom Sunday School: Sundays, 9 a.m.

» Coffee Hour: Sunday, 11 a.m.

» Choir Chat: Tuesday, 4:45 p.m. over Zoom

Midweek Fellowship: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Bible Study: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

» Christmas Eve Service 7:30 p.m.

» Christmas Day Service 10 a.m.

METHODIST

ST. STEPHEN’S UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 67 Cornell Road 781-631-2756

» St. Stephen’s is open for Sunday morning worship. Every Sunday, they have traditional worship at 10:30 a.m. with Sunday School for all ages at 9:15 a.m. On first Sundays, the congregation has a community breakfast at 8:30 a.m., a family worship service at 9:15 a.m. and traditional worship at 10:30 a.m.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF MARBLEHEAD

» 28 Mugford St. 781-631-1215

uumarblehead.org

Sunday service is at 10:30 a.m. and on Zoom: bit.ly/3EIRKiF All persons attending a regular Sunday Service in person are asked to wear masks in the sanctuary.

Sunday, Dec. 25 9 a.m., Sunday Semniar 10:30 a.m. Sunday Services » 11:30 a.m., After Service Social

’TIS THe Se ASON

Super-sized Hanukkah installation sparks kids’ creativity

BY LEIGH BLANDER

Braving dark skies and below-freezing temperatures, dozens of local kids created bright designs on a super-sized interactive light display, as part of Hanukkah celebrations at Temple Emanu-El on Atlantic Avenue.

“We’re building a menorah,” said Natasha Male, 10, of Swampscott, who was working with her big sister, Nyomi, 11. “It’s really fun.”

The installation is called Brighter United and looks like a giant Lite Brite game. It’s a traveling art exhibit with Boston-based JArts, designed by Needham artist Tova Speter. Brighter United is visiting more than a dozen locations across the state this month, including the Museum of Fine Arts. Temple Emanu-El was its only stop on the North Shore.

Each peg in the installation features a handdrawn image, including a sun symbolizing warmth and empathy, a lightning bolt representing focus, a star for guidance and a candle for kindling a flame in others.

“Each design represents a way we can ignite change in the world,” explained Peter Samiljan with JArts, who was running the event at Temple Emanu-El.

mHTV PrOGr A m ScHeDULe

MONDAY, DEC. 26

8 a.m., Democracy Now! 9 a.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review

9:30 a.m., Up For Discussion

10 a.m., Two Grannies on the Road

10:30 a.m., A Culinary Journey 11 a.m., MHTV Community Partners Noon ‘Headliner, The Year in Review

12:30 p.m., Delicious and Nutritious 1 p.m., Eat Well Be Happy

1:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 3 p.m., Marblehead Museum Presents “Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution” by Eric Jay Dolin

4:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 5 p.m., Get Healthy with Holly

5:30 p.m., Valda’s Seeds of Life 6 p.m., IMAGINATION

Artist Profiles

6:30 p.m., ‘Headliner –The Year in Review

7 p.m., Up for Discussion

7:30 p.m., 2022 Marblehead Christmas Walk

9 p.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review

9:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners

TUESDAY, DEC. 27 8 a.m., Democracy Now! 9 a.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review

9:30 a.m., Public Safety Roundtable

10 a.m., Knowledgeable Aging 10:30 a.m., Ooma’s Cookie Jar 11 a.m., MHTV Community Partners Noon ‘Headliner, The Year in Review 12:30 p.m., IMAGINATION Artist Profile

1 p.m., Off the Shelf 1:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 3 p.m., 2022 Marblehead Christmas Walk 4:30 p.m., Community Bulletin Board

5 p.m., Two Grannies on the Road

5:30 p.m., Let’s Visit 6 p.m., Public Safety Round Table 6:30 p.m., ‘Headliner –The Year in Review

7 p.m., Valda’s Seeds of Life 7:30 p.m., MHS Sports on MHTV, Boys Hockey vs. Masconomet 9 p.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review 9:30 p.m., You Gotta Love Marblehead! 10 p.m., MHTV Community Partners

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 28 8 a.m., Democracy Now! 9 a.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review 9:30 a.m., You Gotta Love Marblehead! 10 a.m., Yoga For Health & Joy 10:30 a.m., Valda’s Seeds of Life 11 a.m., MHTV Community Partners Noon ‘Headliner, The Year in Review 12:30 p.m., You Gotta Love Marblehead! 1 p.m., Groovy Glass 1:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 3 p.m., Marblehead Council on Aging Speaker Series “How Do You Get Your News?” 4:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 5 p.m., What’s Cookin’ 5:30 p.m., Eat Well Be Happy 6 p.m., Battleship Cove: Inside the History 6:30 p.m., ‘Headliner –The Year in Review 7 p.m., IMAGINATION Artist Profile 7:30 p.m., MHS Sports on MHTV Girls Hockey vs. Beverly 9 p.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review

9:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners

THURSDAY, DEC. 29 8 a.m., Democracy Now! 9 a.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review 9:30 a.m., Mass COA Connect

“This is a fun opportunity,” said Rabbi Alison Peiser, Temple Emanu-El’s educator. “The whole idea is that with Hanukkah and the winter solstice approaching, we want to bring more light into the world.”

Jordan London, 11, was building his initials on the display. “My favorite pegs are the blue ones. I like the lightning bolts because they resemble the sky.”

Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, runs Dec. 18-25. The public is invited to Temple Sinai, 1 Community Rd., for Chinese food and a movie on Saturday, Dec. 24, at 5:00 p.m. People are encouraged to bring their own menorah. To reserve a spot, call 781-631-2762.

10 a.m., Let’s Visit 10:30 a.m., Eat Well Be Happy

11 a.m., MHTV Community Partners Noon ‘Headliner, The Year in Review

12:30 p.m., Marblehead Council on Aging Speaker Series, “How Do You Get Your News?”

1 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 1:30 p.m., Community Bulletin Board

3 p.m., Marblehead Museum Presents “157 Washington Street: A History” with Lauren McCormack

4 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 4:30 p.m., Community Bulletin Board 5 p.m., Knowledgeable Aging 5:30 p.m., Mass COA Connect 6 p.m., Up For Discussion 6:30 p.m., ‘Headliner –The Year in Review 7 p.m., You Gotta Love Marblehead! 7:30 p.m., Marblehead Museum Presents “Mapping Marblehead: The 19th Century” with Pam Peterson 9 p.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review 9:30 p.m., 2022 Marblehead Christmas Walk

FRIDAY, DEC. 30 8a.m., Democracy Now! 9 a.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review 9:30 a.m., Tai Chi Through the Seasons 10 a.m., Marblehead COA Bulletin Board 10:30 a.m., Delicious & Nutritious 11 a.m., MHTV Community Partners Noon ‘Headliner, The Year in Review 12:30 p.m., What’s Cookin’

1 p.m., SKYDIVE 1:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 3 p.m., Marblehead Museum Presents “Mapping Marblehead: The 19th Century” with Pam

Peterson 4:30 p.m., Community Bulletin Board 5 p.m., Off the Shelf 5:30 p.m., New England Authors 6 p.m., The Garage with Steve Butler 6:30 p.m., ‘Headliner –The Year in Review 7 p.m., Public Safety Round Table 7:30 p.m., Marblehead Council on Aging Speaker Series “How Do You Get Your News?”

9 p.m., ‘Headliner – The Year in Review 9:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners

SATURDAY, DEC. 31 8 a.m., Community Bulletin Board 8:30 a.m., Saturday Morning Cartooning 9 a.m., Mike Paige Doodle Club

9:30 a.m., What’s Cookin’ 10 a.m., Vlada’s Seeds of Life 10:30 a.m., Battleship

Cove: Inside the History 11 a.m., The Garage with Steve Butler 11:30 a.m., Smart

Boating Noon ‘Headliner, News of Marblehead 12:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners

1 p.m., MHS Sports on MHTV Replay Boys Hockey vs. Masconomet 2:30 p.m., MHS Sports on MHTV Replay Girls Hockey vs. Beverly 5 p.m., In the Toybox 5:30 p.m., jMHTV Community Partners

6 p.m., You Gotta Love Marblehead! 6:30 p.m., Headliner –News of Marblehead 7 p.m., Classic Movies

“The Best of Betty Boop” 8 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 9 p.m., ‘Headliner – News of Marblehead 9:30 p.m., 502 Sessions 10:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners 11 p.m., Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz 11:30 p.m., MHTV Community Partners

Jordan London interacts with the Brighter United installation.

MARBLEHEAD CURRENT PHOTOS / LEIGH BLANDER Natasha (left) and Nyomi Male of Swampscott create designs on the Brighter Ignited installation.

Plentiful offerings at the Jacobi Community Center

All programs and events are held in the Judy and Gene Jacobi Community Center unless otherwise stated in the individual briefs below.

Questions should be directed to 781631-6225 or email: councilonaging@ marblehead.org

‘Enjoy coffee with a cop’

Enjoy coffee with a cop Tuesday mornings from 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

“While it is Chief Dennis King’s priority to join, be assured someone from the Marblehead Police Department,” writes COA staff, “there will be a cop here to discuss community concerns or just life in Marblehead.”

Blood pressure clinic

Drop-in blood pressure clinic on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to noon.

Muscle conditioning

Senior muscle conditioning with Kim on Mondays and Fridays. Cost: $3

Zumba classes

Zumba gold classes are held on Wednesdays at noon. “A lower intensity, Latin and world-music inspired dance fitness class for all abilities.”

Parkinson’s fitness

Parkinson’s fitness class is free on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. “Specifically developed for folks with Parkinson’s Disease, but appropriate and beneficial for all. Class combines focus on strength, mobility and balance. This program is paid for by the generosity of the Friends of the Council on Aging.”

Indoor curling

Indoor curling began Monday, Nov. 14. The activity takes place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 2:45 p.m. “Come and enjoy an indoor sport with a mixed group of fun, friendly men and women. Experience is not necessary. Instructions on how to play the game and learn the rules will be available at every session.” Yearly fee: $15. Contact pbibbo@aol.com with questions.

Line dancing

Kate Hoffman teaches line dancing on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first hour is focused on beginners; however, all are welcome and encouraged to participate. Cost: $5

Chair yoga

Gail Perry Borden teaches chair yoga on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. Cost: $3.

Strength and stretch session

The Council on Aging offers a strength and stretch session on Mondays at 11:3o a.m. and Thursdays at 11 a.m. Cost: $3.

Weight training class

A weight training class is held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8:45 a.m. Cost: $3

Need a lift?

The COA offers transportation services to both in-town and outof-town medical appointments and in-town errands such as the

hairdresser, bank, to vote or to the COA for programs and/or lunch. Weekly grocery shopping trips to Crosby’s & Market Basket and bimonthly trips to the North Shore Mall are also available.

Transportation runs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. To schedule a ride, call us at 781-631-6225

Yoga class

A yoga class is held on Mondays at 9 a.m., Wednesdays at 8:3o a.m. and Thursdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m.

Quilting class

Learn how to quilt class on Thursdays at 10 a.m. Cost: $5 per class.

Cribbage

Cribbage is held on Tuesdays. Doors close at 9: 30 a.m.

Get a senior Charlie Card

People who are 65 years or older are eligible for reduced MBTA fares with a senior Charlie Card. These cards are valid for 8 years.

Call Nadine Lepick, 781.631-6225, Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to ask questions or make an appointment to process an application. Cards can also be reloaded with cash on any bus.

The COA book club

The COA book club convenes on Wednesday, Dec. 28 from 2 - 3 p.m. Meredith Reardon is the book club’s volunteer coordinator and will be keeping everyone updated with schedule changes.

Lunching at the COA

Lunch is offered on Tuesdays at noon for $3. This program is prepared at the Council on Aging in the Judy and Gene Jacobi Community Center’s commercial kitchen. The generosity of the Friends of the Council on Aging offsets the cost of lunch.

Grab-n-Go lunches

Grab-n-Go lunches are offered on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the Council on Aging. This program is offered through “AgeSpan,” formerly known as Elder Services of Merrimack Valley & North Shore. Pick up time is from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Reservations for both programs must be made the Thursday before by calling 781-631-6225.

Movie days

The Council on Aging will screen on Friday, Dec. 30, the COA will screen “When Harry Met Sally,” a romantic comedy starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Movie starts at 10 a.m., with coffee and donuts served.

At 1 p.m., the COA will screen “See How They Run,” a mystery-crime movie starring Sam Rockwell and Adrien Brody. Popcorn and drinks will be served. RSVP by Tuesday, Dec. 27 by calling 781-631-6225.

Home safety audits

The town offers home safety audits to local residents. A representative from both the Marblehead Fire Department and the Council on Aging will schedule a time to meet

seniors at their homes and review/ discuss home safety options with you. Also, free fire alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and lock boxes can be installed as necessary. To learn more, contact Sharon Doliber, 781-631-6225.

Senior work-off program

The town of Marblehead is accepting applications for the senior work-off program from Jan. 6-31, 2023. The purpose of this program is to allow participating senior taxpayers to volunteer their services to the town in exchange for a reduction of up to $750 on their fiscal year 2024 property tax bills. Marblehead services will be enhanced by utilizing the skills of the town senior citizens.

ELIGIBILITY:

Must be 60 years or older Must be owner (or spouse of owner) and occupy the Marblehead residence for which the abatement will apply

Income must not exceed $51,528 for a senior household of one person or $69,824 for a senior household of two; only one volunteer abatement per household per year

There will be 30 openings for 2023. Applicants must complete conflictof-interest training and pass a CORI check. The town department head, the Council on Aging director and the applicant must agree on placement.

Placement is also based on qualification, availability, location and physical limitation. If there are more applicants than openings, acceptance will be based on both financial need and the suitability of an available placement. 2023 volunteer hours must be completed by Oct. 13, 2023.

The rate will be credited at the $15 per hour state minimum wage. The town will issue a W2 form for federal income tax purposes. Applications will be available starting in December on the Council on Aging website at marblehead.org and at the Council on Aging. Please address questions to Lisa Hooper, the executive director of the Council on Aging, at 781-631-6225.

Music program

The Council on Aging will hold a music program on Wednesday, Dec. 21, from 11 a.m. to noon. “We’ll have some singalongs, including ‘Golden Oldies,’ ‘60s, show tunes, hymns, folk tunes, ‘sea shanties’ just about anything,” organizers write. “If you play a musical instrument, bring that along (triangles and kazoos count).”

Need help with heating costs?

The Home Energy Assistance Program at North Shore Community Action Programs, Inc. helps incomeeligible households pay their winter heating bills even if the cost of heat is included in their rent. If their gross household income falls within certain limits, they may qualify for payment towards their winter heating bills. In addition, eligible National Grid customers may qualify for a discount of up to 32 percent off their electric and gas bills, too. For more information about Home Energy Assistance, call 978-531-8810 or email fuelassistance@nscap.org.

’Twas 12 weeks before ‘D’ week

BY JOAN CUTLER

In 1973, Mrs. Dodge, herself an elder, began the thoughtful gesture of surprising Marblehead residents 80 years and older during the winter holidays. While the gifts have changed and evolved since that time, her ideals and intention have not.

The tradition continues each December when our board of directors, members of many local businesses and organizations, families, and friends, gather to prepare and distribute gifts of cookies and/or clementines to those in our community 80 years of age and older, as well as everyone living in senior housing. Residents of the Lafayette and Devereux House are gifted with soft fleece blankets. We reach out to several other North Shore extended-care facilities in search of former Marblehead residents. They, too, receive blankets ready for naps and laps.

Gift-giving is not based on financial need. It is meant to bring a bit of joy while reminding them that they are remembered and appreciated.

“‘Twas 12 weeks before ‘D’ week”

‘Twas twelve weeks before ‘D’ week, from all parts of town, All the board members gathered, to start counting down.

Though lean in their numbers, each wore many hats. Soon the phones were exploding, with questions and chats.

Often sleep did elude, as they lay in their beds. While so many great numbers, all danced through their heads.

“How much should we order?”, more queries by text, “Is our meeting this Tuesday, or week after next?”

Now the quest for new elders, in earnest began. All those newly-turned-eighty, revised last year’s plan.

“We need cookies and boxes, cards and six tables. Order envelopes, folders, and don’t forget labels!”

“Count the singles, the couples, all living at home. And we must not forget, those who can’t live alone”.

“Have we counted the Sampsons, Why can’t they be found?’’ “Oh, their daughter said ‘skip them’, they’re Florida bound’’.

’Twas six weeks before ‘D’ week, all cards are addressed, When the board members gather, they seem a bit stressed.

When it looks like all’s ready, all’s ready and set, Then swirls in surprises, on that you can bet!

“Best we double check numbers, both old and new lists, Let’s all be quite certain, that no one gets missed’’.

Now just weeks left ‘til ‘D’ week, still working the phones. We’ve not enough people, for gifting to homes.

Both the kids and the grownups, have questions or two “If there’s nobody home, well then what should we do?”

Yes, the ‘D’ is deliver, ten hundred plus, then —-, When we think it’s completed, start planning again.

’Tis the first day of ‘D’ week, excitement abounds, But there’s still much to finish, and lots to go ‘round.

Next day Garden Club ladies, wrap quickly and chat Nearly two thousand cookies, are finished - like that!

Bags of clementines come in, all fifty-times-three, Just delivered by staff from, our MHTV.

As the gifts, cards, and folders, now join in neat rows Each are volunteer ready, just one day to go.

Look, the room’s filled with boxes, we’ll need sev’ral trips, to reach all of our Elders, bring smiles to their lips.

The rest of the “D” week, folks come in and out. When the final day’s finished, “Hallelujah’s’’ heard shout.

For one week, like no other, not asking for perks, It’s those volunteers, cherished, who make it all work.

’Twas two weeks after “D” week, the board gathers ‘round, No spread sheets, no phone calls, just thankfulness found.

Oh, we did not forget those, in places of care, For one hundred-plus, blankets, have found their way there.

To the generous donors, in gratefulness bow. And our volunteers, many, you’re part of us now.

‘Til the Edith Dodge Gifting, arrives back next year, We wish joy to our Elders. They’re why we are here.

Swampscott

Nicholas A. Arena Robert J. Maietta 22 Beach Ave. Nov. 30 $670,000

Christine and Michael Brown Jared J. Bartok and Rebecca C. Hayes 22 Lexington Circle Nov. 30 $1,067,500

Roxana and Stephen Perdue 30 Berkshire St. Dec. 2 $725,000

Huub Valkenburg

David and Kimberly Emmerich James and Joseph Burke 32 Littles Point Road Nov. 30 $2,800,000 Margaret Patemeck and Winshaw 43 NT James M. and Wendy W. Cohen 43 Winshaw Road Nov. 30 $1,100,000 James V. Carducci and Merlen D. Schaepe Adrienne L. Joselow 62 Farragut Road Nov. 28 $899,000

Diane and Marc Komitsky Susan Murcott and Susan Murcott NT 149 Atlantic Ave. Nov. 30 $2,865

The Edith Dodge Fund is a non-profit organization supported solely by donations and volunteers.

Donations may be made to:

Edith Dodge Fund c/o National Grand Bank 91 Pleasant St. Marblehead, Ma. 01045

Thursday, Dec. 8

10:26 a.m. Officer met in the police station lobby with mother and daughter. Daughter explained that she had met a person on the app Tinder, whom she had since learned was fake, for a “sugar baby relationship.”

Daughter explained that she had never met the person and felt uncomfortable about the arrangement, so she severed ties. The night before, she had received a message from a man, threatening her, and had also received several deposits, which were on hold, in her checking account and had a box of checks show up at her home. Officer told the daughter that she should notify her banks immediately and contact her credit agencies. She was also advised to block all the accounts associated with the scammers and to contact police immediately if anything else happened.

12:39 p.m. Kids on bikes reported on Bessom Street.

1:12 p.m. Caller on Baldwin Road reported “unauthorized pruning.”

4:54 p.m. Road hazard reported on Lafayette Street.

7 p.m. Noise complaint made on Farrell Court.

8:04 p.m. A 47-year-old Marblehead resident was arrested and charged with a second offense of driving under the influence of alcohol, negligent driving and child endangerment while driving under the influence after officers investigated a report of an erratic driver on Pleasant and Humphrey streets.

Friday, Dec. 9

9:29 a.m. Officer spoke with a woman regarding an issue she had at a local pharmacy. Woman said she had gone to pick up two prescription medications, which she paid for, but had received only one. She had returned to the pharmacy to try to get the missing one filled, but the pharmacist refused, claiming the woman had already received both of her prescriptions.

Woman did not like that the pharmacist suggested the customer may have lost the

prescription and also insinuated that people “play games” with prescription drugs, obtaining more than they need either to use or sell.

12:51 p.m. Services rendered after neighbor complaint on Farrell Court.

2:01 p.m. A diamond ring that had been missing for three days was reported on Beacon Street.

3:30 p.m. Investigated report of an open door on Prospect Street.

7:30 p.m. Officer went to Broughton Road to investigate the report of a neighbor complaint. Man and woman said that, upon returning home from shopping, they had been confronted by a female neighbor who threatened to break the woman’s legs if she did not stop harassing her. They said their neighbor accused the couple of being child molesters and demanded they stay away from her child. The woman said she was afraid that the neighbor would harm her or the man. Officer wrote in his report that the woman’s fear of her neighbor appeared to be genuine. Woman said she has been subject to constant harassment by her neighbor but had been unsuccessful in a previous attempt to obtain a harassment prevention order. Officer advised her to contact the Housing Authority again and continue to document incidents while trying to avoid the neighbor. Meanwhile, the neighbor was at the police station talking to another officer about what she characterized as “another argument” with the couple. She said their issues go back over a year. Neighbor said she planned to go to court on Monday to apply for a harassment prevention order against them.

Saturday, Dec. 10 12:04 a.m. Assisted with a vehicle that had been rear-ended on Pleasant Street.

12:08 a.m. Investigated report of outside faucet that had been turned on, on Arrowhead Road. The running faucet could not be located.

7:09 a.m. Assisted with investigation of an out-of-town report of someone shooting from a boat.

11:17 a.m. Officer responded to a report that a vehicle had struck a pole on Beacon Street. Officer arrived to find a Hyundai Santa Fe parked off the side of the road in a gravel area near the entrance to the Steer Swamp conservation land. The vehicle had major front-end damage and was leaking antifreeze fluid, and the driver was still sitting in the driver’s seat. Officer spoke to the driver, but he could not explain the circumstances of the accident. As the driver was given medical assistance, a witness came forward who had seen the vehicle being driven in the gravel area and then straight into the pole. Officer observed nothing in the road to indicate what might have caused the accident. Officer consulted with a paramedic, who agreed that it did not appear that the driver was impaired by alcohol. Officer planned to file an immediate threat license suspension request.

5:23 p.m. Wallet found on Central Street and Atlantic Avenue.

11:35 p.m. Investigated report of assault on Pleasant Street.

Sunday, Dec. 11

7:13 a.m. Officer was dispatched to Broughton Road to speak with a woman who had received disturbing phone calls through the app TextNow. Woman said that she believed she recognized the voice on the other end as an estranged former friend of her family who had taken out a restraining order against her sister. Woman said she had previously received text messages through the app purportedly from a friend of hers, but from a number that she knew did not belong to her friend. Officer advised her on the process to obtain a harassment prevention order, to block the number from which the calls had originated and to let calls from unknown numbers go to voicemail. Back at the station, the officer did further investigation of the

number from which the calls had originated and confirmed that it was likely a spoofed number.

10:09 a.m. Investigated report of lamp post down on Riverside Drive.

1:49 p.m. Investigated report of improper construction on Brook Road.

3:14 p.m. Investigated report of vandalism at Chandler Hovey Park. Woman who had parked her car to take a walk said she returned to find the rear windshield of her vehicle shattered. Officer found nothing inside or outside the vehicle to indicate how the window had been broken, though it appeared to have been broken from the outside, as the glass had fallen into the car. Woman said she did not know who would have smashed the window, and it did not appear that anyone had entered the vehicle, as the woman’s valuables were undisturbed.

Monday, Dec. 12

8:19 a.m. Crossing lights not working reported on Gerry and Pleasant streets.

11:46 a.m. Investigated report of disturbance on Village Street.

12:40 p.m. Investigated “possible issue” on West Shore Drive.

1:51 p.m. Report taken after general complaint on Prospect Street.

1:56 p.m. Investigated report of possible school fight on Pleasant and Gerry streets.

9:02 p.m. Report filed after officer investigated 911 call with open line on Green Street.

Tuesday, Dec. 13

6:46 a.m. Two officers went to investigate a road rage incident on Smith and Pleasant streets.

The caller, who was driving a Ford Transit van, said he was continuing to follow the other vehicle, a GMC truck, was instructed to stop. Officer spoke with him on Atlantic Avenue.

The truck driver stated that he was driving inbound on Lafayette Street in the area of Maple Street when a white van tried to pass him on his right. Man said there was only one lane,

League of Women Voters Observer Reports

Board: Water and Sewer Commission

Date: Dec. 6 Staff present: Amy McHugh, Superintendent and Dianne Rodgers, Office Manager

Commissioners present: Chairman, F. Carlton Siegel, Members: Thomas Carroll and Barton Hyte.

Superintendent’s water report, Contract 174, Water System Improvements, involves cleaning and lining a water pipe on Humphrey Street. The pipe is 6,599 feet long. It is a replacement of the water main on Calthrope Road and Crown Way. The pipe was installed under the street in 1899. The Cleaning and Lining projects involve scraping and lining the pipe interior. The final payment of $101,741 was made to N. Granse and Sons, Inc. This project was funded by a 10 year zero interest loan from the Mass Water Resource Authority’s Community support Local Water System Assistance Program.

Superintendent’s water report: Pleasant, Village and Vine streets water main and intersection improvement project. The intersection is Village Street, Pleasant Street and Vine Street. It is a Mass DOT (Massachusetts Department of Transportation road reconstruction project and is fully funded by the MassDot TIP (Transportation Improvement Program). The Water and Sewer Commission added Water main replacement work to this project. The water main replacement work is funded from the Town of Marblehead’s Water Construction Articles. MassDOT has certified that work valued at $550,207 of water main work was done. MassDOT has also requested that

$292,855, estimate #3, be paid. The piping part of this project included adding more water shut offs. The group discussed the traffic flow in the intersection. It seems to have improved.

Superintendent’s sewer report, Contract 183, Green Street Pump Station Rehabilitation, has been signed.

Superintendent’s sewer report, Contract 184, Pump Station Service Replacement. This contract consists of Traffic Boxes to house electrical meters and automatic transfer switches at various stations. Five bids were submitted ranging from $182,281 to $277,000. Haley Ward, a consulting firm, has said the lowest bidder, Dagle Electric Construction, has the resources and qualifications needed. The Notice of Award was approved.

Administrative update. The retroactive pay due union employees per the Union Contract 2021-2022 was reviewed.

Four new vehicles have been ordered under the state contract. Prices have increased from original quotes obtained last January. We will probably get four new vehicles. Two vehicles for water and two vehicles for sewer. One F150 Ford Lightning (Electric) is part of this order.

MWRA Report: Our share of MWRA (Massachusetts Water Rescource Authority) water has increased compared to last year. Due to COVID, Boston used less water so our percentage of the whole went up in 2019 and percentages have not followed historic trends since. MWRA pipes our water from the Quabbin

Reservoir to Marblehead. Marblehead has over 100 miles of pipe in town. Marblehead’s Lead and Copper Testing program was increased from 15 homes to 20 homes. All results were well below allowable limits set by the Mass Department of Environmental Protection.

SESD, South Essex Sewerage District, Report: Our sewage is processed by SESD in Salem. SESD is next to the power plant in Salem. A project for rehabilitation of concrete in some areas exposed directly to wastewater was reviewed.

Request for Abatement, 44 Washington Street. There was a water leak due to frozen pipes at 44 Washington Street After investigation it was agreed that none of the water went into the sewer system. Normally, we pay for water and sewage treatment at the same time. When there is a broken water pipe and it can be proven that all the water went directly into the ground, a homeowner can request an abatement on the sewer charge. The water must be paid since it passed through the meter and was consumed. The board approved an abatement to the homeowner for the $17,650 sewer charge. But, the home owner will have to pay the $13,696 water bill. (Next time I go away overnight, especially during the winter, I will turn off the water!)

The Marblehead Current is pleased to supplement its coverage of public meetings with Observer Reports provided by volunteers from the Marblehead League of Women Voters. To learn more about the League and its activities, see my.lwv.org/ massachusetts/marblehead.

ObITUA

and he accelerated slightly to block the van from passing and to prevent a crash. Truck driver stated that the van then veered left sharply and tried to pass him on the left, crossing over the yellow center line. Again, the truck driver accelerated. At the intersection of Lafayette, Pleasant and Humphrey streets, the truck driver stated that he saw the van driver recording his truck with his phone. Truck driver stated he had gotten out of his truck and asked, “What are you doing?” Truck driver stated that the van driver yelled, “You’re a firefighter!” Truck driver stated that he responded, “You’re an a--hole!” and then got back into his truck and drove to the police station to file a report. Meanwhile, the van driver told another officer that he had been traveling inbound on Pleasant Street in the right lane. After passing through the lights at Smith Street, the driver of a black pickup truck began honking at him and sped up on his left, swerving in front of him and forcing him into the curb and eventually to a stop. Van driver said the truck driver had exited his truck and approached the driver’s side window of his van and began yelling and swearing at him. The man had then gotten back into his truck and left.

8:21 a.m. Investigated report of crash on Brook and Glendale roads.

9:27 a.m. Vehicle towed after crash on Lafayette Street and Everett Paine Boulevard.

9:47 a.m. An erratic driver reported on Humphrey Street and Seaview Avenue could not be located.

11 a.m. Assisted resident on Crowninshield Road.

4:12 p.m. Officer was dispatched to the Abbot Library on Pleasant Street to take possession of an “expensive looking” camera located on the bench out front. Officer retrieved the antique Polaroid camera and brought it back to the station.

8:59 p.m. Services rendered after disturbance on Pleasant Street.

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Deborah Welsh Coulson

Deborah Welsh Coulson, born Dec. 12, 1936, in Boston, daughter of Doris H. and Willard C. Welsh of Marblehead, died Dec. 9, 2022, in the compassionate care of Kaplan Family Hospice House.

Deb/Debbie is survived by her three children and their spouses, Eric and Betty James, Kurt and Sabin James, and Lisa and Steve Wolf; her sister, Cathy Welsh and wife Linda Serafini; her brother, Willard H. Welsh; two nieces, a nephew, eight grandchildren, two grand-nieces and a grandnephew, and three great-grandchildren.

Debbie graduated from the University of Kansas and remained a loyal “Rock Chalk, Jayhawk” fan, though her roots and most of her life were spent in Marblehead. She was active in social services while raising her young family in Baltimore.

She was predeceased by her first husband and father of her children, William James, and predeceased by her soulmate, traveling partner and second husband, Charles Coulson.

A lifelong activist, explorer and free-spirit, Debbie was a beloved member of Marblehead UU church, and cherished for her storytelling, her earnest concern for others, and her dauntless search for the next adventure.

She and Charlie traveled across the U.S. in their treasured camper and around Europe, Russia, India and Japan. They enjoyed meeting and connecting with people everywhere they went.

A spring memorial service will be held at the UU church—details to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that people consider a donation to Lifebridge in Salem or Kaplan House in Danvers.

Deborah Coulson

53rd season continues in February

BY LINDA WERBNER

As the world opened up again after two years in an induced pandemic coma, Me&Thee Board member and founder Anthony Silva realized some changes needed to be made to the beloved performance space that has occupied the Unitarian Universalist Church on Mugford Street for 53 years to attract a new audience and stay relevant. The first change would be the name.

“No one under 35 knows what a coffeehouse is. When you say coffeehouse, they think Starbucks. We are listed online as a restaurant,” he says of the venerable institution which has hosted acoustic music by renowned singer-songwriters for five decades.

“The church administrator told me that there would be people lining up outside the door at 9:30 in the morning asking for a cappuccino,” he says with a laugh. “We are now Me&Thee Music because we are

a music series. Audiences have changed and we asked how can we continue the tradition.”

“Covid-19 demolished audiences for art galleries, movie theaters and music venues,” he observes. “We are still feeling the ripples of the pandemic with fewer people going out. We needed to find a way to rebuild our audience.”

Silva and the board tweaked the formula of the successful venue by expanding the scope of talent that plays the tiny stage. Going forward, it will be much more than a person onstage with a guitar.

“We’re in an experimental stage,” says Silva. “We’ve expanded beyond singersongwriter. For example, last year we hosted jazz saxophonist and flautist Stan Strickland and it was a huge hit. Next February we will have Brazilian samba.”

“We have also changed to Saturday instead of Friday to see if it works,” he says. “In addition, we are open twice a month instead of every Friday. It was burning out audiences and volunteers. So far the response has been great from both. This will give us flexibility. We have new board members, new volunteers and new ideas. We

are building community from inside and outside.”

With all the changes afoot, Silva felt it was time to host the very first Me&Thee Music dance party. On Saturday, Dec. 10, the local retro band The Mugfords rocked the house for a holiday concert and dance party, including oldies from the 60s and 70s and holiday songs “reimagined as if the Cars or the Beatles were playing them,” says guitarist Paul Todisco.

The group is comprised of four close friends, all Marbleheaders, who have played together for almost three decades, according to Todisco, affectionately dubbed “the human jukebox” for his encyclopedic knowledge of rock music.

“We met at a UU retreat

almost thirty years ago,” he recalls. “I had just moved to the area and joined the local church. The choir director was Debra Basile. I was fascinated and thought they were great so I auditioned. She put me in the tenor section next to Chad Rosen, her husband and the rest is history.”

The two became fast friends and ‘caused a lot of disruption’ with their shenanigans, he admits.

“Then and there, we decided to start a band. Chad and I brought our guitars and Debra came with a bass. It was a real hootenanny. We were united by our sense of humor and love of music. That’s what binds us,” says Todisco.

“We discovered that Paul knew every Beatles song and Deb could pick out the harmonies beautifully, says Rosen. “We were a trio at first but then Steve Pierce joined us. You have to have a drummer, after all!”

Pierce taught with Debra at the Marblehead Middle School. “Any kid who went through Marblehead schools had Steve as their art teacher,” says Todisco.

The warmth and camaraderie among the members of The

Mugfords is palpable. “We are not doing this for the money,” says Rosen. “We just want to have fun. It helps that we’re all really good friends.”

While the four enjoy joking around, they are also serious musicians, Todisco stresses. “Deb is conservatory-trained and a multi-instrumentalist. We’ve all played in bands, too. We practice and spend a lot of time trying to get things right.”

When the pandemic put the kibosh on public gatherings and performances, the band began playing outdoors.

“We got our vaccinations and took everything outside on the porch. It made people walking by really happy to hear live music after such a long time,” says Todisco.

Me & Thee Music is located at 28 Mugford St. and continues its 53rd season in February with two local musicians. On Feb. 3, Brazilian jazz vocalist Teresa Coelho and her trio perform on Feb. 17, Marblehead’s Haley Reardon presents her homecoming following her world tour. For more information, visit: meandthee. org the

Beginning improv for preteens & teens at MLT

Marblehead Little Theatre is excited to announce its offering of a four session Introduction to Improv workshop designed for preteens and teens. The classes will include improv games that translate to useful life skills like listening, creativity, patience, and collaboration. Make new friends in a fun and supportive

environment, while building overall confidence! Some of the skills the class covers include expressing emotions, agreement, and creating stories together.

Plus, each session will conclude with a performance for family and friends.

No prior improv or performing experience is needed! The classes

are open to students aged 9-14, and each class is structured so that everyone will get plenty of playtime and individual attention. The sessions are 2 hours and class size is no more than 12 students. Classes will be held Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 11, Jan. 25, Feb. 01 and Feb. 08 at Marblehead Little Theatre,

12 School Street. The improv classes will be instructed by Bruce Whear, who has been performing since he was 12 years old. Affiliated with Marblehead Little Theatre since the early 70’s as a performer, co-director, producer, and longtime Board member, Bruce is a founding member, performer, and producer of the popular

local Improv Comedy Troupe “Accidentally on Purpose”. A firm believer that theater & improv are much needed skills in today’s schools, workplaces, and life, he is committed to passing on these life-changing skills to the next generation.

For full details and to register, please visit www.mltlive.org.

The Mugfords.