5 minute read
City Voices
WORCESTERIA
A Worcester version of Monopoly is in the works, in addition to the one that’s happening in the Canal District. SUBMITTED PHOTO
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A few modest suggestions for Worcester Monopoly
Victor D. Infante
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Just in time for Worcester’s latest round of battles over gentrification comes Worcester Monopoly, the board game that teaches you how to win through capitalism by bankrupting your friends and family! The game, which according to the Telegram & Gazette, is “being created and manufactured by Top Trumps USA Inc. and licensed by Hasbro, the official owner of the Monopoly game and brand, will feature Worcester locations in the spots normally occupied by Boardwalk, Baltic Avenue, Marvin Gardens, etc.”
And now, a few recommendation to localize the game:
PLAYER TOKENS: Instead of the traditional shoe, little dog, iron or what have you, we recommend for Worcester, “the Boston Developer Building Luxury Apartments,” “OutOfTown Developer Building Parking Garages,” “The Universities,” “Worcester Old Money,” “Niche Hospitality Opening Another Restaurant” and “Other Worcester Locals,” but if you’re the last, you pretty much just have to sell when everything gets too expensive.
DUNKIN’ DONUTS: Build instead of houses, and you can build as many of them on a street as you can possibly fit.
POLAR PARK: Obviously, this would take the place of something like Boardwalk or Park Place. As a special ability, the owner of this card should be able to siphon $100 from every other Canal District busi
FIRST PERSON The Librar y of Disposable Art — toys trapped in the box
David Macpherson
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
One of the first fights my wife and I ever had was when she moved in with me and we unpacked her “Peanuts” toy figures. She had a lot of them. Snoopy and Woodstock. There was Lucy and Linus dressed for Halloween. (I got a rock.) The little action figures were still in the original packaging. “Why don’t you take them out so you can pose them and play with them?” She gave me a steely look and I had the sensation that I said something VERY bad. She informed me that taking them out of the package was a deal break for the relationship. They came in the original packaging and they were going to stay that way.
But this is not about me. This is about the refusal of many adults to take their toys out of the package. There is a whole generation of toy creature that will be forever encased in original plastic.
You know what is better than having a Boba Fett action figure? Having a Boba Fett action figure that has never been taken out of the package. Or a Donatello Ninja Turtle doll. That thing better be in its plastic card for it to be worthy of collecting.
This has been a thing for decades with toy collectors. Toys in the original box or better than the toys themselves.
See ART, Page 14
HARVEY
Doris Abrazinski was four years old when she died in 1930. Her death by drowning had a profound impact on her 7yearold sister Elinor, who would never learn to swim. Elinor’s intense fear of water was instilled in her own four children, and only one would learn how to swim well enough to be considered a “swimmer.” Elinor was my mother, and I am not that child. In my lifetime, I’ve come close to drowning twice — once in the icy surf of Hampton Beach, and again in the murky waters of Coes Pond. Both times, I was careless and impulsive, trying to fit in with the WM-0000471726-01other kids. Both times I was plucked from the water by friends who recognized my distress. The terror I felt as the water pulled me in and down is something I struggle to describe today, but can retrieve in my memory as sharply if it were yesterday. The drownings of Worcester Police Officer Enmanuel Familia and 14yearold Troy Love, the boy he was trying to rescue, have brought to the table the importance of lessons in water safety for all ages, but particularly for children. For innercity kids who grow up with little exposure to water, such instruction becomes even more significant perhaps, even fateful.
A recent Worcester School Committee agenda included two general business items pertaining to water safety. GB #1172 dated June 8, 2021 was introduced by Tracy Novick, “To explore with the city administration the creation of swim lessons for all Worcester Public School students as part of the district requirements.” GB #1174 dated June 9, 2021, and brought forward by Committee member Molly McCullough requested “that the Administration work with community agencies to help provide free or discounted options for WPS students in need of swim/water safety lessons.”
“Water safety and swimming lessons are crucial life skills for all,’ said Ms. McCullough.
While it is indeed tragic that
Recent deaths show water safety is crucial Janice Harvey two deaths brought attention to Special to Worcester Magazine this issue, I can’t stress enough USA TODAY NETWORK the dire need for the subject to be more than a predictable reaction to headlines. Often tragedies like this one result in suggestions that are shelved with the passing of time. As a kid I did take swimming lessons many times, but never conquered my fears. However, I watched as fellow students became strong swimmers and received certificates of completion. (I may have been the inFlood waters rage across catwalk at Coes Pond dam in 1955. T&G STAFF/FILE PHOTO spiration for the muchmaligned “participation trophy,” having earned the affections and pity of many a swim instructor.) There must be a way to incorporate water safety into the education of every Worcester student. My memory is fuzzy regarding whether or not the Red Cross or The Girls Club sponsored the lessons I attended back in the 60’s. I do remember shivering poolside with the hair on my bony shins standing on end — and the dreaded bathing caps required. I’m sure that swimming lessons today would be less stressinducing for children. Ms. McCullough says the school committee plans to explore the use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief and engage the YMCA, YWCA, Red Cross and Boys and Girls Club in conversations. This is all good news. Ms. McCullough says I’m not alone as a landlocked adult; there’s more like me out there. A few years ago, I learned that avid swimmer Superintendent Maureen Binenda was once a lifeguard. She offered to teach me to swim, if I wanted to join her at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM. Though grateful, I declined. Now that I’m retired, maybe I’ll take her up on it. They say you’re never too old to learn. But I refuse to wear a bathing cap.
DON LANDGREN ST. VINCENT'S NURSES STRIKE KEEPS GOING AND GOING AND GOING ...
Monopoly
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ness every turn. But only when there’s a game on, of course.
THE BRIDGE: Obviously, this would be one of the more valuable properties – like maybe Marvin Gardens or something – but if you buy it, all the other players get to guilt trip you into just letting it stay the way it is.
MAIN SOUTH, GREAT BROOK VALLEY, PLUMLEY VILLAGE: I’m sure they’ll be down in the Baltic Avenue territory, but it’s good to include them just to remind city officials that they actually exist beyond feelgood photo ops and mural reveals.
MUNICIPAL BROADBAND INTERNET: Should be one of the utilities, but for some reason, no player is actually able to land on it.
THE CASCADES, BROAD MEADOW BROOK, GREEN HILL PARK: These would be sort of in the green neighborhood, like North Carolina Avenue, but when players land on them, they’ll constantly be amazed that they didn’t know they were there the whole time. Also, you can’t build on them because they have conservation restrictions.
SIR MORGAN’S COVE: Change the name of the property every time it’s bought, and lose all cool points when you build a hotel on it, even though you’ll still remind everyone that the Rolling Stones played there once.
THE AUD: If you buy this, you have to spend the whole game talking about what you’re going to do with the space, and then not actually do anything.
VINCENT’S, NICK’S BAR & RESTARAUNT, ARMSBY ABBEY, RALPH’S ROCK DINER, GREATER GOOD BREWING, REDEMPTION ROCK BREWING, WORMTOWN BREWERY, ELECTRIC HAZE, HERBIE’S, THE BEER GARDEN, THE BOYNTON: Lose one turn every time you land on one of these spaces because you only meant to stop in for one drink and to say hello and then you lost track of time …
Obviously, there are plenty of great, real possibilities for the game – including, all snark aside, many of the ones above – so you have until June 25 to vote for which 34 locations make the cut. Votes can be emailed to regionals@toptrumps.com.
