When Kids Don’t React to Tragedy

After Boston comes face to face with terrorism, mental health professionals say not to worry if your children aren’t as concerned as you are.

Never was Boston so grateful for a Monday: Back to work, back to school, back to routines, after a five-day ordeal shook the city and the world watched.  Gone are most of the satellite trucks, the clusters of reporters and cameramen, the strands of law enforcement officers for every street on our normal path. By Wednesday, barricades and memorials for the victims of the April 15 bombings, bookending Boylston Street, were moved and the street reopened. One week ago, my innocent concern was for the magnolias on Commonwealth Avenue, and whether they’d be at their showy peak when 23,000 marathoners rose up out of the underpass to greet the last six-tenths of their 26.2-mile race. Last year, the trees bloomed pink and white in March, and …

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Father Ronan Reflects on Marathon Bombing

A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.

How many times over the years might you have walked along this street of our great city or others like it and almost always felt safe? Whether an ordinary work day, a holiday, parade or some special event—the Copley Square area of Boston has most often been considered a safe place—until last Monday afternoon when, in an unexpected and unwelcome moment, those bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The unreal nature of the intrusion into our calm, joyous and wonderful celebration on this Patriots Day is hard for everyone to accept and even fathom. It cannot happen here—not in my city, not in my neighborhood. But it did. The senseless violence that is part of the everyday life of countless peoples in all parts of our world …

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Charlestown Blog: Messy History of Poop Scooping

The Charlestown Veterinary Hospital shares an interesting look back at how pet owners began picking up after their pups.

Are Boston Billboards a Public Nuisance?

A Boston judge ordered one company to remove signs from a building on Bowdoin Street because it didn't have the appropriate permit, and the city's Zoning Board recently banned new boards in certain neighborhoods.

A Boston judge this week ordered a local billboard company to remove two signs hanging on a Bowdoin Street building. According to a Boston Herald report, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation had filed a lawsuit in February against Sponsor Co., seeking to force the company to remove two 25-by-40-foot signs facing Cambridge Street and to pay a $1,000-a-day fine since Nov. 30, when the company was warned that the signs were illegal because the company lacked the required permits. In her decision, the Suffolk Superior Court judge wrote that, “Erecting or maintaining outdoor advertising in violation of any provision of [state law] is considered a nuisance” and that violating the law “adversely affects the public,” the Herald reported…

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Mom Talk

Through a Teacher's Eyes

In a tribute to everyday kids and teachers, Amika Kemmler-Ernst takes her camera into Boston's classrooms to make images of kids hard at work.

“A student has to be a valedictorian—or bring a gun to school—in order to be considered newsworthy,” says Amika Kemmler-Ernst.  An educator for more than 40 years, she’s talking about our tendency to focus on either the great or the horrible, while paying less attention to everything in between. A teacher of children and a mentor to teachers, Dr. Kemmler-Ernst is now officially retired. But in an ongoing visual ethnography project, she’s been visiting Boston Public Schools (BPS) and taking pictures of normal kids in action, learning at school. It’s a passion she’s indulged in throughout a career teaching in Brookline, Boston, around Africa, and in Italy.  Shelved at her Jamaica Plain home, bulging albums hold photos of kids at work, in …

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Connolly: Student Assignment Plan Should Include K-2 Guarantee

Boston City Councilor Connolly says the public school options for Boston residents still fall short in several important areas.

On Monday night the External Advisory Committee on Student Assignment is slated to recommend a new assignment model to the Superintendent and School Committee. After nearly a year of work, the models put forth by the district for the EAC's consideration still fall short in a several areas.  In October, a coalition of six elected officials put forth the Quality Choice Plan as a comprehensive model that addresses the issue of uneven quality across the city as an integral part of the creation of a new assignment model. Over 7,000 Bostonians signed onto the plan and, as this process comes to a conclusion, their voices must be heard. There are a few key elements that should be included in the final recommendation to the School Committee. A long…

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What Are You Giving Up for Lent in Charlestown?

Ash Wednesday marked the official start of the Lenten season.

Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday, makes up the most venerated days in the Christian Calendar. Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, marked the beginning of the Lenten season when Christians are asked to prepare for the resurrection of Jesus Christ through repentance, prayer, atonement and self-denial. It has become common for many Christians to sacrifice one vice they have during the Christian liturgical season. So, what are you giving up this Lent? Really addicting reality TV? Chocolate? Alcohol? Words with Friends? Or, have you decided to give up an inner bad habit, such as negativity or jealousy? Tell us what you are abstaining from in the comments.

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Father Ronan: When the Goin' Gets Tough

A weekly column by the pastor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown.

"When the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'." It’s an old saying, and we have all heard it at one time or another. The implication seems clear: when one faces hard times, one shouldn’t cave, whine or falter, rather dig in and get to it! It is easy to like the statement, or at least what it implies. I think I apply it to myself often enough. And yet, there are times when I realize that nothing is as simple as it seems. For example, the statement “cut and run” hardly describes the reality of opposing significant public policy questions about the dignity of life, health care and more. Maybe this mind set is really more a veneer than the real thing. For after confronting a challenge and getting a sense of its difficulty, more often than …

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What Do You Think About Gov. Patrick’s Travel Ban?

Do you agree with the governor's decision or was it too drastic?

All non-emergency drivers were ordered off the roads on Friday when Gov. Deval Patrick issued an executive order banning travel during the blizzard. (Editor's note: The ban is lifted statewide as of 4 p.m. Saturday.) Patrick's executive order is being praised by some and bashed by others, reported The Boston Globe. While former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who was in charge of the commonwealth during the Blizzard of ’78, praised the governor’s move, others called the order “tyrannical” and say the strict ban and hefty fines were too much, according to The Globe. Those caught violating the ban would face up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. What do you think? Do you agree with the governor’s decision or do you think the travel ban …

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Under Our Feet

10 Tips for Healthy Eating

Feeling like your healthy goals for the New Year have slipped away? Here are some suggestions to get you back on track.

Around this time of year, people start re-evaluating their New Year’s resolutions. They either are still on track and feeling great or they’ve lost their resolve and are feeling frustrated and defeated. One of the common goals set at the beginning of the year is around weight loss. As a yoga teacher, I get questions about yoga’s effectiveness for weight loss. People want to know how many calories they’ll burn, is hot yoga more effective for weight loss than unheated yoga or how many times per week do you need to do yoga to lose weight. I usually say something like this: “Yoga, done regularly can be an effective tool for managing your weight. If you can get to a studio class three times per week and supplement that with 20 to 30 minutes at …

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Photorecipe Step by step

1:52 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Very interesting article, follow the Mediterranean diet is a good way to stay healthy, and can be ordered anywhere. Is ideal for keep weigh under control but of course it must be combined with moderate exercise daily. I invite you to learn more about the Mediterranean diet: http://www.photorecipestepbystep.com/dieta-mediterranea-2 Regards! @Photorecipe   more ›