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Adding hurricanes to the curriculum

Dennis wonders why Brookline schools aren't doing more to discuss Katrina with students:

... When my daughter was in fourth grade, she too looked up nervously at jets overhead, asking which one might crash into Brookline. This year she watches Katrina's devastation, asking, as she did four years ago, "How could this happen?" The tragedies of Manhattan and New Orleans - more visually and emotionally powerful than the mere threat of disaster that assaulted my generation - and the endless War on Terrorism's escalation of fear of The Other will form the backdrop of her generation's memories of childhood and adolescence. The inevitable anxieties are certain to play themselves out in decades to come.

In response to this changed world confronting our children, our schools should be expanding coverage of intense events. This is no time to stick to a pre-packaged curriculum. ...


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Where's Jimmy Severino?

Oh, sorry, he calls himself Jay Severin III now. In any case, Dan finds it odd that the Globe hasn't written about the disappearance of the WTKK blabmeister after columnist Scott Lehigh broke the news that Severin doesn't actually have a Pulitzer.

Bonus fun link: Heavy-duty rightwingers don't much cotton to Severin.


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Real cut-ups in the Newton Fire Department

Head over to this Newton firefighters union Web site. After it finishes playing the theme song for "The Banana Splits" (whoa: flashback for all you children of the '60s), click on View my guestbook to see how warmly local motorists now feel about the firefighters following their rush-hour protest in Newton Corner yesterday, which backed local traffic up into Watertown Square and turnpike traffic to Rte. 495 (yes, 495!).

I agree that Mayor Cohen is a bonehead, but what you did yesterday was very unruly and unprofessional. I can only assume that your union has been just as unruly and unprofessional in its negotiations with the mayor. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm on the Mayor's side now.

That's one of the calmer messages.

Oh, and make sure to squint to read the message from a union member on the home page about the protest:

we are dedicated in serving you, serving you in which we'll put our life's on the line for you and not think twice about it more than l can say about some radio commentators and some people who work at HAAARVARD univ yes we are sorry we disrupted your day, but maybe you can call the mayor and complain cause if he keeps cutting fire engines then he really won't have anything to ride on to his block parties.

More notes on the protest and traffic.


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Kerry's office is snotty and dismissive

Sissy calls her local congressman and senators to see what they plan to do to cut pork. She writes:

... Not that we would ever vote for one of them in a million years. But Capuano's and Kennedy's staff were friendly and helpful -- professional -- while Kerry's were snotty and dismissive ...


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Toast?

Red is just disgusted with the Old Towne Team's fall from grace:

... In the seventh, when Hyzdu whiffed with the bases loaded to end the Sox' seventh, I could feel my soul being sucked from my body. And it wasn't cool. [Also, I'll give Tito the benefit of the doubt and assume he was out on a popsicle run when Hyzdu came to the plate. Otherwise, why does Hyzdu hit with the bases juiced and Tek on the bench?] ...

Zach: Go ahead and hit the panic button.


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Somerville divestment focus groups

Somebody really, really wants Somerville to sell off its Israel bonds - enough to hire a company to gather up people for a focus group on the issue. Blogorelli, who loves her some focus-group action in general ($50 and a free ham sandwich and she's in) reports on a session last night that she'd been told would be about "issues in the Somerville area:"

... The next 90 minutes were some of the most tense I remember in recent months (and note that I am referring to months in which I developed a jaw clench so forceful that my physician wouldn't prescribe Valium for relaxation purposes because the pills "wouldn't be strong enough.") ...

Somerville Divestment Project
Somerville should divest from U.S.


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Museum audio tour podcasts?

Three months ago, the New York Times reported on the phenomenon of people making podcasts for museum tours. Art Mobs was one such group in NY hacking the MOMA.

Has anyone gotten around to doing these for the MFA or any other Hub museum yet? I tried Googling around, and, coming up empty, decided to try to actually ask people. I'll report my findings at my website Civilities.net.


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Newton firefighters, cops tie up traffic

Irilyth says it took 45 minutes to get from Watertown Square to the Masspike entrance in Newton Corner this morning because of a protest by Newton firefighters:

.. At the exit of the loop [in Newton Corner], there was a sign saying "Mayor Whatsisname is unfair to Newton Firefighters", and another underneath it saying "Sorry for the inconvenience! Call Mayor Whatsisname at 666-whatsisnumber". Were the police sufficiently pissed off about Mayor Whatsisname's treatment of the firefighters that they shut down a major commuting route during rush hour? In my world, they would all be fired for a stunt like that. (If the firefighters are pissed off at Mayor Whatsisname, they should let his house burn down, not get their police friends to harass motorists on their behalf.)


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Green Line shutdown

Trying to get to Longwood, Ariana finds herself walking from Government Center to Arlington because the Green Line was shut down between Government Center and Boylston. Naturally, T workers gave out wrong information:

... So they sent us upstairs to take some mysterious shuttle buses that I swear I didn't see hide nor hair of, but I did see a large group of people gathered around an MBTA official, who was directing people as to what they should do. A guy before me asked where he should go to get a train to Coolidge Corner, and the MBTA guy told him to walk down to Boylston. ...


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Steamrollered


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