GOVERNOR PATRICK AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR MURRAY WELCOME STUDENTS TO STATE HOUSE FOR 65TH ANNUAL STUDENT GOVERNMENT DAY
Governor Patrick welcomes students from across the Commonwealth to the 65th annual Student Government Day at the State House. (Photos: Meghan Dhaliwal / Governor's Office). View additional photos.
BOSTON – Friday, April 13, 2012 – Governor Deval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray today joined education officials, legislators and hundreds of students from across the Commonwealth at the State House for the 65th Annual Student Government Day. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor helped kick off the day’s activities during a morning welcoming ceremony in Gardner Auditorium.
“The youth voice is extremely important for a productive and effective state government,” said Governor Patrick. “I am proud to welcome these students here today, who already understand the importance of civic engagement, and working together to fulfill our generational responsibility.”
“It is great to see so many young students engaged in civics and state government,” said Lieutenant Governor Murray. “Students today are our future leaders, and we will continue to encourage active community engagement as we build a stronger Commonwealth for future generations.”
The Student Government Day program was first enacted by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1947. One Friday in April each year, students from across the Commonwealth gather at the State House to learn about the role of state government. The program provides educators and students from Massachusetts' public and private high schools with an opportunity to learn firsthand about state government and have direct interactions with their local officials.
Student Government Day participants are selected by a process similar to local elections. Their elections are held in high schools throughout the state, traditionally on the first Tuesday in November, to elect the student delegates and alternates who will participate in the program.
"The Student Government Day program is an excellent way to get our young people civically engaged and to help them better understand the ins and outs of public service," said Secretary of Education Paul Reville.
During Student Government Day, students play the role of elected or appointed officials to better understand what that individual’s role is in state government. Students also participate in mock debates, simulated committee hearings and House and Senate formal sessions.
For more information on Student Government Day and to find student participants from your city or town, click here. This year’s student leaders for the day include:
| Position | Name | High School | City/Town |
| Governor | Sofia Pagliuca | Nazareth Academy (High School) | Wakefield |
| Lieutenant Governor | David Joyce | Worcester Technical High School | Worcester |
| Attorney General | Will McGrath | Stoughton High School | Stoughton |
| Treasurer | Faith Macharia | Southbridge High School | Southbridge |
| Secretary of State | Christopher Campbell | Cotting School | Lexington |
| Auditor | Delaney McWalters | Millbury Memorial Junior/Senior High School | Millbury |
| Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice | Joseph Theall | Dracut High School | Dracut |
| Senate President | Lauren Mariano | Pembroke High School | Pembroke |
| Speaker of the House | Jennie Maibor | Winthrop High School | Winthrop |
Photos by Michelle Webb
America's finest walking the Boston Marathon route.
Mobility impaired leaving the start line
Hand chair start
04/15/2012
Collecting sports memorabilia can become a game changer once the bug bites you. – Photo courtesy of Kenneth Gloss
By Kenneth Gloss
This is a reprinted article from the September 7, 2011, edition of The Somerville News. We present it again this week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park.
Since the incredible World Series win of 2004 by the Boston Red Sox, interest in all sports has increased and over the past 25 years, interest in sports collectibles has continued to skyrocket. Baseball has been particularly popular – it is the epitome of America. There is a little bit of baseball woven throughout much of the American story, and there are books to collect for every era, every team, every league and every standout player in the history of the game.
One of the first recorded references to baseball appeared in a Civil War soldier’s diary that I once had. The writer described a baseball game he played while behind the front lines, enjoying a reprieve from the action. He writes about being hit by a baseball, then running around the bases and jamming his leg while sliding. He wrote, “I’ve had more injuries in this one day of baseball than in all my days in the Civil War.” Because it is one of the earliest references to baseball, it is worth thousands of dollars.
Mementos of baseball from the 19th century and the World War I era are rare and highly valued, even though the players then aren’t as well known as those from other times. Unlike today, souvenirs weren’t produced to be future collector items, but they have continued to increase as evidenced by their value in the today’s market.
Baseball became segregated after the turn of the century and many collectors concentrate on material from the Negro leagues. They are very rare because they were produced in smaller quantities than items for the major leagues as fewer people attended Negro league games and they had less money to promote their teams.
Moe Berg, a Jewish player on the Red Sox team, used to come into our store when I was a boy. Besides playing baseball, he was a linguist and during World War II he had been a spy. He traveled to Japan with the All-Star Team, including Babe Ruth and the game was broadcast in Japanese. He also went to the top floor of his hotel and took pictures of Tokyo. At one point, he was flown behind German lines to gather information on Germany’s progress towards building an atomic bomb. Back then he wasn’t well known, but today anything to do with Moe Berg is very collectible.
Some collect only team histories of their favorite club. The first book to detail the history of a particular baseball team was The History of the Red Stockings, the precursor of today’s Red Sox squad. This book is now very rare and worth up to $3,000. One of their stars was King Kelly. Kelly traded himself from team to team – once for the hefty sum of $10,000. It is one of baseball’s earliest examples of high stakes contract peddling.
As much as baseball has changed over the years, some things have stayed the same. One baseball collectible I treasure is a program from the 1912 Red Sox versus New York Giants World Series. Not only did the Red Sox win that series, but it also was the first year that Fenway Park was open. An original program such as this one isn’t found very often and is worth $3,000 or more.
Not all collectors focus on the historical aspect of baseball. One of my customers has defined his own collecting niche that other people hadn’t thought of before. He likes fiction and sports, particularly baseball so he collects novels that have baseball as a theme or that have a good baseball scene in them. There are countless books that fit that description. This is a fascinating collection to have, and is really pioneering in that few, if any, other collectors are hunting the same set of books. For most collectors there are set parameters – book lists, prices, etc. and a collector has only to hunt down particular items. For him, it is all “new,” and he never knows when or where a perfect addition to his collection will turn up. His collection serves as the list for other collectors who decide to venture into this area.
Unfortunately, fakes and forgeries abound in sports collectibles and baseball is no exception. You must be cautious about whom you deal with and what you buy. One thing that should raise a red flag is a big certificate of authenticity because sellers who try too hard to prove authenticity may be trying to convince you a fake is the real thing. Be especially wary of autographed material, unless you are able to authenticate the autograph.
There are so many books about baseball that many can be picked up inexpensively, while others sell for thousands of dollars. Ironically, some of the more modern pieces are often more expensive than the earlier examples. People’s memories are short and many collectors are only willing to pay high prices for modern celebrities of the sport or for the true legends. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Mickey Mantle are always in the higher price range. Some of the best selling issues of our large collection of Life magazines are the ones that show their faces on the cover.
Twenty-five years ago, everyone was collecting movie star memorabilia. Today, sports collectibles, especially from baseball, are the hottest items. With a wealth of material available, baseball memorabilia is fun to collect, whether your collection is an historical aspect of the game, a hometown team, a favorite player, or some unique criteria based on your own personal interests.
Ken Gloss is the owner of the Brattle Book Shop in Boston, the oldest antiquarian bookstore in America. The Brattle Book Shop is currently celebrating its 58th year of ownership by the Gloss family. Visit the shop at 9 West Street in downtown Boston, their website at: http://www.brattlebookshop.com or call them at 800-447-9595. Ken can be seen on PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” from time to time.
Part 2: What I think it is
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By William C. Shelton
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)
Presuming to define love is an act of hubris. So please understand that I am writing about what love means to me.
I should explain that I’m not talking about the completely selfless love ancient Greeks called “agape” and Christians call “grace.” That is a love that is inspired by the beloved’s mere existence, and it endures no matter how pleasing or disgusting, kind or cruel, loving or hateful the beloved’s behavior may be.
Instead, I’m talking about love that emerges from clearly seeing the beloved and being moved by what you see. It is impossible to love people in this way without knowing who and what they are. You can’t love what you don’t know. But genuinely knowing the loved one inspires delight and a desire to know more.
This is not romance, which we imagine just happens to us. It is an act of will. It isn’t so much a state of being as a process of becoming, requiring skills that we develop and improve only through practice.
With growing knowledge and delight comes a desire to enable our beloved to become fully him- or herself, to overcome what constrains them, to realize their full potential. Real love expresses itself through a commitment to learn and do what is necessary to make this happen. It has the power to transform both the lover and the beloved.
It is not a feeling. But it produces the richest feelings that humans experience. It is not a means to an end. It is the end itself, and it need never end.
When we live with this kind of love, so much becomes possible. Without it, nothing is enough. Its presence supports good physical and mental health, and its absence undermines them.
Psychologists and sociologists have conducted numerous studies of relationships. Partners who have sustained fulfilling unions over many years cite romance as one of the least essential elements in making their relationships work. Factors like communication, affection, compassion, honesty, acceptance, dependability, and a sense of humor dominate romance in their responses.
With loving comes vulnerability to disappointment and hurt. And inevitably, we hurt each other.
Being hurt when we are vulnerable activates a complex network of feelings, painful memories, a sense of betrayal, and old behavior patterns. These obscure accurate perception of the moment and of each other. They undermine our capacity to respond in the most effective way. At such times we can momentarily forget all the love and caring that we have shared.
When we feel anger, it is useful before reacting to consider all the things that we love about the other. It may not make us less angry, but it can make us more effective in expressing it.
Acceptance doesn’t mean tolerating a pattern of hurtful behavior. But effective criticism involves expressing how such behavior hurts us. It means confronting what is, with what realistically could be. It involves making an effort to understand what lies behind the other’s behavior.
Such understanding does not come easily, and especially when we are hurt. It requires honesty, listening to each other, and looking at the shared conflict through each other’s eyes. If we do this, we can recognize that the other’s experience is as authentic as our own. We can craft solutions that honor each other’s experience of the situation.
We come to understand that deep trust does not come from what we have in common. It comes from reconciling our differences. This is where acceptance can come in. If we can’t craft effective solutions, sometimes we must just accept the other’s annoying behaviors, recognizing that they are not motivated by malice or indifference.
Each of us has disagreeable behaviors. But when we clearly see what the other is struggling with and how they’re doing the best they know how, it’s difficult not to love them.
It’s also important to accept that we don’t love each other with the same constant intensity. That’s an ideal that can be striven for but never achieved.
Intensity flows, ebbs, and flows again. Idealizing love ensures that it will never live up to our expectations. We should expect what is reasonable, not what is perfect.
All that I have said thus far need not apply to loving only one person. We can apply what we learn in a loving relationship to others.
We can love our country, seeing past symbols like its flag and politicians to the underlying reality of its people and land. We can care about a group that has experienced common distress and faces common challenges.
We can even love our city. But doing so requires delving beyond public relations happy talk, understanding its underlying reality, and embracing its potential.
So that’s what I think about love. If it sounds self-righteous, I apologize. I’m no expert in such matters. In fact, I’m just a beginner.
- Booking Room Print View
Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene: THE BOSTON NATIONAL POETRY MONTH FESTIVAL--April 28, 2012
