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To the editor: “Join the OKOs,” my friend urged me some years ago.  I worked on their hand tub at a muster. It’s hard work! And watch out — that bar might hit your head. Firefighting in Marblehead and all around here has a fascinating history, that I learned from senior members. There was no fire department for a long time in the hand tub days, just private firefighting companies. They’d race each other to get to a fire first so they’d get the business. Sometimes…

To the editor: All I had known about PAM is it’s a cookware spray. Now I live in a neighborhood where not one, but two, ladies are called Pam. From the huge universe, they are both here and particularly benevolent human beings. They raised their adopted children. One lucky young daughter was from the Soviet Union and the other three brothers were from an island. Now they’re all adult citizens. Certainly love is the special gift we’re talking about. I was blessed with raising four…

To the editor: Increasingly, with devastating evidence, the current administration proves itself to be anti-American. Our nation has never fully lived up to its founding ideals, but they exist, like guiding stars, ready to lead the collective mind and heart towards a better America. Now, the principles, ideals and rights long fought for and striven towards, are being unapologetically trampled. Let’s find strength in numbers, protect the many, value humanity in all its variety, and let us continue our march towards being more generous, just…

To the editor:  Back in the 1940s, growing up in Marblehead, we had a skating rink; it was on Bay View Avenue on Bobby’s Pond. Marblehead High School played hockey there, and it was home to the Marblehead Skating Club, which was an ice dancing club. Every Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon throughout the winter, we would go there, and our parents would ice dance. Every couple of hours, they would stop to clear the ice and resurface it with their home-made zamboni,…

To the editor: After discussions with Marblehead’s harbormaster and town officials, our small group of local volunteers has been given the green light to its proposal to spearhead needed changes to these facilities. In addition to suggesting ways to improve the attractiveness of the restrooms (better signage, repairing broken/cracked tiles, visual upgrades, etc.), recommending ways to reduce vandalism (motion-sensor lights, external surveillance cameras), our team would provide the all-important monitoring. We are seeking additions to our team of volunteers. The primary task is the daily…

I came of age in 1967-1968 in a working-class world shaped by the draft and the Vietnam War. In my community, Vietnam wasn’t a headline — it was a phone call you dreaded and a name you might see in the paper. And for young women, the consequences of being labeled “fast” were real: reputations, opportunities, futures. I also remember a time when women had far fewer choices and protections than we do now. I remember “homes for unwed mothers,” and the quiet shame that…