Columns - Marblehead Current

17 Dec

‘BUT I’M BORED!’: Local parenting coach pens new book on embracing ‘simpler approach’

Bella TravagliniColumns, Life Style, Opinion, Parenting, Top Stories

Parenting coach Lizzie Assa says that the tide is turning on how parents want to raise their children — which is embracing the simpler approach of days gone by. “Parents are exhausted from treating childhood like a resume-building project, and the results — anxious, overwhelmed children — are impossible to ignore,” said Assa. A Marblehead Current columnist and former nursery school teacher, Assa has written her first book, “But I’m Bored!,” which will be published in January, where she guides parents on how to foster…

17 Dec

What to know about cannabis use in adolescence

Tom Massaro, MD, Ph.DColumns, Health, Opinion

There has been a great deal of discussion about the use of alcohol by adolescents recently. It is great that the town is talking about these things, but alcohol is not the only potentially addictive substance that is available for adolescents to use today. The use of cannabis-related substances is growing rapidly, and cannabis may pass alcohol as the substance of choice for many young people in the near future. In doing the background research for this column, I became aware that public health professionals…

17 Dec

END OF AN ERA: Every giant has a birthplace. Mullen’s was on Mechanic Street

Submitted ContentColumns, Local News

By Kate Haesche Thomson When Omnicom completed its $13 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group on Nov. 26, it didn’t just create the world’s largest agency holding company. It also retired several iconic names in advertising — including MullenLowe, soon to be folded into TBWA. To the business world, this is an epic story about scale, strategy and the end of a legacy network. Here in Marblehead, the story is a local one. In 1970, Jim Mullen wasn’t an ad industry household name. He was a…

10 Dec

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY: Let’s play patience BINGO again!

Virginia BuckinghamColumns

As I write this, I can count 16 lit candles in my immediate environs. Extreme? So is the afternoon blanket of darkness which threatens to swallow my positive outlook whole starting at around 4 p.m. Such are the contradictions of this season of lights. My son recently commented about his affection for the month of December noting how much nicer people are than usual. He lives in the city, and knowing his habits, I’m glad to hear Chipotle servers and Uber drivers are putting their…

10 Dec

FOOD 101: Chocolate holiday dessert — still in the making

Linda BassettColumns, Food

Childhood memories are often chocolate-coated. My brother and I would save up our change to buy candy at the corner store on the walk home from school. He would choose a Milky Way; I would get a dark chocolate Mounds bar. He liked his chocolate light and sweet. I liked mine with a dark jolt. As I explored chocolate’s intensely deep flavor, a friend’s mom added a splash of coffee to hot cocoa drinks, sending me further along this direction. I sampled everything that came…

03 Dec

FOOD 101:The joy (?) of Brussels sprouts

Linda BassettColumns, Food

How Brussels sprouts can be your next great holiday food tradition. CURRENT PHOTOS / LINDA BASSETT If one vegetable could be voted “most likely to be disliked” by the largest number of people, I would guess Brussels sprouts. Broccoli follows at a close second. But wait! Give the scorned tiny cabbage-lookalikes another chance. They need coddling — and not like an egg because then you’ll get sulfurous payback. When treated gently, they react positively. Let’s start with their backstory. In season right now, Brussels sprouts…

03 Dec

DOC IN A BOX: What to do if your computer is compromised by a hacker

Stephen BachColumns, Stephen Bach

When your computer starts acting strange, it’s tempting to shrug it off as a glitch. But unusual behavior — slowdowns, pop-ups or friends receiving odd messages — can be early signs of a hack. Acting quickly makes a big difference. And NEVER, EVER respond to a pop-up message that tells you something like “call Microsoft immediately.” About half of the issues we see every week at The Docs have to do with hackers, and it’s not pretty! The first step is to disconnect from the…

26 Nov

MY MARBLEHEAD FIRST TIME: A town — and local paper — that lights the way

Court MerriganColumns, Top Stories

There was a time, not so long ago, when I found Christmas displays of any kind put out before Thanksgiving obnoxious. Could I at least finish eating my leftover stuffing before being subjected to Mariah Carey atevery storefront? However, I am now heading into my fourth New England winter, which I fondly refer to as the Long Gray. And so I find my attitude has changed. To wit, strolling down Atlantic Avenue in Marblehead the second week of November, I saw a bank had festooned…

26 Nov

LIVING HISTORY: Watching Ken Burns’ ‘American Revolution’ in Marblehead

Kay O'DwyerColumns, Local History, Local News

Kay O’Dwyer, dressed in herGlover Regiment’s garb, leads atour of Fort Sewall for students. COURTESY PHOTO “The American Revolution,” 10 years in the making, is another engaging and high-quality documentary by Ken Burns. This 12-hour series, currently airing on PBS, and at the Cabot Theater in Beverly, presents the story of the founding of the United States in a way that is accessible to a general audience and is also thought-provoking. It offers a wider and perhaps, a more nuanced view than what you may…

26 Nov

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY: Rare

Virginia BuckinghamColumns, Opinion

My very first column in this space was published three years ago this week. The idea for it came as Kris Olson, a Lawyers Weekly journalist who lends his experience as the Current’s contributing editor, and I manned our shift at a table outside Shubie’s. The so-called weekend “tabling” event was meant to introduce our then-online but soon- to-be in-print nonprofit newspaper to the town. Kris and I were not the ideal partners for the task which essentially was to stop folks coming in and…