dear abbie,

Hand-Painted in Karachi

2012-01-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

As pointed out in my earlier post, there are so many good looking, colorful hand-painted buses that get people around Karachi. And that's not all that looks cool and was painted by hand in this city.

This piece sits on a wall of a building in Karachi's Zamzama neighborhood. The outline of this boy is made up of verses from a poem by Faiz Ahmad Faid called "The Names of Those Sad Mothers."

This old-school advertisement for "Double Cool" Double Cola is near the high school where Jinnah went in Karachi's Lighthouse Tower neighborhood.

Other hand-painted signs like this one line the walls of a track and cricket field in Clifton. If you go there, don't spit pan, which is the chewable betel leaf mixed with areca nut, some other things and sometimes tobacco...

Even some of the license plates look like they were done by hand.

Bangles, Camels and Wedding Halls

2012-01-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

There may not be a lot of touristy things to do in Karachi, but there's no shortage of shopping, beaches to hang out on or places to get hitched. (Winter is the coolest time of year to get married in Pakistan.)

Endless combinations of sets of bangles can be made from these metal and glass bracelets.

A trip to Clifton Beach yields lots of Pepsi sponsored-beach huts, along with horse and camel rides.

Wedding halls all over the city are busy during the winter, like this one in Clifton called Lawyer's Club.

Advertisements for hair shampoo are also all over the city. Karachi-ites care about their locks!

Spicy Crab Masala, Piping Hot Samosas and Tasty French Cheese Lays

2012-01-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

Let's hear it for the food in Karachi!

Highlights include crab caught fresh from the Arabian Sea and then cooked with masala; a brunch of puris, aloo, chana, eggs and chutneys; and 12 Rupee (12 cent) meat and potato samosas.

A tasty brunch.

You can pick up these samosas on the street for cheap. The pyramid-shaped samosas have potato- and pea-filling and the triangular ones are filled with meat.

Roti dough, which is then dropped onto a flat cast iron skillet.

I drink from three to seven cups a day of chai here...

And we're never far from snacks from the store -- like these Lays, of the French Cheese variety!

Clifton's Flats Overlooking the Arabian Sea

2012-01-11T06:08:00.001-08:00

Here's some of the residential architecture in Karachi, Pakistan. These high-rises are in Clifton, and are just a stone's throw from the beach.

Can We Agree Karachi Has Some Seriously Stylin' Public Transportation?

2012-01-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

Check out some of the buses around town in Karachi. Would love to see NYC public transit get such a facelift!

The Ultimate Brooklyn Mixtape

2010-07-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

From the Marcy projects to Flatbush to Coney Island, there's no question that Brooklyn has grown some of the world's finest musical talent. But what's an homage to Brooklyn's best without a mixtape? Check out the Ultimate Brooklyn Mixtape at WNYC.org.

The World Cup: Baghana Baghana

2010-07-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

flickr user: Impact Tarmac (by-nc-sa)

I was eating traditional African cuisine with a group of South Africans at a Melrose Arch, Jozi restaurant during the Ghana-Uruguay quarterfinals. The South Africans were pulling hard for Ghana’s Black Stars to advance to the semifinals since that would be a first for an African team. A week ago, Ghana had handily knocked out Team USA at Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng Stadium to make it to the quarters, so I decided to support “Baghana Baghana,” too.

Click here to read the rest of this blog post at VirginiaQuarterlyReview.org.

The World Cup: Game On

2010-06-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

I knew I had arrived at the World Cup when I heard the sound of a vuvuzela bounce off the walls of Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport. The noise of the long plastic soccer horn wasn’t widely recognized outside South Africa until this year’s World Cup. But now every soccer fan knows a vuvuzela’s call is like a foghorn or a donkey braying, or—when blown in unison—like a nest of loud angry hornets. To many fans, the vuvuzela’s call is an aural safety hazard and an annoyance. But it sets off pure, unadulterated excitement in me, especially when I heard it moments after landing in South Africa.

Click here to read my full blog post at the VirginiaQuarterlyReview.org.

US World Cup Match #1: Enemy Territory!

2010-06-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

England's St. George's Cross flags flutter in the Lincoln breeze

I pumped my fist only once during the US versus England World Cup match on Saturday. That’s because I had to keep my “American-ness” on the down low since my mom and I were the only US citizens in the working class Cheltenham Pub watching the match. We were in Lincoln, England—lush farmland but enemy territory—and the stakes were high. Earlier in the day we’d heard some Brits were annoyed by President Barack Obama’s remarks to Prime Minister David Cameron about “British” Petroleum.

Despite the political climate, and the knowledge that English footballers don’t take their sport lightly, I couldn’t help but represent for America after the 27-year-old Texas native Clint Dempsey kicked a goal to tie the game. (England’s captain Steven Gerrard had slipped one by the US goalkeeper Tim Howard three minutes into the game, about the time my mom and I were having our first sip of bitters.) I raised my hands high when the British keeper, Robert Green, let Bernstein’s kick slip through his fingers 39 minutes into the match. It was a big deal for Bernstein (Number 12), who many sports analysts hadn’t even expected to play in the first US World Cup game.

Green’s “butterfingers” move cast a pall over the Cheltenham Pub. The room got quiet. The horns died down. “A shaken England, a stunned England,” the British ITV 1 sportscaster announced. A middle-aged bloke with a buzz cut who spent much of the game checking out the young girls in red and white used more colorful language. “What a f*ing dumbbell,” he muttered.

In the last 20 minutes of the match, play intensified. A younger fan shouted at the plasma television screen, “Rooney! Rooney!” But Wayne Rooney, England’s star offensive player, never scored. England tried to reestablish its lead—18 shots in the match overall. Tim Howard, the US goalie (who happens to also play for England’s premier league) blocked every attempt. The match ended in a tie, 1-1, leaving a pub full of Brits who had assumed England would steamroll the Americans.

We kept a low profile walking back through the cobblestone streets to our car. Though I often tend to feel bad for the losing team, tonight I was glad that the underdog—in this case the US—had evened the score. Outside a packed club, a scuffle was brewing. Bobbies kept an eye on the snockered fans. “We lost the game!” someone wailed.

The next morning, sentiments were still running high. “Are you here to gloat?” our bartender at the Pyewipe Inn asked. “We practically made that goal for you,” his coworker added. But by the end of the day, at least some English fans were looking ahead. Television coverage was focused on Germany’s landslide 4-nil win over Australia and England’s upcoming match with Algeria.

The World Cup: Fandom from Afar

2010-06-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

It’s soccer, and in New York City, the sport’s fans have contracted a full-blown case of soccer fever in anticipation of today, the day the World Cup kicks off in South Africa. I too had caught the bug—I’m heading to South Africa on June 20 to experience my first World Cup.

Click here to read my full blog post at VirginiaQuarterlyReview.org.

Chinese Billionaire Put Behind Bars for Bribery

2010-05-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

Maybe money can't buy everything?

The Value: A Repeat Felon Chooses a Straight Life

2010-01-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

We headed to Newark, New Jersey to shoot the most recent episode of The Value...

The 400th Anniversary of Monteverdi's Vespers

2010-01-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

For all you classical music fans, check out this feature on Claudio Monteverdi's "Vespers of 1610." I got to attend and shoot a rehearsal of one of the New York performances of the four-hundred year-old composition.

Should Orchestras Worry About Gender Parity?

2010-01-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is in New York City this weekend, playing its annual round of shows at Carnegie Hall. The last time the Vienna Phil made a major splash in the city was in 1997, when the company changed its men-only policy, and began to allow women to join its ranks. Women players in American orchestras, like the NY Phil and the LA Phil, has long been the norm. But is gender parity something that concerns orchestra musicians? An article I wrote for WQXR public radio looks into the matter.

"A Little Night Music" Comes Back to Broadway

2009-11-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

(flickr user racoles: by-nc-nd)

A Little Night Music is coming back to Broadway. That's the Stephen Sondheim musical which first was on Broadway in 1973, and was inspired by the Ingrid Bergmar movie Smiles of a Summer Night. WQXR previewed the witty love story that hits Broadway December 13.

WQXR Previews The Kinks Choral Collection

2009-11-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

(flickr user: "hoodrat": by-sa)

Hard to believe that Ray Davies wanted the Kinks to go classical. But he did, and created an entire classical score, The Kinks Choral Collection, for a classically trained choir to perform Kinks ballads. WQXR previewed the Dessoff Choir singing with Ray Davies ahead of their performances at Town Hall in New York.

The Value: Tanya Selvaratnama

2009-11-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

(flickr user Paul Watson: by-nc-sa)

In the latest video for The Takeaway's "The Value" video series, theater actress Tanya Selvaratnama tells host Farai Chideya what's more important to her than money.

The Answer to Today's Geo Quiz is...

2009-10-22T00:43:00.000-07:00

Kreuzberg! To hear more, check out the audio postcard I sent The World from Kreutzberg, Berlin. It aired Tuesday.

The Value: Anna Deavere Smith

2009-10-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

tao_zhyn/flickr/by

I shot this video featuring Anna Deavere Smith for Farai Chideya's new series on The Takeaway, "The Value."

What's the capital of West Flanders? Find out on the World's Geo Quiz Challenge.

2009-10-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Check out today's Geo Quiz question. The answer is I did make it down...

Tag 14: BRUGES

2009-09-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day on the amazing RIAS-sponsored trip, and we headed to the medieval, charming city of Bruges (Brugge), an hour's train ride from Brussels.

After a short walk past the thousands of bikes at the city's train station, we arrived in town.

The first site of the historic part of the 12th-century city is water. Bruges is built on an intricate system of canals.

Horse-drawn buggies pick you up the canal banks and for a price will take you around town.

We took a canal boat tour to see the city. That's where we saw the Church of Our Lady, a medieval Catholic church that houses a Madonna and Child Michelangelo sculpture.

We also caught a glimpse of a pair of golden retrievers who watch over the canal.

Lots of cool stoops that look out onto canals.

Carrier pigeons were kept in the tops of these castelated homes back in the day.

After our boat tour, we climbed the 396-step, winding, narrow stairway of Bruges's 13th century belfry.

A bearded gentleman was playing the belfry's 42-bell carillon while we were at the top of the belfry. We could almost see the North Sea.

After heading down considerably faster than it took us to go up, we ate some chips with mayonaisse, ketchup and andouille sausage sauce.

Had to stop by Gallers to get my Belgian chocolate fix. This Belgian specialty's not cheap but the price doesn't slow down shoppers.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 13: BRUSSELS

2009-09-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

After going through three lines of security, we were admitted to NATO headquarters.

Most of our visit was focused on operations in Afghanistan. That's because NATO member states have 65,000 troops stationed there. The US shares that burden, and additionally has committed an extra 15,000 troops for its national campaign against terrorism, Enduring Freedom. NATO troops work alongside 135,000 Afghani troops and police officers who are also fighting Taliban insurgents.

We learned from NATO spokesperson Jonathan Hill that the number of troops in this country about the size of Texas may be increased. Stanley McChrystal recommended that, along with extending the length of time troops stay in Afghanistan to ensure the country is stabilized.

NATO currently spends about $2 billion per month in Afghanistan, according to NATO's Jamie McCampbell. McCampbell empowers Afghani's to start their own businesses outside of the opium trade in Afghanistan.

After NATO, it was a walk in Brussels, including the La Place Grand and the so-called "Music Building."

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 12: BRUSSELS

2009-09-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today, we woke up in Brussels' modern Sofitel Hotel after a late-night flight from Prague.

First stop after a breakfast of fresh croissants was the European Commission, situated on Rue Van Maerlant. The day began with a talk from Commission representative (and art dealer) Jo Vandercappellen who gave us an overview of what the European Union is. The EU, he said, is an international organization made up of 27 member states, each of which has handed over its sovereignty to an international power.

After Vandercappellen's talk, and a Belgian chocolate and coffee break, we heard from the EU's crisis response director, Eduard Auer, on the EU's role on security and peace building. And then it was onto the EU's daily press conference in its Berlaymont building on Rue de la Loi.

The conference was a short half hour today, and only a few questions were asked about a recent Agriculture policy decision. Our tour guide Erika Zuderell said we were lucky to get a conference that was that long. Some days go by without any questions, she said.

We headed to a lunch of fish in butter sauce and crème brûlée at the Crown Plaza Hotel nearby. Our distinguished guest was the EU's trade spokesperson, Lutz Güllner. Then we heard from the head of the EU's Turkey unit, Jean-Christoph Filori, about Turkey's application for membership into the EU.

Turkey's committed to being a member of the EU, Filori said, but it has a long way to go, especially in the way of democracy-building. Filori added that Nicolas Sarcozy of France is adamantly opposed to Turkey's membership because it would dilute France's power in the EU, and probably because France is nervous about a Muslim state joining the EU.

After a final talk at the EU from Chris Bosma on the impact of the recession on Europe, we headed to the historic area of Brussels for dinner.

We ate moules frites in white wine. Clams in white wine with french fries--what else?!

This delicious Brussels specialty was followed by another cuisine this city does best: Belgian waffles.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 11: PRAGUE

2009-09-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Today, we hopped on Prague's metro and went to Vlasska 19: the Czech Republic's German embassy. The embassy is famous, its spokesperson Ulrich Ernst told us, for a few reasons.

First off, Beethoven played the piano in many of the embassy's rooms.

More recently, in 1989, the embassy was also home to 6,000 refugees from East Germany. The refugees had fled East Germany's communist regime and hoped the embassy would get them passports to West Germany.

At the time, the Embassy slept 20 people comfortably, Ernst told us, and was in no shape to house the thousands of refugees who came there starting in January of 1989. They climbed the embassy's walls to avoid being apprehended and sent back to East Germany.

The embassy didn't reject them. Many slept head to head on the building's wide staircases.

They also set up tents in the embassy's back yard.

On September 29, 1989, eight months after the first refugee arrived, more or less, the embassy announced it had gotten got the refugees passports. The passports cost the embassy $50,000 each, Ernst told us. But it would be a dangerous trip to the West: the refugees had to ride to West Germany by train, through East Germany.

Armed guards travelled with them to make sure the East German government did not seize the refugees en route. This was a historic ride, Ernst said. Thousands ripped up their East German passports and threw the pages out the train windows.

There's a statue commemorating 9/29/89 on the embassy's lawn. The twentieth anniversary will be celebrated Monday.

After the embassy, our group stopped by Radio Free Europe, a U.S.-funded radio service that broadcasts in 28 languages, in 20 countries across Europe and Central Asia.

Our conversation was recorded.

Tag 10: PRAGUE

2009-09-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

Today we took a bus two hours from Dresden to the Czech Republic. We stopped (where else?) just over the Vlatava River in Prague.

Shortly after we got to this so-called City of a Thousand Spires, the RIAS group headed deep underground to take the metro from the Museum stop to Nabredzi Edvarda Benese where our first appointment was.

We stopped to change money on the way. Although the Czech Republic's been a member of the European Union since 2004, it's chosen not to convert its Czech koronas, or crowns, to Euros just yet. (The Czech Republic is in a recession and doesn't want to take on the Euro while it is.)

When we reached the office of the Government of the Czech Republic, we met Stefan Fule, the Czech Minister for European Affairs, and his assistant Marie Fauturova.

Fule talked to us about Czech economics, energy, nuclear power and Afghanistan. He also talked about living through the Velvet Revolution, the Czech Republic's peaceful tide that overthrew Czechoslovakia's communist government. "To be a part of that in '89 was an experience," Fule said.

Fule added one of the results of the fall of communism and opening of Czech borders was massive migration to Prague. Thirty thousand Americans moved to Prague when the border opened, along with tens of thousands of low-wage Vietnamese, Ukranian and Roma laborers.

After the meeting, we headed up the hill from Fule's office to the Prague Castle and its majestic 14th-century St. Vitus Cathedral.

The inside of this gothic cathedral is a montage of stained glass, gilded figures and magnificent stonework.

After the castle, there was shopping for Czech handicrafts.

And checking out Prague's outdoor art.

More walking.

And finally, eating Czech traditional food: fried cheese and potato pancakes with hollandaise sauce.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 9: DRESDEN

2009-09-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today we saw bits of the old and new Dresden.

We started out by visiting the Frauenkirche Dresden, or "Church of our Lady" in Dresden's historic center. The church was wiped out in the fire of 1945 and recently rebuilt, our tour guide Grit Jandura told us. Since it reopened in 2005, it's had over 8 million parishioners and visitors.

We climbed high up to check out the murals on the sandstone inner-dome.

After church, we had a lunch break--tuna pizza with onions and cheese--and then it was onto the next stop.

A Volkswagon factory that produces VW's highest end car.

We got a guided tour of the VW Phaeton plant outfitted in white lab coats so as not to damage the hand-built sports cars.

They run customers 65,000 euros, or $95,000, to start.

On the way back to the hotel, we got a dose of politics and another snack. The Green Party's posters push an environmental (pro-bio, or pro-organic) agenda this election.

Dresden's desserts (bio or not) cannot be missed.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 8: DRESDEN

2009-09-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today we hopped on a bus and headed east, to Dresden. Dresden is home to half a million people living here and is the capitol of Saxony. The beautiful, curvy Elbe River runs through it.

Dresden was destroyed February 13, 1945 when the Allied forces bombed the city during World War II. Much of it has been rebuilt, and you can tell the new from the old architecture by checking out the color of the stones that make up the buildings. The black stone survived the 1945 fires, and the lighter stuff is new.

August the Strong (August II) was the ruler of Dresden from 1694 to 1733, our tour guide, Carola Bernholz told us. "He had as many children as the number of days in a year," Bernholz said of the philandering king.

In addition to liking women, August the Strong had a penchant for porcelain, and kept a collection on his royal grounds. Porcelain is used as the base for this 24,000-tile yellow and black mural lining the Fürstenzug.

It depicts a line of Dresden's many Saxon rulers. August the Strong is in the center, and his horse is crushing a rose, which symbolized the Protestant religion.

August converted to Catholicism so he could rule Poland along with Dresden. These days most Dresdeners are not religious--the communist DDR rulers didn't see religion as useful--and just four percent of the city's residents are Lutheran. Sixteen percent are Lutheran.

August kept his porcelain collection at the Zwinger Palace, which he built to have weddings on the grounds, and to hold his art.

He included a fountain surrounded by sculpted nymphs.

Although Dresden has a long history--it dates back to 7500 B.C.--the city's got its modernity, like this scooter in town.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 7: BERLIN

2009-09-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

Today, Mansoor and I explored Kreuzberg, the largely Turkish and increasingly hip neighborhood in West Berlin. We tried Mexican quesadillas and enchiladas at a Bangladeshi-run restaurant called Que Pasa. (The food was good, although cheesier and sweeter than Mexcan food I've had in North America.)

We also bought anti-fascism t's from a store just off the main square in SO 36, and döner by the Kottbusser Tor station.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 6: BERLIN

2009-09-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

Our group saw what Stephan Kramer wanted us to see today: the former concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany called Sachsenhausen Memorial.

Like most concentration camps in Germany, this 1,000 acre complex started out as a work camp, our tour guide Sasha told us. Some 200,000 men were held here from 1936 to 1945. At least 50,000 died at Sachensenhausen due to disease, hunger, hard labor, violence and later extermination.

Men held here (women were held in other camps) were Jewish, Jehovah's Witnesses, gay, Cinti and Roma, striking workers and homeless.

The sign leading to the 68 barracks where the prisoners got some sleep and bread and soup daily is inscribed with a sign reading "Work Makes You Free."

The most alarming part of Sachsenhausen was the extermination area, a place where in 1940 thousands of Polish prisoners of war were killed by Nazi soldiers running the camp. The POWs were told they were going to have doctor check-ups before S.S. officers dressed as doctors shot them.

Germany has seven memorial sites like Sachsenhausen that mark the country's concentration camps. The site's press officer told us there are probably many more areas in Germany where people were persecuted and killed, but which don't have memorial sites.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 5: BERLIN

2009-09-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

Today, the RIAS group met with the secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer.

Kramer, who has been the council's secretary since 2000, gave us a primer on the Jewish community in Germany. Then he took a moment to comment on downtown Berlin's Holocaust memorial, which lies a stone's throw from the Brandenburg Gate.

Kramer said his council never sanctioned the memorial because the site where the memorial lies is not authentic.

"It's convenient for tourists," Kramer said, referring to its proximity to the Brandenburg Gate, the Spree River and Parliament--prime tourist spots in Berlin. "This is one of the P.R. gags that Germans use to say, 'don't blame us.' "

The council was also opposed to the project because it was also not designed or built by Jewish people in Germany. "We didn't want it. We didn't ask for it. We didn't build it," he said.

Kramer said he would prefer a memorial park there, with a bus stop and transportation for tourists to go to the Sachsenhausen Memorial, a former concentration camp just outside Berlin in Oranienburg that the council said is authentic.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany has 120,000 members. Many are in Berlin, attending the city's seven synagogues. Ninety five percent of Germany's Jewish population is of Russian and Ukrainian descent.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 4: BERLIN

2009-09-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today, RIAS took us on a boat tour along the Spree River. We started at the ornate iron Friedrichstrasse bridge--the Spree has more bridges than Venice, according to our automated tour guide--and motored slowly along to see the Reichstag, concert hall and Museum Island.

Berlin has lots of graffiti, even along the Spree.

The concert hall has two nicknames in Berlin: “the pregnant oyster” and “Jimmy Carter’s smile.”

We also had a conversation with Dr. Christian Dreger at the economics institute DIW. Dreger gave us a primer on German economic indicators, from Germany's inflation rate to its unemployment. Education, health and public administration are the sectors Germany is doing best in, Dreger told us. Most of Germany’s other industries are in the red.

“It’s World War II in Germany. These output losses exceed anything we’ve seen,” Dr. Dreger said.

Dreger said Germany’s kurzarbeit program has kept the country’s unemployment rate low. Kurzarbeit is a government subsidy that goes to companies who agree to shorten employees' workweeks by a third. The employees work less so companies avoid lay-offs, and the government pays for the workers' time off.

But kurzarbeit may only be a temporary solution, Dreger said. The program lasts for 18 months, and when the subsidy runs out, German companies may have to lay workers off.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 3: BERLIN

2009-09-15T14:28:00.001-07:00

Thomas Habicht, Senior Political Editor for Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg, met with RIAS fellows today to talk about, among other things, his file that the East German Secret Service (the Stasi), had kept on him before the Berlin Wall came down.

"I remember I had gone to a bar one night and had three glasses of wine," Habicht said. "The Stasi had written in my file that I was an alcoholic."

Habicht was one of thousands of Germans who were tracked by the Stasi before Germany's unification. At least 240,000 people worked as Stasi in full- or part-time capacities when East Germany was run by the German Democratic Republic (GDR), meaning there may have been a Stasi member in every German family, Habicht said. Moving between East and West Germany was forbidden, and the Stasi did its best to ferret out anyone who was trying to surreptitiously make the trip, break the rules, or who was not on board with the GDR's program.

After the Berlin Wall came down, the German government received about 6,000 requests a month from Germans wanting to see their Stasi files. Habicht's request was one of them.

In addition to calling him an alcoholic, the Stasi had recorded that Habicht had called his wife "honey" on the phone, and that that term of endearment may have been a Western word that meant Habicht was against the East German state.

Habicht said despite sounding trivial the Stasi's observations often led to tragedy. "They stopped careers and divided families," he said.

After unification, the government found the Stasi had kept 3,000 files on people in East and West Germany. If stacked on end, the files would be 180 kilometers, or 112 miles, tall.

Today the RIAS group also met with Peter Altmaier, a Member of Parliament, Christian Democratic Union party member, and State Secretary at Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Altmaier’s ministry is responsible for Germany's national security, and has ramped up protections leading up to the elections September 27.

“We are still ten days ahead of the election," said Altmaier, who is a native of Saarland, Germany. "I’ll be in a much better mood when we’ve reached the election and there are no attacks.”

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 2: BERLIN

2009-09-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Berlin, we met with our gracious hosts at the RIAS Berlin Commission at La Fenetre restaurant.

Then we headed over to Mitte's classy Dressler restaurant to meet Mr. Özcan Mutlu, a Green Party member, spokesperson for education and migration policies, and one of the city's Ministers of Parliament.

Over caesar salad and a small steak topped with whipped herbed butter, Mutlu, aged 41, told us about the race he’s now running for National Assembly Member. Elections are September 27.
The electoral race, Mutlu said, is inexorably tied to who he is: being a German of Turkish descent.

Mutlu said he was the first in his family to get a university degree after his family moved permanently to Berlin from Turkey in 1973. He was always the one to translate German for his family growing up, and if he hadn't learned the language, Mutlu said he would probably be in eastern Turkey, in a small village working as a shepherd.

“If you want to get ahead,” Mutlu told us, “you’ve got to be fluent in German. And I always think you’ve got to be better at German than your German counterparts.”

Many German Turks are following in his footsteps. There are some 800,000 Turkish people in Germany who have voting rights, more voters of Turkish descent in Germany than ever before. Mutlu said that makes Turkish issues in Germany issues candidates running for office must now address, Mutlu said.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Tag 1: BERLIN

2009-09-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Today Mansoor and I made our way through the rain to Checkpoint Charlie, the infamous checkpoint that initially separated the Soviet and US sectors of Berlin after World War II. Later, Checkpoint Charlie (which is in Kreuzberg) became the primary passageway between East and West Berlin. Now, nothing but the security hut remains, along with tacky memorabilia and people dressed as French and American soldiers to snap shots with. (We agree with the Lonely Planet Berlin that it's a tourist trap. A soldier even tried to sell us replica visa stamps!)

Still, there are a few cool relics, including a chunk of the wall,

and an outdoor exhibit documenting the brutal history of the wall, from how it came to be to people who died trying to get through it. The photos really capture the feel of the time.

And there's a cool fluorescent memorial/object d'art on one of the nearby building's walls.

This blog post is made possible by the Radio In the American Sector (RIAS) Berlin Commission. RIAS sponsors travel for groups of American radio and television broadcast journalists who want to visit Germany and see how Germany fits into the European political landscape.

Report Shows Surge in Wage & Workplace Violations for the Low-Paid

2009-09-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

Flickr user Tobias Higble (cc: by-nc-sa)

According to a report released today, more than 70 percent of low-wage workers in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles didn't get paid for their overtime hours. Not shocked yet? Have a listen to this segment I produced for The Takeaway today. Thanks very much to the community and labor organizers who helped out on the story, and especially to Annette Bernhardt of NELP, and Amy Carroll, of Make the Road New York. They both got up early to come into studio to talk about the report!

Gay Rights in India: The Struggle Continues

2009-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to Tena Rubio and Andrew Stelzer at Making Contact for airing my radio documentary. Love the pre- and post-interviews and the web site looks great!

Abbie's MJ Mixtape

2009-07-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

flickr user 622 (cc: by-nc-nd)

Just posted an MJ mixtape on Pop+Politics. So many good mixes and tributes out there!

NAACP Women Made History in Tennessee

2009-07-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Integrated School in Washington, D.C., circa 1955
(Library of Congress)

Thanks to all the NAACP Franklin County, Tennessee, women who I interviewed for this story I did for The Takeaway's website (a national news show based at WNYC).

Happy 100th, NAACP!

San Francisco's Crosscurrents airs "Standing up to 377" documentary

2009-07-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to Holly Kernan, Zoe Corneli and KALW's Crosscurrents crew for airing my documentary on India's emerging gay rights movement. I took the portrait above of Anjali Gopalan in Delhi in January. Gopalan is the mastermind behind the Naz Foundation's successful petitions to make homosexual sex legal in India.

How to Save Newspapers

2009-07-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Call now for a picture of a reporter you can sponsor.

Nice video on Tribal Radio

2009-07-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is a cool video about Native American radio! Nice job, Time and Jesse Hardman.

Ira Glass receives Edward R. Murrow Award

2009-07-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting named Ira Glass, the host and executive producer of This American Life, the recipient of the 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award.

As a new radio journalist, I'm inspired by Ira's story--it took him a while to get where he is today! Here's some of his bio from the CPB site:

"Glass began his public radio career in 1978 with an internship at NPR in Washington, DC. Over the next 17 years, he worked on nearly every NPR news show and did nearly every production job they had: tape cutter, desk assistant, newscast writer, editor, producer, reporter and substitute host. In 1995, Glass and Chicago Public Radio launched This American Life which Glass created, produced and hosted. "

Delhi High Court Verdict Called Illegal, Irreligious and Unnatural

2009-07-09T05:33:00.000-07:00

The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Wednesday termed the Delhi High Court's verdict decriminalising homosexual acts among consenting adults as "illegal, irreligious and unnatural."

Backlash to India's Amended Section 377

2009-07-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

The backlash is building to the July 2 amendment of India's Section 377, the part of the Penal Code that made homosexuality illegal in India before last week.

India court overturns Section 377 today (that's the ban on gay sex)

2009-07-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

Today, Delhi's High Court overturned Section 377, the British colonial law that made homosexuality effectively against the law. Check out the press on it!

Jordan Considering Fewer Banana Farms In-House

2009-06-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

As the world's tenth poorest water state in the world and fourth poorest in the Arab world, Jordan is always considering ways to conserve its water. One solution, according to Jordan's Minister of Environment, would be to stop banana farming on Jordanian soils, and instead invest in Sudanese banana farms. Bananas would be imported into Jordan and water used for banana agriculture would be saved. But what does it cost--both in dinars, time and energy--to import bananas to Jordanian soils?

Jordanian & Iraqi Mothers Bond in East Amman

2009-06-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of activity most weekdays at the Jordan River Foundation 's Jabal Al Nasser center, and today is no exception. In a room off the center's sunny courtyard, Jordanian and Iraqi mothers chat in Arabic while putting the finishing touches on Elmo-lookalike puppets made at a workshop aimed to empower mothers and their children.

"My twins have fun with it," says one Jordanian woman, Sawsan Saad Al-Ahmad, of her rainbow-colored clown puppet. Al-Ahmad's twins are 13 years old. The puppet, she says, took her two days to make.

Many of the Iraqi women who came to the workshop are recent refugees now living in camps in East Amman where the center is located. The puppet-making workshop offers up a creative outlet and something to do with family in what for most of them is an extremely unsettling time.

The Foundation says they want to make lives easier for any woman or child who comes through the door.

"Many of these women are marginalized," says Huda Shashaa, the foundation's International Relation Development Manager. "When you're under such political and economic pressure, the chance of abuse becomes higher."

Sixtieth Anniversary of Peaceful Jordanian-American Relations

2009-05-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

To commemorate nearly 60 years of good relations between the US and Jordan, the Jordanian Embassy has sponsored a group of 10 journalists to spend a week in Amman, Petra and the Dead Sea. The first highlight? The food...

Port of Oakland Seeks Private Investment

2009-05-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

This year, the Obama administration has pledged to spend up to 150 billion dollars on infrastructure. But in Oakland, it’s not just the federal government that’s spending on improvements to highways, bridges, and ports. In a landmark deal, a private firm has pledged to spend millions to modernize the Port of Oakland. Port commissioners are happy for the infusion of capital, but there are also potential long-term costs. Check out the story as it aired on Crosscurrents Radio, KALW, San Francisco.

ZeeMaps Tutorial

2009-05-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

My tutorial made the ZeeMaps homepage! Check it out to see how to do map mash-ups...

Jackie Robinson

2009-04-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Robinson played his first major league baseball game today in 1947! My brother wrote about Robinson's inspirational story in his college entrance essay to W&M...

The Port Takes a Hit

2009-04-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

You can listen to the first of a couple of stories I did about the Port of Oakland at the Crosscurrents website!

Sourdough Bread and Amber Beer in Boonville

2009-02-20T16:34:00.001-08:00

Sourdough bread and Boonville amber beer at the Boonville Lodge & Restaurant. The burger wasn't as good as it could have been, but the sourdough and Boonville beer are worth stopping for in Anderson Valley, California!

Section 377 Story in India

2009-02-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

Currently working on radio documentary and multimedia slideshow on Section 377, the law that makes homosexuality in India illegal. Here's a shot of Sunil, who I interviewed in Chennai for the story.

The Immigration Court

2008-12-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Here's Chapter 5 in the series I did on Asylum and Refuge for Crosscurrents Radio, KALW 91.7 FM.

Getting Down In Redwood City

2008-12-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a slideshow about rollerskating in Redwood City, California, at one of the state's oldest rinks!

Asylum for persecuted gays and transsexuals

2008-12-02T17:00:00.000-08:00

Here's Chapter 4 in my series on Asylum and Refuge for Crosscurrents Radio, K.A.L.W. 91.7 FM. Listen to Tania talk about being transgender in Guatemala and moving to San Francisco a few years ago. With help from the East Bay Sanctuary, she's now living here legally and working at Victoria's Secret.

Fleeing Iraq

2008-11-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

In Chapter 3 of the Asylum and Refuge series on Crosscurrents Radio, K.A.L.W. 91.7 F.M., Ghazwan Al-Sharif tells his story.

Burmese refugees in Oakland

2008-11-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

Chapters 1 and 2 of a series on Asylum and Refuge for KALW 91.7 FM's news show Crosscurrents focus on refugees from Myanmar, the country formerly called Burma, who are now living in Oakland. Burmese refugees have been in the news recently thanks to Angelina Jolie, who has taken on the refugee situation in Burma as one of her causes.

Despite cancer, ex-Weymouth priest walking tall in journey to support human rights

2008-08-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

MILTON —

To get through his 200-mile trek from Boston to New Haven, former Catholic priest Jim Harney imagines the pain of Jesuit priest Ignacio Ellacuría before the Salvadoran army shot and killed him in 1989.

“The pain gets less when I imagine the bullet going through his head, or when I imagine how a refugee felt dying of thirst,” said Harney, who served at St. Jerome’s Church in North Weymouth.

Harney, 68, has dedicated most of his life to human rights.

More at The Patriot Ledger. Or check out the video on YouTube here.

Chinese-Americans have Olympic pride

2008-08-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

QUINCY —

Most nights, real estate broker Derek Wong has houses to show and clients to talk to. But Friday, he is setting business aside.

The 46-year-old Hong Kong native will have his eyes on the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

“As Chinese-Americans, we are very proud of the event,” said Wong, who moved to Quincy in 1983.

More at The Patriot Ledger.

Lux Level movie theater opening in Foxboro

2008-08-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

By ABBIE SWANSON

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Aug 07, 2008 @ 06:57 AM

Last update Aug 07, 2008 @ 03:44 PM

FOXBORO —

Once you go Lux, you never go back. ``I won’t go to the movies in the same way again,'' said Nick Lamb, who caught a screening of ``The Dark Knight'' with his wife, Maura, from the Lux Level seating at Showcase Cinemas in Randolph.

More at The Patriot Ledger.

Fat food: Study finds kids' meals are chock full o' calories

2008-08-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Advocacy group finds 93% of kids’ meals at 13 chains exceed calorie limit

By Abbie Swanson

GateHouse News Service

Posted Aug 05, 2008 @ 09:58 PM

QUINCY, Mass. —

The air conditioning in Taco Bell made 6-year-old Richie Gardner cold, but his soft tacos and red Blitz Speed Racer toy car were a temporary distraction.

“He loves Taco Bell,” said grandfather Joe Cronin, of Marshfield, who got Richie his kid’s meal at the Norwell, Mass., restaurant.

High obesity rates in children Richie’s age and the link studies show between obesity and fast food have become the latest target of an advocacy group’s report on the health impact of kids’ meals.

On Monday, the Center for Science in the Public Interest released a study that found 93 percent of meals at 13 restaurant chains exceeded the calories the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, recommends for children.

“Fried chicken is the most popular, followed by hamburgers, grilled cheese and macaroni and cheese,” said the center’s director of nutrition policy, Margo Wootan.

The center counted calories for kids’ meals at 19 national restaurant chains.

“For KFC, Sonic, Jack in the Box, Chick-Fil-A and Taco Bell, all of the possible meal options were too high in calories,” Wootan said.

Too high, meaning more than 430 calories per meal. The Institute of Medicine recommends three times that amount a day, or 1,300 calories, for moderately active children 4 to 8.

The company that owns KFC and Taco Bell, Yum! Brands, doesn’t think its meals are too caloric. It called the center’s study inaccurate.

“KFC offers a number of kids’ meal options well below 430 calories,” said a company spokesman, Rick Maynard. A drumstick, corn-on-the-cob, Teddy Grahams and small diet drink there, he said, is 290 calories.

The center included a biscuit and baked beans in its 940-calorie meal-calculation, items not part of its standard kids’ meals, he said.

Over the years, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit founded in 1971, has launched a number of campaigns against foods it considers unhealthy, including Chinese food, most fast foods, soft drinks, coffee and fettuccine Alfredo, which the group labeled a ‘‘heart attack on a plate.’’

FAST FOOD FACTS

The Center for Science in the Public Interest found children get one-third of their calories from meals eaten outside the home – two times more than in 1970.
Child obesity rates have tripled since 1980. Type 2 diabetes is so common in children, the prefix “adult-onset” has been dropped from its name.
One in every four children aged 5 to 10 have has high cholesterol. Coupled with too much saturated fat, this makes children more prone to heart disease as as result of arteries clogged in childhood.
Of the 25 restaurant chains the center looked at in its report, six had no children’s menus. The only chain that doesn’t offer soft drinks with kids’ meals, Subway, had the healthiest mini-sub kids’ meal options.
Burger King’s 420-calorie macaroni and cheese, fried apples “apple fries” and 1 percent milk was found to be a healthier option than the 910-calorie “Big Kids” meal of a double cheeseburger, fries and chocolate milk. Sonic’s “Wacky Pack,” a grilled cheese, fries and a slushie, came in at 830 calories.
Some New York City restaurants are required to list calorie counts. Twenty-five other states are considering legislation to mandate the display of nutritional information.

Source: The Center for Science in the Public Interest

Virtual vino at online wine-tastings

2008-08-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

Braintree store uncorks a cutting-edge way to reach younger customers

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Aug 04, 2008 @ 09:29 AM

Last update Aug 04, 2008 @ 12:58 PM

BRAINTREE —

Braintree wine merchants Craig Drollett and John Hafferty are helping to bring wine tasting, and all the swishing, sniffing and swirling that goes with it, online.

The pair opened a wine shop called Bin Ends on Wood Road in Braintree in May. They recently hosted their first online wine-tasting with the help of wine aficionado Eric Solomon. Solomon led the discussion on the social networking site Twitter.com, from his home in Charlotte, N.C.

As wine lovers across the world logged on to the site, Solomon blogged about the noses, legs and bouquets of the six Spanish wines chosen for sampling. More than 200 oenophiles sipped and blogged along with him as they sampled the wines during an hourlong session.

“Everybody’s tasting and no one’s being shy,” Drollett said as he watched the discussion unfold on his computer screen.

Although tasting wine in front of a computer screen doesn’t sound very social, Drollett speculated that most participants were not alone, making a party out of it by inviting friends and family to share in the online discussion. Then again, he said, some people just might prefer indulging in the intricacies of wine in the company of an online community rather than an actual crowd.

“You can be at home in your pajamas asking a guy like Eric Solomon questions, and no one would know,” Drollett said. “How often does that happen?”

Comments posted on Twitter ranged from the serious – “notes of straw, white peach, juicy and a hint of banana” – to light-hearted – “this wine is funky like Parliament” wrote a participant who gave his name as “1 Wine Dude.”

“I’m craving this wine with a pile of fresh shrimp showered with fresh lemon. Anyone got some to share?” posted Gabriella Opaz, who writes for Catavino, a Barcelona-based blog on Spanish and Portuguese wines.

As they moved into the red wines, “Richard” wrote, “I generally like Mexican wines, but this one did not do it for me. Almost too tannic; not enough fruit.”

With the online wine community growing, the owners of Bin Ends said synching up with wine bloggers is a good business move for them.

People between the ages of 21 and 34 are more likely to be online, Drollett said. And, according to Scarborough Research, people in that age group buy about 25 percent of the wine sold in the United States.

“Who’s up on Twitter? It’s not senior citizens, I can tell you that,” Drollett said.

WINE ONLINE

Bin Ends is sponsoring another online wine tasting beginning at 7 p.m. on Aug. 21. It will be led by Alsatian winemaker Etienne Hugel and Tim Elliot of http://www.winecast.net. Follow the tasting discussion online at http://twitter.com/binendswine. A list of the wines to be sampled on Aug. 21 is at http://www.binendswine.com/tastings.

South Shore natives know how to beat a recession

2008-08-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

Economic struggles recall 1991 recession

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Aug 04, 2008 @ 12:36 PM

Last update Aug 04, 2008 @ 12:50 PM

Spiraling gas prices, the Iraq war, increasing consumer debt, plunging housing prices. Just mentioning the factors driving today’s economy fill many with anxiety and despair.

But it’s nothing new, say South Shore residents who lived through the recession of the early 1990s.

“Some people must be terrified,” said Dennis Hurley, 66, who works the seafood counter at the East Weymouth Stop & Shop down the street from his house on Lakehurst Avenue. “Something’s got to change.”

The Ledger interviewed Hurley and members of six other families 17 years ago for a series on how everyday people were coping with the 1991 recession.

Hurley and others interviewed said they got through it by putting one foot in front of the other.

“The biggest challenge is to survive,” he said.

Economists say the 1991 recession has much in common with today’s economy.

Gas prices in 1990 jumped 75 percent from the previous year, not far from the 92 percent spike this year. Like this year, the real estate market was oversaturated. In 1991, there were too many condos and offices on the market; today there are too many houses.

In some ways, economists say, 1991 was worse.

Homeowners had to contend with mortgage rates 4 percentage points higher in 1991 than they do now. Drug prices, the cost of medical care and unemployment rates were also higher than today’s numbers.

But families in 2008 are carrying more debt than before. That, coupled with the decreased value of a single-family home since 2005, has been crippling, economists say.

“In 1991, we had two months of negative home prices. We’ve had almost two years now,” said John Bitner, chief economist for Eastern Investment Advisors.

Bob and Carole Smith lived at 34 Emerald St. in Quincy when The Patriot Ledger interviewed them in 1991.

Carole had been laid off from her job as a Quincy special education teacher. Unemployment benefits were running out.

Today, Carole, now 60, and her husband are retired and live in Eastham. They kept their Quincy home for their son, Bobby, now 31.

“We just put one foot in front of the other and kept going,” Carole Smith said.

The Hurleys said they made it through the recession in ’91 by never living beyond their means.

“Is it a good brand? Can we afford it? Is it a necessity?” said Dennis at home with his wife Ginger, 62, who works as a check-out clerk with him at Stop & Shop.

That frugal approach made the Hurleys debt free, even after they closed their television repair business in 2000.

Today they pay bills on time and only charge things when they have the cash to pay it off.

Ginger and Dennis said they still work so they can leave money to their children. “You’ve got to look to the future,” said Dennis.

There’s no food discount at the Stop & Shop, but both get health care benefits, a luxury at many jobs these days. With wages earned there, they pay off the $45 monthly drug co-pay for Dennis’s diabetes and Ginger’s blood pressure medicine.

Almost 10 years have passed since the Hurleys’ television repair shop shut down, but the old customers are still in town.

“Certain people will come just to her register,” said Dennis, looking at Ginger, his wife of 39 years.

“ ‘Is your husband working back in seafood?’ And I’ll say, ‘He is,’ and they’ll say ‘Good,’ ” said Ginger.

Not everyone recovered from the recession as well.

Donald Logue lost his job building homes in 1991 when the unemployment rate was at 9.3 percent. It peaked at 10 percent that year. He and his family spent time in a homeless shelter.

Seventeen years later, Logue, 64, has an associate’s degree from Massasoit Community College, but is unemployed. He is a cancer survivor, living alone in a studio apartment on Ocean Street in Marshfield.

Logue said he learned to live within the system.

“I’m a realist, so I limit my dreams. I’ve never set my sights on being a millionaire,” he said.

Repeal of out-of-state same-sex marriage ban seen as a win for business

2008-08-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Wedding industry joins gay couples in lauding move

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Aug 01, 2008 @ 08:42 AM

Last update Aug 01, 2008 @ 10:57 AM

BOSTON —

The repeal of a 1913 law that prevented out-of-state gay couples from marrying here was a life-changing event for Karen McCormack and Peggy Keegan. And businesses that cater to newlyweds predict it will boost their bottom line as well.

McCormack, a real estate agent, plans to marry her partner, who is from Connecticut, Sept. 6 on a boat in Boston Harbor. She said that a priest secretly ordained in Rome will conduct the ceremony.

The law’s repeal is personal for McCormack and Keegan. For others, it’s purely business.

Bob Infusino, owner of Isaac’s Restaurant in Plymouth, said he hoped the law’s repeal would bring more same-sex marriages to his establishment.

“I’ve actually only done one (for in-state residents), but hopefully now we’ll have more,” said Infusino.

Beverly Ann Bonner, a justice of the peace and event manager for the Bradley Estate in Canton, said the wedding industry is bound to get a boost.

“It trickles down, so it’s not just more business for justices of the peace; it’s more for the wedding venues, the bands, the caterers,” said Bonner. “It’s just more weddings,” she said.

A state study estimated the repeal would generate up to $111 million new business. The report estimated more than 30,000 out-of-state couples will marry in Massachusetts in the next three years.

Lambda Legal, a legal and gay rights advocacy group, said many New Yorkers would be taking advantage of the repeal because of its proximity to Massachusetts.

“It’s big. They just dropped the fence at the border,” said David Buckel, director of the group’s marriage project.

Many couples, Buckel said, will hire buses to bring family and friends to the South Shore and other Massachusetts wedding destinations.

Prior to the repeal, the United States was losing revenue generated by the weddings, Buckel said, as gay couples left the country for Canada or Europe to get married.

The state Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriages for residents in November 2003. Same-sex marriages began taking place in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004. The next day, then-Gov. Mitt Romney turned to a 1913 law preventing marriages for out-of-state couples if their home states would not recognize the unions. This law prevented gays from out of state from marrying here.

Ed Butler and his partner Les Schoof were one of the hundreds of couples who applied for marriage licenses in 2003 only to be refused because of the 1913 law.

“It was a discriminatory law to begin with,” said Butler, a New Hampshire state representative and justice of the peace from Hart’s Location, where he runs an inn with Schoof. They tried unsuccessfully to get a license in Somerville.

Butler and Schoof became plaintiffs in a lawsuit the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders took on to repeal the law.

He and Schoof plan to get married in Massachusetts soon. “Marriage is equality,” Butler said.

Until yesterday, California was the only state recognizing same-sex marriages for both in-state and out-of-state residents.

Although Karen McCormick and Peggy Keegan’s marriage will be recognized in Massachusetts, it will not be in Keegan’s home state of Connecticut. There, civil unions are recognized but marriages for same-sex couples are not.

“I’m taking her last name,” McCormick said of her soon-to-be spouse. “I think that will muddy the waters for anyone looking too closely at us in Connecticut.”

More people 'brown-bagging it' than ever

2008-07-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

Many say it’s cheaper, healthier and more convenient

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 29, 2008 @ 12:00 PM

Last update Jul 29, 2008 @ 12:17 PM

QUINCY —

Rosemary Chaves and Susan Lynch nicknamed friend Bobbie Milley “faithful” because of the salads with lettuce, chicken and cheese or hard-boiled eggs and croutons she religiously packs.

“It’s out of health and habit,” Milley, of Holbrook, said from a bench in front of the Stop & Shop corporate office at 1385 Hancock St., where she works.

Chaves and Lynch said they brown-bag it when they have the time to pack, too: fruit and yogurt or a sandwich. Both options were healthier and cheaper, they said, than the office cafeteria’s sandwich, chips and drink for $6.99.

Brown-baggers abound not just in Quincy, but across the South Shore and beyond.

More and more people pack lunch from home these days, according to a report released Monday by consumer marketing research firm The NPD Group Inc. Adults over 18 brought in 8.5 billion brown bag lunches in 2007.

Saving money, health concerns and convenience were the top reasons for bringing lunch in the bag, the study found.

White collar consumers and professionals aged 35 to 54 were the most likely to pack lunches. Men carried lunches more often than women, even if women living with them prepared their lunches.

Fruit, chips and peanut butter with jelly sandwiches were the most likely to be packed from home, the study reported.

“I usually bring pasta salad, carrots and sometimes pretzels,” said Kristin Haas, 19, eating an early lunch outside Quincy City Hall on Hancock Street, where she interns for the department of planning and community development. “It’s cheaper, and it’s easier to bring in than trying to go to the local places.”

The research group that did the study agreed with Haas, saying packed lunches were the answer to two increasingly pressing questions for American consumers.

“Does it save me time, and does it save me money?” said Harry Balzer, NPD’s vice president.

But consumers’ effort to save money is costing businesses that cater to the lunch crowd.

The increasing number of brown-baggers is cutting into sandwich shops, Quincy merchants and deli owners said.

“They prefer to bring in their own lunches,” said Sam Patel, the manager of Quincy Market at 33 Washington St.

Patel estimated a 30 percent drop in the deli’s sandwich business over two years, even with its popular $5 chicken salad and $5.99 pastrami and cheese subs.

The owner of Boar’s Nest Specialty Sandwiches at 1429 Hancock St., Dave Charbonneau, agreed. He guessed the 120 sandwiches his shop makes a day was 6 or 7 percent less than when he opened last December.

“The economy, gas, everybody’s trying to save every last penny,” said Charbonneau.

Abbie Swanson may be reached at aswanson@ledger.com.

Newest Babydoll's career is taking off

2008-07-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

By ABBIE SWANSON

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 26, 2008 @ 12:09 AM

Last update Aug 04, 2008 @ 12:55 PM

WEYMOUTH —

Dancing to the Blues Brothers’ “Peter Gunn Theme,” Cheri DeVille’s dream of being a burlesque dancer becomes a reality this Saturday night as she and the troupe, the Boston Babydolls, perform in Weymouth.

A 23-year-old waitress by day, Cheri DeVille isn’t her real name, it’s the stage name of her alter ego – a rockabilly race car girl. DeVille, who grew up in Hanson and Randolph, is the newest member of the Babydolls.

In the tradition of burlesque, a mix of vaudeville, satire and striptease, each of the Boston Babydolls will perform a different dance in character Saturday.

Each of the Babydolls has a stage name, like Honey Do or Betty Blaize, and stay in character, even for interviews with newspapers.

Says Mr. Scratch, who manages the troupe: “The characters we present on stage are who our audience is interested in. We’re trying to preserve some mystery and create a fun fantasy.”

Cheri’s is the race car girl act, which she said was inspired by one of her favorite burlesque stars, Dita Von Teese.

“The idea behind it is I’m going to be that girl that starts the race with a flag in the middle and the cars take off and go by next to me. I’ll be in a cutesy, red, pin-up-style strapless, puffs-out dress with red polka dots, cardigan sweater and white gloves. As I’m taking everything off, I’m turning into a bad girl,” Cheri said.

But unlike her idol Von Teese, who is known for her ’40s Betty Grable look and martini glass routine, DeVille’s look will be more ’50s. She’ll take off her red polka dot dress, but the baby doll bangs, colored tattoos, pouty red lips and high heels will stay on.

“I’m just really interested in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. I’m fascinated with everything about that time,” Cheri said.

Burlesque dancers don’t get fully undressed. Cheri said they wear pasties, garters, thigh-highs and underwear.

Being sexy with old-time glamour is the main attraction of being a Babydoll, Cheri said.

Burlesque troupes like the Boston Babydolls are more common in clubs these days, from San Francisco to Boston, club owners say. And the theater’s resurgence – its heyday in the U.S. was from 1870 to 1930 – has recently caught the eye of celebrities.

Sting and David Bowie are backing a proposed club called Forty Deuces in New York City. Cameron Diaz re-enacted Von Teese’s martini glass routine in the film, “Charlie’s Angels.”

“It’s (burlesque) not stripping. It’s its own kinds of dancing and I love the music. It brings that inner sex kitten out,” Cheri said.

Nick Silvestro, the owner of Weymouth’s Basta Bar, said he jumped at the chance to book the Boston Babydolls a few months ago and again on Saturday.

“They are a little risqué, but professional. There’s no nudity,” Silvestro said.

And since thongs and full nudity aren’t part of the Babydolls burlesque routine, Silvestro said Basta Bar doesn’t need an additional permit from the town.

Silvestro did run into trouble with the town this week, or at least the Weymouth police department. Officers said Silvestro called reporting a fight at the bar, then tried to get eight or 10 patrons to attack them. He was arrested for inciting a riot, appeared in court and a pre-trial conference is set for Sept. 3.

Silvestro said burlesque shows at Basta draw a diverse crowd, from those in their 20s to old-timers who remember Scollay Square and the Howard Theatre in Boston’s entertainment district, which used to have burlesque shows.

“The way they dress is old and that’s the way I like to dress,” Cheri said.

Like burlesque in its heyday, modern burlesque is known for its Marilyn Monroe-style figures – voluptuous.

“The girls are not these skinny, mini, perfect Playboy models. They’re real girls. It’s sexy,” Cheri said.

Cheri may have less experience than some of the other girls – cheerleading, tap and jazz is how she learned to dance – but she said she is eager to do her thing on stage.

“I might be a little camera shy, but you kind of act how the song goes. You want to play that role,” Cheri said.

Celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson spins in Boston

2008-07-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 24, 2008 @ 09:26 AM

Last update Jul 24, 2008 @ 12:06 PM

QUINCY —

At Wednesday’s Ultimate White Party, Teddy Wallun of Peabody had never seen so many cameras going off in his six years of working Boston nightclubs.

The flashes were all for celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson, who spun old-school hip-hop, classic rock and ’80s pop to about 700 people at the Estate nightclub on Boylston Street in Boston.

Everyone, with the exception of Ronson herself, was decked out in white.

“I didn’t know it was a white night,” Ronson said with a shrug, saying she would have dressed accordingly had she known.

Ronson’s gaffe at the South Shore’s third annual Ultimate White Party was no big deal: She was the main attraction.

And it was hardly noticed by the public relations team, given the major hiccups the White Party had already suffered that day because of the weather.

Until 1 p.m. Wednesday, the Ultimate White Party was scheduled to take place at the Marina Bay Beach Club in Quincy.

But after downpours soaked the South Shore, the club’s owners, Ed and Joe Kane and Randy Greenstein, were glad they decided to move the party indoors in Boston.

The Estate, which the Kanes and Greenstein also own, holds half the 1,600 capacity of the Marina Bay Beach Club.

As a result, the nightclub in Boston’s theater district was sold out by midnight, packed with club-goers in white linen, white tube dresses and white bathing suits.

DJ Buddy Costa of KISS 108 warmed up the dance floor for the early birds before Ronson arrived at 11:30 p.m. from the Nine Zero Hotel, where she was staying.

Although rumored girlfriend Lindsay Lohan was not with her, Lohan was in Boston, the club’s public relations team said.

When asked what records she would spin, Ronson said, “I read a room, and judge what people like.”

Her first mash-ups – two songs played on top of each other – did not line up perfectly. Prince’s “Kiss” was slightly offbeat of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me.”

But when she played Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” over Curtis Blow’s “The Breaks” followed by John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane,” Ronson found her groove and moved her head to the beat.

Puff Daddy, who threw the first white parties at his house in East Hampton, N.Y., was the inspiration for the party, Ed Kane said.

Kane had hoped he could guarantee Lohan’s appearance at the party.

“We tried to have her come and she wouldn’t do it for an affordable price,” Kane said.

The 30-year-old Ronson, on the other hand, did come at a reasonable price – for under $10,000, Kane said.

The nightly salary for celebrity DJs ranges between $6,000 and $30,000, Kane said.

Club-goers said Ronson drew a different crowd than last year’s DJ, supermodel Sky Nellor.

“It’s more of a gay crowd,” said Wallun, who used to work for Boston’s Avalon dance club for six years.

Ronson will be spinning tonight at Shrine in Ledyard, Conn.

Medic couple is home from Iraq

2008-07-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Married medics look forward to returning

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 21, 2008 @ 08:36 AM

Last update Jul 21, 2008 @ 08:42 AM

PEMBROKE —

Their drinks sweated during their welcome home party, but the heat and mugginess of Pembroke was nothing like the hot desert where married medics Heather Maddy and Mac White spent the last 10 months.

Maddy, 23, said the weather in Iraq was “like somebody had a hair dryer just blowing at you.”

Back home, the couple have 90 days off from drilling with the Army Reserve. That’s just enough time to readjust to paying bills, U.S. gas prices and not wearing the same uniform every day.

More than 30 family members and friends helped them readjust during the weekend at Maddy’s grandmother’s house, at 631 Washington St. Many of the revelers had not seen Maddy and White since they left for Iraq last August, just months after they got married in Plymouth.

Maddy and White volunteered to serve in Tikrit, northeast of Baghdad. After finding out that they could go together and work in the same hospital, they grabbed the chance.

Maddy, who graduated from Hanover High School in 2002 and enlisted as an Army Reserve nurse that same year, was taking nursing classes at UMass-Boston and working as an operating room technician at South Shore Hospital.

White, a Texan who enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2003, was working as a corrections officer at Bridgewater State Hospital.

The two met in 2004 at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford. They are assigned to the Worcester-based 405th Combat Support Hospital.

In Tikrit, they spent more time together than ever before. They lived in a small room on base and worked in the same hospital, he as an emergency room medic and she as an OR technician.

They had each other to talk to about trauma injuries and soldiers on the brink of death. They also talked about the Iraqis they treated – and they treated more Iraqis than Americans.

“We treated old people, women, babies, everybody. Good guys and bad guys,” Maddy said .

Because the hospital was a tent, troops with serious face and eye injuries were flown to hospitals in Beloit, Baghdad or the United States.

White treated one soldier who had been shot above his right clavicle. Three months later, he saw the soldier lifting weights in a gym.

“It was a great feeling,” White said.

Now they’re home and house hunting. But even if they’re more permanently settled in Massachusetts, nothing will keep them from going back to Iraq to serve. They just re-enlisted in the Reserve for six more years

“It’s indescribable how good we feel,” Maddy said. “People were so grateful we were there. It made us want to do more.”

ON THE WEB: http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/news11.txt

Drunk arrests pile up with aid of cops' new BAT Mobile

2008-07-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Officials say it’s like a barracks on wheels

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 21, 2008 @ 08:16 AM

Last update Jul 21, 2008 @ 10:44 AM

HINGHAM —

The pace of arrests was fast: 12 people arrested and charged with drunken driving in three hours.

Police said the first sobriety checkpoint in Hingham in a dozen years was a success, in large part because of a relatively new weapon in their arsenal: the Breath Alcohol Testing vehicle, or BAT mobile.

About 30 State Police troopers along with local police set up the roadblock Friday night on Route 3A in front of Bathing Beach. They stopped drivers until about 2 a.m. Saturday.

Seven adults were charged with drunken driving, three minors were charged with possession of alcohol and drunken driving, one person was arrested for possession of marijuana and one was charged with resisting arrest.

The first arrest at the roadblock came at 11:18 p.m.

Those arrested were taken to the Norwell or Hingham police station for booking. Meanwhile, waiting tow trucks loaded impounded vehicles.

The number of people arrested Friday night in Hingham was more than usual for three hours of work, police said. On average, 200 people are arrested on drunken driving charges in the entire state every week.

The job was made easier in Hingham by the presence of the $500,000 BAT mobile.

First unveiled in 2006, the BAT mobile is a police barracks on wheels. Complete with breath analysis devices, laptops for booking, a bathroom, an Internet connection to search prior arrests and a four-person holding cell, the BAT mobile allows officers on board, who call themselves the “BAT crew,” the ability to arrest and process large numbers of people at sobriety checkpoints.

“They have really streamlined the process,” said Tom Majenski, commander of the State Police barracks in Norwell.

The BAT mobile allows officers to check on more drivers during a roadblock than they would be able to without it, police said.

State Police have two BAT mobiles. Weekends during the summer, the two vehicles and their crews set up in different towns across the state and check on drivers.

Friday evening was BAT II’s debut in Hingham.

Officers said they hope the roadblock sends a message to drivers to think twice before driving after drinking.

“If we get the message to one person tonight, that will be a success,” State Police Capt. Gerard Regan said.

In 2006, 174 people died in drunken driving-related accidents in Massachusetts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The last drunken driving fatality in Hingham was 11 years ago, police said.

In addition to asking drivers smelling of alcohol or slurring their speech to submit to sobriety tests, police were handing out fliers to every driver that describe a designated driver program of Hingham police and the Plymouth County District Attorney's office.

The flier lists Hingham businesses that give out free soft drinks to designated drivers.

“People don’t think it’s going to happen to them,” said Hingham Police Sgt. Steven Dearth, who has been on the force for 15 years. “A lot of people feel like they won’t get caught.”

The following people were charged after being pulled over in the sobriety checkpoint in Hingham Friday night and Saturday morning:

Richard E. Decosta, 42, of 155 George Washington Blvd., Hull, was charged with possession of marijuana.

Peter A. Cahill, 22, of 3 Windjammer Way, Hingham, was charged with drunken driving.

Kenneth D. Dwyer, 24, of 21 Judy Road, Scituate, was charged with resisting arrest.

Robert W. Fusco Jr., 19, of 20 Merrymount Road, Weymouth, was charged with transportation of alcohol as a minor.

Daniel L. Thorne, 18, of 15 Andrew Road, Weymouth, ws charged with the possession of alcohol as a minor.

Joshua Pizarro, 18, of 30 Lochmere Ave., Weymouth, was charged with possession of marijuana and alcohol as a minor.

Mark Lebbossiere, 47, of 23 Independence Ave., Stoughton, was charged with drunken driving.
Barbara A. Doherty, 53, of 447 Beachwood St., Cohasset, was charged with failing to stop for a police officer.

Mariette Perdigao, 44, of 456 South River St., Marshfield, waas charged with drunken driving, failure to stop for a police officer, failure to stay in marked lanes, improper turns and failure to yield at an intersection.

Adrian Baldeon, 18, of 6 Manor Drive, Hingham, was charged with drunken driving.

Nicole Lorigan, 21, of 15 Popes Lane, Hingham, was charged with drunken driving and failure to stop at a red light.

Michael Deyeso, 48, of 8 Bates Lane, Cohasset, was charged with drunken driving.

Robert Clark, 22, of 79 Brooks Ave., Quincy, was charged with drunken driving.

Tim Larkin, 25, of 6 Hilltop Road, Weymouth, was charged with drunken driving.

Credit charges squeeze gas station owners

2008-07-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 16, 2008 @ 08:06 AM

Last update Jul 16, 2008 @ 01:13 PM

Drivers may be grumbling about high gas prices, but it’s gas station owners who are getting shortchanged.

Hefty credit-card fees are cutting into station owners’ already thin profits, leading some to make gas sales cash only. With credit-card sales increasingly common, many stations make less selling gas than ever – even as the price drivers pay at the pump continues to rise.

“The average person thinks the retailers are making a fortune,” said oil analyst Tom Kloza. “It’s actually the opposite.”

Read DOLLAR DRAIN, our continuing coverage of the economy and you.
Check out CHEAP GAS, our weekly survey of prices at the pump.

Today, gas stations make an average of 12 cents per gallon of gas sold, according to the Oil Price Information Service, which assesses the prices at thousands of retailers daily. But that’s before they get charged by credit-card companies – nearly 10 cents per $4 gallon. Add in occasional transaction fees, and the cost paid by gas station owners, per gallon of gas sold, could hit 15 cents.

In other words, when people use credit cards, a station is lucky to get a few cents per gallon of gas sold, with some getting less and failing to break even.

“Beats me how retailers make money off gas,” said Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores.

It didn’t used to be this way. A decade ago, station owners may have netted 20 cents per gallon in profit. Yet amid increasing competition, many have cut their prices – and potential profit margins – in a bid to keep what drivers pay at the pump down. Even going down 5 or more cents per gallon could slash their profits to next to nothing.

Moreover, people are paying more than ever with credit cards, not cash, and not with oil company-sponsored cards, which typically involve lower fees, if any, for station owners.

“I would estimate that about 70 percent of all sales these days are credit-card (sales), and that figure is rising,” Kloza said.

As a result, credit-card companies are making more with wholesale fuel prices being so high.

“They (credit-card companies) are making twice as much on the gallon now as they did two years ago when gas was $2 a gallon,” Lenard said.

One station, Weymouth Shell, south of the Fore River Bridge, makes a 15-cent profit per gallon before credit-card charges. But after the charges are paid, it makes only a few cents for each gallon sold, owner Jack Kanaan estimated.

“I paid $18,200 and change for credit-card fees last year,” Kanaan said.

credit-card companies say they are a very small component of the economic forces that determine what consumers pay at the pump.

“We can’t control the prices of oil,” said Sharon Gamsin, a spokeswoman for MasterCard.

Gamsin said the MasterCard fee, 1.8 percent, is low for gas retailers. It also has a $50 cap, so a gas station owner pays the same if a customer pays $49 or $99 to for a fill-up.

Many gas retailers, including Weymouth Shell’s Kanaan, rely on other revenue sources to keep their businesses strong. Kanaan relies on his garage.

While driving around, he’s seen plenty of evidence that gas station owners have been struggling.

“I had jury duty in Brockton, and I found four stations had closed,” he said.

Abbie Swanson may be reached at aswanson@ledger.com.

Dating-site posters running rampant

2008-07-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 10, 2008 @ 08:00 AM

Last update Jul 10, 2008 @ 08:18 AM

By the looks of it, the South Shore is full of lonely hearts. At least that’s the impression made by the forest of dating Web site ads tacked onto utility poles and road signs.

Residents looking for a date for Saturday night might not mind the glut of singles.org ads, but they infuriate the people responsible for keeping neighborhoods clean.

“We try to find the person who’s putting them up, but we haven’t caught them yet,” Pembroke Building Inspector George Verry said.

That’s because the source of the ads bearing names like Pembrokesingles.org or Weymouthsingles.org isn’t just a short drive away on Route 3. It’s in Panama.

NuStar Solutions of Panama City owns the domain names of more than a dozen South Shore-specific dating sites.

Not only are the companies responsible for the ads thousands of miles away, they aren’t easily traceable on the Internet. They don’t provide contact information on their paper ads or on their Web sites. And they don’t return e-mails.

“There’s no way of tracking the online ones,” Marshfield Building Inspector Gerald O’Neill said. “It’s real bad.”

So, it’s left to the locals to clean up the mess. And that takes time, and taxpayer money.

There are no uniform penalties for illegally posting signs. Even if there were, catching the culprits is too difficult, town officials said.

“I wish I had the time to track them all down, but I don’t,” Abington Highway Superintendent Kenan Connell said.

NuStar’s connection to the South Shore is another larger dating company called LoveAccess.com, which is based in Norwell. LoveAccess.com hires marketing companies like NuStar to advertise locally named sites such as Quincysingles.org. The Norwell company’s chief operating officer, Terry Fitzpatrick, said his company is the beneficiary of the advertising but isn’t to blame for it; NuStar is.

Asked about the proliferation of ads and the complaints from South Shore town officials, Fitzgerald said of NuStar: “I can turn this company off.”

He added that if the signs are bothering people enough that they are being torn off trees, he is wasting his marketing dollars.

But the signs persist, like the kudzu of the north.

Misspelled Braintree sign amuses many

2008-07-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

Disorder on Braintree sign: At least the right letters were all there ...

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jul 09, 2008 @ 03:39 PM

Last update Jul 09, 2008 @ 04:18 PM

BRAINTREE —

For days, a road sign reading “Eterning Braintree” had motorists wondering if it’s a new piece of Web lingo or just the product of a highway worker who slept through spelling class.

The sign had drivers heading north near the Braintree split doing double-takes. But it was nothing to Kenya native and Braintree shop owner Farzana Jalalkhan. Like a lot of transplants to Greater Boston, she thinks confusing road signs are a part of the local culture. So what’s the big deal about a misplaced consonant?

“The signs; the directions; the pronunciation of towns; it’s confusing,” Jalalkhan said with a chuckle. Even though she’s been here since 1983, “I still get lost all the time,” she said.

The sign went up last week. It was removed Tuesday, after a Patriot Ledger reporter asked state Highway Department officials about it.

The state said its contractor, Liddell Brothers Inc., of Norwell, put up the sign. When contacted, Liddell was not aware of the gaffe.

This isn’t the first time Liddell has had similar problems. In March, the contractor directed visitors to “Pilmoth” Plantation with another sign that has also since been replaced.

Entwistle guilty verdict no surprise

2008-06-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

By Abbie Swanson

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Jun 26, 2008 @ 09:46 AM

Last update Jun 26, 2008 @ 09:57 AM

When Neil Entwistle heard the jury’s verdict, he didn’t look surprised.

Neither were local lawyers, officials and South Shore residents when they learned that Entwistle had been found guilty of first-degree murder for the slaying of his wife, Rachel, 27, and 9-month-old daughter Lillian Rose.

“This case was very, very difficult for the defense,” said trial attorney Kevin Reddington.

“If you can’t go with a ‘not guilty by reason of insanity,’ you have to find other reasons,” Reddington said.

In the trial, which garnered national and international attention, the defense argued Rachel, 27, was deeply depressed, and as a result, killed her 9-month-old daughter Lillian Rose first and then herself on Jan. 20, 2006.

The defense chose not to call Neil Entwistle or any other witness to the stand.

“The lawyer’s job is to represent the client zealously,” said David Frank, a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reporter and former prosecutor.

“Asserting a defense that does not always sit well with the public risks alienating the jury,” Frank added.

The defense explained Entwistle’s behavior after finding his wife and daughter dead as post-traumatic distress from finding loved ones dead.

That behavior, his lawyer said, included cleaning the room where Rachel and Lillian were, returning the .22-caliber handgun he found there to his father-in-law and fleeing to his native England.

The guilty verdict came as no surprise to former Middlesex County prosecutor Wendy Murphy, who writes an opinion column for The Patriot Ledger.

“All the defense went on were four specks of gun residue on Rachel’s hands,” she said, referring to another piece of the defense argument.

The verdict came after nearly two days of deliberations. Entwistle was to be sentenced today to a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole.

Rachel Entwistle was born in Carver and graduated from Silver Lake High School. She, Neil and Lillian Entwistle had lived with Rachel’s mother and stepfather in Carver before moving to Hopkinton shortly before the slayings.

People in Carver were not surprised by the verdict.

“I think it hurt him in the long run not to call any witnesses,” said Bonnie Kennedy, 43, as she waited for a pizza at Mamma Mia’s on Main Street.

Across the table, Jack Walters, 48, a union electrician, agreed.

“The computer gave it all away,” he said, referring to Entwistle’s Internet records revealing attempts to get sexual partners online.

At Kingston’s Sunshine Stores, a grocery and liquor store, Harry Teets said he knew Entwistle would be convicted.

Teets has lived in Kingston, where Rachel Entwistle grew up, since the ’50s. He said one of his friends is buried near Rachel at Evergreen Cemetery.

“I say a prayer for her every time I go down there,” he said.

Rachel Entwistle’s family’s spokesman, Joe Flaherty, said people could easily make their own decisions about the case because it was so widely covered by media outlets.

“The important thing is the jury listened to that evidence and found, beyond a reasonable doubt, Neil Entwistle was responsible for the deaths of Rachel and Lilly,” Flaherty said after the family’s press conference at Middlesex County Superior Courthouse in Woburn.

For all voice coach needs, and more, simply ask Marilyn!

2008-05-23T21:08:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to Marilyn Pittman for her timely, professional advice to me during recording of narration for a colleague's white shark documentary. She can save you, too!

What do karo syrup, spaghetti, and trout have in common?

2008-05-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

Fake blood master Robert Selander graciously talks to me about pummeling theaters with karo syrup, spaghetti, jello, trout and kool-aide! For that, and other illuminating tidbits about mixing comedy with horror, and its origin in grand guignol theater, click here.

Nurses Under Pressure

2008-05-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

I interviewed two amazing women, Kay McVeigh and Lorraine Thiebaud, about what it means to be a nurse. The final draft has less music in it, especially at the end of the piece, but you can hear what aired on KALX 90.7 FM May Day by clicking here. Thanks, too, to Steven Greenhouse for making the time to talk to me during his book tour!

The Outlaw Image in Hip-Hop

2008-04-24T17:03:00.001-07:00

Rapper Ise Lyfe (left)

Hip-Hop Journalist Eric Arnold (left)

Rapper Messy Marv (left)

Props to East Oakland rapper Ise Lyfe, veteran hip-hop journalist Eric Arnold and SMC Recording's Kate Wolfson for help on this deep radio piece on the outlaw image in hip-hop. It aired on KALX 90.7 FM April 24, 2008. You can listen to it and find out more about these great folk I am honored to speak with at northgateradio.com

East Hundred on KALX!

2008-04-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

Check out a radio piece I did on my cousin's band! They are releasing their third album, Passenger, in August. You can hear the whole show that aired on KALX April 3 here, or for the East Hundred story without listening to the whole show, click here. It's a little bit down the page.

Jamaican culture permeates local scene

2008-03-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Messanjah Selah and Sister Ilive for letting me into their home for this story! There are pics of the two of them in the hard copy of the Oakland Tribune from Sunday. They play most Saturday nights at Sweetfingers, too. Click here for the full story about them and more Jamaicans that are calling the Bay area home.

Lost and Found on KALX

2008-03-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a North Gate Radio show I produced for Berkeley's KALX that's packed with excellent stories. Click here to listen to an interview of Kitchen Sister Davia Nelson, and stories of the freebox, lost and found religion, pitbulls and roots. Plus music from Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Cliff, George Clinton, Devendra Banhart and more.

Bandit Barriers Signal Gentrification in Temescal

2008-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

KFOG's Beat of the Bay picked up a radio piece about bandit barriers like these that signify gentrification in Temescal, Oakland. Click here to listen to all of Peter Finch's show on KFOG called "March 15: Best of the Beat" or here if you simply want to listen to the piece. It's called "Glass Walls," and is halfway down the page.

Bringing the Tutors In-House

2008-02-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

No Child Left Behind-sponsored tutoring is not working so well in San Jose. But teachers and principals in low-performing schools there found another way to get test scores up. Click here for the story that ran as part of a series on NCLB in California in the East Bay Express.

Auto Show Fans Going Green

2007-11-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

A young blonde boy called my favorite car at San Francisco's auto show "ghetto," but I thought it was beautiful. It is pictured above, a red and white 1959 Chevy, with inscriptions all over it. Click here to read the full story about the show.

An International Marketplace

2007-11-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

Shahid Salimi was so nice to me--he and his sister gave me chocolates--at this excellent halal market on San Pablo at University. Check out the story about his and other markets at Berkeley's "International Marketplace" district.

Absent bulbs keep ZooLights dark

2007-11-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

I wrote a story for the Oakland Tribune about the zoo's annual holiday light show being cancelled this year because the zoo is "going green" and wanted to do the show in light-emitting diodes. Click here to check it out! I was in New York visiting friends when the story ran Saturday.

Bra Fitters a Booming Industry

2007-11-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

Oprah said it and she was right! 85 percent of women are wearing the wrong bra size. But there are women out there who can help. Check out the full story on North Gate News--a slideshow is to come.

Food for the Soul

2007-11-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

My esteemed Berkeley colleague Manal Ahmad quoted me in her piece about this year's fast for Ramadan. Click here to read her really excellent story.

Extreme Sports Enthusiasts Enjoy Icer Air Event

2007-11-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

I have never seen so much snow (or air) on a 70 degree day! Click here for the story.

New Plan to Rid SOMA of Homeless Questioned

2007-11-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

What was clear to me as I was reporting was the line that Market Street draws in between the haves and the have-nots. One side of the street, where the Westfield Mall lies, is "clean," with not one homeless person sitting and sleeping on the street. But on the other side, where the BART Powell Station lies, were some two dozen homeless people killing time. In just a matter of minutes, I spoke to two homeless men, one who was HIV positive and another who had skipped his parole in Delaware.

While these stories were meaningful to me, it seems as though San Franciscans have had their fill. Many I talked to want a way to deal with the homeless, given the high number that come to the Bay for its temperate climate. One shopper at the Westfield Mall offered a solution: bussing the homeless to jails overnight to keep them off the street, former NYC Mayor Giuliani-style. One wonders if there's room in the jails.

Here Mayor Gavin Newsom talking about his new initiative for SOMA after a press conference about San Franciscans staying healthy.

Click here to get the full story.

Hotel Housekeepers Fight for Back Pay

2007-11-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

I'm told by Nischit Hegde, an old friend from New York who now works for UNITE-HERE in the Bay and Sacramento that after Woodfin took the city and housekeepers to court in October, Emeryville has rescinded its ruling revoking Woodfin's operating license. The city made the decision, I guess, to leave wage-and-hour disputes to Alameda County to decide.

Click here to read the story.

Health Insurance Non-Existent for Migrant Workers

2007-10-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

You can get the best stories while talking to people on Olivera Street while eating tacos. Click here to read a story from the 2007 Binational Migration and Health Conference that took place in LA last week.

Raging Fire a “Surreal” Experience for Students from Southern California

2007-10-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a story on North Gate News I wrote about Berkeley students whose families are coping with the fires down south. My father, who is visiting his parents in San Diego, said that the beach there is covered with ash an inch thick.

Castro Businesses Looking to Party on Halloween

2007-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Seems like not all Castro merchants are happy about being asked to close their doors this Halloween!
Click here for the full story.

Pollution Causing Health Problems at Port of Oakland Report Says

2007-09-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Kudos to trucker Mengsteab Teweldebirhan who made it through yet another three-hour line yesterday to unload his cargo at the Port of Oakland. He talked to his friend in Tigrina on his radio during breaks of our conversation.
Click here for the full story.

School Bus Drivers Fast Becoming a San Francisco Rarity

2007-09-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

“I feel like people think about us as second-class citizens without knowing everything we go through to be behind that wheel,” Luis Vallejo says of the rigorous training and driving tests the drivers must go through.

“I think,” Vallejo pauses, “I don’t know. I feel really proud of what I do. What we do and the qualities we have make me feel like we’re not average drivers, we’re above the average drivers.”
Click here for the story.