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Zimmerman: Do we really need long summer breaks from school?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

Our long summer vacation is a relic from an agricultural past when kids were needed for seasonal work on farms — or so we’ve been told. Since that’s no longer the case, we should lay the three-month summer break to rest, right?We’ve heard that argument over and over again from politicians and other critics of summer vacation and all its parental and educational discontents. The COVID-19 pandemic, which spawned dramatic learning losses for America’s students, only heightened concerns about long summer breaks. Our kids need more school, the reasoning goes, and summer is an obvious time to start.They might be right about that, but the oft-repeated folk history is wrong. When our common school system began, in the early 19th century, students actually went to school in the summer. And if we want to bring them back today, we’ll need new ways to teach them.When most Americans lived and worked on farms, the busy seasons were spring and fall — for planting and harvesting, respectively. So k...

HBO’s ‘Last Call’ tracks ’90s killer targeting gay men

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

There’s an eerie sense of déjà vu with HBO’s “Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York.”The four-part true crime series, now streaming, focuses on four victims, gay men in the 1990s, who were murdered, dismembered, their remains found in garbage bags along a New Jersey highway.However the emphasis here is not, as is usual in true crime, on the demented killer but the men who we are vividly brought to see as people with families, loved ones and full lives.Adapted from an Edgar-winning 2021 book also called “Last Call” by director Anthony Caronna and producer Howard Gertler, what ultimately emerges is an unstinting portrait of the violence done not just to a gay quartet but to gays, lesbians, trans people in general.The documentary chronicles police and institutional indifference, if not neglect. That makes the climatic court trial a tense test case of basic gay civil rights.“What we wanted to do was set the table so people understood that in 2005,” Caronna said, “gay ma...

Boston has great ways to enjoy the water and keep cool this season

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

It’s hot and you just want to cool off and relax in or near the water. But you don’t have to head out of the city to find that oasis – the Hub’s got you covered.Boston is peppered with amazing spots to cool off and have yourself a water-themed summer day and/or night.Whether you want to be active, master the lounge chair, embrace your inner kid or celebrate your grown up self, you’ve got options all over. Consider these smack-in-the-city choices.Water-level fun: You’ve walked or driven along the Charles River and smiled at the rowers, stand up paddle boarders, sailors and others soaring along that calm waterway. Looks like fun?The Kimpton Marlowe (https://www.hotelmarlowe.com) in Cambridge has just the amenity you need. Check in and you’ve got free access to stand up paddle boards and kayaks (singles and doubles are available) for you to pop into the Charles and take a scenic glide.The L.L. Bean products are built for easy use and cut well though the river. You’ll ...

Apologize for entering home without permission

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

Q. The kids are with me every few days. It’s a tough schedule, particularly when the kids are in school. We often forget things. This time their dad forgot to send our son’s teddy bear with him, and he wouldn’t take a nap. I knew his dad never locked his front door and so I just went over there, even though my ex wasn’t home, and went inside to retrieve the teddy bear. When my ex found out I was in his home when he wasn’t there, he was livid. Was I that wrong? What’s good ex-etiquette?A. In a word: Yep.When there is an open-door policy — literally in your case — the transition after moving on can be difficult, especially if you used to live in the home. ”Oh, well, I’ll move quick, and it won’t hurt anyone.”But you disrespected your ex. Walking into his home without his permission is way over the top.If you were really at odds and dad had made a bigger fuss, my law enforcement friends warn that your actions could have been perceived as breaking and entering. Granted, you didn’t “brea...

It’s ‘Time’ to check out Culture Club’s fresh stuff at Xfinity Center show

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

The first two thirds of Culture Club’s “Miss Me Blind” belong to Boy George and his seductive pop coo. But guitarist Roy Hay owns the final third. The Top 5 hit closes with Hay laying down an epic guitar solo somewhere between funk champion Eddie Hazel and shredder Eddie Van Halen – although Hay points to someone else.“It was Ernie Isley for me,” Hay told the Herald of his inspiration behind the “Miss Me Blind” solo.Hay isn’t typically associated with big rock guitar the way his idols are. But that’s part of Hay’s genius as a player, songwriter and collaborator.“You play what the band needs,” Hay said ahead of Culture Club’s headline slot at the Xfinity Center on July 25. “Someone asked me who the greatest guitar player is and I said, ‘I don’t know because if you put Dave Gilmour in Led Zeppelin it’s not the right thing.’ It’s all about getting the right player in the right band to create the right sound.”Hay has always been the right player even if the band has gone wrong at times....

Cat treats apartment like his litterbox

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

Dear Dr. John,I adopted a cat, Marty, a few months ago from a shelter. He has settled in fairly well. I had another cat named Mick that I had to put to sleep last fall after a protracted illness. Recently, I have found Marty urinating outside of his litter box in various locations around the apartment. I wonder if he does it because of any smells of my previous cat still lingering in the apartment. What could other causes for this new behavior be? I clean out his litter box every day.  Am I doing something wrong? He seems content, has the run of the house, but I need to find a way to stop this from happening. Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated. K.R.Dear K.R.,There is always the possibility that your new cat found some residual odors in your home that has triggered his urinating or marking behavior in the home, but it is not highly likely. I presume that Marty is neutered and the fact that the inappropriate voiding did not start at the beginning makes this less of a ...

How mid-career professionals can find their next job

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

Newly minted college graduates often utilize career placement services at their colleges and universities as they seek to land their first job in their chosen field. Such services typically are not utilized by mid-career professionals, who are generally those individuals with ample experience but who are still many years away from retirement.But it’s not necessarily easy for anyone to find a new job in the digital era, so mid-career professionals can utilize some strategies to increase their chances of finding a job that allows them to advance to the next step in their careers.Identify your priorities.Mid-career professionals who are working but want to move on to a new opportunity have the luxury of looking for a position that aligns with their priorities and should take full advantage of that position. Identify what you like or don’t like about your current job.Variables that merit consideration include the job itself, but also company size, workplace culture and benef...

A surprising number of adults sleep with plush animals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

Tara McFeeters sleeps in a crowded bed.There’s a dory fish; a beet named Claudia; Gordon, the shark; and an octopus called Chester.“I love, love sleeping with stuffed animals,” said McFeeters, 23, of Northeast Philadelphia, a senior studying sociology remotely at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.“As I grew, the animals made me feel safe, even though the world and all the crime in it don’t. The stuffed animals became my emotional support, like petting my dog.“Every woman in college has them — for sure, so many Gen Z people all do.”Combining whimsy with a soothing, almost therapeutic effect, stuffed animals are not just for kids. They beat back anxiety, hasten sleep, and make the world a little more tolerable for grown-ups who maintain menageries of the creatures in their beds.“It adds a little emotional texture to life,” said Max Genecov, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania who has written about stuffed animals.“And these days, young people a...

Editorial: Progressive enmity toward Israel rises to surface

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

President Joe Biden met with the Israeli president at the White House Tuesday in an effort to bolster relations between the two longtime and vital allies. But the White House must do more to tamp down the anti-Israeli sentiment that frequently bubbles up in the party’s far-left progressive wing.The week before, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Washington Democrat who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told a group of pro-Palestinian protesters that “Israel is a racist state.” Rep. Jayapal quickly walked back her comments. Democratic House leaders issued a tepid statement condemning her misguided assertion.But this has become a pattern in recent years. In 2021, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., compared the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. Previously, Democrats had debated whether to censure Rep. Omar for what critics called antisemitic comments. They never did — and many of her progressive colleagues defended her against condemnations from more moderate Democrats.It was...

“Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case” shines light on sensational crime

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:48 GMT

“Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case,” Netflix’s latest true-crime case, streaming Wednesday, brings to light an international missing person case that remains sadly relevant.On July 1, 2000, British flight attendant turned Tokyo nightclub hostess Lucie Blackman, 21, goes missing.  When her father and look-alike younger sister arrive in Japan to press the police in finding Blackman, the attractive, obviously beloved blonde quickly becomes an international media sensation.The spur to reviving this decades-old case was a book written by Shoji Takao.  For the documentary Hyoe Yamamoto, who went to high school in Massachusetts, knew there were many cultural complexities to consider.  In both Tokyo and London Lucie Blackman almost instantaneously became a tabloid headliner. Once other victims were discovered and the police realized they were chasing a sexual predator, the coverage increased.“For myself, the first if obvious challenge was whether we’re going to be able to get any acces...