News

By Richard Campbell As big box retailers fade into irrelevance blaming Amazon for their demise, LL Bean’s opening in the Boston Seaport this past week showed everyone that old fashioned customer service, genuine product, and just being friendly drives customer loyalty.  I’ve been to plenty of store openings over the years, and would have to go way back to recall any store opening with such smart style, well trained staff, and genuine great vibes. Rarely does this writer to wait outside a store in a cow line, but I showed up and hour early to be a gift card recipient and mind waiting at all because the LL Bean staff kept coming by lavishing us with freebies (water, water bottles, hats, pens).  LL Bean greeters [...]

by Rick Winterson      South Boston’s Neighborhood Advisory Council meets monthly to conduct an open, back-and-forth discussion of police matters in and around South Boston.  This meeting, called by Station C-6 Capt. Joseph Boyle on Wednesday evening, April 4, was particularly interesting locally. March’s key event, of course, was the St. Patrick’s/Evacuation Day Parade on Sunday, March 18.  Capt. Boyle reported that it was comparatively peaceful along the Parade’s abbreviated route, which terminated halfway along the usual route, at Farragut Road.  A few complaints were voiced about the length of the lines into the bars and taverns along Broadway, but nothing really serious occurred because of these.  Some 67 police actions were taken during the Parade itself – lower than last year’s total of [...]

By Richard Campbell One of the more complex and widespread problems in today’s educational environment is how to educate students who are dealing with Adverse Child Experiences, commonly called ACEs. With the ASCD Conference emphasis upon educating the whole child, a group of educators from South Central Pennsylvania came prepared to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center with an in-depth presentation for educators on how to detect, evaluate, and respond to the problem of ACEs. Their presentation was entitled: “ACEs Paradigm Shift in How the School Community Can Address the Whole Child.” The presenters were Ellen G. Smith MD., School Counselor, Meg Riley M.ED, MMS, and Jeannette Fodness, Teacher and Instructional Coach M.Ed, who are professionals working in their respective school districts with educators and children. Utilizing [...]