Rick Winterson

By RICK WINTERSON On With Living and Learning (OWLL) brings together underrepresented women and girls with teaching artists and human service professionals. Leadership workshops result in theater performances that focus on social justice issues. These serve as passageways to transforming and developing a community’s future. Mary Driscoll, the founder of On With Living and Learning. (Photo by Rick Winterson) OWLL was founded by Fort Point’s Mary Driscoll. A recent performance of “Humanity not Statistics”, written by Mary and directed by Tasia O. Jones, took place in a novel site – the Tropical Forest Pavilion at the Franklin Park Zoo. This was a staged reading, in collaboration with Sisterhood on the Move and Samuel Hurtado of South Boston en Accion, in memory of Marvin [...]

By RICK WINTERSON You might well ask how we observe Patriots Day in South Boston. It is one of the most important historical dates in Boston’s history – the start of the American Revolution, Paul Revere’s ride, the Lexington Minutemen, and “the shot that was heard around the world” at the Old North Bridge in Concord. This year of 2016 saw the 120th running of the Boston Marathon – world famous and better than ever. The Red Sox played Monday morning (though they lost to the Blue Jays). Lexington, Concord, and all the minuteman towns had huge celebrations on Monday (except for Sudbury’s rock-ribbed traditionalists, who insist upon the actual date of April 19). The swan boats hit the water in the Public Garden for [...]

“Educating for Success” is the theme of South Boston’s Notre Dame Education Center spring fundraiser. The guest of honor is Jim Fowkes. The event is Thursday evening, May 5, at The Venezia in the Port Norfolk neighborhood, with its superb dining and stunning views where the Neponset river estuary meets the sea. By RICK WINTERSON This article contains an implied challenge: It must deliver a welcoming message to South Boston’s many newcomers, as well as reminding longtime residents that a much-anticipated event is at hand. The event is the Notre Dame Education Center’s Annual Spring Fundraiser; it takes place Thursday, May 5, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Visit ndecboston.org or call 617-268-1912 for tickets. The party’s site will be The Venezia Waterfront Restaurant, where that [...]

By RICK WINTERSON A remarkable cast of characters assembled at the Cronin Group’s headquarters for a double-barreled event on the Waterfront last Thursday evening. It was remarkable because of the extremely positive roles they all play in recovery from drug abuse and addiction. The four leading players were Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Robert DeLeo, the recipient of the first Martin J. Walsh “Leadership in Recovery” Award; Walsh, himself in recovery and presenter of the award named for him; Andy Ward, director of the South Boston Collaborative, the recovery organization that founded this award; and Jon Cronin, president of the Cronin Group, who hosted this celebration and who is a devoted supporter of recovery efforts and programs. It was an all-star cast. Cronin opened [...]

Please plan to be at John Hancock Financial’s striking fourth floor atrium (601 Congress St. in South Boston’s Seaport District) on Thursday, April 28, 5 to 8:30 p.m. The occasion: the 34th Laboure Spring Reception. Sr. Maryadele Robinson and her three decades devoted to Laboure will be recognized with the 2016 Jack Shaughnessy Service Award. It’ll be an evening of fun and fellowship. By RICK WINTERSON It was an interview very typical of Sr. Maryadele Robinson, the director of South Boston’s Laboure Center, a service site of Catholic Charities. When asked how she felt about receiving this year’s service award, which is named for philanthropist Jack Shaughnessy, she immediately began to talk about how much Jack had done, both for Laboure and for the whole South [...]

By RICK WINTERSON It’s fundraising season in South Boston: the time after the St. Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day festivities are over, and set right in the middle of the so-called gifting season. And these fundraisers are great “Southie times.” You know the motto: “Do well by doing good, and have a great time doing it.” It works. Well, that was certainly true of the Oliver Hazard Perry School’s fundraising party, “Perry School Rocks,” last Saturday. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining (or snowing!) because they raised the roof inside Seapoint’s Banquet Room on Eighth Street. The Perry, a K-8 elementary institution, is the only school in South Boston with a seaside location, they’ll have you know. This fundraiser is for activities such as field trips, as well [...]