Rick Winterson

By RICK WINTERSON As the parent of a small child, you don’t have to be told that your son or daughter is developing very rapidly. Many research studies have shown that kids’ brains develop just as rapidly as their young bodies. A number of these studies have been done locally – the Achievement Gap Initiative (the AGI) at Harvard and programs in the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center are two examples. How would you, as a caring parent, like to become familiar with the results of all this research? Well, it’s easier than you may think. Just invest two hours of your time –  5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23, at the Condon Community Center at 500 D St. You will [...]

By RICK WINTERSON This will be in part an editorial and in part kind of a social commentary. After our recent weather, you don’t need to be told that spring, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, has arrived. And we have a very special South Boston holiday weekend at hand. However you spend it (even watching a half-amputated parade on Sunday afternoon), St. Patrick’s Day will be a celebration. Last winter, we set a record for snow; this year, we’ve totaled only about half of our usual snowfall in South Boston. But no matter, because we have the assistance of three saints to get us through the wintry cold, darkness and frozen precipitation. The three saints, of course, are Nicholas, Valentine and Patrick. Nicholas, whose feast [...]

By RICK WINTERSON The South Boston Boys & Girls Club held its 40th annual St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon on Friday, March 11. It was an auspicious event – the weather, the location in the Westin Boston Waterfront’s “Laugh Boston Comedy Club,” an enthusiastic sell-out crowd, the upcoming Daylight Savings change, and of course, a corned beef and cabbage feast all combined to make a truly festive event. Twenty-four tables were filled to overflowing. Even the jokes from our elected officials garnered laughter. South Boston Clubhouse member Tara Murphy received a Boys & Girls Club “Youth of the Year” Award from the Massachusetts House of Representatives, which was presented to her by Sen. Linda Dorcena-Forry and Rep. Nick Collins. She was also the Luncheon’s keystone speaker. [...]

By RICK WINTERSON Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is a private, nonprofit that has devoted enormous effort to cleaning up the beaches in and around the City of Boston – coast to coast, from Nantasket to Nahant. And it has worked. The beaches of Boston are clean enough for swimming almost every day of the year, and the beaches of South Boston are the cleanest of all. Last Sunday, the nonprofit held a fundraising event at the Curley Community Center. It was the Harpoon “Shamrock Splash,” a polar plunge emceed by SHSB’s hard-working Bruce Berman, who took the plunge himself. Costumes were the order of the day. The photos above could not capture them all, but you get the idea.  There were lobsters, Picts, colleens, [...]

It’s the season: the 2016 paraders gathered at the Thomas J. Fitzgerald Post, VFW No. 561, on Fourth Street last Saturday afternoon. The occasion was a fundraising event in support of the St. Patrick’s/Evacuation Day Parade. As you can see, it was a jam-packed, standing room only event. Among those who greeted the many guests were the brothers Mullen, Jim and John, Post Commander Ed Flynn, and Tommy Florentino, the Fitzy Post’s trumpeter extraordinaire. When you go there next, be sure to take a good, long look at the murals refurbished and recreated by local artist Norm Crump. -Rick Winterson

Twenty-five public-spirited people attended the Narcan training session on Monday, which was sponsored by the Action Center in the Laboure Conference Room. As you certainly know, Boston, and indeed all of Massachusetts, are in the grip of a heroin/opioid overdose epidemic. Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is quick, effective remedy for opioid overdoses. After an hour or two of training, police, firefighters, EMS personnel, health professionals and even properly trained laypersons can administer it. Narcan is frequently administered as a nasal spray. -Rick Winterson