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  • Canned chickpeas — and their liquid — create an elegant, garlicky soup

    Canned chickpeas — and their liquid — create an elegant, garlicky soup

    Though many people prefer the flavor and texture of dried beans, canned beans have a leg up besides convenience. The super-starchy liquid in the can is like an ingredient itself. Reserving the liquid to add to a soup or stew as it simmers lends body and creates a creamier, velvety consistency. The cooks at Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street use the liquid to help transform canned chickpeas into an elegant pureed soup built on the beans. Slowly simmering a whole head of garlic in the soup adds sweet depth. Cumin, cayenne and garlic add a bold kick to complement the chickpeas’ earthiness, while carrots and onion add sweetness.

    Though we often prefer the flavor and texture of dried beans, canned beans have a leg up besides convenience — the super-starchy liquid in which the beans are packed is like an ingredient itself. Reserving the liquid to add to a soup or stew as it simmers lends body and creates a creamier, velvety consistency.

    We use the liquid too in this recipe from our book “Cook What You Have,” which draws on pantry staples to assemble easy, weeknight meals. It adds richness to an elegant soup built on pureed chickpeas and a whole head of slowly simmered garlic.

    Cumin, cayenne and garlic add a bold kick to complement the chickpeas’ earthiness, while carrots and onion add sweetness.

    If you own an immersion blender, you can use it to puree the soup directly in the saucepan; the texture won’t be perfectly smooth, but the flavors still will be great.

    Chickpea and Garlic Soup with Cumin-Spiced Butter

    https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/chickpea-garlic-soup-cumin-spiced-butter

    Start to finish: 1 hour (25 minutes active)

    Servings: 4

    5 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces, divided

    1 medium yellow onion, chopped

    2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

    Kosher salt and ground black pepper

    3 teaspoons cumin seeds, divided

    ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper OR red pepper flakes, plus another ¼ teaspoon (optional)

    Two 15½-ounce cans chickpeas, 1 cup liquid reserved, rinsed and drained

    1 head garlic, outer papery skins removed, top third cut off and discarded

    1 teaspoon white OR black sesame seeds

    In a large saucepan over medium-high, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add the onion, carrots and ½ teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are lightly browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon cayenne and ¼ teaspoon black pepper; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the chickpeas and the 1 cup reserved liquid, the garlic, 4 cups water and ¼ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then reduce to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is soft when the head is squeezed with tongs, 30 to 35 minutes.

    Remove the pot from the heat. Squeeze the garlic cloves from the head into the chickpea mixture; discard the empty skins. Let the chickpea mixture cool for about 5 minutes.

    Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-high, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons cumin seeds and cook, stirring, until fragrant and the butter has stopped foaming, 1 to 1½ minutes. Add the sesame seeds and another ¼ teaspoon cayenne (if using); cook, stirring, until the sesame seeds are toasted and fragrant, about 1½ minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside, covered.

    Using a blender and working in batches so the jar is never more than half full, puree the chickpea mixture until smooth. Return the soup to the pan and cook over medium-low, stirring often, until warmed through, 2 to 5 minutes. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the saucepan.) Taste and season with salt and black pepper. Serve drizzled with the butter mixture.

    Optional garnishes: Lemon wedges OR chopped fresh cilantro OR both

    By Christopher Kimball | Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street

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  • Fundraiser to benefit Beverly man diagnosed with ALS

    Fundraiser to benefit Beverly man diagnosed with ALS

    BEVERLY — Friends of a Beverly man diagnosed with ALS are organizing a fundraiser on behalf of him and his family.

    The event, called “Mugs for Mike,” will benefit Mike Marcinkowski, who at the age of 53 was recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

    The fundraiser is scheduled for May 23 from 6-11 p.m. at the Italian Community Center in Beverly. It will include the chance to win gift cards and merchandise donated by local sponsors.

    John Frates, one of the organizers, said the fundraiser will help Marcinkowski’s family deal with the range of expenses caused by the disease, including medical bills, equipment and home modifications.

    Frates is the father of Pete Frates, the Beverly man who inspired the Ice Bucket Challenge that raised millions of dollars for ALS research. Pete Frates died in 2019 at age 34.

    John Frates said he was introduced to Marcinkowski through Paul LeBel, a mutual friend who is organizing the fundraiser.

    “I met the (Marcinkowski) family in January and I have to say he’s now part of our family too,” John Frates said. “You automatically have to say that you love that person because this is a man given a terminal diagnosis.”

    Frates said “Mugs for Mike” is modeled on the “Pints for Pete” events that were held for Pete Frates. He said he’s hoping that people who came out to support Pete will do the same for Marcinkowski.

    ALS is a progressive neurological disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to paralysis. There is no cure. Marcinkowski was diagnosed with bulbar-onset ALS, which primarily affects muscles in the face, head and neck and is considered one of the most devastating variants of ALS, according to the National Institutes for Health.

    For more information on “Mugs for Mike” or to donate, go to www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-mike-marcinkowski.

    Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@northofboston.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

    By Paul Leighton | Staff Writer

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  • Meet the man who has tasted everything on the Cheesecake Factory’s ridiculously long menu

    Meet the man who has tasted everything on the Cheesecake Factory’s ridiculously long menu

    LOS ANGELES — and jabbed his fork into a chunk of glistening cashew chicken.

    He closed his eyes for a moment, considering the texture of the dish, a longtime staple that, after a couple-year hiatus, would soon return to the chain’s menu.

    “Not as soft as I’d like it,” he told the executive chef, who nodded.

    Next, he turned to the seared ahi tuna salad, but he doesn’t like fish, so he took a single bite of lettuce and radish before confidently setting down his fork.

    “Nicely dressed. Great crunch!”

    Third up was Cajun salmon with mashed potatoes and corn. He dredged a spoonful of potatoes through the sauce and his lips wiggled from side to side. He nodded twice.

    “OK, delicious.”

    In the 46 years since he opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills and grew it into the behemoth of casual dining with locations across the globe, David Overton — the company’s official taster, but also its chief executive and co-founder — has built a deep trust in the profitability of his own palate.

    Overton has tasted and approved every one of the menu’s more than 250 items, which despite the factory in its name, the company likes to emphasize are prepared from scratch on site or at the company’s two bakeries.

    “What I like, millions of people like,” Overton, 77, said on a recent morning at the company’s Calabasas Hills headquarters as he weighed in on new offerings. “I have the taste buds of the common man.”

    ■■■

    Over the last few decades, as Cheesecake Factory locations popped up at malls and suburban plazas, they brought to each new corner of the country a sense that you were now in on some universal slice of Americana — a slice, it turns out, that provokes impressively fierce reactions.

    It didn’t matter if you were Tucson, Tampa or Tulsa, you, too, could now laugh with family and friends as you collectively gorged yourselves on the chain’s iconic brown bread. Before long, you, too, would come to associate the restaurant’s decor — a mashup of Egyptian-style columns, dark-wood wainscoting and ethereal murals that, when combined, exude the same over-the-top-yet-somehow-appealing vibe as a Vegas casino — with a sense of nostalgia. This would become the backdrop of birthdays and graduations and late-night meals after prom.

    You were now part of the collective experience shared by doctor and author Atul Gawande, who penned a sprawling ode to the Cheesecake Factory in the New Yorker, a Los Angeles Times food columnist, who, in a viral review in 2019, called his love of the chain “irrational and possibly pathological,” and rapper Drake, who sings about his love for the Cheesecake Factory, christening it as “a place for families that drive Camrys and go to Disney.”

    But not all of the attention is fawning.

    The chain made national headlines in 2017, when a man detonated a homemade explosive device inside a Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena. The FBI said the case remains unsolved.

    Late last year, a video went viral on TikTok of a woman refusing to get out of the car during a first date.

    “This is the Cheesecake Factory,” she says, filming herself, in what some viewers suggested was a staged scene.

    “What’s the problem with that?” he asks.

    “This is a chain restaurant.”

    Before long, someone compiled a list, which also circulated on social media, of places women should refuse to go on first dates, listing Cheesecake Factory as No. 1. (No. 2, Applebee’s; No. 15, the gym; No. 16, church.) The discourse swept the internet, earning two separate pieces in the Washington Post, and loyal fans soon swarmed to the brand’s defense on X.

    “WHO THE HELL DOES NOT WANNA GO TO THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY? BRO IF I WAS TAKEN THERE I WOULD PROPOSE,” one person posted on X (formerly Twitter).

    “I literally met my husband at the bar of a Cheesecake Factory 10 years ago,” Rachelle Tomlinson tweeted. “Stop all the slander!”

    Tomlinson, 30, was on a girls trip to Honolulu in 2014 when she visited the chain for the first time. Tomlinson recounted in an interview how she can still visualize the moment the double doors opened and she locked into a gaze with a man with hazel eyes.

    “Legit love at first sight,” her husband, Sam, recalled, saying the other thing he remembers from that night is that he drank a bunch of Mai Tais.

    Exactly a year from their Cheesecake meet cute, they got married.

    ■■■

    Growing up in Detroit, Overton said, his family could afford to eat out only once a week, usually Sundays at a deli or Chinese spot.

    His father worked at a department store and his mother sold cheesecakes she baked in the family’s basement based on a recipe found in a newspaper. Back then, there were only two varieties — original and original with strawberry topping — and Overton said he and his sister earned a penny for every bakery box they helped their mother fold.

    Years later, when Overton was in his 20s and chasing dreams of becoming a rock ‘n’ roll drummer in San Francisco, his parents, Evelyn and Oscar, tired of Detroit and a string of business ventures that never took off, decided to move west.

    They opened a small, wholesale bakery in North Hollywood, expanding their cheesecake options to include several more flavors, but the Cheesecake Factory Bakery floundered. They were in their mid-50s, working long hours and struggling to find customers who would buy in bulk.

    “I was really getting tired of all these restaurateurs that wouldn’t buy the cake,” Overton said, recalling the frustration that inspired him to start a restaurant of their own.

    On the day they opened in Beverly Hills in 1978, they began welcoming patrons at 2 p.m. and, by 2:10 p.m., Overton said, they were so busy that people had to wait to be seated — an immediate rush he attributes to divine intervention.

    “God was really watching over us,” he said. “I like to say that we had a line in 10 minutes, and it’s really never stopped for the last 45 years.”

    The company opened its second location in Marina del Rey in the early ‘80s and, in 1991, opened the first out-of-state location in Washington, D.C. The next year, the company went public — ticker symbol: CAKE — and today has more than 200 locations in the U.S., as well as several in the Middle East, Mexico and Asia.

    Cheesecake Factory locations brought in $2.5 billion of the company’s $3.3 billion in revenue in 2022, an average of about $12 million in sales at each restaurant, according to the company’s latest annual report to shareholders. (The company also owns the growing chain North Italia, acquired in 2019, as well as Fox Restaurant Concepts, whose upscale, fast casual restaurants the chain sees as a vehicle for expansion.)

    A key growth point, the report notes, has been an increase in takeout and delivery orders, which accounted for about 25% of total sales that year.

    Last year was bruising for a restaurant industry still recovering from pandemic shutdowns and buffeted by rising costs and labor shortages. But during the first nine months of 2023, the Calabasas Hills company racked up increased sales and income, and continued to expand.

    They’ve differentiated themselves with ample portions, a variety of “craveable” dishes difficult to replicate at home and the fact that they, unlike some competitors, still prepare everything from scratch at each restaurant, said Joshua Long, who follows the company in his role as managing director of the financial services firm Stephens.

    “The brand,” Long said, “has really found a spot in the hearts of consumers.”

    ■■■

    As the company grew, so did the length of the menu.

    It started as a single page, front and back, of items simple enough that, if a chef walked out on him, Overton could make them himself — a factory burger, which sold in the early days for $2.10, the Avocado Delights sandwich for $1.75, a slice of cheesecake for $1.25.

    For several years, Overton’s taste buds kept him from adding fish to the menu, and he also dragged his feet on selling steak, because of its price tag.

    “If you went on a date,” he said, “I didn’t want anybody ordering the steak and you couldn’t afford it.”

    Whenever he ate at a rival restaurant, he kept an eye out for dishes he could simplify or transform. During a meal at the Peninsula Beverly Hills years ago, he saw a menu item of cheese straws with avocado, which inspired the idea for avocado egg rolls, now a top seller.

    “How did I let the menu get so big?” Overton said. “I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. If I knew what I was doing and understood the restaurant business, it probably wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

    But it worked — and today, it’s become a key marketing tactic.

    The sheer size of the multi-page, spiral-bound menu has earned a ribbing from Ellen DeGeneres and inspired Halloween costumes and a Buzzfeed list of jokes, including one that, given the menu’s girth, and cultural relevance, compared it to the Bible.

    “We get so much PR just cause of that big menu,” Overton said, smiling. “I always say that our greatest difficulty is the size of the menu, but our greatest defense against competition is the size of our menu.”

    The menu items themselves are a cacophony of calories.

    Every year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit health advocacy group, releases an “Xtreme Eating Awards “ list of single restaurant dishes that contain around a full day’s worth of calories. Two Cheesecake Factory items made the latest list — an Italian combo plate at 2,800 calories and a French Dip cheeseburger with fries at 2,200.

    But when you bring up calories with Overton, he looks unfazed — decadence is part of the brand and besides, he says, people rarely finish a dish in a single sitting.

    “We’re the king of doggy bags,” he says. “I don’t pay a lot of attention to calories, because we let people choose what they want.”

    But if there’s one thing America wants more than delicious, fattening food, it’s the idea — the vow — that they will soon eat less of it. Enter: SkinnyLicious, the brand’s name for menu items with fewer than 600 calories, which they added to the menu in 2011.

    SkinnyLicious items, Overton said, account for around 15% of sales.

    ■■■

    In the winter of 1993, David Gordon, now the company’s president, was looking for a job as a restaurant manager.

    He had applied to two different places, including a Cheesecake Factory on the Westside, but was more interested in the other small chain — until he had his Cheesecake Factory interview.

    The people interviewing him ate a burger in the middle of the interview — “a little strange,” Gordon says — and steered the conversation toward the intricacies and caliber of french fries. Over 20 minutes, they discussed everything from starch levels to how hollow the fries felt when you bit into them.

    “It intrigued me,” Gordon said. “This is somewhere where quality is incredibly important.”

    Early in his career at the company, Gordon recalled asking the person in charge of operations if there was a chance he would be transferred. He was planning to buy a house in Redondo Beach, Gordon explained, but didn’t want to if he might be moved.

    “No, no, fantastic, things are great,” he recalled being told.

    But a few months later, the man in charge of operations asked him to move to Woodland Hills, promising Gordon that, within a year, he would get him back to the location closest to his home. As the year mark approached, the boss kept his commitment.

    “He cared about me as a person,” Gordon said, noting that the company still works hard to live out that ethos.

    Cheesecake Factory locations are notoriously busy, so if you’re going to ask workers to be slammed all day and prepare and serve more than 200 different items from scratch, the workers need to feel a connection to the restaurant and the people they work for, Gordon said.

    Last year, the Cheesecake Factory, whose restaurants employ about 35,000 people, was one of only two restaurant chains — Panda Express’ parent company was the second — to earn a spot on both Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and People’s Companies that Care lists, which survey employees about company culture, pay, retention, opportunities and fairness.

    Their reputation for conscientiousness took a hit in 2018 when the California Department of Industrial Relations held the company and two janitorial contractors jointly liable for more than $4 million in wage theft violations after an investigation found the contractors’ employees assigned to eight Southern California Cheesecake Factory restaurants didn’t get proper rest or meal breaks, and weren’t paid overtime while waiting for kitchen managers to review their work at the end of a shift. Although Cheesecake Factory didn’t directly employ the workers, state law dictates that companies relying on subcontractors for labor can be held liable for workplace violations.

    In January, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office announced that it had reached a $1 million settlement against the company and both contractors.

    Sidney M. Greathouse, the vice president of legal services for the Cheesecake Factory, issued a statement that said “the company denies any wrongdoing and no longer utilizes the services of the janitorial companies at issue in the case.”

    ■■■

    Today, the company sells more than 30 varieties of cheesecake, but a massive painting of one of the originals — a simple slice topped with strawberry filling — hangs above Overton’s desk in his office that looks out on the hills of Calabasas.

    Sprawled across his desk are several stacks of folders each about a foot high. He’s a few years from 80, but between work and spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, he doesn’t have much down time.

    “I have no time for hobbies,” he says. “I don’t play golf. I don’t do any of that.”

    He thought back on his 20s, around the time he started the business, when he first learned that you didn’t have to print your signature literally, but could sign it however you wanted.

    He played around with it and, as he wrote, let emotion guide him, creating a flowing capital D, which then exploded into 14 looping, semi ovals that start big and trail off.

    “It’s an emotion,” he said. “I just felt like I was moving forward.”

    Through the years, a few people had mocked his signature, he said, including someone who wrote to him saying, “I’m so sorry, with a signature like that, I won’t be investing in your company.”

    But he stuck with it. His gut hadn’t failed him yet.

    By Marisa Gerber | Los Angeles Times

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  • SENIOR LOOKOUT: Tips for reducing risk of a taking spill

    SENIOR LOOKOUT: Tips for reducing risk of a taking spill

    The fear of falling as we age is a very real concern. Most of us can tell a story of a friend or loved one who fell and experienced a life-changing injury. The National Institute on Aging reports that more than one in three people age 65 years or older falls each year. For an older person, a fall can be the start of serious problems, such as injury, a hospital stay, or even disability.

    Concern about falling can lead an older person to avoid activities such as walking, shopping, or taking part in social activities — even if they haven’t fallen previously. The irony is that the likelihood of falling increases if a person doesn’t stay active. If they allow fear to keep them inactive at home, they are more likely to fall.

    There are several factors that help explain why older people are at higher risk for falling. Poor eyesight can make it difficult to see a step, a throw rug, or a toy on the floor. Certain medical conditions or medications can cause dizziness.

    A person can lower their chances of falling. Some falls don’t “just happen.” Here are a few tips to help you avoid falls:

    — Stay physically active. Talk to your doctor about what you can do safely to stay active.

    — Have your eyes and hearing tested. When you get new eyeglasses or contact lenses, take time to get used to them.

    — Find out about the side effects of medicines you take. If a drug makes you sleepy or dizzy, tell your doctor or pharmacist.

    — Get enough sleep.

    — Limit the amount of alcohol you drink.

    — Stand up slowly.

    — Use a cane or walker if you need help feeling steady when you walk. Again, you should speak with your doctor to learn which might be best for you.

    — Be very careful when walking on wet or icy surfaces.

    — Wear non-skid, rubber-soled, low-heeled shoes, or lace-up shoes with non-skid soles that fully support your feet.

    — Don’t walk on stairs or floors in socks or in shoes or slippers with smooth soles.

    — Be careful about long dresses, slacks, or pajamas that could trip you.

    There are many ways you can make your home safer. Just a few include:

    — Keep cords away from areas where you walk.

    — Remove loose carpets and rugs or tack down the carpets and only use rugs with non-skid backing.

    — Add lights in dimly lit areas and at the top and bottom of stairs.

    —Use nightlights in bedrooms, halls, and bathrooms.

    — Clean up clutter – especially near staircases.

    — Put handrails on both sides of any steps or stairs in or outside of your home.

    — Add grab bars near the toilet and bathtub, and no-slip decals or a rubber mat in the tub or shower.

    If you are concerned about falling, you can register for an emergency response system. If you fall or need emergency help, you push a button on a special necklace or bracelet to alert 911. There is a fee for this service and it is not always covered by insurance. You can call SeniorCare’s Information & Referral Department at 978-281-1750 for a list of services available in our area.

    Always tell your doctor if you have fallen since your last checkup, even if you weren’t hurt. A fall can alert your doctor to a new medical problem or problems with your medications or eyesight that can be corrected. Your doctor may suggest physical therapy, a walking aid, or other steps to help prevent future falls.

    SeniorCare offers the free evidence-based workshop “A Matter of Balance” several times each year. The next session is scheduled for Wednesdays from April 24 to June 13, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Ipswich YMCA,110 County Road in Ipswich. A Matter of Balance educates and supports aging adults around falling and the fear of falling. Topics such as viewing falls as controllable, setting realistic goals for increasing physical activity and modifying our environments help participants create a personal plan to lessen the risk of falling.

    There is no charge to attend A Matter of Balance, but advance registration is required. For information about or to register for A Matter of Balance, please contact Abby Considine at SeniorCare at 978-281-1750.

    Tracy Arabian is the communications officer at SeniorCare Inc., a local agency on aging that serves Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham.

    Tracy Arabian is the communications officer at SeniorCare Inc., a local agency on aging that serves Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham.

    Senior Lookout | Tracy Arabian

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  • Road House, Anatomy of a Fall, Netflix’s Shirley, and every new movie to watch at home this weekend

    Road House, Anatomy of a Fall, Netflix’s Shirley, and every new movie to watch at home this weekend

    Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

    This week, Doug Liman’s Road House reboot starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor finally premieres on Prime Video. Not looking for a suave drifter turned bouncer slapping the mess out of surly bar patrons? That’s all right, there’s plenty new releases to watch on streaming this weekend. Anatomy of a Fall finally comes to Hulu after winning Best Original Screenplay at this year’s Oscars. Shirley, the new historical biopic starring Regina King, arrives on Netflix along with several other new releases on Criterion Channel and Starz. That’s not even mentioning the new movies on VOD this week, like the irreverent DIY comedy Dad & Step-Dad or the satirical historical film The Monk and the Gun.

    Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!

    New on Netflix

    Shirley

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

    Photo: Glen Wilson/Netflix

    Genre: Biographical drama
    Run time: 1h 56m
    Director: John Ridley
    Cast: Regina King, Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges

    Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) stars in this biopic following the life of Shirley Chisholm, the American politician who became the first Black candidate for a major party nomination and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Notably, Shirley features one of Lance Reddick’s final performances as Wesley “Mac” Holder, Chisholm’s campaign manager and chief aide.

    Fighter

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

    A pilot resting his hand on the outer hull of a fighter jet in Fighter.

    Image: Viacom18 Studios/Marflix Pictures

    Genre: Action
    Run time: 2h 40m
    Director: Siddharth Anand
    Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor

    Not to be confused with the 2010 boxing drama starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, the latest movie from Pathaan director Siddharth Anand is like the Hindi equivalent of Top Gun: Maverick. Modern heartthrob Hrithik Roshan stars as the pilot of an elite Indian Air Force response team tasked with responding to a series of terror attacks.

    New on Hulu

    Anatomy of a Fall

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

    A dead, bloody body in the snow in Anatomy of a Fall, as someone near talks on the phone

    Image: Neon

    Genre: Crime thriller
    Run time: 2h 31m
    Director: Justine Triet
    Cast: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner

    This Palme d’Or- and Oscar-winning French courtroom drama follows the story of a writer trying to prove her innocence following the mysterious death of her husband outside of their home. Was it murder or was it suicide? Beyond a simple interrogation of guilt, the film is a psychological thriller that delves deep into the complicated circumstances behind the couple’s relationship.

    New on Prime Video

    Road House

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video

    A man in a button-up shirt standing in a street at night.

    Photo: Laura Radford/Prime Video

    Genre: Action
    Run time: 1h 54m
    Director: Doug Liman
    Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen

    This reboot of the classic 1989 action film sees Jake Gyllenhaal step into the role of Dalton, a former UFC middleweight fighter who becomes a drifter after his career unceremoniously ends. Finding work at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys as a bouncer, Dalton must contend with a vicious landowner and his enforcer Knox (Conor McGregor) when they attempt to seize the property the roadhouse is built on.

    New on Criterion Channel

    Anselm

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel

    A man standing in a darkened studio surrounded by art supplies and large paintings.

    Image: Janus Films

    Genre: Documentary
    Run time: 1h 33m
    Director: Wim Wenders

    This documentary follows the life and career of painter-sculptor Anselm Kiefer. Shot in 6K resolution in a 3D format, the film attempts to blur the boundary between Anselm’s work and the movie itself.

    New on Starz

    Expend4bles

    Where to watch: Available to stream on Starz

    A midshot of Sylvester Stallone wearing a black beret and vest in the film Expend4bles.

    Photo: Yana Blajeva/Lionsgate

    Genre: Action comedy
    Run time: 1h 43m
    Director: Scott Waugh
    Cast: Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson

    The fourth entry in the brash franchise has its best action scenes yet, hands the reins over to Jason Statham, and brings in Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais for some extra martial arts bona fides.

    From our review:

    Expend4bles stretches the franchise to its limits, and those limits frankly don’t reach very far. There’s a level of self-awareness to Expendables films that can make their paper-thin plotting and characterization excusable — in the end, they’re just a reason to see certain action legends interact with each other. But in a decade-plus of homage, the series hasn’t developed any stylistic flourishes of its own. Mission: Impossible movies have their signature stunts, Fast and Furious movies have their improbable applications of cars, but the Expendables lacks a comparable calling card. There’s nothing for fans to look forward to beyond Jason Statham’s resilient charm and Sylvester Stallone’s braggadocio. And frankly, there are plenty of other places for people who want those things to get them.

    New to rent

    The Monk and the Gun

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    A group of villagers and monks admiring an antique rifle.

    Image: Roadside Attractions

    Genre: Comedy drama
    Run time: 1h 47m
    Director: Pawo Choyning Dorji
    Cast: Tandin Wangchuk, Deki Lhamo, Pema Zangmo Sherpa

    Set in Bhutan during the mid-2000s in the wake of the king’s abdication, this satirical comedy follows the story of a young monk and an American gun collector who vie for possession of a rare antique rifle. Meanwhile, the people of Bhutan hold mock elections in their hesitant transition from living in a monarchy to a democracy.

    Bob Marley: One Love

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    A smiling man with dreadlocks standing next to a band of musicians playing.

    Image: Paramount Pictures

    Genre: Biographical musical
    Run time: 1h 47m
    Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
    Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton

    This biopic follows the story of Bob Marley, portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir (High Fidelity), the acclaimed reggae singer and songwriter. The film follows Marley from his rise to fame in the ’70s up until his death in 1981.

    Dad & Step-Dad

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    Three men sitting on the bed of a rusted truck in the middle of a field.

    Image: NoBudge

    Genre: Comedy
    Run time: 1h 18m
    Director: Tynan DeLong
    Cast: Colin Burgess, Anthony Oberbeck, Clare O’Kane

    This slow-burn character comedy follows a dad (Colin Burgess), a stepdad (Anthony Oberbeck), and a mom (Clare O’Kane) who agree to spend time with one another over a long weekend trip in the woods for the sake of their son Branson (Brian Fiddyment). Sounds awkward? You have no idea.

    Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    A man standing at the entrance of a church with a wide field of trees and grass in the distance.

    Image: Kino Lorber

    Genre: Drama
    Run time: 2h 58m
    Director: Pham Thien An
    Cast: Le Phong Vu, Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh, Nguyen Thinh

    After his sister-in-law dies in a motorcycle accident, a man takes on the responsibility of shepherding both her remains and his 5-year-old nephew to the rural village where he grew up. A three-hour meditation on the fragility of life, the pain of grief, and the importance of being present, every frame of Pham Thien An’s Caméra d’Or-winning film is as gorgeous as it is melancholic.

    Land of Bad

    Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

    Two men in army camouflage holding rifles in a tropical forest.

    Image: R.U. Robot Studios/Highland Film Group

    Genre: Action thriller
    Run time: 1h 50m
    Director: William Eubank
    Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth

    Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe star in this military thriller about a rookie Delta Force officer who is lost in enemy territory when his team is ambushed. Refusing to leave without his comrades and with time running out, he’ll have to rely on a seasoned Air Force drone pilot to be his eyes in the sky in their desperate mission to escape alive.

    Toussaint Egan

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  • SENIOR LOOKOUT: Tips for battling viral gastroenteritis

    SENIOR LOOKOUT: Tips for battling viral gastroenteritis

    When I was a kid, there were two types of illness in our household. If it was a respiratory illness, you had a cold. It was either a “head cold” and a minor inconvenience, or it was the dreaded “chest cold” and the victim was a very sick kid. If it was a stomach or intestinal illness, it was the “flu.” A kid with the flu was put on the sofa with a glass of warm ginger ale, some saltine crackers and a bucket.

    Now I know that what we called the “flu” was probably viral gastroenteritis, an intestinal infection marked by watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea or vomiting, and sometimes fever. Viral gastroenteritis is extremely infectious, often passing from person to person because an infected person did not wash his or her hands after using the bathroom. Viral gastroenteritis symptoms usually appear one to three days after you’re infected and can range from mild to severe. Symptoms usually last just a day or two, but occasionally they may persist as long as 10 days.

    A basically healthy person is likely recover without complications. But for infants, older adults and people with compromised immune systems, viral gastroenteritis can be deadly.

    The best way to prevent the spread of intestinal infections is to follow these precautions:

    Wash your hands thoroughly and rinse thoroughly. Carry sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer for times when soap and water aren’t available.

    Use separate personal items around your home. Avoid sharing eating utensils, drinking glasses and plates. Use separate towels in the bathroom.

    Keep your distance. Avoid close contact with anyone who has the virus, if possible.

    Disinfect hard surfaces. If someone in your home has viral gastroenteritis, disinfect hard surfaces, such as counters, faucets and doorknobs.

    The most likely complication of viral gastroenteritis is dehydration. Infants, older adults and people with suppressed immune systems may become severely dehydrated when they lose more fluids than they can replace. Hospitalization might be needed so that lost fluids can be replaced intravenously.

    To help keep a person with viral gastroenteritis more comfortable and prevent dehydration while they recover, try the following:

    Stop eating solid foods for a few hours.

    Try sucking on ice chips or taking small sips of water, clear soda, clear broths or noncaffeinated sports drinks. Drink plenty of liquid every day, taking small, frequent sips.

    Ease back into eating. Gradually begin to eat bland, easy-to-digest foods, such as soda crackers, toast, gelatin, bananas, rice and chicken. Stop eating if your nausea returns.

    Avoid dairy products, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and fatty or highly seasoned foods.

    Get plenty of rest. The illness and dehydration may have made you weak and tired.

    Be cautious with medications. If you are concerned about a medication, contact the prescribing doctor to get advice.

    How do you know when it’s time to see the doctor? If the person with viral gastroenteritis is an adult, call the doctor if the person:

    — Is not able to keep liquids down for 24 hours.

    — Has been vomiting for more than two days.

    — Vomiting blood

    — Is dehydrated. Signs of dehydration include excessive thirst, dry mouth, deep yellow urine or little or no urine, and severe weakness, dizziness or lightheadedness

    — There is blood in his or her bowel movements

    — Has a fever above 104 F (40 C).

    Viral gastroenteritis can be dangerous to older adults. The adult immune system tends to become less efficient later in life. If you have an older person in your life who develops nausea and, or diarrhea, keep a close eye on him or her. Make sure the person takes in fluids, and don’t be afraid to call the doctor if you have concerns.

    Tracy Arabian is the communications officer at SeniorCare Inc., a local agency on aging that serves Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham.

    Tracy Arabian is the communications officer at SeniorCare Inc., a local agency on aging that serves Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham.

    Senior Lookout | Tracy Arabian

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  • Grow tasty, nutritious greens indoors

    Grow tasty, nutritious greens indoors

    Boost the flavor and nutritional value of winter meals by growing a container of greens indoors.

    Green leafy vegetables are healthy sources of carbohydrates, typically rich in fiber and nutrients, while also being low in fat and calories. Many of these vegetables can help reduce the risk of stroke, anemia, high blood pressure, certain cancers and diabetes. They also help improve the health of your gut, heart, bone and skin while boosting your body’s immunity.

    To create your own indoor garden of greens, all you need are seeds, a container, potting mix and a sunny window or artificial lights. Select a container or planter with drainage holes or reduce maintenance with the help of self-watering containers. Their water reservoirs reduce watering frequency.

    Fill the container with a quality potting mix that is well-drained and retains moisture. Plant seeds as recommended on the seed packet. You can grow each type of green in its own container or mix them up for an attractive display in larger planters.

    Water thoroughly and often enough to keep the soil moist while waiting for the seeds to sprout. Reduce the need for frequent watering by covering newly planted containers with a plastic sheet or dome. Once sprouts appear, remove the plastic and begin watering thoroughly when the top inch of soil begins to dry.

    Boost productivity and increase planting space with the help of artificial lights. You will find a variety of setups for any space in your home. Counter and tabletop light stands can be conveniently located in the kitchen or dining room. Stand-alone light shelves provide more growing space within a small footprint. Furniture-grade light stands make them easy to use in any room in the house.

    Grow greens you and your family like to use in your favorite recipes and salads. Green or red leaf lettuce is easy to grow indoors and its mild flavor is most appealing to children and picky eaters.

    Spinach is another popular and easy-to-grow leafy green used fresh in salads and smoothies or added to soups and sauces. It contains many vitamins and nutrients, including iron, folic acid and calcium.

    Kale is considered a superfood. This nutrient-dense vegetable is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If the flavor is a bit too intense for you, try the baby leaf types or braise for a milder flavor.

    Add a bit of peppery flavor to salads, soups, pastas and other dishes with arugula. Add a spicier flavor with mustard greens. Sauté mustard greens or add them to your favorite Southern, Asian, Indian or savory dish.

    Include color and flavor in your winter meals with beet greens. The leafy part of this vegetable is often overlooked but is the most nutritious part of the plant. Use these the same way you would spinach or kale.

    Make it more fun by getting others involved. Hand family members and guests a plate and kitchen shears so they can harvest and help prepare the meal.

    Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including “The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook” and “Small Space Gardening.” 

    By Melinda Myers | Star Tribune

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  • Driver pleads guilty after crash kills Andover woman

    Driver pleads guilty after crash kills Andover woman

    ANDOVER — A Milford woman pleaded guilty Monday to negligent operation of a motor vehicle following an accident that killed a 78-year-old woman in 2022.

    Margaret Silvestri, 23, will serve 2½ years of probation, perform 100 hours of community service and lose her driver’s license for 2½ years, according to court documents.

    Francyne Fuller of Andover was struck at the intersection of Elm and Whittier streets on April, 27, 2022, about 4:20 p.m. She was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital with critical injuries and later pronounced dead.

    In Lawrence District Court on Monday, Erin Fuller King – Fuller’s daughter – described the important roles her mom played in her community and in her family. She said while the outcome did not bring “justice,” her mother would not have wanted Silvestri to go to jail.

    “And this is why we are standing here today, without a trial, without a jury, with nothing but a paltry slap on the wrist,” King said in a victim impact statement.

    “Not because I think this is what is fair or just, but because I think this is what my mother would have wanted,” the daughter said.

    Silvestri stopped after the accident and cooperated with law enforcement, according to police. She was 21 at the time.

    Silvestri was also found responsible for two civil violations, an equipment violation and an unsafe operation offense.

    The complaint against Silvestri was filed in December 2022. She originally faced a charge of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operator, according to court documents.

    In her statement, King described a traumatic series of events as friends and family members searched for Fuller after the accident, including her home, only to eventually learn of her death.

    “It was dark. Her new Toyota was still parked in her garage,” King said. “Her salad was on the counter, ready for dinner when she arrived home from her evening walk. No sign of my mother. My heart was exploding out of my chest as doubt and terror began to consume every cell of my body.”

    Silvestri will also be required to take a Brains at Risk class.

    By Teddy Tauscher | ttauscher@eagletribune.com

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  • SENIOR LOOKOUT: Dealing with hearing loss can stave off dementia

    SENIOR LOOKOUT: Dealing with hearing loss can stave off dementia

    Hearing loss is one of the most common conditions affecting older adults. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, one in three people between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing.

    The effect of hearing loss on an older person can be devastating. Having trouble hearing can make it hard to understand and follow a doctor’s advice. Hearing doorbells and alarms becomes difficult. Having conversations becomes hard. This can be frustrating, embarrassing and at worse, dangerous.

    But, these are not the only problems that can follow hearing loss.

    In a study that tracked 639 adults for nearly 12 years, a Johns Hopkins research team found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk. Moderate loss tripled risk, and people with a severe hearing impairment were five times more likely to develop dementia.

    There are options to help with hearing loss, but first you need to detect its occurrence. Here are some questions based on a tool for hearing loss. If you answer yes to three or more of these questions you could have a hearing problem and you should check with your doctor. Do you:

    Sometimes feel embarrassed when you meet new people because you struggle to hear?

    Feel frustrated when talking to members of your family because you have difficulty hearing them?

    Have difficulty hearing when someone speaks in a whisper?

    Feel restricted or limited by a hearing problem?

    Attend religious services less often than you would like because of hearing problem?

    Argue with family members because of hearing problem?

    Have trouble hearing the TV or radio at levels that are loud enough for others?

    Believe that any difficulty with your hearing limits your personal or social life?

    Have trouble hearing family or friends when you are together in a restaurant? Or when visiting friends, relatives, or neighbors?

    Hearing loss can happen for a number of different reasons. Hearing loss might be a genetic trait or may be caused by illness or injury. Another reason for hearing loss is having been exposed to extended periods of loud noise. Many construction workers, farmers, musicians, airport workers, and people in the armed forces are subject to hearing loss.

    There are ways to address hearing loss. You must determine what works best for you and your circumstances. Here are a few ways to counteract hearing loss:

    Hearing aids. They make sounds louder. Often things will sound different than you are used to, which can make getting use to a hearing aid difficult. You may need to try a number of hearing aids before you find the one that works for you.

    Cochlear implants. These are small electronic devices surgically implanted in the inner ear. These implants are for people whose hearing loss is severe.

    Assistive listening device. These include amplifying devices for the telephone, or cell phone. They can also be helpful in places of worship, theaters, and auditoriums.

    Lip reading. People who use this method pay close attention to others when they talk, by watching how the speaker’s mouth moves.

    Hearing aids and other devices are rarely covered by insurance, and they are not inexpensive. But, the cost to the individual with hearing loss is much more in loss of quality of life.

    SeniorCare keeps a list of organizations that assist with hearing aids and other hearing assistance devices. To learn more, call SeniorCare at 978-281-1750 or TTY: 978-282-1836 and ask to speak with an information and referral specialist.

    Tracy Arabian is the communications officer at SeniorCare Inc., a local agency on aging that serves Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham.

    Tracy Arabian is the communications officer at SeniorCare Inc., a local agency on aging that serves Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Topsfield and Wenham.

    Senior Lookout | Tracy Arabian

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  • A half century of hands-on learning at Whittier Tech

    A half century of hands-on learning at Whittier Tech

    HAVERHILL — It’s 7:45 a.m., a Tuesday in this the 50th anniversary of Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School.

    Principal Chris Laganas’ booming voice reaches through the intercom to 1,275 students in their homerooms this morning two days before Thanksgiving; and two months before voters would defeat a plan to build a $446 million school.

    The students are from the 11 towns and cities in which 73% of special election voters would reject the new school proposal, deeming it too costly, and almost three months before the Whittier Tech School Committee voted recently to withdraw the proposal.

    The students are enrolled in any of 23 vocational-technical shops. From culinary arts to computer-aided design, HVAC to hospitality and marketing to masonry.

    The principal’s underlying message this morning in late November is the same as it will be in late May. The same as on a Monday or Friday.

    Since Whittier opened in the 1973-74 school year, its students have gone on to be machinists, mechanics, electricians, chefs, carpenters, plumbers, nurses, teachers, researchers and businesspeople and to work in all fields.

    In the coming weeks, freshmen will select the shop program they want to pursue and juniors will become eligible for the Whittier cooperative education program in which students alternate school work with paid employment in their chosen technical field.

    Invariably, Whittier grads become handy people.

    The message Laganas relays this morning, and the words from his predecessors, is this:

    Take the opportunity in hand and work it.

    Make it and shape it in these classrooms and shops, and out in the field on coop placements working for employers, says Laganas, also the assistant superintendent, and a former professional hockey player who skated in hundreds of minor league games.

    The Whittier Way is active, a learning-by-doing approach that has driven the Whittier Tech engine for 50 years.

    Mixing things up

    In a kitchen the size of a basketball court, overhead lighting glints off stainless steel counters, mixers and dishwashing machines.

    Voices roll up against rattling dishes and chiming silverware. Pots tumble into a deep sink, thumping like a kick drum.

    Two dozen culinary arts students in aprons and instructors in chef coats and hats transition from breakfast to lunch.

    A chef calls out a reminder for students to stay on schedule with their tasks. This is crucial when shifting from one meal to the next.

    In the baking section, a youth pours chocolate chips into a mixer filled with cookie dough.

    Behind him, a student pulls a baking sheet of fresh cookies from the oven and slides it on a rack to cool.

    The smell of warm chocolate chip cookies registers bliss.

    The difference at Whittier is students get to make, bake, serve and — yes — eat the cookies.

    Culinary student Jeramiahes Vega, a junior who lives in Haverhill, pushes a cart to the baking station.

    Cooking gives him pleasure, satisfies.

    “I like the people’s reactions after they eat the food I make,” he said. “I like that. I like seeing how they change after having good food.”

    Nearby, Lillian Lefcourt, a Haverhill senior clad in kitchen whites, scrapes her grill clean. She pokes a brush into a small stainless container with melted butter. She works with purpose. No wasted movement.

    She and a classmate have been making grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches — egg and bacon or sausage and cheese — for the teachers.

    Lefcourt came to Whittier to learn a trade, to earn a living.

    “I really like baking cookies and brownies,” she says, brushing butter on the grill.

    Students cut, measure and clean.

    Chefs supervise, calling out orders as needed.

    “Guiding the students,” chef Tjitse Boringa says. “The students are doing all the work.”

    Boringa, originally from the Netherlands, has been teaching here for 23 years.

    He is one of six culinary arts instructors.

    The hallmark here and in the school’s 22 other programs is active learning.

    Beginning with the basics and building skills, not the least of which are being punctual, being attentive and finding the pleasure we humans get from learning.

    More students are continuing their education these days, Boringa says.

    A lot of them go to Johnson & Wales University or the Culinary Institute of America or Northern Essex Community College, he says.

    Mouths and manes

    In the dental shop, Skyy Skinner, a sophomore from Haverhill, practices passing instruments to her partner. Precision in simple tasks are important.

    Skinner holds an explorer, a thin stainless steel object for probing. She is poised above a set of teeth. No face or head. Just teeth on a thin post.

    She is also learning about disease control, making sure she is gloved and surfaces are clean, that the objects are sterilized and the space disinfected.

    Good dental hygiene promotes good health, she says.

    “It is important for a lot of things you wouldn’t expect,” Skinner says.

    She and the seven or eight other dental assistant students in the room all say they want to work in the dentistry field.

    This program was added in 2018. There is a demand for dental hygienists and assistants. The same is true for the budding carpenters, electricians and other tradespeople here.

    Some students arrive to Whittier with a program in mind; others find theirs through the freshmen exploratory. For three-quarters of their first year, they cycle through the different shops learning about the skills and technologies before selecting one to pursue in depth over their remaining time at the school.

    The cosmetology program has 19 students. Once they are licensed, they are placed in a salon outside the school for their co-op assignment, instructor Nancy Calverley says.

    Here in the cosmetology salon, students are coloring and styling hair and applying gel polish to nails.

    Shaylee Twombly, a senior from Amesbury, is first bleaching her client’s hair tips and front pieces so she can apply a red color and give it a halo look.

    “As you can see, it is kind of lifting down here,” she says of the color, as it shifts from a natural brown color to a lighter blond.

    “I was just bored with my hair,” says the client, a fellow student, Julianna Bucknill, of Newbury.

    The students are an energetic group and interested in beauty and fashion.

    “We are all bubbly with each other,” says Twombly, who plans to go to a two-year college and someday open her own salon.

    Shaping and selling

    A majority of Whittier graduates continue their education. Some will start their own businesses.

    A number of the teachers here are former Whittier students.

    In the wood shop is instructor Mike Sandlin, who grew up in Haverhill. He graduated from Whittier in 1997, studying carpentry, and graduated from Westfield State University with a degree in regional planning.

    He then joined the carpenters union and worked in the carpentry field for 18 years before returning to teach at his old school.

    Sometimes it takes students a few years to figure what they want to do, but many of them “are crushing it,” Sandlin says.

    A former student came in the other day and told him how she had started out with a company on the bottom rung.

    She was pushing a broom around a shop.

    “And now has worked her way up and is drawing her own kitchens and coming up with her own cabinet plans,” Sandlin says.

    The wood shop is filled with lumber and tools and machines, including shapers, routers, sanders, planers, joiners, saws and lathes.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building, students decorate the school store, called J. Greenleaf, draping garlands behind the checkout counter.

    Sophomore Lia Landan, a marketing student from Haverhill, adjusts a garland according to directions from fellow marketing student Michael Wells, a junior from Haverhill, who eyes the placement from the entrance.

    Next, they string lights around the greenery and play Christmas music.

    “We have a little tree over there,” Landan says.

    “We have a star up there,” another student says, pointing to a yellow star topping the garland.

    The right fit

    Across the hall from the store is the Poet’s Inn, a cozy eatery open to the public.

    Seated at a table are senior class president Owen Brannelly, from Amesbury, and hospitality program teacher Nikolas Kedian, who graduated from Whittier Tech in 2016.

    “I realized the second I stepped into the culinary shop, it was the place where I best fit in,” Kedian says. “You start eating the food, meeting the people.”

    It felt like home. His family has worked in restaurants, he says.

    Footsteps, lots of them, approach in the hallway.

    More than 250 JG Whittier Middle School students are visiting Whittier Tech this day.

    Every Tuesday in November and a little of December, middle school students from the 11 sending communities visit the vocational school.

    Brannelly says it feels like it was only last year that he was an Amesbury Middle School student visiting Whittier. He was excited and nervous, and imagines that is what these middle schoolers are feeling.

    He had not planned on going the vocational route but decided that he wanted to try something new and different.

    He has been the class president for three years.

    He and classmates have organized school dances, including the first homecoming dance in the last 20 years.

    The dances have drawn lots of students, almost 800 of them to the last dance.

    He is interning at ARCH Medical Solutions, a manufacturing company in Seabrook, New Hampshire.

    Last year, he worked for an accounting firm as a receptionist.

    He is also earning college credits, taking classes, including English composition, at Whittier through Northern Essex Community College.

    He wants to study marketing in college and has been accepted by Big Ten schools: the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and Ohio State University.

    He is bound for a much larger world, and ready for his next new and different adventure, well prepared for it by the Whittier Way.

    Whittier by the numbers

    Opened: 1973

    Address: 115 Amesbury Line Road, Haverhill

    Enrollment: 1,277 students

    Student-teacher ratio: 10-1

    Mascot: Wildcat

    Colors: Maroon and gold

    Sending cities and towns: Haverhill, Amesbury, Newburyport, Georgetown, Groveland, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.

    Programs: 23 in six core areas, arts and communication, construction, manufacturing, service, technology, and transportation

    Sports: 10 boys teams and nine girls teams

    2023 grads to college: 56%

    2023 grads to work: 37%

    By Terry Date | Staff Writer

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  • A half century of hands-on learning at Whittier

    A half century of hands-on learning at Whittier

    HAVERHILL — It’s 7:45 a.m. A Tuesday in this the 50th anniversary of Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School.

    Principal Chris Laganas’ booming voice reaches through the intercom to 1,275 students in their homerooms this morning two days before Thanksgiving; and two months before voters would defeat a plan to build a new $446 million school.

    The students are from the 11 towns and cities in which 73% of special election voters would reject the new school proposal, deeming it too costly, and almost three months before the Whittier Tech School Committee voted this week to withdraw the proposal.

    The students are enrolled in any of 23 vocational-technical shops. From culinary arts to computer-aided design, HVAC to hospitality and marketing to masonry.

    The principal’s underlying message this morning in late November is the same as it will be in late May. The same as on a Monday or Friday.

    Since Whittier opened in the 1973-74 school year, its students have gone on to be machinists, mechanics, electricians, chefs, carpenters, plumbers, nurses, and teachers and researchers and business people and to work in all fields.

    In the coming weeks, freshmen will select the shop program they want to pursue and juniors will become eligible for the Whittier cooperative education program in which students alternate school work with paid employment in their chosen technical field.

    Invariably, Whittier grads become handy people.

    The message Principal Laganas relays this morning, and the words from his predecessors, is this:

    Take the opportunity in hand and work it.

    Make it and shape it in these classrooms and shops, and out in the field on coop placements working for employers, says Laganas, also the assistant superintendent, and a former professional hockey player who skated in hundreds of minor league games.

    The Whittier Way is active, a learning-by-doing approach that has driven the Whittier Tech engine for 50 years.

    Mixing things up

    In a kitchen the size of a basketball court, overhead lighting glints off stainless steel counters, mixers and dishwashing machines.

    Voices roll up against rattling dishes and chiming silverware. Pots tumble into a deep sink, thumping like a kick drum.

    Two dozen culinary arts students in aprons and instructors in chef coats and hats transition from breakfast to lunch.

    A chef calls out a reminder for students to stay on schedule with their tasks. This is crucial when shifting from one meal to the next.

    In the baking section, a youth pours chocolate chips into a mixer filled with cookie dough.

    Behind him, a student pulls a baking sheet of fresh cookies from the oven and slides it on a rack to cool.

    The smell of warm chocolate chip cookies registers bliss.

    The difference at Whittier is students get to make, bake, serve and — yes — eat the cookies.

    Culinary student Jeramiahes Vega, a junior who lives in Haverhill, pushes a cart to the baking station.

    Cooking gives him pleasure, satisfies.

    “I like the people’s reactions after they eat the food I make,” he says. “I like that. I like seeing how they change after having good food.”

    Nearby, Lillian Lefcourt, a Haverhill senior clad in kitchen whites, scrapes her grill clean. She pokes a brush into a small stainless container with melted butter. She works with purpose. No wasted movement.

    She and a classmate have been making grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches — egg and bacon or sausage and cheese — for the teachers.

    Lefcourt came to Whittier to learn a trade, to earn a living.

    “I really like baking cookies and brownies,” she says, brushing butter on the grill.

    Students cut, measure and clean.

    Chefs supervise, calling out orders as needed.

    “Guiding the students,” chef Tjitse Boringa says. “The students are doing all the work.”

    Boringa, originally from the Netherlands, has been teaching here for 23 years.

    He is one of six culinary arts instructors.

    The hallmark here and in the school’s 22 other programs is active learning.

    Beginning with the basics and building skills, not the least of which are being punctual, being attentive and finding the pleasure we humans get from learning.

    More students are continuing their education these days, Boringa says.

    A lot of them go to Johnson & Wales University or the Culinary Institute of America or Northern Essex Community College, he says.

    Mouths and manes

    In the dental shop, Skyy Skinner, a sophomore from Haverhill, practices passing instruments to her partner. Precision in simple tasks are important.

    Skinner holds an explorer, a thin stainless steel object for probing. She is poised above a set of teeth. No face or head. Just teeth on a thin post.

    She is also learning about disease control, making sure she is gloved and surfaces are clean, that the objects are sterilized and the space disinfected.

    Good dental hygiene promotes good health, she says.

    “It is important for a lot of things you wouldn’t expect,” Skinner says.

    She and the seven or eight other dental assistant students in the room all say they want to work in the dentistry field.

    This program was added in 2018. There is a demand for dental hygienists and assistants. The same is true for the budding carpenters, electricians and other tradespeople here.

    Some students arrive to Whittier with a program in mind; others find theirs through the freshmen exploratory. For three-quarters of their first year, they cycle through the different shops learning about the skills and technologies before selecting one to pursue in depth over their remaining time at the school.

    The cosmetology program has 19 students. Once they are licensed, they are placed in a salon outside the school for their co-op assignment, instructor Nancy Calverley says.

    Here in the cosmetology salon, students are coloring and styling hair and applying gel polish to nails.

    Shaylee Twombly, a senior from Amesbury, is first bleaching her client’s hair tips and front pieces so she can apply a red color and give it a halo look.

    “As you can see, it is kind of lifting down here,” she says of the color, as it shifts from a natural brown color to a lighter blond.

    “I was just bored with my hair,” says the client, a fellow student, Julianna Bucknill, of Newbury.

    The students are an energetic group and interested in beauty and fashion.

    “We are all bubbly with each other,” says Twombly, who plans to go to a two-year college and someday open her own salon.

    Shaping and selling

    A majority of Whittier graduates continue their education. Some will start their own businesses.

    A number of the teachers here are former Whittier students.

    In the wood shop is instructor Mike Sandlin, who grew up in Haverhill. He graduated from Whittier in 1997, studying carpentry, and graduated from Westfield State University with a degree in regional planning.

    He then joined the carpenters union and worked in the carpentry field for 18 years before returning to teach at his old school.

    Sometimes it takes students a few years to figure what they want to do, but many of them “are crushing it,” Sandlin says.

    A former student came in the other day and told him how she had started out with a company on the bottom rung.

    She was pushing a broom around a shop.

    “And now has worked her way up and is drawing her own kitchens and coming up with her own cabinet plans,” Sandlin says.

    The wood shop is filled with lumber and tools and machines, including shapers, routers, sanders, planers, joiners, saws and lathes.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building, students decorate the school store, called J. Greenleaf, draping garlands behind the checkout counter.

    Sophomore Lia Landan, a marketing student from Haverhill, adjusts a garland according to directions from fellow marketing student Michael Wells, a junior from Haverhill, who eyes the placement from the entrance.

    Next, they string lights around the greenery and play Christmas music.

    “We have a little tree over there,” Landan says.

    “We have a star up there,” another student says, pointing to a yellow star topping the garland.

    The right fit

    Across the hall from the store is the Poet’s Inn, a cozy eatery open to the public.

    Seated at a table are senior class president Owen Brannelly, from Amesbury, and hospitality program teacher Nikolas Kedian, who graduated from Whittier Tech in 2016.

    “I realized the second I stepped into the culinary shop, it was the place where I best fit in,” Kedian says. “You start eating the food, meeting the people.”

    It felt like home. His family has worked in restaurants, he says.

    Footsteps, lots of them, approach in the hallway.

    More than 250 JG Whittier Middle School students are visiting Whittier Tech this day.

    Every Tuesday in November and a little of December, middle school students from the 11 sending communities visit the vocational school.

    Brannelly says it feels like it was only last year that he was an Amesbury Middle School student visiting Whittier. He was excited and nervous, and imagines that is what these middle schoolers are feeling.

    He had not planned on going the vocational route but decided that he wanted to try something new and different.

    He has been the class president for three years.

    He and classmates have organized school dances, including the first homecoming dance in the last 20 years.

    The dances have drawn lots of students, almost 800 of them to the last dance.

    He is interning at ARCH Medical Solutions, a manufacturing company in Seabrook, New Hampshire.

    Last year, he worked for an accounting firm as a receptionist.

    He is also earning college credits, taking classes, including English composition, at Whittier through Northern Essex Community College.

    He wants to study marketing in college and has been accepted by Big Ten schools: the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and Ohio State University.

    He is bound for a much larger world, and ready for his next new and different adventure, well prepared for it by the Whittier Way.

    Whittier by the numbers

    Opened: 1973

    Address: 115 Amesbury Line Road, Haverhill

    Enrollment: 1,277 students

    Student-teacher ratio: 10-1

    Mascot: Wildcat

    Colors: Maroon and gold

    Sending cities and towns: Haverhill, Amesbury, Newburyport, Georgetown, Groveland, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.

    Programs: 23 in six core areas, arts and communication, construction, manufacturing, service, technology, and transportation

    Sports: 10 boys teams and nine girls teams

    2023 grads to college: 56%

    2023 grads to work: 37%

    By Terry Date | tdate@eagletribune.com

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  • Peabody cancer survivor rides for fellow patients

    Peabody cancer survivor rides for fellow patients

    PEABODY — It’s been 13 years since Peabody resident Robin Bernstein was diagnosed with cancer. Now cancer free, she’s riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge’s Winter Cycle for the sixth time to fight the terrible disease.

    “I want to let people know what I went through and that there’s hope,” said Bernstein, a 61-year-old legal assistant. “That’s the biggest thing: There’s hope. You’ve got to believe.”

    It was May 2012 when Bernstein became concerned by how much more frequently she was using the bathroom each day and noticed that her stomach was fully distended. The Tuesday after Memorial Day, a doctor’s visit turned into a sudden trip to the hospital for testing on a mass in her body.

    At 9:40 p.m. that night, her doctor shared news that she never expected: She had ovarian cancer.

    “I don’t know how I got home that night, but I did…” Bernstein said. “You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have your health, you have absolutely nothing.”

    Bernstein underwent surgery for a hysterectomy and to remove her appendix and the cancerous mass that June. When she woke up in little pain and without a colostomy bag following the surgery, she had a feeling everything was going to be OK.

    She was right. On July 3, 2012, Bernstein’s oncologist called her to let her know the cancer was Stage 1 and Grade 1A, meaning she wouldn’t need chemotherapy or radiation.

    “I walked outside of Starbucks, I sat on the ground and I bawled my eyes out. I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” Bernstein said. “Health is wealth.”

    Bernstein takes part in the Pan-Mass Challenge to support those who are still fighting their cancer and raise money for a cure.

    She’s participating in the organization’s PMC Winter Cycle on March 9 at Fenway Park. Along with hundreds of others, she’ll be riding a stationary bike and raising funds for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

    Participants have to raise a minimum of $400. Bernstein’s already raised about $2,100 from friends, colleagues and even current cancer patients.

    “One woman that lives on the North Shore, she’s got pancreatic cancer. She doesn’t have more than six months to live, and she’s one of the people that donated to my ride,” Bernstein said. “That’s pretty special.”

    As jarring as her diagnosis was, Bernstein counts herself as one of the lucky ones.

    “I just think how lucky am I to be sitting on a bike pedaling, listening to music? How lucky am I to be 12-and-a-half years cancer free?” she said.

    “There is hope. You’ve got to believe that eventually, there’s going to be a cure.”

    For more information on the Pan-Mass Challenge, visit www.pmc.org/. To donate to Bernstein’s ride, go to http://tinyurl.com/robinsridepmc.

    Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.

    By Caroline Enos | Staff Writer

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  • Supermom In Training: Our favourite Valentine’s Day crafts

    Supermom In Training: Our favourite Valentine’s Day crafts

    Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Valentine’s Day has a whole different meaning now that I’m a parent… in the past, it was all romance and flowers and fancy dinners, and now it’s paper hearts and stuffed animals and little paper Valentine’s cards. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    The bean and I love crafts, so a holiday is a great excuse to get creative. Here are a few of our favourite Valentine’s Day crafts:

    – Cutting out paper hearts. This is a great exercise for little hands that are learning how to use scissors. Fold paper in half, draw half a heart, and let your child cut it out, open it, and decorate or colour it.

    – Suncatchers. You can fill a plastic yogurt lid with school glue, add a few drops of food colouring, and swirl with a toothpick. When it dries punch a hole in the top of it and hang it in a window. You can also do a cool suncatcher with crayon shavings: sandwich different coloured crayon shavings between two pieces of wax paper, and then iron (on the lowest setting). It will immediately melt in a super cool swirly fashion. Then we cut ours out into hearts.

    Paper plate cardholder. Take two paper plates and punch holes halfway around the outside of the plates. Lace yarn in and out of the holes to affix the two plates together. Cut a flat opening across the top and decorate with hearts. Add a string so your little one can carry their cardholder over their shoulder.

    Simple store-bought cards. We went to our local dollar store and picked up a few packs of Valentine’s Day cards, then came home to write them out, colour on them, add stickers, etc.

    Love animals. We have a bag of differently-sized foam hearts that we’ve used to create all sorts of Valentine’s Day-inspired animals. We made fish and used the hearts as fins and lips, we made butterflies and used the bigger hearts for wings, and we even made little lovebirds with heart-shaped tails.

    A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with Suburban readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.



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  • Man injured in industrial accident

    Man injured in industrial accident


    HAVERHILL  — A worker was injured in an industrial accident late Monday morning at Merrimack Industrial Sales, which is located at 111 Neck Road in the Ward Hill Business Park.

    The incident was reported 10:47 a.m.

    Fire Chief Robert O’Brien said Rescue 1 from the Central Fire Station on Water Street responded to the incident and that a 47-year-old male was transported to Lawrence General Hospital for a non-life threatening injury.

    “Police notified OSHA of the incident,” O’Brien said, adding that the accident may have involved a piece of equipment falling on the man’s leg. 

    According to the company’s website, Merrimac Industrial provides customers with automation technology products from leading manufacturers. The company also operates a tool shop for sales and repairs of power tools. The company also expanded its product offerings to include lighting fixtures and more.



    By Mike LaBella | mlabella@eagletribune.com

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  • Supermom In Training: The truth about getting a kid ready in winter: NIGHTMARE

    Supermom In Training: The truth about getting a kid ready in winter: NIGHTMARE

    I grew up in South Florida. Getting ready for “winter” entailed putting on socks. Maaaybe you’d need a hoodie for the morning, but by noon, the sun made it warm enough for summerwear, once again.

    But being a mommy and not only enduring the annoyance of getting myself ready for winter (I’m a legging-under-the-pants wearer) but getting a little person ready too… it’s unbearably dreadful. Truly. Between repeating myself a million times, finding all the bits and pieces to put on, and fighting my fiercely independent child, it’s quite the process.

    It goes something like this…

    Throw snowpants, jacket, scarf, hat and mittens on the floor.

    “Do you have to go pee?” Nothing. “Cameron. Cameron! CAMERON! Do you have to go pee.”

    “Um, nope.” Puts one snowpant leg on. “Um, yep.”

    Goes pee. Gets halfway into putting his snowpants back on and zones out mid-dress to watch Peppa Pig. “Cameron!” Puts on snow pants. Stands there, entranced again.

    Turn off the TV and hand him his coat. “No, I want to put my mittens on first.” So wait for him to put on his mittens at a snail’s pace.

    Then he struggles with mittened hands to get his jacket on. “Mommy, my pants and sleeves are all scrunched up.”

    Wrestle my entire arm up each coat arm and snowpant leg to reposition his clothes.

    Put on his scarf while he fights me on it. “I don’t want it like that. I’ll do it.” Wraps it around too tight and balls it up to stuff under his coat, which won’t be comfortable. Now, a debate ensues on why mommy should just do his scarf until mommy takes the scarf, tosses it to the floor, and gives him a neck warmer instead. “But I don’t like this one… it itches.”

    Put it over his head anyway. Zip up his jacket.

    Go to put on his boots. “I want to do it! I know how!” Wait five minutes while he wriggles and rolls around in his snowsuit putting on his boots.

    Mommy puts on her scarf, coat, hat, and mitts in 8.4 seconds and walks child to the door.

    #truth

    – Jennifer Cox

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  • Lawmakers may revisit issue of drivers smelling of marijuana | Police Fire Court – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Lawmakers may revisit issue of drivers smelling of marijuana | Police Fire Court – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    When leaving a meeting at Prince George’s Community College on the night of Dec. 12, the Rev. Robert L. Screen and his wife were shocked when a car drove past them smelling so strongly of marijuana that they both noticed it even with their windows rolled up.

    The couple had just left the MD Route 210 Traffic Safety Committee, an organization that Screen founded, when the car drove past. Screen carefully put some distance between him and the other car, as it sped off down the road.


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    MMP News Author

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  • Gift Guide 2023: Beauty products for everyone on your wish list

    Gift Guide 2023: Beauty products for everyone on your wish list

    This holiday season, help everyone on your gift-buying list put their best faces forward with these great ideas.

    From the Immortelle Divine Collection for your mom to the Grooming Collection for your favourite brother, L’Occitane has something for everyone. Even for your kids’ teachers, indeed we are sure they will like the Hand Cream Holiday Classics or the Travel Sets. They’re pretty much ready-to-go presents for everybody to enjoy and pamper themselves.

    Know someone who colours their hair? Then get them Function of Beauty PRO’s patented Adaptive f3 Bonding Complex. The changing of seasons is a favourite excuse for a fresh look, but less loved is the damage that comes with the new ‘do. This product offers healthy and on-trend hair that targets hair’s unique damage to relink broken hair bonds (with damage resulting from hair colouring included!).

    BKIND recently launched two limited-edition holiday nail polish sets. These collections contain festive and trendy colors for the holiday season: the Festives – Nail Polish Collection offers a beautiful selection of three festive and glamorous colours. You will find En Beau Fusil, a rich and velvety forest green, French Beige, a soft and delicate beige, and 24K, a transparent polish filled with golden shimmers. The Holiday Essentials – Nail Polish Collection is made up of three classic colours for the holiday season. In this set, you will find Bichon, an opaque white, pure as snow, Glacial, a silvery gray, and Leo, a classic rich red.

    When you don’t know what to get the beauty lover in your life, wrap up Slipssy, a pillow cover system made with GlideTex technology that helps prevent sleep wrinkles, bedhead, and hair loss, releasing up to 80% of facial tensions. With its double layer system, the Slipssy fits perfectly under a regular pillowcase, elevating their nightly routine with a touch of elegance, simplicity and comfort. 

    There’s a flavour for absolutely everyone with Hooker Lips glosses and balms. Think: buttercream frosting, fried bacon, dill pickle (one of their best sellers!), and so many more. All ingredients in Hooker Lips are paraben-free, petroleum-free, and BHA-free. 

    Give the gift of stronger, and healthier hair this season with The Strength Cure Holiday Ornament set from Pureology. Miniature travel sized versions of their strength-building products are perfect as a stocking stuffer!

    The Holiday Limited Edition Sky High Mascara Makeup Gift Set from Maybelline is the perfect gift for the lash enthusiast on your list. From volumizing wonders to lengthening miracles, Maybelline New York’s Sky High Mascara and Primer will ensure lashes are the star of every holiday gathering. It’s the ideal present for the beauty lover in your life, or perhaps a little indulgence to keep for yourself and make your lashes the talk of the town.

    The Makeup Essentials Gift Set from L’Oreal features the Le Khôl Eyeliner that can be easily applied with its pencil tip, the Voluminous Mascara for a lash look with classic volume, and the Colour Riche Lipstick in share Fairest Nude. These gift sets are so good that you’ll be stocking up on two of each — one for you and one for your best friend, of course! 

    Beauty lovers will rejoice over the gift sets from the clinical skincare brand Peter Thomas Roth. The Gift of Bright Eyes is a limited-edition three-piece kit of full-size bestselling Hydra-Gel Eye Patches helps lift, firm, and hydrate the look of the face and eye area. It includes 24K Gold Pure Luxury Lift & Firm Hydra-Gel Patches, FIRMx® Collagen Hydra-Gel Face & Eye Patches, and Water Drench® Hyaluronic Cloud Hydra-Gel Eye Patches.

    NYX makes it easy to sleigh the holidays with the NYX Professional Makeup Holiday gift sets. Their wide range of holiday gift sets includes everything from primer sets to lip sets, with year-round favourites along with special holiday items and even a few surprises.

    For the ultimate beauty destination, get a gift certificate to MAKA. All MAKA beauty, aromatherapy, and perfume products are formulated and manufactured on-site in the workshop adjoining the boutique. MAKA offers high-quality and innovative vegan products, while being respectful of the planet.

    If you’re buying for someone who has a penchant for skincare, then get them a gift set from The Ordinary. They have a wide range of collections for skincare, haircare, and more, all beautifully packaged and ready to give.

    Burt’s Bees puts soft skin first, and this holiday season, they have slews of festive gift sets, like their Mistletoe Kiss gift set, the Hand Cream Trio Holiday Gift Set, and lots of others. Get one for everyone on your list.

    There is no hassle to replenish skincare products with Blair + Jack! Blair + Jack offer a subscription service so there’s no worrying about running out of skincare products. On a monthly basis, Blair + Jack will send all the products needed to keep your skin looking its best. There’s also a 10% discount by signing up for the Subscription Service at checkout.

    The Body Shop makes holiday gifting a breeze with gift sets for everyone on your list. The Body Shop Cherries and Cheer Gift sets are packed with The Body Shop limited edition warm and juicy body care. The Unwind and Rest Sleep Intro Gift set is crafted with a blend of lavender and vetiver essential oils to relax the body and mind before bedtime. Finally, The Body Shop’s Slather and Lather Body Butter Gift Set has five of their bestselling body butters.

    – JC

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  • Gift Guide 2023: Ways to give back this holiday season

    Gift Guide 2023: Ways to give back this holiday season

    It’s been a tough year and many families are feeling the pinch. Why not gift something to someone that makes a bigger impact? Here are some unique ways to give back to others this holiday season.

    For 23 years now, the Montreal Science Centre’s Foundation’s mission has been crucial: to help future generations discover, understand, and appropriate science and technology to build their future. To continue its work, the Foundation relies on donations from both companies and individuals alike. Over 90% of the funds raised annually by the Foundation are reinvested in the financing and development of permanent exhibitions and school programs at the Montréal Science Centre. They offer free tickets to school groups and organizations in underprivileged areas. For the 2023-24 school year, over 4,000 tickets have already been distributed, allowing more than 1,000 special needs students to experience their Science Centre on the Road program in their classrooms.

    As the holiday season approaches, the Montreal SPCA has gift ideas on the shared theme of solidarity with animals. You can help animals in need by purchasing children’s books, a calendar for the whole family, and clothing featuring their star rescue dog, Angie. Your donation could also be matched, in honour of a loved one. “2023 has been a busy year!” said Laurence Massé, executive director of the Montreal SPCA, in a media release. “We rescued animals affected by forest fires, found creative ways of responding to rising numbers of abandoned animals and conducted large-scale public awareness campaigns. From January through October, 12,070 animals came through our shelter and benefited from one of our programs.” 

    This year’s Collectible Starlight Bear comes just in time for the giving season. In partnership with Toys”R”Us Canada, Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada recently introduced Speedy, the 15th Anniversary Collectible Starlight Bear, which was designed, from the ears to the paws, by 6-year-old Christopher, who was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC). Speedy was inspired by Christopher’s love for race cars and Drive For Smiles – one of his favourite Starlight Canada events where he rides in super cool cars! Knowing that strength can be found in our uniqueness, the rainbow tie represents acceptance of all. Speedy’s dangly limbs symbolize Christopher’s own arms and leg being stuck in extension at birth, while the bright blue eyes are representative of AMC awareness. Proceeds from the sale of Speedy will help Starlight Canada continue to brighten the lives of seriously ill children and their families, just like Christopher’s. You can purchase Speedy at any Toys”R”Us Canada or Babies”R”Us Canada store or online at toysrus.ca.

    As the holiday season approaches, Breakfast Club of Canada is launching its new Fuelling The Future with a nutritious breakfast campaign to highlight the importance of nourishing the potential of tomorrow’s adults, especially in a difficult current economic context. The campaign, which will also be broadcast across Rogers Sports & Media’s platforms as part of the ALL IN program, will run until December 31st. With the year drawing to a close, in Canada, one in three children is still at risk of going to school hungry. Demand and need for breakfast programs continue to grow, but for the time being, the Club will have to continue supporting existing programs due to the rising cost of food. To find out more about the campaign and donate, click here.

    – JC

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  • Supermom In Training: 4 Things my besties didn’t tell me about childbirth

    Supermom In Training: 4 Things my besties didn’t tell me about childbirth

    * Disclaimer: I am not going to hold back here… This is a brutally honest post from someone who had one child and stopped because she was so freaked out by the process of birth and the ickiness that followed…

    We had only one child for many reasons: we started a bit later in life with having kids, we got a reeeeally good one (and know no two children are the same, so we safely assumed the next one would be a terror), and after pushing him out of me I vowed, like so many mothers with feet still in the stirrups, that I would never do that again! The thing was, I really meant it.

    My girlfriends are the best. We talk about everything, and I mean, everything. But for some reason, they really didn’t prepare me for the nitty grittiness of birth. Here are 4 things my besties didn’t tell me about childbirth…

    – It’s really gross. When I looked around the birthing suite immediately following my son’s birth, I thought of the war scenes in M.A.S.H., with the metal bowls and bloody rags. There was a lot of cleanup going on. I mean, yes, I was distracted by this beautiful new little life I was holding in my arms, but the carnage around me… holy sh*t!

    – It’s even grosser in the first three days afterwards. I mean, I get my monthly visits from Aunt Flo, and they can be pretty intense, but nothing prepared me for what ensued in those days after birth. Let’s put it this way: I called the nurse in numerous times to check that what was coming out was normal and wasn’t any vital organs or anything. And I wore diapers – screw the pads. There… I said it.

    – You will show your nakedness to more strangers and people then you ever imagined. Nurses and other staff in maternity wards are completely immune to vagina and breasts. They will come in and out of rooms while you’re completely exposed without so much as a flinch. That took some getting used to.

    – Pooping the first time after childbirth is the scariest thing I’ve ever gone through. I was given a stool softener to help things along, but when I felt the urge come on for that first time after having my son, I was petrified. I felt like if I pushed in any way, my insides would fall out into the toilet. They didn’t. I pooped fine. But I was truly terrified.

    A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.

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  • WTF Fun Fact 13540 – Humans and Giraffes

    WTF Fun Fact 13540 – Humans and Giraffes

    The anatomy of humans and giraffes shares a surprising similarity. Despite stark differences in appearance and habitat, both species possess exactly seven cervical vertebrae.

    This fact offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of vertebrate evolution. It highlights how different species can evolve distinct traits while maintaining a fundamental structural blueprint.

    The Seven Vertebrae Similarity

    In humans, the seven cervical vertebrae are compact and support head movements like nodding and turning. Each human vertebra is relatively small, with the first two, the atlas and axis, specialized for head rotation. These vertebrae are critical for protecting the spinal cord and supporting the skull.

    Giraffes, renowned for their long necks, also have seven cervical vertebrae, but each one is elongated, reaching lengths up to ten inches. This elongation facilitates their tall stature, which is essential for foraging in tall trees. Despite their length, giraffe neck vertebrae maintain flexibility, crucial for their survival in the wild.

    The similarity in the number of cervical vertebrae across mammals, including humans and giraffes, suggests an evolutionary blueprint conserved over millions of years. This consistency indicates an optimal balance of neck flexibility and structural support vital across various habitats and lifestyles.

    The adaptation in giraffes, where their cervical vertebrae are elongated, showcases evolution’s ability to modify certain traits to meet environmental demands while keeping the overall vertebral count unchanged.

    Medical and Scientific Implications for Humans and Giraffes

    Studying giraffes can offer insights into human spinal health. Understanding the mechanics of giraffe vertebrae under large physical stress could lead to better treatments and preventive measures for human spinal conditions.

    Research into giraffe anatomy can contribute to veterinary sciences, offering better care and conservation strategies for these unique animals. It also adds to our understanding of vertebrate evolution and adaptation.

    Ecological and Conservation Aspects

    The anatomical similarities between humans and giraffes reflect the interconnectedness of the animal kingdom. This comparison underscores the importance of biodiversity and the need to understand and protect various species, each contributing uniquely to our understanding of life on Earth.

    Recognizing these anatomical wonders highlights the importance of conservation efforts, especially for giraffes, which face habitat loss and declining populations in the wild.

    — WTF fun facts

    Source: “One Good Fact” — Encyclopedia Britannica

    WTF

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