Friday, May 11, 2012
Marblehead Patch columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about play dough, practice tests and paperwork.
“It is only the ignorant who despise education.” - Publilius Syrus This is true. Growing up, my parents were as serious as a heart attack about school. My father served on the school committee long before he ever had children. My mother put herself through private Catholic high school on her babysitting money because the public schools were, in her mind, “not going to get me where I wanted to be.” She wanted more than sewing class and glee club. Her school allowed her to take biology and physics instead and when she graduated, she joined the Navy as part of a flight support crew. While neither of my parents went to college, they were both more educated than anyone I’ve ever known. When my oldest went to Kindergarten, I was committed to …
Friday, May 4, 2012
Patch Columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about snapshots, snacking and sitting still.
“It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.” - John Cassis You know, at first I thought this quote was a little too trite. Then I left the house and became convinced that in much of my environment, the places I go, the people I run across, nice is in short supply. All out of nice? Yes, it’s entirely possible that the supply is dwindling to a dangerously low level. A friend joked about it once, but I think it’s happening. I thought maybe it was just here, around town. But it’s not. I know people all over the country, and they tell me the same thing. This isn’t a local issue; I’m convinced it’s national, if not global. What can we do? I wish I knew, it’s a hugely complex problem. And to be honest, I’ve had a fair amount …
Friday, April 27, 2012
Marblehead Patch columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about nature, national parks and a Navy Commander.
“Nor need we power or splendour, Wide hall or lordly dome; The good, the true, the tender, These form the wealth of home.” - Sarah J. Hale Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to travel. I am never so happy as when I am busy planning a trip. When I’m traveling, I’m like a kid again, wanting to see all the silly tourist attractions and taking embarrassing snapshots of my kids. This past school vacation week was no exception. This year we departed from the normal amusement park/cruise ship kind of vacation and went rogue. Well for me anyway, which means we went into the wilderness, but we didn’t exactly rough it. I don’t think there is ever a good reason to sleep outside on the ground in a cloth bubble held up by flimsy sticks. A zipper…
Friday, April 20, 2012
Marblehead Patch columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about fear, friends and flying away.
“Fears are nothing but a state of mind.” - Napoleon Hill Yes, fear is a state of mind. But sometimes, depending on what we are afraid of, it can be like Rhode Island, or it can be like Texas. Someone told me once that usually, the fear and anticipation of something, is worse than the actual situation we fear. Oh no it’s not. What about people who have that scary dream where they show up to class for a final exam and they are naked? If that actually happened to me, I guarantee you it would be worse than all the worry about a test could have been. Fear is also individual; every person experiences it differently. A good friend of mine doesn’t like to fly. She was with me on the trip to New Orleans and she was constantly apologizing for …
Friday, April 13, 2012
Marblehead Patch columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about ballet, baskets and being the bunny.
“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it more fit for its prime function of looking forward.” - Margaret Fairless Barber Having a holiday come around definitely brings memories with it. At Christmas, every ornament I put on the tree has a story, and I tell my family each one. It takes hours to decorate our tree, and by the time we are done the kids usually have that glazed over look in their eyes and are begging to go to bed. Mission accomplished. Easter was never a huge deal when I was growing up though. We got baskets, we did a little egg hunt around the house and then we would take a ride. When I was little, the shopping mall in Peabody wasn’t yet enclosed, and for Easter they would have pens …
Monday, April 9, 2012
Here's a letter to the editor submitted by Vanessa Malfitano.
To the Editor: The Muscular Dystrophy Association would like to take this opportunity to thank the Marblehead Fire Department and firefighter Tim Doane for the amazing success of their 4th annual “Cooking for a Cure” event held at the Danversport Yacht Club on Saturday. 11 North Shore Fire Departments pulled out all the stops to create their favorite firehouse recipes in a competition to capture bragging rights to awards like “Best Dish” and “Peoples Choice." The event was attended by five families served by MDA who had a great time and expressed their thanks to the Firefighters for their support. The evening resulted in over $16,000 being raised for MDA to help support MDA’s patient and community service programs, worldwide research and …
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Town of Marblehead - Fire Dept
1 Ocean Ave, Marblehead, MA
/articles/letter-to-the-editor-cooking-for-a-cure
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/locations/6775036
Friday, April 6, 2012
Patch Columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about kids, kindness and taking care of each other.
“It takes a village to raise a child” - African Proverb My kids saw this on a bumper sticker and asked me what it meant. I was a little unsure myself. I think it means that everyone in a community needs to be a part of making that community a place for children to grow, a place where kids can be safe, well educated and well cared for. So that’s what I told them. To which they said “well how do you do that?” Oh come on, Mommy has a head injury can’t we deal with something simpler? How about you ask me to tell you about the time I got kicked out of Brownies? I can do that and still lie quietly like I’m (supposed to be) doing. I can tell you about how your grandfather “borrowed” a police car once. I would be happy to tell you about how your …
Monday, April 2, 2012
Manners really matter online.
I should open by disclosing the fact that, in general, I like the comment feature of online news. However, I am increasingly upset by the tone and anonymity of online comments. Some adults are modeling negative behavior and utter disrespect for our school officials, elected officials and others. The past week's example of a hoodie day Swampscott High School, aimed at generating discussion about a current event, brought out a string of comments that our high school aged children were likely to read. In fact in today's 24/7 online news cycle, things can be read over and over again. That's why everyone commenting should ask themselves a few questions before posting their comments online. First, everyone should stand by their comments with …
Friday, March 30, 2012
Marblehead Patch columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about good times, good food and getting away.
"Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their children than the unlived life of the parent." - Carl Jung See what I mean? Even what we don’t do as parents can screw up our kids. But it’s true. The children are not going to turn out well if we don’t buckle them up, feed them properly, teach them right from wrong and hundred other things. All of that, if left undone, will mess them up good. But this week, I decided that some parents, mostly moms, are leaving something else important undone. Taking time for ourselves. You leave that out it and it gets ugly fast. This is not another “white whine” about me time, being fulfilled and all of that. It’s about having a healthy attitude toward parenting. Of course the needs of our …
Friday, March 23, 2012
Marblehead Patch columnist Brenda Kelley Kim talks about trivia, teamwork and Tralfaz
"There is no such thing as useless knowledge and information." - Kris Kimmel I struggle with forgetfulness. I have a smartphone, with a reminder function, and I use it all the time. It will beep on and off a few times to tell me where to be and what I have to do. I also leave Post-It notes scattered all over the house and even in my car. I still forget things, but mostly I forget where I have put things. That’s not a huge deal, everything turns up eventually. I do however have a talent for amassing and remembering seemingly useless facts. My capacity to hold all this knowledge right at the front of my brain is something I will never understand. What neurobiological process makes it possible for me to rattle off the names, in order, of …
Quechua
7:41 pm on Friday, May 11, 2012
For all those Mom's out there who struggle with helping or doing the homework for your child, go to Online Math Tutors. Here is the link http://www.onlinemathtutors.org/. They have lots of resources for parents and students that will help your child be successful in math. more ›