Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem

In today's edition of the Daily Item, there was an editorial written in support of Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy's decision to spend nearly $20,000 on a TV promo for the city. While some news reports have questioned the Mayor's decision (see here and here), the writer of this editorial believes that there are plenty of good things to showcase about Lynn and that the funding allocated for the ad will be money well spent.

http://itemlive.com/articles/2012/08/10/updates/updates24.txt

Though the decision to spend that amount of money on an ad is debatable, there is one statement in the editorial I agree with:

It’s 2012 — high time for critics within city limits to become part of the solution, to tell or show someone who is not aware about Lynn what’s great about it. It’s time for all to work to shed the unflattering ditty that has been attached to the city for too long.

It seems that some of Lynn's biggest detractors live within the city's boundaries and too often resort to complaining (most notably under anonymous names on online forums) without ever taking any sort of positive action. At last week's school department budget hearing, there were just 6 speakers (a record high compared to previous years) and approximately 20 people in the room. Other types of public hearings as well as school committee and city council meetings in the city tend to see the same kind of turnout. Voter participation in the 2011 local election was just 23% overall and as low as 12% in a few ward precincts. In the face of all of the negative criticism about the schools or the crime or the untidy streets from a sizeable proportion of Lynn residents, where are all the people speaking out about issues that concern them in the appropriate venues? It is important imperative that more residents become involved in whatever manner they choose - whether it be through a community organization, with the school system, voter participation, city cleanliness, mentoring or some other Lynn-related cause in order to affect the kind of tangible change Lynners are seeking. While it is the city officials' jobs to manage the city, it is all of our responsibility to make Lynn the city that it could and should be.

Citizens' Thoughts on Improving Lynn

In a completely non-scientific poll, a few Lynn residents were asked the following:

If you could only change one thing about Lynn, what would it be?

Answers included

• Education/Improving the School System
• Public Safety/Crime
• Increasing Voter Participation
• Decreasing Inappropriate Public Behavior (sexual activity, drug use)
• Better Transportation Access (direct access to highways and improved public transit including the Blue Line)

Is Taking Your Spouse's Surname Akin to a Loss of Identity?

A topic that often came up while I was at Wellesley, a women's college in Massachusetts, was discussion around women who automatically change their name upon marriage (a tradition 90% of women participate in each year).

On the one hand:

• She may want her and her spouse (and future children) to be seen as a family
• It's traditional
• A name does not define a person, so what does it matter?
• The spouse won't change his name
• Why wouldn't a woman change her name?

But then again:

• A woman's individual identity should not be subsumed under her spouse's
• She may like and have become accustomed to the name she's had for 20, 30, 40 years
• If he won't change his name, why should she?
• She's not property
• She doesn't believe in or want to perpetuate a tradition rooted in patriarchy
•  She wants to maintain ties to her own family
• Changing her name does not make her "more" married

Before Wellesley, these issues never came up as a point of discussion, especially given the dearth of true intellectual debate that I experienced among peers in the Lynn (MA) Public Schools system All of this makes me wonder if this sort of issue is something that people actually discuss in "real life" outside of more academic circles. Does the common person care about these things? Does it really matter what someone else chooses to do with their own life (and name)? Or is this a topic that people with too much time on their hands discuss? But perhaps most importantly, is the tradition of women changing their name something women (and men) should consider more thoughtfully or does it even matter at the end of the day?

What does taking your spouse's surname mean (if anything) for women in the year 2011?

What Makes a Favorite Teacher

"My favorite teachers were those who took time to know me, especially in early grades...when test scores showed who needed that extra attention/help. Later years, the teachers who challenged me...

-L.C.

"[Those who] kept the material interesting, had a sense of humor and the ability to make the lecture seem more like a compelling conversation, rather than required content that needed to be retained."

-P.C.

"My favorite teacher was my Montessori pre-school/kindergarten teacher. I loved her teaching style so much that I went back to her school in high school and worked/volunteered as a teacher's assistant.

She treated (now retired) all of her students with respect. She had very high expectations of our behavior, and gently reminded us if we were misbehaving. Instead of yelling, "don't run inside," she would say, "please ask your feet to walk." She always said "please" and "thank you" to us. However, if you insisted on misbehaving, she would discipline you and explain why she was doing it.

She always spoke in a calm voice and kept her cool (even when someone let the class bird out of its cage). When I was older, I could see her unwavering patience with her students. It inspires me and helps me be a little more of a patient person."

-E.M.