News, events, children’s activities in Newton, MA.
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Learn more about Amy and share your thoughts on the most important issues facing Newton and how you want the next Mayor to address them.
Join us via Zoom!
Sunday, July 11th
4 pm – 5 pm
I wanted to let you all know about my Kickstarter project that I am launching in two weeks.
Everyone deserves to see themselves in the pages of a book. Now, Mia Wenjen brings the accomplishments of Asian Pacific American female athletes to life with incredible stories of their amazing accomplishments. Readers rejoice with these extraordinary women as they overcome obstacles to prevail in their sport. [nonfiction picture book, for ages 8 and up]
Growing up, my teenage daughter played many sports. I asked her if she knew the names of any Asian-American female athletes. She laughed and said that there weren’t any. I searched but found very few books featuring Asian-American female athletes. She was correct! How sad. The few books that existed center on sports that were more dance-driven like figure skating and gymnastics. Where were the role models for girls, especially for popular team sports like basketball, soccer, and hockey?
With seventy percent of all kids quitting organized sports by age 13, and with girls dropping out of sports at six times the rate of boys, it became clear that I needed to showcase Asian-American female athletes. Girls of every ethnicity need to see Asian-American females succeeding in sports to know that everyone can dream of stepping up on an Olympic podium. That was my wake-up call to write this book!
You will meet 18 Asian Pacific American Female Athletes in this book who excel at a range of sports and represent many Asian ethnicities.
To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
My books:
BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
Winter Clothes Drive: St. Mary’s is conducting a winter clothes drive this coming Saturday, December 5, from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. in the church driveway. We are collecting gently used or new winter items such as:
These donations will be given to:
Please consider giving to this drive and spreading the word to your family, friends, and neighbors, particularly since the pandemic has local charities serving more people than ever.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
258 Concord St
Lower Falls Newton, MA 02462
Newton Patch asks Which Newton Business Is Best Of The Year? Nominate Your Favorite!
Please nominate Nonantum Boxing Club here.
Here’s my nomination:
I have boxed at Nonantum Boxing Club for nearly nine years and it is a wonderful place that supports the community, especially those in need. From a boxing perspective, Marc Gargaro, one of the co-owners of Nonantum Boxing Club, is an excellent boxing coach. He has sent more than two dozen fighters to national boxing competitions including Olympic qualifying events. He is also a coach for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Boxing Team that will compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. As a 55-year-old mom, I have a group of other mom friends that have trained with Marc for years. We get the same training and attention from Marc that his fighters do.
On a different side, training future professional athletes is much different in the boxing world than in other sports. Marc trains his team FOR FREE, dedicating hours of his time to team and individual training. He also has a nonprofit in which he offers free boxing fitness and training classes to kids FOR FREE.
But free boxing training is not the only nonprofit work that he does. Nonantum Boxing Club does service work year-round, including hosting a large boxing tournament on behalf of Newton’s Boys and Girls Club. I have seen numerous events that the gym does on behalf of community members in need such as fundraiser workouts to support someone’s medical bills or piles of donations on behalf of a charity that supports women who are escaping relationships in which they are physically abused.
What is most special about Nonantum Boxing Club is the people and the atmosphere that they create. The co-owners are both cousins who grew up in large Italian families right here in Nonantum. They have created a community that also feels like a family where everyone is included. the boxing gym may look intimidating but nothing could be further from the truth.
Flu Vaccine Clinics
Newton’s Health and Human Services Department has initially scheduled two drive-through/walk-up, appointment-based, weekend flu clinics open to Newton residents and Newton Public Schools students and their families.
Registration is not yet open for these clinics. Online appointment registration will open by early next week at www.newtonma.gov/flu.
Adults and children older than 6 months may be vaccinated at these clinics. Some high-dose flu vaccine will be available for adults who are at least 65 years old. These clinics are free and health insurance information is requested, but not required. If you do not have a vehicle, you may walk-up to receive a vaccine.
Saturday, October 10, 9 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Newton North High School
(457 Walnut Street)
Sunday, October 18, 9 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Newton South High School
(140 Brandeis Road)
Additional dates may be added depending upon demand.
Appointments are required and may fill quickly. Alternatively, consider getting a flu shot at another time and place; they are available in many locations, including primary healthcare provider offices, local pharmacies, and urgent care clinics. A list of some additional options for flu shots can be found at newtonma.gov/flu.
* Both Beds Claimed *
Only the metal twin bed from Pottery Barn is available! It comes with organic mattress and box springs. It does not require screws so it’s really easy to assemble.
We are giving away two twin bed frames from Pottery Barn. One has a pull-out trundle bed. Included are two twin mattresses plus a twin box spring. The mattresses and box springs are ORGANIC! We also have a twin futon for the trundle bed.
If you are interested, please pick up at 60 Greenwood Avenue, West Newton Hills, MA 02465. It’s on our front porch so you can pick up any time. It’s already broken down so it’s easy to move.
For more information, please text Mia at 617 877 7998.
The Boston Magazine’s team of experts worked tirelessly to carefully choose this year’s winners. The magazine awarded several Newton businesses with a “Best of Boston” award. All of the “Best of Boston” winners can be found HERE.
For Category: Shopping
Award: Custom Jewelry
Winner: Adamas Fine Jewelry
For Category: Home
Award: Kitchenware
Winner: Local Root
For Category: Beyond the City
Award: Boutique with Curbside Pickup
Winner: LuxCouture
For Category: Home
Award: Homeschooling Supplies
Winner: Lakeshore Learning
From Boston. com
Jake Auchincloss, a Newton city councilor and a former Marine, was repeatedly the subject of both veiled and direct criticism from his peers during the virtually held debate — most notably toward the end of the event, when fellow 4th District candidate Ihssane Leckey suggested he should drop out after violating a pledge against taking campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry (which every candidate in the race had signed).
Cavell, who most recently worked as a lawyer in Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, also took issue with Auchincloss for urging Newton school officials in 2016 to not punish students who flew a Confederate flag outside Newton North High School. At the time, Auchincloss said officials were right to denounce the act but cited legal concerns about free speech and drew a comparison between the Confederate flag and a Black Lives Matter banner or LGBT flag.
Auchincloss has since apologized for the comparison, telling Politico last month that his privilege as a white male “allowed me to see this as a free speech issue.” During the debate Sunday, he reiterated that “the Confederate flag has no place near our school or near our children.” However, Cavell continued to rip Auchincloss for comparing the symbol of slavery to Black Lives Matter and LGBT flags.
Image from The Boston Globe: Clockwise, from top left: Becky Grossman, Jake Auchincloss, Alan Khazei, Dave Cavell, Ihssane Leckey, Christopher Zannetos, Natalia Linos, Ben Sigel, and Jesse Mermell. –Pat Greenhouse / The Boston Globe
–> It doesn’t seem like Jake is planning on returning his fossil fuel donation despite signing a pledge against taking campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.
By Jessy Han and Adam Bass for Daily Dose of Bass & Han
SCOOP w/@AdamBassWCCS
: Jake Auchincloss is being removed from the @NoFossilMoney pledge tomorrow, organizer Collin Rees says. Auchincloss failed to refund a donation from the exec VP of a Waltham fossil fuel company. The donation was first flagged by @CallaWalsh. #ma04 #mapoli
The group gives candidates seven days after notification to return a donation or make an equivalent donation to a climate justice organization. The campaign did neither.
Fireworks in #MA04: Jake Auchincloss addressed being dropped by @NoFossilMoney, saying it has “no credibility” & suggested Ihssane Leckey’s self-funding was “largely derived” from energy trading. Leckey says she “never took a dime of dark money.” Leckey: “Jake, you should drop.”
FINAL QUESTION AND ITS AUCHINCLOSS. He was removed by the fossil fuel pledge. Why did he not return the pledge? AUCHINCLOSS: this pledge has lost credibility and attacks LECKEY. LECKEY INTERRUPTS “JUST STOP LYING JAKE.” Holy Shit.
Auchincloss also failed to support a modest reduction in the NPD budget about 2 weeks ago.
Voters in my home district have a choice between @JakeAuch, who defended high school students flying the confederate flag and is running a Republican-lite campaign using daddy’s money, or @ihssaneleckey, “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” #MA04
I’ve got no objection to parental support. Comes in all forms. But, the pro-Jake Super PAC includes million-dollar Trump supporter — Bob Kraft — as a supporter. Do the math.
NEWS: Experienced Leadership Matters PAC, funded in part by @JakeAuch‘s parents and the Kraft family, paid the DC-based ad firm Hamburger Gibson Creative and the NJ media buying agency Media Fortitude $177,873.60 yesterday in support of Auchincloss‘s candidacy. #MA04 #mapoli
Hmm this is interesting – super PAC called “Experienced Leadership Matters” raised $89k this Q, lists address in Foxboro & raised $35k from parents of #MA04‘s Jake Auchincloss – Hugh Auchincloss & Laurie Glimcher – plus others like Bob & Jonathan Kraft docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/
Related:
By Bennett Walkes
From Wicked Local Newton:
While growing up Black in Newton, I’ve dealt with all sorts of racial profiling and slurs. However, no individual has made me feel more unwelcomed, unvalued and unsafe in my hometown than Jake Auchincloss — now a candidate for Congress.
In September 2016, a group of students drove through Newton North waving a Confederate flag outside of the window. Coinciding with President Donald Trump’s bigoted and racist campaign, it was particularly unsettling to see this hate in my hometown. This hateful act targeted students of color like myself already facing discomfort in predominantly white spaces of learning. Later that year, only 35% of Black students in Newton high schools reported feeling connected to the school in comparison to 65% of white students.
As a city councilor, Auchincloss responded by filing a resolution stating that punishing students for displaying the Confederate flag is in conflict to Newton’s values of free speech. However, regulation of certain types of speech is allowed within Newton Public Schools. Meanwhile, this resolution stood well outside the jurisdiction of the city council, making it questionable why Auchincloss chose to insert himself in such an issue.
Rather than promote our schools’ values of equality, respect, safety and kindness, Auchincloss asserted his understanding — as a white man — that displaying a Confederate flag on school property is not a “substantial disruption” to the education of students of color. As someone who has been targeted by acts of hate speech including Confederate flags, I can attest that a school where students can commit such acts with no repercussions is not one conducive for learning. Auchincloss’ grandstanding on the importance of free speech over the feelings of safety for students of color is not only insulting but demeaning. His rush to defend students responsible for hate speech rather than understand the experiences and support the needs of students of color makes me question where racial justice would lie among his priorities as a member of Congress.
There is also this:
EMILY’s List sends out mailer criticizing two Dems on abortion in primary for open #MA04: Jake Auchincloss & Alan Khazei.
FACT CHECK: In 2017, @JakeAuch opposed a $15 min wage, spouting debunked GOP talking points.I’ve stood w/@RaiseUpMA & @PeopleforCSJ my entire career fighting for a higher minimum wage. #mapoli #ma04 #MA04Debate progressivenewton.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/2017-c
For weeks now, the Ed Board has been writing in support of Black Lives Matter and bold police reform. Their choice to endorse Jake, who has a history of insensitive, racist comments, completely contradicts that work. 2/Just 3 years ago, Jake compared the Confederate flag to a BLM flag and Pride flag. Last month, a Black student in Newton wrote that “no individual” has made him feel more “unsafe” than Jake Auchincloss. That alone should be disqualifying. 3/
For this racist behavior to be dismissed as “tone-deaf” is exactly the type of apologist rhetoric that has hindered progress in this country for so long. People of color have consistently been told that they should just get over comments like his. 4/
This endorsement is the product of a failed system that has gone unconfronted, even at home. Systemic racism looks like a white man with privilege making racist comments, never truly apologizing, and receiving an endorsement from one of the foremost publications in our country.6/
In their endorsement of former Republican Jake Auchincloss, the Globe Editorial board quoted a common Islamophobic trope that portrays Muslims as violent and is used to justify bombing Muslim countries.
This trope is invented by right wing war hawks
@GlobeOpinion
@DannyM33612501
Why would these morons from @BostonGlobe @GlobeMcGrory endorse a political HACK Jake Auchincloss @JakeAuch is it because his parents buy influence with their Superpac? No wonder we end up with morons in congress!
From Josh Miller-Lewis (@jmillerlewis)
lol looks like Jake Auchincloss is already rattled by @ihssaneleckey’s surge. Guess we’re heading toward a two person race between a former Republican and a bold progressive.
