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age ,THEMEDFIELD PRESS, April 9, 2009 www.wickedlocal.com/medfield

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During the ice storms this past winter, wedidnt lose power or heat, have to move to ashelter or take refuge on the roof to wait forrescue boats. So it would probably seem silly forme to complain about thetwo weeks we were withoutcable TV.

That said Those were theworst two weeks of my life.

OK, so maybe thats aslight exaggeration. Its just

that Id never realized the comfort we took inthe soft glow coming off Larry Kings wrinkledface, or that the kids got from the cannedlaughter taking up the empty crevasses of ourhousehold via the Disney Channel. Without it

we were faced with an unexpected need to fillthat void with something else. Like, you know,conversation.

So you can appreciate the severity of the cir-cumstances.

At first I thought we could fall back on thehundreds of kids DVDs wed accumulatedover the years silly me. But those are BOR-ING! they declared, in that way they have oftalking in unison whenever I suggest somethingreally stupid.

And it didnt take long before we were re-minded of what happens every time our familyattempts a board game: It quickly devolves intospectacular moans of exasperation and accusa-

tions of barefaced cheating, followed byfisticuffs. And the kids werent much better.

We made the best of it the first week wespent an inordinate amount of time gathered

together around my Black-berry, trying to get somehint about what was goingon in the outside world. Butby week two we knew wehad to take some action be-fore we all wound up curled

up on the couch in a fetal position, humminggame show themes.In fact, we actually resorted to buying rab-

bit ears and simply watching whatever wecould get to come in over them, primarilyfuzzy old Victor Borge specials. This is just

what my childhood was like! I would declare,shifting the metal prongs forward and back,prompting my kids to look at me like Id justsaid Id grown up slaughtering mastodons forfood.

Then, the next snowstorm hit, and it was adoozy. Faced with the prospect of another

weekend snowed in behind closed doors withno TV, we took what we saw as our only re-course: We bundled everybody up andstepped out into the tundra. We figured if we

were lucky, we might all freeze to death.But wouldnt you know it, thats not what

happened at all. It was snowing so hard we al-

most couldnt see the street, but there was arefreshing lack of wind, and we found the dri-

veway was already slick enough to slide downon our plastic sleds.

Its actually nice out here, said mydaughter Jackie, and she was right it re-minded me of that time on The Simpsons

when Bart and Lisas favorite show got can-celled and they suddenly began rompingplayfully outside as if it was the first timetheyd been there. And yes, the irony of the

fact that a TV reference was the first thing topop into my head is not lost on me.Sure, when the cable company finally con-

nected us a few days later, my kids did comerunning out to meet my car as I drove up thedriveway from work, yelling Daddy! Wevegot cable! Its a Christmas miracle! But atleast now I know we dont need TV and

we can turn it off whenever we want withoutsuffering too many ill effects.

As long as no one good is on Larry King,that is.

Note: This column appeared originally inGoodLife magazine. Visit GoodLife on the

Web at wickedlocal.com/goodlife.Peter Chianca is a managing editor for Gate-

House Media New England. Follow him on Twit-ter at twitter.com/pchianca. To receive At Large bye-mail, write to info@chianca-at-large.com, withthe subject line SUBSCRIBE.

My kingdom for some cable!

By Tim FlahertyS P E C IA L T O T H E P R E S S

Back in June of 1956, my grand-father, Joe Marchionette, took myfamily to Hyannis, Cape Cod fora weekend vacation. While dri-

ving in his Chevy Coupe throughthe town of Wareham, he stoppedat a roadside stand where youngblack teens were selling freshstrawberries. This was my first

personal encounter with African

Americans. The girls were verypleasant and appreciated the busi-ness. My grandfather handed oneof the girls a $10 bill. She had tomake change and with that shequickly ran with the $10 bill in herhand, waving in the air into herfamily home. She got the changefrom her mother, who was waitingat the kitchen door. When the girlreturned my grandfather tippedthe girl. She was delighted and

with that, we were on our way.Sometimes the unexpected seedsof enlightenment are sewn in theearliest times of our lives.

In the late 1950s members of the Medfield Park and RecreationCommittee took all the membersof the Medfield Little League toFenway Park to watch the Red Soxplay a game against the California

Angels. As young kids, we were allexcited to be sitting behind the Soxdugout. None of us ever heard ofthe pitcher, Earl Wilson, but wecould see that he was African

American as he stood on the pitch-

ers mound. His fastball dazzled theopposing batters and before theend of the game, he had hit a homerun and had pitched a no-hitter.He made an impression on all of usthat day, especially after hearingthat he told a reporter that the day

was just like any other at the ball-park. This was such a modest state-ment from a man who became oneof the first black stars to play forthe Boston Red Sox. What im-

pressed us most was how this manhandled the pressure in a baseballcity that had few black role models.

When the Sox started the next sea-son in Winter Haven, Florida, Earl

Wilson wasnt allowed to stay atthe same hotel or even eat at thesame restaurants with the rest ofthe team. We were all shocked anddismayed when we heard of thisracism, but what could kids doabout it?

In summer of 1963, Grandfa-ther Joe, my brother Dennis and Idrove in his beach wagon to thesummer home in Parsonsfield,

Maine. It didnt take all that longto get there and after a quicklunch, we sat in the living room,turned on the television and

watched what was going on inWashington, DC. Martin LutherKing Jr. was delivering his speechat the Washington Monument.From a very stark black and whitepicture on the tube, came forth his

vision and dream. We neverthought we were witnessing histo-

ry in the making. The one thingwe asked ourselves was how muchlonger would African Americanshave to struggle? King was settingthe example with oratory and ac-tion, but there was still a great dealmore that had to be accomplished.

In 1967 during spring break, Iwent to Daytona Beach, Floridawith four friends. We were drivingall the way and most of the time

we were awake to see the Deep

South. As we drove throughNorth and South Carolina thescenery started to change. It was

very wide open in such a greencountrified setting. While drivingthrough Georgia, we watchedstretches of poverty fly by our

windows. There were shackswhere black people lived in board-ed pine houses that were unpaint-ed, gray and weather-beaten.

After driving for 24 hours we fi-nally reached Daytona andchecked into a motel. The nextday we were about to drive to thebeach. I asked the lady who ownedthe motel where the nearestCatholic Church was as EasterSunday was in just another twodays. She turned, looked andpointed at the highway and rec-ommended I travel about 3 milesdown the street where stood aCatholic Church. She said it wasthe best one because they didntallow coloreds to enter. AlthoughI was taken back by her remark, it

wasnt long before I saw that Day-

tona Beach had a remote sectionfor African Americans as well.

Was this separate but equal? Wasthis any way to talk about and con-front the issue of race?

The grains of sand have reachedtheir destination through thehourglass. After all the generationsof struggle, it seems that now

weve made another stride towardsbridging the color gap. Americachose Barack Obama as the na-

tions president. Kings dream isstill alive. His vision has lasted tothe present day with a fire and en-ergy that could not be silenced.

The torch is now in Obamashands as he has gone from thepage to the stage. Some peoplethought that America wasnt readyfor a black president. But with hiseloquent dialogue he gave peoplea message of hope, one of prideand national harmony. Whetherits the simplicity of buying somestrawberries, cheering on an ath-lete in his cause against bigotry,mythologizing the Rev. King, ortaking a personal stand against ex-tremism, we gain a better under-standing of our world and thepeople who live in it. We carry on

with the expectation that peoplecan be as strong as ever with adrum beating, a band playing anda flag waving. We are forever likethe stars streaking across the nightsky that come crashing to theearth, scratching the surface andmaking our mark.

Flaherty:Living to see change

AT LARGE

PETERCHIANCA

Letters welcomeThe deadline for letters is Monday at 5 p.m. forThursdays publication.Letters must be signed and include a daytimetelephone number for verification only. Lettersshould be no more than 350 words, and we re-serve the right to edit all letters for clarity andspace. Address letters to the Editor, The MedfieldPress, 254 Second Ave., Needham, MA 02494.

5Things we wantto see happen inthe future

More involvement in local politics

This year the Town Election ballot had nocontested races. Wed like to see more par-

ticipation in the political process in town. Maybemonthly citizenship forums could keep next years

elections in the public consciousness between nowand then, so therell be more people running forpublic office.

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Better, more responsible voterparticipation

The March 30 election, in which TreasurerGeorgia Colivas and Town Administrator MikeSullivan were neck and neck for the Trust FundCommissioner post, shows that even without con-tested races, one vote can make a difference. Wedlike to see more voters take the time to vote re-sponsibly for all the towns elected posts, which are

all important.

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Better attention paid to the risks andprevention of Lyme disease

Lyme disease cases have been rising in NorfolkCounty. If you didnt make it to the April 7 forumon prevention of the tick-borne illness, check outthe Medfield Press article on the subject printedlast week at our Web site, wickedlocal.com/med-field, and keep yourselves safe this spring when the

weather warms up.

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If youre not volunteering, make sometime to pitch in

Follow the example of Volunteers of the Year,Scout Leader Gary Wheeler and Girl Scout TessKomine, and pitch in where and when you can.

Volunteering helps the community, looks good ona resume and could bolster your work experiencein between jobs, if you can find a way to apply

your talents to a particular cause.

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Check in with the local library

If youve got thoughts or ideas on how tomake the library better, give them a call at

508-359-4544 and tell them what youre thinking.The Library is actively soliciting new ideas.

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