Students at Acera School in Winchester tackle world issues
By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JANUARY 30, 2014
JESSICA RINALDI FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
Huddled in groups in a large room with numerous nooks and cubbies, delegates of several countries with varying borders and sensibilities brooded over heady topics facing the 21st century world.
A representative of Japan contemplated the troubling issue of human trafficking; an agent of South Africa considered the growing concerns in North Korea and the 20-plus-year civil strife in Somalia; an ambassador of Sudan investigated his country’s illegal weapons training and paramilitary groups.
This wasn’t a formal assembly of the United Nations with its 193 member states – even though those gathered here spoke authoritatively and in impassioned detail.
These delegates were all under age 13.
All students at the Acera School in Winchester, they study the UN’s policies, procedures, and deliberations as part of their regular curriculum. On Saturday and Sunday, they will get the opportunity to display their knowledge of civics, diplomacy, and debate at theBoston University Academy Model UN Conference.
“It’s a nice window into what other countries think,” said Max Paul, a well-spoken and energetic Medford 12-year-old who will represent Sudan at the event.
Model UN is a core component at Acera in Winchester, an independent STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) school founded in 2010 for “high-ability” students in grades K to 8.
To qualify for admission, students have to have an IQ of 130 or above; score between 95 and 99 percent on state and national achievement tests; perform above their expected grade levels in several subjects; or exhibit overall “creative giftedness.” Students supply their own laptops, and tuition for the current school year is $14,500 for elementary school and $14,750 for middle school, according to the school’s website.
Through nontraditional, multiage classrooms and project-based learning techniques, the goal is to foster students to “think about their role in the world,” said founder and codirector Courtney Dickinson. “We want to have the kids emerge on the world stage as citizens.”
This isn’t the first time students have had the chance to show off their intricate understanding of global issues. In November, 23 Acera middle-schoolers participated in a model UN event held at Northeastern University in partnership with the United Nations Association of Greater Boston. Four students – Paul, Jasmine Dimaculangan of Medford, Thomas Mayer of Waltham, and Elizabeth Mulgrew de Laire of Carlisle – came away with outstanding delegation awards, the highest award given. Fittingly, they were honored with gavels.
For the upcoming conference, each student has been assigned a country to represent, a committee to sit on, and a complicated topic to debate – anything from the war on drugs to maintaining political stability in Venezuela following Hugo Chavez’s death. Their country will take a position, or not.
“It’s been a great experience for me,” said Mayer, 12, who is tackling issues of the United Kingdom.
On a recent morning, Mayer and his classmates spread out with their Mac laptops – personalized with Red Sox, Patriots, and Newbury Comics stickers – in a large, carpeted room with couches, chairs, loft seats, and private office areas in lieu of traditional desks and rows of seats.
“A huge part of this is discovery on their own,” said Sean Ingle, a middle school interdisciplinary teacher, who has a diverse background in political science, engineering, and government lobbying, as he occasionally asked and answered questions to spark discussions.
In one area, students studied key historical figures and events and their impact on the present, such as Roman politicians and military leaders Gaius Flaminius and Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
Meanwhile, in one of the offices, a small group tackled the ongoing nuclear threat posed by North Korea to its southern neighbor and the rest of the world, as well as the two-decades-long civil war in Somalia.
“I found a folio on Somalian propaganda,” said Owen Murray, 12, of Melrose, who will speak on behalf of South Africa at the conference.
“Please tell me that’s a joke?” Benjamin Grayzel, 12, of Winchester, said quizzically as he examined the e-mailed document.
“No, that’s Somali propaganda.”
Murray, a pair of headphones slung around his neck, explained South Africa’s neutral stance on North Korea: “They don’t want to be a part of it. They want to stay out of it.”
Next door, in an adjacent room, another group took on the similarly heavy topics of illegal weapons training and human trafficking.
“You just want to find a plan that suits your country’s best interest,” said Eamon Szostak, 13, of Boston, examining both issues from Japan’s perspective. “Because generally, countries are self-centered.”
Human trafficking is a “pretty big problem” in Japan, he said. Overall, it’s been interesting to examine things from the mindset of a country that isn’t “big and powerful,” and has to use the means of “pacifism and cooperation” to get things done, he said.
As for Sudan’s significant dilemma with human trafficking?
“We dismiss them,” Max Paul said succinctly.
“That’s what all governments do, is deny things,” Szostak rebutted. “They don’t like it, they deny it.”
Similarly, across the Red Sea and the vast plains of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates has a “pretty serious problem” with illegal weapons training and human trafficking, which it is trying to rectify, according to Julia Urquiola, 13, of Melrose. “But,” she noted, “they have quite a long ways to go.”
Mayer reported that human trafficking isn’t a huge priority in the United Kingdom – but it’s also not the type of news that would dominate US headlines. Unless, he added, it had an impact here.
With a shrug, he said of the experience, “I wouldn’t otherwise have known about the UK’s position and policy.”
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© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC
Winchester students ask the world: 'Show me your school'
By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JANUARY 30, 2014
WENDY MAEDA/GLOBE STAFF
Trying to stay whisper-quiet, the two kindergartners sat on the floor of their school library, flipping through hardcover picture books of trucks and firefighters that filled their laps.
A few feet away, fifth-grader Patrick Fortin framed them in the viewfinder of a point-and-click camera, a neatly stacked bookshelf serving as a backdrop.
“Say cheese!” he prompted.
“Cheese!”
It was a simple, everyday moment in their everyday school lives. Which was exactly what they set out to capture.
Students at Ambrose Elementary School are participants in a global project facilitated by the Winchester-based nonprofit, Live Learn Act. “Show me your school” encourages students around the world to document their day-to-day activities – from lunch to free time to transportation – and share it with other children through the universal language of photography.
“It’s good to know what kids in other countries are doing,” Fortin said on a recent morning as he snapped photos of Jeremiah McCarthy and P.J. Maher in Ambrose’s library. “It’s our only way to stay in touch.”
Live Learn Act launched the project earlier this month with a goal to connect children in as many as 11 countries through their commonality of school. Students are given more than a dozen questions – including “What tools do you use to learn?” “What does your classroom look like?” “What does your meal/snack look like?” – that they represent through digital images.
“It allows them to interpret their learning environment,” said Live Learn Act cofounder and president Stephanie Smith. “We expect numerous interpretations of the questions.”
The nonprofit was founded in 2011 as a means to educate children about the world, link them on a global scale with their peers, and ultimately encourage the local participants to become philanthropic and “international citizens,” Smith explained. As part of this mission, Live Learn Act has helped to establish two learning centers in rural India for girls age 5 to 12. The children in Winchester are able to interact — using their hands and feet — with the world through the use of large National Geographic Giant Traveling Maps of Asia and Europe.
Most notably, the nonprofit embarked on The Happiness Project, through which more than 1,900 children in 11 countries answered the question, “What makes you happy?” with their own drawings. That effort is chronicled in the book “Everywhere Happiness: A Global Lesson.”
“The goal is to excite them about learning about other cultures and kids their own age across the world,” said Smith.
It has ignited that passion, with students in Winchester selling flowers, setting up lemonade stands, and offering donations in lieu of birthday gifts to help with their Indian sister schools.
“Show me your school” is used as a “mechanism to teach about other cultures,” she added, with the camera being their ultimate “ticket around the globe.”
The project is in the early stages, with partnerships still being formed, according to executive director Christine Kowalczuk; the wish list of participating countries includes India, China, Italy, Ghana, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil, and Canada. Eventually, the photos will be displayed in local and online exhibits, and, ideally, in a book.
“It’s tangible, hands-on — put yourself in their shoes, have them in your shoes,” said Kowalczuk.
On a recent morning, 120 Ambrose students — fifth-graders paired with kindergartners and parent volunteers — fanned out in a cyclone of movement, toting cameras and question sheets.
Some took pictures of multiple angles of the front door to answer, “Where do you enter your school?” while others put on their boots, coats, and book bags and hurried outside to illustrate “What do you look like when you come to school?”
To answer a question about the sports they play, fifth-grader Caroline McCarthy kicked a tiny soccer ball to kindergartner Lily O’Hagan, whose silver-sparkly shoes darted back and forth.
“I want to see how similar we really are,” McCarthy said as the group made its way back to class.
“Or the differences,” added her classmate, Amanda O’Brien.
Meanwhile, in another part of the school, a different group gathered containers of paint, glue, pencils, and crayons to show how they create art, and what materials they use.
“I hope to see some of the same stuff that we do — maybe a connection,” said fifth-grader Tia Fiorentino. “We all like art, so hopefully we have some of the same interests.”
As she escorted different groups in their errands, parent volunteer Azurae Hood said, “It’s really cool, especially because sometimes children don’t have the perspective of the bigger picture. They see what they see every day, and that’s it. This allows them to broaden their perspective.
“And it’s fun.”
Additional photos by Wendy Maeda:
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© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC
Visiting exhibits that left a lasting impression
JANUARY 26, 2014
ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE
The Wall that Heals Traveling Wall
Fraser Field, in Lynn, August 2009; Forest Dale Cemetery in Malden; Beachmont VFW in Revere, June 2013
The
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
in Washington is a somber and elegant dedication to the more than
58,000 US military personnel who gave their lives during the Vietnam
War. The
Wall that Heals,
a traveling replica accompanied by a mobile museum, comprises 24
panels and is about 250 feet long, listing names by date of casualty.
The exhibit was unveiled in 1996 and has since been displayed in
hundreds of cities and towns nationwide.
In Conversation: Modern African American Art
Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, June-September 2013
The
20th century was a tumultuous period
for civil rights. This
show,
organized by the Smithsonian
American Art Museum,
featured the work of 43 black artists, including John T. Biggers,
Melvin Edwards, and Romare Bearden. Through paintings, photographs,
prints, and sculpture, the artists explored the Harlem Renaissance of
the 1920s, the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s, and cultural
phenomena such as jazz.
Annie Leibovitz: Women
Endicott College in Beverly, January-March 2010
Annie
Leibovitz is famous for
photographing famous people, anyone from John Lennon to Miley Cyrus.
This
collection
of
29 large-sized portraits was devoted to women in various settings and
societal roles, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, actress Gwyneth
Paltrow, Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and chef/restaurateur Alice
Waters, as well as an assortment of everyday people like a Las Vegas
showgirl and an elderly chiropractic massage therapist.
Suited for Space
American Textile Museum in Lowell, December 2012-March 2013
As the saying goes, it’s the final frontier. But while many have pondered the moon, sun, planets, supernovas, and the concept of black holes, few have considered one of the most intricate marvels of space travel: the spacesuit. This exhibit, provided through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, provided a rare view of the specially engineered gear that evolved over time. Items on display included a replica Apollo spacesuit.
COMPILED BY TARYN PLUMB
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© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC
Visiting exhibits that hit home
JANUARY 26, 2014
YOON S. BYUN/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2009
Operation: Home Ties
Pembroke Town Hall, March 2010
On the seventh anniversary of the war in Iraq, Pembroke honored the state’s fallen soldiers with this somber but touchingtraveling tribute wall. Artist Gina Johnson of Woburn has created detailed pencil “memory portraits” of Massachusetts soldiers who have given their lives since 9/11. Johnson conceived the idea in late 2007, after seeing an online tribute to Massachusetts fallen heroes. The portraits also are presented to the families of the fallen.
In Our Family
Milton Academy Greenleaf Hall, April 2013
Families come in all forms. This is the central theme of this traveling show created by Family Diversity Projects in Amherst, which presents candid photos and stories from 20 families. The goal is to combat stereotypes and bullying, and explore diversity and tolerance. Represented are immigrants; interfaith and multiracial families; adoptive and foster families; divorced families and step-families; single-parent households; lesbian and gay parents and their children; multi-generational households, and families dealing with mental and physical disabilities.
Anne Frank: A History for Today
John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School in Middleborough, October 2013
The story of Anne Frank has captivated the world since her Holocaust diary was published in 1947. This exhibit, on loan fromThe Anne Frank Center USA in New York, is typically presented more than 300 times a year, and is specifically geared to students age 11 to 18. It tells not only Frank’s story, but the history of the Holocaust and World War II, emphasizing themes such as tolerance, human rights, respect, and religious, cultural, and ethnic differences around the world.
See the Signatures: People Who Attended the First Thanksgiving
Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Nov. 28 and 29, 2013
In autumn 1621, some 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans were believed to have gathered for the first Thanksgiving in Plimoth. Little is known about what occurred, as only two primary sources – Edward Winslow and William Bradford – documented the occasion. But this past Thanksgiving offered a rare treat: documents with signatures of nine prominent figures who attended the first Thanksgiving, including Bradford, Myles Standish, and Massasoit. Also on display was one of the rare original copies of “Mourt’s Relation” from 1622, which contains a short description of the event that inspired the modern-day feast.
COMPILED BY TARYN PLUMB
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© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC
Cat Rescue of Marlborough and Hudson hosting feline film fest
By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JANUARY 16, 2014
There’s just something about cat videos.
Whether it is the sardonic and introspective “Henri, le chat noir,” or the carefree keyboard-playing kitty, or any of the assorted other cats mewing, singing, talking, stalking, catching rides on Roombas, making faces, and being terrorized by popcorn machines or printers, millions of eyes have spent countless hours watching them online.
“Cat videos rule the Internet,” said Teresa Scarpato of Marlborough, whose curious, playful, orange-and-white feline Sunshine is the star of his own Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Hoping to capitalize on the world’s obsession with furry creatures doing amusing things, the nonprofit Cat Rescue of Marlborough and Hudson (or CaRMaH) organization will host the inaugural Feline Film Festival on Sunday as its first major fund-raising event.
From 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the Strand Theatre in Clinton, the homage to cats in all of their quirkiness will feature videos of not only international stars like Maru and Henri, but local up-and-comers like Sunshine, a slide show and cat commercials, as well as auctions, raffles, and music from guitarist Joe D’Angelo. Dale LePage, who was won numerous entertainer and vocalist of the year awards, will serve as emcee.
“CaRMaH has a Facebook page, and we have many fans who love cat videos,” the group’s president, Jocelyne Durrenberger, a pediatric nurse-practitioner for Reliant Medical Group in Worcester, said of the inspiration for the festival. “When we post videos of adoptable cats on our page, their chances of being adopted goes up.”
The nonprofit was also inspired by the Somerville Arts Council’s Copy Cat Festival last February, and the celebrated, touring Internet Cat Video Festival.
“I think cats are just funny, they do funny things,” Monica Hamilton, CaRMaH’s special event manager, said of the feline video phenomenon. “If you don’t have a cat or don’t know them, you might think they’re aloof. But they’re very, very funny little pets. They have a lot of personality.”
Founded in 2002 as the Metrowest Animal Awareness Society, CaRMaH is a volunteer-run rescue organization comprising more than a dozen foster homes (it has no physical shelter). Animals taken into its care are treated by a veterinarian, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and microchipped, and then offered for adoption through the group’s website or monthly meet-and-greet events called “Meow Mixers,” Durrenberger said.
Organizers also run a regular program through which feral cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, “ear-tipped’’ (a quarter-inch of their left ear is removed, a universal symbol for a fixed feral cat), and then returned to their outdoor homes.
“The colony’s population stabilizes — no more kittens,” Durrenberger said of the program’s goal, and it “improves their lives and their relations with the community. The behaviors and stresses associated with mating stop.”
The organization has placed more than 2,000 cats and kittens, and has spayed or neutered more than 500 feral cats, officials said.
For this weekend’s film festival, CaRMaH sought photos of local cats to be featured in the slide show (which will include each cat’s name, hometown, preferred food, favorite pastime or quirky trait, and astrological sign) as well as videos. The festival received nearly two dozen entries, Durrenberger said, which will be mixed in with Internet sensations such as the Japanese Maru, Henri the existentialist, “An Engineer’s Guide to Cats,” and cat commercials.
Scarpato’s contribution, 2 minutes and 30 seconds set to a jaunty soundtrack, features spliced scenes of the fluffy Sunshine chasing after a tiny red ball and batting it back and forth with her husband.
“They do this almost every day,” she said.
The dapper kitty, who will be 2 on Jan. 24, has his own YouTube channel — another video shows him playing with his “Catmas” toys — and Facebook page with almost 100 “likes.”
Featured in dozens of pictures, the white-and-gold kitty does typical cat stuff — curling up in bags and boxes, mooning for the camera, taking the occasional passive-aggressive nap on the open laptop — while the accompanying text (written in Sunshine’s voice) jokes about inducing his “male subject” into playing with him, puzzles over the magic water cooler, and professes his love of tissue paper and bite-size birds.
“I knew I was going to get obsessive about taking pictures, but I didn’t want to annoy my friends,” Scarpato, who works at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, said of her decision to create the page. “I don’t expect Sunshine to be the next ‘Grumpy Cat.’ It’s just an outlet for me to be creative.”
But Sunshine has his fans — 93 of them, as of Tuesday — and his page has gotten “likes” from as far away as Great Britain and Australia. Scarpato has also used the page as a charity mechanism, last month hosting Giving Tuesday — complete with a picture of Sunshine holding a dollar in his demure paw — that provided $1 to CaRMaH for every “like.” They ultimately donated $100.
The shy and mellow cat was rescued as a kitten after living in a trailer park in Marlborough, and adopted on Nov. 12, 2012.
“We’ve definitely become ‘those’ people,” Scarpato said. “My friends keep saying we’re ‘stupid in love.’ ”
For more information or to order advance tickets, visit www.carmah.org or carmahfilmfestival.brownpapertickets.com .
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© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC
Marblehead seniors try to improve their balancing act
By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JANUARY 16, 2014
MARBLEHEAD — Slowly, a little shakily, the 82-year-old in the blue chambray shirt shifted his weight from one foot to another, stood tentatively on one leg, and practiced slowly sitting down, then standing back up again.
Six months ago, he said, he was restricted to a wheelchair because of a spinal issue; now he’s able to get around with a cane. Although he’s happy with his progress, he still has a ways to go.
“I need to improve my balance so I can get rid of my cane,” said Bill Genett of Marblehead, who’s hoping to do just that by participating in a new class offered at his town’s Council on Aging. One goal is to “just be able to walk a half-mile or a mile without a cane.”
The medical community agrees that as people age, their balance can suffer. So prevention is key, especially on the icy days of winter. To this end — and in the spirit of launching a healthy new year — the Marblehead Council on Aging has started two weekly classes related to restoring and enhancing balance.
Balance I is for those with limited mobility, and Balance II for those with more active lifestyles. The instructor is Susan Finigan of North Shore Physical Therapy.
“Good balance is the key to safety at home,” said Council on Aging activities coordinator Janice Salisbury Beal. “You want to know that the environment is safe, that [people are] able to maneuver on their own.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three adults age 65 and older fall each year. In 2010, emergency rooms treated 2.3 million nonfatal fall injuries, according to the agency. That same year, the direct medical cost for falls was $30 billion.
“There’s a huge increase in falls,” said Finigan, a certified personal trainer and physical therapist assistant. She noted that her therapy organization works extensively on balance with its patients. “We’re trying to prevent falls.”
The number-one reason they happen? Weakness, she said.
Falls, particularly among the elderly, often result in sprains, and fractures of the hip, spine, pelvis, leg, forearm, upper arm, and hand, according to the CDC. In more serious scenarios, they can lead to hip and knee replacements, traumatic brain injuries, and even death.
In 2010, 21,700 older adults died in the United States as the result of injuries from falls, a number that has “risen sharply” over the past decade. Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults, according to the CDC.
Even if they’re not injured, those fearing another fall may limit their activities, thus leading to further reduction in mobility and physical fitness.
This is something Gloria Lovekin knows from experience. Lovekin, 87, who was in the first Balance I class, moved to Marblehead a few years ago to be with her family. Once very active — she’s taught exercise classes herself — she recently fell, fractured her hip, and had a hip replacement.
She now uses a cane and she acknowledged, “I haven’t been exercising.”
But, as Finigan noted, “If you don’t practice balance,” she said, “you lose it.”
The Marblehead Council on Aging launched its ongoing program with personal screenings (aimed at determining each person’s stance, and their ability to get up and down without assistance) and a questionnaire (with such queries as “Do you feel safe in your home?” or “Do you have rugs or stairs?”), Salisbury Beal said. Based on mobility, people were placed in the beginner or advanced class, which are held back-to-back beginning at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays in the Marblehead Community Center gym.
During a recent Balance I class, 10 participants stood behind chairs arranged in a circle. Canes were delicately balanced on the seats of some.
“You are not to take a risk of falling,” Finigan stressed. “This is a progressive class. You will get better.”
She crouched by Lovekin’s feet to address an errant shoelace. “I’m going to tie your shoes for you,” she said, “because that’s not a good thing.”
She started the group with “hovering” exercises — standing behind chairs without holding onto them, but having them within reach. They then moved onto heel lifts, perpendicular kicks to the right and left, marching in place with knees high and low, forward and back rocking, lateral knee bends, shifting weight from one leg to another, and one-legged stands.
Then there was the “dreaded sit-slowly butt,” Finigan called — essentially taking a seat in slow motion (known as “eccentric sitting”).
“Control the descent: down — down — down — down — down,” Finigan instructed. “Stick your bottom out. If you’re a plopper, you’re not using your muscles at all.”
After a half-hour of low-impact exercises, the class was given “homework:” Practice the slow sits five times throughout the day, Finigan said, and also spend five minutes a day walking slowly back and forth at the kitchen counter.
The second class was noticeably more mobile — it began with the slow sit, then moved on to crouching, rocking, lifting with one arm, standing on one leg as long as possible, shuffling back and forth, and walking along the lines on the gym floor like a balance beam.
“Slow down, take your time, look, assess the area,” Finigan said of preventing falls, noting hazards seniors often encounter, such as rough sidewalks, tree roots, missing a stair step, dim lighting, and similar colors of stairs and rugs.
Shirley Himmelfarb, 84, a short-haired brunette dressed in a black cardigan and slacks and white sneakers, is one of those fit and active octogenarians we all aspire to be: She plays doubles tennis twice a week and takes frequent walks.
The Marblehead resident was taking in the class because a sore knee “makes my balance questionable,” she said.
So besides keeping moving, what’s her secret?
She shrugged. “Good genes, I guess.”
JULIETTE LYNCH FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
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REFLECT: CONVICTS’ LETTERS TO THEIR YOUNGER SELVES
Taryn Plumb
ENGINE
265 MAIN STREET
BIDDEFORD, MAINE
JANUARY 10 THROUGH FEBRUARY 22
A ponytailed, white-bearded man peers skeptically over his glasses, hands clasped in his lap. All around him, silhouetting his bulky form on a sort of chalkboard, are harsh and angry words written in blocky script — bolded, underlined, screaming with caps and exclamation points.
“Look what you’ve done to us, our sons, our career and future — DESTROYED!” they admonish. “Listen to those who love you, get their wisdom and understanding. They want to save you from yourself!”
Time offers perspective and knowledge; all of us, if allowed the chance, would give ourselves a warning, an encouragement, maybe a reproach. What would you say to your younger self?
It’s a compelling question for anyone to answer, but when posed to a dozen inmates in the Maine prison system serving a range of sentences for a variety of offenses, the result is both stark and moving. The project, fittingly called “REFLECT: Convicts’ Letters to their Younger Selves” and photographed by Trent Bell, transposes large-scale portraits of prisoners over their hand-written letters to their pre-incarcerated selves. On display at Engine in Biddeford Jan. 10 through Feb. 22, it also encompasses video interviews by Joe Carter, pictures of prison guards by Corey Desrochers and ambient sounds recorded within institution walls.
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Transgender youth shares his tale of challenge
By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
DECEMBER 29, 2013
Mark Lorenz for The Boston Globe
Growing up as a girl – and an identical triplet – Zachary Kerr never felt quite right with himself.
When asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” for instance, the answer from his little girl self was always “a boy.” It was charming at first, he recalled. But later, it became worrisome.
A tomboy who preferred rough-housing, he would often leave home dressed in clothes designated for his female gender. Then slyly on the school bus, he changed into outfits snuck from his older brothers’ closets.
He felt confused and alone. At age 14, he came across the transgender concept: people whose gender identity is different from what they were born with. It clicked; things finally made sense. He slowly started to make the transition from female to male.
“I was depressed because I didn’t end up in the right body,” said the 20-year-old Methuen native, who went to Methuen public schools and is now a freshman at Wheelock College. “I want people to see that you can be trans, and you can be happy.”
Displaying an incredible amount of frankness, poise, and self-confidence, Kerr is an advocate and a role model for the transgender community. Still undergoing his biological transition from female to male, his goal is to educate people of all types about transgenderism, and provide support to youths who are struggling with gender issues, as well as their families and caregivers.
In this quest, he works closely with the Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students, and Greater Boston PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) through educational outreach programs. Essentially, he shares his personal story in a variety of settings — schools, churches, corporations, state agencies — with teenagers, adults, teachers, businesspeople, and officials. After college, he plans to continue, with a goal to pursue social work.
“It’s a learning process for everybody,” he said of becoming transgender.
For youths struggling with their identity, he said he knows how it is to feel alone. “There are support systems out there.”
Kerr offered this guidance for families and friends: “This is really hard to understand, and that’s OK. It’s not OK to hate and discriminate because you don’t understand. It’s not OK not to try to educate yourself.”
For his efforts, Kerr was recently recognized with a TeenNick HALO award from Nickelodeon, which celebrates young activists; he was one of just four recipients nationwide, and was accompanied on stage at a live broadcast by Josh Hutcherson of the “Hunger Games,” who founded the ally group Straight But Not Narrow.
Throughout his work, Kerr has been a defining influence for a number of people.
“Zach inspires me with his honesty, his openness, his maturity, and by how comfortable he is with himself,” said Deborah Peeples, president of Greater Boston PFLAG, and mother of a transgender young adult. “He demonstrates his courage by sharing his very personal story, and recognizes the power of putting a face to the issue of gender identity and how that helps break down barriers and build understanding.”
Kerr’s transition began in seventh grade, when he “came out to himself,” and slowly revealed his identity to his friends, triplet sisters Amy and Sara, and three older brothers. Eventually, he worked up the courage to tell his parents, with his mother nearly having to pry out the words, “I know I’m really a boy.”
From there, he made the social shift, wearing boys’ clothing, identifying as a male, and legally changing his name. He also takes a testosterone shot once a week, which dropped his voice, caused him to grow facial hair, and “all that fun stuff that goes with puberty.”
Although there has been the occasional person to say “stupid things,” the shift has been largely positive for him, with the support of his family, friends, and classmates.
His mother and father did initially have a tough time, feeling, in a sense, that they were “losing their youngest daughter,” he said.
But seeing how happy he was in finally discovering himself, he said they assured him: “We’ve always had a son. You just had the wrong title.”
Mark Lorenz for The Boston Globe
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At 87, Hope is still there for others
By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
DECEMBER 29, 2013
Joanne Rathe / Globe Staff
Sitting in her pink scrubs, lanyard ID dangling, the white-haired, bespectacled octogenarian looked down at her lap and knotted her hands.
“There are so many volunteers, so many people who do great things,” Hope Wigglesworth said quietly. “I’m just one of millions.”
If there’s one thing that sums up the Ipswich 87-year-old, it’s her humility. Although Wigglesworth has given countless hours of her time to the community, she hardly wants recognition.
“I’ve done volunteer work for a good part of my life,” she said. “It was ingrained within my family that it was important to give back.”
Most notably, she does so by devoting her Thursdays as a patient ambassador atBeverly Hospital. Since May 2009, she has put in more than 350 hours, slowly pushing a cart through the halls, stopping room by room to offer up magazines, books, and pads and pencils for patients to write thoughts, questions, or medical directions — because, as she pointed out, people rarely remember to bring something to write on, and end up scribbling on napkins.
She keeps patients company, too, talking with them about whatever’s on their minds.
“I find that I meet a lot of wonderful people dealing with all kinds of medical issues, showing courage and faith, and a sense of humor at times,” she reflected.
“I can really say, when I leave here on Thursday, that I have gotten more than I have given.”
The mother of four and grandmother of nine, who has lived in Ipswich for more than 60 years, is involved in other facets of the community as well, but was reluctant to mention them, besides her work on the Ipswich Museum’s capital campaign.
“That’s one of the things with people like Hope — they certainly don’t do it for the recognition,” said Jane Karaman, the hospital’s manager of volunteer services. “Somebody that puts the amount of joy and effort into what they do, and so quietly. . . . Hope epitomizes that.”
Patients have described Wigglesworth as “precious,” Karaman said, noting that she always has a smile to offer up to a weary face.
“She has certainly brightened a lot of patients’ days and rooms.”
Wigglesworth’s dedication to volunteering started in college, when she spent a summer in New York City, where she grew up, with Travelers Aid International. It was just after World War II, and she worked with customs officials on the docks, meeting displaced individuals. Some of them had been in camps in Europe, and, as she explained, “came with absolutely nothing.”
Over the years, she also donated her time to high school guidance departments, and at the old Boston City Hospital.
Because her late husband William was a surgeon, she’s always had a “great admiration for all who work in the hospital area.”
So when she retired “around 1990” from a varied career in educational and hospital administration and health career counseling, she made a pact with herself that she would attempt to do three new things each year.
One of those included getting back into hospital volunteering. (Another, recently, has been to learn to use her iPhone.)
Of her devotion to community service, she said simply, “You don’t volunteer unless you care.”
Joanne Rathe / Globe Staff
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