Kerouac loved to walk -- why shouldn't you?

Discovering the charm of locales on foot

By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MAY 18, 2014

Jack Kerouac loved to walk. Around the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell where he grew up and discovered his love of writing; around the streets of New York City where he helped father the “beat generation”; around the College Park section of Orlando where he lived when his iconic “On the Road” was introduced to America.

In that spirit, the nonprofit Lowell Celebrates Kerouac offers walking tours of the celebrated author’s hangouts — from the house where he was born, to the bars he frequented, to his modest gravestone at Edson Cemetery.

“He loved to soak in his hometown, New York, San Francisco, and the rest of the continent in between,” said Mike Wurm, immediate past president and now board member of the volunteer organization.

As Kerouac knew, there are stories everywhere you look — or walk.

There is a bevy of opportunity for exploring the region’s stories, from guided nature and historical strolls, to self-led tours, and numerous trails, hikes, and routes.

“It is an inexpensive way to exercise; all you need are either sneakers or hiking boots,” said Mike Tuohey, a Whitman resident and Appalachian Mountain Club hiking guide. “Plus, being out in nature with like-minded people helps to recharge the batteries after a week at work. It’s a healthy way to socialize.”

And the great thing about walking is its versatility. You can discover nature, educate yourself about your own town, take in history, or simply meander.

For a traditional walk — beyond the north region’s numerous beloved beaches, of course — consider Salisbury’s Coastal Trails, the Bradford Rail Trail, the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, Bald Hill Reservation, or the Stavros Reservation in Essex, which are just a sampling of the many state and town-owned options.

If you prefer a city stroll, the advocacy organization Walk Boston offers maps of routes in Gloucester, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Somerville, Medford, Lynn, Swampscott, Wakefield, and Winthrop. The walks offer a chance to explore rivers, parks, industrial history, ethnic diversity, lesser traveled paths, and lively neighborhoods.

As executive director Wendy Landman explained, Walk Boston has been helping Melrose, Woburn, Revere, and Salem (among many other communities) to become even more walkable through evaluations, workshops, and the Safe Routes to School program. The nonprofit also recently released a rural walking tool kit to help smaller towns become more pedestrian-friendly.

Landman noted the benefits to walking, from societal, to economical, to environmental. Not to mention its physical, mental, and cognitive impact.

“There’s new stuff coming out all the time about the benefits of walking,” she said. “It’s basically good for you in every way you can imagine.”

Plus, it can very often provide opportunities for a learning experience.

For instance, get to know more about 19th-century poet John Greenleaf Whittier on Haverhill’s Freeman Memorial Trail, which guides walkers to 13 landmarks on his birthplace property.

Or explore Salem’s Chestnut Street with its Federal-style mansions, which, according to Salem.org, was the first planned street in America. There’s also the Salem Heritage Trail, and the city’s numerous (and in some cases, infamous) cemeteries.

Brochures on NPS.gov also provide guided walks of the McIntire Historic District, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Salem, the city’s African-American experience, and the “great age of sail.”

On June 7, several of Historic New England’s sites will be open to the public; explore the grounds of properties ranging from simple Colonial residences to folk-art meccas to elaborate, seaside mansions, including the 1692 Saugus Boardman House, the 1785 Rocky Hill Meeting House in Amesbury, the 1907 Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester, Cogswell’s Grant in Essex, and the 1678 Coffin House, 1715 Dole-Little House, 1670 Swett-Ilshey House, and 1690 Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, all in Newbury.

For more of a guided experience, Salem Historical Tours (one of many tour companies operating in the city) offers a half-dozen daily walks dedicated to the city’s general history, cemeteries, Witch Trials, or architecture. (And, of course, it wouldn’t be Salem without a lantern-lit ghost walk as well).

Salem Historical Tours operates from March through November, and its walks, which range from $10 to $20 for adults, can attract up to 60 people, according to owner Giovanni Alabiso.

“There’s close to 400 years of history here,” he said. “It’s one of the oldest cities in North America.”

But beyond the city’s deep and storied history, he also described the “resplendent and varied” architectural styles, among them Colonnade, Colonial Revival, and Gothic Revival. The city is “so rich with architecture,” he said. “People don’t realize how many different styles we have in Salem.”

For a completely different style, head over to Lowell, where biped excursions will acquaint you with beat generation icon Kerouac.

According to Wurm, Lowell Celebrates Kerouac offers a traditional pub tour, a library tour where Kerouac so often played hooky growing up, a twilight walk of the Pawtucketville neighborhood, and a four-hour, cradle-to-grave loop walk.

Also, in a “Mystic Jack” tour, based on Kerouac’s 1963 novel “Visions of Gerard,” bilingual guide Roger Brunelle takes groups into St. Louis School, St. Louis Church, and one of Kerouac’s childhood homes. “A Walk in Doctor Sax’s Woods,” meanwhile, takes its name from the 1959 book and explores the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsborough State Forest at evening.

Walks are made by appointment, with suggested donations of $5 to $10.

“It’s good for people to discover Kerouac and his vision of Lowell,” said Wurm, who didn’t seriously study the author’s work until his retirement five years ago. “I became intrigued by his life, how such a brilliant writer could spring up in a very working-class and ethnic neighborhood.”

And “he’s still inspiring people today,” said Wurm. “There’s a lot of resonance there for people to find their own way in the world.”

On foot, or otherwise.

Original story link.

© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC

It's spring -- get out and walk!!

Walking is great way to get to know the region south of Boston

By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MAY 18, 2014

DEBEE TLUMACKI FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

The couple happened upon their profession purely by accident.

Nancy and Leo Martin moved to Plymouth in 1999, where they intended to open a photography studio.

The Jenney Grist Mill, built by Pilgrim John Jenney in 1636, was one of their options; once they heard of its history, they dedicated themselves to educating people about it — and the area at large — through a series of now-daily walking tours of Plymouth.

“We enjoy meeting people from all over the world, and we hope people will see how interesting the history of our country is and how the lessons learned then are still relevant today,” Nancy Martin said of the Jenney Museum. “We believe history should never be boring, and our goal is never to let that happen.”

There are stories everywhere you look — or, in this case, walk.

Now that the brutal winter has finally relented to T-shirt (or at least windbreaker) temperatures, there are a bevy of options to explore the region’s stories, from guided nature and historical strolls akin to those offered by the Jenney Museum to self-led tours along numerous trails, hikes, and routes.

“It is an inexpensive way to exercise — all you need are either sneakers or hiking boots,” said Mike Tuohey, a Whitman resident and Appalachian Mountain Club hiking guide who leads several area walks. “Plus being out in nature with like-minded people helps to recharge the batteries after a week at work. It’s a healthy way to socialize.”

And the great thing about walking is its versatility — people can discover nature, learn about their hometown, take in history, or simply meander.

For a traditional walk, the area is rich with gems for self-discovery, from historical sites to beaches to acres of woods and parklands.

Consider Quincy’s Adams National Historical Park, whose “old house” was the residence of four generations of the family that helped shape our nation. There’s also the popular destinations World’s End in Hingham, Quincy Quarries, Norris Reservation in Norwell, Whitney and Thayer Woods spanning Hingham and Cohasset, the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, and, of course, Myles Standish State Forest, the area’s largest publicly owned recreation area, in Carver and Plymouth.

For even more ideas, the website www.south-shore-hiking-trails.com suggests walks of more than a dozen cities and towns south of Boston.

Meanwhile, on June 7, several of Historic New England’s sites will be open to the public, including the Quincy House, built by Revolutionary leader Josiah Quincy in 1770.

For those who prefer more of a city stroll, the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce has a downloadable Pilgrim Path tour map on its website, and the advocacy organization Walk Boston offers maps of suggested walks along Braintree’s waterfront and town center, the Hull peninsula, the cultural and historic sites of Walpole, and the church green and Norfolk House in Dedham.

Executive director Wendy Landman said Walk Boston has been helping many communities become more walkable through walk audits, workshops, and the Safe Routes to School program, which helps provide a nurturing environment for children to walk to school. The nonprofit also recently released a rural walking tool kit to help smaller towns become more pedestrian-friendly.

Landman said the benefits of walking are societal, economical, and environmental. Walking also has physical, mental, and cognitive benefits.

“There’s new stuff coming out all the time about the benefits of walking,” she said. “It’s basically good for you in every way you can imagine.”

Plus, it almost always provides opportunities for a learning experience.

Tuohey’s upcoming guided tours, for example, include a 7-mile hike on Saturday in the Blue Hills Reservation viewing various types of wildflowers, and a 6.5-mile hike on June 14 of the Blue Hills Skyline Trail in Quincy and Milton.

On May 31, he will also lead a 5.5-mile walk of the Granite Railway and Quincy Quarries.

“On this hike, there are quarries, most filled in, but some still open and water-filled,” he said.

Walkers will also see remnants of the 1826 Granite Railway, the first commercial railroad in the United States, and the Lyon’s Turning Mill, which produced granite spheres and cylinders.

Tuohey, who has been leading walks under the auspices of the Appalachian Mountain Club Boston chapter since 2010, said he has a “love of history” and likes to share various tidbits as he guides.

“The weather is perfect this time of year — it’s not too hot and the bugs have not come out yet,” he said as an incentive to get people out for a walk.

Other guided hikes offered by the Appalachian Mountain Club include a Blue Hills bird walk on May 31, a Nantasket Beach Walk on June 1, and explorations of Hale Reservation in Westwood and Wollaston Beach in Quincy, both on June 15.

For even more nearby history, consider a different kind of walking tour, offered through the Jenney Museum.

The Martins offer three daily walking tours (except on Sundays) of the Forefathers Monument, which tells the story of the faith of the Pilgrims; overall Plymouth history, exploring Brewster Gardens, Plymouth Rock, Cole’s Hill, Leyden Street, Burial Hill and Town Square; and another titled “Business Not as Usual,” about the evolution of economics among the Pilgrims, including the development of the grist mill.

“We tell how the Pilgrims went from a communal existence to land ownership, free trade, and capitalism,” Nancy Martin said. “This saved the Pilgrims economically.”

All three tours, which range from $8 to $10 for adults, are led by Leo Martin in period costume, and can draw anywhere from 10 to 100 people.

“People love the way Leo tells a story,” said his wife. “He has a way of bringing history alive and engaging people. He loves what he does, he loves the history of our country, and he loves people.”

It’s also, in a sense, a way to pay it forward.

“He loves to go on vacation,” Nancy said, “and when he does get to, he wants to be treated well, so his goal is to treat people well and give them an experience they will never forget.”

Original story link.

© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC

The (other) infamous triangle

‘Bridgewater Triangle’ film cites litany of mysteries

By Taryn Plumb|GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MAY 04, 2014

Courtesy of the filmmakers

It was a late-night walk in a Raynham neighborhood silent and still, lost in sleep.

Suddenly, William Russo’s dog, Samantha, began to shake and quiver — as he describes it, “rattlin’ like an old Chevy.”

Russo looked around, listened, and finally heard what was terrifying her.

“Eh wan chu. Eh wan chu. Keahr. Keahr.”

A sort of high-pitched wail.

And then he saw it.

Illuminated in the circle of a street light was a creature unlike any he’d ever seen: 3 to 4 feet tall, potbellied, big-eyed, covered in hair, unclothed.

Later, as he struggled to make sense of what he’d seen, Russo realized that whatever it was, it was beckoning him: “We want you, we want you ... Come here, come here.”

But he never saw it again.

These are the sorts of stories — seemingly endless and diverse, bizarre and flouting reason — that emanate from the so-called Bridgewater Triangle, the subject and title of a full-length documentary by local filmmakers Aaron Cadieux and Manny Famolare (to whom Russo told his story).

The film, making the rounds in local screenings, weaves history, paranormal research, first-hand accounts, police reports, and urban legends as a means to explore, if not completely make sense of, the “how” and the “why” of this infamous area’s multitude of unexplained phenomena.

“Our goal was to present information from eyewitnesses and experts in a neutral, journalistic way, and let the viewer make their own determination,” said Cadieux, a Dartmouth resident.

Local residents will have several opportunities to see for themselves, with a free screening at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Raynham Public Library, as well as a Dead of Night Tours presentation at 8 p.m. Friday at the Trask Museum in Plymouth, and a 7:30 p.m. showing May 16 at Uplifting Connections in Bridgewater.

You may have heard some of the stories. The 200-square-mile Bridgewater Triangle, whose rough borders stretch from Abington to Freetown to Rehoboth, abounds with them — apparitions, UFOs, Bigfoot, killer dogs, mystical creatures, enormous birds and snakes, satanic rituals, disappearances, murders.

Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman thought up the ominous name in his 1983 book, “Mysterious America.”

“It’s becoming one of the preeminent paranormal stories in the world,” Tim Weisberg, host of the radio show “Spooky Southcoast,” says in the film.

The cinematographically rich documentary, narrated by John Horrigan, started out as a practice film more than a decade ago. While a student at Fitchburg State College, Cadieux made a 30-minute short about the triangle.

But the film got passed around and generated so much interest that in 2010, when he was a professional filmmaker with his own production company, Bristol County Media LLC, Cadieux set out to make a full-length version.

Around the same time, Famolare, a lifelong East Bridgewater resident, was looking to do a similar project; the two eventually teamed up.

Like many people growing up in the area, Cadieux, who lived 6 miles from the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, had always heard the stories, but never experienced anything firsthand.

“I consider myself a skeptic when it comes to this stuff,” he said. “The Bridgewater Triangle is an interesting topic, but it takes a lot to convince me.”

Famolare, on the other hand, likens the proliferation of tales to the smell that permeates a house even years after its cigarette-smoking denizens have left.

“The amount of stories that come out of there, and the consistency of stories — there is something with that area,” he said. “I do think there are some things that are definitely overexaggerated. But there are stories that are very believable.”

According to the film, the most “active” spots are the Freetown-Fall River State Forest and the roughly 17,000-acre Hockomock Swamp, which extends into Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Easton, Norton, Raynham, and Taunton.

According to Weisberg, “Hockomock” was Algonquin for “place where spirits dwell,” and it became a hiding place for Native Americans after King Philip’s War in the late 17th century.

Some credit the pervasive, unexplained happenings to the mistreatment of the Native American population at the time. Entire towns were destroyed, innocent women and children were slaughtered, and, ultimately, 5 percent of the region’s residents — of all backgrounds — were killed. The Colonial forces eventually prevailed, capturing King Philip — who was drawn, quartered, and beheaded — and selling surviving non-Christian Native Americans into slavery, according to the film.

Within the Hockomock Swamp, there have been reports of dancing orbs of light, raptors with 12-foot wingspans, snakes “the size of stovepipes,” red-haired orangutans, “ravenous red-eyed cats,” black panthers and mountain lions, and, most consistently, Bigfoot, the film says.

In the early 1980s, the Boston Herald interviewed now-deceased West Bridgewater resident John Baker about his purported brush with the hairy beast.

“Something was following me and I knew it was big,” Baker is quoted as saying in the story, which is read by its author, Ed Hayward, in the film. “I knew it wasn’t a human because when it passed by me, I could smell it. It smelled like a skunk, musty and dirty, like it lived in the dirt.”

Other headlines over the years blared: “Mysterious Balloon over Bridgewater!” “UFOs over Randolph? Some Persons Say Yes!” “Killer Dog Eludes Abington Police!”

In the 1970s, UFO sightings were rampant. Former WHDH reporter Steve Sbraccia recalls in the documentary that, while driving along Route 106, he saw an illuminated object resembling a baseball home plate and as wide as five side-by-side 747s hovered and then took off.

Elsewhere, there have been reports of lingering and mischievous apparitions, phantom hitchhikers and antagonistic ghost trucks, drums and voices speaking Algonquin, and fires that gave off no heat, smell, or smoke. Others have sworn to have seen puckwudgies, 3-foot-tall beings with magical powers associated with Wampanoag folklore.

In the Freetown-Fall River forest, meanwhile, police have investigated a series of satanic activities, most of them in the 1970s and the 1980s. According to police reports, the murders of three women were linked to satanists who held rituals there, a dozen baby calves were slaughtered, birds were sacrificed in the center of pentagrams, animal bones of all types were discovered, and graves (both mausoleums and pet cemeteries) were robbed.

The filmmakers themselves recalled how their lights went on and off of their own volition while filming, and batteries drained much faster than usual.

As Famolare said, the stories are so copious that the documentary could be 60 hours long.

“Whatever it is, we keep talking about this region for some reason,” said a well-known paranormal researcher, Jeff Belanger. “And the reason is, something real happened here. There’s no other way. You take away the real events, and it’s just a story. Stories go away.”

Visit www.thebridgewatertri-angledocumentary.com to view the film on demand for $6. “The Bridgewater Triangle’’ is to be released on DVD this summer.

Original story link.

© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC

As it turns out...laughter is the best medicine

Giggle, chortle, or guffaw — they all make you feel better, humor therapist says

By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

MAY 04, 2014

It’s been described as infectious, a healing agent, a diffuser, an immediate way to bond, the universal truth, humankind’s ultimate weapon. Aristotle even theorized that babies don’t have souls until the moment they let out their first chortle.

But can you remember the last time you had a near-gut-splitting, tear-inducing outburst of laughter?

Beneficial as it is, we simply don’t do it enough, according to Richard Mullen, a self-described gelotologist, a person who studies giggles and guffaws and their physical and psychological effects on the human body.

“Invest as much as you can into laughing,” the Georgetown resident, dressed in a suit with polka-dotted socks peeking out, said at a recent talk at Northern Essex Community College’s Haverhill campus. “There’s an amazing power of laughter.”

Although laughter has been lauded for its numerous benefits for thousands of years, scientists have only recently begun to analyze it seriously, Mullen said. He cited the work of Dr. Lee Berk, who in the 1990s did a landmark study on the impact of funny videos on heart attack patients; Dr. Hunter “Patch’’ Adams, whose holistic and humorous focus on patient care was portrayed in the 1998 self-titled film starring Robin Williams; and Norman Cousins, whose “Anatomy of an Illness” chronicled his recovery from a degenerative disease, in which he credited long sessions of chuckling and a positive attitude.

Mullen firmly believes in the healing power of laughter.

In the end, “if you’re having a lousy day, you caused it; if you’re having a great day, you caused it,’’ said Mullen, who conducts regular workshops, talks, and corporate programs on the topic.

Although not formally trained in gelotology — the science behind humor therapy — he has studied the field on his own, through workshops and seminars. He also works as a marketing and communications consultant and hypnotherapist.

Research by scientists, doctors, and psychologists has identified numerous benefits to bouts of mirth, Mullen explained in his talk at Northern Essex as part of the college’s lifelong learning program’s Thursday lecture series.

Laughter improves immune response and blood flow to the brain, helps with recovery, produces endorphins, fights pain and diseases such as diabetes, reduces inflammation, infection, depression and chronic stress, lowers blood pressure, relieves arthritis and bursitis, and, as an added bonus, works your core muscles (especially if you get really cracked up), he said.

“It’s similar to a runner’s high,” Mullen said to about 50 people gathered in a large hall in the school’s technology center. “You get into the zone, you feel great.”

And that produces a sort of personal magnetism.

“Have you ever met someone that you just liked right away?” he asked. “If you’re laughing, you’re happy, people will like you more.”

But however good it is for us, for whatever reason — the overall stress and distraction of 21st-century life, a constrictive corporate culture, or personal disposition — we don’t laugh nearly as much as we should. Research has shown that kindergartners laugh between 200 and 400 times a day, Mullen said; by age 40, that rate plummets to a mere 17 times a day.

In general, women are prone to chuckle 125 percent more than men, “easier, and at more things,” said Mullen.

“No, I really don’t think I laugh enough,” acknowledged Carrie Keville of Newbury, program coordinator at her town’s senior center, who attended the lecture in Haverhill.

Her friend Mary Gill, on the other hand, has a different outlook.

“I’m a very positive person — I try to smile a lot, laugh a lot. Instead of being a downer, I’m an upper,” said the Newbury resident.

What gets her giggling? Her cat, sitcoms, and visiting with friends. “Life is good,” she said.

There are lots of things people can do to increase laughter or just foster an overall more positive attitude, like Gill’s, Mullen said: Smile frequently, say “thank you’’ often, share funny stories and jokes of the day, meditate or pray, volunteer, be less critical of yourself and others, and perform acts as simple as sending a greeting card.

“You’ll feel good sending it,” he said of the latter, “and the person receiving it will feel good, too.”

What you laugh at is also important, Mullen said. For instance, we can all admittedly get a good snicker out of the embarrassing antics portrayed on such shows as “America’s Funniest Home Videos” — but in the end that just promotes negative energy, he said.

And don’t assume that you’re inherently not funny. “Everybody’s got a great joke,” he said.

Keville proved that by getting up and telling the group about a unique bowling experience she had: Calling herself a “good bowler,” she described how she threw the ball, but instead of it going forward, it went up and over, landing in the next lane — for a strike.

“The lesson we can learn is that we’re all comedians,” said Mullen.

His interest in gelotology grew out of hypnotherapy; he began looking for another method to help people when he realized that most of us live our lives asleep, as if on auto-pilot and not fully engaged, he said.

“Wherever I go, I want to create an epidemic of laughter,” he said. “Maybe it’s selfish, helping people to laugh, because I get so much back from it. I keep learning new things from this.”

Photos by Mark Lorenz for The Boston Globe

Original story link.

© 2014 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC

A different angle of the Maine coast

THROUGH THE TREES

Taryn Plumb

POWERS GALLERY

144 GREAT ROAD (ROUTE 2A)

ACTON, MASSACHUSETTS

MAY 10 THROUGH JUNE 8

JANE DAHMEN TAKES A PEEK

It’s been 10 years since Jane Dahmen moved to her home in the small seaside town of Newcastle, Maine — but she has yet to tire of the ocean, river and woods that serve as her daily backdrop.

In fact, just the opposite: Her surroundings have inspired and enriched her work for the past decade. “Everywhere I walk, I see paintings,” said Dahmen. “It’s a very beautiful part of the world here.”

It’s a part of the world she’ll share in her upcoming solo exhibition, “Through the Trees,” at Powers Gallery in Acton, Mass. The show will feature more than two dozen of her paintings, including multi-panel works, that reflect her wanderings around the seashore, Damariscotta River and vast conservation lands near her home.

For example, the two-panel, 72” x 60” “Clear View” presents an unconventional view of the Maine coast — instead of frothy waves roiling against craggy rocks or dabbing the shoreline, we see the distant sea through a stand of pines and birches on a muted day.

Similarly, in the colorful, three-panel 60” x 72” “Sunny Day,” islands and opposite land outcroppings straining to meet each other can be glimpsed through bright yellow birch leaves growing out of skinny white trunks.

Although not abstract, the pieces are not wholly realistic — they feel somewhat wispy and fantasy-like, a projection of the artist’s inner view of the outer world. “What I’m trying to convey is more of a feeling of a place than an actual place,” Dahmen explained.

She’s always been drawn to the world immediately around her, rather than far-off lands — she began years ago with silkscreens in her garden, then branched out to mono-prints.

When she was living in Massachusetts, Dahmen and her husband frequently sailed along Maine’s mid-coast; while doing so, she would paint from the perspective of the open sea. One of her seascapes — depicting a lobster boat returning to its home port — even hung in the White House during George H.W. Bush’s presidency (and when he left office, his family purchased it).

Read the entire article in our magazine pages...

Civics for the next generation

Students help solve civics issues through Generation Citizen

By Taryn Plumb | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

APRIL 03, 2014

MELROSE — Just a little after 2 p.m., at the area known locally as The Knoll across from Melrose High School, the daily bedlam ensues.

Cars speeding, swerving, cutting each other off, double-parking or blocking passage; pedestrians in peril; gridlock; honking horns and hand gestures; the long, strained wait for a break in the constant stream of cars trying to turn onto Lynn Fells Parkway.

“It’s just a mess,” said junior Andy Griscom, 17, who is analyzing potential solutions to the problem in a Generation Citizen class at Melrose High. “We’ve taken to just staying in the school for an extra 15 or 20 minutes to avoid the massive traffic jam that develops every day without fail.”

This is just one of thousands of parking lots at thousands of high schools across the country.

But that’s precisely the point. The nonprofit Generation Citizen strives to prompt the youngest generation into civic service by getting them involved and interested in issues that personally affect them and their communities.

Each semester, the Boston-based organization — founded in 2008 and also operating out of New York, Providence, and San Francisco — sends its cadre of volunteers to teach dedicated classes, which are offered as electives. The volunteers, called democracy coaches, are students from local college chapters of Generation Citizen.

This semester, they’re working in 17 local schools, including Melrose, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain, according to Gillian Pressman, Greater Boston site director. Previously, classes have been held in Medford, Malden, and Lynn.

Projects have included curbing teen smoking; expanding access to career education; hosting mock elections to increase voter awareness; and even tackling gang violence.

“This makes it really hands-on, really concrete,” said history teacher Michael Noone, who technically teaches the Melrose Generation Citizen class but cedes most of the leadership duties to a democracy coach. “The more they do it, the more they understand how they can impact change.”

The process serves a dual purpose: College students who serve as coaches get classroom experience and the opportunity to hone their leadership, critical thinking, and public speaking skills.

“You’re learning the advocacy process and teaching it to students,” said Billy Rutherford, a member of the Generation Citizen chapter at Tufts University, where he’s majoring in history and Africana studies.

“I learned a lot of things about education, civic engagement,” said junior Ben Berman, 21, executive director of the Tufts chapter, which has about 20 members. “Being a leader has been a tremendous opportunity for me personally.”

The Melrose class, taught by democracy coach Erin Goodyear of Emerson College, started at the end of January, and students will be participating in the Greater Boston Civics Day at the State House on May 5.

When each new class begins, students brainstorm a topic personal to them. As Noone explained, some ideas included fixing local roads, examining health care in the community, and improving school lunches.

They ultimately settled on the Knoll because it “directly impacts the students, but it also impacts the community at large.”

The Knoll — named as such because of the large outcropping of land at its center — is a one-way, circular parking area for both students and the public (who use the adjacent dog park and athletic fields). There’s only one entrance and exit, and it’s wedged between two stoplights off the Lynn Fells Parkway.

It’s such a source of frustration that students get vitriolic when discussing it.

“Parking at the Knoll is a nightmare,” student Elisa Lemack wrote in the school’s publication, The Imprint, in January. She noted the “daily traffic jam”; overall dangerous driving by her fellow students, littering, idling middle school parents blocking passage as they wait for their kids, and locals double-parking as they use the adjacent dog park.

“I have on many occasions feared for the safety of myself and my car while parking and driving in the Knoll,” Lemack wrote, calling it “altogether a horrifying place.”

So how can it be fixed?

A recent early-morning class — about a dozen students in hoodies, headphones, and backwards baseball caps, a few filtering in with late slips — considered the options.

Some suggestions: Post signs to close entry at the heaviest traffic times in the morning and afternoon; change the timing of the nearby traffic lights; add a dedicated traffic light; create a separate entrance and separate exit; install trash barrels to cut back on littering.

Griscom opted for simplicity.

“Simply bar entry in the afternoon from 2 to 2:30 and much of the jam would go away,” he said. Putting up a sign saying as much “would reduce the jam massively, making it so others can’t try to enter when everyone else is leaving, reducing the number of cars around the exit. It’s simple, effective, and, most importantly, cheap and easy to do, making it well within our reach.”

If he and his fellow students choose that option or another, the next step, Noone said, is to figure out how to put it into action: Who in city government are they going to speak with?

What will be their strategy in doing so?

“What specifically are we going to tackle to improve it?” Noone asked.

Overall, the class “focuses on how things can be done in an orderly, efficient way, and gives students a chance to demonstrate those skills through the community project, which is a huge difference from many other high school classes,” said Griscom, who has an interest in science and said he will likely pursue a career in engineering. “We learn about the steps one would need to take to get something changed or improved in their community — call it the ABCs of activism.”'

Anti-bullying in Malden, allowing backpacks in Medford

APRIL 03, 2014

Other local students in action through Generation Citizen:

Spring 2010, Malden High School: Prompted by the death of Phoebe Prince, students tackled the issue of bullying. After doing a survey of ninth-graders, they held an assembly on the new Massachusetts antibullying legislation that included a PowerPoint presentation summarizing their survey results. They also designed and printed antibullying posters to be hung around the school, and helped revise guidelines for bullying prevention.

Spring 2010, Malden public schools: Students created a podcast in five languages, a ConnectED phone call in eight languages, and a brochure to stress the benefits of participating in the US Census.

Fall 2012, Medford High School: Students met with school administrators to try to amend the school's no backpack policy, which they pinpointed as a root cause of academic challenges. Because they're not allowed backpacks, students often have to go to lockers between classes and miss valuable time between periods to connect with or get extra help from teachers.

This school year:

Malden High School: A class of ninth-graders at Malden High School is working on improving car safety among infant and youth passengers.

Salemwood Middle School, Malden: Eighth-graders are lobbying to increase peer support through setting up a council and advocating for a resource room where information is available on issues common to young teens.

Melrose Middle School: Sixth-grade students have met with parents, teachers, and school administration to establish the school’s first student government.

SOURCE: Generation Citizen

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