April 20, 2009

Pre-planned funerals!

A land mine was triggered on Thursday when the Massachusetts House of Representative released its proposed budget. I easily pictured youth bleeding, their skin ripped and punctured by our representatives’ fatal ball point pens.

The ground trembled. Graves gaped. I remembered the lost lives.

April 6, 2009

The highlight of my weekend....riiight

I love living in the city. As a single 20-something-year-old, I don't think there is anywhere I'd rather be than the hustle and bustle of a busy city with lots to do and lots of people. However, there is one constant annoyance that really bugs me. Parking tickets. Or more specifically, the parking ticket guy who stalks my neighborhood several times a day, looking for his next victim.

I swear, this guy hides in the trees, tickets in hand, and waits. If a car is in a two hour limit area for a minute too long, an orange ticket appears. Where does he hide? How does he KNOW? It never fails!

March 16, 2009

March Madness

The holiday season is three months passed. Nevertheless, the cars in Boston are decorated with bright orange florescent parking tickets.

“Ho, ho, ho!” The city of Boston is generating revenue and using my Impala as their reindeer. The city of Boston has hit me hard with fees and fines; in three days, three tickets. The city of Boston collected $340 from us.

A secret Santa? I was told the city of Boston offered 40 police cadets jobs as meter maids; instead of, because of budget cuts, the jobs of protection, safety, and enforcement for which they were trained.

January 5, 2009

Thank God

I walked very slowly, taking baby steps, making my way to the curb. I did not want to kiss the concrete; I didn’t want to become intimate with the ground. So I tiptoed over, across, and around the ice.

I got to the gate of the fence that cages one of Dudley Square’s ugliest brownstones. Sometimes I am embarrassed to have the keys. I walked up three flights of steps, my daily exercise. I unlocked a door, all the lights were off. I unlocked another door and turned the knob to my office. It was my first day back to work following the New Year.

December 9, 2008

We wish you an economic holiday

I remember that when I turned 12 years old, my mother announced that we would be celebrating a "grown-up Christmas" from now on. The big Christmas Eve feast was replaced with hors d'oeuvres, the cookies for Santa were forgotten, and other "more mature" modifications were made.

July 17, 2008

On a wing and a prayer

There’s no doubt that we are experiencing some trying economic times. Gas prices climb to astronomical numbers (the lowest I ever remember was $.59 – I guess I’m old), milk prices are rising and…well, what prices aren’t skyrocketing? It’s during these times that the pressure to provide also grows, and the work-life balancing act that parents must perform daily becomes more complicated and treacherous.