This is just one more request I have, prior to the big vote tomorrow, for respect and civility — although I realize that a large percentage of the population has already voted. Anyone who reads this column fairly regularly knows that I have a deep concern about the acerbic and nasty public discourse so prevalent in our nation. You will have also noticed that my perspective and views have changed recently in that not too long ago I thought that we had been oversold on the notion that the political name calling and the political and cultural divisiveness in our land are worse than ever.Well, …

  There is this commentary thread on Easton Patch about the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts between Senator Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren.  Discussion has gotten heated on it. Thursday morning, a participant in the thread, who goes by the user name “Fiscal Conservative”, started his thread with this line: “ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! Can we just relax until this election is over?”  I hear you, Fiscal Conservative. And I am sure many fiscal liberals hear you – and agree with you as well.  It is getting out of control, the political ranting and acerbic character of our political talking …

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”  G.K. Chesterton  In some way, in some not all too insignificant way, those words above of the great English writer, G.K. Chesterton, speak to the enduring wonder and fun of Halloween – at least for kids.  You see, there is of course a good portion of spookiness and haunting all enveloped and mixed in the concept and notion of Halloween – but as for that spookiness and haunting component of the event and holiday, they are Chesterton's dragons that, really, don't …

Opinion You know I have to do some sort of ghost and freaky weird column for Halloween. But I can't just leave it alone with one column. I need to do a couple this year. So, alas, we have today's column – and there will be Monday's column – two days prior to Halloween – which will also deal with spookiness. And of course all of this little bit of supernatural will have an Easton angle. So yesterday morning, I threw out on Facebook an invitation for some of my Facebook friends to share stories of things that they experienced that didn't quite jibe with what they know of the natural world. Very…

  Last week, on Tuesday, October 16, New England got hit with a relatively minor earthquake – as earthquakes go. The epicenter of the quake was in southern Maine.  Here in New England we do have faults deep down under the landscape where we live, but it seems they aren't as nearly unsteady and rambunctious as so many other “tectonically active” areas.  But, let me tell you, this past Wednesday I was over at WGBH TV in Boston on a business matter, and I had an opportunity to speak with John Ebel, Director of the Weston Observatory, and professor at my alma mater, Boston College, who was there …

Through my work in public relations and as a researcher and writer, I am attached to and work indirectly with the problem of bullying. And it is a problem – a big problem. We have always had bullying, but with today's electronic communication, and ability to anonymously – or proudly attach your name – you can post or transmit a nasty comment about someone that is visible to the world, or soon can be visible to the world.  Before I go on, I will come clean here. I was involved in bullying a kid when I was a youngster. And it was stupid and wrong. I did this bullying as part of group that …

  One of the Easton and Oliver Ames High School people who would contact me through the comments section at the end of the “Muscato's Musings” columns was Ronald "Ron" Buba, OA '59. From my count, Ron commented on seven of my columns.  Ron, who had been living in Texas for 45 years, stayed in touch with his Easton and OA buddies.  One time, while doing research for something I was writing, I called Ron in Texas and we chatted. It was fun.  Ron – the only child of Stanley and Alice Buba – was the starting guard on the 1958-59 OA hoops team that won the Class C Tech Tourney Championship at …

  In this hyper-caffeinated political environment – in which it seems that, about 45 percent of Americans will hold on to a vote for a Democrat no matter what – and about 45 percent of Americans will hold on to vote for a Republican no matter what – I dare venture into an area to throw out what I feel are a slew of sentiments and positions and emotions on which 75 percent or so of Americans can agree. Really. Please stay with me here.  And even as I throw out these arguments, I need to declare where I am coming from. I am a registered Republican who is fully committed to vote on Nov. 6 for …

  Yesterday was the second anniversary of the official launch of Easton Patch. And for two years now, “Muscato's Musings” has run in this space.  Here is a link to the first “Muscato's Musings” column.  (Just a note – you will see that the column has a posted date of October 4, 2010; this is because as the site was being readied for its “official” debut, some content was posted ahead of October 7.)  I am having lots of fun writing for Easton Patch – and I am so thankful for those who read Easton Patch and the column. As I tell people, I am fortunate to work on some fairly significant writing …

  This is one of those columns I write that is not Easton centric per se. There is something about the American character and the American spirit — and here is an area in which Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, can smile, reflect and agree, and that gives us bliss and lifts our souls — that is that we love to just take off and hit the road and keep going … and going … and going. And no people on earth are as in to pulling up stakes and relocating as us Americans. Perhaps there is something hardwired into people — something that the American experience excites and pulls …

  Since I enjoy arguing and discussions about politics, you just gotta know I am totally fired up for the 2012 presidential debates which commence Wednesday night in Denver.  I encourage everyone to watch the debates or listen in.    Arguing political, social and cultural issues. What fun! As for politics, they say you shouldn’t talk about politics in what are supposed to be friendly social settings – and definitely not at a bar.   Well, let me tell you, there are some bars in Easton in which political debate is spirited – yet respectful – and fun. Really, it amazes me how people can’t manage…

People were understandably shocked when they saw on Easton Patch on Monday that three Easton teens — two 18 year olds and a 17 year old — had been arrested Saturday night for committing an armed robbery earlier in the evening near Frothingham Park. A 20 year old male who had met up with the alleged assailants to buy marijuana was robbed of a little bit of cash at gunpoint, and also had a knife put to his throat. Crazy. Absolutely crazy. We had a lot of guns in Easton when I was a kid.  But, blessedly, and only with few exceptions, the guns were not used to commit crimes. When I read about the…

  Kids who have attended Oliver Ames High School through the years have been able to take a wholly educational, fun, and enriching course on local history. In this space, I have touted and shown my appreciation for this part of the OA curriculum.When I took the class, Hazel Varella, esteemed local historian, taught it. Years later, Mrs. Varella handed off the baton of teaching the class to Ed Hands, himself an accomplished and respected historian. Both Mrs. Varella and Ed know their subject, are passionate about it, and can teach. Students in any of their classes were enriched. Actually it …

  Is it possible for a white male like myself, of “fairly” sound mind and body, to know prejudice and discrimination?Well, in comparison to people of color in this nation, I would say that I have the charmed existence, with all the benefits of this country at my beckoning. I mean, really, I am a white guy who grew up in comfortable circumstances with parents who loved me — and by genetic accident I even had some biological advantage which I worked on to earn myself an athletic scholarship to a prestigious university. (Believe me, it was the athletics that weighed far more heavily than the …

  We should all be grateful for positive and fortunate accidents, no matter how modest or profound and positive and fortunate are these accidents.So on Tuesday, I am at North Easton Savings Bank, the branch across from the North Easton Post Office. And I spied on a table a book, which I picked up and inspected. Alas, this book, and the message it conveyed, provided me just the right follow up/sequel to the column I wrote which was published in this space on Monday.Yes, I am grateful for the accident. Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder is the name of the …

  My sister, Suzy — a 1984 graduate of Oliver Ames High School — lives out in Evanston, IL, with her husband and kids. My mother, who turns 84 next month, lives about a mile and half from my sis in a nice retirement community. My sister has quite an enthusiastic following on Facebook — with many dedicated to reading her amusing, sometimes uproariously funny, insightful, and educational posts. So, last Wednesday, Suzy related on Facebook a note that had been sent home to her and other parents/guardians of students at the local junior high, where Suzy’s daughter attends. Here is how Suzy …

  Jennifer (Coulter) Desjarlais is part of the administrative leadership team of one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in America.   She is a very busy woman. As Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Wellesley College, Desjarlais is a steward in recruitment; outreach; admissions; enrollment; financial aid; helping new Wellesley students get acclimated and their feet grounded;  advising and working with applicants and students on financial aid options and helping them to understand their individual responsibilities in the financial aid apparatus; remaining apprised of how…

  This being Labor Day, and it being a big transition in the year, I figured it appropriate to write as I did last year, another September and autumn cometh column.Yet, we have about three more weeks of summer, unless you don't know.Then again, soon enough the first frost will be upon us.Today sunset here is 7:14 p.m. On the final day of this month it will be 6:27 p.m. September is a great month, one of — as I frequently tout — warm days and cool nights. And it does seem that the planet is going through a warming phase, for whatever reason. Call me selfish, but if you live in New England, I …

  Everything is relative — and annually in the later stages of summer, there is the separation anxiety of kids going off to college and leaving home for an extended time for the first time. Parents get stressed — and sons and daughters get stressed. All understood. I was an immature kid out of Oliver Ames High School in September of 1981, and beginning my four years at Boston College as a student-athlete, and there were some who thought I wouldn’t be able to hack it. I think my father harbored concerns whether I would make it.  My mother figured I would figure it out. I graduated from BC with…

I ran into someone recently who was a football star in high school, in the late 1950s. He didn’t play for Oliver Ames High School, but for another Hockomock League team; he played against OA. This gentleman was actually very good, and received a scholarship to play football at the Div. 1 college level.  Nowadays, this gentleman enjoys watching his grandson play football in the Hockomock League.As he told me, though, at the games he prefers to stand by himself so as to be protected from the howling and barking of know-it-alls in the bleachers. So, OK, here we are on the cusp of a new school …