So I see that the Town Spa in Stoughton has made national news.  That’s because, David Schuler, a Stoughton native now living in Mississippi drove 1400 miles from his home in the South to Stoughton, and purchased 150 Town Spa vacuum sealed frozen pizzas, and drove them back to Mississippi. You are talking a drive of about 24 hours each way.   This gentleman's passion for and dedication to the Town Spa 'za is shared by countless in the area. And when people leave "Metro South," they retain their affection for the pies, no matter to which place they move.    When I lived in New York City, I had…

An American institution, a rite of passage – holding an unauthorized party at your parents’ house, and then they come home. I am going to withhold some names here to protect the not so innocent.  I had a vantage point to check out one of these events that went down in Easton; yes the frantic breakup of an adolescent party when mom and dad make a surprise appearance. Let’s see if I remember correctly.  It was a nice spring afternoon, 1982 or ’83.  The party was in full force – lots of merriment.  I was in the neighborhood where the party was being held. But I was not at the party – really, I …

I avail myself to the resources and benefits of both libraries in town – the Ames Free Library and the MacPhaidin Library at Stonehill College. Both are local treasures. I live about a mile and half from the MacPhaidin Library. Sometimes I walk over and back. Sometimes I drive the round trip. Yesterday I walked. Along the way this lapsed Catholic became reacquainted with my Catholic heritage.  I had some thoughts on Catholic institutions and Catholic spiritual leaders who spent time in Easton.   And I got to thinking that while growing up in Easton whether one was a Catholic or Protestant was…

Easton has a strong history of thriving industry. With the exception of the Ames Shovel Company, the town may not have hosted major industry, but it most certainly has a healthy lineage of manufacturing and production.     During the Great Depression, busy industry in Easton enabled our residents to get along better than most in the nation. People may not have been overly comfortable here, but they had enough to sustain themselves. Employment was high in Easton.  Many had jobs in town. Many earned paychecks in town.     To cite just a few companies doing business in Easton during the …

Lead.  Don't Follow.      -Rallying emblem of the Edwin A. Keach Memorial Foundation We find that tragedy and loss often brings out the best in people – it elicits and encourages and nurtures our “better angels.”   Yes, tragedy and loss can also inspire nastiness and pettiness – but those attitudes don’t have legs, they don't endure.  The family of Edwin A. Keach and his friends knew and experienced full well the tragedy.  Only four days before Christmas 2003, at three in the morning, Edwin, 21 – a 2001 graduate of Oliver Ames High School and a student at Northeastern University – was killed …

I am going to buy myself one of those cruiser style bicycles – you know the ones that have that retro look with big tires and a heavy frame with wide bars. I am going to get me a 3-speed cruiser.  Earlier this week, I texted my buddy asking if I could borrow his cruiser for a few days.  He replied that he would never see his bike again. But, he also okayed me using the bike for a while. He admonished me not to "[expletive] up" the bike.  I have had me some fun on that cruiser this week.  It is fun to ride – and it draws attention – lots of attention. Felt is the company that makes the bicycle…

Residents of Stewartstown, NH say that things like this don't happen there. The "this" would be the disappearance of one of their residents, 11-year-old Celina Cass.  The girl disappeared last week; her body was found on Monday in a river near her home.  Police are calling the death “suspicious.”  An autopsy was performed yesterday. I would like to say that the “this” doesn’t happen in Easton, the community that one of my Facebook friends, who grew up in Lexington, and who has often visited family in Easton, calls “Mayberry.”   But, of course, over the past few years alone, we have seen some …

We all have our phobias – those deep-seated emotions of aversion, discomfort, and even dread of certain situations, things, concepts, and creatures. There is the fear of heights, and of spiders, of snakes, deep water, crowds, confined places, and being alone.  One of the most shared fears is the fear of public speaking. Public speaking ranks even higher than fear of death. So, as it is said, most people would rather be in the box than giving the eulogy. My number one phobia is rats.   Oh, man, rats terrify me.   If I even see rats on TV, I get a light wash of anxiety through my being.  My …

When I was a student at Oliver Ames High School – I graduated in 1981 – the group of students commonly called “zoofs” would congregate before school near the Green Machine and smoke butts, and maybe a bit of weed as well. The Green Machine was a big green metal box, probably about five feet high and eight feet long and eight feet wide.  The box was, I believe, some sort of electrical transformer or substation, or something like that.  I’ll just call it an electrical box.  School administration was not overly aggressive in clamping down on the smoking out there, although one "vice principal …

"Storytelling is what lights my fire."  HOPE DAVIS Among the bits of paper and clippings affixed with magnets to the refrigerator in my residence is a page from a magazine that shows a photo of the movie director Steven Spielberg.  In the photo, Mr. Spielberg is framing a shot with his hands; underneath the photo are these words of his:  "People have forgotten how to tell a story." Just think of how barren and listless life would be without good stories told by good storytellers. Throughout my years in Easton, I never had to go far to find someone telling a story.  We had colorful characters …

Immediately after her husband, United States Marine Corps Sgt. Bill Callahan, was killed in action in Iraq on April 27, 2007, Amy Callahan benefited from an extraordinary flow of support, well wishes, love, and warmth. Amy appreciated all of this tremendously. Amy and Bill’s only child, their son, Daniel Allan – only 17 days old when his dad gave his life for his country – also provided Amy comfort.  “I don’t know if I could have made it through all of it without Danny,” says Amy.   Father and son never met. Daniel Allan is named for Sgt. Callahan’s comrades – Sgt. Daniel Tsu and Navy Petty …

We need a little more gratitude out there. So many of us are so blessed and so fortunate and yet we – and that includes me – fail to take inventory of all that we have.  This column and this place on the web have provided me a lot of enjoyment and fulfillment and reward. Right at the top of all those pluses is the community of discussion and reflection about how, for so many of us – whether we came from a family of modest means or not – there was tremendous levels of fun, blessings, and fortune in growing up in Easton.   We are grateful.   But I see and listen to so much complaining and …

I am encouraged in how our nation generated and committed so much energy and emotion to rooting, hoping, and cheering for the 2011 U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team. I love that guys last week were wearing U.S. women’s soccer team jerseys, with the numbers and names of the players on the back.  It is occasion for smiling when sport uplifts the soul of a nation.    That millions in our republic despaired mightily in the outcome of Sunday’s game can quickly and easily be tilted and adjusted as a good thing – for it shows how far women’s athletics – and, more precisely, soccer – have come, and …

Among the nicest gifts I have received, and have given, are books.   I feel a kinship with the Dutch Renaissance scholar, Desiderius Erasmus, who said, “When I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” More than 20 years ago now, my friend and Oliver Ames classmate, Dave Daniels, gave me – well, check that, maybe he loaned to me – the book, Blue Highways: A Journey Into America, by William Least Heat Moon.  (If Dave loaned the book to me, he never asked for it back, and I have yet to return it.) The book is a treasure – the travel memoir of a man who in 1978…

Almost every student who took the “Local History” course at Oliver Ames High School that was taught by Hazel Varella or Ed Hands will tell you that it was either the most enjoyable and interesting course they took while at OA, or it was at the very least near the top of the list of the most enjoyable and interesting courses they took at OA.  Mrs. Varella taught the course when I took it.  I enjoyed and was enriched by it immensely.  It is vital for a strong and responsible and improving society to teach young people history.  Take U.S. history, for example – if we don’t understand and are not…

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall hang separately." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, speaking to his fellow signers of the Declaration of Independence, after signing his name to the document on July 4th 1776 Independence Day 2011.  On the other side of the globe we have the best and bravest of this nation putting their lives on the line for the republic. Every man and woman wearing the uniform of our country, no matter where he or she is located, no matter what is his or her job, is devoted to the noblest and most precious vocation.  America is at war – three wars.  But really America is …

I dare say that well-meaning adults invite problems with their efforts to build awareness, tolerance, and understanding – especially if they are combatting problems that are bigger than they really are.  I mean, I love that several years ago Easton officially became a “No Place For Hate” community. That’s just great. But I kind of think that Easton was a “No Place For Hate” community when I was a kid growing up in town.  Then again, maybe we had a problem here that needed to be corrected. I might have been outside the loop.   Meghan Cox Gurdon, children’s book reviewer for the Wall Street …

Growing up and living in Easton isn’t nearly the “small town” experience that it was 40 years ago.   Our population is banging on the door of 25,000 – as compared to about 12,000 people living in Easton in 1970. One of my Facebook friends, who lives out in Sturbridge, and who grew up in Lexington, and who has visited his relatives in Easton often, affectionately calls Easton "Mayberry."   We are still a bit of Mayberry. You can talk all day about the merits and disadvantages and challenges of growing up in a small town.  I think there are far more positives than negatives.  Yet, what it took …

"The eyes really are a window to the soul, according to scientists. "Patterns in the iris can give an indication of whether we are warm and trusting or neurotic and impulsive, research has found." Excerpted from a Februrary 27, 2007 Daily Mail (UK) story on research done at Orebro University in Sweden This is a column about blue eyes – and a mob leg-breaker and a mob boss named James J. “Whitey” Bulger.  It is also a continuation of the subject of Friday’s “Muscato’s Musings” column – which was about my link, once removed, to Bulger, the evil and murderous and brilliant gangster.  Bulger was …

Through the years, I have been asked, over and over, questions relating to James J. “Whitey” Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster, on the lam since 1995, and on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” Do you know where Whitey is? Do you think they will find Whitey? Is Whitey alive? Where is Whitey? People can’t get enough of the Whitey Bulger story, especially in these parts.  What adds infinite intrigue to the story is that Whitey’s brother, Billy, was one of the most powerful people in Massachusetts politics, and served as president of the University of Massachusetts – and that Whitey Bulger was…