February 2015 – Salem Happenings

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

Last week, I talked about some of the ways that you could embrace the ice and snow in New England, as frozen water, in one form or another, is really all we’ve had lately. In fact, I have to admit that I was just about to write the words “New England has finally received a reprieve from the winter weather” only to look outside and realize that the very act of me thinking it apparently jinxed it (although, let’s face it, the very idea of the snow stopping before May was probably pretty absurd to begin with.) However, if you’re sitting there thinking to yourself that this year has gotten off to a pretty rough start with all the snow and the amount of time you’ve spent dealing with it, there is a simple way to find the fresh start that you may be looking for – the Chinese New Year. Now, of course, the Chinese New Year (A.K.A. the Lunar New Year) won’t help you reverse time and control the weather (because, trust me, if it could, everyone in New England would be celebrating it), but it may be able to help you reframe the way that you perceive your year.

If you think recognizing the Year of the Ram as the beginning of your year is a better idea than accepting the snow-filled months that have preceded it and you would like to know more about the traditional festivities that mark the occasion, the Peabody Essex Museum may be able to help. The Peabody Essex Museum, which is located in downtown Salem, Massachusetts, is holding its annual Lunar New Year Festival from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. tomorrow, February 28, 2015. This celebration will give you, your friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested the opportunity to design your own lanterns, listen to traditional Chinese music, see traditional Chinese dances, and more. For more information on the Lunar New Year Festival, which is open to all museum visitors at the standard admission price, please visit the Calendar page on the Peabody Essex Museum Website.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for something that feels more like a celebration and less like a learning opportunity (even though there is still plenty to learn), you may want to check out the Quincy Lunar New Year Festival. The Quincy Lunar New Year Festival, which is sponsored by the South Cove Community Health Center and organized by Quincy Asian Resources, Inc., is scheduled to take place on Sunday from 10:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at North Quincy High School. This festival will feature a kid’s area, calligraphy, cultural exhibits, dancing, music, painting, papermaking, vendors with a wide variety of goods, and more. For more information on the Quincy Lunar New Year Festival, which is open to the public and free to attend, please visit the Events page on the Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. website.

Photo credit: IQRemix / Foter / CC BY-SA

Embrace the Winter (Before it Becomes One Big Wintry Mess)

As you’re probably already aware, this has been a historic winter. Mountains of snow, ice dams large enough that you could go ice skating on your roof if it hasn’t already collapsed under the weight, and cold bitter enough to freeze a volcano has plagued the Northeast for almost a month now. To make matters worse, there’s a storm that is expected to dump a mix of rain, sleet, and ice this Sunday, which is sure to finish off a lot of the structures (and people) still standing. Fortunately, if you’re looking for a way to enjoy the weekend before the next wintry mess arrives, you may want to try these wintry activities before the snow turns into one big sheet of ice and the ice all turns into slush.

First, if you and/or your kids are big fans of ice skating, there are number of public skating rinks that you may want to check out:

1. Harvard Skate, which is located in front of the Harvard University Science Center (just outside of Harvard Yard) in Cambridge, MA, is an outdoor skating rink that is open to the public from 12:00 to 9:00 P.M. daily. This rink will allow you and your family to skate for absolutely free if you have your own skates or rent skates for a fee of $5 a person.

2. The Steriti Memorial Rink, which is located at 561 Commercial Street in Boston’s North End, is an indoor skating rink that is open to the public from 1:00 to 3:30 P.M. on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; 12:00 to 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday; 12:00 to 3:30 P.M. and 7:00 to 10:00 P.M. on Friday; 3:00 to 10:00 P.M. on Saturday and 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. on Sunday. Skating at this rink is completely free during these hours if you have your own skates and $5 a person if you need to rent skates.

3. The Rockland Ice Rink, which is located at 599 Summer Street in Rockland, MA, is an indoor rink that offers public skating from 11:00 A.M. to 12:50 P.M. on most Tuesdays and Thursdays (these days and times may vary from week to week depending on the rink’s schedule, so you may want to check the website to make sure that the rink is available for public skating.) Skating at the rink is completely free, but you must bring your own skates.

4. The Winter Skate at Patriot Place, which is located at Patriot Place plaza (right next to Gillette Stadium) in Foxborough, MA, is an outdoor skating rink that offers public skating from 4:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; 4:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday; 4:00 to 11:00 P.M. on Friday; 11:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. on Saturday and 11:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. on Sunday (these hours may vary, so you may want to check the website to make sure the rink is open.) It is $6 for children under 12 and $8 for anyone over 12 to skate at the rink with their own skates and an additional $4 a person to rent skates.

If, on the other hand, you and/or your kids are big fans of sledding, you may be more interested in one of these sledding hills:

1. The sledding hill at Franklin Park, which is located right behind the Franklin Park Golf Clubhouse on Circuit Drive in Dorchester, is open to the public daily. However, this hill offers a little more than your typical sledding hill because the Franklin Park Coalition sponsors a number of special events. In fact, the Franklin Park Coalition is hosting an Indoor-Outdoor Snow Day tomorrow (Saturday, February 21, 2015) from 12:30 to 3:30 PM that will give you and your family the opportunity to not only sled but also to enjoy indoor activities like arts and crafts, board games, food, and hot chocolate. For more information on the Indoor-Outdoor Snow Day at Franklin Park, which is free to attend, please visit the Franklin Park Coalition website.

2. Cable Gardens Hill, which is located in front of Cable Gardens at the corner of Routes 1A and 133 in Ipswich, MA, is open daily for public sledding. This hill is a little smaller than some of the other sledding hills in the Boston area, so it makes it the perfect place for small children.

3. Holt Hill, which is located at the Ward Reservation on Prospect Road in Andover and North Andover, is open from 8:00 A.M. to sunset daily for sledding. This hill is not only the largest sledding hill in Essex County but also the highest point at an elevation of 420 feet. As a result, this sledding hill is not really the best hill for small children or the faint of heart, but older children who have a “need for speed” will definitely want to try this one.

Photo credit: jpctalbot / Foter / CC BY

A Snowy Valentine’s Day

Sick of the snow? Looking for something fun and warm to do this Valentine’s Day? Well, fear not. Even though Boston is under six and half feet of snow right now, there’s still plenty of stuff going on this weekend to keep you and your significant other entertained. In fact, even if you don’t have a significant other right now, there are a number of events in the Boston area this weekend that are sure to warm your heart even if they don’t necessarily warm your hands.

First, if you and/or your significant other are into sweets, there’s no better place to be this weekend than the Salem So Sweet Chocolate and Ice Sculpture Festival. The Salem So Sweet Chocolate and Ice Sculpture Festival is an annual tradition in Salem, Massachusetts that typically runs the week before Valentine’s Day, and this year is no different. This festival, which runs until 6:30 P.M. on Sunday (February 15, 2015), features over 15 ice sculptures (including some that aren’t completely buried in snow yet), chocolate tastings, discounts at local museums and restaurants, a raffle, wine tastings, and more. For more information on the Salem So Sweet Chocolate and Ice Sculpture Festival, please visit the Salem Main Streets Festival page.

If, on the other hand, you and/or your beloved are more interested in mysteries than ice and chocolates or you are looking for some way to combine your Valentine’s Day celebration with Friday the 13th (without watching a movie like My Bloody Valentine), you may want to check out Marriage Can be Murder. Marriage Can be Murder is a murder mystery scheduled to take place at the Elephant and Castle Pub in Boston at 5:00, 6:30, and 8:00 P.M. tomorrow (February 14, 2015). This production, which will be performed by the Mystery Cafe, will place you and a group of other individuals in the role of wedding guests tasked with determining who committed the most horrific faux pas imaginable — murdering one of the other guests. In fact, you will not only be able to go through clues and use fake money to bribe the actors for more information between scenes but also join in all of the typical wedding festivities like trying to catch the bouquet, doing the chicken dance, and more. For more information on Marriage Can be Murder and/or to order tickets, please visit the Mystery Cafe website.

Finally, if you don’t have a significant other or you’ve always thought Valentine’s Day was a lame excuse to sell more greeting cards, Area Four in Cambridge has you covered. This is because Area Four is hosting their Fourth Annual Haters Valentine’s Day from 5:00 P.M. to midnight tomorrow (February 14, 2015). This somewhat unusual Valentine’s Day celebration will allow you to watch a series of angry films; listen to emo music; and sample a variety of anti-Valentine’s Day themed dishes, including Arrabbiata “Angry” Pizza, Jerked Chicken, Irate Rice, and Skewered Lamb Neck. For more information on the Fourth Annual Haters Valentine’s Day celebration, please visit Area Four’s Yelp event page.

Photo credit: seyed mostafa zamani / Foter / CC BY

Deflategate – The Plot Thickens

Last week, I talked about the New England Patriots and the scandal that the media has eloquently (or not so eloquently) entitled Deflategate. However, a lot has changed in a week, and I decided that this particular topic has garnered so much attention that it might deserve a follow-up. In fact, now that the Patriots have won the Super Bowl, the NFL has begun to release a fair number of interesting facts about their investigation. Of course, as I admitted last week, I am definitely a Patriots Fan, but the information that the NFL released right before and after the Super Bowl may have debunked more of the scandal than any of the information released in the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl Sunday. Here’s why:

Shortly after the AFC Championship Game, ESPN reported that 11 out of the 12 footballs that the Patriots used on offense were found to be 2 PSI below the league minimum. This claim is actually the basis for most of the scandal, and the reason that so many people have been preparing their torches and pitchforks. There’s just one problem. It’s not true. According to the NFL, only one of the 12 footballs tested at halftime was actually 2 PSI below the league minimum. The other 10 footballs were only a “tick” below the 12.5 minimum PSI set by the league, which means that 11 of the 12 footballs were actually above the league minimum at the beginning of the game and for most of the first half (until they lost some of their air due to the cold.) In fact, after testing the footballs, the officials felt that 11 of the 12 footballs were close enough to the league minimum that they didn’t warrant any further investigation. As a result, they just added some air to the footballs and didn’t record the PSI of any of the footballs except for the ball that was 2 PSI below the minimum.

Now, you might ask, why was one football 2 PSI below the league minimum? Well, there are a lot of possibilities. The football may have been closer to the league minimum at the beginning of the game than the other footballs were (and, therefore, had less air to lose before it was significantly below the minimum), the ball may have been underinflated by accident (because an official misread the pressure gauge before the game for example), or the ball may have been underinflated on purpose. It is, of course, this last possibility that so many football fans are concerned with. However, there is one important thing to remember. The one and only ball that was 2 PSI below the league minimum was the ball that the Colts intercepted during the AFC Championship Game and turned over to the officials after it spent a number of plays on their sideline. If this is indeed the case (and it certainly appears to be), then can anyone tell me with certainty that it was the Patriots that tampered with the football and not the Colts?

I realize that all of the Colts fans out there are probably reading this and shaking their computer screen as they scream “But the Ravens told us! The Patriots cheat!” Unfortunately, there’s a problem with this particular defense as well. It’s not true either. According to Ravens’ head coach, John Harbaugh, the Ravens never actually told the Colts anything because there wasn’t anything to tell. They didn’t know anything about the Patriots using underinflated footballs until the Colts brought it up. As a result, the only thing backing up the Colts’ claim is a single football that spent a lot of time with both teams.

Photo credit: Keith Allison / Foter / CC BY-SA