The Boomer Chronicles

As you know, your faithful correspondent always has her finger on the pulse of the new and the cutting edge. So let me tell you about my latest project. I have joined a group in my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain called a Common Security Club. The club is part of a budding nationwide movement whose theme is “Coming together to prepare for economic change.” Basically, you get together with people in your neighborhood to learn more about the economic strife we’re in as well as to offer mutual aid and to do social action. The movement is very young, but it’s growing. Here are the basic goals:

• A place to come together to grapple with our personal security in a rapidly changing world.
• To learn about the root causes of our economic and ecological challenges.
• To explore ways to increase our personal/economic security through mutual aid and shared action.
• To build on what we have together — and strengthen the institutions that we all depend on.
• In the process, make friends, find inspiration, have fun, and strengthen community.

Over the last three weeks, I have met about a dozen new people through the club, talked with them, ate a potluck meal with them, and read some interesting articles. We don’t know what the future holds for the club because we will determine that after we have met five times. In the meantime, here is an amazing Boston Globe article we read in the club. The story envisions what a Great Depression might look like in 2009.

• My talk yesterday on social media went great!
• Ralph Nader spoke in Jamaica Plain last night
• I heard a fabulous concert last night by the young orchestra A Far Cry. Almost all the members live in my Jamaica Plain neighborhood.
• I am going to a Halloween dog costume party this afternoon at the Boston Center for the Arts.
• I will be posting some Halloween pics later this weekend.

Here’s a cool old neon sign from my neighborhood, Jamaica Plain. Click on it to enlarge. Check out a fabulous short video on Route 66 neon. I saw many of these signs in person when I traveled the country a few years ago.

As a kid I played the clarinet in the school band. I never really liked the instrument. I really wanted to play the drums. So I taught myself the drums and continued with the clarinet in the school band for many, many years. Why? Probably to please my mom. Anyway, besides the drums, I’d always been interested in the beautiful sound of the violin.

About a year ago I started looking for a beginners class. None of them fit my schedule. Then a very cool organization called A Far Cry set up in my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. A Far Cry is a self-conducted orchestra of very talented young musicians who have rented a storefront on the main drag of Jamaica Plain. Here’s a bit more about them:

Hailed by the Boston Globe as “one of Boston’s most promising classical music groups,” A Far Cry is making waves, experimenting with how music is performed and heard. A tightly knit group of 16 young professional musicians, A Far Cry formed in early 2007, seeking the freedom and flexibility of a string quartet as well as the power and beauty of an orchestra. Operating with rotating leadership and no conductor, A Far Cry is generating interest not only in the concert hall, but also with its innovative model. All artistic decisions are made by vote as a collective, and the musicians take care of all the behind-the-scenes work, from booking concerts to designing programs.

I contacted A Far Cry to see who was teaching violin. As of last week, I rented a violin (from Rayburn’s in Boston), found my violin teacher (who lives and teaches just a block from me!) and took my first lesson. It’s $60/hour and she’s a pro. She’s playing at Lincoln Center next week. It’s funny, my violin is a factory-made product probably constructed in the last year or so. Hers is from the the 18th century.

I am completely new to stringed instruments and I’m finding that getting the bow hold right is the most difficult part. But I am so excited about my new endeavor. I love practicing. I didn’t love practicing clarinet. I’ve waited a very long time, but I’m finally doing it.

I got this idea from Millie, whose blog I read regularly, and whose son, Steve Garfield, author of the Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business, lives in my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, Mass. My perfect day:

8 am: Wake up. Have someone else walk my dog

9 am: Take a bike ride on a quiet trail

Noon: Have a picnic lunch with a group of friends, none of whom have to work that day

3 pm: Go to an interesting, new museum

7 pm: Have a seafood dinner in Rockport with my friends

What is your perfect day?

A new Kevin James (Mall Cop) film called The Zookeeper has taken up residence in the Franklin Park Zoo in my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. I rode a bike over there this morning to check out the movie set they are building inside the zoo. Mostly we could see the back of the set (see my pics). Filming may begin this week. Boston has become a popular site for shooting big  feature films ever since the state passed a law benefiiting movie companies. Here’s a story from the Boston Globe on the Zookeeper shoot.

Mary, a friend of mine who is in town from Fort Worth, Texas, but who grew up in Boston, was riding the subway late this afternoon with her two teenage kids when a famous person whisked by them on the Orange Line platform. It was former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis on his way to Northeastern University to teach his poli sci class. They noticed that he picked up a piece of trash on the platform before boarding the train. My friend asked him, “Are you Gov. Dukakis?” He responded affirmatively, and they were off to the races. A lengthy conversation ensued. They talked about his presidential run, he remarked that if “I were governor the weather would be better,” and he mentioned that he and wife Kitty had gone to Austin over the winter for a political meeting. Ever the politician, he talked to everybody who noticed him, reported my friend. He was happy to pose for this pic, too.

My neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, Mass., has been written up in a national publication, Men’s Journal. Check it out!

Tomorrow is a special day for Yours Truly. It’s my 51st birthday. Last year I celebrated my 50th birthday with a large bash. I had a blast. This year is really low key. I will be in my Jamaica Plain neighborhood for our First Thursday event. I love this! It’s a night where I roam the main drag, along with a lot of other J.P. residents, attending art openings, enjoying wine, cheese and other edibles, and running into everyone I know. That’s how I will celebrate my birthday.

Now, here’s where YOU come in. Have I EVER asked you for a favor before? No? Then, if you don’t mind, could you please send some link love my way? Look through my posts today or tomorrow and see if anything catches your eye. Then link to it. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!

You know those public service announcements that remind elderly people how not to get scammed? Well, what about us poor middle-aged folks? I almost got majorly scammed last week.

Here’s my sorry tale: Every evening when I arrive home from work, I’m always in a hurry to change my clothes and get the dogs out the door because they have been waiting since 8 a.m. to go out. Last Thursday was no different, except for one thing. I left the front door to the house unlocked because I knew I’d be right down again in a few minutes. I almost never do that. So when I’m ready to go back downstairs with the pups a guy was standing in the hallway. He was a tall well-dressed young guy. I asked him what was up and he launched into a halting, memorized spiel about how he is from the inner city and he is doing the right thing by working his way up and would I like to buy a magazine subscription. I was distracted by the dogs and their needs and I said, why don’t you follow me downstairs and we can continue to chat on the sidewalk. So we are out on the sidewalk and the guy continues his talk, oblivious to the fact that the dogs had not yet reached a patch of grass suitable for their leavings. So I have two anxious dogs on leashes. The guy talked about self-esteem and how he’s doing the right thing. He even asked for advice about how he could do better in life. OK, so I thought right off that this could be a scam. But then he starts going through his clipboard and shows me the subscriptions on offer. He had People magazine, and he offered a great price for a year’s sub — $80! I love People magazine, and getting a bargain. I agreed to take a year’s subscription. I peeled myself away from the insistent guy and said, OK, when I finish walking the dogs in 45 minutes, meet me back here.

I walked the pups, took them inside and immediately Googled the name I saw on the guy’s clipboard: “Destiny Sales.” Instantly, I found several sites that considered these guys scammers. And the script they quoted sounded just like my guy. It had been way more than 45 minutes and the guy hadn’t reappeared, so I figured I was in the clear. I went out for the evening to a party.

I get back a few hours later and my housemate lets me know that the guy not only came back to the house but rang the doorbell about 50 times and threw stuff at our windows to get her attention. She didn’t answer the doorbell (smart move!) and was basically a prisoner in the house until the guy left.

Anyway, that’s the story.

The Better Business Bureau warns against a nationwide door-to-door magazine sales scam this summer. I live in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Anyone else have experience with these scammers in your part of the world?