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Alright. In case you haven't already guessed we both work in Cambridge. And while we love it with all of our hearts, the People's Republic just ain't NYC. Now that wasn't true when I was at NNHS and we hit the square every summer evening cruising like Coloradans revvin' their pickup engines down Main Street. For all intents and purposes, this event was the a late twenty-something version of the same thing, but this time it was for a gerat cause. CitySprouts. And we were ready to eat.
Now my best friend Foodie Mommy might argue that Cambridge got it going on in the culinary world, but you'll notice she sneaks off to the Apple every chance she gets. There was some good stuff here at the Taste, but it was point in case why being a Foodie in Beantown is tough. The boys? They didn't mind. They stuffed their faces. The girls? They didn't mind either, each ticket came with four glasses of beverage included.
For $50 (free for the kiddos) we got to surf Boston's finest. Lij particularly liked the fruit gazpacho. The higlight of the evening though was the message. The fine folks at City Sprouts have made an amazing garden with the staff, families and kids at my school. You should check them out. Even better throw them a few bucks (yeah, that cutie with the tomatoe is one of my boys). The evening reflected their excellent work all the way down to the compostable silverware. So if you are single and surfing and wanna help some kids get fresh veggies, check out the Taste of Cambridge and bring my boys for free.
The Walk for Hunger
Back in the day, before I was a principal, and even a teacher, I was a professional activist. I worked on dozens of campaigns for Clean Water, Safe Toys and Fighting Hunger with the PIRGs on college campuses from Mass to Colorado, Washington to Oregon. It was a chance to put my ideals to work and see the country. It led to many adventures, including one nighttime escapade involving a banner, a highway overpass and a snowplow driver in Fort Collins, CO with my good buddy Brian, now the director of the North Carolina Conservation Network. 'Nuf said. This year, we decided to get the boys involved. No nighttime escapades necessary, we decided just to walk.
The recent cuts in school budgets everywhere have really concerned Kam and I. Some teachers have spent a lifetime building careers, but even former educators may go to bed hungry this year. Project Bread estimates that over 550,000 Massachusetts families are affected. This wonderful organization has been the sponsor of the walk since 1969, with over 44,000 taking part last year. We decided it was time to jump on. We thought 20 miles might be a bit steep, despite the long legs and endurance of my amibitious four year old. We decided to skip the first sixteen and hop on at Magazine Beach in Cambridge. We slowly made our way past the crew regattas, over the Charles and up a beautifully lined Comm. Ave against the flow of the thousands. It was inspiring.
After the finish we couldn't pass up an opportunity to soak in the Commons. The tulips were out, the birds aflutter and the mallards with newbies. It was straight out of our fav "Make Way for Ducklings" by the best New England author ever, Robert McCloskey. We met a good friend for brunch (no bagel stores on the walk route, so she came through). Then of course, we had to hop on the swan boats. Our driver was a second generation employee and regaled us with tales of his dad cutting off his pants to make shorts on a 90 degree day against swan boat policy. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful family event. Please make sure to sponsor our walk by clicking here and help out those less fortunate. Maybe next year you can join Team Dadventure in making a difference with us.
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