thedrifter
12-13-07, 08:49 AM
Home for the holidays
By Cindy Cantrell | December 13, 2007
While some may take family gatherings for granted during the holidays, Reta Rae of Arlington is grateful that both of her children will be home for Christmas, on leave from their military obligations.
Marine Lance Corporal Robert Rae has been stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., since returning last February from an eight-month tour of duty in Iraq, where he earned a Purple Heart following an envoy attack that killed two fellow Marines. Private Leslie Rae (left) is flying home after graduation ceremonies today from Army basic training and military police school at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Robert and Leslie graduated from Minuteman Regional High School in Lexington in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
According to Reta, Leslie became even more determined to take her place amid her family's military tradition after her brother was injured by a roadside bomb in August 2006. While Reta's father, husband, and father-in-law served in the Marines, Leslie chose to follow in her grandfather's footsteps and enlist in the Army. She reported for basic training in July, the same month her brother left home a year prior.
Reta said she will be at Logan International Airport today to welcome her daughter home, along with several other family members and friends. Leslie is expected to be deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq in February 2008.
"We're all bursting with pride," Reta said, "but we're also nervous about her deployment. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and then pray every day as hard as we can. I believe this is the road my children were meant to take, and I stand by their decision."
SPECIAL DELIVERY: Violin and viola teacher Trudy Larson of North Andover has always felt strongly that those who are fortunate enough to have music in their lives have a responsibility to share it with those who don't have the opportunity. She put that belief into action about 20 years ago, when she began taking her students to perform for residents of local nursing homes.
Larson will return this year with about 20 students to the Sutton Hill Center nursing home in North Andover to perform holiday music this Saturday. Students will also pass out carnations, she said, and perform in the hallways and at bedsides of residents who are not able to make it to the main performance.
The residents of Sutton Hill Center will receive another holiday gift, as piano teacher Monica Wallace of North Andover will bring nine of her students to perform that same afternoon. According to Wallace, a Suzuki piano teacher at Creative Arts in Reading, performances like these are great opportunities for young musicians to gain confidence while seeing first-hand how music can make others happy.
"The students enjoy playing for other people, and of course the residents love seeing the kids," said Larson, who is director of the North Andover-based Merrimack Valley Suzuki Strings and executive director of Topsfield-based Northshore Youth Symphony Orchestra. "Some residents sing along, but even those who can't speak much enjoy it. Their faces tell it all."
DOCUMENTING A DREAM: Growing up in rural North Carolina, Dorie Clark said, "there wasn't a lot going on, so movies seemed very exciting." Even after moving to Somerville and producing promotional videos for clients of her public relations and marketing firm, she still dreamed of writing and directing her own documentary.
Clark got her chance last spring when she met environmental activist Marion Stoddart. Still living in Groton at age 79, Stoddart was a stay-at-home mother of three when she led the successful movement to clean up the Nashua River in central Massachusetts and New Hampshire, one of the nation's most polluted waterways in the 1960s. Founder of the Nashua River Watershed Association, her award-winning efforts helped generate the passage of the Massachusetts Clean Water Act.
"Environmental issues are very important to me, and Marion overcame a lot of obstacles at a time when women didn't have nearly as many choices as we do today," said Clark, who runs Somerville-based Clark Strategic Communications. "Our goal is to inspire others to take a chance on making a difference."
Clark and her cinematic partners - producer Susan Edwards of Pepperell and cinematographer and editor Sherry Moore of Newton - began filming "The Work of 1000" in June. Still filming and fund-raising, they anticipate completing the one-hour documentary in spring 2009.
More than 200 people attended a recent trailer release kick-off party at Lawrence Academy in Groton. A second screening of the six-minute trailer will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at 39 Franklin St., Unit 4, in Somerville. For more information, e-mail dorie@dorieclark.com or visit workof1000.com.
People items may be submitted to Cindy Cantrell at cantrell@globe.com.
Ellie
By Cindy Cantrell | December 13, 2007
While some may take family gatherings for granted during the holidays, Reta Rae of Arlington is grateful that both of her children will be home for Christmas, on leave from their military obligations.
Marine Lance Corporal Robert Rae has been stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., since returning last February from an eight-month tour of duty in Iraq, where he earned a Purple Heart following an envoy attack that killed two fellow Marines. Private Leslie Rae (left) is flying home after graduation ceremonies today from Army basic training and military police school at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Robert and Leslie graduated from Minuteman Regional High School in Lexington in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
According to Reta, Leslie became even more determined to take her place amid her family's military tradition after her brother was injured by a roadside bomb in August 2006. While Reta's father, husband, and father-in-law served in the Marines, Leslie chose to follow in her grandfather's footsteps and enlist in the Army. She reported for basic training in July, the same month her brother left home a year prior.
Reta said she will be at Logan International Airport today to welcome her daughter home, along with several other family members and friends. Leslie is expected to be deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq in February 2008.
"We're all bursting with pride," Reta said, "but we're also nervous about her deployment. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and then pray every day as hard as we can. I believe this is the road my children were meant to take, and I stand by their decision."
SPECIAL DELIVERY: Violin and viola teacher Trudy Larson of North Andover has always felt strongly that those who are fortunate enough to have music in their lives have a responsibility to share it with those who don't have the opportunity. She put that belief into action about 20 years ago, when she began taking her students to perform for residents of local nursing homes.
Larson will return this year with about 20 students to the Sutton Hill Center nursing home in North Andover to perform holiday music this Saturday. Students will also pass out carnations, she said, and perform in the hallways and at bedsides of residents who are not able to make it to the main performance.
The residents of Sutton Hill Center will receive another holiday gift, as piano teacher Monica Wallace of North Andover will bring nine of her students to perform that same afternoon. According to Wallace, a Suzuki piano teacher at Creative Arts in Reading, performances like these are great opportunities for young musicians to gain confidence while seeing first-hand how music can make others happy.
"The students enjoy playing for other people, and of course the residents love seeing the kids," said Larson, who is director of the North Andover-based Merrimack Valley Suzuki Strings and executive director of Topsfield-based Northshore Youth Symphony Orchestra. "Some residents sing along, but even those who can't speak much enjoy it. Their faces tell it all."
DOCUMENTING A DREAM: Growing up in rural North Carolina, Dorie Clark said, "there wasn't a lot going on, so movies seemed very exciting." Even after moving to Somerville and producing promotional videos for clients of her public relations and marketing firm, she still dreamed of writing and directing her own documentary.
Clark got her chance last spring when she met environmental activist Marion Stoddart. Still living in Groton at age 79, Stoddart was a stay-at-home mother of three when she led the successful movement to clean up the Nashua River in central Massachusetts and New Hampshire, one of the nation's most polluted waterways in the 1960s. Founder of the Nashua River Watershed Association, her award-winning efforts helped generate the passage of the Massachusetts Clean Water Act.
"Environmental issues are very important to me, and Marion overcame a lot of obstacles at a time when women didn't have nearly as many choices as we do today," said Clark, who runs Somerville-based Clark Strategic Communications. "Our goal is to inspire others to take a chance on making a difference."
Clark and her cinematic partners - producer Susan Edwards of Pepperell and cinematographer and editor Sherry Moore of Newton - began filming "The Work of 1000" in June. Still filming and fund-raising, they anticipate completing the one-hour documentary in spring 2009.
More than 200 people attended a recent trailer release kick-off party at Lawrence Academy in Groton. A second screening of the six-minute trailer will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at 39 Franklin St., Unit 4, in Somerville. For more information, e-mail dorie@dorieclark.com or visit workof1000.com.
People items may be submitted to Cindy Cantrell at cantrell@globe.com.
Ellie