On Wednesday I visited the town where I grew up—Everett, Massachusetts—and wound up on the site of a place I spent a bit of time as a kid: Babe Ruth Park. Do you know what I found there? A school. A very big, very new school. The Madeline English School, to be exact, which is one of four new K-8 schools now in Everett. And if that didn’t make me feel old, meeting the principal, Ms. Massa, who graduated more than half-a-decade after me, did. How can I be old enough that parks are now schools and whippersnappers are now principals? It’s all very unsettling.
Lucky for me, about a hundred chatty fifth graders met me in the library of the Maddy English, and they calmed me down. We spent a fine hour talking about bees and hives and beekeeping … and our hometown. We dispelled rumors, shared stories, and generally mused over the coolness of insects that are at once so important and so scary to us. I don’t know if their exuberance over honey bees had anything to do with our common roots, but it was a thrill for me to answer questions from kids who were so completely engaged and interested in the same things that engage and interest me … and who happen to be growing up in the same place I did.
At some point I asked an obvious question: who was Madeline English? The answer floored me. Madeline English was a national hero, a true baseball legend. And she grew up in Everett! How could a kid who grow up playing rec league softball in Everett—a girl who later played on the high school softball team—not know this? I was a third baseman, for crying out loud! (Okay, only for one season and only because we were desperate that year. But still.)
Good, old Everett: full of memories, smart students, new schools, old friends, and even a few surprises. I’m glad I grew up there, and I’m glad I had a chance to go back for this visit. I made a stop at the Parlin Memorial Library, too, and I will tell you a bit about that amazingness soon. Stay tuned. In the meantime …
** Excited waves to Ms. Lyons’ third graders at the Webster School: it was fun to meet all of you! I thought you would get a kick out of that photo up there at the top of this page. Can you find Ms. Lyons and me in it?**