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Research and Writing

The Wandering Bark

On January 30, 2008 A research group called “The Wandering Bark” went exploring in The Sawyer building located at 8 Ashburton Place in Boston Massachusetts. The Wandering Bark consists of three members; Dave, Caroline, and Greg. After debating what the most interesting and mysterious aspect of the Sawyer building was the group decided on the stairway less traveled. This stairway exists on the backside of Sawyer and is rarely used by the majority of students. More common ways of transportation in this building are through crowded elevators and the front stairwell. The front stairwell is known for possessing a traffic scheme similar to the Mass Pike Labor Day weekend.

If students were only aware of the stairwell less traveled they would be spared of frustration and wasted time. The Wandering Bark began exploration from the start; the second floor and all the way till its end on the eleventh floor and returned down to the second floor once more. At first sight this stairwell is anything but modern, the railings are wood with a coating of dust, the drab light purple paint is chipped, and the gap between the banister (the hollow core of stairs where one can usually peer down till the stairwells end floor is in sight) is much smaller than others. Each floor in the back stairwell seems to serve as an "everything drawer" for Suffolk University, the group found old desks, chairs, rusted paint cans, brooms, and boxes. If one can’t find a place to store something in Sawyer it’s likely it will be thrown with the mass of random objects to this back stairwell.

On each floor in the back stairwell there are fire hoses and smoke alarms. If one were to walk a bit further away from the stairs they would come across locked doors with numbered pad locks. These doors appear to have once been labeled with informative name plates which are now nowhere to be found. On the sixth floor the group was able to find labels on these name plates that read, “Health Department,” however after a thorough search no doctors or anything health related could found. One artifact discovered behind boxes was a pornographic magazine dated back from October 2007. This artifact served as a fact that this stairwell has at least been used in the last year. To the common observer, the back stairwell at the Sawyer Business school building appears to be, and unless renovations take place, will remain the ghost stairwell of Suffolk University.

Listen to The Kooks.

2 jugs of Carlo Rossi, 2 Coral plastic wine glassed purchased from the Christmas tree shop, 1 purse left in the plastic chair in the park. One rusted projector engulfed in bonfire flame. One clumsy trip on the projector. One resulting fall into the fire. 2 hands retrieving me out of the fire. 5 friends singing S.O.S by Rihanna around a bon fire to the tune of my motorola RAZR phone's speaker. Multiple inmate's wails and insults creeping through their barbed wire cage. 1 drunken boy's voice responding. 4 friends insisting on restraint. 5 close friends.



One summer night at the park in 06.



One friend takes orders, one makes reservations, two fold boxes, I take tests.

And we haven't spoken in months.

I'm going to miss this view come June 1st.

MY NEW BIGGEST FEAR

Among fears of being murdered, kidnapped, mugged, attacked, going on the Superman roller coaster at Six Flags New England *************************************************************I now have a new fear...People that read while walking briskly down the street.These people drive me crazy. Is this necessary? Don't you feel dizzy? and where do you get your books? Whatever these multitaskers are reading must be good because apparently they literally CAN'T put it down. This wouldn't be a bad thing if they had their own sidewalk, but everyday lately I find myself dodging one of these book worms and it usually ends up with a result such as walking into a pillar, street sign, or another innocent pedestrian. So if you fit into this category plz be kind and sit down when you read.

Thoughts:

What are they building? I'm going to crack this case...

Also the worst news for every College student living in or near the North End:

CLOSED FOREVER. Martignetti Liquors was the best 'packy' Downtown, best deals, huge variety, convenient. Now residents of downtown will either have to pay atleast 6 extra dollars for a 30 of beer or brave the B line to Blanchards in Allston or Martignettis other location in Brighton to keep buying liquor at realistic acceptable prices.

I can't wait to see the future occupant of this prime location. Martignettis has been a beacon of hope for me every walk to the North End. Once the infamous red sign is in view you know you've arrived. Also a great landmark for directions to tourists looking for Mike's Pastries or Paul Revere's house.

Ballin'

Well since school has kicked back in gear I'm settling into my old schedule that involves wasting away my life in the library. Going to the Suffolk library is one of my favorite things to do; it's new, it's in a prime location (73 Tremont), and the chairs are really comfortable. I spend most of my time at the library surfing the web, sippin' Sbux, and doing basically everything, but my schoolwork. This will result in a dramatic increase in updates on my blog. Get into it.


On Monday morning I braved the Peter Pan bus westbound to Springfield, MA, with the exception of spending the first 20 minutes in frigid temperatures that enabled me to see my breath it was a pretty comfortable ride. My Dad picked me up downtown and we drove down the street to Springfield College. Every Martin Luther King weekend since I can remember my Dad and I have attended the Spalding Hoophall Classic hosted by the Basketball Hall of Fame. This tournament brings some local western mass teams to the court as well as some of the best teams in the country. Unfortunately I was only able to catch the last day of the tournament. I did get to see the #2 team in the country from Jersey City, The Saint Anthony Friars. 7 of the players on the team will be playing D1 next year. I also got to see Larry Drew of Taft High School from Woodlands Hills, CA. Drew will be playing for the University of North Carolina Tarheels next year. On the court Monday Drew made a few great plays, but seemed inconsistent throughout the game, one thing he is consistent with is his passing which enabled Taft to keep up with St. Raymond High School. Despite help from Drew Taft ended up losing by 10 to St. Ray's.

Overall a good day of hoop in Springfield, I never regret going to that tournament.

In other news I found my long lost Gold Game boy pocket. At least with this guy I won't look like a complete loser like I do with my turquoise game boy color.

A few things I'd like to randomly express: RIP Heath Ledger, you had me at "10 Things I Hate About You."
Go Giants (Getting on that bandwagon.)
AND look forward to a review on the Ben Nichols (Lucero) solo show I'm attending Sunday night.

Please take note that my rival blog has had a severe lack of updates. (In comparison to its past frequency)

Her Moves Review.

To the left is a picture of my sister and myself. This picture was taken September of 2006 in Copley Square. Notice how as always she is standing behind me in my shadow. This happens a lot despite her having a 5 year head start on being awesome at life, somehow I win at everything.
Jessica started her 2008 off by making a blog. This blog is titled "Her Moves" (pretty creative), moments after her first post I was instructed to go check check check it out. So there I was hungover on New Year's day suffering in bed typing in the link for her NEW blog. Little did I know that this would be one of the top 3 most interesting things in my life of the new year. Little did I know that I would be patiently awaiting pointless updates that would have my high school advanced writing teacher (sup Mr. Trimmer) screaming "SO WHAT!?" and pulling at what was left of his hair on his head in frustration.

Side note: Jess didn't you have Trimmer too? Didn't you learn anything in his class? Oh wait, I'm the smart child in the family. My B. I forgot you're main skills are more represented in the athletic scheme of life.

Speaking of my sister and her relationship with athletics Jessica has run the Tufts 10K race in both 07 and 06 (CLAP CLAP). She also frequently hits up the gym and enjoys running along the Charles River. But I shouldn't state her athletic frequencies when you can read an incredibly detailed version for yourself on her own blog: HERMOVEZ.


Speaking of running, I ran a couple races myself with the problogger Here's a picture to prove it!
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: The Pro Blogger, The Champion (myself), and My Dad.

This picture was taken before the 2007 Paddy's Pub Road Race in Newton, MA. Here's a photo of Jessica before the race in 06. Flashback:
Both years I somehow managed to make it to the finish in time to buy and read the latest issue of Cosmo mag before her Nike Shocks stomped over the finish line.

This Pro Blogger in not only an athlete, but she also is a full time worker and has her own cubicle and everything! She resides in a Back Bay neighborhood high rise apartment with her boyfriend. They enjoy hosting dinner parties, hit up local Boston hot spots such as Sonsie and The Parish Cafe, and consider themselves "local celebrities." Both have considered fleeing the city in refuge due to the fact they can go nowhere unnoticed. But i guess that's what happens when you're a local Celeb. As you can see in the photo to the left, The Pro Blogger & her entourage mean business.

In other news: Second Semester has begun. Things are falling into place and the weather is cold. Current Forecast for the next 10 days: Morning Rain Friday, Some snow on Saturday, and more snow on Tuesday and Thursday. This of course is subject to change.

MnB REVISITED

But not really at all. I had to go home to Western Mass Wednesday for a Doctors appointment. While watching the Celtics with Dennis (My father) and Jack (My Black Lab pictured to the left) I recieved a phonecall from Karin of MnB park. She insisted I head over to B Cliff to meet up and catch up with everybody. So before I had the chance to see the Celtics blow it I hopped into a Mercury Mountaineer (THANKS FOR LETTING ME BORROW YOUR CAR MOM) and made my way down the mountain, through the center of town, and into Springfield Mass.

"B Cliff" is short for the street Briar Cliff. I'm pretty sure Dave Thomas (Archey) Trout crafted this nickname for the house before he moved in around summer 07. Dave has since moved out, John Burns AKA JB of MnB still resides in B Cliff as well as Chris Rooke and fresh new resident Mike Briggs.

The thing about B Cliff is original MnB park goers live there so it's only natural to hang there, and MnB crew members still party there. The problem is B Cliff will never ever have the essence or produce the memories MnB park has left every visitor with. A house like B Cliff is what we all dreamed of on those cold summer nights sitting around a fire in the middle of the fenced in abandoned tennis courts scratching at mosquito bites guzzling Budweisers.
When I arrived I was greeted at the door by Chris Rooke. I walked in jumped on JB ( a typical greeting) and said hello to Karin. The usual happenings were in motion. Lots of beer, lots of alcohol. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was instructed to barge into Mr. Briggs room which posessed not only MB but Colin (a lifelong friend) hanging out. Good to see them. We all united around the kitchen table while I sat and watched Karin and MB take on Chris and his partner playing a game where dice must be thrown against the wall and fall into a SOLO cup. Nothing too wild. It was this moment I really wished I were down the street at MnB park. I would have preferred braving the cold and sitting around a fire having good times. This hangout just seemed too composed. MnB was unpredictable. Would we have problems with the cops? Would the fire department come and put out our fire and still leave us our alcohol like they sometimes did? Would the owner of the DYS center pull up to the fence in his Escalade and yell at us like he did on occasion? Would there be people walking their dogs in the woods staring at us all in wonder?

After hanging for what seemed like an appropriate amount of time I said my goodbyes. And drove home sober. Not worrying about whether a cop would be creeping around the center of my town. I was older, and my life was anything but sheltered in the big scheme of things, but I had never felt so secure, so bored.

B Cliff will never have sounds of juvenile delinquents echoing through its walls. B Cliff will never be MnB Park, USA.
This is the start of tales from MnB Park.