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‘Monica’ resonates as trans drama about family, identity

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Monica”Rated R. At Landmark Kendall Square and VOD.Grade: B+“Monica” is a modern, gender-transitioning twist on the theme of the prodigal son. The film’s eponymous protagonist Monica (Trace Lysette, “Transparent”) is an unhappy transgender woman, who has lost contact with her birth family for reasons not explained to us at first. But we can guess.In opening scenes, Monica tries to to contact a man named Jimmy for whom she expresses love. But we have a sense that the relationship is over. Monica, who has a lavish floral tattoo on her shoulder and neck, can be seen giving a man a massage and giving herself an injection of some sort. She is summoned by phone and drives for two days to return to her family in the Midwest to help with the care of her dying mother Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson), who is also losing her memory. Eugenia does not recognize Monica (Or does she?) as her former son. Monica’s brother Paul (Joshua Close), who is married to the likable Laura (...

Editorial: Rising star Rachael Rollins now a cautionary tale

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

When Rachael Rollins took her position as Suffolk County District Attorney in 2019, she was determined to disrupt the “status quo.”She told the Boston Chamber of Commerce in 2021 “I knew this was not going to be easy, and that the work we’re doing here in Boston is scary to some people to some who are deeply invested in the status quo because the system works well for them.”In the end, the disgraced former Attorney General for Massachusetts proved she was deeply invested in making the system work for her – ethics be damned.Rollins has gone from rising star to the poster girl for hubris in less than a week and the dust is still settling after a Department of Justice report concluded she improperly used her position by influencing the Suffolk DA’s race by leaking non-public information and broke agency rules by attending a Democratic fundraiser last summer, as the Herald reported.The report calls her out for attempting to tip the scales in last year...

‘It Ain’t Over’ captures life of MLB maestro Yogi Berra

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“It Ain’t Over”Rated PG. At the AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square and suburban theaters.Grade: A- Even if you are not a baseball fan, you must see “It Ain’t Over,” Sean Mullin’s wonderful documentary about one of the most underrated major league baseball legends in MLB history. At the 2015 All-Star Game, several “greatest living players” were introduced to an adoring crowd: Willy Mays, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench and Sandy Koufax. Where was Lorenzo Pietro “Yogi” Berra, whose stats are even better than theirs? Nicknamed for the way he sat with his arms and legs crossed waiting for his turn at bat playing sandlot baseball as a youth, Berra started playing professionally in the post-World War II age of Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio. “Joltin’ Joe” was a 6’2” matinee idol with a baseball mitt, who famously married Marilyn Monroe, establishing a pattern for celebrity-sports stars hookups.Yogi was a “funny looking” 5’7” “human fire hy...

Cotton: GOP sounded alarms on Rachael Rollins, Dems ignored them

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

Every New Englander should breathe a sigh of relief. This week, the pro-criminal U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Rachael Rollins, announced that she is resigning. She is stepping down after just 18 months on the job after committing a series of serious ethical violations.On Wednesday, an Inspector General’s report found that Ms. Rollins leaked sensitive law enforcement information to hurt a political enemy and then lied under oath about her political activities. The report found that “the leak was an extraordinary breach of public trust by a senior government official.” For its part, the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel found that she committed “among the most egregious transgressions” of the anti-politicization Hatch Act, that they “ever investigated.”The Associated Press noted that “the resignation of a U.S. attorney amid ethics concerns is an exceedingly rare phenomenon.” It may be rare, but it was predictable. I should know; I predicted it.I’ve long believed t...

Dear Abby: BF steps up to act as caregiver

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been with my boyfriend for three months. We’ve had our ups and downs. He’s more into me than I am into him. I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and he has offered to drive me to my surgery and help me at home in recovery. He’s also willing to take me to my follow-ups and help with anything else I may need.He’s retired, has time and resources, and he cares a great deal about me. We live about two miles apart. I like him, too. I think that after knowing someone for only a few months, it takes a special character and a huge amount of caring to take on being their caregiver after a major surgery. There will be a lot of driving to another city and back.I don’t really have anyone else — no family. I’m thankful to him for doing this, but I wonder what kind of support he is going to need and how I can show my appreciation. So far, he has been very loyal and committed. — Grateful in OregonDear Grateful: This man may b...

'Let's Kick It Party' to celebrate new MLS team in San Diego

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Soccer fans looking to celebrate a Major League Soccer team coming to San Diego can do so this weekend at Snapdragon Stadium.The "Let's Kick It Party," organized by San Diego FC, is set for this Saturday at 7 p.m. at the stadium's East Concourse, San Diego State University said on its website.The event itself is free of charge, but fans must reserve tickets online (maximum ticket limit of four and a maximum order limit of one per account).Remember to get there early as the first 1,000 fans will receive free inaugural scarves, according to officials. New MLS team could forward youth soccer goals in San Diego Food and drinks will be available for purchase as well.Parking is also free for guests.Snapdragon Stadium, which is already the home of the San Diego State Aztec's football team and professional women's soccer team San Diego Wave FC, will be the site where the new expansion team plays.On Thursday, a news conference was held at Snapdragon Stadium to confirm San Dieg...

Mexico leader defiant after high court rules tourist train, other works not national security issues

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday the government cannot simply decree tourist trains or other public work projects to be issues of “national security,” but hours later President Andrés Manuel López Obrador published a similar order in defiance of the decision.The order handed down by high court was the latest in a string of legal setbacks for the president who has sought to broaden the discretionary powers of the presidency. The court said deeming public works projects to be matters of “national security” violates the public’s right to information about such works.López Obrador has tried to rush through some of his pet programs, including the Maya Train tourism project in the Yucatan Peninsula, by exempting them from normal permitting and public reporting, claiming it is vital to national security.And just hours after the Supreme Court ruled, the president published an order in the Official Gazette of the Federation putting a similar approach into force ...

Jordan Neely, NYC subway rider choked to death, to be mourned at Manhattan church

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jordan Neely, whose chokehold death on the New York City subway set off a debate about vigilantism, homelessness and public safety, will be mourned by his family Friday at a church in Harlem.A former Michael Jackson impersonator who had been struggling with mental illness and homelessness in recent years, Neely died May 1 when a fellow subway rider pinned him to the floor of a subway car in a chokehold that lasted several minutes.The fatal struggle was recorded on video by an onlooker who said Neely had been yelling at other passengers as he begged for money, but hadn’t attacked anyone.Last week the man who pinned and choked Neely, Daniel Penny, was charged with manslaughter by the Manhattan district attorney. Penny’s lawyers say he was acting to protect himself and other passengers after Neely made threatening statements.The arrest polarized New Yorkers and people beyond, with some saying Penny, who is white, was too quick to use deadly force on a Black man wh...

Salman Rushdie honored at PEN America gala, first in-person appearance since stabbing

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Salman Rushdie made an emotional and unexpected return to public life Thursday night, attending the annual gala of PEN America and giving the event’s final speech as he accepted a special prize, the PEN Centenary Courage Award, just nine months being after being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized.“It’s nice to be back — as opposed to not being back, which was also a possibility. I’m glad the dice rolled this way,” Rushdie, 75, told hundreds gathered at the American Museum of Natural History, where he received a standing ovation. It was his first in-person appearance at a public event since he was attacked last August while on stage at a literary festival in Western New York.Rushdie, whose attendance had not been announced beforehand, spoke briefly, and dedicated some of his remarks to those who came to his help at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center. He cited a fellow attendee, Henry Reese of the City of Asylum project in Pittsburgh,...

On US Bike to Work Day, here’s how COVID, eco-thinking made cycling better in cities worldwide

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:02:21 GMT

MONTREAL (AP) — In the agonies of the virus that upended most of the world, millions of people from Bogota to Berlin saw what life could be like on two wheels instead of four.Even as commuting to the office and going to school plunged at the height of COVID lockdowns, outdoor recreation, and cycling in particular, surged in country after country as people looked to escape isolation in a relatively safe way. In response, city after city have developed bikeways with new urgency since 2020. The question is whether people stick with their new cycling habit in these closer-to-normal times. On Friday, Bike to Work Day in the U.S., the automatic counters that record each passing cyclist in many cities will get the latest numbers.So far the evidence is incomplete and varies by place. But the numbers suggest that if they build it, people will come.Case studies led by global urban planning researchers Ralph Buehler of Virginia Tech and John Bucher of Rutgers University track what more than a ...