A few weeks back, as I was desperately trying to get as many signatures on my nomination papers as possible, I had a woman look willing to sign for me, but then decided she wanted to ask me some questions on where I stood on the issues. Which is always a completely fair question.
It turns out she only had one question for me. “Where do you stand on boys playing girls’ sports?”
And, sure, I may be new at running for political office, but I’m not new at dealing with people looking at me as a bearded, slightly overweight white guy, probably wearing cargo shorts at the time, and making a quick determination that I am on ‘their team.’ It’s also not my first day on Earth, so I knew very well what her actual question was about.
But, I gave her a sincere look and answered her question directly and honestly.
“Ma’am, I know that there have been boys playing traditionally girl’s sports in Massachusetts for some time, when there is no equivalent boy’s sport offered at their school. I know it happens in Field Hockey and Volleyball and has for some time.”
She took a couple of seconds to process my response and very politely (honestly!) let me know that she would be unable to sign my petition or vote for me.
This morning I actually had the opportunity to do some research on this. I did not know that Massachusetts is the only state that has legally ruled that the Equal Rights Amendment guarantees boys the right to play traditionally girls’ sports (I will be calling them “girl’s sports” moving forward here, entirely for readability’s sake) if the school lacks an equivalent boy’s team.
Last year 161 boys participated in girls’ sports. As I expected, there was Field hockey and Volleyball. There were also 10 boys who participated in Softball.
My numbers don’t count the 21 boys who competed in Gymnastics, because I don’t know enough to know if they directly compete against the girls or how that works. More learning for me to do. They also don’t include potential cases that the numbers I see can’t explain like a theoretical case where a school may not have a boy’s tennis team, but the data I have doesn’t show that.
But, we certainly had a minimum of 161 boys playing girls’ sports last year. The numbers are reasonably consistent going back too.
But my original point to the woman is that this is commonly accepted, even more so from a legal standpoint.
161 student athletes who identify as bona fide males participating in girls’ sports involving some level of face-to-face competition.
I was unable to find the numbers of transgender girls playing sports in Massachusetts, but former governor Charlie Baker, now President of the NCAA, said in late 2024 that less than 0.00196078431373% of college athletes are transgender.
If that percentage were to hold for high school athletes, that would mean that there were three transgender girls out of the 147,550 female athletes competing in Massachusetts high schools. And that’s assuming none of them played multiple sports.
I did not major in math, but I believe that three is a much smaller number than 161.
Sometimes I think this manufactured debate doesn’t really have anything to do with conservatives’ sudden interest in girls’ and women’s athletics at all.
I certainly do not have enough information to have any definitive thoughts on who needs to be blamed for this tragedy. There are plenty of people online, both professional and amateur, who are putting the work in there. I sincerely hope that lessons are learned from this horror and that steps are taken to prevent anything like this from happening ever again.
One shining beacon of positivity that I did see come from this was the outpouring of support that I witnessed the people of Fall River provide.
One example, that we did participate in, was a fundraising event spearheaded by Chris and Nate Silvia of Christopher’s Cafe on South Main Street along with the Firefighters’ Wives Association spearheaded an event on very short notice to help raise money for the victims.
The number of businesses from Fall River and across the South Coast that quickly lined up to participate was an incredible thing to watch in real time on the Christopher’s Facebook page, as was the vocal support that seemed to be pouring in from residents looking for ways to help.
In less than a week, the event seemed to have grown so big, that the original venue had to be substituted with a larger one.
On Friday evening, my wife, the younger twin, and I ventured down to St. John’s Club in Fall River to take a small part in helping out the community. And, yes, to get me one last Mee Sum’s Chow Mein sandwich.
We arrived 15 minutes before the event started and already saw a line at the back of the building and a completely full parking lot. We found a good street spot and took our place in line.
An hour into the event, people were already being told they would have to wait to enter because the venue was at capacity. At which point, I looked back and saw the line was already longer than it was when we got there.
To the credit of all who were running the event, those of us outside waiting our turns were not forgotten.
(Hey, that’s my green shirt. Mom, I’m on the TV!)
Volunteers were quick to run pizza and other appetizers out to those of us still enjoying the sunshine.
And, as far as I could see or hear, nobody seemed to be complaining. Everybody was being patient and, dare I say, friendly with everybody around them.
Once it was our turn to get inside, we happily paid our entry donation and bought two bundles of raffle tickets for the gifts donated by so many local businesses. And then we made our way into the main room where the wall-to-wall food was. Did I mention that the owners of Mee Sum Chinese restaurant was there with Chow Mein Sandwiches?
After we finished eating and put our remaining raffle tickets in their respective buckets, we made our way to the exit, to help let the next round of folks in.
Two hours after the event started, the line to get in, still longer than it was when we originally got there. In fact, one of the news channels did a live ‘hit’ after sunset and showed that there was STILL a lengthy line for people to get in.
And as we made our way back to the car, I remembered what the man behind us in line said while we were still waiting to get inside and looking at how long the crowd was.
“”You wouldn’t see this in Easton. This wouldn’t happen in Bridgewater.”
I don’t know for sure if one would see this in Easton or Bridgewater or not. But we certainly saw it in Fall River. And I am grateful to be a small part of this amazing city.
I’ve talked before, and will continue to talk about how the diversity of Fall River is a large part of what makes this community so great. And, as unfortunate as the circumstances are that brought everybody together are, it honestly moves me to see how quickly and how powerfully this city can come together and focus our energy for good.
The recent passing of the 2025 “Budget “Reconcilliation”” law is going to make the next handful of years significantly more difficult for the vast majority of Americans.
That goes at least double for a vibrantly diverse city like Fall River.
I am well aware that Fall River has been fighting for survival for decades. I also know that the only way through the coming fight is to push forward, and that none of us will be able to fight this fight by ourselves.
The road is going to be scary and painful in a lot of ways, but there are way more of us than there are of them. We have strength in numbers, and our numbers will continue to grow as more people realize what this congress, senate and president have signed. Already, the policies in the bill are wildly unpopular with voters. The policies will only grow more unpopular as the effects of them start to hit anyone not already a multi-millionaire.
I don’t think that anybody working to fight against this knows what all of the correct answers are to survive the oncoming years, but doing nothing at all and hoping it blows over is not an acceptable answer.
Locally, we need to remember the message behind the motto of Fall River.
I know that the motto is frequently laughed at and dunked on. I’m also well aware that I’m not the first person to write about the motto on the internet. But, when looked at in the proper historical context, the motto of Fall River is actually beautiful and perfect.
Going back to the 1843 fire that nearly wiped out Downtown Fall River, the motto was used as an attempt to express that a disaster was not going to stop the determination of the residents to let the city succeed.
“We’ll Try” isn’t a promise that we are going to go through the motions and make it look good while we half-ass a task.
It was, and still needs to be, a promise that we are going to do the best that we can to fight together, in the face of any- and everything that “they” want to throw our way.
This country, this state and this city are all worth fighting for, even knowing that the rich and powerful are doing everything they can to rig the game against the rest of us. But, like I said before, there are a lot more of us than there are of them.
Even today, while gathering signatures to help ensure my name gets on the ballot, I encountered a handful of residents who refused to sign my nomination papers because I didn’t vote for the same presidential candidate that they did. And while that’s certainly their right, and I didn’t press the issue with them, that goes against what I am hoping to bring to the school system here in the Scholarship City.
In a story I’m sure that I’ll be sharing at some point in the coming months, one of the greatest things I was looking forward to about moving here was the diversity of the city. I say it right on my homepage, and will tell it to anybody that will listen to me: The diversity of Fall River needs to be celebrated and protected.
We would not have made it as far as we already have without all of our different perspectives. We would not have made it this far if, in previous times of trouble, had we all just decided to look out for ourselves and let everybody else fall where they may.
Once again, this is a time when we need to stand together to support one another and do what is best for the common good of the community. Fall River has done it before, and I know that we have it in us to do it again.
Been a while since I’ve posted. Time for a quick little catch-up.
I am honored to have my campaign for School Committee receive an official endorsement from the Yankee National Party. The goals and aims of the YNP align with many of the things I hope to see take root in Massachusetts (and all of New England.) The YNP platform is based around the core values of Independence, Democracy, Empathy and Sustainability, all of which I share.
“Randy’s vision for the future of education in Fall River is both inspiring and pragmatic. He is focused on implementing positive change, not just for students, but for teachers and support staff as well,” said Derrick Coleman, Chairman of the Massachusetts State Chapter of the YNP.
I look forward to working with Derrick and the Yankee National Party to help promote the core values throughout our community.
Forty years ago today the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was formed. Their stated goal was to increase parental control over what ‘messages’ were contained in the albums and cassettes (I am an old) that children had access to. Songs that they felt had violent, sexual or drug related themes were eventually targeted to be labeled with the Parental Advisory Sticker that is still in use in America today.
The PMRC released a list of their “Filthy Fifteen” songs that they found to be the most objectionable songs. Of the list, I have three personal favorites that speak to how silly this entire exercise was from the beginning.
We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister (Violence) This selection deserves an award for how succinctly it proved the message that the song was trying to portray. Anyone who actually listened to the lyrics, (which you’d like to imagine would have been a minimum requirement for trying to get a song banned) would have been able to discern that it’s a fairly straightforward anthem standing about up to an authority that doesn’t deserve the power they have.
If I were the cynical type, I might suggest that was exactly why the PMRC wanted it banned.
When lead singer Dee Snider testified in court against the PMRC, he pointed out what should have been obvious, “There is absolutely no violence of any type either sung about or implied anywhere in the song.”
She Bop – Cyndi Lauper (Sexual content) I figured out later in life what this song was about. I was a kid when this song first got radio play and it was, for lack of a less obvious term, a bop.And, sure, if you know what she’s singing about, then these lyrics probably make perfect sense to you.
Hey, I’ve been thinking of a new sensation I’m picking up the good vibrations Oop, she bop, she bop
But that also speaks to how brilliant these nonsensical-sounding lyrics are. Under-10 year old me had no idea what was being referenced here. Which is exactly how it should have been. And that’s ignoring what someone does in private being their own business anyhow.
“Do you want kindergarteners learning about…” No. And that’s probably why my parents never told me what this song was about and that’s why I would never explain what this song is about in that level of detail to someone else’s kindergartener.
It’s called self-authentication. If you’re mature enough to get the reference, then you are mature enough to get the reference. And if you aren’t, well it’s got a nice beat and you can dance to it.
Dress You Up – Madonna (Sexual content?!?)
Okay, I cheated here. This isn’t the artwork for the single itself, but instead it’s the cover of the full studio album it came from, “Like a Virgin.”
THE PMRC ATTEMPTED TO BAN A SONG FROM THE “LIKE A VIRGIN” ALBUM FOR HAVING EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT AND DIDN’T EVEN PICK THE SONG “LIKE A VIRGIN.”
It was right there. You, presumably, had the album on your phonograph. You were sooooooo close to possibly making a valid argument that MAYBE a song shouldn’t get regular radio rotation. Then you got hung up on these lyrics instead:
You’ve got style, that’s what all the girls say Satin sheets and luxuries so fine All your suits are custom made in London But I’ve got something that you’ll really like
Why, I’ve got the vapors. Where is my paper fan and clutching pearls?
Somehow, these arguments were more convincing than Dee Snider was in front of the US Senate. I just wanted to post this picture.
And thus. the Recording Industry Association of America was convinced to put warning labels on recordings that contained “explicit content.”
Hilariously, the first album to get the advisory sticker was rap group 2 Live Crew’s July 1990 “Banned in the U.S.A.” My personal favorite early ‘victim’ of the Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics sticker was George Carlin’s comedy album from November of the same year, “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics.”
You can see that the threat of censorship was being taken exactly as seriously as it deserved.
In the liner notes, Carlin was his typical forthright self:
This recording contains no backmasking or subliminal suggestions. All messages from the Devil are recorded clearly and audibly in straightforward Standard American English.
Like many people who grew up during the early stages of the Parental Advisory stickers, I have to admit, these stickers had a huge impact on what albums I shouldn’t be buying with my allowance.
The ones that weren’t good enough to get the sticker, of course.
Music is art. Music has always been art. The best music is something that makes you feel. Maybe it’s attached to a memory. Maybe it makes you think of things you haven’t thought of before. Maybe it exposes you to a viewpoint you haven’t had an opportunity to consider before.
The Parental Advisory stickers, whether that was what the PMRC wanted or not, was a giant black and white advertisement, drawing eyes to the product. As a youngling at the time, our thought process was “They don’t want us to hear it. Let’s find out why.”
Carlin’s “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” was the first ever album (Fine, cassette. I’m an old.) that I ever bought for myself, with my money, on my own. I can still remember feeling nervous trying to buy it from the record store and wondering if I was going to get in trouble. Was the clerk going to call the cops? Worse… my parents?
The person behind the counter did not care in the least. Looking back, of course she didn’t. She just wanted her shift to be done. But to me, it felt like I was doing something forbidden. But forbidden in a good way. Like Homer, finishing the donut that gave his soul to the Devil Flanders.
And who was I rebelling against anyway? My parents? I’d already heard most of the words Carlin used. (Said a lot of them too. Not around my parents, sure. I still can’t use those words around my parents too often. But that’s really a ‘me’ problem.)
It wasn’t until the ride back to my friend’s house, that I heard something on the tape that kinda made sense to me. Something Carlin said spoke to teenage me. Something that I still sincerely believe to this day:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. They’re only words! It’s the context that counts. It’s the user. It’s the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent.
There are things that my parents didn’t want me listening to as a kid. Toys that they didn’t want me using. Shows they wouldn’t let me watch. Which is how it should be. They were my parents, that’s what they signed up for.
It wasn’t the government’s job to tell me what is and isn’t appropriate for me to see or hear. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly okay with being told what POTENTIALLY objectionable things might be on movies, TV shows, social media platforms, the radio or anywhere else. Maybe I’m looking for a 90 minute movie that’s jam-packed with violence.
(Side note; out of all of the PMRC’s “Filthy Fifteen,” only “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was singled out for it’s violent nature alone. It’s always been odd to me that we focus way more on sex and language than violence.)
But the decision on what does and doesn’t belong in the public sphere shouldn’t be made by four Washington Wives, nor any amount of Washington anybody. This isn’t something that should be handed down from anyone in Boston either. The only people I want making these decisions for my children are my wife and me, in consultation with my children.
Anyhow, this long, rambling post has really been about books the whole time.
Last night there was an emergency session of the Fall River School Committee to have an executive discussion about the recent cyber attack that hit the district.
I find it troubling that some current members of the Fall River School Committee couldn’t even agree to go into the executive session to discuss the situation without trying to turn the meeting into a witch hunt against the mayor or to use the forum as an opportunity to air their grievances against one another.
Nothing about the arguments the committee members were raising, nor their attempt to censure Mayor Paul Coogan for talking to the media, had anything to do with anything that would help the staff, students or families of Fall River.
The constant sniping, bickering and, frankly, ganging up on one another shown by a small handful of the Committee serves zero purpose towards the greater good. The Fall River Schools.
(As an aside, I suspect that many of the same Committee members who had problems with the Mayor talking to the press in generalities about the attack would have instead taken issue if the Mayor had not said anything publicly at all, and would have levied charges of him ‘hiding from the problem.’)
Yes, the fact that our schools got hacked is horrible, and, like a lot of parents, I do want answers. Answers on what happened, and answers on what information was captured. I am a Security Analyst in my day job, and have a somewhat personal interest especially in also learning what precautions were missed that allowed the attack to happen and, most importantly, what steps have been or are going to be taken to help prevent similar attacks in the future.
(As a second aside, I can also say that having your network hit by cybercriminals is no longer a question of “If” it will happen, but “When” and “What can we do to minimize the damage?” It is way too early, at least in what is publicly known, to be pointing fingers and blame.)
But I also know that these answers are not necessarily known at this time, and even the answers that are known cannot be made publicly available while a criminal investigation is still ongoing.
And I’m not sure which would be worse; That the School Committee doesn’t also know this, or that they do indeed know this and still chose to strut around asking questions on camera that they knew could not be answered, at least not in an open public session.
Which is exactly why I am running for School Committee in 2025. We need a Committee comprised of people who are not up on the stage primarily to promote personal agendas and drive personal vendettas.
The people of Fall River deserve a committed group of Committeepersons whose only goal is to work together to make the Fall River School District become the best it can possibly be. For the students, for the teachers and for the entire city of Fall River.
I want to help make this happen. Not only for my children, but for the entire city. We can make this happen. We’ll Try Together, and We’ll Succeed Together.
Just in case the change of pictures on the blog wasn’t clue enough, I want to say that I have submitted paperwork to run for School Committee in the 2025 Fall River election.
When my family and I moved to Fall River three summers ago, I was nervous about what I had read about the school district. But I can happily say that the vast majority of my family’s experiences, first at Silvia Elementary School and now at Morton Middle School have been wonderful for the growth of both of my daughters.
Not everything has been perfect. Before Christmas, Twin A came home from school sad that her favorite teacher was leaving to take an “opportunity in a different state.” I asked her if she knew where the teacher was leaving for. Unfortunately for the students, the other state happened to be the same state that is also one town south and west of us.
I’ve talked with a few teachers already and heard enough comments from teachers at School Committee meetings to have a pretty good understanding that the teachers and other professionals in our district do not feel that they are being treated with the respect that they deserve.
There was an agreement with the teachers fairly recently on a new contract but, as of today, I am not aware that the administrative professionals and school support staff have been granted a new contract that meets any of their demands.
If I am lucky enough to be granted a position on the School Committee, I promise to do everything in my power to make sure that all of the school employees are given every available resource to help them do the best possible job for all of our students. I know that’s what they want as well, otherwise they would have never entered this profession.
The teachers and all of the staff in the district want what’s best for the kids. We parents want what’s best for our kids as well. The School Committee needs to remember that they too are responsible for doing what’s best for the kids. Not every choice will be easy. But We’ll Try Together and We’ll Succeed Together.
I look forward to meeting with as many of you as possible during the coming months.
One of the problems with being me, aside from all of the obvious ones, is that whenever I decide to do something important on the First day of April, nobody thinks that I’m serious. Worth it.
Today is March 31st, which means that tomorrow is the start of the second quarter of the year.
Anyhow, Vaguepress is in full effect, which is fine, because nobody is reading this yet.
I’ll probably try a new restaurant for lunch tomorrow while I’m at Fall River City Hall.
Also, Jess took an awesome picture of me pondering at this elephant.
UPDATE: It turns out that nothing important is happening tomorrow. The actual thing doesn’t start until 8:00am on Monday, April 7th.
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words.” – Victor Hugo, author
The combined Fall River Middle Schools Band performs at the 2025 All City Band Concert. Twin B is in there somewhere.
Music has always been a pretty important driver in my life. I met my best friend (Non-Spousal Division) in sixth grade band class. I also met my first wife in band in college. Hey, not every drive can be a good drive.
Most of my favorite teachers have been band directors. Our high school marching band won the Michigan state championship back in… You know what, I don’t want to say when. The year started with a 19; Damn, I’m old. Anyhow, it was during the late 1900s that decided that I wanted to be a high school band director someday.
Through actions that seemed legitimate at the time, I didn’t actually go to college for music like I wanted to. This was one of the main factors that led me to not going to college very much at all.
Even though I entered the real-world workforce at 19, mostly in an I.T. setting, I still spent nearly every summer and fall working with my high school’s competitive marching band in just about any and every capacity I could. Helping design the show themes, helping choose the music, the visual concepts we would try to express, hell I even co-wrote a song from scratch. And that was all before teaching the students ever took place. Weekly rehearsals over the summer, a week-long band camp at the end of August. Early morning and late-night rehearsals to perfect the show. This was one of my happiest places.
In the early 2000s, During one of Michigan’s once-a-decade rebooting of the automotive economy, I found myself out of work. I had one more shot to try and do what I knew that I always wanted to do, so I went back to school for what I wanted to do the previous century. Through actions that seemed legitimate at the time, I still didn’t graduate with an Education degree. So, right back to IT for me. Then, shortly after that, completely out of Michigan.
Almost 15 years later, I can say that I’m barely sad at all that I didn’t get through the Ed program. Hooked up to a lie detector, I would say that it’s less than 1% of a regret. I’m in a pretty solid place, as far as my personal and professional life goes right now.
But that didn’t seem to dampen any of the joy I got to feel last night as Twin B got to perform with other students in the Fall River Schools’ All City Band.
This concert featured the fifth-grade band students from all of the elementary schools in the district, then all of the middle-schoolers, then the high school band. The finale was a song played by all of the students together. This concert does an amazing job of showing the progression that these kids are all capable of making if they stay in the program and put forth the effort.
I pretended to reluctantly volunteer to assist with feeding the musicians in the hour between the end of their final rehearsal and the beginning of the concert. Deep down inside, but mostly on the surface, I was champing at the bit to help out. And, not to brag or anything, but that was probably one of the top one-thousand smoothest instances of feeding about 150 kids a slice of pizza and a chocolate cookie that anybody has ever seen.
It was really cool for me to get to see, firsthand, that parental volunteers willing to help out the entire Performing Arts Department seems to be a universal phenomenon. Even better was getting to see, based on half an hour in a high school cafeteria, that band kids being goofy-assed band kids is also a constant.
Twin B had, by all accounts, a successful concert and even allowed Twin A to get some staged photos of her playing the bells afterwards. I know that she currently plans to say in band for at least the next two years but is a little less sure after that. I’m not going to force her to stick with it through high school. I want to, but I won’t. Probably.
B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River has a competitive marching band program. In fact, they had an undefeated competitive 2024 season, including the U.S. Bands National championship in their Group. When it was mentioned during the concert that students entering at least the seventh grade could try out for the marching band, my eyes lit up and I literally got goosebumps.
I am going to at least attempt to push Twin B to try out for the Marching Band this summer, but with the approval and, frankly the insistence of my best friend (Spousal Division) there’s a good chance that I’m going to see what kind of volunteer help the marching band needs this upcoming fall, whether she is involved yet or not. I wonder if a “No electronics during Marching Season if you aren’t in band” would be a reasonable parenting policy. Sports parents have nothing on me in this regard.
Thanks to all of the teachers who had a part in putting on the concert last night. I hope you know that your hard work is understood and appreciated.
