Frederick's final bell: Boston shutters its last middle school
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The district marked the Frederick for closure at the end of the school year as part of its broader effort to address declines in enrollment in the 48,000-student district and shift students to schools that house grades 7-12.
Eighth-graders Alexis Pierre and Cyrus Dorzelma arrived for the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School promotion ceremony as they move on to high school on June 18.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Seventh-grader Anyel Pimentel played with an inflatable ball while waiting for dismissal at the Frederick on June 20. It's an early release day and with only one day of school left, the year was all but over.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
When plans were first announced in 2018 to phase out middle school over five years, more than a hundred students, teachers, and parents
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Across the country, many districts have phased out standalone middle schools over the last couple of decades, as education experts tried to determine how best to serve young adolescents.
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Sixty years ago, education scholars believed middle schools could tailor
education to that age group. More recently,
By 2024, middle grades had been added to a half dozen Boston high schools, while other middle schools had already closed or merged with high schools. With closure on the horizon, the Frederick community made some demands about the building's future, including retaining the name of Lilla G. Frederick on the elementary school that will open there. They then sought to make the last year count.
As staff member
Andrew Brown put it last summer, 'People talk about auspicious beginnings but never inspiring endings.'
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When the Frederick opened in 2003 as New Boston Pilot Middle School, it was a hard-fought victory and rare investment for Grove Hall.
and the area had seen decades of underinvestment. Even the site of the school, a vacant lot on Columbia Road, was so infamous for drugs and crime that Mayor Thomas Menino called the National Guard to help clean it in 1996.
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Seventh-grader Isaiyah Marquez passed the welcoming faculty and staff as he arrived for the first day of school at Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School on Sept. 5, 2024.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
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Seventh-grader Erntz François read "Monster," a novel by Walter Dean Myers, during English Language Arts class on May 20.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Erntz sat for his school picture on Dec. 11.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Project R.I.G.H.T., a community organization formed to address violence in the neighborhood, campaigned for a new middle school to serve as a community hub, said Michael Kozu, co-director of the organization and the original board chair of the school. Lilla G. Frederick, one of Project R.I.G.H.T.'s founders, led the process of getting neighbors onboard. It would be a semi-autonomous pilot school with multiple board seats for community members.
'It was a major investment that kind of reversed the legacy of disinvestment,' Kozu said. 'It's made such a big difference in terms of stability and increasing opportunities.'
It lived up to
its mission as a community, housing at various times a church, a basketball league, a polling place, and even a support group for the previously incarcerated.
When Frederick passed away in 2005, the school was renamed in her honor.
Speaking to the School Committee in 2024, board chair Emmanuel Tikili asked the district to continue to honor her commitment to the neighborhood, including by keeping her name on the building.
Members of the 4 Star Dance Studio entertained the crowd during 'Groovin' in the Grove' outside the middle school on May 30. The final, annual celebration included food and entertainment for students and their families as well as alumni and community members.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
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Seventh-grader Donnay Burton walked the red carpet in a dress she created for the fashion show at 'Groovin' in the Grove.'
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Eighth-grader Cris Santiago helped to decorate for the event.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
The school's commitment to the community manifested itself in various ways throughout the years. It had a one-to-one laptop program years before it became a norm. It attracted national attention for not only sending children home with personal computers but teaching parents to use them. For years the school had many Somali refugee students, and
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Susan Lovett, a social worker at the school in its early years, said even her position was innovative at the time. The district now has social workers in every school. The Frederick was also a model for the district in bringing in partners, Lovett said,
previewing today's community hub schools that host organizations like the YMCA.
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'We wanted the school to be as resourced as some of the schools in Boston's wealthiest suburbs are,' Lovett said.
That meant everything from a program with the Boston Ballet to a wrestling team. And opportunities like those continued into the school's final year, with partners like the Becoming a Man group counseling program, the combination tennis and tutoring club Tenacity, and
This school year, students focused not on the school's closure but on all the fun they had, culminating in a field trip to Six Flags.
'It was fun while it lasted,' said Alieshaa Felix, a graduating eighth-grade student.
Seventh-graders Jaziah Sylvert, Donnay Burton, and Arianna Lang took in the scene inside a mobile planetarium at the school gymnasium on Dec. 11, 2024.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
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Anyel Pimentel held onto an interception in a flag football game during the BAM (Becoming a Man) program field day.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Students circled together at the end of the BAM program.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Over its two-plus decades, the school has changed with the neighborhood.
The
school was never as successful academically as leaders hoped, with
trailing both the state and district across most subgroups.
Two principals were pushed out in 2012 and 2013, the first over 'questionable use of technology' and the second after being
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But it's remained a hub of the community, said Gloria West, a former parent at the school. It's a place where staff notice when a student got caught in the rain walking to school and offer them dry socks,
where students insist as part of a 'week of joy' on helping organize their teachers' offices, and where many students and families wish they could stay longer.
Eighth-grader Bendu Sanoe joined her classmates before the Frederick's promotion ceremony at the Albert D. Holland High School of Technology in Boston on June 18.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Eighth-grader Isa Gomez posed with a mask she completed during the Craftpreneurs afterschool program at the on May 21.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
'I really wished there were more grades,' said
Sinaika François, who attended the school from 2013 to 2016. 'I didn't want to leave.'
François' younger brother Erntz was the third member of the family to attend the school but will complete eighth grade at East Boston High School next year. Their little sister can't follow in their footsteps at all, François lamented.
Instead, the Frederick will become the home for a new elementary school, a
In the new, middle school-less era, the district will have to take on the challenge of educating students in new ways.
It's a challenge that has bedeviled educators for a century, said Penny Bishop, dean of Boston University's school of education and an expert on the middle grades. Young adolescents have intense need for belonging but also demand independence, she said, which calls for more structure than traditional high schools but less than elementary schools.
Seventh-graders Honesty Graham, Aaliyah Figueroa, and Jaylani Latorre researched a social studies project with teacher Taylor Roberts (right) on June 4. The students were working on a presentation about immigration and were watching a news report regarding Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts PhD student detained by immigration authorities.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
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English Language Arts teacher Kaylah Mack congratulated the seventh grade class after they finished reading "Monster," a novel by Walter Dean Myers on May 20.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Seventh-grader Janneliz Reyes (left) joked with classmate Arianna Lang between classes on Dec. 11.
(Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Bishop said there's nothing essential about the separate buildings, but middle grade students need supports they often miss in schools dominated by younger or older students. At the Frederick, for example, students are grouped into teams to help build community, and given agency whenever possible, even in seemingly minor matters like planning spirit weeks.
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For Honesty, the Frederick met all the conditions of a good school: 'A good community, teachers you can count on, good environment where you can feel safe and feel welcome and learn … and you can still have fun.'
But going into next year, Honesty is considering leaving the district entirely, for Dedham. Her classmates are scattering across the city. So are the staff, many of whom have been at the Frederick longer than Honesty has been alive.
Last Wednesday, the school community gathered at the nearby Albert D. Holland School of Technology, for the city's last middle school promotion ceremony — graduating the final Frederick eighth grade class. Families bearing balloons and flowers filled the auditorium, and students in three-piece suits, crisp white sneakers, gowns, and party dresses cheered as staff handed out awards and certificates of completion. Principal Meghan McGoldrick set the tone of celebrating the final year.
'We promised ourselves and each other that this final year will be one of our very best years ever together,' the principal said. 'We have kept that promise.'
Student Shari Martinez David, who gave a speech at the promotion ceremony, kept the focus on their shared future.
'We made it, and we're ready for whatever's coming ahead,' she said. 'This isn't the end of the story.'
Eighth-grader Gabriel Fernando De Leon Ortiz stood for a selfie with his parents, Ferleon De Leon and Lesix Ortiz, following the Frederick's promotional ceremony at the Albert D. Holland High School of Technology in Boston on June 18.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Christopher Huffaker can be reached at
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In Fall River, a hellish nightmare of a fire
Some residents were already in bed and panic quickly set in as some felt trapped in their rooms. Many were elderly, and some were in wheelchairs or had limited mobility or other health complications. Terrified residents made multiple 911 calls, fearful they were going to die surrounded by flames and smoke. Advertisement A desperate race to save lives The first firefighters were dispatched at 9:39 p.m. and arrived in five minutes. Fire was visible, and plumes of toxic, black smoke billowed from the building on Oliver Street; residents were hanging out of the windows, desperate to be rescued. 'It's the Gabriel House, it's completely up in flames,' one first responder reported to dispatch. By then police officers were also inside, combing through the building to get residents to leave. 'We need you out!' shouted one officer at 9:44 p.m., according to body camera footage. 'There's a huge fire. Big fire.' Advertisement wistia-player[media-id='pdtgzsbh0u']:not(:defined) { background: center / contain no-repeat url(' display: block; filter: blur(5px); padding-top:56.25%; } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .creditcopy2 { font-family : "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; line-height : 1.2; font-size: .8750em; letter-spacing: .25px; color: #333; padding: 3px 0px; } .creditcopy2 span { font-family : "BentonSansCond-Bold", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 1em; } .creditcopy2 { font-size: .8750em; } .creditcopy2 span { font-size: .8750em; } } In police body camera footage, first responders help a person escape the smoke from Gabriel House. (Randy Vazquez/Globe staff) This reconstruction of the deadliest fire in Massachusetts since 1984 is based on interviews with more than 20 people who were at the scene, including many residents, interviews with former workers of Gabriel House, police body cam footage, recordings of public safety dispatches, and other official sources. Visibility was near zero as smoke rapidly filled the building. People were screaming for help; some stayed in their rooms and called loved ones, some invoked the Almighty, and some were able to break open windows on their own or were rescued when firefighters tore apart windows and doors to get people out. For 68-year-old Debbie Bigelow, escape came with a bang on her door and first responders yelling for her to 'Get out!' She was barefoot and dressed only in a nightgown; they led her out an emergency door and then wrapped blankets around her shoulders to keep her warm. 'I'm glad it was in the summer and not in the winter,' Bigelow said. The fire would claim the life of her longtime boyfriend, Rui Albernaz. 'He didn't get burnt, did he?' she asked the official who told her Albernaz died in the blaze. 'I don't like smoke inhalation either, but getting burnt and flames, that's terrible.' She described Albernaz as joyful and charming. He didn't get into arguments at Gabriel House like other residents, she said. They had no secrets, and she hoped they would marry one day. 'I miss him,' she said this week after a funeral Mass for Albernaz. In her room at Fall River HealthCare, Debbie Bigelow held up the funeral card for Gabriel House resident Rui A. Albernaz, who died in the fire. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Like Albernaz, Gabriel House residents were typical New Englanders. One man visited a local Dunkin' so frequently staff knew his regular order: a croissant sandwich and iced coffee. Others were Vietnam War veterans, one would be later described as a 'tough cookie' with a robust sense of humor and another would be eulogized for his warmth and keen social intelligence. A great-grandmother was recalled as Advertisement Among the 10 who died from the fire was an 86-year-old grandmother, Eleanor Willett, who had lived at Gabriel House for just shy of a year. For as long as Willett lived in room C15, one of its two windows didn't function properly, said her granddaughter, Holly Mallowes. 'They were supposed to fix it, and they never did,' said Mallowes. 'So that window wouldn't open.' Many other rooms, meanwhile, had air-conditioning units in their windows, which complicated rescue efforts. Hearing that people were trapped on the third floor, one Fall River fire captain rushed into the burning building without an air tank and kicked in a door. There were bodies in some of the rooms, he would later say. 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Advertisement Investigators have declined to identify the room or the residents who lived there. Additionally, Jeffrey Bacon, the Fall River fire chief, said he was 'interested' to learn how smoke infiltrated the other side of the building so heavily. Smoking inside the facility was common, according to those who lived and worked there. Residents would often sneak into the bathroom to smoke a cigarette, according to one worker. A former worker, meanwhile, said she once walked into a room to find a bed in flames. 'I dreaded a building fire,' said Bianca DeJesus, who worked at Gabriel House as a certified nursing assistant and dietary aide from 2019 until last fall. Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said he was told by Gabriel House owner Dennis D. Etzkorn that smoking was not permitted inside the building and that residents caught smoking inside had been fined in the past. There was a designated smoking area outside. One former resident said the $25 fine did not deter some residents from smoking inside. Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon (center) along with police, fire investigators, and a priest (left) gathered at the entrance to the Gabriel House Assisted Living facility on Oliver Street in Fall River Monday morning. MARK STOCKWELL FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE In one lawsuit filed since the fire, a lawyer for one resident who allegedly lost consciousness during the fire, said smoke alarms went off regularly at Gabriel House and the facility lacked an 'effective evacuation plan.' 'So when the smoke alarms went off, it was almost just another day, and there was no effective plan to say, 'Hey, this one's real. You got to get out,'' said attorney Robin Gouveia. Advertisement An Etzkorn spokesman, George K. Regan Jr., said Tuesday in response to the lawsuit: 'In this situation, there is nothing else to say.' Etzkorn himself has not granted interviews since the fire. 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People screaming. It was crazy.' Meanwhile, at a nearby house, Cleber Parra, 40, was playing volleyball with a group of his friends in his backyard when he heard sirens and saw red and blue emergency lights bouncing off the buildings of his neighborhood. At first, he thought 'it was nothing crazy,' because he usually sees the Fire Department respond quickly. But he soon realized the situation was more serious when he could hear people calling for help. Cleber Parra (left) and his brother-in-law Danny Auqui sat on the steps of their home near Gabriel House assisted living facility. The two men helped rescue residents during the deadly fire after hearing cries for help while playing late-night volleyball in their backyard. Erin Clark/Globe Staff A construction worker, Parra grabbed two ladders from atop a van and ran toward the Gabriel House, placing them along the right side of the building. He climbed up one, and saw an old man through the window. 'He looked just scared, like he was thinking he was going to die over there,' Parra said from his front porch, the assisted living facility just behind his house. At first, Parra broke the windows using his hands. Then a firefighter took over and switched places with him only to struggle to get the resident out of the window.. The firefighter 'tried to pull the old man out, but he can't,' Parra said. 'The old man is heavy.' It was a team effort. The firefighter climbed through the window and hoisted the resident out so Parra could bring him down the ladder. 'He's a little hard to bring down, because it's an old man,' Parra said. 'I brought (him) down, and my other friend brought down another person from another window.' wistia-player[media-id='hg9fi34p1v']:not(:defined) { background: center / contain no-repeat url(' display: block; filter: blur(5px); padding-top:56.25%; } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .creditcopy2 { font-family : "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; line-height : 1.2; font-size: .8750em; letter-spacing: .25px; color: #333; padding: 3px 0px; } .creditcopy2 span { font-family : "BentonSansCond-Bold", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 1em; } .creditcopy2 { font-size: .8750em; } .creditcopy2 span { font-size: .8750em; } } In police body camera footage, firefighters are seen rescuing an unidentified person from Gabriel House. (Randy Vazquez/Globe staff) An unthinkable loss of life A neighbor, Peter Primo, 69, said the scene he saw when he stepped onto his porch was so nightmarish that he can't imagine ever forgetting it. 'It was like my Blizzard of '78,' he added. 'You'll never forget where you were when this [expletive] happens.' There was smoke everywhere and against this murky backdrop frenzied scenes of firefighters in motion. 'They're breaking the windows,' Primo said. 'They were pulling people, you could hear the firemen, 'Watch my light, follow my light. I need a stretcher up here.' It was crazy.' Primo said air conditioners were falling out of some windows but that 'too many' were still in place and blocking the rescue efforts. An air conditioner was in the charred window of the Gabriel House facility on July 14. MARK STOCKWELL FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE 'And the most morbid part was when they were bringing the bodies, and they were putting them in the back there,' Primo added. 'It was just, 'wow.' Playing out right under your nose.' Primo saw five bodies moved to a tent behind Gabriel House. At the scene, survivors and neighbors were in tears. 'It's still the somber scent that lingers,' Primo said. 'Ten people, not two, not three, but 10. Those people had every intention of waking up the next day, and it didn't happen.' Ken Medeiros, who lives directly behind Gabriel House, recalled looking out his back window around 9:50 p.m. to see flashing lights from firetrucks. The 70-year-old Medeiros went out to his backyard and watched as evacuated residents from the facility stood in groups in a parking lot across the street. He saw ladders propped against the side of the building, but no one was being evacuated at that point. There were no flames at the moment, but the smoke made everything 'hazy.' Unlike more modern nursing homes and higher-end assisted living facilities, Gabriel House was in an older building dating to the 1960s that once was a motel. Medeiros remembered once visiting a friend and noticing there were individual air conditioners in every window. A resident of the Gabriel House reacted after being evacuated after the fire late Sunday night. MARK STOCKWELL FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE 'That was their only way out,' Medeiros said of the windows. 'Picture a jail cell with one way out.' Still, body cam footage shows the many ways first responders did find a way to evacuate most of the residents. Through a thick haze that Fire Chief Bacon described as 'toxic,' some residents were thrown over shoulders, others wheeled out in their wheelchairs; another was taken down the stairs in a stretcher after being instructed to lay down as if they were sledding on a toboggan. Exhaustion sets in One resident who was using a walker and oxygen tank trundled onto a porch of the facility as smoke poured out of a doorway. An officer dove through a window to check a room for residents. A firefighter split open another entryway with an axe. At 9:54 p.m., some police could be seen crawling underneath the smoke, according to body camera footage. Officers could be heard grunting with physical exertion as they carried people down flights of stairs, alarms chirping in the background. wistia-player[media-id='522ebre8tu']:not(:defined) { background: center / contain no-repeat url(' display: block; filter: blur(5px); padding-top:56.25%; } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .creditcopy2 { font-family : "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; line-height : 1.2; font-size: .8750em; letter-spacing: .25px; color: #333; padding: 3px 0px; } .creditcopy2 span { font-family : "BentonSansCond-Bold", "Impact", "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 1em; } .creditcopy2 { font-size: .8750em; } .creditcopy2 span { font-size: .8750em; } } In police body camera footage, first responders break open a door and are confronted with smoke. (Randy Vazquez/Globe staff) At 9:55 p.m., some police officers had walked out onto a porch and were bent over, wretching and coughing from the smoke. 'Cover your mouth if you can,' one officer said in the video. At a little after 10 p.m., Fall River fire chaplain the Rev. Michael Racine arrived at the scene. He administered the sacrament of the sick, a Roman Catholic ritual, to five people pulled out of the building, he said. All were deceased. One person was carried down a ladder in a stretcher but was already dead, Racine was told. He found himself in an area near the facility that was turned into a makeshift morgue. First responders would stand by the bodies until they could be moved later in the night. 'I use the term 'organized chaos' because it was,' he said. 'It's a very chaotic situation because there's a lot going on. You had firefighters putting out the fire, and you had a ton of firefighters and police officers bringing victims out, both alive and deceased.' Amid the public safety jargon on the crackling audio, dispatch recordings capture the urgency of those rescue efforts. 'We got to get to the far room,' one firefighter said sometime after 10 p.m., clearly out of breath. A reply came across the radio that the room would be reached using a ladder. Another request surged through the airwaves: 'I need a paramedic and stretcher to the rear of the building immediately.' Then yet another: 'Get as many medical rescues to this location as soon as possible.' One resident described firefighters and police officers with ripped uniforms, bloodied and covered in soot. The fire would eventually reach five alarms and require help from neighboring communities. It would take about an hour to bring it under control, according to Fall River officials. The last of the more than 30 injured residents would eventually be sent to the hospital later in the night. At 10:32 p.m., a police supervisor took roll call to account for all the responding officers. 'We have everybody.' Flowers, photographs, and memorial items were placed along the chain-link fence surrounding Gabriel House on July 23. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Ken Mahan and Christopher Gavin of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Maria Probert and Angela Mathew contributed to this report. Graphics by John Hancock/Globe staff. Video production by Randy Vazquez/Globe staff. Danny McDonald can be reached at


Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Boston Globe
25 hot new paperbacks to read this summer, from page-turning thrillers to steamy romances
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} to { filter: hue-rotate(360deg); } } @media screen and (max-width: 550px){ .bookcat { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; text-align: center; font-size: 1.25em; line-height: 1.0; letter-spacing: .5px; color: #000; padding: 8px 8px 05px 8px; margin-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase; } } Mystery, Thriller, & Horror .anchorbooks3 { } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; } .bookcat { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; text-align: center; font-size: 1.75em; line-height: 1.0; letter-spacing: .5px; color: #000; padding: 8px 8px 8px 8px; margin-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase; } .strike { display: flex; justify-content: center; 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letter-spacing: .5px; color: #000; padding: 8px 8px 05px 8px; margin-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase; } } Romance .anchorbooks4 { } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; } .bookcat { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; text-align: center; font-size: 1.75em; line-height: 1.0; letter-spacing: .5px; color: #000; padding: 8px 8px 8px 8px; margin-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase; } .strike { display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 25px; } #twitter { font-size: 1.15em; color: #fff; border-radius: 29px; padding: 0px 1px; margin: 0 0 25 0px; animation: animate 5s linear infinite; text-shadow: 0 0 10px #0072ff, 0 0 50px #0072ff, 0 0 75px #0072ff, 0 0 120px #0072ff; 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height: 1px; position: relative; vertical-align: 6px; width: 33%; } .bookcat:before { right: 0.3em; margin-left: -50%; } .bookcat:after { left: 0.3em; margin-right: -50%; } @keyframes animate { from { filter: hue-rotate(0deg); } to { filter: hue-rotate(360deg); } } @media screen and (max-width: 550px){ .bookcat { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; font-style: normal; text-align: center; font-size: 1.25em; line-height: 1.0; letter-spacing: .5px; color: #000; padding: 8px 8px 05px 8px; margin-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase; } } Nonfiction Advertisement Kate Tuttle, a freelance writer and critic, can be reached at


Boston Globe
08-07-2025
- Boston Globe
Stop fighting, Market Basket. You're all we've got left.
Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Last week, suspended executives Tom Gordon and Joe Schmidt visited two Market Basket stores in Salem, N.H., and Rochester, N.H., and were Advertisement The Globe also Please, make it stop. The infighting Advertisement Aimee D'Agata of Groveland loads her car after shopping at the Market Basket store at the Rivers Edge Plaza in Haverhill in May. She said she's also hoping for a good outcome. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff But that was 11 years ago. Artie T. returned. Calmness prevailed. Things were simpler then, and we were more resilient. I'm not sure any of us can handle the stress of more upheaval. I appeal to executives to consider the greater good and put aside any differences for the sake of humanity, because Market Basket is simply more than a 90-store supermarket chain and haven for New Age Beverages. It is a psychological salve, a deli-scented fortress of parquet and yacht rock where things remain mercifully shelf-stable no matter what unfolds beyond those automatic doors. The orange soda at Market Basket. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Consider these sanity-preserving touchstones: The tonic . In an era when hydration is religion and children carry $35 Stanley tumblers to school, Market Basket still sells store-brand soda in every sugar-slicked color of the rainbow, from neon grape to fluorescent orange. Here, it is forever 1986: high fructose corn syrup is a food group, and you're still trying to stab a straw through a Capri Sun pouch on an overheated blacktop before kickball. The doughnuts at Market Basket. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff The sweets . While stylized doughnuts have steamrolled the dessert landscape, a crumpled dollar bill will always get you a yeasty chocolate-frosted at Market Basket's café. No new-fangled flavors. No deep thinking. Just enough crystallized sugar to rocket you into the next aisle, which brings me to … The rotisserie chicken . A landmark display in every store: This plump, plastic-wrapped poultry, retailing for a mere $6 or so, is an essential weapon in any frugal parent's arsenal. They're moist. They're marinated. They're perfectly cooked. And they feed a family. Just yank off the packaging after soccer practice and feast like a king. The in-store announcements . Sometimes, it's easy to wonder if God exists. Luckily, at Market Basket, you don't have to: Every so often, a voice warbles from high above, announcing two-for-one, thin-n-trim baloney deals. Like many other-worldly pronouncements, these intonations might have little bearing on reality. Do you really need 2.5 pounds of Market Basket natural casing franks? You do now. Suddenly, if just for a moment, you have direction and purpose. The rotisserie chicken at Market Basket makes for a quick, tasty, and affordable meal. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff The mood music . Modern life is stressful. But at Market Basket, you can always slip into a The deli . New Englanders are known for curmudgeonliness, but nothing lulls us into submission like a well-sliced honey ham. The universe might lack logic, but the deli aisle at Market Basket is a great equalizer: Here, every shopper is the same. Take a number. Stand in line. Wait your turn. Point at the glistening block of Boar's Head, and, here and only here, get exactly what you want. The décor . There is solace in routine, and every single Market Basket is decorated exactly the same: beige walls; checkered floors the color of freshly sliced salmon; lighting fit for an operating room at midnight. Landscapes change; people move. But not at Market Basket. Which brings me to ... Ah, the crowds . Here, somehow, crowds are charming instead of irritating, because you'll spy someone you know in line — and you'll lock eyes in shared humanity when you discover a mutual passion for Frito-Lay variety packs. Your first boss? Your second cousin with the malfunctioning AOL email address? We're running in too many different directions, but not at Market Basket, where we're all converging at the checkout line, passing time by leafing through copies of the Examiner, whose headlines are more reassuring than anything real. Wi-Fi doesn't often work inside Market Basket. That's a refreshing thing. Take a break from doom-scrolling and peruse the apple pie recipe that cured 72 people in rural Idaho of plantar fasciitis instead. Market Basket's Italian sub. Just yum. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff The anachronistic charm . Market Basket might be the only business besides certain law firms that require employees to don a tie. There's a wistful decency in watching a besuited bagger nestle family-size Honey Nut Cheerios next to a bouquet of roses, the color of which do not occur in nature. Those reassuring prices . Food is For now, the Market Basket standoff rages on, with some workers complaining about But do we really have the stamina for another fight? Haven't we been through enough? To the Market Basket powers that be: In a world where we can count on so little, please don't put our yacht rock and rotisserie chicken at risk, too. Kara Baskin can be reached at