Education • Dedication • Life

Does size really matter?

 For student-athletes navigating the maze of college options, school size matters a lot more than just how big your classes are and how many students are on campus.  School size also typically determines which athletic division a school falls in – which will directly impact the type of athletic experience you could have at that school.

And that’s why every student-athlete ought to know the difference between the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) before deciding which school they would like to attend. NCAA schools often fall on the larger end of the spectrum, at least when it comes to Division I athletics.  NCAA Division II and III and NAIA colleges and universities generally have much smaller student bodies.

European menswear trends, bold patterns, vibrant colors are taking the Boston area by storm, and we love it!

Currently, men in the Boston area are raving about the European fashion trend that appears to be spreading like wildfire. This trend features clothes that are slim, snug fitting, and sleek. When speaking with a menswear retail manager in the Back Bay area, she stated,“Men come in and ask for their slim suits to be taken in even further.”

If a curious reader wants to observe how this style is affecting men in the downtown work place or near-by colleges in Boston, they need to do nothing more than stand in line at the local Starbucks on Berkeley Street during the morning rush hour. 

Bio-engineering: sounds complicated. Bio-technology: sounds boring. Bio-medical Engineering: sounds like a lot of work.

Sure, when one thinks about bio-engineering and medical implants, it seems a bit overwhelming and like something only doctors and other medical professionals would discuss and know about. Though this may be true, bioengineering boiled down to the basics is just divergent thinking, or the thought process behind taking every day materials and finding other purposes for them.

Headline-grabbing performances at Boston concerts are nothing new.

The night after Martin Luther King was assassinated James Brown put on a historic performance at the Boston Garden on April 5, 1968. It was at that show where the Godfather of Soul issued his famous appeal for peace and calm as other cities across the country exploded in civil unrest.

Then, there was The Boss and his E Street Band who wowed fans at Harvard Square Theater in ’74.

In September 1991 Axis on Lansdowne Street was rocked by Nirvana the day before Nevermind was released – a scene the Boston Phoenix described as being “too many people for anyone to fall straight to the floor. And it wasn’t only the audience. From the first chord (Kurt) Cobain was like a super ball — he seemed to ricochet off the floor into the air, off the audience back to the stage, off his amp to the front, and back again.”

And don’t forget about Jay Z and Justin Timberlake at Fenway in 2013. The list goes on and on … Check out The Phoenix’s Top 40 Greatest Concerts in Boston History. 

A woman is victimized in a domestic assault every 9 seconds...

...according to Domestic Violence Statistics in the U.S. If you do the math that translates into approximately 1,200 women being victimized by domestic abuse during the three hours or so it takes for the New England Patriots to dismantle a Sunday night opponent. 

Some may say it’s a “buzz kill” to broach such a serious subject in the same breath as sports entertainment. However, the prevalence of domestic violence is a sobering social problem that cannot be ignored in good conscience - whether in the NFL, other professional sports, or in the homes of silent victims who are not household names.

Ready for the unexpected – or do you fall like a leaf?

Don’t you love this time year and all that autumn brings – New England Patriots games, fabulous fall foliage, apple-picking adventures, cranberry culinary delights, and pumpkin-spiced lattes?

OK, not everything is a colorful delight. We are also entering wacky weather season in Boston, a prelude to what the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting will be another Polar Vortex-like winter.

The rain and wind will eventually give way to snow storms, which might not be so bad if all of us could hibernate in a log-cabin next to a raging fire place. But in the real world, inclement weather can also bring with it power outages, flooding, gas line ruptures, and a host of other possibly dangerous/always frustrating inconveniences.

And yes there’s an app for that, of course.