Larry the K's Lineup

  Easily one of the best things that The Sun Chronicle, in its role as a community newspaper, does is to present its annual salute to volunteers at Christmastime. Its True Santas, which feature 12 volunteers in accordance with the 12 Days of Christmas, remind us that our existence doesn’t depend on the noise of those petulant, foolish, irritating and non-sensical hot-headed talking heads featured on cable news, or the nasty, hateful rants that dominate social media --- the bane of life in the 2020s. Nor does our existence depend on the acerbic, nasty and bitterness spewed by the extremists on the right and left. No, our continued survival as a society depends on decent people who aren’t afraid to reach out and help others not just around Christmas, but during the entire year ---- never-ending pandemic or not. These True Santas featured in the Christmas Eve edition (Friday, Dec. 24 of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA) exemplify that spirit and personify the Christmas spirit at...

Need to escape our new reality of never-ending fears about the world ending due to COVID-19 as more than 831,000 Americans have died from our 21 st century plague, and we’ll soon be approaching A MILLION DEATHS or nearly 400,000 more than the death toll from the 1918-20 Spanish flu pandemic? Are you feeling frustrated because that death toll to coronavirus is DESPITE 203 million Americans (nearly 62 %) getting fully vaccinated, and millions of those getting booster shots? Are you at the point where you’re thinking that the pandemic will be with us forever --- especially if you’re over 60 --- then take a break immediately before you lose your mind. One thing you can do is to do what my wife and I did on a recent evening: Watch “The Wizard of Oz” for the millionth or so time, so you’ll be able to fall asleep and wake up humming all of the classic tunes from the 1939 film, especially “Over the Rainbow” and “We’re off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” That’s one way to ...

  It's always enjoyable to share upbeat, positive stories on this blog, and this one is especially pleasurable to share. My friend and colleague at The Sun Chronicle, Staff Writer George Rhodes, has a wonderful knack for doing historical interviews, especially those about veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and he’s done it again with this feature story on Attleboro resident Bob Dion. Dion, a retired Attleboro police officer, has been keeping scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings about local news since 1953, when he was 25. Now 93, he has announced his plans to “retire” from his lifelong scrapbooking duties at the end of the year. That will be a major loss to people who enjoy thumbing through the pages of history --- literally. Eventually, his copious scrapbooks will be donated to the Attleboro Historic Preservation Society, but for the time-being, his labor of love will be stored at the Museum at the Mill on South Main Street in Attleboro’s historic Dodgeville sec...

  I’m thrilled to share this column that my daughter Arianna wrote on the Netflix documentary “Found,” which tells the story of three teenage girls adopted from China who eventually discover that they are blood relatives. We adopted Arianna from China in 1997, and the movie resonated deeply with her, so she decided to share her thoughts on the film and the issues that it explored. This column appeared Dec. 9, 2021, in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA. The column link:   https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/guest-column-is-blood-really-thicker-than-water/article_15055b6e-1e60-5d1d-be12-272ac041cf97.html On Oct. 20, 2021, Netflix released a documentary titled “Found,” which was directed and produced by Amanda Lipitz. The documentary follows the story of three teenage girls adopted from China who ultimately discover they are blood-related through the common genetics test, 23 and Me. The film shares the stories of cousins Chloe, Lily and Sadie, raising themes of ...

A few sports thoughts while waiting on the Red Sox to corner the market on every pitcher who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery ….. LOCKOUT DISRESPECTS THE FANS: Baseball’s latest work stoppage --- a lockout declared in the early hours of Dec. 2 after the collective-bargaining agreement or CBA expired at midnight Dec. 1 --- is a slap in the face to the fans. It’s clear, from the rhetoric of both the owners and the players that neither party really gives a damn about the fans, who still pay their salaries. Following the embarrassing wrangling over whether and how to restart the game in 2020 for what proved to be a 60-game season, this is more proof that neither side has the fans’ interests in mind. That became even more evident after the owners signed several players to huge free agent contracts to the tune of $1 billion on Dec. 1, the day that the lockout was due to expire at midnight. That smacks of hypocrisy and complete disregard for the fans. If they had the fans' interes...