Larry the K's Lineup

  This story on the Relay For Life kickoff was published in Monday’s (Feb. 19, 2024) edition of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA. If you can make it, the kickoff event to the June 8th relay will be held Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Attleboro Arts Museum from 6 to 8 p.m. The link to the story, as it appears on the newspaper’s website follows: https://www.thesunchronicle. com/news/local_news/relay-for- life-to-kickoff-2024-event- feb-22-at-attleboro-arts- museum/article_96cf7869-2fd2- 5089-9692-3b24fdcd739a.html   ********* ATTLEBORO - -- The Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro to benefit the American Cancer Society (ACS) will hold the kickoff for its reimagined 2024 event from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Attleboro Arts Museum, 86 Park St., Attleboro, with a snow date of Wednesday, Feb. 28 at the same time. During the kickoff, information will be shared about this year’s 26th annual event, which is scheduled to be held 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 8 at Norton Hi...

With Truck Day come and gone and the entire squad working out in the Florida sun at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, it's safe to say that the 2024 version of your Boston Red Sox appears to be the most uninspiring team the owners have put on the field in their 20 plus years in charge. Rafael Devers is the only sure-fire legitimate star (and the only one left from the 2018 World Championship team), with Trevor Story a possible second. Despite the vows from team leaders, including newly appointed chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow, to acquire some top-shelf starting pitchers to bolster the weakest part of last year's team, the only significant signing has been former White Sox starter Lucas Gioliti. The team also continues to make baffling moves to shed more payroll, such as Saturday's trade of reliable middle reliever John Schreiber to the Royals for another questionable minor leaguer with a spotty track record at best. The way that the Sox brass has handled the off-seaso...

  Cooper: A gentle cat I wrote this column, which was published in the February, 2024 edition of Jewish Rhode Island of Providence, RI, in memory of our beloved cat Cooper, whom we lost in January at the tender (by cat years) of 10 ½. The link to the story on the newspaper’s Website is: https://www.jewishrhody.com/stories/cooper-will-live-forever-in-our-hearts,57217? ******** We lost a beloved member of our immediate family early last month, our friendly, cuddly male cat Cooper. While some people may question calling a pet a member of their family, they clearly are. We feed them, take care of them, groom them and take them to veterinarian appointments on a regular basis. In addition, just as we did for our kids while they were growing up, we made sure Cooper and our dog Buddy both got their necessary checkups and shots. With our children adults and living on their own, my wife Lynne and I would look forward to having our pets sit next to us on the couch while watching our favori...

  The Cube, filled with 1.5 million stamps, symbolizes the 1.5 million children who were killed during the Holocaust. It's on display at the Foxboro Regional Charter School's middle school lobby.  This column on the latest wave of antisemitism and the completion of the Holocaust Stamps Project at the Foxboro Regional Charter School with the unveiling of a new exhibit called The Cube, was published in the Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, edition of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA. The project's message rings truer than ever. The link to the column on The Sun Chronicle’s Website, with photos by Mark Stockwell, follows: https://www.thesunchronicle. com/opinion/columns/larry- kessler-hate-will-doom-us-all/ article_cb76ac38-86c1-5ff2- ac53-f74b31e486ca.html ********** News item: Nearly 80 years after the Holocaust, about 245,000 Jewish survivors are still alive in more than 90 countries, according to a new report by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against G...

Survivors circle the Norton High School track during the June 2023 Relay For Life opening lap. The Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro to benefit the American Cancer Society (ACS) will be holding the kickoff for its reimagined 2024 event from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Attleboro Arts Museum, 86 Park St., Attleboro, with a snow date of Wednesday, Feb. 28 at the same time. The kickoff at the museum, a community partner of the relay, will share information about this year’s 26th event, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 8 at Norton High School. The relay has changed from an 18-hour overnight event to a one-day only one to attract more people and families. At the kickoff, the top fundraisers from the 2023 event will be presented awards and a preliminary relay schedule will be shared. The kickoff is open to anyone interested in learning more about the relay. The Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro draws teams and participants from most Attleboro area com...

In this column, which was published in the January 2024 edition of Jewish Rhode Island of Providence, R.I., I share 10 thoughts to usher in 2024. The link to the column, as it appears on the newspaper’s website is at the end of the column. ******** Here are 10 thoughts and observations to usher in 2024: 1. Almost four years removed from the start of the pandemic, COVID-19, thanks to vaccines and boosters, is more or less another thing to contend with, but it still stinks to get a positive test --- especially so when it comes after having done all the right things. I received the two original vaccines in 2021, three boosters over the next year-plus and the latest one this past fall. I also received the flu and RSV vaccines. Nonetheless, I wound up getting a rather disappointing “gift” on the third day of Hanukkah: a cold that, two days later, turned out to be COVID. There may no longer be a stigma attached to getting COVID, but the disease still disrupts your life. I had to can...

As many of my regular readers might have noticed, it's been a while since I've posted on my blog and there's a very good reason for it: I've unfortunately been under the weather since Dec. 10, when after coming down with a cold, I tested positive for COVID-19 despite getting all of the vaccines and boosters, including the latest one in October. And this fall, I also got the flu and RSV vaccines, but alas, it all was to no avail. As what inevitably happens with me, it wasn't a simple cold as I developed an atrocious cough, one that produced what were, at times, violent coughing fits that kept me up most nights for nearly two weeks. The good news is that I'm on the mend, with the cough finally dissipating, but it caused me to develop back pain that has stopped me from my daily jogging routine, though I've managed to get some steps in walking. If you haven't been vaccinated, please do so: Doctors told me things would have been much worse had I not been vacc...

  The second night of Hanukkah. The third of eight candles lit during Hanukkah will be illuminated at sundown today (Saturday, Dec. 9). In recognition of that, I offer my annual “Chanukah Charlie” quiz on the holiday. The answers are listed at the end of this column: The link to the column, as it it appears on the website of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, where it was published in the Dec. 9-10 Weekend edition of the newspaper, follows: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/larry-kessler-chanukah-charlie-wishes-you-a-happy-hanukkah/article_89c2a33f-3705-53f9-a95b-b512b3451232.html ******** As he’s agreed to do for me over the last two-plus decades, Chanukah Charlie offers his annual multiple-choice quiz on the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, which started with the first candle being lit on Thursday, Dec. 7, ahead of the first day on Friday, Dec. 8, because all Jewish holidays start at sunset. The holiday will come to a close on Friday, Dec. 15 after the ei...

  Gifts donated during the 2023 Leftover Turkey Trot. This column, published in the Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, edition of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, on the 41st annual Christmas Is For Kids gift drive, calls attention to the volunteers who spend a good chunk of their holiday season giving their time to make sure that about 1,000 needy children and teenagers --- many living in shelters or in difficult situations --- will receive presents, including badly-needed clothes, on Christmas Day. I’ve been writing about the drive for more than 30 years, and have been volunteering since 2017, and the drive is truly a godsend to hundreds of families in the greater Attleboro area. The drive has been a model of consistent gift-giving over the last four decades, and I salute all of the volunteers, lovingly referred to as “elves,” who work countless hours to make Christmas a reality for so many. The link to the column, as it appears on the newspaper’s website is: https://www.thesunchron...

  This column on the unprecedented levels of antisemitism, published in the Dec. 6, 2023, edition of The Sun Chronicle, throws no punches, but it's something that needs to be said. Antisemitism has not only spiraled out of control in this country and the world, as I say in the column, but it’s the worst that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. With Hanukkah starting tonight (Thursday, Dec. 7) with the lighting of the first of eight candles, I’m posting the column today. The link to the column, as it appears on the newspaper’s website, follows: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/larry-kessler-hate-at-hanukkah/article_e2d653d2-12fd-5958-b634-8675fdf1cc59.html ********* “I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? … If you prick us do we n...