It can be purchased from the following sites:

(paperback edition)  http://www.amazon.com/Go-Go-Girl-Kevin-James-Moore/dp/1470143054/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

(kindle edition) http://www.amazon.com/The-Go-Go-Girl-ebook/dp/B007QOZ3IM/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

(smashwords) https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/147604

(nook) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1109892201?ean=2940014221467&itm=1&usri=kevin+james+moore

Book I

“It almost happened one night in Rome”

I’M ON A PLANE to Italy. There’s very little planning to this, just a destination and an urge. The stewardess gives me Dramamine, and I mix them with a few trazodone, and I close my eyes waiting for the pills to take effect. I know I’ll need my energy when I get to Rome.

I hailed down a cab, loosened my tie, and told the driver to take me to the airport. All I received was a letter telling me to come see her. “Any time, anywhere, if you need me I’ll be there,” was what I told her, and I just figured the time would be sooner and the where would be a hell of a lot closer to New York than Italy.

I slink into an Italian taxi. The cabbie has a bushy mustache and his eyes are leering at me in the rearview mirror. I pull the letter from the inside breast pocket of my blazer. In butchered Italian, I tell him to take me to L_____, the words pirouette and stumble on my twisting tongue. Displaying the letter, I point to the name with my index finger. I jab the paper hard and fast under the name, raise my voice, hoping this is the international way of indicating urgency and he should floor it. He nods his head.

We speed through the streets past modern buildings and ancient architecture. Gazing through the taxi window Rome becomes a wet painting someone has wiped a hand across. We pass round the Colosseum, hit a slow spot of traffic, and I’m able to take in a monument I’ve always wanted to visit, over a few seconds. While I glimpse at the deteriorating walls, I hope that this trip won’t be too rough, but everything always is with her. My palms rub my eyes, my hair falls over my fingers, and my lungs take a deep breath. I know I’m falling into her mess and I’ll be a few steps behind—even after she tells me her version of the whole story.

The cab slows to lurch down a constricted alleyway, flanked by tall buildings, that block out the light of the late afternoon sun. I see the neon sign of the club. I straighten my tie before the taxi comes to a halt. Red light drips from the neon sign onto the brick wall, the sidewalk, and me. My left hand is in my blazer pocket playing with my cigarette pack as my mind toys with the thought of smoking before I go in. A man stumbles out, and as the door swings open my ears catch the sound of “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” escape behind him. I pull my hand from my pocket, remember I’m not in New York anymore—I’ve left my reality, on the other side of this door is a tempest which will add color to my white life. This is Italy and I can smoke inside.  I rub my eyes with my palms once more, sighing, “Fuck,” pick up my head and enter.

It’s a 60s style go-go club, probably some fat Italian’s kitsch idea to attract the lonely male tourist. I am almost expecting to see a room overflowing with sailors on leave taking in the girls under the miasma of smoke and the aroma of booze. I’m not too far off the mark. Three cages hang from the ceiling—two olive-skinned brunettes are shaking their moneymakers in the side cages. I focus on the center cage where my reason for coming here is dancing.

Her honey-blonde hair is strewn across her face as she sways her head. She’s working a red sequined bikini separated by a tan, flat stomach, and a butterfly tattoo resting on her left hip. Her legs are clad in black fishnets that run into a pair of white-heeled boots—still a knockout.

Her hands grab the bars and she moves her head making her wavy hair a twirling propeller. As she lifts her face she finally notices me. For a second she pauses and we exchange a glance full of unspoken words. I take in those blue eyes, button nose (I would always tell her how cute and perfect her nose was), soft lips, and I remember why I told her, “Anytime, anywhere, if you need me I’ll come running.” For the first time since I left my office I smile.

I’m standing still but I’m filled with a sense of vertigo, everything seems to be spinning: smoke, lights, maroon velvet walls, men, and beautiful girls all spiraling out of focus. The center cage is all I can see clearly and I keep my gaze on it the way a twirling dancer focuses on a point to stay balanced. I slowly walk to an open seat near the cage. One foot in front of the other—I’m concentrating on each step—the last thing I want is to make a scene by tripping and falling into a waitress. I ease gently into the chair, the way a ship pulls into port after a long voyage, wanting to be sure it makes it all the way home, before its crew can feel relief. Using my hand I signal over a waitress so I can order a Canadian Club and ginger ale. To the right sits a gentleman that seems Eastern European and has the smell of a man who went for a dip in a cologne-filled pool. The odor is pungent enough to distract my mind for a moment from the girl.

The waitress doesn’t take long to return and I pull out my wallet, placing it on the table while handing her cash. She shoots me a perplexed stare for handing her American money. I slowly milk my drink, and the dancer pulls my eyes back to the center cage.  Occasionally she gazes down at me. She’s a hypnotist’s pocket watch mesmerizing me—doing the same to all the guys in the club.

She continues dancing through two more songs before her time is up. A giant greasy bastard helps her down out from the cage, and a streak of jealousy shoots through me at seeing some brute touch her. As her boots hit the ground the bastard leaves taking my jealousy with him. She makes her way toward me with a hungry stare; a lion licking its lips at spotting wounded prey.

“Want to go in back for a private dance, handsome?”

I stand up, offering my hand so she can lead me. We enter a hallway in the back that is illuminated with the blue snow glow of fluorescent lights. There are six doors, three on each side, and a coatrack before an exit door with a small glass window, where all the lines in the hall seem to vanish into. She never looks back at me while pulling me down the hall and into the last room on the left. I sit down in an armless chair in this purple room.  She goes back to close the door, then turns and approaches me. Her lap dance starts with her back against my chest and her legs straddling mine. Tilting her head back, placing her lips on my ear, she whispers, “At least I can tell you find me attractive still.”

“I can’t control everything that happens to me, Tess.”

“I knew you would come, Kevin.” She gently runs her fingernails across my chin and down my neck.

“You want to fill me in on why I came all the way to Italy?”

She swings her body around so we’re face to face as she continues dancing.

“Why did you need me here today?” It was getting harder to talk between short breaths.

She put her lips back up to my ear. “I’ve done something very bad.”

I can’t believe she’s trying to be playful. My eyelids squeeze together—hopefully my eyelashes are interlocking to help—and I bite my bottom lip just to concentrate on her words. It’s always simultaneous pleasure and pain with her.

“Listen, we gotta escape,” she says. “Go on the run.  You’re the only person I trust, and I know how you love a good time.”

“What am I involved in?” I stomp my right foot trying to keep my concentration.  Damn she’s a fantastic dancer.

“I need you for this, Kevin. Are you in?”

I hate it when she’s vague and it involves my life. Opening my eyes I see her face anticipating my answer. I place my hands on the sides of her face and reach my lips up to kiss her. As the kiss ends I pull her bottom lip down with me as my head descends. She’s reeled me in. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“We have to run out the back door.”

She stops dancing, and I release a sigh. I hand my blazer to her and open the door, and I peek my head out to see if the coast is clear. The hallway is empty, no obstructions hindering our path of escape. I reach my hand back, seizing her wrist, and give her a look to let her know it’s time to run.

We sprint down the hallway. I’m towing her with my right arm. As we pass the coatrack I grab a hat, and then push open the door as we escape into a parking lot. The sky is orange and violet from the setting Mediterranean sun. I’m running blindly with no direction in mind.

“No. This way,” she says. “Toward the white Peugeot!” Now she’s leading our escape dance, grabbing my wrist, yanking me to follow. My torso gets too far ahead of my legs and I nearly fall over. I’m the Leaning Tower of Pisa being dragged between two rows of tiny European cars.

Suddenly she breaks away, “Keep going to the car!” She starts running toward the dumpster. I stare at her wondering how she’s not eating cement running in those boots. The trash lid flies open and her arm reaches in, retrieving a blue bowling bag. As I get to the car, I look over my shoulder to see her taking short quick choppy steps, while hugging the bag, to cover the distance between us.

“It’s locked!”

“Hold on, I’ve got the keys!”

As she runs to me, I put on the fedora I grabbed off the coatrack before exiting the club. “Catch!” Her arm swings forward in a softball motion, and as her hand passes her hip, the keys begin to tumble in the air.

***

Most of the focus on the growing trend to enforce laws that will lead to the imprisonment of the homeless is falling on the shoulders of István Tarlós, mayor of Budapest. Tarlós has said, “those who believe that all problems would be solved if homeless people were given housing […] are mistaken.”

The Mayor of Budapest believes his city is following the strict regulations set forth by other European nations that include Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, and Holland. FEANSTA has countered with evidence that even though many European nations apply strict rules for services that grant the homeless funding and support, there are no laws in those countries that threaten significant fines or imprisonment as in Hungary.

Boróka Fehér, Representative of Tizek Társasága, an umbrella organization of Budapest homeless service providers, said that after his election last October Tarlós declared a “Program of Public Reconciliation.”

“Although the program was never fully developed in written form, its most obvious element was the clearing of 13 of busiest inner city underpasses of rough sleepers,” said Fehér. “Without any additional financial support offered, he ordered these underpasses to be cleared, meaning that after a period of 30 days, while outreach workers tried to offer accommodation to the people they had registered as living in those underpasses, the police moved in and sent rough sleepers outside.”

There was no legal framework to back up the clearing out of the underpasses. Some Hungarian human right watch groups and Fehér claimed it to be a violation and felt it was propaganda, as only the underpasses most frequented by tourist were cleared out. Fehér’s main concern was that there was no viable solutions to the homeless that had been displaced and left them to the limited option of moving on to the underpasses that had yet to be raided.

Part of problem is the opaqueness of an amendment passed by the Hungarian Parliament in the autumn of 2010, which defines the functions of public places and allows the municipalities to create a criminal offence for the use of public places if the use is not in line with its functions. Stefánia Kapronczay, of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, said, “The justification of the amendment revealed the real purpose of it, which is charging homeless people for sleeping in public places and using them “inappropriately”.”

“Before this amendment coming into force the Mayor of Budapest announced his project to clear the inner city of Budapest and terminated the contract with those NGOs involved in services provided for homeless people,” said Kapronczay. “The municipality of Budapest introduced its decree on the non-conform use of public places and defined “residing in public spaces” as a criminal offense. People who live on the public places as a life style or to store their belongings used for living there can be charged with a fine up to 50,000 HUF (216 USD).”

Tarlós confronts these allegations and claims Budapest is in accord with other Western European countries concerning issues of public space rules, homeless rights and regulations. “Even the liberal Netherlands has got more consistent and more explicit rules than Budapest,” said Tarlós.

“I think that the interests of the majority of the citizens of Budapest count more than the opinion of various ill-informed organizations who are not aware of the real situation or who are inaccurately informed.” He added, “They are not responsible for this city, while I am.”

“We only criminalize what is criminal. Homeless people too have to abide by the law and rules of human coexistence,” said Tarlós regarding on how his city treats the homeless.

Tarlós’s evaluation of Budapest’s homeless situation and solutions may be distorted by comparing his tactics against those of other European nations. “I think Tarlós is not aware of what is happening in other European cities,” said Fehér. “Some of his colleagues might have visited a huge shelter in London or Paris, and now think that this is all there is, but it is obviously not the case.”

The homeless shelters in Budapest are overcrowded and dilapidated, according to Fehér. “There are [shelters] where people have to sleep in huge dormitories of 12-20-50 people. There are still some, where there are bugs that bite and carry infections.”

Funding for homeless shelters has been going down in the past few years and many shelters are struggling for survival and don’t have the money to offer more attractive services, according to Fehér. “There is only one service in Budapest offering individual bedrooms, and there are only a few offering double rooms for couples. Their modernization would cost a considerable amount of money.”

In October Tarlós proclaimed that Budapest would open new host sites and shelters for the homeless and would follow through on a proposal passed by the General Assembly of Budapest in August to establish and renovate three shelters in the city’s 4th, 1st, and 8th districts.

“It is true that we build and establish new homeless shelters. We provide hundreds of millions for this,” said Tarlós. “Furthermore, we also provide working opportunities for the homeless through our public service companies who are already employing more than 400 homeless people.”

The mayor’s primary objective is to achieve a state where homeless people can sleep in human conditions and not out in the streets, and provide an opportunity so that the homeless can work, which he believes will promote their integration into society in a significant way.

The widespread affront against the homeless seems to be bottlenecking in Budapest’s notorious 8th district. The 8th district is traditionally the poorest district of the city and heaviest hit by all kinds of social problems. The area has one of the highest rates of unemployment and school dropouts. There also a number of elderly people scraping by on meager pensions.

Máté Kocsis is the mayor of the 8th district, a member of FIDEZ the same political party as Tarlós, and Fehér sarcastically deems him “the party’s expert on homelessness.”

“Máté Kocsis would like to make the district a yuppie one, and is doing all he can to ensure this,” said Fehér. New development projects in the 8th district are leading to the displacement of homeless people, and instead of revitalizing neighborhoods and encouraging a social mix, Kocsis has tried to push poor people out of the center of the district.

The opening of a 24/7 booking center exclusively for the homeless in the 8th district in October has riled many in the community. It has been set up to deliver people who have been caught in the act of rough sleeping, or looking through the contents of a garbage bin, or who are caught smoking or drinking alcohol in a forbidden place. Fehér sees this as hypocritical, “The 8th district has forbidden smoking in certain public places in the district, mostly in the slum areas, while smoking in public is still allowed in the yuppie restaurant district and squares frequented by students.”

The booking center is seen as a tool for penalizing and harassing the homeless. “The booking center is a police station in reality, where police bring people for ‘questioning’ and then either send them away with a warning, or give them a ticket.” Fehér added, “There have been people who were brought in for questioning every single day, as they persisted in sleeping rough. Informally, the police were told to advise homeless people to go and sleep in one of the other districts.”

Recently demonstrations have been held to oppose what people have deemed the unconstitutional and inhumane treatment of the homeless in their city. A group called The City is for All marched in the streets on 17, October to stop a government proposal to increase fines and imprisonment on people who are found residing in public places. Up to a thousand people attended the demonstration, which ended dramatically when hundreds of people lay down on the street in front of the Parliament building, while other activist dressed as police officers tried to drag them off to jail. For the demonstrators, laws that punish the homeless for not having housing are not the solution.

“I think it is shameful that the 8th district has spent much more on its campaign of criminalizing homeless people than what they spend on services for the homeless themselves,” said Fehér.

Fehér believes Budapest can start reversing the trend of targeting the homeless by taking a first step with a minimalist solution that would begin with affordable single unit occupancies. “At the moment there are 300 plus such units in Budapest, and the waiting list is more than a year long, for a small bedroom, with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.”

Ending homelessness is the only solution for making sure mistreatment does not continue. “We urge the preparation of a strategy on homelessness. Such a strategy shall focus on prevention and provide effective ways out of homelessness,” said Kapronczay. “In our (Hungarian Civil Liberties Union) opinion staying at a shelter can only be considered as temporary solution.”

Meanwhile politicians have welcomed the homeless to shovel snow this winter in order for them to earn some money to rent their own places. “I think it is shameful that young men who have been politicians and worn suits all their lives are running whole districts and evicting or harassing people much older than them who are down on their luck,” said Fehér. “These young men call on the value of honest work, while they have been earning at least 10 times the minimal wage all their lives and have never known what it is like to have no money or not be able to pay the rent.”

Demonstrators will continue to protest the passing of bills that will further lead to the criminalization of the homeless. They march carrying signs that read “Habitat Instead of Prison” and “The Poor are not Criminals.”

Published by Pulse: http://pulsemedia.org/2011/11/24/the-criminalization-of-the-homeless-in-hungary/#more-34261

The Budapest Report: http://www.budapestreport.com/2011/11/24/the-criminalization-of-the-homeless-in-hungary/

Get a glimpse into the 19th century when you step into The Gibson House Museum, a Victorian era time-capsule nestled amongst the brownstone buildings at 137 Beacon Street.

Built in 1860, it was one of only 15 houses in Back Bay, which had recently been filled in three years prior. Boston architect Edward Clarke Cabot designed the he Italian Renaissance style house for widowed Catherine Hammond Gibson and her son Charles.

It’s been more than 50 years since a family member lived there, and the museum owes its existence to Charles Gibson Jr. He knew he wanted to make the house a museum when he inherited it and began roping off sections in 1936 to preserve the house as it was in his childhood.

“Charlie” a childless and confirmed bachelor, was a writer and world traveler who spent his life preserving and cataloguing his household. Although his poetry was largely ignored, he left us with original possessions dating back to the late 18th – early 20th century, and a slice of history that’s still picture-perfect.

Tours

Guided museum tours offers visitors a glimpse of the well-known family and their possessions, and a taste of Bostonian social history and period culture. They run Wed – Sat at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. for $10 (discounts for students and seniors), and Executive Director Charles Swift leads the tours with an informative and laid-back humorous style.

“It really is the only museum in Boston that retains its 19^th century interiors and has not been modernized,” Swift said. “A house like this helps bridge the gap between a century or two of living.”

The tour begins in the dinning room where gold reflective wallpaper lines the walls. Some of the golden luster is gone due to coal soot from the old furnace, but plans are underway to restore the original gleam. Against the right wall there is a set of pink china made in France during 1860 that looks astonishingly new.

Climbing the staircase to the second floor the tour heads into the music room where an exquisite chandelier dangles in the center, quickly seducing the eye before you’re drawn to paintings and white woodwork. The music room is the most elaborate in the house, with the purpose of entertaining guests.

Charles Jr.’s study on the third floor was laid out with the notion of the house becoming a museum, and it pays tribute to the Gibson’s family history. Framed thank you notes from Britain’s Royal Family to Charles Jr. for poems he sent them sit upon one of his desks.

His mother Rosamond’s bedroom is located across from study through an adjoining bathroom. On special occasions Swift pulls from the closet her complete wedding dress ensemble and a silk dress that has virtually no signs of aging.

A National Historic Landmark, the Gibson House was considered modern in 1860 with gaslights and unique architecture. It remains an important building for today’s residential community.

“The Gibson House is a very accurate portrayal of life and you don’t have to sit there and imagine the house with a bunch of stuff taken out of it to get into the 19^th centruy,” Swift said. “You’re there when you walk in the door.”

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/travel-back-in-time-the-gibson-house-museum#photo-7094857

“We’re fully staffed and ready for a good night,” said James Parker, manager of Whiskey’s on 885 Boylston Street.

Parker has a special music playlist picked out to hype up the crowd during the game.

“We’re making sure everyone has a goodtime and nothing gets out of hand,” he said. Whiskey’s is expecting around 300 fans to show up tonight.

“If we win it’s going to be unbelievable. People will be running in the streets like crazy just like a Red Sox or Celtics championship,” he said “If we lose, I hope people aren’t too disappointed because the Bruins did come a lot further than most people thought.”

Parker doesn’t believe there will be any rioting, but he doesn’t count out that there might be the occasional “knucklehead” out there.

Shannon Emerson Finks, director of business development and marketing for McGreevy’s, also emphasized that being full-staffed was important.

“There’s probably going to be a line, and I’m thinking people are going to go straight out after work and get a good seat,” Finks said.

She said the kitchen is fully prepared, the staff is ready, and they are excited for a good night. They’re expecting a rowdy crowd, but she doesn’t expect any fights and believes everyone will be respectful.

“Go! Go! Black and Gold” by the Dropkick Murphys will be playing throughout the night at McGreevy’s on 911 Boylston Street.

“We have a great relationship with the Bruins, and sometimes the players come in and bartend,” Finks said.

At Clearys on 113 Dartmouth St., manager Steve Arakelian said they canceled their regular Wednesday trivia night, and have “a little more extra product than usual.”

“I hope the Bruins win and we get a parade in a couple of days,” he said.

On that note, during the final game, McGreevy’s will be posting to their Facebook and Twitter, so you can see how the crowd is reacting with online photos and updates,” Finks said. She wants to make sure that the regulars who are overseas and can’t make it to the bar can still feel apart of what’s happening.

“It’s hockey in June,” she said. “you can’t beat that.”

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/back-bay-bars-are-ready-for-bruins-fans#photo-6595798

Since 1980 the Boston Early Music Festival has been dedicated to presenting performers and musicians that have brought back the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods to life once again for one week.

The festival has become a respected and universally acknowledged  premiere event of historical music. Over 17,500 people are expected to attend this year.

“The Boston Early Music Festival will be of great interest to Back Bay’s many proud music lovers,” Kathleen Fay, executive director of the Boston Early Music Festival, said.
Festival performances will take place all over Back Bay. Venues include Old South Church, the First Church in Boston, The First Lutheran Church of Boston, Emmanuel Church, and Radisson Hotel.

The North American premiere of Agostino Steffani’s 1688 operatic masterpiece Niobe, Regina di Tebe, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College from June 12 to 19, is the centerpiece of the Boston Early Music Festival.

“This is the biggest production we have done here at the Boston Early Music Festival,” Stephen Stubbs, artistic co-director, said of the opera performance.

The role of Niobe is performed by soprano Amanda Forsythe, a veteran at festival productions and a rising international star. Opposite her will be countertenor Philippe Jaroussky making his North American debut as Anfione.

Stubbs, who has been with Boston Early Music Festival since 1995, explained it’s difficult to stage an opera originally intended for the court of King Max Emanuel of Bavaria who was trying to match the extravagances of Louis XIV of France.

“Doing something of this size is extremely challenging,” said Stubbs. “This is one of the true jewels and worth reviving now.”

Choosing to produce Niobe, Regina di Tebe was a decision made by Stubbs and fellow artistic director Paul O’Dette. “Stefani is one of the greatest composures of that time who is almost totally unknown today and the neglect is hard to explain,” Stubbs said.

The music is also extremely demanding on the orchestra and soloist, Stubbs said.

Director Gilbert Blin said, “My goal is to make the story speak to the people of today, while still keeping the style of the period.”

Between the complex music and amount of people involved, it’s a daunting task to bring the spectacle of Steffani’s original into the modern era, he said.

“It’s very engaging,” he said. “First you get puzzled, then you pick up clues, and then you really get to be involved and begin to forget about yourself,” Blin said.

He relies on many emotions and ideas to take the audience on a journey through the tragic, the comical, and the satirical moments of the opera without fraying the delicate string that connect them all.

“I hope it brings people to a level of involvement that they haven’t experienced often.” Blin said. “People should come because it’s entertaining, but leave feeling they have been on a journey of discovery and a better understanding of what matters in life.”

O’Dette described seeing Steffani’s opera live as, “A once in a lifetime opportunity.” When the crew first heard the singing and the orchestra come together their “jaws hit the floor,” O’Dette said.

“Niobe, Regina di Tebe is a hidden treasure,” Stubbs said. “And [the Boston Early Music Festival] is uniquely placed to bring it to life.”

Costumes

The costumes for the opera were designed by Anna Watkins, and this year she got some help from Boston University. Watkins normally makes the costumes in England, but said it was a pleasure to have the university’s assistance.

“Baroque costumes are very complicated. They have a lot of details and a lot of small pieces,” she said, walking around her workshop surrounded by glue guns, fabrics, and suits of armor.

published in the Back Bay Patch: http://backbay.patch.com/articles/the-boston-early-music-festival-revives-a-hidden-jewel-of-baroque-opera-2

As the music began to heat up, the clouds evaporated leaving a canopy of blue sky and sun for the crowds of people popping up on the Esplanade.

“EarthFest is a way for people from the city and outside the city to come together and enjoy the Esplanade, find out about products and companies that do good things for the Earth, and enjoy some great music,” said Ken West, program director at Radio 92.9 -a sponsor of the event. Whole Foods Market was also sponsor, and kept the free samples flowing.

Sam Brown, a 19-year-old college student, said EarthFest was the perfect way for her to catch up with friends and have a good time.

“EarthFest is free, there’s great music, and it’s a nice day,” said Brown. She and her friends had been to previous EarthFests and had “loved it,” and the free samples from vendors and good music keep them coming back.

This years bands Atomic Tom, Sponge, OK Go, and Ed Kowalczyk (former lead singer of Live) entertained and interacted with the audience with each band leading the crowd through choruses of their songs.

One of the many highlights of the concert came when the singer from OK Go, Damian Kulash, brought his guitar and microphone into the crowd to perform a song causing the crowd to surge around him.

The free concert helps to get the message across to help the environment, explained West.

“It’s great to have the local vendors involved, because it helps save the Earth to buy products that are local.”

During intermission people were walking around to the different vendors and checking out various products, or they stretched their legs by strolling on paths by the Charles River.

Opposite the Hatch Shell was the Kids Area were children listened to songs about the environment and danced around. The Kid’s Planet stage included performances by Sarah Wheeler & Little Groove, RhymeZweLL, Vanessa Trien & the Jumping Monkeys, and Zumix Artists.

The diverse crowd brought together people of all ages and people who traveled to watch the concert with their families.

Dean Compton, a 57-year-old New Hampshire resident, came to EarthFest with his granddaughter Brooklyn Compton.

“It’s a family event for me,” said Compton. This was the fifth time he had come to the event and it’s a great way to “kick-off summer,” he explained.

Compton remarked that it was a “good day” and was grateful that there was no rain.

West said this years EarthFest was a success. “There was a really great turnout and I think the bands have been spectacular.”

Boston resident Nick Blanchette, 30, believes the free concert is great for the city. “We get to save money and have fun at the same time.”

Blanchette had planned to attend EarthFest rain or shine and summed up the weather and the event with: “It’s been a beautiful day.”

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/earthfest-rocks-boston#photo-6189993

The announcement came during the nonprofit organization’s 41st annual meeting held at the First Church on Marlborough Street. It was a night that veered between the past, present, and future. Members discussed current and upcoming projects to Boston’s public spaces, while paying tribute to Lee’s tenure as president, as he stepped down to become president emeritus.

Historian David McCullough compared him to Jimmy Stewart in “It’s A Wonderful Life” and wondered what the parks of Boston would look like without his efforts.

Lee’s love for the parks and admiration for the people who have helped the Friends of the Public Garden during the past four decades was transparent. He called the Common “the most extraordinary park in our country,” and remarked that if Benjamin Franklin took a stroll through the Common today it would still be recognizable to the Founding Father.

“The parks have undergone great improvements,” said Lee, commenting on the condition they were in 40 years ago. He shared praise for this achievement with the Parks Department.

In addition, Lee said the Friends of the Public Garden is on a firmer and stable basis to maintain their work, and believes they will go on to do bigger and better things to help the city parks.

Works in progress

“The biggest thing in the Common is the renovation of the Brewer Plaza Fountain,” said Liz Vizza, executive director of the Friends of the Public Garden.

Two-and-a-half acres of the Common has been fenced off to add new granite paving and trees, and a new irrigation system will also be installed to sustain the new plantings.

“The [Brewer] fountain head had not been working for over a decade,” Vizza said. “And there is a commitment to restore all the fountains in the city.”

The landscape surrounding the Brewer fountain also needs to be improved to entice more visitors to the area, she said. The plan is for it to be a place were people can come and relax, and sit down in new chairs and make it an active space.

“Thousands of people move through the park space and don’t linger and enjoy it.” Vizza added, “This is our oldest and one of the finest pieces of public art in the city.”

The Friends of the Public Garden is also focusing on cleaning all the statues on the Commonwealth Mall. Another major concern is preventing shadows from being cast upon the Common and Public Garden by high-rise buildings, and there’s currently a petition circulating to support legislation that would preserve sunlight by restricting the shadows of new developments.

The focus returned to Lee at the end of the meeting.

“These parks belong to everyone,” he said. “They are the property of everybody in Boston and that is not a statement; that is the law. No park can survive unless people care about it.”

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/henry-lee-steps-down-after-40-years-of-preserving-public-parks#photo-5928375

Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer, which runs from May 2 – 8, kicked off its 12th year with a press conference held at the Boston Center for Adult Education on Monday mornings. All proceeds from desserts sold at over 275 Massachusetts restaurants, bakeries, cafés and chocolate shops will benefit breast cancer research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Carol Brownman Sneider, Founder of Boston Bakes, came up with the concept for the one week event, which occurs every year in early May around Mothers Day. Desserts are sold to remember loved ones lost to breast cancer and to raise money for research.

“With one dessert at a time we can make a difference in the fight against breast cancer,” said Sneider as she spoke at the podium with a regiment of participating chefs standing behind her.

Sneider recounted the growth from only 42 to more than 275 participants in 12 years, and praised Massachusetts for its effort against breast cancer. During that time Boston Bakes has raised over $500,000, she said.

This year Boston Bakes has expanded to include a new website, making it possible to purchase pastries from home, and a new cupcake truck, The Cupcakery, that will be serving a special Boston Bakes cupcake.

“We make it easy for you,” Sneider said about this year’s expansion. “It fits into your life. You get to choose what you want to have and when you want to do it, and what’s better than that?”

Peter O’ Farrell spoke on behalf of his wife, Colleen, who is the 2011 honoree for Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer, and who passed away from the disease. He thanked Sneider and all the chefs participating in this year’s event.

Attending the press conference this year were State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, and Billy Costa & Jenny Johnson from NECN’s TV Diner.

Chefs there included: Todd English, Joanne Chang, Maura Kilpatrick, Diane Demarco, and Tim Fonseca. They came to support the launch of this year’s Boston Bakes and presented samples of the pastries they would be serving.

Executive Pastry Chef, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, Tim Fonesca has been involved with Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer since its inception.

“The First year they came out with this opportunity, it was a unique way for me and other pastry chefs in the city to get involved in something that was directly correlated to pastry chefs and a great cause,” Fonseca said.

Fonseca’s own grandmother is a breast cancer survivor and was the honoree for Boston Bakes 10th anniversary. He said he’s happy that his grandmother is still alive at 93-year-old, and joked that she takes credit for all his baking genes.

For this year’s dessert Fonseca intends to make a special Boston cream pie.

“This year we’re going with a strawberry Boston cream pie,” he said. “It’s familiar to people but it’s something we hope to sell a lot of. At the end of the day it’s all about raising money for the cause.”

Fonesca said this is an easy way to get involved, because there is no marathon running and all you have to do is eat a dessert.

For a list of participating establishments, click here.

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/pig-out-on-cupcakes-and-cookies-to-help-fight-breast-cancer#photo-5885957

Capri makes small talk to the familiar barista, then takes his chai latte to a window table where he sits alone and ruminates about whether all this human interaction will disappear in the near future as robots will have a bigger role in society.

There is no idling by Capri as he sits down. His mind is processing scenarios of sentient robots being abused as slaves and he is fearful that another Civil Rights battle might erupt.

“As of 2011, the emphasis in robotics has been to make robots functional as mechanical servants, but soon robots will possess both thought and feeling,” said Capri. He quotes Erich Fromm, the 20th century social psychologist and humanistic philosopher, that the rational being has a balance of thought and feeling, and that either thought or feeling alone is irrational.

Capri foresees the programming of thoughts and feelings into robots as the next big step in robotic evolution and he is concerned humans won’t recognize a robot’s feelings.

In the next 20 years, Capri envisions that robots will be sentient and that they’ll need protection. “This is where I would draw the line and call for a Bill of Rights for Robots.” He added, “We, as humans, need to exercise our sense of empathy toward the robots we are creating, and robots should be programmed with a sense of empathy toward us and each other.”

In the ‘60s Capri witnessed the struggles African- Americans went through to gain Civil Rights and the struggles of women for equal rights. Now Capri’s knowledge as a cosmologist-futurist has him worried that as robots become more advanced, humans will fail to realize that robots are more than machines to simplify their lives.

“As we program robots at higher levels, I’ll be lobbying for programming an ethic of empathy.” More empathy is something humans could benefit from as well, believes Capri. “As humans, with at best a shaky record when it comes to avoiding war and harsh prejudices towards one another, we could do with some reprogramming ourselves.” The stronger the empathy, the less likely one’s tendency toward violence as a means of solving problems, explains Capri. “The hope of the future is not technology alone,” Capri adds. “It’s the empathy necessary for all of us, human and robot, to survive and thrive.”

The merging of humans and robots will be happening at warp speed and Capri is concerned that without preemptive laws in place to protect both parties it will be difficult to implement laws and Rights retro-actively. Having laws in place will benefit both people and robots and will improve interaction. He suggests it might already be time for the United Nations to begin contemplating these laws, so that robots are universally protected.

“The evolution of robots is inevitable,” Capri states forebodingly. The line between human and machine is already beginning to blur, and Capri wonders what will life be like for people who have had limbs and human features replaced by robotic parts. Humans will become more robotic as robots become more human.

Capri sees the decay of personal contact growing around him. Surrounding him are people locked into the zone on their smart- phones connecting to a virtual world with impersonal interaction. Capri welcomes techno advances but cautions that we not lock ourselves in electronic exile and lose face-to-face communication.

Capri is cautiously optimistic about the growth of human-robot interaction. “Yesterday I had a dream of walking into a future Starbucks. Robots and humans were sharing tables and reminiscing about the struggle for robot civil rights, and talking about robots who would be running for public office.”

In the meantime, Capri’s question to us all is, “Are we ready for robots, and are robots ready for us?”

Kevin James Moore is a freelance writer and former United Nations correspondent. Frank Capri is a photojournalist and theoretical astro-physicist based in Manhattan; www.frankcapri.com. Photo by Frank Capri.  Robot Magazine Page 90 April/May Issue

Republished in H+ Magazine August 29, 2011 http://hplusmagazine.com/2011/08/29/a-dream-of-robots-rights/