16

Page 16 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021 THE SOUNDS OF SAUGUS By Mark E. Vogler All the best for 2022 Happy New Year, Saugus! For all of the folks who I had hoped to run into or talk to over the holiday season – but didn’t – best wishes to you and your family for 2022, for a happy, healthy and better New Year than the one we just finished. Be well, be safe and be smart as you approach the New Year. If you want to make the most of your New Year, make a list of goals and objectives that you would like to accomplish. Get organized: Planners and calendars should be available in the book stores and stationary supply shops at a discount, and they can be useful tools as you look ahead and plan projects and various events for the New Year. Take steps to revisit healthy habits, whether it’s walking or exercising daily or cleaning up the clutter in your house, garage and car. It’s time to start over and renew pursuit of a healthier, happier and more productive life. Reflections of the old year So, what happened in Saugus in 2021? As part of my work, I spent more than 15 hours thumbing through each of our weekly editions over the past year, gleaning some highlights from each month to sum up the most significant and interesting stories that we published in The Saugus Advocate and typing it down in a file for our story “Year in Review, A monthly breakdown of the top stories in The Saugus Advocate during 2021.” Of course, I don’t expect many people to read the entire story. But it does offer the reader who is curious about some major happenings in a particular month, to jog their memory. Keep in mind, it is all subjective, based on my view as an outsider whose job is to cover the news and write stories and take photos that focus on the Saugus news or community events of any given week. Fifteen hours of perusing newspapers and writing a summary might seem like a tedious, time-consuming and unproductive task. But it does provide a useful foundation if I am going to look back on the past year and summarize it for the loyal readers of The Saugus Advocate. While I was doing the marathon newspaper read, I also used a legal pad to make a monthly inventory of the front-page articles in each of the newspapers we published this year. Again, it’s all subjective. Something that strikes me as interesting enough to write about may bore somebody else to tears. At the same time, any reader can make a compelling case about a significant news story that I didn’t have on my list. And I’m sure if you asked the Board of Selectmen and School Committee to offer their views on the top 10 stories of the year, you would get an entirely different response from each official. But I decided just to ask selectmen and School Committee members to tell me what they thought was their top story, and also a runner-up story if they preferred. It was nearly unanimous on COVID-19 as their top choice. And that shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody, or at least any of our readers. We had 24 page one stories related to COVID-19 throughout the year. And we probably ran more photos of people wearing cloth masks or facial coverings over the past year than at any time in the history of the paper. And if the upward trend on COVID cases continues well through the New Year, we can expect to see more photos of masked people in next year’s newspapers. One last item: If you think a story should have been included in our list, feel free to email me, and I will include it in next week’s paper. Or, if you disagree with any story on my list, please send me an email or text. The primary intent of this week’s paper is to get folks to reflect on the past year while spurring some interesting conversation with their family, friends and acquaintances over the year that just ended. It’s a lot of work to put together a Year-In-Review edition. But I have always done a Year-In-Review at every paper I’ve been at during more than a decade as a weekly newspaper editor. Also, I have been assigned and contributed countless Year-In-Review articles at daily newspapers during my other 30-plus years as a newspaper journalist. It’s always fun to sit down and read the various Year-In-Review editions. And, for the first few months of the New Year, we will be writing other stories as we crunch data from various local and state agencies. For next week’s edition, I plan to go back and select the top cover photos for each month, narrowing the top choices from each of the front-page photos we have published over the past year. That will be a fun project that I think our readers will enjoy. clips. That gave me the confidence and experience for a smooth transition from college to the real world. Breakheart’s “First Day Hike” tomorrow! So, have you resolved to lose some weight for the New Year and engage in a healthier life? If so, start off the New Year with an invigorating “First Day Hike” and make a resolution to burn off those extra holiday calories. Tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022) is the day you can begin a walking exercise program. The hike starts at 10 a.m. Meet outside the Visitors Center of Breakheart Reservation, which is located at 177 Forest St. in Saugus. The state Department of Conservation & Recreation and the Friends of Breakheart Reservation are cosponsoring “Breakheart Reservation First Day Hike” again. A flier issued recently by both groups notes “We will have two guided hikes through the paved loops of Breakheart. “Be prepared for cold weather – dress in layers and wear winter boots. Bring your friends and family and afterwards warm up with a cup of hot chocolate by the fire pit outside.” The center will remain open until noon. For more information, call 781-233-0834. It’s a New Year. Get that walking program going. Don’t make any excuses. A “Shout-Out” for all of the good deed doers This is the time of year when the collective generGUESS WHO GOT SKETCHED! In this week’s edition, we continue our weekly feature where a local artist sketches people, places and things in Saugus. Got an idea who was sketched this week? If you do, please email me at mvoge@comcast.net or leave a phone message at 978-683-7773. Anyone who between now and Tuesday at noon correctly identifies the Saugonian being sketched qualifies to have their name put in a green Boston Red Sox hat with a chance to be selected as the winner of a $10 gift certificate, compliments of Dunkin’ at the 1204 Broadway Saugus location on Route 1 North. But you have to enter to win! Look for the winner and identification in next week’s “The Sounds of Saugus.” Please leave your mailing address in case you are a winner. (Courtesy illustration to The Saugus Advocate by a Saugonian who goes by the name of “The Sketch Artist”) New Year’s Resolutions I have two sets of resolutions: the personal ones and the ones related to improving the paper and making it more interesting for our readers. The personal resolutions usually get broken, at the expense of keeping the professional resolutions. Sometimes my exercise routines and sleep time suffer at the expense of my newspaper-related activities. This coming year, I resolve to get more sleep and strive to eliminate or drastically reduce all-night work routines in putting out the newspaper. I plan to take a close look at my diet and enhance my exercise routines so I can actually do a better job without my health and personal life taking a hit. But, as we know, that’s a tough task for any newspaper journalist who keeps striving to perfect his craft. At some point during 2022, I will have reached 50 years as a newspaper journalist. That’s not counting the years I spent as a stringer writing local sports stories and filing them with the Boston and Providence newspapers. It was during the fall of my junior year at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst that I started working weekends and part-time for the Northampton news bureau of The Springfield Union and Sunday Republican newspapers. I got paid $2 an hour for hustling tips and writing stories and covering the Northampton bureau during Saturdays and Sundays. I made the most of that opportunity, getting quite a few front-page bylines in one of the largest metropolitan newspapers in Massachusetts. So, when I graduated from UMass-Amherst and it came time to prepare for job interviews at newspapers where I applied, I was in a position to accompany my resume with some impressive newspaper osity of a community shows its true colors. People like to help their fellow man or woman, particularly the forgotten elderly people who live alone and/ or in nursing homes. It could be a small act of kindness, like shoveling somebody’s driveway or dropping off a hot chocolate or something to eat. There are a million ways to put a smile on somebody’s face. And ’tis the season to do that, whether it’s for your grandmother or a stranger who nobody visits in a nursing home. Whatever the case may be, Saugus has its share of good deed doers. So, here are some super “shoutouts” for doing simple acts of kindness. If you know somebody like this, give them a hug. Kindness can be contagious and should be encouraged if we want to help make Saugus a better place. Want to “Shout-Out” a fellow Saugonian? This is an opportunity for our paper’s readers to single out – in a brief mention – remarkable acts or achievements by Saugus residents or an act of kindness or a nice gesture. Just send an email (mvoge@ comcast.net) with a mention in the subject line of “An Extra Shout-Out.” No more than a paragraph; anything longer might lend itself to a story and/or a photo. We have a winner! Congratulations to Debbie Cox for making the right identification in last week’s “Guess Who got Sketched?” contest and then being the one selected from among several readers whose names were entered into the green Boston Red Sox cap. Here’s the correct answer, offered by the person who goes by the name of The Sketch Artist: “The answer to last week’s sketch is Santa’s VIP Mail Elves Saugonians John and Karen Coburn. “Karen & John’s “Letters to Santa Outreach is featured on the cover & pg. 3 of Saugus Advocate 12/17 21. Karen has retired from Postal Work in 2019 (30 years service) and assisted Santa for over 20 years and John is a retired Police Officer (with Saugus 30 yrs.). Every year These two take on the volunteer duty of Santa’s Marvelous main mail Elves. “Santa entrusted these two with his very important mail duty of receiving, opening and answering Children’s “Letters to Santa.” They receive his mail from a specially designed red mail box at the Saugus Post Office. “Karen and John respond to all letters (with return address) sometimes Santa has them include an achievement or accomplishment of the child’s by a THE SOUNDS OF SAUGUS | SEE PAGE 17

17 Publizr Home