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I am just curious. 

I grew up on the South and North Shores of Massachusetts. New Bedford was on the South Coast with no direct connection to either as its history had it a harbor of international relevance whose industries, whaling and textiles, addressed more than the local needs and so was off on a world of its own along with Fall River. It was physically removed from Boston so there was little connection between the two places and those connected to them.

The most that New Bedford meant to the rest of the state seemed to be that we had to read Moby Dick in high school, if you were adventurous you went to Lincoln Park and not Paragon Park for your amusement rides on the rare occasion, and with the North and South Shores and the Cape offering beaches, those along the South coast were largely left to those who lived from Cape Cod to the Rhode Island state line.

But our ignorance was not necessarily the truth as the city had had its hay day, was important to the history of the state, and, if the opportunity arose for it to regain some of its glory, should be supported especially as it’s harbor houses the largest fishing fleet in the country.

Having never had an interest in the city, other than having read Moby Dick, having a high school and college classmate who had come from here, and the occasional Drum and Bugle Corps competition that New Bedford excelled in as neighborhoods there had such community corps and took it very seriously in days gone by, and would come up to my South Shore town for the competitions they commanded.

We knew the names of places on the South Coast, but they were just names of places “down there”. When the interstate from Rhode Island to Cape Cod was built, they became exits only the locals took while the rest of us zipped by giving the towns no more attention than before.

Full confession, when moving from a comfortable arrangement on Cape Cod to an apartment I could afford, I moved here with my only knowledge of the place being all the preconceptions I had collected over the years, and, needing something to do during retirement and having looked up volunteer opportunities at the Whaling Museum, I had taught Moby Dick to juniors in high school, I moved to New Bedford and learned its rich history and realized that during my lifetime there had been a parallel world below what is now Rte 495.

Part of that history is the present attempt to bring some greatness back to the city. However, it seems that every time the city stands on the edge of improvement, fate and, more often, humans have played roles in pulling the rug from under the “City that Lit the World”.

A state highway through the heart of the waterfront and the building of the area’s mall in the next town killed the downtown commercial district. A Casino was planned that would bring employment to a city that lost a lot of opportunities when the factories left. This gave way to the idea of an oceanarium. The city is on the water, has a lot of ships and boats, and has a history with the sea, so it made sense until that idea died. There was something about a failed initial attempt by an off-shore wind farm company  that was replaced with a company that actually showed up.

At the same time, in anticipation of the rebirth, the commuter rail from Boston was to be refurbished and reopened and this would have made it convenient for people to come to the things that did not come to fruition.

The commuter rail would open the city to those who find Boston too expensive and, seeking less expensive housing, might choose to move to the city and bring with them a new economy. In the meantime, to get to Boston, a New Bedford resident would have to get to the commuter rail station a town or two over, or take one of the two morning buses and one of two for the return trip. That was until, with a few months to go before the commuter rail opens its station downtown, the bus company decided to end its buses to and from Boston, leaving those without cars to find an alternative route and means to take it.

This was followed by Umass not taking over the Star Store whose use as the university’s Art School revitalized the dead downtown as the students would not show up and leave, but rented housing, and, needing basics like places to eat and hang out with friends coming from out of town, attracted small businesses like clubs, eateries, coffee houses, and by extension, tourists that benefited the city by bringing some life to it.

The state’s shenanigans ended that and the future of downtown is back in doubt. The University could have owned the building for a buck.

Diagonally across the street on the next block is the Zeiterion Theater a 100 year old theater from the days of Vaudeville that has become a cultural center bringing Broadway to New Bedford and the South Coast along with concerts and performances of all kinds.

The Zeiterion closed for an 18 months long renovation to make it a true multi-purpose cultural center just before the surprise announcement that the art school would be moving, leaving a huge abandoned department store looking over downtown. What had been a vibrant section of downtown has gone dark, and, if some of the city council members have their way, could remain so as some members of the council are questioning the city’s involvement with the theater and are seeking to untie any relationship which could result in no theater at all, or one that is less than what it could be.

So:

casino, 

oceanarium, 

off-shore wind 1, 

a bus company cutting the city off from Boston, 

And

 the University of Massachusetts moving its art school out of the downtown area to a smaller and more confined space in a closed store in a failing mall whose parking lot only gets crowded in September and October when a Spirit Halloween store occupies the long empty big box store that remains closed the rest of the year.

What has New Bedford done that it cannot be allowed a break?

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It didn’t happen in a theater, but it did happen where there were children and it did involve a conservative, evangelical member of the GOP.

When I put up a simple list of famous GLBT people who throughout history, while being denied for who they were, still added to make Western Civilization what it has become, in my classroom for Gay History Month in my high school classroom for October in 1999, all hell broke loose with the usual religious horror that this acknowledged the “other”, the latest scapegoat for driving people to religion through fear not doctrine in a positive way. It went against the Republican Party and the Southern Baptist Church so any reality in that regard had to be erased. 

One major characteristic of the vapors was the Born Agains’ trying too hard to appear more saved than the next, stumbling on the tattered hems of their rented garments and falling into the ashes with which they had just showered themselves. Part of that was to appear to be the most anti-Gay person in the school’s administration and a simple list of names gave the opportunity for some to go overboard and actually lose control of their own game whose goal was an administrative promotion nd a higher paycheck..

An assistant principal went out of his way in his efforts including having me attend parent conferences where he and the parent would read bible verses at me to show that not only was I going to hell unless I repented, but I was also intent on bringing as many students as possible with me. I may not be very religious at present, but there had been a time I was, and, after trying of the Battle of the Bible Verses forms of meetings, I began to begin each one at which there was a Bible sitting in front of the assistant principal and the female parent, as that was the usual set up, by quoting 1 Timothy 2:12, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent,” and objecting when the parent began speaking, especially if they threw out a Bible quote.  

There were some awkward meetings.

This same assistant principal made homophobic jokes with kids, especially the jocks, in that middle school manner of whispering as I approached so I would know he was telling one without knowing the content with the jocks laughing along with him in the feigned muffled laughter that says they know it was wrong, but, hey, you’re Gay, and on a number of occasions referred to me in pejorative terms and the butt of jokes with the usual vacuous apology to cover himself.

He spoke against my advocacy for GLBT students, and, although he could find no fault with my teaching, as my evaluator, he would always bring up the advocacy and the division it caused as the reason I could not be given a better than “satisfactory” on the evaluation form.

Besides quoting the bible irrelevantly where he thought it relevant, he had the “Meet You at The Pole” annual prayer event broadcast over the school’s PA, apparently not satisfied that anyone entering the school that day already had to walk pass the flagpole around which they prayed, until I objected that this was forcing his religious beliefs on all those on campus and violated the separation of church and state and would require other religions, regardless of any objections, be allowed to pray over the PA.

The following year as I had to pass by the “Pole” to enter the building, this assistant principal loudly suggested that those gathered pray for my salvation and hopeful conversion to the right way of thinking.

I saw something beyond just his surface activities and, not new to bigotry and having seen it happen before, detected the usual cover up of one’s own activities by putting a spotlight on those of others. He was a little too chummy with the school’s athletes, but not on a sexual level but an identity one like someone who may have in his past never gotten the comradery with the jocks in his school days and was projecting an image of ultimate jockness to get it now. I pointed out to some teachers one day that there was something going on because his actions against me seemed a little exaggerated.

I had spent many years asca Special Education teacher and, being a male and assumed to be hugely macho for that reason only, was often given students who fell under the umbrella term “emotionally Disturbed”. With them, it was not what they did that we all had to deal with, but why they did it so, perhaps, they would do better next time. Special Education teachers have to see beyond the obvious and see the core.

In the effort to dismiss me from the district, what had been used by administrators to have me dismissed was shown in court to have been fabricated to cover up the real motivation of killing the message of GLBT student equality by killing the messenger because I had the evidence and documentation to prove it.

Eventually this assistant principal had to plead no contest when a student produced an audio recording she had made after having been called to this assistant principal’s office for some unknown reason one too many times  where he came on to her. This recording was added to other student complaints of his having  propositioned female students. Other complaints went nowhere until the student made the recording which in a one party state regarding audio and video recording led to his plea of no contest, removal of his teaching and administrative certifications, loss of job, having to register as a sex-offender, and had his Law license revoked when he had just received it having recently passed the Bar.

I continued teaching and, in spite of the odd ending, retired and allowed my certification lapse years later on its own and at my choice Years after what I had been advocating for was realized. 

While very ostentatiously pointing me out as a the gravest threat to the students because of the false claim that Gay people are inherently evil and sexual predators who cannot control themselves, he was quietly doing what he was spreading I would most likely do so he was able to continue his activities because people were looking where he was pointing and not at the one doing the pointing

Hard to believe that even though I never met her, I dealt with Boebert twenty years ago..

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