Austin Knight was the big gun of the victory (77-73)over Coe-Brown with five 3 pointers
Mather Kipka aka The GOAT was hot in the Kingswood game with 35 points. The final score was 84-59. 
Wanting added excitement in towards the end of the game, the crowd starting chanting, “We want OWEN!” They got him.
Wilbraham and Monson Academy has a really good lacrosse team. The other day I had the opportunity to photograph some of its players at a tournament at Indoor Action Sports, Greenfield, MA. In particular, Troy Sauberan #13 was fun to watch. I haven’t enjoyed watching many lacrosse players since my son was an all-state player…some 17 years ago, but Troy is definitely a talented player and exciting to watch. Back in the 1990’s I was asked to be Assistant Head of School there, so that too added to my interest in these guys.
New Hampshire Democrats met in Manchester this weekend. Bernie got a lot of cheering, Mayor Pete had some enthusiastic support and the others, except John Delaney, had good receptions, but it was Elizabeth Warren who brought down the house. She couldn’t begin speaking for over five minutes as the delegates kept cheering…loudly. Talking with a guy selling political buttons, he said he had sold Warren buttons 10 to 1 over anyone else. She’s on a roll.
Bernie Sanders, as he did four years ago, stormed the Milford Labor Day parade with a huge throng of supporters. Bernie was the only Democratic candidate to march in the parade. Chasten Buttigieg marched representing this husband, Pete, and Vermine Supreme, the perennial candidate, was there in full force. Kamal Harris, Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker, and Beto O’Rourke all had delegations of supporters marching. Bernie had key supporters Ben and Jerry there with their Bernie Cooper and to put on ice cream socials around the state this weekend.
Bernie and his son, Levi
Bernie and his son, Levi march together
The bright blue eyes of Mayor Pete Buttigieg (Boot Edge Edge) visited Hancock, NH on a seven stop tour of the state on Saturday.
A good size supportive crowd of people from as far away as Wenham, Massachusetts, two hours away, gathered under the morning sun at a Hancock home that made a classic setting for a campaign…Cape Cod style home with a big red barn and open fields. One supporter was heard yelling, “I touched him!” after she got her photo taken with him.
What makes Pete run?
A good portion of the remaining Democratic presidential candidates came to the Hillsborough County Democratic Annual Picnic on Sunday. While the candidates were, to various degrees, intriguing, the star was an 11 year old boy, Quinn Mitchell. Quinn is fascinated with politics and wants to be a political journalist when he grows up. So far he has met 20 of the candidates as his dad takes him to various events around the state. Amy Klobuchar talked about Quinn’s questioning skills in her remarks; a level skill that would put most political reporters to shame. Not shy, repeatedly Quinn could be seen engaging the candidates in intelligent discussions.
Aside from Amy Klobuchar, Secretary Julian Castro, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, businessman Andrew Yang, NY Mayor Bill DeBlasio, John Delaney, and Representative Seth Moulton had an opportunity to speak. There were also information tables for most of the candidates who weren’t there.
The candidates generally sparked good responses from the audience. However, it was Julian Castro who elicited the only standing ovation from the crowd. It’s interesting listening to the candidates try to make a case for themselves over their competitors. It’s tough to distinguish yourself from people you are friends with…unless you are John Delaney who says we shouldn’t do much of anything.
Andrew Yang is visiting New Hampshire to make people think about humanity and the future as he runs for president. A successful businessman, he understands that, as opposed to current administrative talk, jobs of “Americans” are not being taken by immigrants but rather technology. He talks about the 13,000,000 jobs that will disappear in the next several years, never to return. Yang is smart, articulate, engaging, loves math, and has ideas that the country can use to deal with the tidal wave of unemployment that is coming due to the wave of technology that is upon us. But he isn’t a one issue candidate; he has thought about every aspect of today’s world. Check out his website (www.yang2020.com), he has stands on over 100 different areas of American life. He is fascinating and intriguing and worth a look. Yang uses an acronym MATH which stands for Make America Think Hard. After listening to him you will probably come away thinking harder…I did.
At the gathering of over 100 people in Milford, NH on Saturday, I was able to talk to Andrew and found that we have a mutual friend. During his talk he mentioned that he had gone to Philips Exeter Academy and didn’t like his two years there. That got me thinking about a young man I had known on Cape Cod in the late 1980s and who had gone to Exeter. Andrew is 44 and I got to putting my math skills to use and figured that my friend, who had been my boys’ baby sitter one summer, was probably the same age. So, I asked him…”did you know Linas Rastonis?” “Sure, I remember Linas, how do you know him?” came the reply. We laughed when we talked about Linas running away from Exeter because he hated it as well and when he returned sometime later after having headed across the country, he was welcomed back to Exeter by his peers as a conquering hero. Then Andrew headed off into the night for some sleep before Sunday’s events.
Alaska has long been on my radar as somewhere I wanted to visit…but where to begin? Being the largest state it is massive, twice the size of Texas. Well my decision was made for me when my friends Joel and Ritchie, whom I had met last year on my South African trip invited me and my friends Betsy and Jeff to visit them in Juneau. Juneau is in the lower panhandle of the state. If the rest of Alaska is anything line the Juneau area it must be breathtaking. The ocean, bays, coves, passages, mountains, glaciers, bears, eagles, whales, seals and sealions, flowers, vistas, hiking trails, and native culture provided and endless array of activity and objects of curiosity. An added bonus was that the local native tribe, the Tlingit, were holding their biennial Celebration. The color and majesty of the region is addictive and I am confident I will return to experience more of it. Here are a few photos I took during my nine days there.
Yakutat dancers at Celebration
WATCH THE VIDEO link above.
The older guy making a valiant effort to keep the rhythm of the dance is the 75 year old Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, Bryan Mallott, a Tlingit elder. This group are from the town of Yakutat where he was mayor before coming to the state capital. They are his people. He is an incredible guy.
All the photos of animals are of them in the wild.
Mike Munhall Photos 