D'ARCONTE: How do you sell a house?
Last week I told you I am a Realtor's nightmare, because in my life I haven't moved from house to house.

ZUCK: Magdalena and my first massage
Up a flight of creaky wooden stairs, at the end of a poorly-lit hallway I open the last door on the left and step into a small but comfortably furnished waiting room. Soothing music plays softly in the background; a neatly organized table offers magazines about organic gardening, alternative healing, and vegetarian recipes; a friendly receptionist smiles at me from behind her desk. I step forward and carefully place my gift certificate, creased in many directions after spending nearly five months in my wallet, timidly on her desk.

FLANAGAN: In the mailbag to find a 'me' and a mea culpa
Reaching into the mail bag, I find that one reader wants to know "why is everyone afraid to use the objective 'me?'"

KIRBY: The past, and future, of the Hixon
Generations have known the Madonna Manor, the impressive four-story brick structure in downtown North Attleboro, only as a nursing home.

GOUVEIA: What one candidate was thinking
If you have never had the opportunity/pleasure/torturous experience of running for public office, you have no idea what you are missing.

HAND: Hillary and the Holy Grail
There is a scene in the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in which King Arthur encounters the Black Knight blocking his quest.

GUEST COLUMN: Best part of journey is finding your way home
I spent my early years in a quiet country town, in airy fields and small houses. At play, I would lose myself in hills of queen ann's lace and transparent dandelions. Rolling and tumbling, I had not a care in the world. A soft, unpretentious brook brought whispers of coolness and color. It swelled gently, yet without much attention. All of life moved without applause. It stirred with a spectacular rhythm and simplicity innately its own.

GUEST COLUMN: Energy crisis load must be shared energy crisis
In the ongoing discussion and, on occasion, actual positive actions concerning the worsening global warming/unchecked pollution crisis, the naysayers and assorted ostriches often present. A few have selected facts to bolster their cries for "leaving ill enough alone," while also deliberately ignoring the mounting frightening evidence right in front of their eyes and ears.

LIFE 101: PepeMobile will always be special
Like a lot of people, I loved my first car. But it has been a long time since I cared about an automobile. I avoid attachment to objects, especially those that get awful gas milage.

GUEST COLUMN: A bouquet for all of my mothers
Each year on Mother's Day, I wear a white carnation in honor of the mother I never knew.

FLANAGAN: Paul Pickering's healthy perspective
Mother's Day is coming and, as usual, I'm behind schedule. This year I'm not so worried, though. I've got Paul Pickering and his PaulMark greeting cards on the case, which will surely keep me out of the doghouse.

KESSLER: Score without volunteers, 1 big landfill
The massive - and highly commendable - cleanup efforts undertaken last Saturday by hundreds of volunteers along the Ten Mile River in Attleboro and throughout the town in Mansfield got me thinking, specifically about why the annual cleanups are so vital.

REILLY: The high cost of children
It's one of those "dad moments." Taking your child to her first ballet lesson; teaching her to ride a bike; going with her to get her learner's permit. All very special, all very memorable, and they make you realize one thing: Children are a LOT more expensive than they look.

NESI: Honor moms and peace
Throughout the summer and fall of 1870, the great abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe looked on in horror as the armies of France and Germany slaughtered one another on the fields of Alsace-Lorraine, during the brief but brutal Franco-Prussian War. Reports of the carnage in Europe brought back painful memories of America's own Civil War, which had ended just five years earlier.

STEVENSON: The stories old stone walls tell
A couple of weeks ago, Otis Dyer gave an excellent talk-and-picture program at the Attleboro Historic Preservation Society about old stone walls, including many on his own property in Rehoboth. It got me to thinking about my own love of old stone walls.

KIRBY: 25 rules of civility
Listen up, you folks in Mansfield, Rehoboth and other area towns where town hall bickering has been ratcheting up: There's a way to disagree without being rude.

FLANAGAN: Why a curfew is wrong for CF
A curfew for Central Falls? That just ain't right.

ZUCK: It's right time to do the wrong things
My fellow Americans: This is not the time to do anything rash.

D'ARCONTE: My life a Realtor's nightmare
This mortgage crisis makes me think I must be a real estate agent's nightmare: I've lived most of my life in only two houses.

GOUVEIA: Mansfield soap opera doesn't quit
They ought to call it "As the Stomach Turns."

HAND: Connect the dots on the Hill
See if you can connect the dots: Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi represents Boston's North End, which enjoys one of the highest concentrations of restaurants in the state. The state restaurant association opposes the legalization of casinos. DiMasi killed Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to legalize casinos.

LIFE 101: A badge is not a license to dominate, intimidate
I'm going to admit something that may or may not be unpopular: I generally don't dislike cops.

GUEST COLUMN: Make a difference in an inner-city child's life
A few years ago my family and I moved from Providence to Seekonk. The time had come to give our growing family some outdoor space they really needed. Walking around Thayer Street, stopping for coffee gave my kids less pleasure than it did me!

FLANAGAN: Spaner's legacy
Bill Spaner, whose death we reported on Wednesday's obituary page, helped people get into homes of their own. I was one of them.

KESSLER: Gillis set high standard for Boston sportscasters
Add Don Gillis to the growing list of Greater Boston pioneer sports broadcasters' voices silenced in recent years. Gillis, a longtime radio and TV voice and sports anchor, died last Wednesday at 85 in Falmouth after a battle with Alzheimer's disease, his son, Gary Gillis told the Boston Globe.

Campaign 2008: The long slog of
Welcome once again to "Journalism 101," the "Oh God, isn't it over yet?" edition.

ZUCK: Kickball legend quits in his prime
The players and fans of San Diego's co-ed adult kickball league were shocked and saddened by the news yesterday that Bill Zuck would be stepping down as captain of his kickball team, effective immediately. Zuck announced his decision at a mid-day press conference in his front yard which was attended by at least three people, though two or more of them were present because they just happened to be walking by at the time of the announcement.

D'ARCONTE: It's us against the world
Now that all that celebration of earth and green-ness is out of the way, it's time to sit back with our feet in the grass and ponder what it all means.

HAND: GOP takes aim at Kerry
Defeating an incumbent U.S. senator - especially one who is a former candidate for president - is a tall order.

FLANAGAN: Fighting hunger, step by step, and memories of a city park
When Jim Whelan tells you "I wish I could outreach to everyone," he means it. Indeed, when he started organizing an annual road race, it was with the intent of bringing an end to world hunger.

GOUVEIA: Unions, towns need cooperation in tough times
Whenever local communities suffer from hard financial times (like now), the focus of an angry public inevitably turns to municipal employees.

GUEST COLUMN: What Relay for Life means to cancer survivor
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GUEST COLUMN: Move over, Boomers, new generation about to take reins
Why now?

GUEST COLUMN: Attleboro Y staff merits commendation
I was pleased to read "Heroism knows no age limits" (April 15 editorial). You are right on target to recognize the good things that our young citizens are capable of, and in some cases, the heroic acts that they will perform when called upon to act. So often we read or hear of malicious and/or violent acts played upon us by youths while the good ones go unnoticed. Kudos to Steve Kolapt and Bill Mackie of Mansfield as well as Jesse Mallon, the Attleboro man credited with preventing a tragedy last week at the Attleboro YMCA. These three teens certainly exemplify what "doing the right thing is all about."

You can call Ike unforgettable; I called him Dad
Whenever people close to us pass on, we are reminded that their memories live on. The memories, sympathy cards say, will help sustain us. There's a certain amount of truth in that, and yet such sentiments don't make the loss easier to accept.

FLANAGAN: Good day for earth
The kids ought to know ... that riding a seesaw was a good thing to do on Tuesday. If enough of you had gotten together for an old-fashioned tug o' war, that also would have been a great way to celebrate Earth Day. The skills learned in such pastimes will be useful in your lives ahead.

GOUVEIA: Do the math on city and town services
Over the next two months local communities will struggle to make their budgets fit within the confines of Proposition 2½, while still maintaining their educational systems and municipal services.

HAND: Whatever became of teamwork?
It is all very strange.

GUEST COLUMN: Don't blame mortgage firms for subprime lending crisis
In reply to a published comment from a savings bank officer that unscrupulous and unregulated mortgage companies caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis:

KESSLER: From 'kill Bill' to hero's welcome home
When former Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner slowly walked to the pitcher's mound at Fenway Park last week for the 2008 home opener, the applause from the Fenway faithful was deafening.

REILLY: Simple steps to tax oblivion
Well, it's April 15 and those of you who have been paying attention know what that date means to all Americans.

REILLY: That '60s show wasn't so groovy
Attention old people (and by "old" I mean anyone who remembers the first Bush administration): Want to feel really old? Then try helping your children with their homework.

LIFE 101: Here's a tip - be nice to service people
This one goes out to anyone who has ever worked for tips. And if you've never done it, here's a glimpse at the kind of people waitresses, bartenders, or those of us who spent their youth washing golf clubs have to deal with.

REILLY: TV - The ultimate recycler
Our long national nightmare is nearly over. As the days had stretched into weeks and the weeks into months, it seemed that it would never end. But, at last we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it is in high definition.

THE READING ROOM: Little fulfillment in 'Eat, Pray, Love'
For months now, Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" has been prominently displayed in bookstores throughout the country. The book jacket describes it as "a meditation on love in its many forms." Writer Ann Lamott calls it "brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight." It's a bestseller that has garnered recommendations from the lips of unexpected readers and respected friends. And yet whenever I contemplated picking it up, I felt a tight knot of resistance. More than once I added the book to my Amazon cart, only to delete it at the last moment.

Life 101: Move over, Dunkie's
I've been loyal to Dunkin Donuts for a long time. In high school I discovered French vanilla iced coffee and I've been hooked ever since. Now I'm the epitome of a regular customer and I'll admit, sometimes I wish there was some kind of reward for this: such as a year-end rebate for customers who spend more than $500 annually, which I definitely qualify for.