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Like Boston and a number of other cities, Toledo, Ohio, has its tougher and more challenging neighborhoods. Tom Seeman grew up in a family of fourteen in a predominantly black housing project in one of those neighborhoods.
Like so many, Seeman was consigned to a childhood of poverty, dysfunction, and constant turmoil by birth. The price he paid for being brought into this world was high at times. There were constant challenges and emotional and physical pain both inside his rundown home in the projects as well as waiting for him the minute he crossed the threshold of that home onto the tough and turbulent streets.
But, unlike so many in those neighborhoods and on those streets, Seeman had an inner vision, the intellectual gifts, and the determination to propel himself out of that project, away from the neighborhood, and into a world of success many dream of but few achieve. A world of earned success which landed him at Yale University; Harvard Law School; McKinsey & Company; and finally corporate boardrooms as a CEO.
But to get to such lofty platforms from the lowest of the lows, one usually needs an epiphany which clears and decompresses the mind just long enough to see an invaluable truth which had always been right before you. For Seeman, that moment came in the fourth grade.
It was there and then that Seeman made a shocking — but liberating — announcement. When his teacher asked his class to name the greatest thing each of their parents had given them, he stood and said: “The greatest thing my mother has given me is that she’s always there to help me. And the greatest thing my father has given me is an example of what I don’t want to be.”
Simply by vocalizing what had long been locked inside his mind, a tremendous weight had been lifted from Seeman’s shoulders. Replaced by a lightness in mind and spirit that allowed him to focus on escaping the life he was born into.
In a number of ways, Seeman’s escape was the Boston areas gain.
After achieving his goals for success as an adult, Seeman made an inspiring pledge to himself: “Every day, do something kind for a stranger.” He has fulfilled that pledge and then some.
“Every act of kindness, no matter how small, makes a difference,” said Seeman. “Some days it’s something small, like letting someone into my lane in traffic, and some days it’s something sizable, like creating a scholarship for underserved kids… Most days, my promise falls somewhere in between.”
One of those “sizable” acts of kindness saw Seeman and his wife Jenny donate one million dollars to the St. Francis de Sales School in Toledo, Ohio for the benefit of economically disadvantaged children. A school Seeman credits with helping to land him firmly on the path to success, when, as himself an impoverished eighth grader, the school administrator offered him a near full scholarship.
Years after his escape from that tough Toledo neighborhood, Seeman settled in the greater Boston area with his wife Jenny to raise a family. After doing so, his passion to give back only grew. Today – among other things — Seeman currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Years before coming to Massachusetts and while still at Yale, people began asking Seeman the same question: “How did you get out?” It is a critically important question.
Statistics about such poor, tough and dysfunctional neighborhoods indicate that it is almost a certainty that one would not “get out.” That one would not choose wisely. That one would fall into a pattern of hooking school, substance abuse and crime.
Later in his life as more and more people learned of his “rags to riches” story, many suggested to Seeman that he tell his inspiring story via a book. While honored and humbled by the encouragement, Seeman was quite hesitant to do so. First, because to do so would entail ripping off scabs, reliving pain, and quite possibly hurting or embarrassing family members. And second, because the process can be overwhelming.
For those reasons and more, Seeman rejected the idea of a memoir detailing his challenging childhood. But then those around him offered up the most important reason of all: “What if your story could not only reach someone going through what you endured — or much worse — but change a life for the better?”
That reasoning made great sense to Seeman. It was yet another way to fulfill the pledge to himself: “Every day, do something kind for a stranger.” Seeman came to believe that he could tell his story to further help the charities he so deeply cared about.
So Seeman sat down and wrote that story, titled “Animals I Want to See: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Projects and Defying the Odds.” A book that is deeply moving, will inspire all who read it, and will create untold acts of kindness.
Douglas MacKinnon – originally from Dorchester — is a former White House and Pentagon official and an author.
This time, the people marched in resistance to the harsh treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration.
“We descend from Immigrants and Revolutionaries,” read a battle cry beamed onto the side of the brick meeting house Tuesday.
“The society that stops seeing the people at the grocery line or the people that ride the bus with us, as human beings with beating hearts, then it’s not far off before our society devolves into no society at all,” Gilberto Calderin, director of advocacy at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said to the crowd of hundreds.
The protest was organized by activist groups Boston Indivisible and Mass 50501, and began at the Irish Famine Memorial Plaza, just steps from the meeting house.
The lively crowd held up signs, waved American flags, and chanted during the march along Milk Street and Congress Street to the harbor.
Janet England of Brighton held a sign that read, “Democracy Needs Courage.”
The protesters, she said are “true patriots because we want freedom and democracy.”
“Although protest is a long game, we can’t give up. If you think about women’s suffrage, gay rights, the civil rights movement, it took years, but we just can’t give up,” she said.
Gloria Krusemeyer, from Alrington, used a walker to join the march.
“I’m irritated that I haven’t done more, and I’m just lucky that I can walk fast enough to be doing this,” she said.
Rick Mueller, from Cambridge, was dressed as Uncle Sam and held a large sign that read, “Liberty and Justice For All.”
“We’re fighting for America, so I’m gonna be America,” he said of his costume.
He handed small American flags out to protesters who waved them enthusiastically.
Ice dumping duties was limited to volunteers and select people.
Among them was Sarah, a mother who brought her 4-year-old daughter, Fiona.
Sarah declined to share her last name for her daughter’s safety.
After throwing ice into the harbor, Fiona shyly said that she wanted to come to the protest to “help families stay together.”
Through tears, Sarah said her decision to bring along Fiona came from wanting to teach her daughter to care about people from all walks of life.
“Kindness and compassion are things we learn in kindergarten and she will be in kindergarten so it’s really important for her to be kind and compassionate,” Sarah said, kissing her daughter’s check.
Likewise, Sara Sievers, from Cambridge, brought her parents, sister, her nephews and niece to dump ice.
“I think this is one of the most brutal regimes we’ve had in this country, and I want my niece and nephew to remember that it’s important to protest, and that we in Boston are part of a proud tradition of dumping things into the harbor with which we disagree,” Sievers said.
The family wore costumes of historical figures including Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and King Charles.
As the protest came to a close, Martha Laposata, spokesperson for Boston Indivisible said she wanted protestors to walk away knowing their voices matter.
“We cannot stand down,” Laposata said. “When people rise up against an authoritarian government, if they stay consistent and they keep growing, ultimately an authoritarian government will stand down.”
Camille Bugayong can be reached at camille.bugayong@globe.com.
Crime
An MIT professor was shot and killed in Brookline on Monday night.
Brookline police responded a report of a man shot in his home on Gibbs Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning, the DA says.
Loureiro was the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics. Originally from Portugal, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs announced his death in a regulatory hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities on Tuesday, according to CNN.
“Sadly, I can confirm that Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” an MIT spokesperson wrote in a statement.
In January, Loureiro was honored as one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from former president Joe Biden.
The investigation into the homicide remains ongoing. No further information was released.
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A man was hospitalized after being shot Monday night in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The shooting happened on Gibbs Street. There was a large police presence at the scene.
The victim was brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His condition was not known.
Police said the victim was shot three times and grazed by another round.
Authorities did not say if any arrests had been made.
No further information was immediately available.
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