September 12, 2025 • 41 mins
We kick off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
TSO’s 2025 tour, “Ghosts of Christmas Eve: The Best of TSO & More” will be an ALL NEW SHOW and promises to be the biggest & best TSO tour to date! Coming 11/29/25 to Worcester, MA - DCU Ctr.
Guest: Jeff Plate – Member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - drums / original member
InBoston Magazine’s Latest Edition, Featuring Dan Rea!
Guest: AnnMarie LaFauci – Editor of InBoston Magazine
New results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveal a 4-point drop for 8th graders in science, reinforcing the urgent need to expand high-quality, engaging science education for all K–12 students.
Guest: Christine Cunningham - Senior Vice President, STEM Learning, Museum of Science and National Assessment Governing Board Member
The electricity is back at Fenway. And so is the late Luis Tiant.
Guest: Rich Tenorio – Boston Globe journalist
TSO’s 2025 tour, “Ghosts of Christmas Eve: The Best of TSO & More” will be an ALL NEW SHOW and promises to be the biggest & best TSO tour to date! Coming 11/29/25 to Worcester, MA - DCU Ctr.
Guest: Jeff Plate – Member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - drums / original member
InBoston Magazine’s Latest Edition, Featuring Dan Rea!
Guest: AnnMarie LaFauci – Editor of InBoston Magazine
New results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveal a 4-point drop for 8th graders in science, reinforcing the urgent need to expand high-quality, engaging science education for all K–12 students.
Guest: Christine Cunningham - Senior Vice President, STEM Learning, Museum of Science and National Assessment Governing Board Member
The electricity is back at Fenway. And so is the late Luis Tiant.
Guest: Rich Tenorio – Boston Globe journalist
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Nice Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, we are heading to the weekend, everybody, and this
has been a crazy week and it's been a tough,
tragic week. Yesterday we were remembering nine to eleven, twenty
four years ago. Yesterday and the day before, we were
all shocked by the the murder out at a Utah
(00:30):
college campus, and today the arrest of the man that
fired the single shot that took the life of the
conservative political activist. So we're going to deal with that
tonight at nine o'clock, as I'm sure you would expect,
and everything else. The death, the murder, it's it's more
(00:55):
than a death, it's a murder of Charlie Kirk. We're
going to deal with that. We're also going to deal
with the all out from it. And there were some
comments today made by the Governor of Utah which I
thought were particularly effective, and we're going to talk about that.
But first, we have four great guests coming up here
in the eight o'clock hour, and we are going to
start off with a guest, a member of the Trans
(01:16):
Siberian Orchestra, and I know that there are a lot
of fans of the TSO in my audience, Jeff played.
He's a heavy metal drummer with the band. Hey, Jeff,
welcome to night Side. How are you.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I'm doing great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, you know, Jeff, what's interesting, I was just doing
a little research here on the TSO, and I guess
that the the origins of this phenomenal orchestra is not
are not necessarily in Siberia, but it's it's all about
this part of the world where where people really do
(01:56):
live and you know, in some tough circumstances. Have any
of the members of the DSO ever gotten to Siberia,
you know, maybe like in the summertime.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, it's an interesting question, but it brings up how
the band was named so. Paul O'Neill. Paul O'Neil was
the man that created the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Paul, he's
been in the rock business for years. During the seventies
he was managing bands like Ero Smith with I'm sure
you're familiar with Scorpions, def Leppard, Ted Nusan. You know,
(02:31):
Paul was part of this whole rock scene for modernise
shows and was also a songwriter, also a producer. He
always had this vision of creating this band that could
really cover all the bases, so to speak, you know,
a group that could sing anythings, sing any style, play anything,
play any style, but also surround that with just an
(02:52):
amazing show. So at some point in Paul's life, he
actually wrote the trans Siberia in railway and I read that, Yeah,
he wrote, Yeah, he wrote the railway from one end
to the other, and was just kind of taken back
and fascinated by, you know, a how long this was,
but how many different areas and cultures and you know,
(03:16):
climates and everything that this railway traveled through. And he
kind of made the connection between that train ride and
this idea of his with this band covering all the bases,
covering all the demographics, you know, the different you know,
you name it so well and behold. At some point
along the way, he met a couple of men named
(03:39):
the Eliber brothers, John Lever and Chris Oliva, who were
working in a band called Sabotage. Paul was managing this band,
producing them, writing for them. A number of things happened
in the group which brought me in. My history is high.
Live in the Boston area for ten years, I was
(03:59):
I lived Weymouth for Worcester for a couple of years,
and then I moved to the South Shore to Weymouth, Braintree,
brocked in that area down there. Wow, played the Channel
many times, played bun Ratties many times. For your older listeners,
they'll recognize these clubs.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I do.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
But I was part of the Yeah So. I was
part of the rock scene out there and worked in
a band where the lead singer from this group actually
ended up singing for Sabotage. And in nineteen ninety four,
after some changes in the band, I was called in
to become the drummer. So listen to Yeah. So this
(04:37):
was my meeting paul O deal. And there's a long
story after that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well, i'll tell you first. First of all, it's a
phenomenal band. The show is amazing. I will tell you
that I have a very good friend of mine who
rode that train across Siberia and happens to be for
the last at least forty years, the missions director at
Harvard University, Bill Fitzsimmons. And it's just amazing that the
(05:06):
one person in the world that I would know who's
talked to me about that train ride, and I've actually
thought about it at some point when I retired to
take the ride. I have no idea what it's going
to be like, but I'll have to take some earbuds
and tso music with me. I didn't know of your connection,
and when you mentioned bun Ratty's and the Channel, and
(05:27):
there's a whole bunch of memories that flow through my mind.
It looks to me, I'm looking at your schedule here,
which is just an amazing schedule. Looks like you have
an East Coast group and a West Coast group because
you're just you're playing every night up until Christmas through
virtually you start in what late October the tour.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
We've been in rehearsing late October. The tour actually starts
for us this year. I believe it's November thirteenth, Vember sixteenth,
and you're.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Up the always up in Manchester, New Hampshire a couple
of nights, and also your old stopping grounds Worcester.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yes. Yeah, And if you notice, these shows are night
after night, so we are doing two shows a day,
three days in a row, which is part of the course.
We began touring in nineteen ninety nine as a trial.
We did seven shows. It was received so well and
there was such a demand for it that we could
(06:29):
not cover all the dates and all the ground with
just the one group. So Paul O'Neill and his management
team said, let's put the original group in two and
we'll fill out the cast and we can cover all
these dates. So we've been We've been touring the country
with these two bands for well ever since the year
two thousand, but around two thousand and five is when
(06:51):
we really hit this insane schedule of eight shows and
five days every week, three doubles in a row. It's
just amazing how this this project that Paul created connected
with millions of people all across the country and there
was just such a demand for it. And still here
(07:11):
we are today is twenty twenty five. This is our
twenty seventh year of touring. The tours are massive, they
sell out, and that the audience just seems to be
growing every year.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
The other thing, too, is interesting for anybody who's interested.
I hope a lot of people are interested. The ticket
prices are really reasonable. I looked at the ticket prices.
They pretty much seem to seem to be pretty similar
across the country. But how many people will will the
TSO with the two groups play in front of just
(07:44):
this year, you've got to be getting close to a
million people a year.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yes, yes, it is. It is close to a million
people a year. Bring nine hundred thousand, a million people
a year. Paul O'Neil was very conscious about the ticket prices.
You know, TSO is a family show. There's a strong
holiday influence, you know, throughout the music, and so he
(08:11):
realized that people were coming with families, with groups. He
wanted to make it affordable for them. And also too,
we figured, if we're going to do this tour every year,
we would love for people to come back every year
and experience this, be a part of this and watch
this thing grow. So I mean, as you see some
of the larger acts, the ticket prices are through the
(08:32):
room mind boggling, yes, but TSO has done a very
good job of keeping that reasonable for the fans.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I'm just playing some TSO in the background. It
is a spectacular show. So if anyone here within the
sound of my voice, wbus, we've reached the eastern half
of the US. But you know, our home turf is
New England, and I know you're in Worcester, and I
know that you're up in Manchester, New Hampshire. It's late
November if I'm not mistaken, right, so plenty of time
for folks to get tickets. What is the easiest way
(09:00):
for folks to get tickets to just go to the website?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yes, yes, ww dot trans dash Siberian dot com and
all the info on the tours there, ticket availability, everything.
That's the good, best place to go.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That sounds great. You know one thing that WWW. Don't
need that anymore. Just trans dot Siberian dot com. Correct,
I don't.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Want to dash Siberian right dash trans.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Not dash okay dash so trans dash Siberian dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yep, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, welcome back to UH to Worcester and it's it's
gonna be great. You're gonna be in Worcester, I know
on November twenty ninth, so that would be probably the
weekend after Thanksgiving. Great family time. Jeff Plate really appreciate
you've giving us that history and giving us a sense
of it. And it is a great show and we've
had you on before and we'll have you every year
(10:00):
because you guys provide great family entertainment at a reasonable
price for a not only New England neers, but a
lot of folks all across the country. Thanks so much,
have a have a great tour year.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Thank you, take care.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Good night, Okay, good night. We come back. We're going
to talk with the editor of in Boston Magazine. There
is a connection to in Boston Magazine. They have done
a feature this month on yours truly the host of Nightside,
and I want you to know that we have a
little surprise for loyal Nightside listeners, so you want to
(10:35):
stay with us. And later on we're going to talk
about stem learning, and we're also going to talk about
the electricity being back at Fenway Park with Rick Tnio,
Boston Globe journalist, about a piece that he's written about
Louis Tion's presence at twenty twenty five, the guy that
led the Red Sox to the World Series in nineteen
(10:56):
seventy five, in a ways back even though past last October.
A great guy, a great friend, someone who I really
enjoyed being with thieves. So I'm looking forward. We have
great guests tonight. Coming up next is ian Marie Lafauci,
the editor of in Boston Magazine. And this is a
great magazine, if I do say so, myself. We're coming
(11:19):
back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I am delighted to welcome back to Night's Side the
editor of In Boston magazine and Marie Lafauci. And Marie,
I'm looking at this edition and all of your editions
are great, but this one is particularly good. How are
you tonight?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
I'm great? Thank you, Dan. How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I am doing wonderfully. And you know this. For many years,
I've seen magazines come and go. Yours is getting stronger
and has been around now for several years. And it
is not just a magazine that has lots of ads
as a lot of magazines. This is actually a magazine
(12:08):
about people in Boston and people who are being successful.
This month. Will leave me out of it for now,
but right just give us a quick rundown of some
of the people who get profiled other than yours, truly,
which we'll talk about in.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Just a couple of moments.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Tell us you know my favorite.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Well, that's what you tell all the guys. I'm sure
only kidding. So your profile, Dan Commings of Journey Forward,
an amazing young man. You profile a new TV show
called Love on the Spectrum. You have a story in
there about Jennifer Coolidge, Emerson College graduate who's a huge success.
(12:54):
The tagline is in Boston Magazine where legends are made.
I know if you might ago, you had the head
of the teamster Sean O'Brien, you've had Matt Light, Ernie Bach.
What's the whole what's the underlying philosophy of this magazine
which really is a great and by the way, the
(13:14):
photography is beautiful. The quality of the magazine is top shelf.
I am so happy to have you with me tonight,
as you probably can tell, go ahead and brag on this.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Thank you so much. I appreciated so much, and I
love that, you know, we were able to thank you
for being a part of it. And we try to
really reach deep down into the you know, communities in
Boston and find people who will that we find to
be legends. Like we feel not so much the people
(13:43):
everyone already knows about, like the celebrities and the sports heroes,
and which we have so many of that here, but
we also have like real change makers in the communities
that are doing incredible things that you may not have
heard of otherwise. So we're trying to really showcase Boston
and what you know, I mentioned this to you know,
continue to find these people who are doing great things,
(14:06):
like like a Dan Cummings kind of person who you know,
brought the He was total, he was gonna be paralyzed.
I know, you know the story. A lot of people
probably don't. But then he went out and you know,
he wouldn't accept that for an answer, so he went
and found basically a qu r. He's walking now with
the walker, but walking on his own two legs, and
brought that treatment back here to treat people who are
(14:27):
given the same fate, you know as being told they'll
never walk again. And you know, he's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Night First Night from the Brady Bunch has been very
supportive and so one of the cover photos is Dan
Commings along with Jake Tebow, local hockey player who suffered
this what would be what is a cataclysmic injury, but
he's doing well. Those are the stories of success that
(14:56):
that that we need to know about much more. Obviously,
you know, Jennifer Coolidge is well known, and then you
focus this new TV show Love on the Spectrum, tell
us about that.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Oh that's amazing. So I. The reason I found out
about Love on the Spectrum is we were doing the
photo shoot with Christopher Night and Dan and Jake, and
during that Christopher says, have you ever I want you
to meet my friend Calli. He did a documentary on
the life of Callie true Love, and she runs a
foundation called the True Love Foundation where she has william
(15:34):
Syndrome and she was told her parents were told when
she was born she wouldn't make a past twelve months old,
and God bless her, she's twenty two years old today.
You know, she's such an amazing girl, full of love
for everyone. And she was also also cast on the
show Love on the Spectrum. So when he told me
about that, he said, you have some cast members that
(15:55):
live right here in Boston and it's a great new show.
And you know, I hadn't heard about it prior to that,
so I looked into it and these girls are just
such loves. They're amazing, they're great people. And when we
had the photo shoot, I you know, I didn't I
didn't care. How how would I say popular it would be?
(16:16):
It was more about telling their story and we wanted
to make them feel, you know, that their story was
told and out that, but one point four million people
commented on their their posts. I couldn't believe it. I've
never seen anything like it. The following that they have
is incredible. The message that they're bringing, just that you know,
everyone's equal, no mattery of disability, and really beautiful, great things.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They're beautiful girls as well. Again in Boston Magazine, Boston's
premier lifestyle magazine where legends are made, and you did
you were kind enough to do a profile piece on
the host of night Side myself which came out.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Yeah, great, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Well, I hope that some of my listeners are going
to go to the website in Boston Magazine all one
word dot com and UH and perhaps subscribe or maybe
purchase this uh this quarter. This is the summer of
twenty twenty five edition. But in addition, we're gonna we
(17:23):
have a little surprise for our listeners courtesy of in
Boston Magazine and the first five listeners that want to
call six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Uh.
Anne Marie Fauci, the editor promises me that they that
she will send you a complimentary copy of this quarters
(17:44):
magazine which does profile your favorite talk show host. If
you're listening to Night Side. It is a great article.
By the way, the fellow who wrote it is really
wonderful writer Mark Zappula. Talks about my career and talks
about what I've done and how I got to what
(18:04):
I'm doing. So it's it's the best profile that I've
ever seen experience. So, first five calls, and you've got
to be quick six one, seven, two, five, four, ten
thirty and you will get in the mail. All you
have to do is go to your mailbox or or
go to your front door. The lines are lighting up
(18:25):
right now. First five, Rob, just get a name and
a number. Don't hang up because Rob is dealing with
some people right now. You can try six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty and we'll take care of that for you. Actually,
Anne Marie will take care of it for you, and
I'll tell you if you have. This is a magazine
that I am proud to have on my coffee table,
(18:48):
not just because as an article on me in it,
but I'm going to subscribe, and I hope many of
my listeners will also subscribe. Because there have been magazines before,
there were nothing but his advertise, and this is just
the opposite these are great stories about Bostonians and about
people from New England. I think this is an absolute
(19:10):
winner in Marie, I'm telling you right.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Now, thank you, Thank.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You great magazine and Marie, thank you so much. Please
thank Mark Soapoula, the writer on it. The other thing
that I love about it is that you have a
side panel of my awards and recognitions, and it's comprehensive
and it blew me away. I kept looking at this
and saying, you know, those are a lot of awards
(19:35):
right that.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
It's such an honor to have you in here. People
are calling me just because they saw your name on
the cover. They're like, you have Dan Ray in the magazine.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Will he be here?
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Can we meet him? I'm like, I would love that.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I promise you the next event I will be there.
I was a little out of pocket, if you will,
when you had the party, which was on a beautiful
tall ship in East Boston. So count me in next time. Okay,
thanks so much, and Marie, I really appreciate it. We're
going to listeners happy tonight, we'll talk again.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Okay, thanks so much, Thank you so much. I appreciate
your time.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
In Boston Magazine, Dot com look at it. They they
also post the edition free of charge to look you
can you can find you can look at the free
edition on Facebook or Instagram. That's a little tip. But
I'm telling you right now, you want to have a
magazine like this. This is and if you're a Nightside fan,
I thank you. I think you'll like it. Particularly Thanks Anne,
(20:32):
Marie talk soon. Thanks and I'm talking to you next week.
I'm hoping that this bumps your subscription and great.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I mentioned a couple of times later on tonight during
the show as well.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Thanks so much, Amory talk, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Okay, thanks all.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Right, go take a quick little break here for news,
and we will be back with two more guests. We're
going to come back and we're going to talk about
STEM education and what the future might hold. We'll be
back on night Side. We have our five callers already,
so we're done. Uh stop. You got to stop it
at five because I think people would call all night long. Rob,
(21:10):
I appreciate it. We're coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Okay, I am delighted to introduce Christine Cunningham. She is
the Senior Vice president of STEM Learning, the Museum of Science,
and National Assessment Governing Board member. Welcome, Welcome Christine to Nightside.
How are you.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
I'm well, Thanks thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So when we talk about STEM, we talk about science
and technology and mathematics, you know, the type of courses
that are probably the most challenging. Uh and uh. We've
seen a little bit of a drop here for eighth
graders in science point drop. Is this something we need
to be concerned about or is that something that periodically
(22:06):
is going to happen going up and down?
Speaker 5 (22:10):
The scores from the MAP assessment do go up and down,
but we do need to be concerned about a four
point decrease. That is a large drop of between the
tests in twenty nineteen and the test that was administered
in twenty twenty four. But importantly, it's also part of
a larger trend that was declining even before the twenty
(22:34):
nineteen tests. So in general, science scores are going down,
which is never the direction we'd like to see test
scores moving.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So what do you attribute it to? Obviously, when you
say twenty nineteen to twenty twenty four, I think about
obviously the impact that COVID has had a lot of
schools were remote learning. It was a difficult time for
kids to be in school. Is that acceptable? I mean,
it is what it is, But is it acceptable under
the circumstances.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Of COVID, Well, we don't know. From the NAPE test
itself does not investigate the causes of these score declines. However,
putting on a different hat and thinking more generally in
my other life at the Museum of Science, there are
(23:25):
some factors that we can talk about that might have
attributed to that decline. So we've seen decline not only
in science, but also in math and reading on the
NATE score. So this is not just one discipline. So
that likely has something to do with the pandemic. And
so certainly the pandemic contributed to these declines, but as
(23:49):
I mentioned, these declines are also happening before the pandemic began,
so that would suggest that other factors are also at work.
We know after that pandemic there's been an increased emphasis
on math and reading because those scores also decreased, and
(24:10):
so some of that time that increased time has come
from time that might have been spent in science. So
there's in some schools likely less time on science, and
there's also reports in these data the students are reporting
that they're doing less scientific inquiry type activities in the classroom,
(24:32):
So the type of work that's being done might also
be driving some of these declines in the classrooms.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Now, the acronym STEM is relatively recent stands for science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics. Obviously, mathematics and science are taught in elementary schools,
junior high schools. At what level is technology and engineering
(24:58):
introduced to students in high school or is it even
introduced to students in high school?
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Technology and engineering are introduced actually as young as preschool.
So this is what I have spent the last twenty
years of my life working on. Yes, So both in
our museum floors at the Museum of Science, we have
engineering even for the teeny tiny children. But my work
has focused more on developing curricula and working with educators
(25:28):
in Massachusetts and the country. So how do we help
even very young children do engineering and technology type activity?
So we have activities written for as young as three
year olds, so they can start very very young.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
What is the genesis of STEM? At some point someone
or someone's must have said Hey, we're falling behind in
science and technology and engineering and mathematics. How long has
the emphasis on STEM been with us? It's only relatively
recently correct.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
It's about I think twenty years old. I believe it's
been traced back to a program director at the National
Science Foundation. I think she was the first one to
term to coin the term. Originally some of the acronyms
were in different order, but it's become much more common,
(26:26):
I would say in about the past seven or eight years.
It's really come into its own as a distinct acronym
that educational spaces are looking toward.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
So how are you are our students in the United
States across the board doing in this field of STEM again, science, Technology, engineering,
and mathematics. Where do we stand with students from around
the world? Because I have seen articles that I think
(26:56):
we're behind countries like India or China. They are Indonesia,
A lot of the Asian countries seem to be ahead
of us in this in these areas. Or Am I
reading those stories incorrectly?
Speaker 5 (27:09):
No, you are reading those stories correctly. So we are
not in the top ranked nations generally in the international tests.
We have a ways to go. To get to those
top ranked spaces. The scores that just came out for
the NATE Test only US test students in the United States,
(27:31):
but the results in those tests are echoed by international
assessments in the United States. Does have a ways to
go before we would be at the top of those
those test scores.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Okay, So what do we have to do in your opinion,
obviously you're a big advocate here, what do we have
to do to play catch up either with our with
ourselves in the two hundred twenty nineteen scores, or more importantly,
play catch up with younger young students in the countries
around the world.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
So I think one of the first things we need
to do is make sure that students are being exposed
to science and engineering education in their classrooms. As I said,
some of it has been decreasing in years, a number
of amount of time they have, and so I think
we want to make sure that from a very young age,
in our classrooms and in our after school and other
(28:24):
enrichment spaces, students have the opportunity to do STEM. But
it's not just doing it that matters, it's the kind
of STEM that folks have. So we would love students
to be engaged in experiences that are hands on, that
are interesting, that engage them in the kind of science
(28:45):
and engineering work that is done by real scientists, obviously
at age appropriate levels, and we want them to help
see those connections between what they're doing and their lives.
So I think if we can create those kinds of
environments where students are interested, when they're actively engaged, when
they're thinking about collecting and analyzing and discussing data, persisting
(29:11):
through the failures communicating what they're learning with their peers,
I think those kinds of experiences are the way that
we can help students learn the concepts more deeply and
to really internalize some of the understandings of science. So
I believe myself that we need experiences that are very
(29:33):
project based, that are integrated so students can learn some
of the core ideas and think about how they might
apply them to the problem that they're trying to solve
that day, or the local news story they just heard
about something in their community. Because we know that that
kind of youth and interest is what helps children to
(29:54):
remember what they're doing and better understand the work of
scientists and engineers.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Question, do we need to start to teach these subjects
against science, technology, engineering and mathematics differently than we have taught.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Is that.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
A way in which we can get these schools up. No,
not just for the sake of getting the scores up,
but for getting kids more excited about these subjects.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yes, absolutely. I think we know that roat memorization is
not engaging, and students often don't remember much past the
end of class or the very short term assessments they
might have. So if we can get students engaging in
real inquiry and hands on experiences in classrooms, they're metsier,
(30:51):
they may take more time, but at the end of
the day, it's what students remember, and it's what was
going to help us create a generation that's ready to
tackle the problems and science and engineering that their generation
will face.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well. Christine Counningham, Senior Vice President of STEM Learning at
the Museum of Science and also remember the National Governing Board,
thanks so much for your time tonight, and we'd be
more than happy to talk about this again with you
at any point in time, because I think it is
certainly the future and if we don't get our act together,
we're all going to pay a price. At some point
(31:27):
on the line. Trust me on that. I mean that seriously.
I mean we have to rely on young people to
fall in love with these disciplines and make the most
of them for the benefit of everyone.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Thank you so much, my pleasure, Thanks for having me,
very welcome.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
When we get back on to talk a little bit
about the late great and I emphasized Great Louis till
on he was a good friend. Rich Tenorio of the
Boston Globe has written a piece on Louis's legacy. It
was fifty years ago this season that Louis was lighting
up Fenway Park. Guess what, He's still lighting up and
he's inspiring the crowds at Fenway Park. It's a great story.
(32:07):
Back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Well, the Red Sox are playing the Yankees tonight. You
can't watch it on TV because it's not on Nesson,
which I think is a mistake. But that neither here
nor there will let that one go. However, the electricity
is back at Fenway Park. Red Sox look they as
if they probably are going to make the playoffs, at
least the wild Card. This year with us is rich Tenario.
(32:36):
He is a Boston Globe journalist and he's written a
very interesting piece on Louis ti On's continuing legacy with
the Boston Red Sox. Welcome to you, rich ten Oio.
How are you.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Very good? Dan?
Speaker 6 (32:50):
How are you doing just great?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
So this is Prospective magazine. Is that a Globe magazine?
Speaker 7 (32:58):
By the way, I think it's coming out in the
magazine section. I saw it in the magazine section online.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
I'm sorry this week this Sunday.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
I mean, that's what I think. Yeah, And I wanted
to say I had some real good editors on this
piece and one of them had the great point that
at the Red Sox Games when I rolled this Chaplain
comes out to pitch. He has a tribute and there's
these images Cuba themed images on the tribute because that's
(33:33):
where Chapman's from. And it includes so it's salsa dancers
moving to the music of La Ville Celia Cruz salsa
hit and the very first image in this oh, and
there's also Chapman holding up a Cuban flag. Very first
image in the tribute is is Leu Killant smoking one
(33:56):
of those cigars. And so this is sort of the
light motif that introduces reintroduces Kian and some anniversaries that
are coming up this year. It's it's been almost a
year since he passed last October. You had that wonderful
episode the day after he passed with the very touching words.
(34:21):
And also we're coming up on the fiftieth anniversary of
that amazing world series, the Big Red Machine against the
Red Sox Reds four, Red Sox three. Five of the
seven games were won by only one run.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, I still wonder why they took Willoughby out in
the seventh game. That's that. I wake up in the
middle of the night some nights and think, why did
they take Willeby out? He was really pitching pretty well.
But that's neither here there. Louis was a great guy.
I knew Louis very well, and we occasionally have breakfast
with him over in the Milton area.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
A very who comes restaurant?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Right, yep, absolutely Newcomb's restaurant. Yeah, had you have breakfast.
Speaker 8 (35:05):
Of Louis over there, I'm afraid not.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh, I might have seen well, if you were, I
might have seen you with Louis. The problem was he
was always trying to pick up the check, and I
was trying to pick up the check and would end
up in a fight over it. But Louis and his wife,
the beautiful Maria, just to amazing people I saw Louis.
The first time I saw Louis pitch was nineteen sixty
five for the for the Cleveland Indians, and he started
(35:32):
a game in late September. It was a Thursday afternoon game,
September sixteenth, nineteen sixty five. He pitched really well that day.
He only gave up two runs, but he lost because
the Red Sox pitcher who went up against him that day,
a young pitcher named Dave Moorehead threw a no hitter
through a no hitter against the Indians game. And I'm
(35:57):
telling you, they weren't two hundred people in the ballpark
that afternoon. You could you could you could hear the pigeons.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
In his autobiography, he mentions he mentions that year because
that year was also very important for his future days
as a member of the Red Sox because that's when
Dick O'Connell took over as the GM and he credits
O'Connell with having a more enlightened attitude towards bringing Black
and Latino players to the Red Sox.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well. O'Connell was actually the story that day was that
O'Connell was named general manager that very day. Oh okay,
so there was some irony involved in that. And of course,
you know, Louis went on and he had a good year.
He won twenty games one year with the Minnesota Twins,
and then he kind of I don't know, he he
(36:45):
just hit a bump in the road and the Red
Sox picked him up and he had great years with
the Red Sox. Yeah, you know you did you? I
assume you've you've met Louis at some point. You mentioned
Newcomb's restaurant.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
You know, I learned about Newcomb's Restaurant listening to your show.
The closest I've got to Milton might be I don't know,
Tony's Clamshack and Quincy.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
I'm familiar with the Clamshack and Quincy too. A good
friend of mine works there, but they never saw Alois there.
So this piece, I know it's online already. The electricity
is back at Fenway, and so was the late Louis Tiant.
Where did you come up with the idea to do
this piece? That's a great piece. It's a great piece,
and it's a great idea. What prompted you to write
(37:40):
the story?
Speaker 7 (37:41):
Well, thanks for asking.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
I do think fifty years since that seventy five World series.
Another thing that I really liked about Tian was that
after his playing days were over, he came back to
the Red Sox in two thousand and two as a
I don't know, goodwill and a special assistant and work
with the young players. And I thought that was really wonderful.
(38:05):
In fact, when I remember him one day in the
Red Sox clubhouse, this is a wild I mean, I
think it was the day Manny Ramirez ga created. But
he was just such a calm presence in the Socks
clubhouse with cigars, and so I really like all of that,
(38:25):
and also the fact that he was a star on
the Red Sox, a beloved player at a very divisive
time in Boston history, the Busting era, and that's addressed
in his autobiography and fans, diverse fans, Black Latino fans,
they say they talk about just what it meant to
(38:47):
have tiantas such a beloved presence on the Red Sox,
and so all of that I think I brought into
the piece. I mean, it also talks about his excellence
on the mound. His excellence in the World Series is
unconventional delivery.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Oh absolutely, absolutely such a showman. Uh go back and
look at the box score of the seventh game of
the World Series, the game the Red Sox lost, and
you'll see that they had a right handed pitcher, Willoughby,
Jim Willoughby, who was doing really well, and then they
brought in a lefty named Burton, and he gave up
(39:23):
the He gave up the hit two well thin.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Another moment in that game was Pete Willse hit a
slide on the on what looked like a short double
played ball and he's so scared Danny Doyle that Doyle
rustless throw instead of beyond the inning you got two
men on. And then Tony Perez hits the ball I
guess on the Linstound Street.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well that was that's the one. That's the one that
Bill Lee threw him the Ethis pitch. Yeah, yeah, fifty
miles whatever it was miles an hour and Perez decided, Okay,
we're gonna launch this one anyway. Hey, look, I gotta
let you run. But I so enjoy talking about Louis
Tiant and about baseball. Everybody should read the piece in
(40:07):
the Globe on Sunday by Rich Tenorio. Have I pronounced
the name correctly? I've got to make sure I get
it right.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
You did.
Speaker 6 (40:15):
Thanks, Dan's such a pleasure talking with you.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Right back at your Rich again. Congratulations Prospective magazine in
the Boston Globe on Sunday. The electricity is back at Fenway,
and so with the late Louis Tiant. What a guy,
What a guy. Thanks Rich, We'll talk again. Here comes
the nine o'clock news, and on the other side, we
are going to talk about the ultimate break in the
murder of Charlie Kirk, and that is a thirty three
(40:39):
hour man hunt has ended in the arrest of a suspect,
twenty two year old man from Saint George's, Utah. He
lives about three or four hours away, but it would appear,
it would appear he enjoys the presumption of innocence. But
it would appear that the Utah Law Enforcement and the
(40:59):
FBI have their man back on nightside. After this
It's Nice Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, we are heading to the weekend, everybody, and this
has been a crazy week and it's been a tough,
tragic week. Yesterday we were remembering nine to eleven, twenty
four years ago. Yesterday and the day before, we were
all shocked by the the murder out at a Utah
(00:30):
college campus, and today the arrest of the man that
fired the single shot that took the life of the
conservative political activist. So we're going to deal with that
tonight at nine o'clock, as I'm sure you would expect,
and everything else. The death, the murder, it's it's more
(00:55):
than a death, it's a murder of Charlie Kirk. We're
going to deal with that. We're also going to deal
with the all out from it. And there were some
comments today made by the Governor of Utah which I
thought were particularly effective, and we're going to talk about that.
But first, we have four great guests coming up here
in the eight o'clock hour, and we are going to
start off with a guest, a member of the Trans
(01:16):
Siberian Orchestra, and I know that there are a lot
of fans of the TSO in my audience, Jeff played.
He's a heavy metal drummer with the band. Hey, Jeff,
welcome to night Side. How are you.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I'm doing great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, you know, Jeff, what's interesting, I was just doing
a little research here on the TSO, and I guess
that the the origins of this phenomenal orchestra is not
are not necessarily in Siberia, but it's it's all about
this part of the world where where people really do
(01:56):
live and you know, in some tough circumstances. Have any
of the members of the DSO ever gotten to Siberia,
you know, maybe like in the summertime.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, it's an interesting question, but it brings up how
the band was named so. Paul O'Neill. Paul O'Neil was
the man that created the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Paul, he's
been in the rock business for years. During the seventies
he was managing bands like Ero Smith with I'm sure
you're familiar with Scorpions, def Leppard, Ted Nusan. You know,
(02:31):
Paul was part of this whole rock scene for modernise
shows and was also a songwriter, also a producer. He
always had this vision of creating this band that could
really cover all the bases, so to speak, you know,
a group that could sing anythings, sing any style, play anything,
play any style, but also surround that with just an
(02:52):
amazing show. So at some point in Paul's life, he
actually wrote the trans Siberia in railway and I read that, Yeah,
he wrote, Yeah, he wrote the railway from one end
to the other, and was just kind of taken back
and fascinated by, you know, a how long this was,
but how many different areas and cultures and you know,
(03:16):
climates and everything that this railway traveled through. And he
kind of made the connection between that train ride and
this idea of his with this band covering all the bases,
covering all the demographics, you know, the different you know,
you name it so well and behold. At some point
along the way, he met a couple of men named
(03:39):
the Eliber brothers, John Lever and Chris Oliva, who were
working in a band called Sabotage. Paul was managing this band,
producing them, writing for them. A number of things happened
in the group which brought me in. My history is high.
Live in the Boston area for ten years, I was
(03:59):
I lived Weymouth for Worcester for a couple of years,
and then I moved to the South Shore to Weymouth, Braintree,
brocked in that area down there. Wow, played the Channel
many times, played bun Ratties many times. For your older listeners,
they'll recognize these clubs.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I do.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
But I was part of the Yeah So. I was
part of the rock scene out there and worked in
a band where the lead singer from this group actually
ended up singing for Sabotage. And in nineteen ninety four,
after some changes in the band, I was called in
to become the drummer. So listen to Yeah. So this
(04:37):
was my meeting paul O deal. And there's a long
story after that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well, i'll tell you first. First of all, it's a
phenomenal band. The show is amazing. I will tell you
that I have a very good friend of mine who
rode that train across Siberia and happens to be for
the last at least forty years, the missions director at
Harvard University, Bill Fitzsimmons. And it's just amazing that the
(05:06):
one person in the world that I would know who's
talked to me about that train ride, and I've actually
thought about it at some point when I retired to
take the ride. I have no idea what it's going
to be like, but I'll have to take some earbuds
and tso music with me. I didn't know of your connection,
and when you mentioned bun Ratty's and the Channel, and
(05:27):
there's a whole bunch of memories that flow through my mind.
It looks to me, I'm looking at your schedule here,
which is just an amazing schedule. Looks like you have
an East Coast group and a West Coast group because
you're just you're playing every night up until Christmas through
virtually you start in what late October the tour.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
We've been in rehearsing late October. The tour actually starts
for us this year. I believe it's November thirteenth, Vember sixteenth,
and you're.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Up the always up in Manchester, New Hampshire a couple
of nights, and also your old stopping grounds Worcester.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yes. Yeah, And if you notice, these shows are night
after night, so we are doing two shows a day,
three days in a row, which is part of the course.
We began touring in nineteen ninety nine as a trial.
We did seven shows. It was received so well and
there was such a demand for it that we could
(06:29):
not cover all the dates and all the ground with
just the one group. So Paul O'Neill and his management
team said, let's put the original group in two and
we'll fill out the cast and we can cover all
these dates. So we've been We've been touring the country
with these two bands for well ever since the year
two thousand, but around two thousand and five is when
(06:51):
we really hit this insane schedule of eight shows and
five days every week, three doubles in a row. It's
just amazing how this this project that Paul created connected
with millions of people all across the country and there
was just such a demand for it. And still here
(07:11):
we are today is twenty twenty five. This is our
twenty seventh year of touring. The tours are massive, they
sell out, and that the audience just seems to be
growing every year.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
The other thing, too, is interesting for anybody who's interested.
I hope a lot of people are interested. The ticket
prices are really reasonable. I looked at the ticket prices.
They pretty much seem to seem to be pretty similar
across the country. But how many people will will the
TSO with the two groups play in front of just
(07:44):
this year, you've got to be getting close to a
million people a year.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yes, yes, it is. It is close to a million
people a year. Bring nine hundred thousand, a million people
a year. Paul O'Neil was very conscious about the ticket prices.
You know, TSO is a family show. There's a strong
holiday influence, you know, throughout the music, and so he
(08:11):
realized that people were coming with families, with groups. He
wanted to make it affordable for them. And also too,
we figured, if we're going to do this tour every year,
we would love for people to come back every year
and experience this, be a part of this and watch
this thing grow. So I mean, as you see some
of the larger acts, the ticket prices are through the
(08:32):
room mind boggling, yes, but TSO has done a very
good job of keeping that reasonable for the fans.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I'm just playing some TSO in the background. It
is a spectacular show. So if anyone here within the
sound of my voice, wbus, we've reached the eastern half
of the US. But you know, our home turf is
New England, and I know you're in Worcester, and I
know that you're up in Manchester, New Hampshire. It's late
November if I'm not mistaken, right, so plenty of time
for folks to get tickets. What is the easiest way
(09:00):
for folks to get tickets to just go to the website?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yes, yes, ww dot trans dash Siberian dot com and
all the info on the tours there, ticket availability, everything.
That's the good, best place to go.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That sounds great. You know one thing that WWW. Don't
need that anymore. Just trans dot Siberian dot com. Correct,
I don't.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Want to dash Siberian right dash trans.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Not dash okay dash so trans dash Siberian dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yep, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, welcome back to UH to Worcester and it's it's
gonna be great. You're gonna be in Worcester, I know
on November twenty ninth, so that would be probably the
weekend after Thanksgiving. Great family time. Jeff Plate really appreciate
you've giving us that history and giving us a sense
of it. And it is a great show and we've
had you on before and we'll have you every year
(10:00):
because you guys provide great family entertainment at a reasonable
price for a not only New England neers, but a
lot of folks all across the country. Thanks so much,
have a have a great tour year.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Thank you, take care.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Good night, Okay, good night. We come back. We're going
to talk with the editor of in Boston Magazine. There
is a connection to in Boston Magazine. They have done
a feature this month on yours truly the host of Nightside,
and I want you to know that we have a
little surprise for loyal Nightside listeners, so you want to
(10:35):
stay with us. And later on we're going to talk
about stem learning, and we're also going to talk about
the electricity being back at Fenway Park with Rick Tnio,
Boston Globe journalist, about a piece that he's written about
Louis Tion's presence at twenty twenty five, the guy that
led the Red Sox to the World Series in nineteen
(10:56):
seventy five, in a ways back even though past last October.
A great guy, a great friend, someone who I really
enjoyed being with thieves. So I'm looking forward. We have
great guests tonight. Coming up next is ian Marie Lafauci,
the editor of in Boston Magazine. And this is a
great magazine, if I do say so, myself. We're coming
(11:19):
back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I am delighted to welcome back to Night's Side the
editor of In Boston magazine and Marie Lafauci. And Marie,
I'm looking at this edition and all of your editions
are great, but this one is particularly good. How are
you tonight?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
I'm great? Thank you, Dan. How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I am doing wonderfully. And you know this. For many years,
I've seen magazines come and go. Yours is getting stronger
and has been around now for several years. And it
is not just a magazine that has lots of ads
as a lot of magazines. This is actually a magazine
(12:08):
about people in Boston and people who are being successful.
This month. Will leave me out of it for now,
but right just give us a quick rundown of some
of the people who get profiled other than yours, truly,
which we'll talk about in.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Just a couple of moments.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Tell us you know my favorite.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Well, that's what you tell all the guys. I'm sure
only kidding. So your profile, Dan Commings of Journey Forward,
an amazing young man. You profile a new TV show
called Love on the Spectrum. You have a story in
there about Jennifer Coolidge, Emerson College graduate who's a huge success.
(12:54):
The tagline is in Boston Magazine where legends are made.
I know if you might ago, you had the head
of the teamster Sean O'Brien, you've had Matt Light, Ernie Bach.
What's the whole what's the underlying philosophy of this magazine
which really is a great and by the way, the
(13:14):
photography is beautiful. The quality of the magazine is top shelf.
I am so happy to have you with me tonight,
as you probably can tell, go ahead and brag on this.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Thank you so much. I appreciated so much, and I
love that, you know, we were able to thank you
for being a part of it. And we try to
really reach deep down into the you know, communities in
Boston and find people who will that we find to
be legends. Like we feel not so much the people
(13:43):
everyone already knows about, like the celebrities and the sports heroes,
and which we have so many of that here, but
we also have like real change makers in the communities
that are doing incredible things that you may not have
heard of otherwise. So we're trying to really showcase Boston
and what you know, I mentioned this to you know,
continue to find these people who are doing great things,
(14:06):
like like a Dan Cummings kind of person who you know,
brought the He was total, he was gonna be paralyzed.
I know, you know the story. A lot of people
probably don't. But then he went out and you know,
he wouldn't accept that for an answer, so he went
and found basically a qu r. He's walking now with
the walker, but walking on his own two legs, and
brought that treatment back here to treat people who are
(14:27):
given the same fate, you know as being told they'll
never walk again. And you know, he's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Night First Night from the Brady Bunch has been very
supportive and so one of the cover photos is Dan
Commings along with Jake Tebow, local hockey player who suffered
this what would be what is a cataclysmic injury, but
he's doing well. Those are the stories of success that
(14:56):
that that we need to know about much more. Obviously,
you know, Jennifer Coolidge is well known, and then you
focus this new TV show Love on the Spectrum, tell
us about that.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Oh that's amazing. So I. The reason I found out
about Love on the Spectrum is we were doing the
photo shoot with Christopher Night and Dan and Jake, and
during that Christopher says, have you ever I want you
to meet my friend Calli. He did a documentary on
the life of Callie true Love, and she runs a
foundation called the True Love Foundation where she has william
(15:34):
Syndrome and she was told her parents were told when
she was born she wouldn't make a past twelve months old,
and God bless her, she's twenty two years old today.
You know, she's such an amazing girl, full of love
for everyone. And she was also also cast on the
show Love on the Spectrum. So when he told me
about that, he said, you have some cast members that
(15:55):
live right here in Boston and it's a great new show.
And you know, I hadn't heard about it prior to that,
so I looked into it and these girls are just
such loves. They're amazing, they're great people. And when we
had the photo shoot, I you know, I didn't I
didn't care. How how would I say popular it would be?
(16:16):
It was more about telling their story and we wanted
to make them feel, you know, that their story was
told and out that, but one point four million people
commented on their their posts. I couldn't believe it. I've
never seen anything like it. The following that they have
is incredible. The message that they're bringing, just that you know,
everyone's equal, no mattery of disability, and really beautiful, great things.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They're beautiful girls as well. Again in Boston Magazine, Boston's
premier lifestyle magazine where legends are made, and you did
you were kind enough to do a profile piece on
the host of night Side myself which came out.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Yeah, great, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Well, I hope that some of my listeners are going
to go to the website in Boston Magazine all one
word dot com and UH and perhaps subscribe or maybe
purchase this uh this quarter. This is the summer of
twenty twenty five edition. But in addition, we're gonna we
(17:23):
have a little surprise for our listeners courtesy of in
Boston Magazine and the first five listeners that want to
call six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Uh.
Anne Marie Fauci, the editor promises me that they that
she will send you a complimentary copy of this quarters
(17:44):
magazine which does profile your favorite talk show host. If
you're listening to Night Side. It is a great article.
By the way, the fellow who wrote it is really
wonderful writer Mark Zappula. Talks about my career and talks
about what I've done and how I got to what
(18:04):
I'm doing. So it's it's the best profile that I've
ever seen experience. So, first five calls, and you've got
to be quick six one, seven, two, five, four, ten
thirty and you will get in the mail. All you
have to do is go to your mailbox or or
go to your front door. The lines are lighting up
(18:25):
right now. First five, Rob, just get a name and
a number. Don't hang up because Rob is dealing with
some people right now. You can try six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty and we'll take care of that for you. Actually,
Anne Marie will take care of it for you, and
I'll tell you if you have. This is a magazine
that I am proud to have on my coffee table,
(18:48):
not just because as an article on me in it,
but I'm going to subscribe, and I hope many of
my listeners will also subscribe. Because there have been magazines before,
there were nothing but his advertise, and this is just
the opposite these are great stories about Bostonians and about
people from New England. I think this is an absolute
(19:10):
winner in Marie, I'm telling you right.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Now, thank you, Thank.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You great magazine and Marie, thank you so much. Please
thank Mark Soapoula, the writer on it. The other thing
that I love about it is that you have a
side panel of my awards and recognitions, and it's comprehensive
and it blew me away. I kept looking at this
and saying, you know, those are a lot of awards
(19:35):
right that.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
It's such an honor to have you in here. People
are calling me just because they saw your name on
the cover. They're like, you have Dan Ray in the magazine.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Will he be here?
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Can we meet him? I'm like, I would love that.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I promise you the next event I will be there.
I was a little out of pocket, if you will,
when you had the party, which was on a beautiful
tall ship in East Boston. So count me in next time. Okay,
thanks so much, and Marie, I really appreciate it. We're
going to listeners happy tonight, we'll talk again.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Okay, thanks so much, Thank you so much. I appreciate
your time.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
In Boston Magazine, Dot com look at it. They they
also post the edition free of charge to look you
can you can find you can look at the free
edition on Facebook or Instagram. That's a little tip. But
I'm telling you right now, you want to have a
magazine like this. This is and if you're a Nightside fan,
I thank you. I think you'll like it. Particularly Thanks Anne,
(20:32):
Marie talk soon. Thanks and I'm talking to you next week.
I'm hoping that this bumps your subscription and great.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I mentioned a couple of times later on tonight during
the show as well.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Thanks so much, Amory talk, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Okay, thanks all.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Right, go take a quick little break here for news,
and we will be back with two more guests. We're
going to come back and we're going to talk about
STEM education and what the future might hold. We'll be
back on night Side. We have our five callers already,
so we're done. Uh stop. You got to stop it
at five because I think people would call all night long. Rob,
(21:10):
I appreciate it. We're coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Okay, I am delighted to introduce Christine Cunningham. She is
the Senior Vice president of STEM Learning, the Museum of Science,
and National Assessment Governing Board member. Welcome, Welcome Christine to Nightside.
How are you.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
I'm well, Thanks thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So when we talk about STEM, we talk about science
and technology and mathematics, you know, the type of courses
that are probably the most challenging. Uh and uh. We've
seen a little bit of a drop here for eighth
graders in science point drop. Is this something we need
to be concerned about or is that something that periodically
(22:06):
is going to happen going up and down?
Speaker 5 (22:10):
The scores from the MAP assessment do go up and down,
but we do need to be concerned about a four
point decrease. That is a large drop of between the
tests in twenty nineteen and the test that was administered
in twenty twenty four. But importantly, it's also part of
a larger trend that was declining even before the twenty
(22:34):
nineteen tests. So in general, science scores are going down,
which is never the direction we'd like to see test
scores moving.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So what do you attribute it to? Obviously, when you
say twenty nineteen to twenty twenty four, I think about
obviously the impact that COVID has had a lot of
schools were remote learning. It was a difficult time for
kids to be in school. Is that acceptable? I mean,
it is what it is, But is it acceptable under
the circumstances.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Of COVID, Well, we don't know. From the NAPE test
itself does not investigate the causes of these score declines. However,
putting on a different hat and thinking more generally in
my other life at the Museum of Science, there are
(23:25):
some factors that we can talk about that might have
attributed to that decline. So we've seen decline not only
in science, but also in math and reading on the
NATE score. So this is not just one discipline. So
that likely has something to do with the pandemic. And
so certainly the pandemic contributed to these declines, but as
(23:49):
I mentioned, these declines are also happening before the pandemic began,
so that would suggest that other factors are also at work.
We know after that pandemic there's been an increased emphasis
on math and reading because those scores also decreased, and
(24:10):
so some of that time that increased time has come
from time that might have been spent in science. So
there's in some schools likely less time on science, and
there's also reports in these data the students are reporting
that they're doing less scientific inquiry type activities in the classroom,
(24:32):
So the type of work that's being done might also
be driving some of these declines in the classrooms.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Now, the acronym STEM is relatively recent stands for science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics. Obviously, mathematics and science are taught in elementary schools,
junior high schools. At what level is technology and engineering
(24:58):
introduced to students in high school or is it even
introduced to students in high school?
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Technology and engineering are introduced actually as young as preschool.
So this is what I have spent the last twenty
years of my life working on. Yes, So both in
our museum floors at the Museum of Science, we have
engineering even for the teeny tiny children. But my work
has focused more on developing curricula and working with educators
(25:28):
in Massachusetts and the country. So how do we help
even very young children do engineering and technology type activity?
So we have activities written for as young as three
year olds, so they can start very very young.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
What is the genesis of STEM? At some point someone
or someone's must have said Hey, we're falling behind in
science and technology and engineering and mathematics. How long has
the emphasis on STEM been with us? It's only relatively
recently correct.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
It's about I think twenty years old. I believe it's
been traced back to a program director at the National
Science Foundation. I think she was the first one to
term to coin the term. Originally some of the acronyms
were in different order, but it's become much more common,
(26:26):
I would say in about the past seven or eight years.
It's really come into its own as a distinct acronym
that educational spaces are looking toward.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
So how are you are our students in the United
States across the board doing in this field of STEM again, science, Technology, engineering,
and mathematics. Where do we stand with students from around
the world? Because I have seen articles that I think
(26:56):
we're behind countries like India or China. They are Indonesia,
A lot of the Asian countries seem to be ahead
of us in this in these areas. Or Am I
reading those stories incorrectly?
Speaker 5 (27:09):
No, you are reading those stories correctly. So we are
not in the top ranked nations generally in the international tests.
We have a ways to go. To get to those
top ranked spaces. The scores that just came out for
the NATE Test only US test students in the United States,
(27:31):
but the results in those tests are echoed by international
assessments in the United States. Does have a ways to
go before we would be at the top of those
those test scores.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Okay, So what do we have to do in your opinion,
obviously you're a big advocate here, what do we have
to do to play catch up either with our with
ourselves in the two hundred twenty nineteen scores, or more importantly,
play catch up with younger young students in the countries
around the world.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
So I think one of the first things we need
to do is make sure that students are being exposed
to science and engineering education in their classrooms. As I said,
some of it has been decreasing in years, a number
of amount of time they have, and so I think
we want to make sure that from a very young age,
in our classrooms and in our after school and other
(28:24):
enrichment spaces, students have the opportunity to do STEM. But
it's not just doing it that matters, it's the kind
of STEM that folks have. So we would love students
to be engaged in experiences that are hands on, that
are interesting, that engage them in the kind of science
(28:45):
and engineering work that is done by real scientists, obviously
at age appropriate levels, and we want them to help
see those connections between what they're doing and their lives.
So I think if we can create those kinds of
environments where students are interested, when they're actively engaged, when
they're thinking about collecting and analyzing and discussing data, persisting
(29:11):
through the failures communicating what they're learning with their peers,
I think those kinds of experiences are the way that
we can help students learn the concepts more deeply and
to really internalize some of the understandings of science. So
I believe myself that we need experiences that are very
(29:33):
project based, that are integrated so students can learn some
of the core ideas and think about how they might
apply them to the problem that they're trying to solve
that day, or the local news story they just heard
about something in their community. Because we know that that
kind of youth and interest is what helps children to
(29:54):
remember what they're doing and better understand the work of
scientists and engineers.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Question, do we need to start to teach these subjects
against science, technology, engineering and mathematics differently than we have taught.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Is that.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
A way in which we can get these schools up. No,
not just for the sake of getting the scores up,
but for getting kids more excited about these subjects.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yes, absolutely. I think we know that roat memorization is
not engaging, and students often don't remember much past the
end of class or the very short term assessments they
might have. So if we can get students engaging in
real inquiry and hands on experiences in classrooms, they're metsier,
(30:51):
they may take more time, but at the end of
the day, it's what students remember, and it's what was
going to help us create a generation that's ready to
tackle the problems and science and engineering that their generation
will face.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well. Christine Counningham, Senior Vice President of STEM Learning at
the Museum of Science and also remember the National Governing Board,
thanks so much for your time tonight, and we'd be
more than happy to talk about this again with you
at any point in time, because I think it is
certainly the future and if we don't get our act together,
we're all going to pay a price. At some point
(31:27):
on the line. Trust me on that. I mean that seriously.
I mean we have to rely on young people to
fall in love with these disciplines and make the most
of them for the benefit of everyone.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Thank you so much, my pleasure, Thanks for having me,
very welcome.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
When we get back on to talk a little bit
about the late great and I emphasized Great Louis till
on he was a good friend. Rich Tenorio of the
Boston Globe has written a piece on Louis's legacy. It
was fifty years ago this season that Louis was lighting
up Fenway Park. Guess what, He's still lighting up and
he's inspiring the crowds at Fenway Park. It's a great story.
(32:07):
Back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Well, the Red Sox are playing the Yankees tonight. You
can't watch it on TV because it's not on Nesson,
which I think is a mistake. But that neither here
nor there will let that one go. However, the electricity
is back at Fenway Park. Red Sox look they as
if they probably are going to make the playoffs, at
least the wild Card. This year with us is rich Tenario.
(32:36):
He is a Boston Globe journalist and he's written a
very interesting piece on Louis ti On's continuing legacy with
the Boston Red Sox. Welcome to you, rich ten Oio.
How are you.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Very good? Dan?
Speaker 6 (32:50):
How are you doing just great?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
So this is Prospective magazine. Is that a Globe magazine?
Speaker 7 (32:58):
By the way, I think it's coming out in the
magazine section. I saw it in the magazine section online.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
I'm sorry this week this Sunday.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
I mean, that's what I think. Yeah, And I wanted
to say I had some real good editors on this
piece and one of them had the great point that
at the Red Sox Games when I rolled this Chaplain
comes out to pitch. He has a tribute and there's
these images Cuba themed images on the tribute because that's
(33:33):
where Chapman's from. And it includes so it's salsa dancers
moving to the music of La Ville Celia Cruz salsa
hit and the very first image in this oh, and
there's also Chapman holding up a Cuban flag. Very first
image in the tribute is is Leu Killant smoking one
(33:56):
of those cigars. And so this is sort of the
light motif that introduces reintroduces Kian and some anniversaries that
are coming up this year. It's it's been almost a
year since he passed last October. You had that wonderful
episode the day after he passed with the very touching words.
(34:21):
And also we're coming up on the fiftieth anniversary of
that amazing world series, the Big Red Machine against the
Red Sox Reds four, Red Sox three. Five of the
seven games were won by only one run.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, I still wonder why they took Willoughby out in
the seventh game. That's that. I wake up in the
middle of the night some nights and think, why did
they take Willeby out? He was really pitching pretty well.
But that's neither here there. Louis was a great guy.
I knew Louis very well, and we occasionally have breakfast
with him over in the Milton area.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
A very who comes restaurant?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Right, yep, absolutely Newcomb's restaurant. Yeah, had you have breakfast.
Speaker 8 (35:05):
Of Louis over there, I'm afraid not.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh, I might have seen well, if you were, I
might have seen you with Louis. The problem was he
was always trying to pick up the check, and I
was trying to pick up the check and would end
up in a fight over it. But Louis and his wife,
the beautiful Maria, just to amazing people I saw Louis.
The first time I saw Louis pitch was nineteen sixty
five for the for the Cleveland Indians, and he started
(35:32):
a game in late September. It was a Thursday afternoon game,
September sixteenth, nineteen sixty five. He pitched really well that day.
He only gave up two runs, but he lost because
the Red Sox pitcher who went up against him that day,
a young pitcher named Dave Moorehead threw a no hitter
through a no hitter against the Indians game. And I'm
(35:57):
telling you, they weren't two hundred people in the ballpark
that afternoon. You could you could you could hear the pigeons.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
In his autobiography, he mentions he mentions that year because
that year was also very important for his future days
as a member of the Red Sox because that's when
Dick O'Connell took over as the GM and he credits
O'Connell with having a more enlightened attitude towards bringing Black
and Latino players to the Red Sox.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well. O'Connell was actually the story that day was that
O'Connell was named general manager that very day. Oh okay,
so there was some irony involved in that. And of course,
you know, Louis went on and he had a good year.
He won twenty games one year with the Minnesota Twins,
and then he kind of I don't know, he he
(36:45):
just hit a bump in the road and the Red
Sox picked him up and he had great years with
the Red Sox. Yeah, you know you did you? I
assume you've you've met Louis at some point. You mentioned
Newcomb's restaurant.
Speaker 6 (37:03):
You know, I learned about Newcomb's Restaurant listening to your show.
The closest I've got to Milton might be I don't know,
Tony's Clamshack and Quincy.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
I'm familiar with the Clamshack and Quincy too. A good
friend of mine works there, but they never saw Alois there.
So this piece, I know it's online already. The electricity
is back at Fenway, and so was the late Louis Tiant.
Where did you come up with the idea to do
this piece? That's a great piece. It's a great piece,
and it's a great idea. What prompted you to write
(37:40):
the story?
Speaker 7 (37:41):
Well, thanks for asking.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
I do think fifty years since that seventy five World series.
Another thing that I really liked about Tian was that
after his playing days were over, he came back to
the Red Sox in two thousand and two as a
I don't know, goodwill and a special assistant and work
with the young players. And I thought that was really wonderful.
(38:05):
In fact, when I remember him one day in the
Red Sox clubhouse, this is a wild I mean, I
think it was the day Manny Ramirez ga created. But
he was just such a calm presence in the Socks
clubhouse with cigars, and so I really like all of that,
(38:25):
and also the fact that he was a star on
the Red Sox, a beloved player at a very divisive
time in Boston history, the Busting era, and that's addressed
in his autobiography and fans, diverse fans, Black Latino fans,
they say they talk about just what it meant to
(38:47):
have tiantas such a beloved presence on the Red Sox,
and so all of that I think I brought into
the piece. I mean, it also talks about his excellence
on the mound. His excellence in the World Series is
unconventional delivery.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Oh absolutely, absolutely such a showman. Uh go back and
look at the box score of the seventh game of
the World Series, the game the Red Sox lost, and
you'll see that they had a right handed pitcher, Willoughby,
Jim Willoughby, who was doing really well, and then they
brought in a lefty named Burton, and he gave up
(39:23):
the He gave up the hit two well thin.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Another moment in that game was Pete Willse hit a
slide on the on what looked like a short double
played ball and he's so scared Danny Doyle that Doyle
rustless throw instead of beyond the inning you got two
men on. And then Tony Perez hits the ball I
guess on the Linstound Street.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well that was that's the one. That's the one that
Bill Lee threw him the Ethis pitch. Yeah, yeah, fifty
miles whatever it was miles an hour and Perez decided, Okay,
we're gonna launch this one anyway. Hey, look, I gotta
let you run. But I so enjoy talking about Louis
Tiant and about baseball. Everybody should read the piece in
(40:07):
the Globe on Sunday by Rich Tenorio. Have I pronounced
the name correctly? I've got to make sure I get
it right.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
You did.
Speaker 6 (40:15):
Thanks, Dan's such a pleasure talking with you.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Right back at your Rich again. Congratulations Prospective magazine in
the Boston Globe on Sunday. The electricity is back at Fenway,
and so with the late Louis Tiant. What a guy,
What a guy. Thanks Rich, We'll talk again. Here comes
the nine o'clock news, and on the other side, we
are going to talk about the ultimate break in the
murder of Charlie Kirk, and that is a thirty three
(40:39):
hour man hunt has ended in the arrest of a suspect,
twenty two year old man from Saint George's, Utah. He
lives about three or four hours away, but it would appear,
it would appear he enjoys the presumption of innocence. But
it would appear that the Utah Law Enforcement and the
(40:59):
FBI have their man back on nightside. After this
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