Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBSY Boston News Radio.
Speaker 2: You're exactly right to call. That is our destination, and
Speaker 2: we're about three hours and fifteen minutes out, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: So sit back and enjoy. Put your seatbelts in the
Speaker 2: upright position, and bring down your table trays, and we'll
Speaker 2: serve you up four hours of conversation and talk and
Speaker 2: you can participate, or you can listen and prefer your participation.
Speaker 2: I'd like invite your participation. My name is Dan Ray,
Speaker 2: host of the Night Side. Dan is back in the
Speaker 2: control room. Did a great job last night. He's going
Speaker 2: to do a great job tonight. And without any further ado,
Speaker 2: I will remind you we will be giving away two
Speaker 2: tickets to a musical, a musical journey with the Irish
Speaker 2: music sensations Celtic Thunder, right after the nine o'clock news,
Speaker 2: So don't call. We're not going to open up those
Speaker 2: phone lines until after the nine o'clock news because we
Speaker 2: have four very interesting guests with four very interesting topics
Speaker 2: to deal with, and we're going to start off tonight
Speaker 2: quite quite beginning with the president of the Pine Street
Speaker 2: in Lyndia Downey Lindia. I don't think we've ever had
Speaker 2: you on our program before, but everybody knows the Pine
Speaker 2: Street In and what a great job that does for
Speaker 2: homeless men here in the city of Austin. How are
Speaker 2: you tonight? Welcome?
Speaker 3: I'm good, Dan? How are you good?
Speaker 2: Fine? How long you been the president? There is this?
Speaker 2: I don't think I've had the pleasure of talking with
Speaker 2: you before. Tell us a little bit about yourself. First,
Speaker 2: You're involvement with the Pine Street In.
Speaker 3: So I've been at Pine Street believe it or not,
Speaker 3: for forty years. Dan. I was ten when I first
Speaker 3: went to work there, and I've.
Speaker 2: Been president as president that I know.
Speaker 3: No, No, I did not. I did not, No, I
Speaker 3: did not. I ran the mens Shelter, I worked in
Speaker 3: the volunteer department, I ran our fundraising office, oversaw a
Speaker 3: number of our programs, and so I've been president for
Speaker 3: about twenty years.
Speaker 1: Whoa boy.
Speaker 2: I don't know how I missed you, but I'm first
Speaker 2: of all thank you for that length of service. Pine
Speaker 2: Street In is an institution in Boston and every October
Speaker 2: they they put out a call and you call it October,
Speaker 2: which encourages donations for homeless shelters. It should be patently
Speaker 2: obvious why socks are so important to people who live,
Speaker 2: particularly those who spend more time than perhaps any of
Speaker 2: us should outdoor during the winters here in New England.
Speaker 2: But tell us about the history of October. I assume
Speaker 2: this is not the first year, and if it is
Speaker 2: the first year, I apologize. Go right ahead.
Speaker 3: No, you know, Dan, this was not our idea. This
Speaker 3: was really created by a guy in Tennessee named Brad
Speaker 3: Marshand who is a children's writer. And there's a guy.
Speaker 2: That plays for the Burns named Brad Marshan. I'm sure, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Not the same It's not the same person. No, no,
Speaker 3: But he has a kid's website and we're you know,
Speaker 3: talk to kids about giving back and things they can
Speaker 3: do in their community. And he and I think some
Speaker 3: school kids down in Tennessee came up with this idea.
Speaker 3: We get a lot of calls from schools, churches, synagogues,
Speaker 3: what can we do to help and for younger students,
Speaker 3: younger kids, you know, they can't always come into Pine
Speaker 3: Street and we always need stocks. So he really started
Speaker 3: this campaign across the country. I think he's got people
Speaker 3: in Canada doing it. And other parts of the world
Speaker 3: where school it's been mostly schools, but schools and different
Speaker 3: businesses are involved in collecting socks for homeless people and
Speaker 3: bringing them to the local homeless shelter. And you know,
Speaker 3: if you call us and ask what's our number one
Speaker 3: need right now heading into the winter, socks is always
Speaker 3: on the list, hats, gloves, but we go through a
Speaker 3: lot of socks. It's not a new issue for us. Frankly,
Speaker 3: We've been collecting socks as long as I've been at
Speaker 3: Pine Street, but it's not something people always think of
Speaker 3: right away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I assume the socks you're looking for. And if
Speaker 2: I'm wrong here, because they've been wrong a couple of
Speaker 2: times in this conversation already, don't hesitate to correct me.
Speaker 2: But I assume you're looking for heavier type socks that
Speaker 2: will really keep people warm in the winter, as opposed to,
Speaker 2: you know, the light summer socks that you know people
Speaker 2: might wear to fancy summer parties.
Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly, the best socks, if people are going to
Speaker 3: do this, are are the are the white cotton socks,
Speaker 3: you know, the thick white cotton socks right now? Yeah, No,
Speaker 3: they're they're warm you know, a lot of our folks
Speaker 3: have foot is shoes. They may not have shoes that
Speaker 3: fit exactly right. You know, the shoes might be used,
Speaker 3: especially for people who stay out. You we've got a
Speaker 3: lot of health issues, and the clinic in particular, really uh,
Speaker 3: you know, pushes us to if we're going to to
Speaker 3: be asking for socks. If people are willing to do
Speaker 3: white socks will take any of them, but white sox
Speaker 3: are the preferred and you know, easy to find hopefully,
Speaker 3: because Oliver, what percentage.
Speaker 2: Of your clients will come in on a winter's night
Speaker 2: without the benefit of appearance? Yeah, I mean are they
Speaker 2: actually people? And I know this is a tough question
Speaker 2: to ask, but I'm going to ask it. Are there
Speaker 2: actually people who are out of the men out of
Speaker 2: the streets of Boston during the winter, you know, snow
Speaker 2: and rain and sleet and all of that, and.
Speaker 3: They they men and women, by the way, not just men,
Speaker 3: men and women. And Boston we are very fortunate. Every
Speaker 3: year when we do the homeless count, we go out
Speaker 3: with Mayor and we count the number of people on
Speaker 3: the street, and then we count the number of people
Speaker 3: staying in shelter on one night, usually at the end
Speaker 3: of January, and that is done across the entire country.
Speaker 3: That dad all gets sent up to HUD and then
Speaker 3: they have someone who literally analyzes all of it. And
Speaker 3: for many many years now, I mean well more than
Speaker 3: probably ten years, Boston has had one of the lowest
Speaker 3: street counts in the country. And it may be obviously
Speaker 3: it's cold here, right, yes, it's interesting, exactly exactly, and
Speaker 3: people say to me, you know, well, it's cold, of
Speaker 3: course people are going to come in. But if you
Speaker 3: look at our numbers, you know, on a cold winter night,
Speaker 3: we might have one hundred and one hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: people outside. If you look at a place like maybe
Speaker 3: a San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, you're talking about ten thousand
Speaker 3: people or in some cases twenty one.
Speaker 2: You're temperate in those communities. And of course we'll also
Speaker 2: best and you have the great Rosies Place as well,
Speaker 2: So I mean, we we've got some great facilities here,
Speaker 2: thank god, because of the work of people like you
Speaker 2: and you volunteers, and the folks at Rosy's Place as well.
Speaker 2: So if folks are listening right now and they want
Speaker 2: to make a donation, easier for them to send a
Speaker 2: check to Pine Street in or to go out and
Speaker 2: buy some socks and bundle it up and you can
Speaker 2: pick from column A or column B. Go right ahead.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, No. What I'd say is, look, we
Speaker 3: always appreciate, appreciate financial support. It's going to be a
Speaker 3: tough winter we have had. Our numbers are quite high
Speaker 3: across the state, not just in Boston, and we are everybody,
Speaker 3: I think is trying to figure out can we add
Speaker 3: more beds for the winter. So financial support is terrific.
Speaker 3: It's easy and go on our website. You can send
Speaker 3: us a check, I would say. For the school groups
Speaker 3: and where you want to get kids involved, you know
Speaker 3: we have CCD classes, we have Sunday school classes, and
Speaker 3: you know we often get call saying what can we do?
Speaker 3: This is a great project for school kids to do
Speaker 3: a sock drive, you know, make it fun, make a
Speaker 3: day of it, read a story about homelessness, and you
Speaker 3: know there's there's some education that can go along with
Speaker 3: this as well. So that's how I would think about it.
Speaker 3: But of course we can use both. So we're happy
Speaker 3: that with anything people can offer.
Speaker 2: And the Pine Street in easy address if someone's going
Speaker 2: to be able to check in is. I'm sure if
Speaker 2: you just Pine Street in Boston you'll get it, but
Speaker 2: want to give us a better address than that.
Speaker 3: Yes, four four four Harrison Avenue, Boston, mass And the
Speaker 3: website is just Pine Street in dot Org.
Speaker 2: Wish of course has all the information that is available. Lindia,
Speaker 2: thank you very very much, and congratulations on your twentieth
Speaker 2: year as the president of Pine Street in Well.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having us well. I really appreciate it. Thanks
Speaker 3: so much.
Speaker 2: We'll have you back, you know, as we move in
Speaker 2: through the winter, because I think it's good to remind
Speaker 2: people when we're in the comfort of our the warmth
Speaker 2: of our own homes, that not everybody is in a comfortable,
Speaker 2: warm home. Although many people are in you know, the
Speaker 2: Pine Street in there are some who are are They're
Speaker 2: not in a location that provides them with comfort, that's
Speaker 2: for sure, out in the streets of greater Boston. Thanks Lindya.
Speaker 2: I appreciate your time so much. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3: Take care, Thank you, Okay, you too.
Speaker 2: When we get back, we're going to talk with Nicole Spencer.
Speaker 2: She's the executive director of a group called Heroes in Transition,
Speaker 2: honoring veterans at mashbe Commons at dedication event coming up
Speaker 2: this Sunday, Sunday, November three, So if you're down on
Speaker 2: the South Shore, you want to harken close to your
Speaker 2: radio and pay attention. Back on Nightside with the executive
Speaker 2: director of Heroes in Transition Nicole Spencer. Right after this
Speaker 2: on Nightside, you're listening to w BZ, Boston's News radio
Speaker 2: ten thirty and your AM dial. Feel free to join
Speaker 2: the conversation, but wait until after nine o'clock. We got
Speaker 2: some great topics coming up tonight. We will be talking
Speaker 2: about haunted houses, haunted homes and how difficult it is
Speaker 2: sometimes to sell those homes. And we'll also talk with
Speaker 2: Dave Paleologus of Suffolk University. We talked last night with
Speaker 2: Spencer Kimball of Emerson College and we get the latest
Speaker 2: from them their take on the race as we move
Speaker 2: now pretty soon it will be five days until next Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Coming back Night's Side.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: I'm delighted to welcome Nicole Spencer. Nicole is the executive
Speaker 2: director of Heroes in Transition. Nicole, Welcome to night Side.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me and it's really
Speaker 4: an honor to speak with you tonight.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Tell us about Heroes in Transition. I
Speaker 2: I'm sure there are many in our audience who are
Speaker 2: familiar with the group, but maybe some who are not.
Speaker 4: Absolutely so. Heroes in Transition was founded in two thousand
Speaker 4: and nine and actually just about fifteen years ago this weekend,
Speaker 4: Ken and Cindy lost their son in Afghanistan. He was
Speaker 4: a helicopter pilot. He was supporting a combat mission there,
Speaker 4: and when they brought Eric Holm for his final time here,
Speaker 4: they knew that he They wanted to keep his mission
Speaker 4: of assisting the troops on the ground alive, so they
Speaker 4: formed Heroes in Transition In fifteen years ago they began,
Speaker 4: and we're excited to be able to fifteen years later,
Speaker 4: offer fifteen programs for both active service members, veterans, military families,
Speaker 4: couples and spouses.
Speaker 2: My understanding is that the mission provides help for veterans
Speaker 2: service members their families, but help in programs that are
Speaker 2: not readily available from government agencies. Give us an example
Speaker 2: of you know who, not who you're helping, but the
Speaker 2: men and women that you're helping. In what is our
Speaker 2: government not providing these people that you folks are able
Speaker 2: to fill that very important gap.
Speaker 4: You know, when Cindy and Ken started this foundation, they
Speaker 4: really wanted to make sure that they were bringing back
Speaker 4: that feeling of camaraderie and the family. So when they
Speaker 4: first began, it was really about getting people together. A
Speaker 4: lot of times our men and women come back they
Speaker 4: might not have the people that they have served or
Speaker 4: are currently serving with. So they come back to their home,
Speaker 4: where their families are or where their friends were, and
Speaker 4: to assimilate back into what we as a civilian understand
Speaker 4: what normal is. It might not be, you know, it
Speaker 4: might feel different to them. So really, in the beginning,
Speaker 4: Cyndy and Can wanted to make sure that that family
Speaker 4: feel was back, and I think for the past fifteen
Speaker 4: years that's been the major goal is to make everyone
Speaker 4: that comes into Heroes in Transition feel like they're part
Speaker 4: of the family. And I know over those fifteen years
Speaker 4: that's what we started. And just to see over the
Speaker 4: course of those fifteen years, how we can offer programs
Speaker 4: that strength and relationships. We help with healing individuals and families,
Speaker 4: empowering individuals, offering financial assistance in different ways. So, you know,
Speaker 4: our niche here on Cape Coddon Beyond is to really
Speaker 4: offer programs that really do help those things, whether it's
Speaker 4: our couple's retreats or our families in transition Equine program
Speaker 4: We have our.
Speaker 5: Reboot and Regroup.
Speaker 4: Courses that really it just helps people with mindfulness and
Speaker 4: trying to figure out kind of how they can you know,
Speaker 4: help with themselves and bringing themselves back to center when
Speaker 4: things happen, or how to just do our you know,
Speaker 4: different things with our Equine Warrior another weekend that we have.
Speaker 4: So we have fifteen programs that we offer in all
Speaker 4: different ways of really servicing the entire family.
Speaker 2: Well, again, this is dedicated to the memory of Marine
Speaker 2: helicopter pilot and Captain Eric Jones, and it sounds like
Speaker 2: a great program. Do you have an event coming up
Speaker 2: this Sunday, a dedication event with heroes and transition. Tell
Speaker 2: us about it. Where it is. I assume it's open
Speaker 2: to the public. How can folks find out more information
Speaker 2: and perhaps be there and join and support this organization?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, So we're on callshpur Home. Although we assist veterans
Speaker 4: and active service members, military families from all across not
Speaker 4: only the Cape, but through you know, throughout the state,
Speaker 4: as we're close to Joint Base Cape Cod but mash
Speaker 4: b is you know where we base our and the
Speaker 4: Matchbee Commons for for many years now has been supporting us.
Speaker 4: And we received a call from Kristin keller Heer, Jess
Speaker 4: Balaine along with Greg Jensen. Then they reached out to
Speaker 4: us to say, hey, you know, you know Veterans Days
Speaker 4: coming up Novembers here it is such a day and
Speaker 4: a month of celebration that honors veterans both living and
Speaker 4: deceased to serve our military. What can we do together?
Speaker 4: And when we got that phone call, we were so
Speaker 4: excited to say, let's sit down and figure out what
Speaker 4: we can do. So with that, we knew that we
Speaker 4: wanted to do something that was interactive, you know that
Speaker 4: allows the public to get involved. We wanted it to
Speaker 4: be something that was visible, something that was inspiring to others.
Speaker 4: So we decided to create a wall of heroes. And
Speaker 4: basically this was just it's just a four by six wall.
Speaker 4: It's a banner that people the public that comes in
Speaker 4: to and I'll go or a few places later, but
Speaker 4: that comes into Mashpee Commons. We'll be able to see it,
Speaker 4: they'll be able to write messages of support, and really
Speaker 4: just it's a way to honor the brave men and
Speaker 4: women and all of those who have served and are
Speaker 4: serving our country great.
Speaker 2: Now, what time is? What time is the event on Sunday?
Speaker 4: Yes, Sunday, that's at the Mashpee Commons and we're going
Speaker 4: to be outside the be outside on the plaza, the
Speaker 4: area between Lulu Lemon and Regal Cinemas. So we'll be
Speaker 4: out there. We're excited to be out there.
Speaker 6: It's supposed to be abusing.
Speaker 2: Just the time you broke up on me there, it's
Speaker 2: just I'm sorry. What time Sunday is this twelfth to two?
Speaker 2: Twelve to two. Everybody knows where the Mashpee Commons are
Speaker 2: and if they want more information, give us the web
Speaker 2: page so we can get them, get them there on
Speaker 2: time with good directions. What is your your website?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Heroes in Transition dot org.
Speaker 2: Heroes in Transition dot org. Nicole, thank you very much much.
Speaker 2: It sounds like a great event. And anyone anywhere south
Speaker 2: of Boston who has some time on Sunday, this would
Speaker 2: be a wonderful event. From from twelve to two, you
Speaker 2: get to meet some great people. Thanks so much for
Speaker 2: drawing us today, Nicole.
Speaker 4: So that will be the wall will be up throughout
Speaker 4: the whole holiday season. So if you can't make it
Speaker 4: from twelve to two and you're coming down to match
Speaker 4: be Commons at anytime, just be on the lookout for it. It
Speaker 4: will be there for you.
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Thanks thanks again, Nicole, appreciated banks.
Speaker 4: Take care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, broke up a little bit there of the end,
Speaker 2: so I hope all of you got that. Let's keep
Speaker 2: rolling here. We've got the news coming up, and after
Speaker 2: that we're going to talk about food allergies as a
Speaker 2: true fear factor. I'm going to be interested, and it's
Speaker 2: going to be talking with doctor Sirita Patil of MGH.
Speaker 2: She's a physician scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Stay
Speaker 2: with us right here on w B Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: This is Nightside. My name is Dan Ray, and we
Speaker 2: will be here all the way unto midnight. We have
Speaker 2: two more great guests coming up, going to talk with
Speaker 2: doctor Pettil and also going to talk with a Boston
Speaker 2: Globe correspondent, Sabrina Lamb, about the most popular Halloween costumes
Speaker 2: in Boston this Halloween, which of course is tomorrow. Coming
Speaker 2: right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Delighted to be joined by doctor Sirita Pettil. Doctor Pettil,
Speaker 2: Welcome to Nightside. How are you?
Speaker 5: Thank you for having me tonight? Really great you.
Speaker 2: And I hope I'm pronouncing Patil correctly. Is that correct?
Speaker 5: That's perfect?
Speaker 2: Yes, perfect, Okay. You are a physician and a scientist
Speaker 2: at Massachusetts General Hospital, and your area of expertise food allergies.
Speaker 2: But the note that I here have here says that
Speaker 2: food allergies also are a true fear factor. Not exactly
Speaker 2: what's true that what that means? Perhaps you could explain
Speaker 2: it to my audience and to me.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I think we were inspired by the
Speaker 5: Halloween theme. That's you know, the holiday that's coming up.
Speaker 4: Proud.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so that that was sort of the s silly
Speaker 5: sensationalist title there. But you know, there is a real
Speaker 5: fear element to food allergies. It's kind of amazing. There's,
Speaker 5: you know, this incredible rise in the incidents of food allergies,
Speaker 5: and I know we all feel it. You know, we all,
Speaker 5: we all experience it kind of on a daily basis.
Speaker 5: You know, food allergies are like ten percent of Americans,
Speaker 5: and you know one and a half percent of those
Speaker 5: have human allergy. It's actually, you know, really really common.
Speaker 5: I have a little kiddo and you know, two kids
Speaker 5: out of every class I could have food allergies. So
Speaker 5: it's like it's a really different world today. And you know,
Speaker 5: when you have a food allergy, exposure to small amounts
Speaker 5: of the allergen concern your body into having a serious reaction, right,
Speaker 5: so there is a real fear factor. So feel food allergy?
Speaker 2: Why is it? Why is it that it seems maybe
Speaker 2: when I was young, back last century, we just ate
Speaker 2: everything and we maybe suffered from food allergies, but we figured,
Speaker 2: oh it's no big deal, is it. We're diagnosing more food,
Speaker 2: you know, more food allergies accurately. What is why are
Speaker 2: the number of the percentage of young people or people
Speaker 2: with food allergies seem to be more prevalent or is
Speaker 2: that a mirage and they're just as the prevalency is
Speaker 2: the same.
Speaker 5: No, it's it's not just better at diagnosing them, Although
Speaker 5: that is true, we have better tools to day to
Speaker 5: diagnose food allergies than to manage them. Then you know
Speaker 5: that we ever have had before. But you know, I
Speaker 5: think what you said was really telling. You know, we
Speaker 5: ate everything. And there's really great data that's a really
Speaker 5: cool study that have that happened in the last ten
Speaker 5: years that shows that when we introduced food really early
Speaker 5: into the infant's life, right when they start to eat
Speaker 5: foods right, if we introduce allergies, then we can really
Speaker 5: drop the incidence of food allergy. So in babies who
Speaker 5: are already at higher risks of food allergy because for example,
Speaker 5: they have exema I also called atiovic deematitis, if we
Speaker 5: feed them peanut really early, within four to six months
Speaker 5: of life, we can reduce their risk of peanut allergy
Speaker 5: by eighty percent. So our motto has become introduced foods early,
Speaker 5: I keep them going to really kind of maximumly benefit
Speaker 5: from that early introduction.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let me ask you a question. As a
Speaker 2: parent A long long time ago, one of the things
Speaker 2: parents are concerned about is would be a child choking.
Speaker 2: I mean that's something that was always prevalent in my mind.
Speaker 2: I would assume that babies don't have the ability to
Speaker 2: chew a peanut. So what I suspect you're saying is
Speaker 2: introduce peanut butter or something like that, so that they're
Speaker 2: getting the peanut product, perhaps not in the in the
Speaker 2: form of actual raw peanuts, but they're getting the peanut
Speaker 2: product into this system. I assume that's what you're saying.
Speaker 3: That's absolutely what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: You know, every as you have been a parent, you know,
Speaker 5: every baby is there has their own kind of progression, right,
Speaker 5: and so you really have to have to see the
Speaker 5: child that you have in front of you. But there
Speaker 5: are lots of peanut containing foods that do not involve
Speaker 5: a choking. This is obviously would not feed the infant peanut.
Speaker 5: So yeah, there's lots of great instructions on how to
Speaker 5: do this now on the web, and lots of peanut
Speaker 5: containing products that do not induce choking. I have to
Speaker 5: say that my children were really fond of the peanut
Speaker 5: puffs and you used to have to hide them away
Speaker 5: from our kids all finish, So.
Speaker 2: What are some of the other food that parents should
Speaker 2: introduce early to diminish the likelihood that children later on
Speaker 2: will develop specific allergies? Are there a series of foods
Speaker 2: that perhaps you could get you could list for us,
Speaker 2: which would help people absolutely, yeah, from developing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, absolutely. It turns out that it's actually all
Speaker 5: the major allergens. So you know, peanut obviously is one
Speaker 5: that's on all of our minds, that peanuts, trenuts, milk, egg, wheat,
Speaker 5: even fish and shellfish. Actually, if we can get all
Speaker 5: of that in early into their diets, give them a
Speaker 5: nice very die and make sure that they keep eating it,
Speaker 5: we really do reduce that risk of allergy. It isn't zero,
Speaker 5: but it is significantly reduced.
Speaker 2: Sure is there a list? I mean you just went
Speaker 2: through a number of food items. It's funny. We have
Speaker 2: a grandson who's too little, over two years old now,
Speaker 2: maybe two and four months, and he loves fish. I
Speaker 2: mean there's just just you know, haddock, you know, regular fish,
Speaker 2: and I would not think of kids liking fish. I
Speaker 2: would think of kids liking things like cookies and snacks.
Speaker 2: But there's no again, I've never seen a kid want
Speaker 2: to eat more fish. So you know, of course, you're
Speaker 2: always right, Well, got to make sure that there's no
Speaker 2: bone in the fish, you know, again, our caution. Sometimes,
Speaker 2: I'm sure there are some parents out there will say, well,
Speaker 2: I don't want to give my child fish because he
Speaker 2: could choke. He or she could choke on the bone.
Speaker 2: But if you're careful and you make sure it's cut
Speaker 2: up and they there's an example that when you happen
Speaker 2: to mention fish, I would not have thought that that
Speaker 2: the consumption of fish might diminish the likelihood of allergies growing.
Speaker 2: You know, as the kids get older. You did mention fish,
Speaker 2: and it just it stuck out to me.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know, I mean sounds like he's right on trap.
Speaker 5: Then yeah, it does turn out that, you know, kids
Speaker 5: really do frivees you in terms of what they like.
Speaker 5: And I think that you know, you'll get this advice
Speaker 5: from the FUSI often that we do have to try foods,
Speaker 5: you know often in order to have to really meaningful
Speaker 5: to introduce them into into the diets of kids. But
Speaker 5: you know, they they learn to appreciate foods and textures
Speaker 5: kind of along that you learned that just like you
Speaker 5: learn anything else, right, and so you know, it is
Speaker 5: really important to try to get those There's so many
Speaker 5: different ways of getting these allergens, which are the diet
Speaker 5: you know, besides whole foods like we're talking about right
Speaker 5: now as well. So you know, I think the options
Speaker 5: that parents have are are pretty varied, and the tools
Speaker 5: are great too. But you know, in the old days,
Speaker 5: right speaking of you know, when you and I grew up,
Speaker 5: you know, we were exposed to whatever was on the
Speaker 5: dinner table, and and that's also a great way of
Speaker 5: into do flu foods?
Speaker 2: I think do you think this is a question that
Speaker 2: has just struck me, and we don't prepare questions, as
Speaker 2: you know, this is the first time we've talked. Do
Speaker 2: you think that perhaps we have relied we meaning young parents,
Speaker 2: not that I'm young parent now, but when we were
Speaker 2: young parents on baby food, you know, the little, the
Speaker 2: mushy sort of food that you know that you gave,
Speaker 2: that we gave our kids, uh, and that we we
Speaker 2: need to introduce real food to them at an earlier
Speaker 2: Is that part of the problem. I'm just divining that
Speaker 2: just talking to you, it sounds to me like maybe
Speaker 2: we we we rely too much on the I don't
Speaker 2: want to mention the name, but you know, the little
Speaker 2: the little bottles and oh there's some there's some squash,
Speaker 2: and there's some green peas, and it doesn't look particularly
Speaker 2: appetizing by the way, but easy, easy to swallow and
Speaker 2: all of that. The sort of food that they end
Speaker 2: up half all over their face, is that have we
Speaker 2: overlied on that that sort of you know, mushy, prepackaged
Speaker 2: food as a opposed to giving them actual normal human food.
Speaker 5: Well, Dan, I'll tell you that I remember those early
Speaker 5: parent days very vividly and in both from you know,
Speaker 5: the medical side as well as you know, the parenting side.
Speaker 5: I'm a strong believer in options because you have, as
Speaker 5: a parent, really have to do what's practical for you
Speaker 5: and your family, and what that practical solution looks like
Speaker 5: is really different for family to family. So no judgment
Speaker 5: for me at all in terms of how we get
Speaker 5: those foods into the into the diet. But I think
Speaker 5: that you know, getting those foods and keeping them in,
Speaker 5: you know, being committed to having that very diet is
Speaker 5: really great for their for their their health and their
Speaker 5: growth and development on multiple levels, not just for the
Speaker 5: allergy prevention. So you know, that's sort of our mantra.
Speaker 5: However it might be, you know, it's just important that
Speaker 5: we get it in.
Speaker 2: That's that's great advice. Doctor Serta Patil Patil. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much for your time. Is there any either website
Speaker 2: or particular article that people that you could refer people
Speaker 2: to to read? I mean, you've given us so much information.
Speaker 2: I hope that everybody absorbed a lot of it. But
Speaker 2: is there any website that you want to refer people to?
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's two sources. One, the National Institutes of Health
Speaker 5: has a website on early introduction guidelines. There's also, you know,
Speaker 5: food allergy resources at food allergy dot org that I
Speaker 5: often recommend to my patients. And then the last, but
Speaker 5: not least, there is an early introduction program at mass
Speaker 5: General Hospital led by one of my colleagues, doctor Mike Pisper.
Speaker 5: He's lovely and so if anyone ever has any needs
Speaker 5: of concerns of leads to contact us, you know, please
Speaker 5: do what you have a program set.
Speaker 4: Up with us.
Speaker 2: Well, that's great. Thank you so much, doctor Batilla. I
Speaker 2: really appreciated the opportunity to chat with you, and perhaps
Speaker 2: we'll do it again sometime soon.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Thank you very welcome. When we go back, we're going
Speaker 2: to light it up just a little bit and talk
Speaker 2: about the most popular Halloween costumes in Boston this year
Speaker 2: with us. We'll be Sabrina Lamb, who's a Boston Globe correspondent.
Speaker 2: She's written an article, but this I looked at the
Speaker 2: article and a lot of these costumes I don't recognize.
Speaker 2: So we'll see what she has to say. Maybe you've
Speaker 2: picked out some costumes for yourself afore your young ones.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow night is Halloween, be careful out there, not only
Speaker 2: as a trick or treater, but as a driver out
Speaker 2: on the road, because that is the night when a
Speaker 2: lot of kids are running hither, thither and on, and
Speaker 2: they're focused only on getting across the street or up
Speaker 2: that walkway, and you've got to make sure that you
Speaker 2: drive extra careful tomorrow night. That's that's my admonition. We'll
Speaker 2: be back with my interview with Sabrina Lamb of the
Speaker 2: Boston Globe right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm not going out trigg or treating tomorrow night,
Speaker 2: because we'll be doing night side right here. However, however,
Speaker 2: some of you are, and some of you are going
Speaker 2: out trick or treating with your kids and with us.
Speaker 2: Is Sabrina Lamb. She's at Boston Globe Correspondent and has
Speaker 2: just written a piece for The Globe on Boston Halloween
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four and the most popular costumes. Sabrina, I
Speaker 2: must be out of sync with the world, because when
Speaker 2: I think about Halloween costumes, I think about the costumes
Speaker 2: that I wore when I was a kid, and I
Speaker 2: didn't They weren't very expensive. It was like a little
Speaker 2: charcoal and a hat and you went out as a
Speaker 2: hoboll or something like that. That's probably politically incorrect these days.
Speaker 2: So what are the costumes that passed mustered today? One
Speaker 2: of the most popular ones. Welcome to Nightside by the way.
Speaker 6: Sabrina, thank you, glad to be here. Yeah, but costume
Speaker 6: wers surprised me this year as well. It seems like
Speaker 6: there are a few recurring favorites. Beetlejuice is definitely one
Speaker 6: of the very popular costumes. Three of the characters actually
Speaker 6: from Beetle Juice movie that came out this year are
Speaker 6: on the top ten list for the country and in
Speaker 6: Boston for the most popular costumes, and among those costumes
Speaker 6: are Deadpool, Dominion, and Raygun, who was a viral breakdancer
Speaker 6: from the Paris Olympics surprisingly made the list as well
Speaker 6: as number two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, breakdn I was a great breakdancer in my prime.
Speaker 2: By the way, A lot of people don't know that
Speaker 2: about me, Sabrina. But I wish they had Olympic breakdancing
Speaker 2: when I was breakdancing. I think I could have had
Speaker 2: a chance to compete. But but so people are going
Speaker 2: to be wearing breakdancing costumes this this fall, this Halloween.
Speaker 6: So it's going to be a costume of a particular breakdancer,
Speaker 6: this woman who goes by Raygun and she had a
Speaker 6: breakdancing routine at the Paris Olympics this year, Yes, which
Speaker 6: went viral for a multitude of reasons.
Speaker 2: But impressive. I remember it. I remembered very well. It
Speaker 2: was impressive. So people, who do we that costume? Okay,
Speaker 2: when you say Reagan, I figured people were going around
Speaker 2: dressed as the fortieth presidents of the United States, Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 2: But I missed that one. Who's who's the guy the
Speaker 2: picture here? The guy in red? Uh, He's like in
Speaker 2: a red body suit and he looks like some sort
Speaker 2: of ninja warrior from a from another galaxy, far far away.
Speaker 6: I believe you are talking about.
Speaker 2: De Yeah, dead yeah right. I had no idea who
Speaker 2: Deadpool is, but it's a pretty neat costume, you know. Uh.
Speaker 2: And then who's the little guys here with the google
Speaker 2: with the googly eyes, the little yellow heads or whatever
Speaker 2: their their Withable.
Speaker 6: Well, those are the but yes, they're fromable me. They're
Speaker 6: the beloved minions. They're like a species of some type
Speaker 6: of creature that are kind of like the minions of
Speaker 6: the main villain grew so then they've become very popular.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they're villains. They look like friendly little credits.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this, are there any that people
Speaker 2: over the age of twenty will recognize? I mean again,
Speaker 2: I'm guessing you're a little younger than me. But I mean,
Speaker 2: I look when we were young, and I was young
Speaker 2: a long time ago, back in the last century, Sabrina,
Speaker 2: you dress up as a cowboy or maybe as I
Speaker 2: can't say it, I can't use the word Indian, but
Speaker 2: as as the Native American. Are those costumes now just
Speaker 2: politically incorrect and you can't do that anymore. I'm just
Speaker 2: I'm a little confused to you because I don't recognize
Speaker 2: these characters and it's probably because I don't go to
Speaker 2: a lot of the movies.
Speaker 6: I think the Halloween costumes have definitely gotten more creative
Speaker 6: over the years. People want to branch out and try
Speaker 6: out the ones that no one else has done before.
Speaker 6: So your usual vampire and what Bolt get parties as
Speaker 6: much as you know Ray Gun or Deadpool nowadays.
Speaker 2: So so if every if everybody's doing, uh, you buy,
Speaker 2: you gotta buy? You can't really make these costumes. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the costume of the Deadpool guy. I
Speaker 2: mean you're not gonna make one up like that. I mean,
Speaker 2: this guy's where in he looks like he's, I don't know,
Speaker 2: an Olympic skier, he's he's a very toned fit with
Speaker 2: this body suit on. Where do they find those these days?
Speaker 2: At their costume stores in Boston where they can go
Speaker 2: buy these costumes? Or I mean, this is not something
Speaker 2: you're gonna make up. I don't think, Oh.
Speaker 6: Yeah, certainly unless you get really creative with its probably
Speaker 6: something you you would probably have to go to Spirit
Speaker 6: Halloween for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean what about I mean this sounds a
Speaker 2: little goofy, but and I'm kind of goofy, as you
Speaker 2: probably figure it out bright now, But what happened in
Speaker 2: the old days when kids would put on like a
Speaker 2: Tom Brady jersey and a Patriot's helmet and they would
Speaker 2: go around as Tom Brady. Is that stuff considered just
Speaker 2: you know, not creative enough, not creative enough, I guess.
Speaker 6: For the younger generation, especially the kids, they like to
Speaker 6: get really creative for Halloween, so those costumes aren't popular
Speaker 6: with the children. They use a holiday at the time
Speaker 6: to really get creative and get crafty and think of
Speaker 6: something really whacked to do for the holiday.
Speaker 2: So but my last kind of serious question here, and
Speaker 2: this is a serious one. Are these costumes that we've
Speaker 2: just seen, and it's a great piece you wrote, By
Speaker 2: the way, are these costumes getting people are buying in
Speaker 2: costume stores? Are they actually making the costumes for their
Speaker 2: kids that are the kids making the costumes? Who's creating
Speaker 2: the costumes? Are these costumes being sold commercially, which I
Speaker 2: can understand, or are people actually creating the costumes from
Speaker 2: stuff they have at home.
Speaker 6: I would definitely say it's a mix of both. Like
Speaker 6: I mentioned before, the Beetlejuice characters are very popular this year,
Speaker 6: and you know their outfits are very very extravagant and detailed.
Speaker 6: But that's all the things that you can really put
Speaker 6: your head to and go out and buy stuff and
Speaker 6: put together. I think that's the fun aspect of it is,
Speaker 6: you know, getting all the different items to make the
Speaker 6: out of it.
Speaker 2: Well, Sabrina, I just want to make a confession because
Speaker 2: I had never heard of Beetlejuice until I flipped on
Speaker 2: Saturday Night Live a couple of weeks ago when Michael
Speaker 2: Keaton was the host and I realized they were talking
Speaker 2: about some movie they made, Beetlejuice. I'm without a clue here.
Speaker 2: I apologize for not being more redued anyway. Thanks very much, Sabrina.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us and I left ev you you
Speaker 2: back soon. You helped me out. I learned a lot
Speaker 2: from reading these columns. I'm slowly but sureted into the
Speaker 2: twenty first century.
Speaker 1: I'm glad all right.
Speaker 2: Thanks a grady to talk to you soon. Thanks good night.
Speaker 2: When we get back here on night Side, right after
Speaker 2: the nine o'clock news, we are going to raffle off.
Speaker 2: We're going to give you an opportunity to win a couple
Speaker 2: of tickets to Celtic Thunder. I have heard about Celtic thunder,
Speaker 2: and then we're going to be talking with another Polster
Speaker 2: we had with us last night, Spencer Kimball of Emerson College,
Speaker 2: was going to talk with my good friend Dave Paylo
Speaker 2: Logus of Suffolk University and find out what's been going
Speaker 2: on the last few days as this presidential race and
Speaker 2: Senate races around the country come down the home stretch.
Speaker 2: We'll be back right after the nine o'clock News