CAPTION: Pictured, left to right, are Renate Heuser, Anne Van Nostrand, Mary Thomsen, Judy Blotnick, Nancy Haggerty, Beacon Hill Seminars (BHS) staff member Cheryl Miller and BHS President Sharon Malt at last year’s BHS book sale.

Has it really been 10 years? Nah, it can’t be. Ten is the new five, right? With that said, yes, Beacon Hill Seminars (BHS) was formed by a group of community activists to offer courses found at a good university and keep people smart. It was decided by the founders that the nonprofit would function best as a membership organization, but one that was open to anyone from anywhere, with generous scholarships in place.
Ten years ago, BHS got off the ground and has quietly, firmly, and with great style, grew its membership of all ages, not only from the Hill, but from many communities in and surrounding Boston. Under the guidance of a committed and hardworking board of directors, it filled a need, and plans are afoot to celebrate the 10th anniversary in 2010 - properly, with a party, hats and a cake.
For the fall 2009 semester, the Curriculum Committee, headed by Beatrice Nessen and Ryan Gunsalus, put together a record 20 courses, one of which is aptly titled, “What in God’s Name is a Community Organizer?” Ruth Ann Bramson, a five-star community organizer herself, is going to discuss the principles and information technology of the Obama campaign, among other inside information, and what this will mean for the future of electoral politics. For the first time in BHS’ history, courses are being offered on Mondays and Fridays to accommodate its growth, bringing a big smile to the faces of students and instructors alike.
For example, Nancy Smith, an historian and professional appraiser of decorative arts, will use objects from the Nichols House Museum to enhance learning in her course entitled “Training Your Eye: Historic Decorative Arts Connoisseurship”.
Rare is the Bostonian whose bottom line wasn’t affected by the economic turmoil. Peter Fortune, formerly on the faculties of Harvard and Tufts, and having done a stint at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, is eminently qualified to highlight how we got here and will lead a discussion of economic and financial issues suggested by participants. “The Regulation of U.S. Financial Markets: Forms and Failures” should be a topic on everyone’s mind these days.
Hale Sturges will investigate the writings of Baudelaire, and Barbara Lloyd will lead a course on Sicilian writers this semester. Web site www.beaconhillseminars.org will highlight 15 more amazing courses on opera, literature, religion, politics and science. Interested parties are encouraged come to the kickoff event at King’s Chapel, 64 Beacon St., on Tuesday, September 9, at 5:30 p.m., and meet all the wonderful group leaders, hear them describe the upcoming semester’s treasures, meet new friends and catch up with old ones. There will be information about the book sale to be held Sunday, September 20, and why BHS needs lots of gently loved books and CDs to be donated.
Check the BHS Web site (www.beaconhillseminars.org) and this newspaper for more information on future programming that represents the essence of Beacon Hill Seminars - fostering friendship and community, encouraging curious minds and enlivening conversation about everything that matters.

Judy Kermis Blotnick is the former executive director of Beacon Hill Seminars and currently serves on its volunteer board of directors.

CAPTION: Dr. Jeffrey Kublin and Harry Murphy of Pro Optical.

With this fall marking its milestone 25th anniversary, Pro Optical is now an eye-care destination, offering onsite exams and one of the largest selections of eyeglass frames and contact lenses in the Greater Boston area.
The origins of Pro Optical date back to the late 1970s, when founder Jeffrey Kublin was pursuing his doctorate degree from New England College of Optometry while working part-time for a team of ophthalmologists led by world-renowned glaucoma and cataract specialist Dr. Richard Simmons. Upon earning his degree, Dr. Kublin was hired full-time in September 1983 and became a regular fixture at the nine-story building at 155 Cambridge St., where the team had its practice.
Since no nearby retail outlets offered eyeglasses and contact lenses, Dr. Kublin saw an opportunity to provide expanded services for patients in the area, and in 1984, he opened Pro Optical on the fifth floor of 155 Cambridge St. - one floor below where he and Simmons were treating patients. Kublin hired Michael Szymanski as Pro Optical’s first in-house optician soon afterwards. Szymanski worked at Pro Optical for the next 22 years until his death of lung cancer in 2006.
By 1985, Pro Optical had moved into a retail space at Charles River Plaza that was previously occupied by the Casual Male clothing store. Kublin subsequently hired a second optician, Harry Murphy, who is still employed by the company. After Simmons retired in the early 1990s, Kublin moved his optometry practice to Pro Optical, adding another level of service to the business.
In 2002, a developer who planned to renovate Charles River Plaza to accommodate new tenant Whole Foods Market approached Kublin, offering him the opportunity to relocate. “It was a good opportunity to expand and redesign the physical location… specifically for eye wear and eye care,” Kublin said. (Whole Food’s beauty and heath aids department now occupies the former location of Pro Optical).
In November of 2004, Pro Optical moved into its new retail space at 175 Cambridge St., a location that Kublin said has benefited from its more visible street-level location. The new 3,000-square-foot store, compared with the 1,800-square-foot former space, has also allowed Pro Optical to vastly expand its optical display area, which now features more than 2,000 different eyeglass frames and most available prescriptions for contact lenses.
In addition, the Pro Optical staff has grown substantially since the move to include two additional eye doctors, four new opticians and four other new employees. “We can see more patients, help more patients at the same time and offer expanded hours on Thursday evenings and Saturdays,” Kublin said.
To commemorate its 25th anniversary, Pro Optical is offering a 25 percent discount off a complete pair of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses between September 15 and October 15. “We want to express how appreciative we are of our loyal customers who have helped us grow and succeed,” Kublin said.
And while he admits that space limitations might be a concern going forward, Kublin hopes that Pro Optical will continue to grow, offering the newest technological advances in eye care and the best in personalized service for customers.
“We’re maxed out on space, but I hope we continue to raise the level of service we can provide and offer patients the best possible options,” Kublin said.
For more information about Pro Optical, visit www.proopticalboston.com or call 617-523-7006.

CAPTION: The garden at the Peter Faneuil House on South Russell Street, which was donated to the Beacon Hill Garden Club.

It’s a good bet no one living on the Hill today can provide a first-hand report of what our neighborhood looked like back in 1929. What is a good bet is that it’s more beautiful and more verdant.
There are many people and local organizations responsible for this. Top on the list is the Beacon Hill Garden Club. The club was founded by Gertrude Bourne, who lived and gardened in the wonderfully colorful house you can see at the corner of River and Mt. Vernon streets. From the very beginning a tour of ‘hidden gardens’ was the garden club’s way of encouraging urban gardening and raising funds.
In our neighborhood, the Peter Faneuil House Garden on South Russell Street, installed and maintained by the garden club, is a beautiful and unexpected haven on Beacon Hill’s North Slope and well worth a visit. Similarly, the Codman Circle at Beacon and Charles streets, a joint project of the garden club and the Beacon Hill Civic Association, contributes to the greening of the community. Club members do the work of caring for both gardens, but also help from others would not be turned down. Call the Garden Club at 617-227-4329 if you want to volunteer. To learn more about the club, visit www.beaconhillgardenclub.org.
While local non-profits such as Beacon Hill Tree Committee, the Friends of the Public Garden, the Esplanade Association and Charles River Watershed Association receive the bulk of the club’s support, city and Greater Boston organizations like the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Schoolyard Initiative, Boston Nature Center, Food Project, Hope in Bloom, the Plantmobile of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and New England Wildflower Society’s Nasami Farm capital campaign also receive grants. A few national non-profits, including the Student Conservation Association and the Natural Resources Defense Council, also benefit.
These are impressive results from a one-day Beacon Hill tradition of hospitality, horticultural enlightenment and curiosity-satisfaction every third Thursday in May. Mark May 20 on your 2010 calendar for the next tour.
In the near term the public is invited to attend the annual Window Box Contest Awards Night. Window boxes are now the norm, a far cry from 50 years ago. The contest dates from 1958 when the garden club and civic association teamed up to launch it. Awards Night will take place Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 5 p.m. at Beacon House, 19 Myrtle St. Beacon Hill Garden Club Conservation Chair, Sharon Malt will speak on “The Greening of Beacon Hill.”

The image above shows a city locale that has undergone a drastic transformation in recent years. To find out where it was shot, read the Times next week.
The photo that appeared in the Sept. 1 edition is Boyston Street from The Public Garden, which is now the site of the Four Seasons Hotel

Labor Day 2009

Labor Day has come and gone, finishing off the half-summer during this, the fall of our discontent.
The government estimates that 14 million Americans are out of work. The unemployment rate is 9.7 percent and rising, although the numbers of those losing jobs is declining.
We all know that the world economy was turned upside down last December and January, when the underpinnings of the American banking system appeared to collapse.
In fact, all of us have been affected by this recession, more so than any other before it.
So Labor Day 2009 is a bust.
There isn’t much to celebrate except that the economy didn’t entirely disappear, taking everything we own with it down the proverbial drain.
The nation is politically divided, although the Democrats have greater numbers than the Republicans.
But the Republicans are noisy in their anger.
The president’s honeymoon is over.
This is like saying that the hope for change has been replaced by the natural pessimism that comes with Americans tending to vote with their stomachs – and their fallen retirement accounts and home values erased belie empty stomachs.
But at least it appears that the ugliest, hardest to manage manifestations of the recession may be easing up.
The end isn’t here.
In fact, it is a new beginning, this Labor Day 2009.
Now we peer into the next four months leading to the new year.
Business all around will be better than it was this time last year, proving the ages-old adage that when you’ve gone as low as you can go, the only way is up.
Last year at this time we were sinking but didn’t know it. Our assets were evaporating but we couldn’t control the building downward spiral. AIG, Lehman Brothers, the automobile industry, Bernie Madoff, etc., were breathing their last collective breaths.
As we move away from Labor Day, the health reform issue will take center stage.
Without health reform, the nation will come close to bankrupting itself – and yet – those who need health reform the most seem to be shouting it down the loudest.
What might have been presented simply as Social Security was in the late 1930s is a 1,000 page manifesto of confusion and complexity that even the president cannot claim to fully understand.
All idealism is falsehood in the face of necessity. There are no eternal facts as there are no absolute truths.
But we know this – Labor Day has come and gone. With its passing, many dark days are behind us.
The New England fall beckons.