THP #59: A Good Time

January 2, 2026
Regis v Northwestern
Women’s Basketball

My daughter turned 3 last week. What a joy and honor it is every day to be her dad. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the phrase “it takes a village.” Yes. Yes it does. There’s just an abyss between the lines of that pithy phrase.

You gotta work your ass off to build the village. It’s never going to come to you just because a baby is around. The people who talk the most give the least so putting in the time is just as valuable as having the support around you.

There’s a theory about glass balls and rubber balls. The glass are the super important ones you can’t risk dropping. The rubber ones you can let bounce and pick back up later. 

When my wife was pregnant I went through everything in my life and asked a simple question: is this absolutely necessary to bring with me into parenthood? What were my glass balls?

And there were two I kept coming back too: college basketball and personal relationships. The basketball is easy, been at this project for seven years. Many more to go. 

The relationships that were worth fighting for were proper work, especially during the first year. Bleary eyed and exhausted I was so in it that it was a lot of stray text messages to people, but it kept conversations going. I had to break through some real bullshit societal barriers on my end to keep pushing. Things like no, they can still be an A1 friend even if they don’t call you. Some people really just aren’t calling types (Hi Paul).

And by pushing to maintain a long list of relationships, I have built a wonderful community around my daughter. All these additional aunts and uncles that’ll be fixtures, in some form or fashion, for decades to come. 

A knock-on effect of that is that it’s made building new friendships that much easier for me. Village building, like anything else, is a muscle. If you use it it’ll stay strong. If you don’t, it’ll atrophy. 

It’s all for my daughter. She’ll have people she can count on beyond just her mom and I. 

Our village is worth fighting for.

And the village isn’t all just people. Gotta have a moment with the four leggers like Bella too, obviously.

And this one has a bonus dog: Waylon

The Good Eats

Taqueria at a gas station? Taqueria at a gas station!

That’s how it is af Yo!Boca!Taco! in Wayland.

Frontage that looks like any other townie gas station in Massachusetts. Turn around and it’s $2.93 for a gallon of regular.

But inside right at the counter where you can buy your Reese’s Cups and lotto tickets there is a stand where all the food is homemade. And it smelled incredible.

Taking a look around it felt ridiculous because it was as standard a gas station as it could be in every other way.

I asked if I should build my bowl around carnitas or barbacoa, and the woman behind the counter instantly said carnitas. So it was a porcine kind of Friday. I filled the container with black beans, onions, pico, corn, cheese, and cilantro.

Under the midday Sun of a blisteringly cold day it looked like an oasis.

I popped a squat in the seating area…

and disappeared that carnitas bowl and that Sprite Zero into my gut and into my soul.

My eternal ethos for this project is simple: there’s stuff to see everywhere. Even in a town like Wayland, a small 14,000-person suburb a short drive west of Boston, in a gas station I’d driven by dozens of times there was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.

There’s stuff to see everywhere.

Important Cultural Activities

Stamps.

STAMPS!

Welcome to the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History.

Located on the Regis College campus, the Spellman Museum is one of two philatelic museums in the United States, with the other located in Washington D.C. Philately is the collection & study of stamps.

When I walked in right after the museum opened the lights were still off in some rooms, but the lobby was welcoming.

And around the corner came Brian Howard, the museum’s executive director. A charming, kind man who greeted me warmly on a cold Friday afternoon. He showed me a short two-minute video on the screen introducing me to the museum and what they do.

The Spellman is one of two stamp museums in the country, with the other being in D.C. Not only do they showcase old stamps from around the world but also take in and catalog stamps people give as well.

Brian was an incredibly warm presence and chat throughout my time at the Spellman, and went around turning the lights on and bringing the place to life as I started to roam around.

I started in the main gallery just off the lobby to the left.

Is it the biggest room? No. Is it overflowing? Absolutely. Frames upon frames, display after display of all things stamps.

It started with a display about the Hindenburg, it’s time as an airship, and it’s historic destruction in New Jersey.

Just look at how many frames were on this one wall.

The back of the room had a large section dedicated to stamps from around the world for Olympic games.

A whole team USA case got its moment, complete with an actual Olympic torch. And wait, what’s that in the top left of the frame?

It was so damn cool. I never thought much of stamps beyond asking folks at my local post office for what they have on offer when I need a new book. I like using a stamp that has originality to it.

And the Spellman showed how stamps have long been one of the most varied and unique art forms out there even if we don’t really think of them as such.

Just look at all these stamps that are just ships.

Stamp fashion? Stamp fashion.

There were cartoons from the old The Stamp Wholesaler magazine. It’s just stamps all the way down in every possible way.

The small secondary gallery had these large panels on tracks you could pull out and get up close with stamps of all types from around the world.

The hallway down the back showcases all sorts of postal ephemera like letter openers and other old devices.

The shop was small and floor to ceiling with stamp and stamp memorabilia. I left there having spent 15 bucks on everything from a museum magnet to stamps from Mozambique.

The museum also runs kids programs and senior programs throughout the year and offers memberships at affordable prices. They have a postcard show coming up in March, and, with the World Stamp Expo coming to Boston in May, shuttles will be run to the Spellman so people from around the world can experience what I did today, although it’ll probably be more cramped.

What I loved most about this place was how the passion of the people that run it bled out of the walls. You could tell how deeply and earnestly the museum was put together and curated. How much stamps meant to the keepers of the Spellman.

As I was wrapping up a family came in. Brian welcomed them at the desk, as he had done with me, and he showed them the intro video all the same before coming to check me out in the shop. It was all so pleasant and nice.

And the knickknacks of history were just the best. I’ll be back, and I’ll have my daughter with me.

The Campus

Regis is located in Weston, a small town of 11,000 people that is the wealthiest in the state and is 15 miles west of Boston.

Originally an all-women’s Catholic college founded in 1927, Regis started admitting men in 2007 and today has an undergraduate enrollment of roughly 1,100. It’s one of the few colleges I know that offers associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees.

College Hall, which is by far the boldest building on campus, is the featured photo at the top of this blog. Beyond that, it’s a lovely little campus with consistent brick architecture.

While also being brick, the athletic center’s exterior felt harsh and sharp.

But inside there was a small, welcoming gym that utilized timber to make for, dare I say it, a cozy atmosphere for basketball.

The Game

Regis welcomed Northwestern to town. No, not that one. The one from Minnesota. It’s rare for Division 3 teams to travel like this outside of neutral site tournaments during the season because of cost.

But Northwestern had come east and was on its third game in five days after wins over Lasell and UMass-Boston. And the Eagles wanted the sweep in the Bay State.

It was back and forth early, and the host Pride were buoyed by this triple from Madi Zancan.

If Zancan maintains her scoring average the rest of the season, she’ll end up as the school’s all-time leading scorer. On this afternoon she finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, both game highs.

But after that? The Eagles went to work.

Northwestern held Regis to 25 percent in the first quarter and was +3 in turnovers to run out to a 23-8 lead after 10 minutes. But the Pride wouldn’t go away and battled back in the second quarter.

The Pride got the deficit down to nine and brought the crowd at Higgins Court back into it. And then Lydia Schmitter got the run started for UNW.

An 8-1 to end the quarter sent the Eagles into halftime up 16 points.

And yet, Regis stuck with it in the third. Points were hard to come by, but they did come for the home team, and they eventually got the gap down to seven.

And then it was the Marin Blom show.

The sophomore just turned on the jets and took the game over. It was like she was a play ahead in her mind and kept exploiting the Regis defense as a result.

Once again, the Pride closed the gap to 10. And once again, the Eagles had an answer. This time, the final time, was Blom putting the game to bed.

Northwestern 69, Regis 57. Final.
Time of Game – 1:33:43
Player of the game – Marin Blom (UNW): 17 points, 7-9 shooting, 7 boards, 3 steals

Well that was nice to get back out on the road even if it was brutally, brutally cold. This felt like everything this project is supposed to be. I found a lunch spot on the fly on the road, and it absolutely delivered. I spent time at a tucked away museum that felt so enriching and helped me stand a little taller. And then I got to watch college basketball.

I love it. I absolutely love it. Looking forward to getting back on the road a handful more times this season. Onward and upward.

That was a ton of fun. Here’s one for the road…