1. From the Editor
behind the scenes
Bat Man
a light fluttering sound wakes me and clears the floor on her way out
me from a heavy sleep. It emanates into the hallway. I scramble out of bed,
from the curtain rod above our closed turn on the light, and watch in horror as
bedroom window. Slowly, I fade back to a creature the size of a large rat flies in
sleep. A few minutes later, I feel an itch circles over our bed. I slam the door shut
on my right hand. A mosquito, perhaps? and stand in the hallway.
Then a scratch like a claw, as if something “Let’s get the tennis racket,” I quip, from the outside, Arthur Ramalho’s West End
but then recant after imagining a swift Gym in Lowell looks like a typical abandoned
collision of tightly wound strings and a mill building. But walk inside and it’s clear that
small, fleshy rodent. “Stay right there,” this humble boxing gym, home to former World
my wife says, as she runs into the base- Champion “Irish” Micky Ward and the set of the
upcoming movie The Boxer, based on Ward’s life
ment and returns with a fishing net large (starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy
enough to haul in a polar bear. “Good Adams) is a warm, inviting place where young kids
plan,” I say, as I grab the net and slowly and burgeoning fighters come to train and learn a
crack open the bedroom door. There it little something about themselves.
was, in the midst of its aerial reconnais- It is this atmosphere that draws photographer
John Goodman to the sport of boxing, and what
sance. I hunch down and wait for the right drew him to shoot this issue’s fashion feature
moment as the bat circles around and (“Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee,” page
around. A quick leap, followed by a two- 102) on location at the West End Gym. After more
handed swoosh and the bat finds itself than 30 years behind the lens (including a memo-
trapped in the netting and staring up at us rable shoot with Muhammad Ali) and a child-
hood spent at a neighborhood gym in Brooklyn,
with its cold, black eyes from the floor. Goodman’s passion for the sport and his chosen
We both scream into the night air as if profession is evident.
we’d won a medal. High-fives all around. “There’s an aspect that’s about betterment,
The dog goes crazy. After taking the net discipline, maximizing potential, and getting peo-
outside and letting the bat go, we soon ple off the street,” he says. “As a boxer, you work
to make yourself better to perfect your craft. As a
settle back into bed, but it isn’t long photographer, it’s similar. Everyday you’re work-
before my mind starts wandering. Are ing to get better: thinking, trying, experimenting.”
there more? Do they live in the siding of Goodman is also quick to shower praise on
is walking over my knuckles. I freeze. My our house? How did that thing manage Ramalho, who has been in the boxing business
heart jumps from 0-60 in .02 seconds. to squeeze between the cracks of our since 1968. “He represents everything that’s good
about boxing. He loves the kids and provides a
Morris photograph by Robert Boyd. Goodman photograph by Jason Goodman
A quick jolt of my arm sends a heavy, window? Do we need new windows and place for them to work and move forward. People
winged object hurling across the dark- new siding, and if so, how much is that think boxing is brutal—and it is—but there’s a real
ness as small, high-pitched squeaks going to cost me? beauty to the sport. It’s a father-and-son thing,
pierce the silence of the night. The dog In this issue, we catch up with Beverly and he’s training these kids like they’re his sons.”
immediately jumps up and starts bark- resident and home improvement icon While Goodman’s work has been seen in the
pages of Rolling Stone, Time, and others, as well
ing. Now I clearly see: caught in the cur- Kevin O’Connor, the host of WGBH-TV’s as in his book, The Times Square Gym, he says
tain, a bat is desperately trying to escape. “This Old House” and “Ask This Old it’s more than just a job. “I’m trying to make pic-
“Bat, bat! Honey, get out of the House” to find out what all of us can do tures that say something about men and women,
room!” I yell to my wife, who, up until not only to increase the value and safety strength and power, masculinity and femininity.
this point, had been enjoying a deep, of our homes, but the curb appeal as well We’re not just shooting surfaces and clothes
and skin. I’m shooting a story that speaks to
coma-like slumber. Without hesitation (“Playing House,” page 94). I also recom- what’s going on in 2010. It’s not frivolous fashion.
and with the grace of a gymnast, she mend buying a large fishing net. You It’s raw vs. refined. It’s the play of all those things
jumps from one side of the bed over might need it. —Jack Morris, Editor against each other.”
6 nshoremag.com April/May 2010
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