Best of the New: People
PEOPLE
All of these folks took a bold step in 2005 that made us think, made us laugh, or made a difference.
Abdillah Ali Abdirahman
Last Presidents' Day, 42-year-old Abdillah Ali Abdirahman completed the transformation of his African art and music store, tucked into the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop, into a cafe. But even this longtime Mission Hill resident, who is Somali-American, was surprised by how quickly his Butterfly Coffee took off. Abdirahman, who goes by "Mash," is known for the unstinting advice he gives to new immigrants, and the place has grown around him into an informal community center. Besides delicious coffee and fresh bagels, Abdirahman also provides a money-transfer service that connects Bostonians to their families in East Africa.
 (Globe Photo / Peter Urban) |
The coolest 1970s fad sport, roller derby, blasted back into town in May on the wheels of a player who calls herself Ivana Clobber. Since Clobber (right) - a.k.a. Rebekah Allen, 26, a perfectly respectable nanny during the day - founded the all-women Boston Derby Dames league, she and fellow coach Sarah Doom - Sarah Kingan to her evolutionary biology professors at Harvard and also 26 - have been busy recruiting. They've already trained 35 skaters in the high-velocity arts of blocking, sprinting, jumping, and taking a fall (and even helped a few women with their names). In fishnet tights and abbreviated skirts, along with helmets, wrist guards, and other safety gear, they're luring a new generation to the rink.
 (Globe Photo / Sarah Brezinsky Gilbert) |
The Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer Jr., 28, aims to close the black-white achievement gap by applying mathematical rigor to questions of race in American society. Though empirical, Fryer's work comes from his heart. He sold drugs in his teens - until a close call with the law. Then he earned a college degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in just 21/2 years. In 2005, he began a study to test whether paying African-American kids to read boosts their reading comprehension. Next, Fryer wants to find other "diamonds in the rough," troubled African-American students with the potential to be high achievers, and change the system to work better for them.
Cleve Killingsworth
In July, Cleve Killingsworth, 53, was named chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts; he was hired as president and chief operating officer in 2004. That year, Killingsworth initiated the company's $50 million pledge to support the nonprofit Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, a project of 34 public and private entities, which launched pilot programs across the state last year to computerize patient health records. Killingsworth, an active corporate board member with degrees from MIT and Yale who has spent 30 years in the healthcare industry, sees such partnerships as a new model of corporate leadership - and the key to delivering better care for less cost to everyone.
London
"Hi, I'm London, and I just wanted to personally thank my Republican friends in Congress for trying to get rid of that mean old inheritance tax," coos a Paris Hilton type in a TV spot that aired in Washington, D.C., just before a scheduled Senate vote on repealing the estate tax last September. The ad, sponsored by the Boston-based nonprofit United for a Fair Economy, aimed "to put a face on tax cuts for the wealthy," explains Lee Farris, the group's senior organizer on estate tax policy. Republicans did postpone the vote, but not necessarily because of London, she says. "That week, Hurricane Katrina put a face on poor Americans suffering from service cuts." Now that London has demonstrated a fresh way to grab a fatigued public's attention, we can't wait to see what kind of spokescartoon is being drawn on the other side of the aisle.
 (Globe Staff Photo / Essdras M. Suarez) |
Roslindale-based journalist Cristina Rathbone investigated life at MCI-Framingham for five years, two of which she spent suing the Department of Correction for access. In her lucid, unsentimental book A World Apart, published last spring, she dared readers to judge society through the eyes of Denise, Charlene, Maria-Cristina, and others who - like so many female prisoners - were the primary caregivers for children before being locked up for nonviolent offenses. Now inundated with speaking requests, Rathbone, 40, feels hopeful. "The book is serving as a tool for those who work with underprivileged women," she says. "That was unexpected."
Alafia Spencer
Boston public school student Alafia Spencer wanted harder math and science courses that would prep her for college and an engineering career. So, when Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant asked for ideas for academically themed schools, she spoke up, in spite of the doubts expressed by some teachers. As it turned out, Spencer was the only student to drive an idea into a proposal. In September, the 350-student Engineering School opened in part of what is now the Hyde Park Education Complex. Now 18 and an aspiring aerospace engineer, Spencer aims just as high with her next goal: getting into MIT.
Julie Teer
Before punching in last April as Governor Mitt Romney's press secretary, Julie Teer had visited Boston just once. She was on leave in her native Michigan, after six years working on Capitol Hill and a turn as director of the New Hampshire operation for President Bush's 2004 campaign, when Romney's people called. She "met with Mitt and just couldn't say no," says the 30- year-old. Did we mention she has presidential campaign experience? Teer joined up as the governor's spokeswoman, sure. But with Mitt-watchers expecting a run for the White House, we think she signed on for much more. It even sounds as if she may be in training: "By the time your e-mails quit and the phone stops ringing," Teer says, "it's a good 12 hours." Still, she manages to find time for the Red Sox and swears that after less than a year in town, she's a devoted fan. Which shows Teer really knows what game she's playing.
Paul Voss
In a year when hurricane season gave new urgency to debates about the environment, Paul Voss had his eyes on the skies. The assistant professor of engineering at Smith College won a $300,000 grant last fall from the National Science Foundation to track air pollution from Mexico City using his invention, the smallest altitude-controlled balloon in the world. "It's not a miracle," Voss, 39, says, but the 8-foot-tall balloon is small enough to fl y in urban areas where airspace is strictly controlled. In March, he'll launch 10 and see where they - and the pollutants - go.
Zach Warren
Harvard Divinity School student Zach Warren has a theory about unicycles: No matter who you are - suede-patched-elbow types in Harvard Square, children in war-torn Afghanistan - seeing a red-bearded guy riding one will make you smile. Last summer, Warren, 24, took his cycle (and beard) on tour with the Afghan 
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
