Grettacole
Not quite ready to rock a smock at your favorite salon just yet? You don’t have to thanks to Grettacole, whose root touchup kits quickly became a quarantine sensation. Here, Natalie Salerno, a senior stylist at the salon, demonstrates how to pull off a successful DIY dye job at home. 1. Remove the touchup color and professional application brush from the kit. Be sure to put on the included disposable gloves before getting started—you’re not dying your hands, after all. 2. Always begin at your center part and follow the hairline, slowly moving from ear to ear as you apply the dye in small, quarter-inch sections. 3. Once the dye is applied, wait the full processing time—35 minutes—to ensure the color develops properly (unless you want orange hair!). Then shampoo twice: The first wash is to remove the color and prevent it from irritating your scalp or making your roots oily. The second is to eliminate any residue so you don’t stain pillowcases and towels. 10 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02116, grettastyle.com.
Didi Stewart
<p>Twenty-eight years ago a wobbly-kneed five-year-old by the name of Diane Carol ("Didi") Stewart walked onto the stage at a New Jersey Summer camp and belted out "My Darling Clementine."</p> <p>The 33-year-old self-taught singer, songwriter, and soulful leader of Girls' Night Out has been stage-bound even since, singing her way from New Jersey coffeehouses and North Country ski lodges into Boston nightclubs with the Amplifiers, the rock band she founded in 1978 . The group not only attracted a tremendous following but also recorded an album—Didi Stewart: Begin Here—in 1981.</p> <p>Stewart's next breakthrough came in 1983, when she decided "it would be fun to have an all-female band perform all those great girl-group songs from the fifties and sixties." On July 26, 1983, Girls' Night Out took to the stage at the now defunct Inn-Square Men's Bar, and the shows—at area clubs including the Channel. Jonathan Swift's, and Nightstage—have sold out steadily ever since. Last spring the group released its first album, Girls' Night Out.</p> <p>The success of the album, and of single releases such as "Love Under Pressure" and "Affair of the Heart," promoted the group to change its format to include fewer oldies and more of Stewart's original material.</p> <p>These days, Stewart—whose voice combines the heart of superstars like Linda Ronstadt and Melissa Manchester with the soul of Aretha Franklin—is likely to be found, notebook in hand, at Brigham's ("I like the noise and the activity"), drinking coffee and working on new material for the band. She's also putting together an intimate nightclub act tentatively called "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, but Rhinestones Are Her Constant Companion." In the meantime, Stewart says, "I'll be shopping around for the sleaziest nightclub dress I can find."</p>
David Vendetti, South Boston Yoga
If you had told us a few years ago that one day we'd be scrambling to get to a yoga studio in Southie, we'd have thought you were nuts. Yet here we ar—and it's all a testament to David Vendetti. After his flowing, challenging class, we're sore but ready to take on the world, and looking forward to meeting him on the mat again. 36 W. Broadway, South Boston, MA southbostonyoga.net.
If we could dream up a 2020 all-star squad of heroes, champions, and advocates, it would look a lot like this: Community organizer Gladys Vega (1) of the Chelsea Collaborative, who has spent the past two decades fighting for social justice but swiveled her focus to feeding 11,000 residents each week as the coronavirus ravaged her city. Public health advocate and Harvard professor of epidemiology Marc Lipsitch (2) would also make the team, in no small part due to his consistent and clear message, whether speaking to us in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or the Boston Globe: Never underestimate COVID-19. Our best city politician is Julia Mejia (3), the first immigrant and Latina on the Boston City Council, who fought back against racist harassment after taking office in early 2020. She has also worked to improve bilingual communications in Boston and even made a series of TikTok videos with her daughter to liven up the mood at City Hall during the early days of the pandemic. Ibram X. Kendi (4), meanwhile, is the man of the hour and our hope for humanity. A bestselling author, the 2019 Guggenheim Fellow recently became a history professor and the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, where he’ll lead many of the country’s brightest minds to solve problems of racial inequity. His books, including How to Be an Antiracist, are already required reading among those in the know around town. As for the best social justice advocate in Boston? That’s Monica Cannon-Grant (5), a Roxbury mother of six adopted children who rallied tens of thousands of residents to Franklin Park to peacefully protest police brutality. She also runs a victim-assistance program and free-meal delivery service through her organizations Violence in Boston and Food for the Soul. And though he’s best known for his moves on the court, Celtics star Jaylen Brown (6) is our clear choice for celebrity ambassador—he’s peacefully protested, regularly speaks about race in America, and was honored at the State House this year for his charity work with children. We’re proud to have him on our home team.
The People Who Gave Us Hope
If we could dream up a 2020 all-star squad of heroes, champions, and advocates, it would look a lot like this: Community organizer Gladys Vega (1) of the Chelsea Collaborative, who has spent the past two decades fighting for social justice but swiveled her focus to feeding 11,000 residents each week as the coronavirus ravaged her city. Public health advocate and Harvard professor of epidemiology Marc Lipsitch (2) would also make the team, in no small part due to his consistent and clear message, whether speaking to us in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or the Boston Globe: Never underestimate COVID-19. Our best city politician is Julia Mejia (3), the first immigrant and Latina on the Boston City Council, who fought back against racist harassment after taking office in early 2020. She has also worked to improve bilingual communications in Boston and even made a series of TikTok videos with her daughter to liven up the mood at City Hall during the early days of the pandemic. Ibram X. Kendi (4), meanwhile, is the man of the hour and our hope for humanity. A bestselling author, the 2019 Guggenheim Fellow recently became a history professor and the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, where he’ll lead many of the country’s brightest minds to solve problems of racial inequity. His books, including How to Be an Antiracist, are already required reading among those in the know around town. As for the best social justice advocate in Boston? That’s Monica Cannon-Grant (5), a Roxbury mother of six children who rallied tens of thousands of residents to Franklin Park to peacefully protest police brutality. She also runs a victim-assistance program that supports men, women, and children of color through her organization Violence in Boston. And though he’s best known for his moves on the court, Celtics star Jaylen Brown (6) is our clear choice for celebrity ambassador—he’s peacefully protested, regularly speaks about race in America, and was honored at the State House this year for his charity work with children. We’re proud to have him on our home team.