Tag: Brookline

  • ‘The only thing ordinary people can do’: Brookliners head north to NH to protest region’s first large-scale ICE facility

    Milena Fernsler

    An hourlong drive, snow and a ruptured achilles tendon were not enough to stop 81-year-old Brookline activist Suzette Abbott from making her voice heard in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

    Abbott navigated from the passenger side of the Toyota Prius for her husband, David Klafter, 79, with three newly acquainted passengers squeezed into the back. Conversation in the car was periodically interrupted by a weather alert. 

    “Winter storm ahead,” said Google Maps. “Please proceed with caution.” 

    Unfazed by the warning, the group was among around 10 Brookliners who carpooled to Merrimack Saturday to protest plans for an immigrant detention center in a 324,000-square-foot warehouse.

    According to documents released by New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, the site would cost $158 million to renovate and could house up to 600 detained people at a time, which would make it the first large-scale detention facility in New England. 

    Confusion over the Republican governor’s knowledge of the acquisition and local outrage over the initiative drew more than 1,000 protesters to Merrimack Town Hall. As Abbott and Klafter pulled up, they were greeted with “ICE OUT” signs, an 8-foot cutout of the Statue of Liberty, cowbells and chants of “Ayotte is a liar.” 

    Protesters outside Merrimack Town Hall on Saturday, Feb. 21. Photo by Milena Fernsler

    “It’s not just about New Hampshire. It’s about all of New England,” said Deborah Good, a Brookline resident and retired social worker. She said she came because she believed everyone, not just those in Merrimack, would be affected by the warehouse. 

    “People who are our neighbors, our co-workers, our employees, our friends are under threat and will be dragged to this place,” Good said. “The only thing that ordinary people can do is make it known that we oppose.”

    Boston University biology professor Edward Loechler, who lives in Brookline, drove almost four hours from a music camp to be there. He voiced his concern for the lack of due process for immigrants in ICE detention. 

    “People are being denied their rights,” he said. 

    As of February 2026, nearly 70,000 people were held in detention centers nationwide, with reports of overcrowding and infrastructure unsuitable for human habitation raising health concerns. While the Trump administration has claimed this widespread crackdown on illegal immigration is targeting “violent criminals,” CBS News  reported that only about half of those arrested in the past year had criminal records – and fewer than 14% had been convicted of a violent crime.

    “​​This has nothing to do with criminality,” Klafter said. “It has everything to do with promoting a white nationalist agenda.” 

    Around him, numerous signs alluded to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, reading “We are not Nazis” and “No Gestapo in America.”

    Passing vehicles were as much a part of the demonstration as those holding signs. Cars honked as they drove by – some angry honks, others in support. One man stepped out of his truck, yelling at the crowd “Go home!” until he was escorted by a volunteer peacekeeper.  

    An organized convoy of cars painted in anti-ICE slogans paraded midway through the standout and unaffiliated snow plows were met with applause by protesters who saw them as a symbolic representation of their calls to “remove ICE.”

    Amid the chaos, Abbott was stationed in a foldable chair because of her injury, sharing a cardboard sign with Klafter. She said it was important for her to be there. 

    David Klafter (left), Suzette Abbott (in the white hat), and Edward Loechler (in orange), converse with New Hampshire State Rep. Heath Howard (right) at the protest. Photo by Milena Fernsler

    Originally from South Africa, where she protested against apartheid rule in her youth, she has participated in social movements across decades.  

    “I grew up where everything was censored. There was government control of every newspaper. News, media, books were banned,” she said. “I see inklings of that now, which is pretty scary.” 

    One of four women who run the group Activist Evenings in Brookline, she said it is crucial for citizens to stand up to authority. 

    Klafter agreed. “I think ICE has to be resisted,” he said. “The resistance in Minneapolis really forced them to back down and withdraw. But even more than that, it really showed the whole country that you can stand up to these people.” 

    Once they’d had enough of the cold, Abbott and Klafter regrouped to head back. But first they had one more stop to make. Curious to see the contested warehouse, they found the road there marked “private property” and blocked by a security vehicle. The guard inside said he was unsure why he was stationed there and refused to provide further information. 

    The road to the contested warehouse was marked “private property” and blocked by a security vehicle. Photo by Milena Fernsler

    Back on the road, Abbott said she was already planning for the No Kings protest March 28. 

    “People in Brookline should be organizing,” she said. 

    This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Art sale supporting immigrants’ rights comes to Brookline 

    Eli Pekelny

    A previous Art For All event at Aeronaut Brewing in Somerville. Photo by Michael Mauceri

    Art For All , a “pick-your-price” art sale where all proceeds support an organization that provides civic education to Boston’s immigrant community, will come to Brookline for the first time this weekend.

    The fundraising event will take place Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Brookline Teen Center at 40 Aspinwall Ave. Sculptures, paintings and drawings — all donated by local artists — will be for sale, with 100% of proceeds going to Brazilian Women’s Group, a nonprofit organization that supports Boston’s immigrant community through rights advocacy.

    Jeremy Fischer, a Brookline resident and high school adjustment counselor, is the founder of Boston For All, a volunteer-run community initiative that hosts events such as Art For All to support local organizations whose mission addresses the current political climate.

    Fischer wants to make one thing clear about Art For All: “It is not an auction.”

    Instead, the “pick-your-price” model serves as a way to reduce barriers for those who want to support whichever organization Art For All is partnering with, regardless of their financial circumstances.

    “Oftentimes art goes to people of significant means,” Fischer said. “But not only do people of means want to be a part of helping others — everybody wants to be a part of helping others. This is an opportunity for people to give what they think they should, or what they’re able to.” 

    This will be the sixth installation of Art For All and events like it since Boston For All started in 2017. Fischer said Boston For All as a whole came together after the 2016 presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, where he said there was an overwhelming feeling of “wanting to do something.”

    It all began with an event called Run For All, in which Fischer hosted a run around Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain. Runners who participated donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. Events that followed included Rock For All and Art For Abortion Access.

    “What we do is we just try to find an organization that is meeting the moment and make sure that all of the money that is donated in whatever way, goes directly to them,” Fischer said. 

    Brazilian Women’s Group, the organization partnering with Art For All this time around, joins the ranks of groups like City Life/Vida Urbana, La Colaborativa and The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network.

    Heloisa Galvão, a Jamaica Plain resident and journalist, is the executive director and co-founder of Brazilian Women’s Group. The nonprofit organization got its start in 1995 as a community-based group that mainly served as a place for Brazilian women to talk about their experiences in Boston.

    “I saw that people were talking for Brazilians when they didn’t know what they were talking about,” Galvão said. “We said, ‘We need to be visible. We need to occupy this space. We need to fight for our rights.’”

    Now Brazilian Women’s Group operates as a fountain of information for its members, specifically regarding immigrants’ rights, health advocacy and civic education.

    “I don’t care how you came here, first class or swimming,” Galvão said about her approach toward Brazilian Women’s Group. “You are a human being. You still have rights.”

    Silvina Mizrahi, a West Roxbury resident and art educator, is one of the several creators who will donate pieces of their work for this installation of Art For All.

    In the past, Mizrahi has donated pieces including bronze and silver sculptures, as well as mixed media on canvas. 

    “You feel good if your neighbor is feeling good,” Mizrahi said. “This is what motivates me.”

    In total, previous Art For All installations have raised over $61,000 for their respective organizations.

    Galvão said Brazilian Women’s Group is “privileged” to have been approached by Art For All.

    “Art is culture and culture is political,” Galvão said. “Art — for us — is a tool that make[s] our voice louder.”

    This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • As delivery apps boom, town still wrestling with safety and enforcement on the streets

    As delivery apps boom, town still wrestling with safety and enforcement on the streets

    By Hazel Nystrom

    Getting takeout has never been easier. But many Brookline residents say that convenience is increasingly posing a danger to pedestrians and bicyclists.

    Delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub can bring your favorite restaurants to your doorstep. But some Brookline residents say delivery drivers on mopeds, electric bikes and electric scooters are driving recklessly to earn more income.

    A surge in higher-powered e-bikes has changed how cyclists, motor vehicles and pedestrians share the streets. Residents are unclear where mopeds and e-scooters, which many delivery drivers use and can reach up to 30 mph, belong in traffic.

    The Class 1 e-bikes found at Bluebike stations are pedal-assist only and shut off when riders reach 18 mph. Class 2 and 3 e-bikes are throttle-assisted, with maximum assisted speeds of 20 and 28 mph, respectively.

    Jonathan Klein, a town meeting member and longtime Brookline resident, said high-powered e-bikes shouldn’t share bike lanes with traditional cyclists.

    “I think we need to keep creating more segregated bike lanes with really clear signage about who’s allowed in them and who’s not,” Klein said. “Class 3 electric bikes that are really more like mopeds should be riding on the streets, not in bike lanes.”

    Mopeds are allowed in bike lanes and public ways under state law but are restricted from recreational paths. E-bikes are allowed everywhere traditional bikes are, except natural surface trails, which are determined by local jurisdictions, according to MassBike. 

    Delivery drivers “tend to be worse than other e-bikes,” Klein said. “They’re always on a schedule. They’re always in a hurry.” 

    Neil Wishinsky, who has lived in Brookline for 40 years and is a former Select Board member, shared that sentiment.

    “I’ve seen motorized scooters with license plates in bike lanes blowing through red lights, and that’s not right,” he said. Wishinsky said gas-powered motorbikes are “an abuse of bike lanes.”

    Samantha Ramirez, a spokesperson for DoorDash, wrote in a statement that the company seeks to ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians, and “does not incentivize speeding.”

    “The overwhelming majority of Dashers do the right thing and like everyone else, follow the rules of the road,” she wrote.

    In Boston, a proposal from Mayor Michelle Wu that passed the City Council  earlier this year will require third-party delivery apps to get a permit, prove that their drivers have liability insurance and provide the city with delivery data. Brookline town leaders have said they are watching the program, which is designed to crackdown on unsafe driving, closely.While residents emphasized delivery drivers in their complaints, some called for safer driving practices from mopeds, e-scooters and e-bikes overall.  

    Chris Uminski, 35, lives in Jamaica Plain and said he often worries for his own safety when encountering delivery drivers on high-powered vehicles.

    “If I didn’t notice them, I don’t think they would notice me,” he said. “Every time [delivery drivers are] zipping through traffic, through traffic lights, doing U-turns in the middle of rush hour.”

    Jonathan Phillips, 33, member of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee, often cycles in Brookline. Phillips, along with Wishinsky and Klein, called for increased police presence and traffic enforcement, but he said he believes it should be targeted at cars.

    “I would like to see more of a police presence at some of the intersections that are particularly egregious,” Phillips said, referencing the intersection at Washington Street and Beacon Street as “the worst one,” he said.

    Traffic officer Kevin Sullivan said Brookline police have seen an increase in complaints about mopeds and scooters on the street. The police department launched a Micro-Mobility Education Initiative in September, with the intent to educate residents on the rules for different modes of transportation.

    Along with handing out informative flyers, Sullivan said police “started to have this campaign where officers on bikes will be assigned to certain intersections focused on making contact with violators, and in some cases even citing them.”

    Notable areas include Harvard Street and Beacon Street, Washington Street and Beacon Street and Brookline Village, Sullivan said.

    Jessica Chicco, chair of Brookline’s Immigrant Advancement Committee, expressed concerns about increased police presence on the street, however. 

    “We have to be really thoughtful about just jumping to kind of criminal enforcement, or increased traffic enforcement,” she said. “Criminal enforcement of traffic violations can lead to interactions with the criminal system, which for many people can have a disproportionate impact.”

    Chicco said that disproportionate impact is “certainly true for non-citizens, as we have seen with, I think now, the three ICE arrests that have happened in Brookline.” Brookline.News has since reported on a fourth ICE arrest. 

    Asked about concerns for ICE exposure, Sullivan reiterated BPD’s emphasis on education through the department’s new initiative.

    “I know people are concerned about that, but you know, that’s not what this is about,” he said. “This is about a safety initiative where we are trying to keep everyone safe.”

    Maxim Sheinin, a town meeting member, said Brookline residents should consider priorities for enforcement. Sheinin uses an e-bike to commute to work in Cambridge and drop his two kids off at school. 

    “If we want greater enforcement of traffic rules, what should be the priority?” he asked. “It’s definitely not obvious to me that priority should be on, you know, the E bikes and mopeds.”

    Emma Green, 22, a senior at Boston University living in Coolidge Corner, said while she often encounters delivery drivers, she worries more about how cars react to mopeds.

    “If they’re in my blind spot, and I don’t see them, it would take two seconds, and I could just kill them,” she said. “I am worried for their safety more so than my own.”

    Klein said he hopes the blame for unsafe driving practices isn’t being placed entirely on the individual drivers.

    “Because of the economic structure of their industry, they’re under huge amounts of pressure to save time, because that’s how they can make a decent living,” he said. “They’re not paid enough.”

    While some delivery apps offer an optional hourly pay option, delivery drivers from Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub are all primarily paid by delivery.

    Though many residents shared their concerns about unsafe practices from delivery drivers, they also largely spoke in favor of sharing the roads and expanding Brookline’s infrastructure to prioritize bikes and e-bikes.

    “I often feel like the conversation is trying to pit bicyclists and pedestrians against mopeds and E-bikes, when the reality is that we can have multimodal transportation,” Phillips said. “But we can’t just let the cars be king.”

    This article is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterized comments by resident Jonathan Phillips. The article has been updated.

    This article was originally published on November 5, 2025.

  • “White Raven, Black Dove,” a new opera animated by its performers, and a computer, debuts at Strand

    By Madyline Swearing

    Inside a sprawling Brookline home, where koi swim in an in-ground living room pond and a pet pig named Mazipan can be seen through sliding glass doors, a troupe of performers flit around a makeshift stage, rehearsing a battle of futuristic proportions.

    The scene is set in the years after the Sixth Extinction — a human-made climate crisis that has left the planet Earth a dystopian wasteland —and a new opera, “White Raven, Black Dove,” which is scheduled for a three-day run at the Strand Theater this weekend (Sept. 26-28), tells the story of the segregated Silvers and Onyx, who are faced with building a new world.

    Steeped in international mythology, the opera combines live performance with computer-generated animation to explore themes of race and climate change.

    As a self-proclaimed “activist” performance company, White Snake Projects produces only original operas by living creators as a way to “authentically” explore societal issues, says Cerise Lim Jacobs, the company’s artistic director and founder.

    “Art can be used as an instrument of change,” Lim Jacobs said. “It doesn’t have to be didactic and burdensome, but fun and immersive.”

    The company was founded in 2018 following the success of Lim Jacobs’ first opera, “Madame White Snake” — a retelling of an East Asian folktale — which won a 2011 Pulitzer Prize for its composer, Zhou Long.

    An immigrant and woman of color, Lim Jacobs says her values “totally permeate” the company and its work.

    As rehearsals continue inside her Brookline home, haunting vocals detail the discord between the identity-bound light-skinned Silvers and dark-skinned Onyx, and reveal how a scarcity of resources has driven the two groups apart. Amid the devastation, characters Raven and Dove serve as proponents of change.

    Shows are produced thematically each year. With last year’s general election, the company’s theme was voting rights. This year the environment has taken center stage. Lim Jacobs says recent federal funding cuts to organizations like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration helped influence that decision.

    “What could be more timely?” Lim Jacobs said. “It cannot be more urgent. The whole thing is frightening.”

    Beyond advocacy, Lim Jacobs says, a main objective of White Snake Projects is to modernize opera and make it appealing to younger generations. One way is through the integration of cutting-edge technology in operatic settings.

    For the company’s director of innovation and computer-generated imagery (CGI, Curvin Huber, this means applying gaming technology to live performances. A professor at the Lesley University College of Art and Design, Huber has worked in the 3D industry as a generalist for about 30 years. His expertise with Unreal Engine, a game development creation tool, has optimized White Snake Projects’ scene designs.

    With Unreal Engine, photorealistic graphics can be created and modified in real-time, creating a speedier design process. Once the 3D imagery is generated, it can be projected on stage in any format.

    “The advantages are that it can build content quickly and we can make changes as needed,” Huber said. “It allowed for a more efficient pipeline.”

    While Huber has logged almost 100 hours working on “White Raven, Black Dove,” the base work was done by Lesley design students, who spent three semesters working with the creative team to produce the 2D animations and 3D illusions that make up the set.

    As part of Lesley University’s internal internship program, which matches students with local clients, students are assigned to specific teams, depending on their skill levels and interests. Derek Hoffend, professor of game design and immersive technology at Lesley University, serves as the students’ project manager.

    “They could be doing drawings and concept studies for character and environment designs,” Hoffend said. “Some do game engine work, where they’re building 3D environments in Unreal Engine.”

    Huber says he then acts like a cinematographer, polishing and refining students’ work to make it production-ready. “It’s a great experience for them — they get to see how it works,” he said. “We force ourselves to take a step back and ask what we want visually and what’s the best way to tell a story.”

    Hoffend says the opportunity for students to see the physical manifestations of their work has been beneficial for them both creatively and intellectually.

    “They really appreciate having a client,” Hoffend said. “They’re used to doing things in the classroom, but to see something that gets out into the world that’s also politically interesting is important.”

    In times of increased political divisiveness, Lim Jacobs says, the company has to consider the implications of its work more than ever before. And while funding may have been cut, production levels haven’t.

    “People have to feel hope, otherwise they’ll give up,” Lim Jacobs said. “We make work for our community. I hope they come and feel inspired to do a little something.”

    See “White Raven, Black Dove” at the Strand on Sept. 26 at 8 p.m., Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. A talkback with a member of the creative team will follow each performance. Tickets are “pay what you can.”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on September 24, 2025.

  • In new exhibit, local artist Michael Berger captures Brookline’s character

    By Hazel Nystrom

    Michael Berger remembers the moment well. It was 10 degrees in Coolidge Corner. A few stragglers stood shivering, waiting for the T. It hardly seemed like a good photo opportunity. 

    But as his eyelashes frosted over, the scene looked different to Berger. The light refracted, creating a blurry, impressionistic version of the moment. 

    Looking through his icy lashes, he snapped the photo as he envisioned the final piece. “That’s the image,” said Berger, an artist  and professor emeritus of chemistry at Simmons University. 

    Tucked into a small gallery in the Brookline Bank in Coolidge Corner, Berger’s latest work showcases sights dear to Brookline residents. Along the walls, the 13 pieces that make up “Visions of Brookline” capture glimpses of everyday scenes, somewhat obfuscated through fractals and haze.

    The exhibit is open through October as part of ArtsBrookline’s initiative to showcase local artists. ArtsBrookline is a nonprofit organization established in 2017, aiming to support artists and develop Brookline into a cultural district.

    As a Brookline resident of nearly 50 years, Berger, 81, takes inspiration from the places around him. Coolidge Corner, Village Square and Dane Park are among the familiar sights found in his work. Berger said his art serves not just to document a place but to capture a feeling.

    For Sasha Liang, 39, longtime Brookline resident and manager of Brookline Bank’s Coolidge Corner branch, Berger’s exhibit did just that. 

    Liang said the exhibit showed “how the various landscapes have changed in the 30, 40 years [he’s] been in the community.” 

    “It’s nice to see what [Brookline] used to look like,” Liang said. 

    Of the locations he photographs, Berger finds Brookline Village to be “the most evocative of another time,” Berger said. Many of his works open a window to Brookline’s past. 

    Berger uses photography and digital painting software in place of a traditional artist’s sketchbook, in an effort to evoke a “sense of place.” He then prints a giclée, a high-quality art print, on canvas and augments his piece with classical mediums — oils, watercolors, chalk pastels or acrylics. 

    The intersection of art, science and photography has always been at the epicenter of Berger’s work. During his 25-year career at Polaroid, he sought to capture both the sharp detail of traditional photography and the feeling of the moment. 

    To do so, he said, “you have to go off track. You kind of have to look at it squinting and look at it over your shoulder.” 

    Berger said he captured that feeling in his work, developing new types of film for Polaroid. This intersection of science and art has influenced his work since, including during his 19 years as a chemistry professor at Simmons. 

    “Science is very dynamic, and art is like that too,” Berger said. “I find that art and science kind of stimulate one another if they’re allowed to blend.” 

    Amy Browning Emmert, vice president of ArtsBrookline, wanted to feature the locally well-known artist. Throughout the installation of his exhibit, passersby stopped to observe the work and chat with Berger, she said. Everyone seemed to know him. 

    Browning Emmert said Berger’s work evokes the memories of the viewer, providing a sense of place and community. 

    “It’s sort of a way of distilling memories in a contemporary way,” she said. The images “make you think about your life, when you went through that place, or how you stood waiting for the T.”

    What many see as mundane, Berger can transform. Dynamism, connectivity, and movement drive his work, even in the most unsuspecting of places.

    “I love the T,” Berger said. “It connects. It flows, just like art and science. It has that dynamic.”

    As a founder of the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance, a nonprofit intended to support Brookline’s open spaces and greenery, Berger’s passion for environmentalism seeps into his art. He’s currently working on another series of images taken at the Arnold Arboretum. 

    Berger’s first exhibit was at the Arnold Arboretum in 1992. And he’s still going. When rain starts falling in sheets, or snow drifts slowly down, he’ll grab his camera and get to it. 

    “The rain, the darkness, the fog, cuts out a lot of the extra stuff,” he said. The image “becomes more like a poem, a visual poem, than a documentation.”

    This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on September 18, 2025.

  • ‘How can we fix this?’: Andy Katz-Mayfield on his journey to co-found Harry’s and his Brookline roots

    By Hazel Nystrom

    When Andy Katz-Mayfield was getting frustrated with the limited, expensive options for buying razor blades, he asked himself a question: 

    “How can we fix this?”

    So began the Brookline native’s path to becoming co-founder and co-CEO of the popular shaving company Harry’s and its parent company, Mammoth Brands. Harry’s is well known for its subscription service and direct-to-consumer business model.

    Even while living in California, Katz-Mayfield, 43, still connects with his Brookline roots. When visiting, he makes sure to stop in at Anna’s Taqueria, bring his kids to the John D. Runkle School playground, or catch a Boston sports game with his family.

    In 2013, Katz-Mayfield founded Harry’s with Jeff Raider, whom he met when they were interns at the consulting firm Bain & Company. Harry’s – the name is intended to evoke the feeling of a friend – has since taken off and served as a disruptive force in an otherwise dominated market.

    Judy Katz, Andy’s mother, said she has had confidence in his entrepreneurship throughout his endeavors. She said she always knew Andy would do something interesting. “He’s a real thinker,” she said. 

    Andy is the fourth of five close-knit children and has always had a “very strong sense of family,” Judy said. 

    A teacher’s mark

    Katz-Mayfield traces his thirst for knowledge and knack for problem-solving to his early life in Brookline.

    Among the teachers who “left lasting impressions” on Katz-Mayfield was his junior year AP U.S. History teacher, Deborah Quitt. 

    “[Mrs. Quitt], was similarly just instilled in this thirst for just like knowledge and understanding the world around you,” Katz-Mayfield said.

    Quitt started her 38-year career at Brookline High School in 1968 and retired in 2006. She remembers Katz-Mayfield as a “terrific student,” who “always worked hard, always prepared,” she said.

    When Katz-Mayfield decided to apply to Duke University, he turned to Quitt for a letter of recommendation. “I wrote thousands of college recommendations,” she said. “I think his was the only one that I wrote to Duke.”

    For Quitt, it’s “comforting” and “very rewarding” to have left an impression on Katz-Mayfield. 

    “And I think he was like a sponge,” she said. “He was ready and eager, and willing to learn.”

    Buying a 100-year-old razor factory

    After graduating from Brookline High in 2000, Katz-Mayfield studied public policy at Duke but was initially on the pre-medicine track. He was drawn to the health care sector by the idea of fixing a broken system and solving problems, intentions he carried through in his entrepreneurship.

    “There’s an industry that’s broken. There’s a customer experience that’s broken,” Katz-Mayfield said. Again, the question arose: “How do I fix it?”

    Nearly 10 months after Harry’s launch, Katz-Mayfield took on a daunting yet thrilling endeavor: buying a nearly 100-year-old razor factory in Germany. Limited options in shaving brands are partly due to the product being particularly challenging to manufacture, Katz-Mayfield explained. 

    “It’s sort of hard to innovate if you don’t really control the whole process and are vertically integrated,” he said. “So we did it.”

    While the purchase was “stressful and hard and certainly risky,” Katz-Mayfield said it was a “formative experience.”

    Despite any nerves that came with the purchase, the Katz-Mayfield family has remained steadfast in their trust in Andy and his endeavors, Judy said.

    “We really have a lot of faith in him,” she said.

    In the early days of the company, Katz-Mayfield learned on his network of support in his hometown.

    “I’m still very close to a lot of my friends from growing up in Brookline and from high school,” he said. “They were all early users from prototypes of the products and giving feedback, [to] kind of rooting me on.”

    Harry’s scope extends well beyond Brookline now — there’s even a running joke in the Katz-Mayfield family on Andy’s success. 

    “There’s nobody that my husband’s ever met on the street or seen anywhere who’s not familiar with Harry’s within three minutes,” Judy said with a laugh. 

    In 2018, Harry’s launched a women’s brand, Flamingo. Andy said Flamingo was created in response to women having similar frustrations with expensive products that weren’t suited to women’s needs. 

    It was important to stray from creating a “Harriet’s” or a “Sally’s” that was simply an extension of the brand, Katz-Mayfield said. Instead, they developed Flamingo with the intent to create a separate, distinct brand, with a team dedicated to serving women’s shaving needs. 

    Growing up in Brookline helped open Katz-Mayfield to a variety of ideas and perspectives, something he has brought with him to his work at Mammoth Brands, he said. 

    “Brookline was like a great community to grow up in, you know, in part because of the quality of the education, but also the diversity of ideas, of the population, the proximity to Boston, and all the sort of major cultures,” Katz-Mayfield said. 

    But his path to success hasn’t been without bumps in the road. 

    FTC throws up a roadblock

    After disrupting the market controlled by only a few giants, including Boston-based Gillette, Harry’s nearly united with one of them. In May 2019, Edgewell Personal Care, the parent of leading razor company Schick, announced it was acquiring Harry’s for $1.37 billion. 

    In February 2020, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the acquisition, ultimately killing the deal. The lawsuit cited losing Harry’s as a competitor in the shaving industry would take away an essential disruptive force in the industry. 

    To buy a single razor from Gillette ranges from around $15 to $25, while Harry’s, as well as Schick, average around $10. 

    Reflecting on the tumultuous time, Andy’s mother touted his resilience. 

    “He had a tough year, and he doesn’t show it,” she said. “He really takes things in stride.”

    After being shut down by the FTC, Katz-Mayfield flipped the script. In 2021, Mammoth Brands acquired the deodorant brand Lume and in 2022 founded Mando, a brand focused on whole-body deodorant for men. 

    Mammoth Brands hopes to keep philanthropic work at the forefront. The company has donated over $20 million to nonprofit organizations. 

    A recent partnership that Katz-Mayfield is excited about is Flamingo’s Body Appreciation Program launched with The Girl Scouts, which seeks to help improve young women’s relationships with their bodies. 

    Andy’s 9-year-old daughter, Chloe, is a Girl Scout, with 6-year-old Isla likely to follow her. Through this partnership, Girl Scouts created six new Body Appreciation badges, distinct for different age groups, which Katz-Mayfield says his kids think is “very cool.” 

    Family and community are integral to Andy’s person, his mother said. When he returns to Brookline, Katz-Mayfield will meet up with his old high school friends and “Runkle Boys,” per Andy’s yearbook quote. 

    Andy hopes his children will grow up to be “Boston sports fans like me,” he said. When in town, he takes them to Red Sox, Bruins, or Celtics games “so that they can get indoctrinated into the culture.” 

    When Andy founded Harry’s, his mother said she and his father, Phil Mayfield, “were proud of him, and we were hoping that he also felt fulfilled,” throughout his career.

    Maybe next, “he could solve health care,” she quipped. 

    This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on October 18, 2025.

  • Years after working together, 93-year-old retired neurologist undergoes brain surgery by his mentee

    by Hazel Nystrom


    In a long line of photos of physicians lining the wall of MetroWest Medical Center, Dr. William Wiener’s is the very first. At 93 years old, the retired neurologist was in the medical field for over six decades and served in leadership roles at MetroWest. 

    Throughout his long medical career, Wiener, who lived in Brookline and goes by Bill, had many mentees. So, when the time came for Wiener to get brain surgery, he knew who to go to.

    Dr. Krishna Nirmel, a neurosurgeon affiliated with MetroWest Medical Center, operated on Wiener in August. Wiener had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), a neurological condition caused by spinal fluid build-up in the skull. 

    As a mentor, Wiener trained medical students and residents who came through MetroWest, bringing them with him on his rounds and teaching them the basics of neurology, Nirmel said. Wiener also taught seminars for psychiatrists and neurologists hoping to pass their board exams.

    When Wiener went to Nirmel for treatment, he’d been having moments of confusion and couldn’t stand on his own. Despite risks like site infection and subdural hematoma, getting a shunt was a “no-brainer,” Wiener said. 

    The shunt uses a catheter inserted in a brain ventricle to drain excess spinal fluid into areas in the body where it can be more easily absorbed, like the peritoneal lining, which has a very fine membrane that can eventually return the spinal fluid back into the bloodstream, Nirmel explained.

    “I know a lot about this condition, and I understand that it may take me months to recover,” Wiener said. “But the alternative is permanent dementia and incontinence.” 

    Now, after the operation, Wiener can walk for short periods of time with the assistance of a walker, he has less cognitive impairment and no longer struggles with incontinence, he said. 

    For Nirmel, the procedure was slightly nerve-racking, because “anytime you open somebody’s head, there’s a risk.”

    “The last thing I want is somebody I care for, who is my friend, to have a complication,” he said.

    Despite the nerves that accompany most medical procedures, Wiener found comfort in knowing Nirmel would be operating on him. 

    “I knew this guy for years,” Wiener said. “I’d rather have somebody I know open up my brain than someone I didn’t know.”

    At MetroWest, Wiener served as a mentor for those around him. When faced with a challenging issue, Wiener tackled it head-on and was the doctor people sought out for advice, Nirmel said. 

    “The more complex the problem, the better,” Wiener said. “You have to be a bit like Sherlock.”

    One of the key lessons Nirmel learned under Wiener is that “observation is the key element”  for diagnosis, he said. It’s that very lesson that helped him diagnose Wiener with NPH. 

    Cognitive confusion, mobility issues and incontinence are all symptoms of dementia. But they are also symptoms of the much lesser-known, though often curable, NPH, which Nirmel contributes to the condition being particularly challenging to diagnose.

    “Less than 20 percent of people with [NPH] are properly diagnosed,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association,  an organization that seeks to accelerate global research and end forms of dementia. 

    For NPH, an essential part of diagnosis is the patient’s gait, or the manner in which a person walks. People with NPH often take wide, short steps and have trouble turning in a few steps, Nirmel said. 

    Oftentimes, by the time a doctor sees a patient, the patient has already had preliminary tests done and is often seated for the entirety of the visit. This can lead to doctors not seeing any noticeable gait abnormalities, Nirmel said. 

    “Even smart doctors, they don’t think of NPH as one of the things that you look for,” he said. 

    While awareness of the condition increased when singer-songwriter Billy Joel announced in May that he had NPH, Nirmel said there’s a long way to go. He hopes “education and awareness” can bridge the gap, he said. 

    Now that Wiener has the shunt in, the valve that regulates the flow of spinal fluid can be adjusted using a magnetic device to change the opening pressure, to prevent over- or under-drainage. The shunt catheter has two antibiotics that leech out for 30 days after the operation, which Nirmel says “dramatically decreased” risks of infection post-surgery. 

    Being able to change the shunt’s pressure has been a “fantastic” medical advancement, Nirmel said. Shunts used to have a fixed pressure, so to change it would mean changing the valve in an operation under anesthesia. 

    Now using the magnetic device, Wiener’s valve pressure can be easily changed with no pain. 

    While the surgery was largely a success, Wiener hopes to further improve his mobility and his hearing in the coming months. As for his memory?

    “I’m a little forgetful, but most 93-year-old people are,” Wiener said with a smile.

    This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on October 2, 2025.