“So, I told him he looked like Geraldo R

“So, I told him he looked like Geraldo Rivera.”

By Reagan Vozzella

Charlie Doody, 17, recalls the first time he branched out of his usual taste in music from listening to whatever was on the radio to his more recent taste in all genres of music, except for country. “I respect the art form and really just the creativity of it...I feel like my field of vision has gotten wider.” He says opening his arms up, “You can’t see what I’m doing with my arms but I widened them.” He was thirteen, listening to artists like Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Beyoncé. When asked why he didn’t listen to country music, he said, “Every song on the country station sounds like the same song by a different person. They’re all the same...My favorite song of all time though is definitely Tiny Dancer by Elton John. It is just a beautifully written song. It is about Elton John’s trials and tribulations on his first trip to Los Angeles when he was younger, which is my favorite city by far.”

Before he started listening to classic artists in the industry, at the age of 11, he joined the Dedham Health& Athletic Club playing tennis. “I was definitely interested in it, but, I don’t really know- I guess you could say I didn’t know that I would still be playing it this many years later, you know?” Although he had little experience, he stuck with the sport, and it quickly became a really big part of his life. Making the varsity boys tennis team was a goal he was determined to achieve, and finally did when he was only a freshman. “I mean, I think I really just knew that I was going to make the team, quite frankly. Mainly just because the tennis team didn’t have any cuts my freshman year.” He laughed. “But, yeah, it’s definitely a lot of fun. I do it for the exercise and for the love of the game.”

Being quite the athlete, Charlie enjoys skiing. “It all started back at Blue Hills when I was three.” He says. “Now I just really go up to Loon, but yeah, back at Blue Hills was where it really started.” Traveling to New Hampshire to ski, he discovered his love for travel. “Number one on the list would probably have to be Los Angeles. Every time I’ve gone, I’ve fallen even more in love with the place...I’ve been three times. I was supposed to go again, but then Covid hit, so I couldn’t- obviously.” He says. “I’ll probably end up doing my senior trip there in the spring...Also Iceland. I went over the summer. It’s the most peaceful place I've ever been. But, yeah, Los Angeles and Iceland- those are my top two.” He says smiling.

When he’s not traveling in the summers, he works at a concession stand at Houghton’s Pond where every day is a little bit different. “So, I usually open. So, like, I go and unlock the pavilion. I turn on all of the appliances, and I put the open flag out. Then I just sit and wait for customers to show up.” He goes on to tell me about an experience he’s had while working. “One time a man came up and he ordered chicken fingers and I let him know that it would be a fifteen-minute wait because that’s just how long it takes. After ten minutes, he got really frustrated and told me the wait was too long. So, I told him he looked like Geraldo Rivera and that he should leave.” That was one of Charlie's last shifts he worked before school started in September.