Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

Being a small press publisher I have always been impressed with the Books of Hope project. I interviewed the former director Anika Nailah and her young charges on my Somerville Community Access TV “Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer.”

I was impressed by how Nailah instilled a love for the “word” in these kids, many from the Mystic Avenue housing project in our city. For nine years the program has trained kids from the projects and elsewhere in four key areas: writing, publishing, performing, marketing and outreach. The youth are involved in many aspects of producing a book, and their development is advanced through a writer-in-residence, guest artists and mentors, as well as field trips.

By Jack Nicas

The future of Somerville’s music scene came together on Friday for the Somerville Band Camp’s final concert at the Kennedy School. Students, ranging from a 5-year-old violinist to a 77-year-old cellist, showcased their talents to teachers, friends and family in a packed cafeteria. The concert followed two weeks of intensive training for almost every instrument imaginable, including a sousaphone.

By Matthew McLaughlin

When commuters ride the rails of Boston, they may make references to ‚ÄúCharlie of the MTA‚Äù and ‚Äúriding the T.‚Äù But most don’t realize one Portuguese American snuck a piece of his heritage onto every train in the country.

Fatima Soares said Portuguese immigrants first came to America as far back as the 1800’s, when whaling and fishing jobs attracted people from the nation famous for sailing. Several periods of unrest and a volcano eruption in the Azores increased immigration to places such as Massachusetts and California, where one anonymous Portuguese American working on trains contributed to the American vernacular, she said.

On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Another birthday – yippee! – I guess. Birthdays used to mean presents, a cake and a party. Today a birthday is mostly just another year that I survived. I turned the speed limit this year – 55 – and I can’t believe I’m this old, but I am glad to be still here.

I actually have an AARP card – and if I retired today, I would get a whopping $1,100 a month (or something like that‚Ķnot even half my mortgage payment). Hey, my youngest kids are 10 and 12, so I have a long way to go. My nerves are what I am most concerned about, because they are shot – I pray for patience. I have all the other stuff down pretty well, like the picking up and dropping off and all that junk and because I married at a later age, I am an ‚Äúolder‚Äù dad (I’m grandpa material) – that just means that I get cranky easily and require more naps. I sometimes go to bed before my kids do.

An 18 inch sinkhole opened on Medford Street yesterday, possibly as a result of last week’s severe rainstorms.

Congratulations to Peter Ungar and the Foss Park Neighborhood Association for their ability to do what so many elected officials in the city could not: get the state to recognize and respond to Somerville’s needs.

The $2 million slated for Foss Park improvements by the House is a welcome change from the city’s long history of being overlooked and neglected by state agencies. Inadequate public transit, closed bridges and decayed state-run facilities became the norm in Somerville. Any inferiority complex that already existed here has only been exaggerated by the state’s very real failures to take care of their property.

Sixty percent of the city’s open space is run by DCR – often poorly. Train tracks cover our city yet we have only one stop. We don’t need to remind readers about the Lowell Street Bridge. And we have pools and hockey rinks that consistently open late and when they are finally open they contain the same major structural damages as the year before.

By George P. Hassett

The challenger and only candidate on the ballot for the State Rep. seat that covers parts of West Somerville and Winter Hill, blasted House Speaker Sal DiMasi and said at the July 25th Somerville News contributor’s meeting that he would support casino gambling if elected.

Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane is challenging incumbent State Rep. Carl Sciortino for his seat Sept. 16. Sciortino is running a sticker campaign after, he said, his nomination papers were stolen from his State house office.

At Friday’s meeting, Trane criticized Sciortino for aligning himself with DiMasi.

“I would never be associated with someone like that,” Trane said. “His unethical behavior has embarrassed the entire House.” Trane said that if elected, he would support new leadership.

Biggest city park could get infusion of cash for long-delayed upgrades

By George P. Hassett

It is 8 a.m. on Sunday. Foss Park is empty and the only sound is wind and traffic. Dwight Lancaster, who lives across the street from the park, calls the scene “pristine.”

But within an hour the city’s largest public park is buzzing. The first in a daylong series of Brazilian soccer league games kicks off and the park will be full until night. Impromptu cookouts are held, music booms out of loudspeakers and goals are scored. A casual observer notices the competitive fun out on the field, but under the players’ feet the field itself is wearing down – where there used to be grass is only dirt now.

Benefit performance helps fund this weekend’s OpenAir Circus

 
By Jack Nicas

More often than not, teachers scold their pupils for clowning around. However, in class at the OpenAir Circus, teachers not only encourage goofiness, they teach it.

That was the story Friday night. The ExtraTerrestrial Circus Experiment, made up of OpenAir teachers, held a benefit performance at the VFW Dilboy Post in Davis Square, with all proceeds going towards the OpenAir Circus. The gang of captivated children strewn across the hall’s floor was mostly OpenAir students, attentively watching tricks they’ll perform this weekend.

‚ÄúIt’s really nice to share it with them,‚Äù said Adam Dipert, a five-year teacher with OpenAir and main character of Friday’s show. ‚ÄúI’m able to show them the skills that I’ve been teaching and have the opportunity to translate my vision of how it should go in a performance situation.‚Äù

Two detectives now work ‘inconceivable’ sexual assault cases

By George P. Hassett

When Somerville Police Detective Martha Costa was on the news this month for her role in catching a man police say sexually assaulted two women in West Somerville, she said her parents began to understand the serious and disturbing nature of the work she does each day.

“I think seeing the case on television woke them up. Before that, they had no concept of what I deal with here,” she said.