— Photos by Bobbie Toner

Somerville’s annual ceremonial lighting of the Menorah on the City Hall Concourse took place on Tuesday, December 19, with Rabbi Eliana from Temple B’nai Brith. All members of the community were invited to join Mayor Curtatone and city staff for the brief ceremony.

A student housing shortage has Tufts University looking outwards for more space to put beds.

By Jim Clark

At the latest regular meeting of the Somerville Board of Aldermen last week, Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang reported on the business of the Committee on Housing and Community Development which met on November 29.

Among the matters discussed at that meeting was the proposed conversion of wood-framed offices into residential units for students of Tufts University.

“Catalyst: craft + social change” now showing at the Nave Gallery.

By  Ahmed Sorour

“Change begins at home,” or so the saying goes. At a time where American institutions are coming under assault, generations are splitting apart, and fault lines in politics are appearing, what better way to exemplify “change” than with an exhibit celebrating community and social change through domestic art?

Citations were awarded to outgoing members of the Board of Aldermen and other civil servants at the latest regular meeting of the Board last Thursday. Commendations were awarded to:

Alderman John M. Connolly, the longest serving alderman in the history of the City of Somerville, for his outstanding service to the people of Somerville as Alderman At-Large from 2007 to 2017, and, prior to that, as Ward Six Alderman from 1984 to 2005.

The Somerville Times staff will be taking a week off, with no publication on Wednesday, December 27. Our print edition will be back on January 3 of next year. Meanwhile, we will still be online at www.thesomervilletimes.com.

****************************

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a very Happy New Year in 2018 to all our readers both in print and on social media as well as on our website. We hope everyone has a great holiday with their family and friends. A very blessed New Year for 2018. The annual celebration of the raising of the first American flag will be on January 1, as usual, up at Prospect Hill.

$1 billion Union Square redevelopment moves forward

The Somerville Planning Board recently voted unanimously to support Union Square Station Associates’ (US2) Coordinated Development Plan (CDP), a plan that will propel Union Square into the future as an economic engine for the City. In another crucial step, the Board of Aldermen also voted to approve District Improvement Financing (DIF) for Union Square, setting in motion crucial upgrades to Union Square’s infrastructure.

Elijah Vieux-Simon, third grade student at Arthur D. Healey School, with New Balance Vice President of Running Tom Carleo.

New Balance and New York Road Runners teamed up last Wednesday, December 13, to spread holiday cheer to students at the Arthur D. Healey School in Somerville. Approximately 50 students (grades 3 – 8) were gifted shoes through New York Road Runners and New Balance’s 1 for You 1 for Youth program.

~Photos by Bobbie Toner

An Ice Sculpture Stroll was held on Friday, December 15, that featured ice carvings by the Somerville High Culinary Arts Program students.

*

From Richard Hoffman’s website: “Against the back-drop of post-war, blue-collar America, Half the House tells a story both intensely personal and universal. Depicting his family’s struggles to care for two of his brothers who are terminally ill, Hoffman also recounts the horrific abuse he suffered in secret at the age of ten by his baseball coach. In a memoir Time magazine called “spare and poignant,” the author explores the ways in which grief and rage become a tangled silence that estranges those who need each other’s love the most, and demonstrates the healing power of truth-telling in both the personal and public spheres.”

*

William Doreski lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He has published three critical studies. His poetry has appeared in many journals. He has taught writing and literature at Emerson, Goddard, Boston University, and Keene State College. His new poetry collection is A Black River, A Dark Fall (Splash of Red, 2018).