Environmental Protection Agency rules do not mandate testing lead levels in public schools drinking water, a cause for for concerning among many.

By Eesha Pendharkar

Students spilled out into the bright corridor of East Somerville Community School, filling the halls with the sound of hurried footsteps and loud chatter. The muffled sounds of a Taylor Swift song echoed from the gym as three boys rushed to a water fountain between two bathroom entrances. They waited exactly long enough for their plastic bottles to fill to the brim with water and then ran away.

The annual tree lighting ceremony took place at Somerville City Hall concourse last Thursday. ~Photo by Kalina Newman

By Kalina Newman

The holiday spirit was in the air Thursday as crowds gathered at Somerville City Hall to witness the annual Christmas Tree lighting. There were performances from the Somerville High School Band, the Somerville High School Chorus and the Somerville Community Chorus. After the tree was lit, the Somerville Fire and Police Departments led a small parade that featured a lit-up fire truck as Santa waved from the front.

The Next Wave and Full Circle Alternative schools’ 22nd Annual Tree Lot Fundraiser is being held at a new location this year, at the Edgerly Building on the corner of Cross Street and Bonair Street. All proceeds will go to supporting student scholarships, trips and behavioral management programs. The lot is operated entirely by teachers and students, who volunteer their time on evenings and weekends during the busy holiday season. The trees and decorative wreaths are being sold from now to December 18 between 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. during the week and 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the weekends.

By Dr. Robin Mayfield
physician at CareWell Urgent Care in Somerville

The holiday season is here, but unfortunately so is flu season. The flu virus is unpredictable and this year Massachusetts has already seen widespread flu activity –  just weeks before the holiday season is in full swing. This time of year is one of the busiest for travel as families try to get together for celebrations. If you are traveling by mass transportation like airplanes, you’re bound to come in contact with someone who’s sick. Here are some quick tips to help you avoid feeling lousy for your celebrations.

Eagle Feathers #143 – The Argonauts

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

In 1848 Somerville was a young, six-year old town trying to make it on her own. After her separation from Charlestown, her citizens had a long row to hoe to make it succeed through business and hard work. At that time, one town resident, Samuel P. Langmaid, established the new concept of ready-made doors and windows. Up until that time, doors and windows were custom made. Builders and carpenters assembled them on site as defined by the buyer.

By Jim Clark

Last week, a Somerville police officer observed a van running a red light at Highland Ave. and Walnut St.

The officer pursued and pulled the vehicle over and asked the driver, Kevin Banos, for his license and registration.

As we get into the snowy months of winter it’s good for all of us to make sure we understand what the odd-even rules are and where we stand this season.

Here is a reminder of what the city’s snow parking rules and guidelines are:

— Photos by Claudia Ferro

Mayor Curtatone, Jimmy Del Ponte and the Moonlighters, Alderman At-Large Mary Jo Rossetti, and other city officials have been making their way around Somerville visiting our local seniors, and regaling them with holiday songs. These pictures were taken at the Somerville Home.

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Review by Dennis Daly
(correspondent to Off the Shelf and noted critic)

Whether carrying his father and leading his son out of a burning city, navigating his fleet through a tsunami, escaping a Carthaginian seductress, visiting the forbidden realm of Hades, or engaging in mortal combat with a Latin prince, Aeneas, in David Ferry’s new and superbly rendered translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, conveys the destiny of civilization forward into its ordained future. This epic journey with episodic tragedies, and mythological wonders still captures the imagination of modern readers perplexed by their own earthly impediments and those nasty, ill-deserved thunderbolt strikes from above.

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Tara Skurtu is a two-time Fulbright grantee and recipient of two Academy of American Poets prizes and a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship in Poetry. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University and a double degree in English and Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Tara has taught at Boston University as a lecturer in creative writing, a lecturer in composition at BU’s Prison Education Program, and she served on the planning and teaching team for Robert Pinsky’s 2014 MOOC, The Art of Poetry. Her poems are published and translated internationally, and her work appears in magazines such as Salmagundi, The Kenyon Review, Plume, and Poetry Review. Tara is the author of the chapbook Skurtu, Romania and the full poetry collection The Amoeba Game (Eyewear, 2017). Tara writes: My two January readings will be at: The Grolier, Tuesday 1/9, 7:00 p.m. and Porter Square Books, Saturday 1/13, 4:00 p.m.