By Norah Doyle

If you weren’t at the city council meeting last Thursday, here’s a cohesive breakdown of what was discussed.

Members of the Union Square Neighborhood Council, Arts Stays Here, Rafi Properties, and Somerville City Council after the unanimous passage of transformative Arts & Innovation Zoning, advancing the Somernova expansion. — Photo Courtesy of Somernova

On Thursday, June 26, the Somerville City Council unanimously approved the Arts & Innovation Zoning, unlocking the expansion of the Somernova campus.

All city offices are closed on Independence Day, July 4. Trash and recycling pickup will be delayed by one day. All Somerville Public Library locations will also be closed on Friday, July 4. We wish everyone a safe, Happy 4th!

Somerville artist Iaritza Menjivar’s Untitled, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

Manos, Johnson, Menjivar show at Leica Gallery Boston

The Leica Gallery Boston is honored to present SEEING ACROSS GENERATIONS, a landmark exhibition celebrating three generations of Boston-area photographers whose work spans decades of image-making, mentorship, and community engagement.

Eagle Feathers #332 – ‘Pop’ of Pops

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

He was born on December 20, 1871, in his parents’ home on Myrtle Street in East Somerville and pursued a career in music that would achieve meteoric success. His name was Henry Kimball Hadley, and during his lifetime he brought the sound of music to hundreds of people in his hometown and to thousands of listeners around the world.

The Fourth of July holds a special significance in the hearts of truly patriotic Americans. Not only is it a time to celebrate the birth of our nation, but it also happens to fall at the best time of year to make good times happen, summer.

Who among us doesn’t enjoy the occasion? Who can resist the warm glow of good fellowship between friends, neighbors, and families as the “birthday” of our nation comes around?

— Photos by Oliver, Daniel and Delilah Lancaster

The City of Somerville’s Fireworks Celebration was held on Wednesday, June 25, at Trum Field. Music, food, and a dazzling display in the sky awaited those who came out to enjoy the festivities.

I am on the board of the New England Poetry Club and I want to let you know about this wonderful series we have coming up this summer.. Such poets as Robert Pinsky, Richard Blanco, Diannely Antigua, and Stephanie Burt–will read from their work at the LONGFELLOW HOUSE in Cambridge, Ma.  Our first event is July 6 with former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. The events will start at 3 p.m. on the Longfellow House lawn.  For more info go to:     https://nepoetryclub.org/we-too-the-people/

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Kathleen Spivack is an award-winning writer. She studied with Robert Lowell and remained friends with him for eighteen years, and is the author of many books, among them Moments of Past Happiness, A History of Yearning, and With Robert Lowell and His Circle. She has had residencies at the Radcliffe Institute, Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, and the American Academy in Rome, and has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fulbright Commission. She teaches in Boston and Paris.