By Haley ED Houseman

Volunteers, program employees, and other participants gathered at the South Street Farm for a “Cleaning and Greening” event on July 9.

On the evening of July 9 at the urban farm run by Groundwork Somerville, nearly twenty volunteers, program employees, and participants in the Urban Agricultural Ambassadors program gathered at the South Street Farm for a “Cleaning and Greening” event, sponsored by Cantina La Mexicana. Just west of Union Square, 138 South Street host a productive urban farm that was trimmed, weeded and cleaned by. The event is part of series that is held monthly, sponsored by a variety of local businesses.

By Jim Clark

SHS graduate Odmark Ozit was given a citation of commendation by the city in recognition of his athletic achievements.

Odmark Ozit, a Somerville High School graduate and member of the boys track team, who won the State Outdoor Track Meet Triple Jump Event, was honored by the entire Board of Aldermen and the mayor at the July 9 regular meeting of the Board.

Eagle Feathers #83 – Missy

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

To Americans, it is known as the Greatest Generation. The generation our parents and grandparents fought and lived through. It was the generation that sailed through the choppy waters of the Great Depression and World War II and literally saved the free world as we know it.

The Council on Aging’s Nutritionist Mimi DelGizzi gave a master class demonstration of cooking techniques and nutritional health last week at the Cross Street Center.

By Rebecca Danvers

The Cross Street Center in East Somerville is a hub of summer activity. During the week of July 13-17, participants exercised with the Fit4Life program, worked with local artist Emily Bhargava on an intergenerational art project to create beautiful picture frames using buttons and other decorative materials donated by Beautiful Stuff. They ate delicious individual vegetable frittatas for lunch after a full cooking and nutrition demonstration from the Council on Aging’s Nutritionist Mimi DelGizzi.

Donald Norton has lived in Somerville all of his 68 years. And if there is one thing that most people can agree on about this important figure in our city, it is that he has an unabashed love for Somerville. Norton, once the owner of The Somerville Times, is now the managing editor. The ownership of the paper is now in the hands of his longtime friend Ross Blouin. I met with Norton at my usual spot at the Bloc 11 Café in Union Square. Norton is a fount of information about the “Paris of New England,” and he had a plethora of anecdotes about the old city, and his view of things to come. 

Poet Dan Demarse writes the LYRICAL: “The aim of the poem is simple enough, that, is, a celebration of having an aim towards which to journey, perhaps as TS Eliot said, ‘Having to construct something / Upon which to rejoice.’ In this case, we dive straight into metaphor: the small amount of warmth given from a fire constructed by a man, or figure, limping through his nameless tundra. In a similar way do we scale the poet, as readers, to the light of her meanings, and leave all else a frigid plain, unknowing. I like to think that there is a sense of, if not futility, then the odd sort of Stevensian dominant blank here. A desperate crisis to convey the imagination. Some place where from one cannot escape but must, by doing the thing, making, and warming oneself by the fire of creative impulse.” 

“America’s Night Out Against Crime” to feature public safety demonstrations, children’s activities, and more.

Somerville’s 12th annual National Night Out Against Crime and Drugs, hosted by Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP) in partnership with the Somerville Police Department and Somerville Office of Prevention (SOP), is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Foss Park, and will include Fire and Police Department demonstrations, a presentation from the Massachusetts State Police K-9 unit, live performances by the Somerville Sunsetters, Mission Church of Christ Choir, and Teen Empowerment, as well as youth activities, raffle prizes, and information tables from over 30 neighborhood agencies.

Arrests:
*

Guy Riddle, of 480 Mystic Ave., July 13, 10:47 p.m., arrested at Broadway on a warrant charge of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Virginia Aprahamian relishes the thought of taking on Climate Ride’s Bar Harbor to Boston 5 day fundraising challenge.

By Patrick McDonagh

“My dad took me to a parking lot of a local high school where there were sixteen-year-olds learning how to drive,” Virginia recalls. “I was learning how to fall on a bike.” Summer 2013, Virginia Aprahamian’s Cannondale Synapse Six Alloy features disc brakes that slow her face-melting forty mph downhill to leisurely speed with the squeeze of a handle. Sans training wheels, the carbon mount is more than capable of taming her father’s push in the high school parking lot. With her father’s help, Aprahamian learns to ride a bike in one day.

By Blake Maddux

Steeleye Span, with Julian Littman on guitar and vocals, will be rocking Johnny D’s on Friday, July 24.

Steeleye Span released its first album in 1970 and soon joined Pentangle and Fairport Convention as one of the prime purveyors of British folk rock.

Four and a half decades and innumerable line-up changes later, lead singer Maddy Prior continues to record and tour with the band, which released its most recent album, Wintersmith, in 2013.