Daniela Abbott (center), with her parents Marcia and Jeffrey Hansen.

By Louise Carpenter

More than 320 swimmers are currently registered for the 40th Annual Save The Bay Swim on August 13. For one family, joining the Swim for the very first time, with two swimmers and two kayakers, the iconic event has special meaning. Daniela Abbott, 34, has lived in Portsmouth, Rhode Island for many years with her husband Branden and their children. Abbott grew up a swimmer, and she and her husband have many friends who’ve done the Swim, but she’s never quite found the right reason to dive in herself. Until now.

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Mayra Gomez, a student at Endicott College, writes The Somerville Times: “I’m from Honduras, Central America.  I’m 19 years old. My major is International Business. I love literature and learning different writing styles.”

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Part of life is losing touch. People disappear from our lives, sometimes never to appear again. Somerville writer Stefan Cooke author of Barbara Newhall Follett: A Life in Letters is not satisfied to let the disappearance of his half aunt Barbara disappear into the ether. With his new book he traces Follet’s life through her letters. Follett was gifted child prodigy writer, who vanished in 1939 from her home in Brookline, Mass. at age 25. She was never to be heard of again.

Somerville’s talented teens show off their skills at the free “Somerville Rocks!” show on Friday, May 20 at the Somerville High School Auditorium. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Arrests:
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 Wilfredo Cruz, of 38 Thornton St., Roxbury, May 9, 3:52 p.m., arrested at Middlesex Ave. on charges of resisting arrest, larceny under $250, and receiving stolen property over $250.

James Jackson, of 46 S. Bow St., Milford, May 9, 3:52 p.m., arrested at Middlesex Ave. on charges of larceny under $250 and receiving stolen property over $250.

If you live in the Davis Square area, join in Monday night for the spring Ward 6 ResiStat meeting. You’ll have a chance to learn more about what’s going on in Somerville, share your feedback, and chat with elected officials, city employees, and your neighbors.

Please join Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and the Somerville High School Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) on Wed., May 24, at 2:45 p.m., to raise the Pride flag in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month and LGBTQ Youth Pride. The ceremony will take place on the City Hall concourse, 93 Highland Ave. Mayor Curtatone, the City’s LGBTQ Community Liaison, and a representative from GSA will speak at the event. The event is open to the public, and we invite community members to join us in celebrating LGBTQ youth and the diversity that makes Somerville great. For more information about the GSA and other LGBT programming, events and information, please contact lgbtq@somervillema.gov, or 617-625-6600 ext 2400.

Displacement, the new face of homelessness

Rising rents, soaring home prices and high-end developments are causing displacement across Somerville.  The organizations that fight homelessness are finding their resources are being taxed to keep residents in their homes, before they are displaced, and at greater risk of homelessness.

“Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing” is a serious study of the history and meaning of the use of obscenity since ancient times.

By Blake Maddux

Melissa Mohr is a Wisconsin native who has a Ph.D. in Medieval and Renaissance Literature from Stanford University. She is now a Somerville resident by virtue of being married to an MIT philosophy professor.

In 2013, Oxford University Press published her book Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, which – in its concise 260 pages of text – covers the use of obscenities from ancient Rome right up through the present day. Mohr succeeds masterfully in entertaining and educating her readers with lessons in etymology, religion, history, sociology, and human nature.