Nicole Terez Dutton’s work has appeared in Callaloo, Ploughshares, 32 Poems, Indiana Review, and Salt Hill Journal.  Nicole earned an MFA from Brown University and is currently serving as the the 2013 Dartmouth Poet in Residence at the Frost Place. She has been awarded the fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Cave Canem and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is the winner of the 2011 Cave Canem Poetry Prize for If One Of Us Should Fall.  She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts and teaches at the Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College and Grub Street.

Joanne DeSimone Reynolds has published poems in Salamander, Ibbetson Street Press, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Sanctuary Magazine among others. Her chapbook Comes a Blossom was published in 2014 by Main Street Rag.

Arrests:
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Thomas Miller, of 10 Bartlett St., December 24, 2:08 a.m., arrested at 230 Highland Ave. on charges of assault on ambulance personnel and assault and battery on a police officer.

Annual celebration of America’s first flag raising to be celebrated by City officials, residents, and “George Washington” on horseback.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Historic Preservation Commission Director Brandon Wilson announced that the 239^th annual “Grand Union” flag-raising ceremony at Prospect Hill Park will be held on Thurs., Jan. 1, 2015 at 12 p.m. A processional led by a re-enactor portraying General George Washington on horseback will leave from the City Hall Concourse at 11:30 a.m. As always, members of the public are invited to participate, and are encouraged to wear traditional colonial clothing.

In response to the recent incidents in Ferguson, MO and Statin Island, NY, First Church Somerville (United Church of Christ), 89 College Avenue, Somerville, has hung a 14 foot by 8 foot banner proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” from the church tower.

By Jim Clark

Reports of two men dressed in dark clothing, checking out parked cars in the area of James Street and Pearl Street brought police officers to that location December 19 at approximately 1:00 a.m.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Before December 15th, I was checking my gift list over and over in my head and also looking at it on my phone notebook. “Did I get enough gifts for my grand daughter? Will the boys get some good stuff?” I was planning a few last minute trips to Target and the mall just to make sure everyone would be taken care of for Christmas. Having enough gifts for everyone seemed to be a crucial part of my Christmas season even though I know that it’s not about giving or receiving material things. But it actually took a few Christmas caroling visits to some of our local nursing homes and Visiting Nurses Associations to discover what was really important about the holidays.

We have some interesting headlines for the latest Somerville Neighborhood News show, a community news production brought to you by the dedicated staff, volunteers and interns at Somerville Community Access TV. Here are some headlines:

By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Nothing says the holidays like things we consider homey—fireplaces, cups of cocoa, the comfortable and cozy stuff that makes us feel like we’re home. Of course, what really makes something homey—and what things like evenings by the fireside remind us of—is people. Home is about people. And that doesn’t mean just family, or the people living with you. It means your neighbor offering to bring in your mail or watch your pet while you’re away, the convenience store clerk who greets you each day as you grab your morning coffee on the way to work, all those familiar faces you regularly greet with a smile and hello.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone was joined by Alderman At Large Mary Jo Rossetti, Jimmy Del Ponte, and City Hall staffers as they sang Christmas carols for residents of Lowell street VNA and the Little Sisters of the Poor on Tuesday, December 16. The residents joined in and had a great time.