An asphalt depaving event took place at a Somerville residence last as part of the city’s SustainaVille Week activities. — Photos by Emilia Wisniewski

By Emilia Wisniewski

A flatbed trailer was parked next to the home of the corner of Centre Street and Woodbine Street on the early morning of April 29. The homeowners, Sara Brunelle and her husband Antonio, requested Green & Open Somerville come depave their driveway, an effort the organization has been doing for years.

90 new affordable units to be part of first phase

The first phase of USQ will come to life over the next few months as we open the doors to new residences at 20-50 Prospect Street. This is a significant milestone that highlights our shared commitment with the community and the City of Somerville for the revitalization of Union Square. The project will provide desperately needed housing, added commercial opportunities, new patrons for Union Square businesses and direct access to the Union Square T. We embrace the community’s vision for Union Square and we hold tightly to our promise to deliver on that vision.

Open Studios 2023 will take place on Saturday, May 6, and Sunday, May 7. More than 300 artists across Somerville will open their studios to the public to display their latest work and meet visitors. The artist directory is now online, so you can find your favorite Somerville artists and preview this year’s event at any time. Physical maps will be available at a corner near you in Somerville. Somerville Open Studio 2023 weekend hours: Saturday and Sunday, May 6 – 7, noon-5:00 p.m. Visit www.somervilleopenstudios.org.

Eagle Feathers #278 –Home, Home on the Range

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Somerville has been a home on the range since 1628 when she was part of Charlestown. Before the European settlement of what is now her Mystic waterfront, nature ruled her shore. Rich green meadows of grass as tall as the observer first caught the explorer’s eye.

One thing can be said for sure about our great city: there is no want for creative energy and enterprise.

Consider all the wonderful artists who will be participating in this weekend’s Somerville Open Studios (SOS) event. Artisans and crafters of seemingly limitless disciplines and choice of media work and thrive right here among us humble, regular types who wouldn’t know a palette knife from a chainsaw.

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Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ruth Hoberman.

When I think of the story of Abraham and Isaac, I think of a Rubik’s cube – with its colored squares you’re supposed to shift until each side of the cube is a single color. But shift one panel to make it right, and another shifts out of place. In the same way, that story about God and Abraham fails to make sense to me no matter how many times I turn it this way and that. I can admire Abraham’s faith as long as I don’t look at what God’s asking him to do. I can admire God’s provision of the ram, as long as I don’t look at what he put Abraham and Isaac through first.

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Susan Kubert was born and raised in Central Massachusetts, and she traveled extensively as a military wife before settling down in the Albany NY area. Throughout her life, she used writing to cope with childhood pain and trauma. Writing was a powerful form of therapy and it continued to carry her through chronic illness, as well as great love and pain, later in life. To help others to heal their own trauma, Susan became an Energy Healing Practitioner, which includes many modalities such as Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique, and Positive Affirmation Life Coaching. This passion to teach and help others through her writing and healing practice has become her true life’s mission. Susan now enjoys a quiet life in rural Vermont where she now resides.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

On Wednesday, April 26, Marcus Santos from Grooversity Global Drumming Network led a hands-on interactive, multicultural show, showcasing a friendly body movement adaptation of traditional rhythms and dances from different countries at the Somerville Council on Aging’s Holland Street Center. The audience became part of the show that included the use of body movement, technology and cultural diversity awareness. The group had everyone grooving in their chairs and dancing in the aisle to music from across Latin America during the Council’s April Cultural Event Series.

On Wednesday, April 26 2023, The Metro Boston CIT TTAC completed an 8 hour Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training. This is a nationally recognized certificate training that gives participants the skills to assist someone facing a behavioral health crisis. Trainees learn strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations.