Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone here and all around the Ville. Celebrate and be careful. Remember, it is a religious holiday we are celebrating, not a get-blin-drunk holiday. We hope everyone has a great time. We have a question for readers (you can post your answers on our website, www.thesomervilletimes.com): Do you know the meaning of the clover that symbolizes Irish culture and heritage?

TEDxSomerville takes place March 30
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TEDxSomerville returns to the city on March 30, bringing the theme of “movement” to the event, asking those who participate and attend “What moves you?”

By David R. Smith

An illustrator, an economist and a nanny walk into Brooklyn Boulders…

No, it’s not the beginning of a joke; it’s just a sampling of the eclectic line up of the second TEDxSomerville, which will be held at Brooklyn Boulders (12A Tyler St.) Sunday, March 30. The event will feature entertainment, artists and more than a dozen speakers focusing on the theme of “movement,” in all its meanings, expressions and forms.

A Board of Aldermen public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. this Thursday (March 13) at City Hall to discuss a resolution for the city’s retirement board to divest from any investments tied to the fossil-fuel industry.

On Thursday afternoon, March 6, an emerging scam was brought to the attention of the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, and subsequently shared with the Somerville Police Department. A 90-year-old Somerville woman was the victim of a “grandparent scam” last week, according to police.

Read by the River is an education fair developed to promote the importance of early childhood literacy.
– Photo by Benjamin Preis

The New England Patriots’ Logan Ryan read to a large group of children at Tufts University Hillel’s annual Read by the River on Sunday, March 9.

More than 850 elementary school students from Somerville and Medford attended the education fair in the Gantcher Center at Tufts University.

Ralph Pennel, like many Somerville residents I know, has many creative outlets. He brings his creative flair to the classroom at Bunker Hill Community College; he is the fiction editor of a well-regarded online publication the Midway Journal and he is a published poet and fiction writer. I recently spoke to Pennel on my Somerville Public TV show Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer.

Incidents:
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Theft:

March 3, 10:39 a.m., police reported a theft at Otis St.

March 3, 12:11 p.m., police reported a theft at Pennsylvania Ave.

One of the many characters in Davis Square, Somerville was poet Ricardo Fitten. He used to sell me a poem for a  buck, – three for two dollars – outside the Diesel Cafe. He was a  former scientist, worked at Mass General Hospital, but fell on hard times. We published a number of poems of his in the Wilderness House Literary Review and in the Bagel Bards anthology. He was adopted by many of the artists and folks who hang in the Square. He died of lung cancer this  Saturday. God Bless.

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University today announced the appointment of Somerville, Massachusetts Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone as a senior fellow affiliated with the Ash Center.  Curtatone’s non-stipendiary appointment represents a continuation of a strong collaboration between the Ash Center and the City of Somerville to strengthen and promote innovative ideas in city government.

The City of Somerville has begun its nationwide search for its next Chief of Police, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced this week, beginning with a public hearing last week and the recent formation of the Police Chief Selection Committee. Kicking off the process with its first organizational meeting, the Committee will meet over the course of several months to review candidates and select finalists to submit to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen for consideration.