On April 10 at 7:30 p.m., Somerville’s Fair Housing Commission, Department of Racial and Social Justice, and Somerville Public Library invite you to a film screening of Segregated by Design followed by a panel discussion of fair housing and discrimination with local experts. Food and drinks will be provided. Registration is required: www.tinyurl.com/ykjnt9f9.

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

By Mayor Emeritus
Eugene C. Brune

The questions I and many Somerville people are asking is what is the mayor or the Ward 6 Councilor is saying?

What do the City Council members think about a proposal to build a twenty-five-story, five-hundred-unit building in Davis Square? Currently, they are waiting as there is no application before any board. If Copper Mill submits one, you will then hear the concerns, as well as the final vote. I am hoping that common sense will prevail.

April is Fair Housing Month, and Mayor Katjana Ballantyne is inviting residents to learn about housing rights, discrimination, and how we build a more inclusive community at two free events hosted by the Fair Housing Commission and the Department of Racial and Social Justice. Both events are free, open to all, and include food and refreshments. 

Eagle Feathers #326 – One If By Land, Two If By Sea

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Somerville statesman Edward Everett first brought Paul Revere’s ride to light in his 1825 speech at Concord. Thirty five-years later, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow solidified Revere’s fame with his legendary 1860 poem, Paul Revere’s Ride. Longfellow wrote it with the hope of avoiding the bloodshed of a civil war.  It inspired the whole nation but didn’t prevent hostilities. A decade later, North Chelsea, Massachusetts, changed its name to Revere in honor of the patriot hero. The town named one of its schools and one of its main streets that runs to the ocean after him.  Revere Beach is the first public beach in America.

It began after a bad oil spill that took place in 1969 off the coast of California. A year later, the first annual Earth Day was celebrated to demonstrate universal support for environmental protection and responsible stewardship of the planet and its inhabitants.

Since then, public and official awareness of the negative impacts of human activity – such as air and water pollution – have been raised to a level where concrete action is being demanded to mitigate those effects and heal the ills that have been inflicted on our world.

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The New Era of Lords and Serfs

Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek

Jodi Dean, an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science Department at Hobart and William Smith College, made the news last year when she lost her position because she expressed her pro-Palestinian stance on campus. She has since been reinstated. Although Bernie, AOC and the Squad, and other progressive democrats, are characterized by Republicans as radicals, they are really center-left politicians willing to work within the system to enact change. Jodi Dean is a radical who wants a different system. She is not alone. Many Americans on the left and right want major changes. Hence the return of Trump.

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Our poet writes: “I am Sahiba Mohammady, a poet and writer from Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. Currently, I am majoring in biotechnology with a minor in English at Endicott College. I work independently on poetry and journal writing, and I published two of my poems during high school at Governor’s Academy. Through my writing, I explore themes of identity, culture, and the experience of injustice, whether I have experienced it myself or have witnessed it in others.”