Somerville is at the forefront of the urban farming movement.

By Jim Clark

In a move that is certain to please both seasoned and amateur backyard farmers alike, the Somerville Board of Aldermen passed the Urban Agriculture Zoning Amendment last week, making the homegrown movement more robust and vital than ever.

The Somerville News person of the week, Steve Dalrymple.

Meet Johnnie Steve Dalrymple, otherwise known to all who really know him as – Steve!    Steve is long time Somerville resident, attended SHS, was married, raised his family here and owns his own small business “Steve and Sons Home Repairs” right here in the city.     Steve is a very dedicated person who, when he gets involved in something, jumps in with both feet to get the job done, whatever it takes and whatever it is.

There is something at our core that warms to the idea of “urban farming.” The agrarian roots of our nation’s economy are but a rapidly fading memory in the face of mega-corporate control and its sterile mechanization of food production in modern times. The old family farm has, sadly, gone condo.

The Walnut Street Center accepted a check for $5,000 from the St. Patrick’s Day Road Race, Ras na hEireann, on Tuesday, August 14. The Center was named a beneficiary of the 2012 Road Race, an event it hopes to continue sponsoring in the future.  The funds will be put towards continuing WSC’s mission of making life more meaningful for persons with developmental disabilities through employment training, day and residential habilitation programs and clinical support.

Interscholastic fall sports start soon for all SHS 9-12 graders.

August 23:

Boys and Girls Cross Country should report to the High School field house at 10:00 a.m.

Co-ed Golf should report to the high school field house at 10:00 a.m. for a meeting.

Endicott Creative Writing professor, Margaret Young.

This week  we have poetry by Endicott Creative Writing professor Margaret Young. Life can be described as a strange dance. Cheek to cheek,/ eye to eye,/ we trip the light fantastic/until the day we die.

Arrests:
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Anthony Silvestri, 58, of 252 Medford St., August 14, 10:39 a.m., arrested at Dane St. on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Jorge Furtado, 37, of 11 MacArthur St., August 14, 2:13 p.m., arrested at home on a charge of assault and battery.

Creative Union Gallery, 29a Union Square, will be open every day from 10-6:00 p.m., August 20-26. – Photo by Harry Kane

Come by Creative Union Gallery this week for your chance to support our artists in our gallery during its final days. All items in the store, including fine art, will be 25% off. Creative Union will be custom screen-printing all week. Drop off your articles of clothing and one of our trained screen printers will print your choice of over 30 hand drawn images, while you wait or drop off. A $10 donation is suggested.

– Photos by Bobbie Toner

Poet Amaranth Borsuk.

On any given day at the Sherman Café you can watch a passing parade of poets and writers while sipping your morning cup of java.  Recently I have chatted with Julia Story, Joe Torra, Richard Cambridge, and Bert Stern to name a few. While at my usual appointment in the said café the parade stopped and left off Amaranth Borsuk. Borsuk joined me at my table and we discussed her life and work as a poet. Amaranth is a slight, 30 something young woman, with an engaging manner and an elfin smile. She is currently a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. She has a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California, and has been published in such journals as Field, Colombia Poetry Review, Colorado Review and others. She has a new collection of poetry out titled Handiwork that was selected for the 2011 Slope Editions Poetry Prize. Borsuk is particularly interested in the use of writing technologies by modern and contemporary poets.