By Mike Rubin

After a slow start to the season under new coach Shannon Clark, the Somerville High girls basketball team appears to be turning the corner.

Despite a valiant effort, the Highlanders suffered a tough 55-50 defeat at the hands of Fontbonne Academy in Wednesday’s Highlander Holiday tournament championship at the Brune Field House. Currently, the Highlanders stand at 1-4 overall.

By Julia Fairclough

The American front porch represents the ideal of community, it exists as a zone between the public and private, an area that can be shared between the sanctity of the home and the community outside.

Come this spring in Somerville, the front porch may also serve as a stage to share music, community, and make new friends.

Now is the snow season.  Diana Der-Hovanessian, president of the New England Poetry Club sent me a poem she translated from the Armenian for the LYRICAL. 

By William Tauro

The Lady Anchors Basketball Team found their winning ways once again by defeating Nazareth from Wakefield 51-29 this week. The game began with a 16-2 route capped by the playing of eighth grade point guard Jess Popken (of Medford) and senior power forward Christy Novembre (of Cambridge).

The defense was the forefront of this match. The full court press delivered easy baskets on the other side of the floor.

One man’s provincial perspective
*

Well, I am writing this from my small table in the corner at the Sherman Cafe in Union Square. And I am writing with my gimlet eye fixed on the poetry world in Somerville and just beyond. I am not writing about the luminaries of the literary world: the Ploughshares, The Paris Review, the new schools, the latest trends, the much lauded retreats, you know the drill. I am writing for the most part about the everyday folks in my world who engage literary pursuits on the grassroots level.

Arrests
*

John Murphy, 46, of 60 Derby St., Dec. 27, 12:05 p.m., arrested at home and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

A juvenile, of Somerville, Dec. 28, 12:55 a.m., arrested on Marshall Street and charged with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and using a motor vehicle without authority.

The Somerville High boys basketball team captured this year's Peabody Tanner Classic with wins over Peabody and Bishop Fenwick . - Photo by Kelsey Garrity

By Mike Rubin

Led by a balanced attack, Somerville cruised to a 78-67 win over Bishop Fenwick to win a holiday tournament in Peabody Friday.
Coupled with Tuesday night’s 75-73 win over Peabody, the Highlanders now stand at 3-2 overall.
Capitalizing on turnovers in the early going, the Highlanders roared out to a commanding 23-12 lead through the end of the first quarter in the championship game. Battling back, the Crusaders managed to turn the tides. While the Highlanders shot less than 30 percent from the perimeter in the second quarter, the Crusaders crept back into the contest, igniting a 22 point second quarter surge in tying the contest at 34-34.

The 235th Anniversary of the Raising of the Great Union Flag

– Photos by Donald Norton

Does your block have well shoveled sidewalks?

Nominate it for the Best Shoveled Block in Somerville Contest, sponsored by the Somerville Post Office, Green Streets and Shape Up Somerville.

Nominations can be sent to Margaret Dimock, Somerville Post Office Station Master, via emailed  (Margaret.C.Dimock@usps.gov), USPS mail (Margaret Dimock, Somerville Post Office Station Master, 237 Washington Street, Somerville, MA 02143-9998) or called in at (617) 666-2332.

Nominations will be due on Walk/Ride Day, February 25, 2011. The judges? Letter carriers, who use the sidewalks every day!

The winner will be awarded at a ceremony at the Somerville Post Office on Walk/Ride Day, March 25, 2011.

On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

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

Just saying the words, two thousand and eleven is very strange. Where the heck did all the time go?

If I knew it was going to go so fast I would have saved more money,  and made some other changes. I would have actually used that eye wrinkle and bag cream that has been sitting in the medicine cabinet for five years. Weren’t we just all freaking out about the millennium? Well folks that was over 10 years ago.