By Doug Holder

Teaching Metaphors. Nathan Graziano. ( sunnyoutside PO BOX 441429 Somerville, Mass. 02144) http://www.sunnyoutside.com

Sunnyoutside, a creative and prolific small press based in Somerville, has released a new book by poet Nate Graziano. Graziano is a mainstay of their list and for good reason. His work has the flashes of insight, irony, and humor as well as accessibility that makes for an engaging read. Graziano has been a high school English teacher since 1997 and has penned a book of poetry about his experiences. 

‚ÄúTeaching metaphors’ has literally taken me 10 years to write. It is a mosaic of the students and colleagues I‚Äôve worked with in the various schools I taught," Graziano writes. "These poems are not based solely on any individuals, rather they‚Äôre imaginative amalgams. These poems are also not a picturesque depiction of the world of education, but I hope they‚Äôre honest‚Äîgood and bad.‚Äù

  The book is divided into two sections: the ‚ÄúStudent Body‚Äù and ‚ÄúThe Faculty.‚Äù I found ‚ÄúThe Faculty‚Äù section the most compelling. Here Graziano captures the eccentrics and the burnouts that we find in any faculty. In the poem ‚ÄúBurnout‚Äù, a gone-to-seed teacher brutalizes his students with his timeworn filmstrips and sepia-tinged pop quizzes that he has given to generations of students.

By Elizabeth Bernardi

Their stage is the street РPutnam Road in Ten Hills tonight Рwhere two dozen lawn chairs are spread out at dusk on a cloudy Monday, as speakers, microphones and cable are unloaded from a blue van. A small army of kids and teenagers scurries around, hooking up cables, talking amongst themselves. They’re the Somerville Sunsetters, dressed uniformly in khaki cargo shorts and black shirts adorned with the Sunsetters’ logo, a superhero-style “S” with a sun setting behind the top of the letter. It is nearly 7 p.m., and the show is about to go on.

A few members are missing, though, so the crowd waits just a few more minutes, listening to Oldies piped in over the speakers. Finally someone shouts out, “Everyone’s here! We can start!” A few stragglers in Sunsetters garb come running up the street’s steep hill, and when everyone has taken their places, spread across the street, the familiar peppy introduction to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” begins to play.

The perception of Somerville to those who are not from here is from bad connotations going back years and years. And quite frankly, when will it ever stop?  Monikers like ‚ÄúSlummerville‚Äù are still thrown about by ignorant asses who do little more than drive through here on their way to work in Boston or back to the suburbs.

This city is more alive than it ever has been and has more going for it than 95 percent of the rest of the cities and towns that make up the commonwealth.  The Boston-based media outlets talk about the dirty politics, crooked politicians and the Winter Hill Gang like we all live in an episode of The Sopranos. Give it a rest for God‚Äôs sake.

By George P. Hassett

Acting Police Chief   Robert R. Bradley says he wants to finish what he started.

‚ÄúI want the Somerville Police Department to be a better place when I leave than when I got here. Right now it isn‚Äôt,‚Äù he said at the July 10  question and answer session between the public and the three finalists for chief of police.

At the meeting, Bradley stressed his deep roots in the community and his accomplishments as acting chief.

“I’m uniquely qualified for the job because of my knowledge of the community,” he said. “I understand the culture of the Somerville Police Department.

By George P.  Hassett

Ruben Galindo, one of three finalists hoping to be the city’s next chief of police, believes he is perfect for Somerville.

‚ÄúMy wife and I already planned on relocating to the Boston area, and when I read the ad for this job,  I felt like it was a match made in heaven,‚Äù he said at the July 10 question and answer session between the candidates and the public.

Galindo has been an officer in the Miami-Dade Police Department since 1982. He is now a major supervising 135 cops at Miami International Airport, working with a budget of $24.4 million. 

By George P. Hassett

Anthony Holloway considers himself married to two partners — his wife and the community he patrols. As a newlywed with only two days of marriage behind him, Holloway said he lost his wedding band during a ‚Äúmini-riot‚Äù while on the job in Clearwater, Fla. He spread the word around the neighborhood that he wanted his ring back. Within 24 hours it had been returned and was back on his finger, he said.

“Ever since then I’ve considered myself married to my wife and the community I work in,” he said at the July 10 public question and answer session for the three final candidates for the job of police chief.

By Andrea Gregory

The windows that once led into a popular breakfast spot have been covered up with large posters  and a sign that the competition for diner customers is about to heat up. ‚ÄúSame cook, new look!‚Äù is the first message Ball Square Caf√© & Breakfast is sending out to the public with its version of an opening-soon sign.

The new establishment will be run by Mike Moccia. Moccia’s family has run Victor’s Deli for the past 25 years. Moccia said he has always had the dream of creating his own breakfast café and is excited about the opportunity.

“I want to open yesterday. Is the food ready back there?” he yelled with a laugh back to the area where construction workers were plugging away this week.

Moccia’s new restaurant is slated to open at the end of the summer at 708 Broadway.

All around nice guy Peter Forcellese was trying to retire from his job as Clerk for the Board of Aldermen, but it appears he needs to work some more hours for his retirement.    We‚Äôre big fans of Peter, who has been organizing for the ‚ÄúJohn T. Forcellese Memorial Fundraiser‚Äù for seven years – this year it will be on September 8th – we wish him success again this year.   

   
                                                 **********

Our sympathies go out to the Lynch family – Joseph Lynch, Sr. passed away on Monday and the wake will be at Doherty‚Äôs on Wednesday and Funeral Mass at St. Ann‚Äôs on Thursday.  Mr. Lynch led a long and full life – he was 95 years of age.  Joseph Lynch, Jr. – his son – is a candidate for Ward 5 Alderman‚ĶJoe was very close to his father and we extend our condolences to him and his family.   

By William C. Shelton

(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.)

Somerville faces some serious challenges in the near future.  Setting aside the question of whether our city government has the capacity to craft creative responses, the greatest constraint on implementing such solutions will be our ability to pay for them, or more accurately, our ability to pay for them without greatly increasing property taxes.  The prospect is not encouraging.

On the expense side, we see large Argenziano School construction cost overruns.  City government has conveniently postponed that project‚Äôs debt service until a year from now, when elected officials are not facing the voters.  We‚Äôre also paying debt service on recent DPW capital expenses, which some describe as lard. 

Corey Welford, spokesman, for Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., confirmed that authorities now know the identity of a man found lying dead between two apartment buildings Thursday morning.

John Joseph Meaney, 49, died July 12 and was found lying between 431 and 433 Broadway.