*

The Somerville Arts Council (SAC) has announced that the mural panels that were created this summer by the Mystic River Mural Program have been installed by the Somerville Department of Public Works.

The new State Auditor Diana DiZoglio for Massachusetts was sworn in on January 18. DiZoglio posed with (L to R) Lieutenant Barry Hamilton, Former Alderman Bob McWatters, Deputy Chief Michael Avery and candidate for Somerville Firefighters Marc Atwater at her post-ceremony celebration.

*

By Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek

Irish feuds run like fissures through my family history. My younger brother fled to northern Maine thirty years ago and didn’t even come back for the funerals of our parents. He resented the criticism my parents leveled at him for not being the person they wanted him to be, and he resented my sisters and me for remaining close to our parents. My uncle Dan did not speak to my mother and father for ten years after his wife lost her engagement ring and my mother had the gall to give her sister a replacement. So, I was redisposed to identify when the musician Colm (Brendan Gleeson) picks a fight with his friend Padraic (Colin Farrell).

*

Anne Elezabeth Pluto grew up in Brooklyn, NY before it was cool. She is Professor of Literature and Theatre at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA where she is the artistic director of the Oxford Street Players. She is an alumna of Shakespeare & Company and was a member of the Worcester Shakespeare Company 2011 – 2016. She was a member of the Boston small press scene in the late 1980s and is one of the founders and editors at Nixes Mate Review and Nixes Mate Books. Her publications include chapbooks: The Frog Princess, White Pine Press (1985), eBook Lubbock Electric, Argotist ebooks (2012), Benign Protection, Cervena Barva Press (2016), the edited print edition of Lubbock Electric Nixes Mate Books (2018), and full length collection The Deepest Part of Dark, Unlikely Stories Press, NOLA (2020).

Arrests:
*

William Hancock, of Rehoboth, January 17, 12:17 p.m., arrested at Mystic Ave. on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and on warrant charges of possession of a class B drug and receiving stolen property.

The City of Somerville’s SomerViva Office of Immigrant Affairs (SOIA) is pleased to host an open house to connect with residents, city staff, and local service providers. SOIA provides multilingual, culturally competent programs and services and advances policies to support Somerville’s immigrant community.

MAPS Community Health Workers and the HIV/ STI Program Manager Carlos Mattos (center).

The Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) has been named one of the best Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) community testing centers in Massachusetts by Testing.com, an online educational guide for medical lab testing and at-home screening. 

Kotoko Brass

Arts at the Armory presents POP African Music Series with two of the most beloved African bands in the Greater Boston area participating: Kotoko Brass and Kina Zore. Lead members in the respective bands are originally from Ghana and Mozambique, and their music represents the richness of the African continent, which we are so fortunate to experience right here in Somerville. Opening for Kotoko Brass is Dzidzor, and opening for Kina Zore is author Pacifique Irankunda, originally from Burundi. 

March 23, 1947 – January 15, 2023

William J. Driscoll of North Andover, passed away on Sunday, January 15, 2023 after a 7 month battle with cancer. He died peacefully at home surrounded by family. He was 75 years old.