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Book Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek

Some of the best fiction in the past one hundred years or so has come in the form of short stories: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor, Alice Munroe, Tobias Wolf, etc. Short stories have some advantages over novels. They can zero in on a particular time period or a conflict or a problem and they can usually provide the reader with a sense of an ending where the endings of novels can be unsatisfactory. Recently there’s been a trend toward micro-fiction, but a well-developed short story creates its own little world of escape and contemplation. And despite the availability of so many other ways to entertain ourselves, Fiction still offers insight into the inner lives of characters in a way that is deeper and more satisfying than film and television to give us a portrait of our lives today.

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Jacques Stanley Fleury is a Haitian American Poet, Educator and Author of four books. He has a degree in Liberal Arts and is pursuing graduate studies in the fine arts through Harvard University. His first book Sparks in the Dark: A Lighter Shade of Blue, A Poetic Memoir about life in Haiti and America was endorsed by the Boston Globe. Fleury is prominently featured in newspapers, anthologies and prestigious libraries and literary publications worldwide such as Muddy River Poetry Review and Cornell University Press’s anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide. Two of his books, Sparks in the Dark and his epochal tome Chain Letter To America: The One Thing You Can Do To End Racism, are permanently archived at the University of Massachusetts Healey Library. Find his books locally at The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Porter Square Books, The Harvard Book Store, and worldwide online. He lives in Cambridge, MA.

Pilot program is the latest of several transit equity initiatives Somerville has undertaken this year, fully funding more than 4,000 passes for residents, students, families, and workers

The City of Somerville, in partnership with the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS), is launching a pilot program to distribute 500 fully subsidized MBTA passes to low-income households in Somerville. This program is the latest of several initiatives the City has undertaken recently to deliver economic relief to residents and expand access to sustainable and equitable transportation options. Funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, this pilot is among the first means-tested transit pass programs in Massachusetts. 

Experience the Band that Created the Music for Toy Story 2 and “Woody’s Roundup”  

Arts at the Armory’s Spotlight Series is delighted to present Riders in the Sky this Friday, June 16th! For more than forty years, Riders In The Sky has been the keeper of the flame passed on by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, reviving and revitalizing Western music. And while remaining true to the integrity of the genre, they have themselves become modern-day icons with their own legendary wacky humor and way-out Western wit, and all along encouraging buckaroos and buckarettes to live life “The Cowboy Way!

59 Somerville Locals Cycle Toward Record-Breaking $70 Million Fundraising Goal in the 2023 Pan-Mass Challenge

On Aug. 5 and 6, more than 6,000 riders from around the globe, including 59 residents from Somerville, will pedal in the 44^th Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). These cyclists will come together with the common goal of raising a record-breaking $70 million for cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber). If achieved, this would be the single-largest gift Dana-Farber has ever received, bringing the PMC’s total contribution in the fight against cancer to $970 million since 1980.

Update: Due to the inclement weather slated for Wednesday’s evening forecast, the “Taste of Somerville” organizers have regrettably decided to postpone the event to the  “rain date” the following evening (Thursday, June 15, from 5-8pm) to ensure all guests and vendors can experience the al fresco event as intended. After a long three-year wait, our committee feels this difficult decision is in the best interest of the return event for all who are involved.