By Ana Celerier Salcedo

On May 15, 2023, the City of Somerville Public Health and Safety Committee assembled to discuss updates on community engagement centers and the offering of basic need vending machines across the city. In addition, the meeting provided updates on creating a safe consumption/ overdose prevention site, the Taxi to Health program, and items sent for discussion by the chief of police.

It began as a way to memorialize the military casualties of the Civil War, and was originally termed Decoration Day.

Decorating the graves of the countless multitudes of fallen soldiers helped to console the grieving survivors of the debacle while uniting the once divided nation in a worthwhile common cause.

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Recently, I caught up with Somerville poet Mila Cuda. A recent graduate of Wellesley College, she has weaved her poetry into film, slam performance, and other venues.

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Meg Smith is a writer, journalist, dancer and events producer living in Lowell, Mass., and who spent part of her childhood in Somerville. In addition to The Somerville Times, her poetry has appeared recently in The Cafe Review, The Lowell Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Poetry Bay, Acropolis Review, and many more. She is author of five poetry books and a short fiction collection, The Plague Confessor. She welcomes visits to megsmithwriter.com. 

Francis (Frank) Xavier McCann, 75, of Londonderry, NH passed away at home Wednesday May 17, 2023, surrounded by his caring family. Frank was born and raised in Somerville, MA and was a son of the late Dominic and Dorothy (McDonald) McCann. He was happily married for 54 years to his wife Cynthia (Day) McCann. They have been residents of Londonderry for the past 49 years.

The City of Somerville will hold a virtual public hearing on the 2023-2024 One-Year Action Plan Draft on Thursday May 25. Community members are invited to share their input on priority needs related to affordable housing, community development, and homelessness for grants funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Community Development Block Grant Program, the Emergency Solutions Grant Program, and the HOME Program.

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Mayor Katjana Ballantyne joins the Haitian community and others who gathered outside of Somerville City Hall to observe Haitian Flag Day.

Winslow Homer’s “Waiting for the Boats” (1882) NPS Photo / James P. Jones

Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site has accepted a Winslow Homer watercolor painting, Waiting for the Boats (1882), into its museum collection.