Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the City of Somerville Department of Veterans’ Services invite the community to join the 4th Annual Health and Wellness Day on Saturday, September 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lincoln Park (290 Washington St.). This free, family-friendly event is designed to promote wellness for all ages and to connect Veterans, first responders, and their families with health and wellness resources. For questions or more information, please contact the Department of Veterans’ Services at 617-625-6600 x 4700 or veterans@somervillema.gov.

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

By Jeffrey Shwom

As a resident and writer, I’m advocating for a centralized information system for all civic meetings in Somerville for the benefit of all of us … and selfishly, for me as a journalist.

Our government is coming back from summer break in 2025. Fall is in the air, and so are back-to-school and back-to-work routines. September is also here, and with it, a month of renewal, new habits, and new starts. Maybe someone new or old wants to learn about our government and go to a meeting or become informed locally. It is an election year, too! This is my palette to paint with, to inform my fellow residents and visitors. I cherish it … until I remember the information is all over the place.

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These make ahead breakfast sandwiches will save you plenty of time during the week whether you’re off to work or school. They can also be frozen if you want to make extra.

The “What the Fluff?” festival hits Union Square once again soon, an event that has grown in the hearts of so many here.

For all these years, Marshmallow Fluff has been a favorite snack food for many, while others could, frankly, take it or leave it. Either way, few would argue that the annual festival itself is chock full of fun and frivolity for everyone who attends.

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Article by Off the Shelf correspondent Michael Todd Steffen

Denis Emorine’s moving fidelity to his creative inspiration pulses at the heart of his new novella, Broken Identities (JEF Books, Arlington Heights, IL, ISBN 979-8284824-05-4). The book unfolds a sequel, a further denouement and conclusion to the public emergence of a writer begun in the 2017 novella Death at Half-Mast, where Emorine traces origins of “broken identities,” foremost that of his fictional subject, Dominic Valarcher and his integral duality as a human being and his vocation as “the writer,” the alternative appellation chiming like a formal constraint throughout the two narratives.

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Isabella Shea, a second-year student at Endicott College, published a collection of poems, Living In Pieces, detailing her mental health struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. The book was published in November 2023 with the intention of raising awareness about teen mental health. She hoped that her book would allow others, who were struggling, to know that it is okay to not be okay. Individualism is one of the many poems in Isabella’s collection.

Somerville’s Preliminary Election Day is Tuesday, September 16.  If you’re voting in person, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Look up your polling place before you head out. You can still vote in person if you’ve applied to vote by mail.