As we contend with the awful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, then do our best to give the little ones some semblance of normalcy as they look to celebrate Halloween, we are triply tasked with searching our souls for the right answers to questions posed at the ballot box next week.

Eagle Feathers #216 – Mr. Philadelphia

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

To say that Russell Conwell made some people feel good about themselves is a colossal underestimate. He was best known as the founder and first president of Philadelphia’s Temple University, founder of an affiliated church, two hospitals, and author of the inspirational speech, Acres of Diamonds, which he gave over six thousand times. During his life time, he lectured to over eight million listeners, educated over ten thousand students and repeatedly turned down requests to name the school after himself.

To help support the holiday spirit, the City of Somerville and the Somerville Arts Council are offering some fun ways to celebrate Halloween safely this year. The city is hosting a citywide Howl-o-Ween, inviting community members to don a face covering and then give their best Halloween growls, ghost boos, or to just politely holler out their COVID-19 woes and frustrations (keep it family friendly, please) from their doors and windows at 6:30 p.m. on Halloween, Saturday, October 31.

(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)

Gift cards totaling $50 can motivate smokers and vapers to quit
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Dear Editor,

Smoking and vaping may put people at higher risk of complications from COVID-19, especially because they can weaken the immune system and damage the lungs. So, this is an especially good time for those who smoke or vape to try to quit.

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I have always loved the theatre, and over the years I have interviewed a number of aspiring and accomplished playwrights, actors, directors, etc. So, it was a pleasure to connect to Ally Sass, who despite the pandemic keeps on keeping on.

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Listen is Steven Cramer’s sixth collection of poetry. The book’s inaugurating subject, a prolonged struggle with depression, brings closer to home the purely imagined speaker of Cramer’s previous book, Clangings (2012), whose language manifested the “clang associations” of manic and schizophrenic speech. Listen’s poems face what Dickinson called “that White Sustenance/Despair,” offering deeply intimate lyric testimony about a widespread human condition. But, as Kevin Prufer writes, “these poems begin in depression, but their territories are wide, diverse, and very vivid.” The later sections of Listen intensely grapple with the magical thinking that shapes, or misshapes, our deepest attachments; dramatize the anxieties of this especially perilous moment in history; and ultimately pay homage to the fragile consolations of art.

Reminders on upcoming deadline for vote by mail and the end of early voting

Three of Somerville’s polling places have been relocated for the November 3 election to accommodate COVID-19 safety measures. All other polling locations will remain the same as they were for the September primary election. If you plan to vote in person on November 3, don’t forget to double-check your polling location.

They touch on Cramer’s period of depression and his treatment, Robert Lowell and his poem Waking in the Blue, his years directing the MFA program at Lesley University, an upcoming reading at the Blacksmith House, and more.

Due to rising cases of COVID-19 connected to indoor ice hockey, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued a new public health order  prohibiting indoor ice rinks and ice skating facilities from operating from October 23, 2020 to November 7, 2020.