Volunteers gathered at Draw Seven Park last weekend to help pick up litter that had accumulated over the past year.

By Adam Parise

On the morning of Saturday, October 5, residents participated in an annual clean up at Draw Seven Park, located right behind Assembly Square Station on the MBTA’s Orange Line.

People got to experience what it is like to save the environment by picking up trash and litter in the park. The event was open to the public and was sponsored by the Somerville Conservation Commission and the Mystic River Watershed Association.

Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed the Student Opportunity Act, an unprecedented $1.4 billion new investment over the next seven years in K-12 public education. This legislation ensures public schools have adequate resources to provide high-quality education to students across the state, regardless of zip code or income level.

Whether it be homegrown or imported, we have at our fingertips an incredibly diverse and nearly exhaustive supply of mellifluous entertainment to keep us amused and amazed as we watch it pass through our community.

The same goes for commitment to political and social issues. It’s natural for the HONK! Festival organizers to choose our community in which to hold this event. Activism thrives here, driven by a long tradition of dialog on important issues of the day and a genuine concern for the betterment of our own community as well as that of the world at large.

Eagle Feathers #189 – The Home Front

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked American Naval and Army bases at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It launched America into a two-front war with Japan and Germany that would change the country forever. America, the Sleeping Giant, had been treacherously awakened. Suddenly, she had to re-tool from her peaceful pursuits into an all-out war industry.

— Tufts University Photo

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and members of the Tufts Partnership Negotiating Committee invite residents to a community meeting on Wednesday, October 30, for an update on the current status of negotiations with Tufts University about a new Partnership Agreement between the city and the University. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the TAB Building, 167 Holland St. The previous Partnership Agreement expired on June 30, 2018. In addition to Tufts’ Payments in Lieu of Taxes (aka “PILOT payments”), the Partnership Agreement covers issues related to student housing, partnership with Somerville schools, the university’s planning process, and other topics.

The cities of Cambridge and Somerville and the Cambridge Community Foundation would like to invite the public at large and also area businesses and organizations to come and “dance for dignity” on October 25 at the Center for Arts at the Armory in Somerville: 7:00 – 10:30 p.m.

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Review by Off The Shelf correspondent Dennis Daly

James R. Scrimgeour communes with spirits and he does it with wit and wisdom. In Scrimgeour’s new poetry collection, Voices of Dogtown, he conjures up the denizens of a long abandoned New England village on the outskirts of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The few specters that still haunt this plot of land, called Dogtown, are not happy campers. Without any mollycoddling, the poet gives them voices and listens to their grievances, all the while working into these poems a jumble of scholarly citations, guidebook descriptions, ekphrastic commentaries, and even conjectures from an earlier eminent poet. Consider this book a topographical and historical adventure. At the end of his introductory poem entitled Dogtown, Scrimgeour sets the tone:

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After living in Los Angeles for many years, Jake Tringali is now back in his home city of Boston. Runs rad restaurants. Thrives in a habitat of bars, punk rock shows, and late-night adventures. Jake writes about the edges of society, and frequently about the things we no longer see, such as the hidden letters of the alphabet (“recanted”). With a strong background in cyberpunk and the hard sciences, he has a focus on the intersection of technology and human interaction. The reader will find him equally comfortable inside a mosh pit, or enjoying a 12-course dinner service. First published in 2014. Journals include Catch & Release, Boston Poetry Magazine, Indiana Voice Journal, and forty other fine periodicals.

Arrests:
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Jarod Bryan, of 65 Legate Hill Rd., Leominister, September 30, 12:14 p.m., arrested at Middlesex Ave. on charges of larceny under $1200 and possession of a class B drug.

David Polyak, of 32 Sciarappa St., Cambridge, September 30, 10:49 p.m., arrested at Washington St. on a warrant charge of operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs.

5 puppet performances in East Somerville
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The Somerville Arts Council takes you on one last adventure: “Puppet Palooza 2019: Tales from Around the World!” Stories have always been a connective thread that brings cultures together. For this series, Tales from Around the World, our featured performers bring those stories to life. Audiences are whisked away on journeys to far-away lands featuring global tales from Africa, Persia, Indonesia, and many more. So, grab your passport and prepare for thrilling escapes and unexpected surprises along the way.