Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

At the first mumblings of snow, we kids went into “snow day mode.” We watched Don Kent on Channel 4 and waited to see “Somerville” flash across the screen during the no-school warnings. If Sudbury flashed, no dice! But eventually, when we saw Somerville scroll across, we became jubilant! No school!

A portrait of a woman with her facial features missing on display under a CVS Beauty sign. The mural is by Ariel Freiberg, made for the Inside-Out Gallery. — Photos by Heather Balchunas

By Matthias Gat

The Inside-Out Gallery provides a unique opportunity for artists to exhibit their work and for residents to freely engage with the art world.

In 2009, the Somerville Arts Council took advantage of an empty CVS window in Davis Square. They turned it into a free gallery for residents and commuters to view. The Arts Council asked the community to name the gallery. When two separate respondents wrote in with the same answer, the title was decided: The Inside-Out Gallery. The name is a play on words – the works are on the inside of the window, but out on display for everyone to see.

The City of Somerville opened an overnight Winter Warming Center during the coldest months of the year to provide a safe, warm place to sleep for our residents experiencing homelessness. Open 5 p.m. – 7:30 a.m. daily through April 12. For questions about the Warming Center, call 311. If you need assistance getting to the Warming Center or after-hours assistance, please call (339) 242-4744. Email warmingcenter@somervillema.gov. The Cummings Building, 42 Prescott St.

Many teachers have great ideas on how to make their classrooms a better place for their students to learn math.  The teachers’ ideas frequently outrun the budget schools have for supplies and their own ability to subsidize their classroom.  The Somerville Mathematics Fund tries to fill this need through the generosity of their donors with grants of up to  $500.

Vendor applications are now open for the 22nd Annual Union Square Farmers Market, a producer-only market located in the heart of Union Square, with attendance of over 3,000 at the height of the season.

East Somerville Main Streets is  celebrating the everyday champions who make East Somerville better — the volunteers, organizers, helpers, and neighbors who show up, clean up, support others, and build community.

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A perfect recipe for brunch. I use a rice maker to cook, then keep the oats warm until I’m ready to serve. That means I can prepare other dishes without having to constantly stir the pot. Well, at least not this pot anyway.

Enough is enough already. Let’s hope we have seen the end of it for now. Only time will tell, but when it comes to putting up with the tiresome digging out and warming back up, we surely wish for the best.

As if clearing our sidewalks and driveways isn’t hard enough, we have had to contend with ridiculously cold, record-breaking low temperatures.

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Interview by Off the Shelf Correspondent John Wisniewski

John Wisniewski, a prolific interviewer of my acquaintance, asked if he could interview poet, publisher, activist Mark Pawlak. Mark is a highly regarded poet, publisher, and a mainstay of the poetry scene in the Boston/Cambridge and greater New England area.