Eagle Feathers #331 – A Banner Weekend

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Somerville is the first location in America to celebrate its flag before the constellation of stars on it began to grow. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, Colonial troops withdrew to fortify Prospect Hill. It was there, during the next year, that America’s union began to form. Prospect Hill became known as General Washington’s Citadel, his command post during the siege of Boston.

Alongside all the hubbub and hurrah of military parades, civil protests, and the sweetness of familial love that Father’s Day can bring, another event quietly slipped by last weekend.

Flag Day is not an official federal or state holiday, but June 14 is the date designated by proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson back in 1916 as a day to officially honor the stars and stripes that we solemnly revere today.

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Recently I caught up with Faye Dupras, a puppeteer based here in the Paris of New England. I asked her about her life and work.

Doug Holder: How has it been for you as an artist moving to and living in Somerville?

Faye Dupras: I moved to the U.S. in 2001 to pursue an MFA in puppetry arts at UConn. I planned to return to Montreal after my studies. However, during this period I met my now husband who is American.

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Miriam Levine is the author of Forget about Sleep, her sixth poetry collection, winner of the 2023 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award. Another collection, The Dark Opens, was chosen for the Autumn House Poetry Prize.  Other books include: Devotion, a memoir; In Paterson, a novel. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, and Ploughshares. Levine, winner of a Pushcart Prize, is a fellow of the NEA and a grantee of the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. She lives in Florida and New Hampshire. For more information about her work, please go to miriamlevine.com.

City buildings will be closed Thursday, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth.

Trash, recycling, and yard waste collection will be delayed by one day.

No street sweeping on Thursday.