Not “reading, writing and ‘rithmetic” but reduce, reuse and—most notably—recycling. The Boston Globe has an article reporting that Massachusetts recycling rates are stagnant, and relatively low. A rather timely report given the effort by numerous organizations to get Beacon Hill to update the bottle bill.…

Agassiz Baldwin Children’s Programs will be closed on Wednesday, March 17 in observance of Evacuation Day.  The Agassiz Baldwin office will open during normal business hours: 9 am-5 pm.

The Dance Complex is a Top Non-Profit

As part of the nation-wide 2010 Art Appreciation Campaign, Cambridge-based The Dance Complex was voted one of the best non-profits. Though there is no monetary reward with this recognition, the increased visibility and credibility it affords is substantial.

Hosted by GreatNonprofits, Guidestar and Intersection for the Arts, this selection will provide the volunteer based center with a closer link to philanthropic groups and individuals.
In its 19th year, The Dance Complex is the proud steward of the Odd Fellows Hall in Central Square, Cambridge. With a diverse offering of classes, rehearsal and performance facilities it is the only non-membership organization that offers ongoing, drop in classes for all ages, skills and interest levels in the area.
A recipient of Cultural Facilities Funding, the Julie Ince Thompson Theatre, lobby and offices are now fully accessible. This renovation was recently completed by the S&H Construction Company.

Other recognized nom-profits include Lenox’s Shakespeare & Co, VSA of Boston, Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center (VA) and NYC’s Playwrights’ Horizon.

The Dance Complex
536 Mass Ave
Cambridge MA 02139
617.547.9363
www.dancecomplex.org

Ever since housing day, things have been pretty crazy on campus. Everyone has been running around, finding out what houses their friends got into and determining whether or not they will ever see each other again. I have made my friends promise to make the journey to the quad once a week but I know that [...]

The Wellington Harrington Neighborhood and East Cambridge has a new full service bicycle store. Hub Bicycle Company is located on the corner of Cambridge Street and Willow Street, right across the street from the King Open School. Stop by and... Green Streets Initiative

Stop by Pug's Bar and Grill in East Cambridge on Walk/Ride Day and you can enjoy a free cup of coffee or bottle of water with your lunch. And you can take 10% off your lunch bill! Bob Salines, owner... Green Streets Initiative

This year’s logo design contest winner for the 8th grade Student Science Showcase at MIT is Atsede Assayeghen from the Morse School. Atsede’s design will be featured on the invitations, T-shirts, and all promotional information. In addition, Atsede will receive a fantastic prize: a telescope.

Take a hypothetical investment in your home of $1,000 for a new hot heater that will save $100 a year. Most people will “do the math” and determine that the heater will pay for itself in ten years, then decide that this is too long and put the money into something else e.g; a vacation or stashing it in savings.…

Ever wonder what credentials our writing faculty have?  Now is your chance to find out!  This Friday, March 19, join us for a reading, where some of our writing faculty strut their stuff!  If you decide you like our writers, sign up for a class!

This reading is free, and open to the public, and will take place in our 56 Brattle Street location, otherwise known as the Blacksmith House.

Here’s a lineup of the night:

Barbara Beckwith, “Apt in Apt”
Kimberly Davis, “Alchemies of Loss“
Don Gervich, “In an Infinite Way”
Daniel Gewertz, “The Eve of the Iguana”
Sue Katz, “Mature Heat”
Judah Leblang, excerpt from “Finding My Place: One Man’s Journey . . ..”
Janet Pocorobba, “Screw Support, You Need a Rival”
David Semanki, “Widescreen”

Our Spring Term begins on March 29, so there’s plenty of time to register for your favorite writing class – but do it soon!  Writing is one of our most popular categories!

“Why the Sky is Far Away”
Based on a Nigerian Folktale

Brought to you by the Kindergarten – 5th grade students of Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool.

When: Tuesday, March 16th [5:30-6:00pm]
Where: Baldwin School Gym, 28 Sacramento Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
What: In the beginning, the sky was so close to the earth that anyone who was hungry could just reach up, take a piece, and eat it. The sky was delicious, tasting sometimes of meat stew, sometimes of roasted corn. But the people grew careless with the sky’s gifts, taking more than they needed to satisfy their hunger. The sky grew angry, threatening to withhold its gifts if the people continued to waste them. Join us tomorrow to learn how the story ends . . .

It might sound like “blaming the victim,” but The Epoch Times has an interesting piece this week about the lack of funds for sustainable development, and the idea that some of the potential beneficiaries of the program are complicit in the situation. The IMF has its own plan for funding green projects.

By Marc Levy Published: March 11, 2010 Cambridge Day
Jason Ong, Jamie O’Brien and Jason Crow work in the big studio at Cambridge Community Television in 2007. The organization’s lease has ended at its 675 Massachusetts Ave. offices. (Photo: CCTV)
Cambridge Community Television’s search for office and studio space is “down to the wire,” executive director Susan Fleischmann said Thursday, and there is still no deal in place or lease signed.
CCTV must leave its ground-floor 675 Massachusetts Ave. space — the entrance is around the corner, on Prospect Street — and have new, customized space to move into by October. The cable-access content provider signed a long-term lease in 1995 and was on an extension when, late in 2008, the building housing it was sold to Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., of Boston.
“They had the intent of raising the quality of the building, or something like that,” Fleischmann said. “We were unable to reach any agreement … They think they can hold out for higher-paying tenants.”
That meant a search for space with a very specific set of characteristics: a minimum of 6,500 square feet, an increase of 1,500 over the Massachusetts Avenue space where, Fleischmann said, “we’re kind of busting out of our seams”; a spot in which a 900-square-foot studio with high ceilings can be carved out; and a cost in the low to mid-twenties per square foot.
The search has been mainly in Central Square, where those factors present a challenge.
“There’s the reality of property owners and their rent expectations versus what a tenant is willing to pay for rent. There might be a slight disjoint,” said City Manager Robert W. Healy this week at a City Council meeting, noting the availability of public transportation as a factor in higher prices.
Despite Central Square having several large, empty storefront spaces, Fleischmann knows it is unrealistic to expect CCTV to move into another retail space with the same kind of ground-floor visibility, “which will be a shame. It’s a big loss for us.”
The city has helped with identifying possible locations, and Fleischmann said a couple of options remain.
At the same time, CCTV is conducting a vital $1 million fundraising drive, with the proceeds to be divided among the city’s three cable channels. While the money can help with a move, it must also go toward replacing equipment, some of which is 22 years old, she said. The city is renegotiating its contract with cable television provider Comcast, which provides financial support from subscriber fees. “We’re hoping there will be extra money in that for buildout costs,” Fleischmann said, but the channels have needs greater than can be fulfilled by the noncompetitive negotiations. “We’re sort of on our own.”
“Hopefully everything will fall into place,” she said. “We have to look at it as an opportunity. We really need more space.”
Intercontinental was called repeatedly over the past two weeks for comment, but no company representative returned messages. That leaves it unclear what kind of tenant the company hopes will replace CCTV on Prospect Street. A Leader Bank branch office and mobile-phone store fills the high-rise building’s storefronts on Massachusetts Avenue.

1. Bob La Trémouille reports.
2. Marilyn Wellons reports:
Part I.

1. Bob La Trémouille reports.

I had to leave fairly early during the public comments.

MassDOT presented their plans to a meeting at the Morse School near Magazine Beach in Cambridge.

The presentation was not changed from that made to the Allston meeting.

The attendance was perhaps double that in the Allston meeting. The Allston meeting filled that conference room. The Morse School Cafeteria is quite a bit larger than the conference room in the Honan Allston Library.

Representatives Walz and Wolf took credit for getting MassDOT to make a presentation in Cambridge.

I spoke on a number of issues.

I commented that the River Street / Western Avenue project is a responsible project on the state side. By contrast, the DCR’s BU Bridge project is very much environmentally destructive. Silence on the meetings on the BU Bridge project being conducted in Boston and Kendall Square allowed the DCR to keep that environmental destruction secret from the Cambridge residents most affected.

I commented that plans being proposed by friends of the State Reps for a small vehicle highway under the bridges with Memorial Drive access would be environmentally destructive and would duplicate an existing small vehicle highway on the Boston side. That small vehicle highway is a haven for muggers and rapists, and has signs warning people not to use it at night.

I objected to related plans for lighting at night at the water level. These would be historically destructive, environmentally destructive and harmful to animals feeding.

My initial comments were on the highway markings on the River Street Bridge. I was the second member of the public to speak. I followed a resident at 808 Memorial Drive, at the Cambridge end of the bridge, who objected that existing signage is dangerous. I followed up repeating my Allston comments, that people are making left turns from the middle lane onto Memorial Drive because signage at the Boston end violates signage manual requirements that one way streets be marked to tell people on one way streets that they are on one way streets. People are driving in the middle lane and turning left off it because they think they are on two way streets.

Councilor Davis left after I spoke without speaking. She gave me a dirty look, perhaps she also wanted to take credit for the Cambridge meeting.

2. Marilyn Wellons reports:

Part I.

In addition to the elected officials Bob has named, City Councillors Seidel and Cheung arrived after he left.

Councillor Wolf led off the question and answer period. She asked about improvements for pedestrians and cyclists on both sides of the river around the bridges. She also asked whether DOT work would affect vegetation there.

DOT pointed out that the Accelerated Bridge Program (ABP) under which the work is funded defines the scope of the work as the footprint of the bridge. (The footprint is the dimensions of the existing structure.) Possible changes to the "multipurpose path" beyond the bridges themselves and their intersections are therefore limited. As for trees, DOT said they aim for as little destruction as possible, but need staging areas. They identify trees that must be removed during design of the repairs.

In response to this question and others about the "multipurpose path," in particular about tunnels for it through the bridges' abutments that had been proposed at the Allston meeting, DOT said they were studying the question. Whether tunnels prove to be feasible or not in the work now, they would aim at a design that would not foreclose that option in the future.

Many people cited safety problems for peds, bikes, and motor vehicles at the complicated intersections on both ends of the two bridges, and especially for River Street, where traffic from Soldiers Field Road and the Turnpike continues at high speed. And on Western Avenue, traffic backs up to Central Square and along Putnam Avenue.

Part II to follow.Charles River White Geese Blog

The CRLS History Club donned costume and other CRLS history students (not in the History Club) on March 6 2010 at the Greater Boston Massachusetts History Day Regional Competition. The CRLS History Club performed a short play titled “The Innovation of the Electric Washing Machine.” The CRLS students pictured in the photo (left to [...]

friday Wine Pick

This is a wine any one can get behind. Made by a woman who ran screaming from IBM in Milan (you can’t keep me in this windowless room!) and who has her pilots license (hi-ya!) Azienda Agricola Martilde Pinot Nero “Nina” 2005 exudes everything she does – it’s bright, yet firm and has a beautiful freshness.

$15 a bottle

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latest Addictions

Fine, you caught us, it isn’t necessarily new, but we’ve had the most delicious whole milk ricotta and mozzarella from Maria at Mozzarella House in Everett since the day we opened and we feel like nobody knows we’re selling this seriously authentic stuff. It’s thick, rich and it tastes like creamy fresh milk. Oh, and we added another beauty from Cato Corner Farm’s in Connecticut – Drunk Monk. Say what you will about all the beer drinking monks you know, but not a one of them can compare to this creamy, tasty, lazy Sunday afternoon cheese.

Kumquat + Ginger Marmalade

Ah, Easter. Ah, Passover. Just another ham. Just another brisket. But wait! Free yourself from the confines of your apron and hurl yourself into the car or down the street and land at our door where we can introduce you to the greatest accoutrement ever! Our spicy kumquat + ginger marmalade handmade by Stacey. (whoooo…) Okay, you can keep your apron on, but it is pretty darn tasty if we say so ourselves. A combination of kumquats, dried plums, oranges, lemons, fennel and chili flake… it’s the perfect sweet for savory.

thursday wine bar(s)

Yeah, yeah we’re a retail shop, but we’re so not ready to commit to just retail. We want more… we want to be a wine bar too! And once a week, every thursday in fact, we do just that. We think about some fun wines we’re interested in and we write ‘em up and sell them by the glass or as flights. You get to come down, hang out, try a flight or two and have salume plates and cheese plates hand selected by our resident “smell-y-iere” David who happens to adore cheese and worship wine. Uh, hello, how can you not stop by? It’s a wine-wine, duh.
central bottle wine+provisions
196 massachusetts avenue, cambridge ma 02139
617.225.0040 info@centralbottle.com

m t w f & s 11–8
thursday 11–9
sunday 12–6

Here is a very informative bulletin produced by the MTA for the many teachers (myself included!) who use social networking sites in their personal life.  I consider it a "must-read!"

Check it out, here.

The jig is up!
By Central Square on March 9, 2010 5:39 AM | No Comments

The leprechauns are laughing for St. Pat’s Day will soon be here. Central Square Florist will help you get in the spirit.We can’t send a pot of gold but we can send an arrangement with such flowers as Bells of Ireland , green carnations, anthuriums and spider mums. Perhaps you’d like a basket of shamrocks, a symbol of Irish pride. A St. Pat’s balloon bouquet would be fun. Irish eyes will be smiling ,but remember we’re all Irish on March 17th! Your loved ones, friends and colleagues will be pleased with your gift from Central Square Florist , conveying your wishes for good luck and good cheer. Visit our website,or call 617-354-7553. Come visit us when in Central Square. We are in the heart of the square at 653 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge.

Bob La Trémouille reports:

The following letter from me was printed in the March 12, 2010 edition of the Cambridge Chronicle. Initial capitalization was removed from “The Machine.”

Editor
Cambridge Chronicle

I read with interest your report about a “neighborhood group’s” planning for Lechmere Station, especially in context of the city wide con game concerning climate control.

The Lechmere group has key people involved in the city wide con game which, in turn, looks like a collection of related groups with very much a common pattern. The pattern is lovely words with the opposite behavior in reality because of secret omissions or secret fine print.

Some people involved in the Lechmere initiative, when pushed, express shock about the plans of a state agency for Lechmere Station. They are shocked that the state agency wants to put in a park in the place of Lechmere Station.

So we hear these lovely words about a plaza with minimal comment of a large building.

Their plans are not for a plaza with large construction. Their proposal is for large construction with a plaza.

In place of a very large park with trees. In place of a very large park with grass.

And key people are involved in the city wide con game.

The climate control congress brags of lovely buildings.

Somehow the group does not mention needless and massive city and state destruction of excellent trees and animal habitat in many parts of Cambridge. Somehow not mentioned are poisons being dumped on the banks of the Charles to keep alive sickly grass replacing healthy grass which survived the better part of a century. Somehow not mentioned is a bizarre wall of introduced bushes walling off Magazine Beach and its food from the Charles and its native animals. Somehow not mentioned is heartless animal abuse.

A related letter spouted pious about the climate control congress and neglected to mention the writer’s environmental achievements. The writer brags about the grassy Lorentz Park at Ellery and Broadway. The writer never mentions the 20 to 30 hundred year old trees he and the city destroyed in the process.

These related entities have commonly gotten together with zoning “improvements” in which the fine print too often puts the lie to lovely claims.

Cambridge has an organized group doing a lot of harm to the environment in Cambridge. This Cambridge Machine fits a very distressing pattern.

I think the related outrages and con games are the climate control problem in Cambridge.

I think the repeated con games are just the hypocritical way The Machine hides reality from a concerned electorate.Charles River White Geese Blog

This event has been postponed until a later date.  Please contact us if you’re interested in attending.

—

Living Well Network is excited to announce an enlightening and free event on Tuesday, March 16th, 7:30 PM, at the home of Living Well Network volunteer and ABC Board co-Director Miriam Goldberg.

Rosalind Michahelles, a Certified Holistic Health Counselor (nutrition-matters.info) will lead a discussion entitled: How and Why To Eat Less Sugar.

After a brief introduction, including the history of table sugar, we will look at dietary sources in whole foods (i.e., carbohydrates, including what we call sugar, and also grains/starches, fruits, and vegetables). Subsequently, we will focus on:

• Hidden sugar in processed food
• Medical problems associated with overuse of sugar
• Artificial sweeteners
• Natural sweeteners

This event can accommodate ten participants.  To RSVP, email Nathaniel Meyer, LWN Volunteer Coordinator, or call (617) 349-6287 x16.

Beverages will be served, but feel free to bring a healthy (or not-so-healthy? Rosalind can help you find out!) snack for all to share.

      Along with a quarter of the freshman class, I have been quaded. For those of you who do not speak Harvard, this means that my house for the next three years will be in the Radcliffe Quadrangle near Linnaean Street as opposed to one of the houses along the river. Of the 12 houses, three are located [...]