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May 22, 2013 - 11:45am
Memorial Drive is closed on Sundays. Who cares if you're driving and have to cross the Western Avenue Bridge to Storrow Drive and enter Harvard Square via the Eliot Street Bridge? Bicycles, tricycles, skaters, strollers, walkers, and sitters all make it worth it. Huge sigh of relief: spring is here, summer's coming. The River is coming alive, thanks to the Charles River Conservancy.
Here are some upcoming events, and I'll keep reminding you about all the reasons we love the River as the season goes on:
Saturday, June 1: Cambridge Riverfest (Noon, along the Banks)
Bring your blankets, chairs, appetites to this great yearly event that features music performances, art demonstrations, and specialty foods.
Saturday, June 1 (8 a.m., Esplanade River Dock)
The Charles River Swim Club is holding its 5th one-mile race. For the past 18 years, the club has worked to bring about the return of public river swimming. The race itself is sold out, but there are opportunities to volunteer. Contact the conservancy if you're interested: crc@thecharles.org
Saturday, June 1 (10:30-3)
For bicyclists. A much-needed refresher about road skills, safety, and communication, provided by the City....
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May 10, 2013 - 3:31pm
A few years ago, a cheeky promo ran on WBZ radio. It said, and I paraphrase, that here in New England we have four seasons: winter, winter, still winter, and potholes. It seems, though, that we Cantabridgians had to one-up that statement and create a year with one season: roadwork. Please, you have to agree with me that it's getting more than crazy. You can't go a quarter mile without trying to maneuver around heavy machinery. Recently a friend and I were ruefully laughing about the JFK Bridge construction. We've been told to expect the construction delays to last two years. The problem with that is we've been hearing that for a year already and the timeline hasn't changed. Recently the overpass near the BU Bridge was declared structurally unsound and will be closed for six months, and the closure of the Salt and Pepper Bridge is looming large on the horizon.
During the past few weeks I've taken photos of some roadwork within walking distance of my home. Here's a peek:
The headline photo was taken on Broadway near the Fogg Museum. I wanted to take pictures of the work going on inside the Broadway Tunnel, but I was too chicken to risk it--unlike the bicyclists with a death wish who...
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May 1, 2013 - 3:06pm
Stop, I think to myself, and imagine what it will be like to look back on this lazy, quiet day, things are settling down.
But the quietude belies the unsettled feeling, dredged up by a common desire to return to a normalcy that may never come back. The normalcy of yesterday has become the new normal of today: people lying in hospital beds with limbs blown off, families grieving for their loved ones, and people who are outwardly unscathed jumping whenever they hear a loud noise.
And then there are the overlooked ones, the children, the youth, who will live with the vision of a friend--a sweet, popular, loved-by-all boy--who betrayed them all by becoming their worst fear. "I want him to live, I want to know why," they are saying to no answer. "I don't care what people think, he was my close friend" they say while looking at the empty space where he used to stand.
They have had to stop and think on this lazy, quiet day, and stare at the reflection of what and who they used to be, and learn how not to say why because, for them, there may never be an answer.
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April 18, 2013 - 9:54am
For some of us it was as if nothing really happened.
After replying to anxious calls, emails, texts, Facebook posts, we turned to our preferred news sources and watched the horror, but remained strangely disconnected. Yes, on a good day Cantabridgians can walk to Boylston and Clarendon Streets in Boston, but some of us didn’t hear or see anything unusual.
For some of us, the drive to make something as monstrous as the so-called “Marathon Bombing” real became an overwhelming force. It wasn’t morbid curiosity, it was the desire to feel what happened, to console our neighbor.
The post rush hour T ride to Park Street was uneventful. When we stepped off the escalator the first thing we heard was workmen laughing as they loaded barriers—the kind you set up to keep people on the sidewalk as the runners go by—onto a truck. Students were sitting in the window of a burger joint stuffing their faces while chatting or lost in their headphones.
Across the street at the Parkman Bandstand in Boston Common a few hundred people gathered and sang America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner. A sign fluttering from the railing said “Peace Now.” In the crowd were people of varying ages...
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April 3, 2013 - 12:29pm
I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed that there were more bicyclists than ever braving the cold winter weather this year. Now, with spring springing, the hubway reopening, and bike corrals being locked into place, even more bikes will be on the streets. Many of those bicycles will be ridden by teenagers going back and forth to school, to activities and work, to friends’ houses. Many will be biking for fun.
With this in mind, the City is planning two workshops for high school students that will focus on the essentials of riding safely in an urban setting.
Sustainability Manager Jennifer Lawrence, who has experience cycling and advocates for local teens has planned a day of fun and exercise led by Mass Bike. In addition to a discussion of safety tips, there’ll be lunch and a nice long bike ride during which participants can practice what they’ve learned. "The City feels that it's really important to teach young people the rules of the road," Ms. Lawrence says.
The first workshop will be this Saturday, April 5, from 10:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. The second will be held Saturday, June 1 from 10:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Again, it’s for high-schoolers, eighth graders welcome. Participants...
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April 1, 2013 - 6:24pm
The Community Art Center will celebrate the completion of the second section its mural project this Tuesday (April 2) from 6-7 p.m.
Sponsored by Novartis, the work is being created by Community Art Center youth under the guidance of Cambridge-based Artist Geobany Rodriguez. Together, the youth and Rodriguez designed a mural to depict Area Four community members as an underwater ecosystem.
The mural will cover the wall masking the Novartis construction site (Mass Ave between Albany and Windsor Streets) In all, it will have four parts.
Tuesday’s event will also feature interactive art and a mural tour.
RSVP to: maryann@communityartcenter.org
NeighborMedia will follow the mural’s progress through to its completion
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March 18, 2013 - 2:20pm
First my answer: I'm not sure.
Beginning this weekend (March 23-24) Pedi-Cab rides will be piloted in Cambridge. Two companies, one based in Boston the other in Plymouth, will introduce 10 each of the pedal-powered vehicles to our streets.
The pros to this idea are obvious: they're eco-friendly, they're fun; they'll provide locals with short A-to-B rides; it's safe to say they'll be a tourist attraction. Add the fact that payment is voluntary--there are no set fares--and it seems like a winner.
But the cons are just as obvious: our streets are already really congested; the existing relationship between motorists and solo bicyclists is tense; and it remains to be seen if it'll be possible to enforce traffic laws on the new three-wheeled vehicles. As of now, there seems to be very little enforcement on bicycles.
I'm going to remain optimistic. But I'll check in with you later in the summer.
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February 22, 2013 - 12:19pm
This week I was forced to learn to say two very hard words: Eitan was.
I had to learn to say them because my intern and young friend Eitan Stern-Robbins died in his sleep on Valentine’s Day. He was in his dorm room at the University of Miami where he was a freshman. A lifelong Cantabridgian, Eitan graduated from CRLS in June, 2012. He was only 18.
When Eitan first came to work as an intern at MIT/Terrascope Youth Radio, he arrived with an interest in the environment and sustainability, and an ability to pick up computer and audio editing skills quickly. At 14 he had a deep, authoritative voice that if you weren’t looking straight at him you’d swear he was older.
However, those things were a very small part of what Eitan was, and the person I watched him become. He was creative and funny. He was a friend, a teacher, and a mentor. Some of Eitan’s best work was done as part of a team, and when he and his partner were working together you could almost see sparks fly. His supervisors and coworkers knew from the way he spoke of his religion that he was a young man of deep faith. We knew from the way he spoke of his family that he loved them dearly.
On Monday as I stood next to...
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February 8, 2013 - 1:58pm
A few tidbits before the storm kicks in...things to look forward to in the coming week:
David Fichter on BeLive
Yours truly will talk to muralist David Fichter on CCTV's BeLive Tuesday, February 12 at 7 p.m. If you're a
Cantabridgian you're familiar with his wonderful work which includes the recently-saved "Further
the Dream" mural at the King School, and the wall at Trader Joe's. Nicole Belanger hosts.
Community Art's Center Celebrates
The Community Arts Center will celebrate the completion of the first section of their community
mural. Join youth artists and visiting artist Laura Strong from 6-7 p.m., 119 Windsor St.
Thanks to my colleague Mary Holbrow for this link to RSVP for the Community Arts Center event:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Mural-Reception-at-Community-Art-Cent...
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January 18, 2013 - 10:32am
As we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. there is concern that the city’s plan to tear down and remake three public schools will mean the destruction of the “Further the Dream” mural at the Martin Luther King, Jr. School.
While we await the decision, let’s reflect on a beautiful piece of art that was designed by and painted by students, teachers, families, and residents. Artists David Fichter and Kelly Mowers directed the project.
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