By Donald Norton

Last Saturday, Little Sisters of the Poor on Highland Ave. celebrated Sister Rachel Ferdinand’s 100th birthday with a huge party.

Trains and T-stops were packed on Saturday as thousands poured in from neighboring cities like Somerville to participate in the Boston Women’s March.

By Joe Ruvido

Somerville residents joined an estimated 175,000 others at Boston Common on Saturday for the Boston Women’s March.

The march, which was billed as a protest against the anti-female rhetoric and policy proposals of President Donald Trump also served as a general protest against his presidency.

Speakers at the rally preceding the march included Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and State Attorney General Maura Healey.

By Brian Zipp

Somerville Community Access Television (SCATV) presented Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone with the SCATV Sanctuary Award this past Thursday, January 19, as part of the community media center’s annual meeting and awards events. The award acknowledges Curtatone’s leadership role in championing and promoting the community values that make Somerville a city that values and supports free speech, creative innovation and welcomes and safeguards the community diversity that makes Somerville such a special place.

Happy birthday to a lot of our friends and fellow Villens here this week: Happy birthday first of all to a favorite here at The Times, Dorothy DiMarzo, a great lady who is always positive and makes the best dishes around. And we know this personally. Happy birthday Dorothy! Happy birthday to a long-time Somerville guy, Jeff Cappello, the husband of former Ward 4 Alderman Maryann. We wish Jeff the very best on his special day. Happy birthday to a lifelong resident who is involved with what’s going on here in the city for a long time, Philip Ercolini. A great guy, from a great family. Local lady and real estate agent with The Norton Group, good friend Denise Cosby. We wish her a happy birthday. Former Somerville guy and a guy with a lot of passion for what he believes in, we’re wishing James Robertson a happy birthday. Happy birthday as well to Nancy Coutoumas, who loves Somerville. Happy Birthday to Kathie Lathasha Harris, who also celebrates this week. Happy birthday to Maureen Turner Schlegel, who is celebrating this week as well.

(Left to right) Attorney Philip Privitera, NFL Super Bowl Quarterback Matt Ryan, Payton Privitera, Boston College University President Father William Leahy in the President’s Box at Alumni Stadium.

By Donald Norton

Matt Ryan, the Super Bowl Quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, inspired Mystic Avenue residents to stand up against MassDOT bullying in Somerville. When Boston College Law School Dean, Vincent Rougeau, and BC University President Father William Leahy invited Somerville Attorney Philip Privitera to celebrate the retirement of Matt Ryan’s Football jersey during the BC vs. U-Conn game, no one imagined the celebration would inspire Somerville residents to stand up against MassDOT bullying tactics, and possibly even help save their lives.

By Charles Lane

Tim Kaine, the 2016 Vice Presidential nominee and U.S. Senator (D-Va.), visited Tufts University this past Monday morning, January 22.

Sen. Kaine participated in a conversation with Alan Solomont, dean of Jonathan M. Tisch College for Civic Life and former U.S. ambassador to Spain and Andorra, about the 2016 presidential campaign, his career in public service, and how he and his colleagues in the Senate will approach the next four years.

School Committee Chair Laura Pitone.

By Laura Pitone

The following is from School Committee Chair Pitone’s speech delivered at the Board of Aldermen Organizational Meeting on Monday, January 9, 2017 in the Aldermanic Chambers:

Mayor Curtatone, President White, fellow elected officials on the Board of Alderman and School Committee, Superintendent Skipper, family and friends. I am honored to share this night with you and for my new role as the Chair of the School Committee. I appreciate the confidence and trust you have placed in me to lead and collaborate with the talented people that represent the city of Somerville on the School Committee.

Eagle Feathers #121 – The Thespians

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” So wrote England’s most quoted writer and playwright, William Shakespeare. He died on April 23, 1616, four hundred years ago. It was a short time before the founding of the Massachusetts settlements of Plymouth in 1620, of Boston in 1630, and of Charlestown/Somerville a dozen years before in 1628.

It’s an old problem that never seems to find a solution … as unbelievable as that may be.

Once again the city is pressing to get some action from the state – or wherever it can – so that a sound wall can be put up along the stretch of Interstate 93 that runs into Somerville.

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Clea Simon is an accomplished writer of mystery/crime novels that feature the object of her affection: cats.

Cats play any number of roles with Simon’s human sleuths as they experience the unsettling of their worlds and then try to set them right again. Simon is a book reviewer, and often contributes to The Boston Globe, and has written several works of non-fiction including Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings, that deals with the mental illness of her brother and sister and the impact it had on her family, as well as an exploration of the bonds that bind cats and women titled The Feline Mystique.