Join MassDOT this Wednesday, January 31, at 6:00 p.m. for an in-person public information meeting at the Somerville Central Library for the Maffa Way/Mystic Avenue Bridge Superstructure Replacements Project. The meeting will feature a presentation delivered by project team members after which attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.

The city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’and Somerville Asian Family Network Lunar New Year event took place at East Somerville Community School last Sunday afternoon. — Photos by Joei Chan

By Joei Chan

The City of Somerville’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and Somerville Asian Family Network  hosted its first-ever Lunar New Year event on January 28 at the East Somerville Community School. Open to the general public, the event was well received as around 300 people of all ages came to celebrate.

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One of the best things about this salad is that everything can be made in advance and assembled right before you’re ready to serve it. Whenever I have leftover bread, I also like to make croutons so I have them on hand pretty much most of the time. See the recipe below for the salad and a link for the crouton recipe.

The quaint old custom of looking to an oversized rodent every February 2 for a generalized weather forecast for the following immediate future is warmly amusing to some, irksome to others.

Groundhog Day is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada. Its origins are traced to the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on the given day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will go back into to its den and winter weather will continue for six more weeks. If it fails to see its shadow because of cloudiness, then spring will invariably arrive early.

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Reviewed by Karen Klein

This publication is significant as it is not only the first English language anthology of Uyghur poetry, but also an overview of the history, culture, and poetics of the Uyghur people, which is admirably provided in the introduction by poet, editor, and translator Aziz Isa Elkun. Most English-speaking persons in the West are only aware of the Uyghurs due to media reports of Chinese oppression and persecution of them.

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B. Lynne Zika is a poet, essayist, photographer, and fiction writer currently living in Los Angeles. Her books The Strange Case of Eddy Whitfield, The Longing, and Letters to Sappho: Putting Out the Fire are available on Amazon and through other booksellers. In addition to editing poetry and nonfiction, she worked as a closed-captioning editor for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. She has received awards in short fiction, poetry, and photography. Her father, Yewell C. Lybrand, Jr., was a writer himself. Before his death at 34, he bequeathed her this wisdom and mission in life: Make every word count. Ms. Zika is grateful for what the arts have added to her life and for the many gifts exhibited by her children and grandchildren, especially their good will toward others.

Crews accomplished track work and other upgrades along the Green Line. 16 speed restrictions have been removed. ~ Photos courtesy of MBTA

The MBTA  announced the successful and on-time completion of critical track work on the Green Line, which removed 16 safety-related speed restrictions – one more than planned. Additionally, a seventeenth speed restriction on the Green Line between Haymarket and Government Center stations was significantly shortened by over 500 feet. Crews accomplished this critical work due to unencumbered access to track areas while Green Line train service was suspended on the B branch from Babcock Street to Kenmore, on the E branch between Heath Street and Copley, and in the downtown area between Kenmore and North Station for 10 days from January 3-12 and for 13 days from January 16-28.