Looking to vote early in the 2022 State Primary Election? In-person early voting will be held in the Council Chambers at City Hall (93 Highland Ave.) from Saturday, August 27, to Friday, September 2. Residents can also apply to vote by mail. Applications must be received by the Elections Office by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 29, to vote by mail in the State Primary. For more information or to register to vote, visit somervillema.gov/earlyvoting.

Members of the Kiwanis Club of Somerville and many of the PUMA volunteers.

For the third year, members of the Kiwanis Club of Somerville delivered over 200 backpacks filled with school supplies to middle and high school students who are most in need of assistance. The students who will receive these backpacks will be identified by the Somerville Parent Information Center and the administrators at Prospect Hill Academy. 

My garden is continually producing a decent amount of tomatoes this summer. I’ve been making peach and tomato salad with mozzarella, Greek salad with feta, and of course, the popular tomato sandwich. Since I had a bunch that were ripe at the same time and was really craving some pasta, I came up with this light sauce packed with flavor to enjoy one night this week. I used a popular red lentil pasta that delivered a good amount of protein for a very satisfying meal.

Bring your favorite poem about Somerville to a poetry reading with an open mic for Somerville poets on Friday September 9, 4:30 p.m., at the Somerville Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave (between Summer St. and Highland Ave.).

Once again it is time to shift gears and power down a bit as we roll out of the high-octane frenzy of summer time and into the laid-back breezy days of autumn and on into the winter months ahead.

It hardly seems possible that we have zipped through the summer months already and it’s now time to send the kids back to school.

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Every so often I look in my archives and reprint an article. This was about the local, legendary street musician known as “Mr. Butch.”

It is poetic justice that Mr. Butch died on the streets of Boston in a motor scooter accident. He was a true creature of those streets for so many years.

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Rinat Harel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine art and studied creative writing at Emerson College, where she received the 2015 Nonfiction Award. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Exeter England, she is working on a collection of interlinked stories that revolve around life in Israel. 

Arrests:
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Peter Tsardounis, August 15, 11:44 a.m., arrested at Homer Sq. on warrant charges of larceny under $1200, assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, and threat to commit a crime.

Christina Harding, August 16, 7:17 p.m., arrested at Newton St. on a charge of malicious wanton defacement of property.

Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative funding supports advancement of city’s mixed delivery early education and care systems work in FY23

Over the last eight years, Somerville has been on a mission to re-envision early education and care in the city, working collaboratively to develop a system that supports a high quality, mixed-delivery model. The mixed delivery model is a collaboration between public, non-profit, and private entities that maximizes equitable access to diverse early education and care programs.