(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

By Emma Lebwohl
on behalf of Shalom Somerville

Since October 7, 2023, the Jewish and Israeli communities have been reeling from the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. The attack was the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas terrorists murdered over a thousand Israeli civilians and brutally raped Israeli women. They took over 250 hostages, including small children. The trauma from October 7 continues to this day. A few weeks ago, we learned that Hamas murdered six young hostages, including the Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in a tunnel beneath Rafah.

Most change leads to new beginnings. That’s what they say anyway. We’ve been through some challenging times in recent years, and here we are once again with autumn on our doorstep, bringing with it the undeniable realization that change is inevitable.

We slogged our way through the pandemic with its isolation and deprivation and have finally cleared the dust and slowly put it all back together again as we regained some normalcy in our lives. Let us hope we never have to face that type of thing again.

Eagle Feathers #313 – The Yanks Are Coming

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The Massachusetts National Guard is the nation’s oldest.  It traces its roots back to 1636 when Governor John Winthrop and four regiments of volunteer militia protected the young Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The best place to learn and appreciate its history would be to visit the Hall of Flags at the State House in Boston.  On display you will find the flags that their forebears fought and served under to the present day. These ensigns record the strife from colonial times when every man and boy age 16 to 60 were required to serve in the militia to today’s citizen soldiers who endure multiple deployments overseas.  These streamers remind us of the sacrifices that were made for us from the Colonial Wars, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the Spanish American War.

Somerville Cross Country opened up their Greater Boston League (GBL) title defense for the Boys team in a GBL meet against Revere, held at Somerville’s home course at the Mystic River Boathouse. Somerville won the Boys Meet 18-48, placing 8 Highlanders in the top ten finishers. Somerville standout runner Robert Leoni paced the Highlanders Boys, winning the race with a time of 14.28 for the 2.5-mile course.

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Interview by Doug Holder (Board of Directors/ New England Poetry Club)

Recently I received a chapbook of poetry from Margaret Young, a former colleague of mine at Endicott College. It is titled, How Else Can We Wonder What’s Beautiful? (Main Street Rag). I decided to send some questions to the poet on a very hot summer’s day. Oddly enough, as I was considering when to write the interview questions, Young’s husband Rocco Gangle, a noted philosophy professor at Endicott College, greeted me at my table at the Bloc 11 Cafe, my usual haunt in Union Square, Somerville. And indeed, Young has the touch of a philosopher in her work.  According to Young’s website.

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William Orem’s first collection of stories, Zombi, You My Love, won the GLCA New Writers Award, formerly given to Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Richard Ford and Alice Munro. His second collection, Across the River, won the Texas Review Novella Prize. His first novel, Killer of Crying Deer, won the Eric Hoffer Award and has been optioned for film. His first collection of poems, Our Purpose in Speaking, won the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize and was published by MSU Press. It also won the Rubery International Book Award in poetry and was chosen Book of the Year. His second novel, Miss Lucy, won the Gival Press Novel Award; Kirkus listed it as one of the Best Books of 2019. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. Meanwhile, his short plays have been performed internationally, winning both the Critics’ Prize and Audience Favorite Award at Durango Theatre Fest, and thrice being nominated for the prestigious Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Currently he is a Senior Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College. Details at williamorem.com.

To mark the 23d anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the City of Somerville Department of Veterans’ Services invited the community to a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony on Wednesday, September 11, in Davis Square.

Dance and Drums from Somerville and Tbilisi, Georgia. — Photo courtesy of Somerville Arts Council

The Somerville Arts Council, in partnership with the Program on Georgian Studies at Harvard University’s Davis Center, invites the community to attend a unique cultural exchange project, Exchanging Notes. 

This free event features performances by four talented artists from Somerville and Georgia, blending dance and percussion to celebrate the richness of both cultures.

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The Massachusetts general election is Tuesday, November 5. This election will determine the offices of U.S. President and Vice President, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor’s Councillor, State Senator, State Representative, Register of Deeds, and Clerk of Courts. Somerville residents can vote by mail, vote early, or vote on election day.