We wish all of our readers, their friends and families, a Happy Easter and Passover. May the blessings of these occasions bring healing and strength to all of us throughout these challenging times. It is a time to embrace hope and optimism as we look together towards the future.

Many feel that a new fire station is needed in the Assembly Square area in order to ensure a quicker response to fires that occur there.

By Kyle Dante

Due to Somerville’s fiscal year, the Police and Fire Committees face hardship. The departments are of similar value. Police officers and firefighters face the same training and examinations. Think of it similarly to a sports athlete. Officers and firefighters get swapped too on their respective roles.

Eagle Feathers #251 – The Reunion

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

A reunion has been described as a gathering of friends, relatives, or associates on a special date or interval who honor the act of uniting again after a long separation. In our grand country, the historic time to remember should be the year 1775 and its following day of January 1, 1776.

The continuing COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on our ability to enjoy the usual holiday celebrations in normal ways in recent years. Religious-minded and secular folks alike have had to deal with their cherished special occasions in semi- or total isolation.

And in spite of vaccinations being available for some time now, it doesn’t help to know that in spite of our best efforts to avoid it, the lurking danger is still out there when we venture out and mingle with others. It’s the sad reality we all have to face at this time, until the danger finally goes away for good.

Federico Manganella, 90, of Tampa, FL passed away on April 8, 2022, with his family by his side.

Federico was born on March 3, 1932, in Salerno, Italy, the son of Pietro Manganella and Dorotea Tirotta.  He married Geraldina De Filippis in Italy.  Geraldina survives.  Federico is also survived by his 4 daughters:  Dorothy Rodrigues and her family:  Adrienne (Graham) Town and their daughter Charlotte Town; Anthony Rodrigues; Catherine (James, deceased) Doherty and her family: William Doherty, James Doherty, Jr, Kelly Doherty; Maria (Jeff) Ardolino and their family:  Jeffrey Ardolino and Nicholus Ardolino; Carla (Harold, III) Cook and their family:  Harold Cook, IV and Camden Cook; brother: Luciano Manganella; sister: Anna Manganella.   Federico was preceded in death by his parents and siblings: Felece Manganella, Adriana Manganella, Norma Manganella.

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Review by off the Shelf Correspondent Denise Provost

The newly re-issued play The Patient is set in an unspecified year. Yet its era can be identified. It dates from the time of the seedy, down-at-the-heels Boston of not so long ago, when “affordable housing” often meant having a room in one of the area’s then-plentiful rooming houses.

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Megan Donahue is a freshman at Endicott College studying English with a minor in Digital Media: Concentration in Film and Television Production. She hopes to one day be a screenwriter and director. She is passionate about film watching and filmmaking, and she loves storytelling as well as poetry, reading, and painting.

The Somerville High School Robotics team’s work took on a frenetic pace in January 2022, with students working long hours after school to problem-solve and engineer solutions to prepare their competition robot, BONK. Every year, there is a new challenge and the 2022 challenge, Rapid React, includes fifteen seconds of functioning autonomously. Then team drivers pick up the remote control and, for the remaining two minutes and fifteen seconds of competition, control the robot as it picks up cargo (balls), moves into position and shoots cargo into a lower or upper basket, and then spends the last seconds of the match climbing a set of bars. Each successfully accomplished task earns the team points.

On Monday, April 18, for the first time since 2017, the City of Somerville will be celebrating Patriots’ Day outdoors and in person at Foss Park on Broadway from 10 to 11:30 a.m. 

This event will feature a reenactment of Paul Revere’s famous ride from Boston to Lexington — which happened to pass right through Somerville.