L to R: Chris Kenney, Zachary Atwell, Sister Ophelia, John Kendzierski, Mark AuBuchon.

On December 20, 2019, the members of King Solomon’s Lodge AF & AM presented a donation of $500 to Little Sisters of the Poor in Memory of Donald F. Norton.

Donald Norton, who passed away on October 9, 2019, was a long time benefactor of Little Sisters of the Poor in Somerville. Donald was a member of King Solomon’s Lodge for four decades, serving as their Secretary for nearly 30 years, and was a founder of the Highland Masonic Temple Association, the lodge’s building association.

In spite of the vastly divergent range of opinions held by all of us here in Somerville and in our neighboring communities, we can unite in the spirit of hope and bipartisanship as we congratulate and honor those who took their respective oaths of office this week.

Eagle Feathers #195 – King George

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

At the end of the victorious eight-year American Revolutionary War, some of his officers wanted to crown him “King.” They had grown to love and respect their leader and wanted him to continue to lead the country that they had fought for. General George Washington, the object of their honor and devotion, resolutely turned them down. He reminded them that they had just fought and won a war for freedom, not for a monarchy.

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I met lighting designer, filmmaker Matthew Martino at my backroom respite in the Bloc 11 Cafe in Union Square, Somerville. Martino, a 40ish man, brought an abundance of energy and focus to our interview, and certainly these same qualities inform his work for his production company, Savage Grace Entertainment, based at 545 McGrath Highway in our city.

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Meg Smith is a writer, journalist, dancer and events producer living in Lowell, MA. Her poetry has recently appeared in Lyrical Somerville in The Somerville Times, The Cafe Review, Poetry Bay, The Horror Zine, Star*Line, Good Fat Poetry Zine, and more. Her poetry books, Dear Deepest Ghost and This Scarlet Dancing are available on Amazon.

Linda S. Cornell, President and CEO, announced that Visiting Nurse Foundation has reached an agreement with the Little Sisters of the Poor to purchase Jeanne Jugan Residence. The Little Sisters have operated the facility for more than a century, providing compassionate care to the elderly of modest means in Somerville, Massachusetts.

(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 Rami Bridge

Some of our most valued educators in Somerville, our paraprofessionals, are paid poverty-level wages, even while the cost of living in our area has skyrocketed. This is wrong and does not reflect our values. The Somerville Teachers Association (STA) is fighting for a contract that guarantees a respectful salary for all educators. The classrooms that I grew up in were led by a single teacher, usually standing in the front of the room leading the whole class in a single activity. In our schools today this is often no longer the case. We recognize that not all students learn the same way or at the same pace. Meeting the needs of all of our students requires more educators in each classroom. Many students in our schools learn from lead teachers in conjunction with paraprofessionals. On a typical day paraprofessionals provide a range of vital classroom services, including: support to a small group of struggling readers, teaching class when the teacher is absent, helping dysregulated students while the class continues uninterrupted, working on a project with a small group of students in the hall while the rest of the class is working in the classroom, and providing special education support. They are the ones to find dry clothes for students after bathroom accidents and take care of many other daily needs too.

Arrests:
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 Lindayanne Dasilva, of 23 Ferry St., Everett, December 30, 5:42 p.m., arrested at Mystic Ave. on a warrant charge of possession of a class A drug.

Steven Shea, of 11 Avon St., Everett, December 31, 2:48 p.m., arrested at Somerville Ave. on warrant charges of failure to stop or yield and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, the Somerville Health and Human Services Department and the Somerville Public Schools announce the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration event, to be held on Monday, January 20. The annual event will be held at the East Somerville Community School, 50 Cross St., beginning at 10:00 a.m. The celebration will be emceed by Marcus Santos, and will feature musical performances by El Sistema Somerville and the Somerville High School World Percussion Ensemble, as well as readings by the winners of the student essay contest.

Somerville High School’s Personal Finance class team of Joseph Carey, Jonathan Chan, and Theo Tourlentes placed third out of 35 teams at the Junior Achievement’s Stock Market Challenge held on Thursday, December 12, 2019 at the new headquarters for State Street Corporation in Boston. Also making a good showing at the competition were the Somerville High School teams of Eric Lemus, Michael Rivillas Escalante, and Marco White, who finished fourteenth in the competition; as well as Joseph Amari, Erik (Matteus) Anell, and Andrew DaCosta who placed twenty-third.