City officials are taking proactive measures to help lessen the strain on neighborhoods that will be affected by the Ball Square Broadway Bridge closure this spring.

Easing the pain as the Ball Sq. Bridge closure unfolds
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By Jim Clark

With the Ball Square Broadway Bridge closure due to take place sometime in March, many are wondering just how badly traffic congestion throughout the immediate vicinity and neighboring areas will be.

By Marshall Collins

Union Square’s small businesses are enjoying increased attention lately, from established spots like Machu Picchu Restaurant to more recent arrivals like Union Square Donuts – not to mention an entirely new small business marketplace on Bow Street.

Residents and business owners already know much of what Union Square has to offer – arts, culture, music, artisanal foods, ethnic restaurants, a vibrant community and a strong identity. Somerville has always been innovative (it’s the birthplace of Fluff!) and independent (it was the first to raise the U.S. flag!). but more and more visitors and residents are coming out to taste, shop and explore all that Union Square has to offer.

Somerville’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration has been rescheduled to Monday, January 28 due to last weekend’s snowstorm. The celebration will take place at the East Somerville Community School auditorium, 50 Cross St., from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. The event will feature musical performances, readings by winners of the student essay contest, and more. This year, the Somerville Human Rights Commission is also holding a Winter Clothing Drive during the event. Donations of gently used or new winter clothing for school-aged children are welcome, and will be distributed to the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative’s Clothing Closet.

Even Samuel L. Jackson’s powerhouse performance is not enough to save “Glass” from itself.

By Michael LoPilato

Glass is a troubled movie. It’s a mixed bag of entertainment and utter goofiness. It’s a part magnificent, part pretentious ordeal, but ultimately, Glass is unable to hold the weight of the two films (Unbreakable, Split) that precede it.

We open on David Dunn, the man who survived a train crash without a scratch, played in a stoic yet restrained fashion by Bruce Willis. He’s embraced his heroism, gallivanting around Philadelphia in his signature green poncho, beating the living daylights out of petty criminals. We move on to Kevin Wendell Crumb, played magnificently again by James McAvoy. He’s still abducting and mutilating teenage girls. Dunn and Crumb meet, and this is where the fun and brilliance of Glass begins.

L to R: Somerville Public Schools volunteers Dr. Sylvia ‘Siva’ Fine and Dr. Albert Fine.

By Jen Capuano
SPS Volunteer Program

Somerville Public Schools are lucky to have in their midst some treasures of the human kind. At one of their elementary schools, two retired doctors (with the same last name but unrelated), have been volunteering every week for more than four years to read one-on-one with students. Recently Dr. Sylvia Fine and Dr. Albert Fine spoke about why they chose to volunteer in a school, how their volunteering is going, and what they believe students gain when paired with an adult for individualized reading.

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It’s that time of year when a substantial number of people bail on their New Year resolutions of exercising and eating healthy. However, there are still about 40% of people who do follow through with those resolutions for at least six months. https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/2019/01/08/saturday-jan-12-day-most-people-give-up-new-years-resolution/2483512002/ Regardless of where you fit into the above mentioned statistics, this smoothie is delicious and packed with protein without making you feel as though you’re on a diet. I find this to be quite satisfying and can also be made completely dairy free.

The tension is mounting in certain circles as we all await what doom may befall us once the Ball Square Broadway Bridge closing takes place.

What is already not the most ideal traffic situation will surely become a snarl of some measurable magnitude once the big event becomes a fact of our daily life. How bad it can be is anyone’s guess, but we can surely hope for the best, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable frustration.

Arrests:
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Jesse Golden, of 37 Wareham Rd., Medford, January 14, 12:29 p.m., arrested at Washington St. on warrant charges of leaving the scene of property damage, failure to stop for police, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest, and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.

Scott MacDougall, of 19 Pearson Rd., January 15, 7:14 a.m., arrested at home on a warrant charge of knowing purchase or possession of visual material.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro
West Somerville Neighborhood School just wrapped up the first ever Boosterthon Fun Run. Boosterthon is a school solutions provider that goes into elementary and middle schools all over the country and provides a two-week experience, including both character and wellness elements.

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Poet Dorinda Hale arrived at my table at the Bloc 11 Cafe with a frosted pastry of some kind and a rich, roasted coffee. Hale, who has lived in Somerville since 1974, was here to talk about her first book of poetry released by the Finishing Line Press, Disorientation and the Weather.