Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte
When I went to the Western Junior High School in 1968, there were a few classifications of people. There were the Mods, the Studs, Hippies, and the Rats had slicked back hair, pegged pants and pointy black shoes. The rats walking around the city are four-legged ones.
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Take steps to protect yourself against COVID-19 and the flu this winter. Somerville’s Health and Human Services department is hosting free vaccine clinics on Thursday, February 15, at Somerville Public Library Central Branch (79 Highland Ave.) from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and February 29 at the SomerViva Office of Immigrant Affairs (42 Cross St.) from 3 to 5 p.m.
Walk-ins welcome. To learn more and register, visit somervillema.gov/vaccines.
By Bridget Frawley
Off of Garfield Avenue in Somerville is an industrial bright red and white building featuring various murals of assorted pasta and factory machinery. 15 Garfield Ave. houses both a pasta factory where over 100 different types of dry, fresh and frozen pasta are produced each day, but also a shop open to the public to purchase pasta and sauces.
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Grab your spouse, partner, roommate, bestie, sibling, or anyone you love and join in for a very special event. The Somerville Museum is open for special hours this Valentine’s Day, 6:00 p.m. –9:00 p.m., 1 Westwood Rd. Visit the current exhibition, Museo Inmigrante, and enjoy a photoshoot with award-winning photographer, Iaritza Menjivar. They’ll provide the props, background, and expertise. This Valentine’s Day do something a little different, support your local museum, and share the love with professional photos. For more information visit: www.somervillemuseum.org.
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Calzones offer the perfect canvas for whatever flavors you desire. You can make it with cold cuts, spinach, broccoli rabe, collard greens, your favorite cheese, meatballs, and so on. It can be served as a meal with a green salad or as an appetizer. You can make ahead and serve at room temperature. The combinations are endless.
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Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Lee Varon
Nina Rubinstein Alonso’s story collection Distractions En Route: A Dancer’s Notebook and Other Stories is a marvelous collage of thirty vivid stories.
The opening two stories keenly portray a dancer’s life, as in the opening story, The Redhead Number 37, which begins with the line: “Sixty girls lined up can’t see how they look because the mirrors are draped in paper.” One by one, these dancers are eliminated. The way in which women’s bodies are objectified is heightened in the world of dance. We are told “Eliminations start with ‘body cuts’ noted on our file cards – torso long, hips wide, head large, feet stiff.”
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