Join Somerville Local First and more than 40 local artists and makers for their February market being held on Sunday, the 11th, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Arts at the Armory. Just in time for Valentine’s Day (or Galentine’s Day – take your pick) their market is built to spread the love. As always, you’ll be able to sip on drinks and snacks from the Armory while you peruse all the fabulous goods.

By Donald Norton

Completing 29 years of service, Tony Sillari, the city’s Plumbing Inspector retired, this past Friday, February 2.

Nearly 100 friends, family members and co-workers joined in celebrating his many years with the city.

(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)

To the editor:

Somerville YIMBY is writing to express our support for the Clarendon Hill Redevelopment Project. We believe that there is an urgent need for the project to move forward in the development process to ensure that currently committed state funding is not lost.

The Metro-Boston public bike share system, Hubway, is now available at a significant discount to income-eligible families and individuals. The City of Somerville along with Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, the Department of Transitional Assistance, and bike share operator Motivate announced earlier this month the launch of the “SNAP Card to Ride” program.

As it has so often been said, you can’t win them all. In what could only be termed a frustrating match-up, our beloved New England Patriots lost out on the big win last Sunday. But our heartfelt appreciation for their tremendous achievements this past season is indisputable. They played well, and we love them for it.

We congratulate the Philadelphia Eagles for an outstanding season and the tremendous effort that paid off in the championship final. Their players and fans have much to be proud of, and their bragging rights are firmly secured. For now, that is. At any rate, our hats – and helmets – are off to them in honor of their tremendous achievement.

Eagle Feathers #146 – Spying About

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Benjamin Franklin was born and raised in Boston and moved to Philadelphia as a young man. Having been trained as a printer early on, he developed a fascination for everything. He became an author, scientist, inventor, and statesman. His fertile imagination brought to fruition a multitude of ideas. His inventions were diverse, spanning from bifocals and whale-oil street lamps, to wooden swim fins and his Franklin stove, etc.

(L to R) Somerville High Boys Basketball Senior Captains Lucas Saint-Jean, Jiovanny Pierre, John Kalton.

Somerville High School Senior Night is this Friday, February 9, 7:00 p.m. at Brune Field House. Come out and support the Seniors in their last home game of the season as they take on the Salem Witches.

Girls Basketball Senior Night will be held  Thursday, February 15.

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Review by Dennis Daly
(Off the Shelf Correspondent)

Without an intermediary, a thickly (or at least thinly) constructed persona to absorb sentiments backwash, confessional poetry often erodes and collapses of its own weight. Some of it can be downright dangerous. In his new book, Filched, James Tolan avoids that pathetic destructiveness using tonal restraint, irony, and damn good storytelling. Each poem Tolan breathes onto his pages burns with a purloined joy, freed from time’s untoward tyranny.

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Our poet this week writes: “My name is Delaney Stone and I’m a junior at Endicott College. I designed my own major in Communication Sciences and Disorders because I aspire to be a Speech Pathologist. I’m from New London, NH and adore my family, especially my two-year-old nephew, named Nolan. I’m the vice president of the Autism Awareness Organization at Endicott College and I’m a Resident Assistant. I nanny three boys in Marblehead, MA and mentor a student with autism three days a week. I’ve always enjoyed reading, writing and poetry.”

The City of Somerville’s HeatSmart CoolSmart program ends soon, and residents and can sign up through February 15, 2018 for the program which could reduce utility bills and increase a building’s efficiency. This limited time program aims to increase awareness and educate residents about air source heat pumps, while encouraging adoption among Somerville property owners. Thursday, February 15 is the deadline to sign a contract to install the system at a later date.