SERVING THE FENWAY, KENMORE SQUARE, UPPER BACK BAY, PRUDENTIAL, LONGWOOD AREA & MISSION HILL SINCE 1974 VOLUME 36, NUMBER MAY 29,-JULY 1 2010 “Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” JUNE 2010 | FREE WWW.FENWAYNEWS.ORG PHOTO: VALARIE SEABROOK BY MATTI KNIVA SPENCER T he Peterborough Senior Center has been a fixture in the West Fens for the past 20 years. It has been a drop- in center for seniors to meet, have a cup of coffee, establish friendships, and find support on issues, whether it be aging, health problems or other matters seniors find themselves dealing with as life progresses. The Center, under the direction of Penina Adelman, continues to expand and is now trying to open its doors to the community at large. Last year, thanks largely to the suggestion of center stalwart Jana Peretz, it added the title Muddy River Gallery to its name—due to the fact that so many artistic events occur there. That tradition started through the hard works of its previous director, Lisa Rein-Woisin, who tried hard to improve the image of the Center. Two new staff members have come on board during the current transformation. Santosh Sharma is now the assistant to the director, and she’s already added her own flair to the place, decorating the tables with colorful tablecloths, adding plants and incorporating fresh flowers for table settings, cooking dishes that originated in her childhood home, New Delhi, and even performing classical and folk Indian dancing that she learned as a young girl. Says Santosh, “I used to work as a customer salesperson at the Radisson Hotel gift shop and enjoy being around people of all ages. I enjoy working with people who come by the center. If they have issues, I try to help them deal with their problems and provide Senior Center Adds Staff and Programs, Makes Gallery a New Focal Point them with an atmosphere where they can relax.” Another added staff member has been Mahmoud Gamil, who teaches exercise classes at the center. Originally, from Port Said, Egypt, he has been living in the U.S. for several years and considers America his home, even though he does try to return to his country whenever he can to visit with family and friends who still reside there. His exercise classes have proven to be very popular at the Center. He has always enjoyed staying healthy and his passions in life have included boxing, bodybuilding, cycling and rowing, which earned him a championship when he resided in Egypt. He is definitely an asset to the center and his hopes are to attract more people, of all ages and different ethnic groups. Adelman, a single mother with three children, one of whom still lives with her, has been the director since October 2008. “This is like my ideal job. I found a place where I can use everything I was trained to do, like folklore, social work and ethnicity and family tradition, and incorporate this all into the community I’m getting involved with. The center is growing and my goal is to make it a safe place for all who come by.” Everyone is welcome to come by—daily—to enjoy a cup of coffee and refreshments. Starting June 1, a Breakfast Club will be available for all to join in. A different breakfast will be served each Monday for $1. All efforts are being made to make this breakfast a healthy one, using low- fat and low-salt ingredients. It will be served from 9:30 until 10:30. In addition to the Breakfast Club, Stephen Brophy, editor of The Fenway News, will continue his biweekly short story discussions, Suzanne Comptois will continue with current events discussions, and Olga Goldus and Zebiao Fu will continue their watercolor art classes. Yoga class will also remain a fixture, and musical events, various presentations and many more art shows will continue to be important parts of the Center. You can call the Center for more info on particular events, or check the calendar that appears on the back page of each month’s Fenway News. You can also join the mailing list to receive updates of each month’s events. Anyone interested in exhibiting art should call Penina or Santosh at 617-536- 7154. The Center, like many other agencies in Boston, has suffered financially for the past few years and welcomes donations so it can offer more programs, such as field trips and more musical entertainment. Anyone wishing to make donations, please call the director at the aforementioned number. Matti Kniva Spencer lives in the West Fens. The Peterborough Senior Center is located at 42 Peterborough Street, but its entrance is at the back of the building. Go to the alley between 100 and 108 Jersey Street, walk east about 75 feet and look for the Senior Center sign to your left. New and familiar faces: Mahmoud Gamil (left) and Santosh Sharma (center) have recently joined director Penina Adelman (right) on the Senior Center staff. PHOTO: MATTI KNIVA SPENCER Governor Packs ’Em In At Dems’ Forum Several Fenwickians joined the crowd when Governor Deval Patrick took questions from Boston residents at a town hall meeting at the Boston Architectural College on May 24. Big Boxes in Fenway’ s Future? Is the West Fens due for a Target, CB2 (that’s a Crate & Barrel spinoff), and another Whole Foods, perhaps across the street from the Shaw’s on Boylston Street? Mayor Menino seems to think so. In a May 24 article, Boston Globe Reporter Jenn Abelson quotes the mayor as saying “Whole Foods, Target, and CB2—they’re really excited about the Fenway area. They see the demographic and the great potential with the medical centers and college students.’’ Abelson reports that the stores would be part of Steve Samuels’s next development (he brought us Trilogy and 1340 Boylston), on the site of the former Goodyear store that now serves as a home to Marshall’s Fenway Farm Stand. A link to Abelson’s full article appears in the May 25 “News Notes” at www.fenwaynews.org. neighBorhood trust announces grants June 3 The Mission Hill/Fenway Trust will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, June 3. The Trust makes grants to nonprofit organizations in the two neighborhoods for specific projects to be carried out over the coming year. The Fenway News has benefited from two such grants in the last decade. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Board of Trustees Room on the 11th floor of the Mass. College of Art and Design at 621 Huntington Ave. Light snacks and beverages will be available (not to mention the great view from the Board Room’s many windows). All are welcome! BY STEPHEN BROPHY W hen Northeastern University (NEU) held the second of three community meetings about its need for an extension of its master plan in Mission Hill May 20, it got quite an earful from the assembly. The first meeting took place in the Fenway and we reported on it here last month. The third meeting take place in Roxbuy on May 27, after we go to press. The Mission Hill community has been particularly hard hit by the overflow of students from NEU, Wentworth and other schools that don’t have sufficient dormitory space. While the meeting in the Fenway could hardly be described as friendly, the Mission Hill meeting, held in the Parish Hall of the Mission Church, got out of the organizers’ control less than 20 minutes into the proceedings. The university was represented by Bob Gittens, vice president for public affairs; Larry Brophy, associate director of government relations; Mike Armini, vice president for external affairs; and Jack McCarthy, senior vice president of administration and finance. They started with a PowerPoint presentation, prepared by McCarthy, about the university’s financial situation, but were soon interrupted by State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, who felt that the NEU representatives weren’t really addressing the concerns of neighbors. After Sanchez seized the floor, others began to speak out, and the NEU reps wisely decided to postpone their presentation. One Mission Hill resident, Pat Flaherty, was particularly eloquent and expressed much frustration with the process she and her neighbors had been through over the past several years (earlier Task Force meetings on the master plan were held in 2004 and lasted into 2006) and the lack of result. One young man, an NEU student, proposed some sort of gathering at which the community and the school could work out their differences in a less disputatious process, to which Flaherty delivered such a powerful response— controlled anger, very carefully not aimed at the student—that it became clear that she would be the best source for understanding just what Mission Hill has suffered. She agreed to an interview by The Fenway News. Pat Flaherty has seen a lot of change on Mission Hill in the last decade, and she doesn’t like it. “Back in 2000 a triple-decker on the top of the hill would sell for around $350,000. By 2005 they are sometimes going for more than a million. Rents were $600 to $700 a month, but now they’re getting more than $4,000. And that’s because of the steady supply of students that don’t live on campus.” Flaherty has been one of the more eloquent community voices challenging Northeastern in its recent bid to win an extension of its master plan. Her ability to speak well in public meetings has been honed by more than a decade of attending them. At the turn of the millennium she was working with her Mission Hill neighbors to reclaim buildings on the back of the Hill that had been targeted by various Longwood Medical Area institutions for expansion, and they had two affordable housing projects in the works. That was when they began to notice the changes up the Hill. “The Top of the Hill had been a really stable neighborhood for a long time. Kids who grew up on the Hill stayed as renters, or inherited their parents’ homes, or even bought other homes close by. But suddenly we were seeing more students up there.” She recalls > please turn to NEWSLINE on page 3 > please turn to MISSION HILL on page 2 Mission Hill Anger at NEU Boils Over During Master Plan Meeting
Transcript
serving the Fenway, Kenmore square, upper BacK Bay, prudential, longwood area & mission hill since 1974 volume 36, numBer may 29,-July 1 2010
“Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable”
June 2010 | freeWWW.fenWAYneWS.org
phot
o: v
AlAr
ie S
eAbr
ook
by Matti Kniva Spencer
the peterborough Senior center has been a fixture in the West Fens for the past 20 years. it has been a drop-in center for seniors to meet, have
a cup of coffee, establish friendships, and find support on issues, whether it be aging, health problems or other matters seniors find themselves dealing with as life progresses.
The Center, under the direction of Penina Adelman, continues to expand and is now trying to open its doors to the community at large. Last year, thanks largely to the suggestion of center stalwart Jana Peretz, it added the title Muddy River Gallery to its name—due to the fact that so many artistic events occur there. That tradition started through the hard works of its previous director, Lisa Rein-Woisin, who tried hard to improve the image of the Center.
Two new staff members have come on board during the current transformation. Santosh Sharma is now the assistant to the director, and she’s already added her own flair to the place, decorating the tables with colorful tablecloths, adding plants and incorporating fresh flowers for table settings, cooking dishes that originated in her childhood home, New Delhi, and even performing classical and folk Indian dancing that she learned as a young girl.
Says Santosh, “I used to work as a customer salesperson at the Radisson Hotel gift shop and enjoy being around people of all ages. I enjoy working with people who come by the center. If they have issues, I try to help them deal with their problems and provide
senior center adds staff and programs, makes gallery a new Focal pointthem with an atmosphere where they can relax.”
Another added staff member has been Mahmoud Gamil, who teaches exercise classes at the center. Originally, from Port Said, Egypt, he has been living in the U.S. for several years and considers America his home, even though he does try to return to his country whenever he can to visit with family and friends who still reside there.
His exercise classes have proven to be very popular at the Center. He has always enjoyed staying healthy and his passions in life have included boxing, bodybuilding, cycling and rowing, which earned him a championship when he resided in Egypt. He is
definitely an asset to the center and his hopes are to attract more people, of all ages and different ethnic groups.
Adelman, a single mother with three children, one of whom still lives with her, has been the director since October 2008. “This is like my ideal job. I found a place where I can use everything I was trained to do, like folklore, social work and ethnicity and family tradition, and incorporate this all into the community I’m getting involved with. The center is growing and my goal is to make it a safe place for all who come by.”
Everyone is welcome to come by—daily—to enjoy a cup of coffee and refreshments. Starting June 1, a Breakfast
Club will be available for all to join in. A different breakfast will be served each Monday for $1. All efforts are being made to make this breakfast a healthy one, using low-fat and low-salt ingredients. It will be served from 9:30 until 10:30.
In addition to the Breakfast Club, Stephen Brophy, editor of The Fenway News, will continue his biweekly short story discussions, Suzanne Comptois will continue with current events discussions, and Olga Goldus and Zebiao Fu will continue their watercolor art classes. Yoga class will also remain a fixture, and musical events, various presentations and many more art shows will continue to be important parts of the Center. You can call the Center for more info on particular events, or check the calendar that appears on the back page of each month’s Fenway News. You can also join the mailing list to receive updates of each month’s events.
Anyone interested in exhibiting art should call Penina or Santosh at 617-536-7154. The Center, like many other agencies in Boston, has suffered financially for the past few years and welcomes donations so it can offer more programs, such as field trips and more musical entertainment. Anyone wishing to make donations, please call the director at the aforementioned number.
Matti Kniva Spencer lives in the West Fens. The Peterborough Senior Center is located at 42 Peterborough Street, but its entrance is at the back of the building. Go to the alley between 100 and 108 Jersey Street, walk east about 75 feet and look for the Senior Center sign to your left.
New and familiar faces: Mahmoud Gamil (left) and Santosh Sharma (center) have recently joined director Penina Adelman (right) on the Senior Center staff.
phot
o: m
Atti
kni
vA S
penc
erGovernor Packs ’Em In At Dems’ Forum
Several Fenwickians joined the crowd when Governor Deval Patrick took questions from Boston residents at a town hall meeting at the Boston Architectural College on May 24.
Big Boxes in Fenway’s Future?Is the West Fens due for a Target, CB2 (that’s a Crate & Barrel spinoff), and another
Whole Foods, perhaps across the street from the Shaw’s on Boylston Street? Mayor Menino seems to think so. In a May 24 article, Boston Globe Reporter Jenn Abelson quotes the mayor as saying “Whole Foods, Target, and CB2—they’re really excited about the Fenway area. They see the demographic and the great potential with the medical centers and college students.’’ Abelson reports that the stores would be part of Steve Samuels’s next development (he brought us Trilogy and 1340 Boylston), on the site of the former Goodyear store that now serves as a home to Marshall’s Fenway Farm Stand. A link to Abelson’s full article appears in the May 25 “News Notes” at www.fenwaynews.org.
neighBorhood trust announces grants June 3The Mission Hill/Fenway Trust will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, June 3. The
Trust makes grants to nonprofit organizations in the two neighborhoods for specific projects to be carried out over the coming year. The Fenway News has benefited from two such grants in the last decade. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Board of Trustees Room on the 11th floor of the Mass. College of Art and Design at 621 Huntington Ave. Light snacks and beverages will be available (not to mention the great view from the Board Room’s many windows). All are welcome!
BY STEPHEN BROPHY
When Northeastern University (NEU) held the second of three community meetings about its need for an extension
of its master plan in Mission Hill May 20, it got quite an earful from the assembly. The first meeting took place in the Fenway and we reported on it here last month. The third meeting take place in Roxbuy on May 27, after we go to press. The Mission Hill community has been particularly hard hit by the overflow of students from NEU, Wentworth and other schools that don’t have sufficient dormitory space.
While the meeting in the Fenway could hardly be described as friendly, the Mission Hill meeting, held in the Parish Hall of the Mission Church, got out of the organizers’ control less than 20 minutes into the proceedings.
The university was represented by Bob Gittens, vice president for public affairs; Larry Brophy, associate director of government relations; Mike Armini, vice president for external affairs; and Jack McCarthy, senior vice president of administration and finance. They started with a PowerPoint presentation, prepared by McCarthy, about the university’s financial situation, but were soon interrupted by State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, who felt that the NEU representatives weren’t really addressing the concerns of neighbors. After Sanchez seized the floor, others began to speak out, and the NEU reps wisely decided to postpone their presentation.
One Mission Hill resident, Pat Flaherty, was particularly eloquent and expressed much frustration with the process she and her neighbors had been through over the past several years (earlier Task Force meetings on
the master plan were held in 2004 and lasted into 2006) and the lack of result. One young man, an NEU student, proposed some sort of gathering at which the community and the school could work out their differences in a less disputatious process, to which Flaherty delivered such a powerful response—controlled anger, very carefully not aimed at the student—that it became clear that she would be the best source for understanding just what Mission Hill has suffered. She agreed to an interview by The Fenway News.
Pat Flaherty has seen a lot of change on Mission Hill in the last decade, and she doesn’t like it. “Back in 2000 a triple-decker on the top of the hill would sell for around $350,000. By 2005 they are sometimes going for more than a million. Rents were $600 to $700 a month, but now they’re getting more than $4,000. And that’s because of the steady supply of students that don’t live on campus.”
Flaherty has been one of the more eloquent community voices challenging Northeastern in its recent bid to win an extension of its master plan. Her ability to speak well in public meetings has been honed by more than a decade of attending them. At the turn of the millennium she was working with her Mission Hill neighbors to reclaim buildings on the back of the Hill that had been targeted by various Longwood Medical Area institutions for expansion, and they had two affordable housing projects in the works. That was when they began to notice the changes up the Hill.
“The Top of the Hill had been a really stable neighborhood for a long time. Kids who grew up on the Hill stayed as renters, or inherited their parents’ homes, or even bought other homes close by. But suddenly we were seeing more students up there.” She recalls > please turn to neWSline on page 3> please turn to miSSion hill on page 2
mission hill anger at neu Boils over during master plan meeting
the Fenway News Association will hold its 2010 annual meeting on Thursday, June 10, at the Peterborough Senior Center (located between 100 and 108 Jersey Street; walk down the alley between the two buildings). The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Elections to the board of directors and votes on proposed amendments to the bylaws and articles of
incorporation, if any, will be held.
Any resident of the neighborhoods that we serve may join and vote on June 10 by mailing a notice expressing an interest in joining to: Fenway News Association, Inc., P.O. Box 230277, Astor Station, Boston, MA 02123. Anyone can also send an e-mail notice of interest to [email protected]. We must receive such notices by Thursday, May 27, because the association’s bylaws limit voting at the meeting to people who are members of the corporation for 14 days prior to the meeting date. A list of current members appears at right.
For information about the meeting or the Fenway News Association, please call the Fenway News office, 617-266-8790, or e-mail [email protected].
At the same time and place, the Fenway Education and Neighborhood Support Fund (FENSFund), Inc., an organization devoted to providing educational and cultural opportunities for neighborhood residents, will hold its annual meeting. Members and non-members of both organizations are cordially invited to attend the joint meeting in order to review the past year and to help formulate goals for the year ahead. Refreshments will be served.
memBership oF the association at puBlication date: penina adelman, iory allison, delia alvarez, Jose anaya, arlene ash, nicole auberg, mwagale Babumba, Jonathan Ball, alison Barnet, richard Barry, marion Boxer, stephen Brophy, luis oscar cardona, steve chase, suzanne comtois, helen cox, eleanor cummings, tracey cusick, marian daniells, Bennie dinardo, richard dunshee, patrick dutoit, Jeannette ector, Johnette ellis, stan everett, lisa Fay, mary Finn, tom Fitzgerald, nikki Flionis, michael Foley, Joyce Foster, lori Frankian, marie Fukuda, slim gelzer, galen gilbert, elizabeth gillis, Brett greene, Kathy greenough, phyllis hanes, sam harnish, steven harnish, erin harper, mar ellen hendrickson, cathy Jacobowitz, lois Johnston, rosie Kamal, sajed Kamal, lyudmila Kantor, Kyle Katz, John Kelly, Joseph Kenyon, mikhail Khazin, ruth Khowais, rudy Kikel, Jonathan Kim, pamela King, romin Koebel, shirley Kressel, marc laderman, lauren landry, richard larkin, nasreen latif, Barbara loo, gil loo, aqilla manna, don mathieu, erica mattison, Joan mcgaw, Kerry mooney, Joan murphy, walter noons, patrick o’connor, richard orareo, richard pendleton, Jana peretz, david henry perry, camille platt, gloria platt, lauren dewey platt, emily procknal, alison pultinas, meena ramakrishnan, michelle reinstein, Bill richardson, michael rogan, mike ross, stephen ross, rosaria salerno, valarie seabrook, helaine simmonds, Barbara Brooks simons, matti Kniva spencer, mat thall, eric tingdahl, ann tobin, Bob tomposki, chuck turner, chris viveiros, clyde whalen, hugh wilburn, margaret witham, steve wolf, lisa wood, david Zermeno
Fenway News Association Sets Annual Meeting for June 10, 2010
Fri., May 28 7:10 p.m. Sat., May 29 7:10 p.m.Sun., May 30 1:35 p.m. Tues., June 1 7:10 p.m.Wed., June 2 7:10 p.m.Thurs., June 3 1:35 p.m.Fri., June 11 7:10 p.m.Sat., June 12 4:10 p.m.Sun., June 13 1:35 p.m.Tues, June 15 7:10 p.m.Wed., June 16 7:10 p.m.Thurs., June 17 7:10 p.m.Fri., June 18 7:10 p.m.Sat., June 19 4:10 p.m.Sun., June 20 8:00 p.m.Tues., June 29 7:10 p.m.Wed., June 30 7:10 p.m.
In the kind of publicity stunt that could only work in Boston, the Pops pulled out
all the stops to mark the opening of its 125th season...and pulled up a hearse. That’s BSO founding father Henry Lee
Higginson “handing down” (as he might have called it) long-dead arts
patron Isabella Stewart Gardner from a carriage in front of Symphony Hall on
May 4. Former WBZ arts reporter Joyce Kulhawick served as Mrs. Jack’s stand-in, complete with a replica of the gown immortalized in John Singer Sargent’s
famous portrait of Gardner. Matt Heck from the BSO’s marketing department
did the honors as Higginson. Of course, neither of these deceased pillars of society
would have been caught dead in evening wear on Mass. Ave. in broad daylight
(but, then, they already are dead.
Pops’ Opening Day Brings a Death-Defying Celebrity Sighting
exhiBit shows that Behind every Face, photographer spencer can Find a storyBY LISA FAY
Matti Kniva Spencer did himself proud in the latest “Faces in Massachusetts” show at the Muddy River Gallery in the Peterborough Senior Center. What makes this show stand out is that the layout and the photographs have gotten more professional over time. Two hundred people wandered into the show’s spectacular debut and reception, May 23.
Forty “Faces” photographs line horizontally around the gallery, with each photograph having a black border with a white strip around the black-and-white portrait. The show does not feel crowded even with 40 portraits. Brief biographies accompany each photograph.
Spencer spent nine months interviewing 40 people, starting last August and ending in May. He covered the four seasons, with participants being photographed in their apartments, at their workplaces, or their favorite Fenway locales. “I am like a male Barbara Walters,” he jokes, as he describes getting Park Drive resident Lauren Dewey Platt to reveal that she is a licensed pilot. She was photographed, wearing a pilot cap.
I particularly like the photograph of Scott Kessum who works at Stuff magazine and whose feet were parallel to the stairs touching the wall.
Spencer has dedicated the show to Lisa Wein-Roisin, the senior center’s previous director. “Without Lisa, there would be no ‘Faces in Massachusetts’.” She talked to Spencer about doing a show about seniors, honoring them for their deeds before they died. “Too often, we don’t recognize them until they have moved on.” Wein-Rosin is living with pancreatic cancer. Spenser says, “I want to recognize her for all the good things she was doing for the 10 years that she worked here. That’s why I am dedicating this entire show to her.”
This is Spenser’s third “Faces in Massachusetts” exhibition. Like the other two shows, Spencer interviews diverse groups of individuals, many of whom are often unrecognized: gays, lesbians, transgendered, physically challenged, different nationalities and minorities. “They reflect Boston now, the change in Boston. We learn about different cultures we don’t know about.” As in past exhibitions, many are born elsewhere - the Caribbean, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa - and now call Fenway home.
A few, like Mahmoud Gamil and Alyssa Barry, had their art work in the show as well. Gamil had a painting and Barry photographs. “Without the participants, there would be no show. It is their show, not just mine,” Spencer reflects. Musicians such as Johnny Malone, Gregg Ramsey, Jeff Ramsey, and Diane Fisher performed at the reception.
I was also particularly impressed that Spencer made portfolios for those who are unable to read the biographies and enjoy the photographs on the walls. These portfolios can be looked at sitting down.
Spencer extended gratitude to those who provided food and refreshments: Leo Romero and Iory Allison, from Casa Romero, and Jim Rooney, owner of the Baseball Tavern.
The show ultimately reflects Spenser’s growing maturity in his ability to take criticism and make changes as a result. These comments help Spenser to not only elevate his art, but also his life. Bravo! The show will hang until July 29, in the gallery at the Peterborough Senior Center. The entrance is off the alley between 100 and 108 Jersey Street, with galley hours of 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Call 617-536-7154 for more detail and questions. Contact Spencer at 617-266-9742 and/or [email protected].
Lisa Fay lives in the West Fenway.
that at approximately that time NEU had begun to change its identity from a commuter school to one that would attract more students from beyond the Boston area. The ultimate goal, since reached, was to have the school break into the top 100 U.S. colleges in the annual listings releasted by U.S. News & World Report.
“The influx of students caused a lot of changes, and we are losing our community as a result,” Flaherty says, outlining the problems Mission Hill residents have experienced as a result. “At first it seemed like a quality-of-life issue, but it was more than that,” she remembers.
Other neighbors report that students away from home for the first time and not living on campus tend to party, but they don’t have the experience to know how to moderate their behavior to minimize disruption of their neighborhood. They get loud and boisterous, and frequently belligerent, and the problem gets worse as the night wears on. Adult neigh-bors with children, and/or jobs to get to in the morning, stop getting enough sleep.
Students under the influence also frequently vomit and urinate wherever they happen to be when the urge moves them, and don’t even think about cleaning up after themselves. They can also break things or damage property, either through drunken carelessness or losing inhibitions against aggression. All this creates an environment in which the neighbors begin to wonder if it’s worth the aggravtion to continue living in the same streets as unsupervised students.
The worst problem brought on by the students, and the most damaging to the long-term health of the community, has been real-estate speculation. “Speculators were buying up buildings, but they weren’t putting any money into them, only taking money out,” Flaherty argues. “It took us so many years to construct 75 units of affordable housing at the Back of the Hill, and in one year we lost 38 units on the top.”
And the problem isn’t merely one of
>miSSion hill from facing pagestudents and residents competing for available housing. “Speculators can cram six to eight students into a three- or four-bedroom apartment and make as much as $4,000 a month. Working people can’t afford to pay that. Also, this speculation is driving up property taxes, so even people who want to charge affordable rents in the two other units of their buildings are less able to afford it, and this contributes also to the decisions to sell out and move to a quieter neighborhood.”
[Lack of enforcement of the city ordinance that limits occupancy to four students—thank you, Mike Ross—has left speculators free to continue their unscrupulous behavior.—Ed.]
Flaherty asserts that she and her neighbors put in a good-faith effort working with NEU to negotiate its master plan during many meetings from 2004 to 2006. “The Task Force was a difficult process, but we ultimately got an agreement that the university would build three new dorms and attempt to house 65% of their undergraduates.” One dorm was built, but the economic downturn caused NEU to put plans for the other two on hold, and the university don’t currently plan to go forward with new construction for the foreseeable future.
“We are supposed to understand their financial losses,” Flaherty says regarding the university’s explanations at recent meetings, “but they don’t want to understand ours.”
As anyone who has heard her testimony at these meetings can attest, Pat Flaherty is thoroughly frustrated. When she hears about the school’s leasing of office and research space from other institutions in the neighborhood, she thinks this proves that “taking care of this problem is not their priority any more,” and adds that she “feels pretty duped” by the Task Force process. If the university wants to win her support for extending its master plan for another year, it’s going to have to come up with much better answers than she’s heard so far.
Stephen Brophy edits the Fenway News.
FENWAY NEWS | JUNE 2010 | �
BY ELIZABETH GILLIS
What does a designer of cotton mills in the South have to do with churches in the Fenway?
The story begins with Hosea Ballou, a charismatic preacher from Vermont. The Universalist movement in Boston was growing, so the Second Universalist Society was formed. In 1817 they built a church on School Street.
The minister was so popular that he had to conduct three services each Sunday. At the evening services aisles, stairs and even the steps to the pulpit were crowded. Ballou’s rather homespun speech and pleasant manner endeared him to the members.
The atmosphere among the various denominations was hardly collegial at the time. The members of one Congregational church in New Hampshire felt that they had to cleanse the church building with smoke after the building had been used by the Baptists. There was squabbling even within a denomination. Ballou himself was the target of criticism from other Universalists.
The Society was still strong after Ballou’s death and they built a new church on Columbus Avenue in the South End in 1872. It proved to be an unfortunate choice. The South End, considered fashionable, was beginning to lose its charm. It began a slow decline into an undesirable neighborhood. Church records show that from 1916 to 1922 their Sunday services were held in the Fenway Theatre on Massachusetts Avenue (now the Berklee Performance Center).
In 1922 Arthur F. Gray was hired as the architect of a new sanctuary. It seems a strange choice since he had designed textile mills, the Worcester Corset Company and the Reversible Collar Company buildings. He was also one of several architects involved in the construction of the Christian Science Mother Church. A lot on Boylston Street at Ipswich Street was purchased and the church, an architectural gem, was dedicated in 1925. It was named Church of the Redemption.
It is uncertain why the church closed only ten years later in 1935. It was the midst of the Great Depression, so that may have been a factor. Records mention resignations from church membership. Some members may have moved to suburban areas. The congregation then merged with Arlington Street Church.
The Catholic Archdiocese purchased the building that year, and it is now St. Clement Shrine. Elizabeth Gillis lives in the West Fenway.
☞ f e n w a y h I S T O R y ☜
The Universalists’ Fenway Flirtation
dpw ad to come
Street cleAningthe city cleans Fenway residential streets between 12 and 4 p.m. on the first and third wednesdays of the month (odd-numbered side) and the second and fourth wednesdays (even-numbered sides). get more info at 617-635-4900 or www.cityofboston.gov/public-works/sweeping. the state cleans streets that border the Fens on this schedule:• Second thurSdAY
the riverway, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.• Second fridAY the Fenway (includes inside lane),
charlesgate extension, and Forsyth way, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
• Second fridAY 8 to 54 the Fenway (includes inside lane),
charlesgate extension, 12:00–3:00 p.m.• third tueSdAY
> park drive, from holy trinity orthodox cathedral to Kilmarnock street and from the riverside line overpass to Beacon street, 12:00–3:00 p.m.
www.mass.gov/dcr/sweep.htm has a com-plete schedule and maps.
BOSTON RESIDENTS,
SAFELY DISPOSE OFHOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE,
UNWANTED TIRES AND PROPANE TANKSAT TWO UPCOMING DROP-OFF DAYS:
1. Saturday, June 12, 2010 9:00am to 2:00pm Parking lot at University of Massachusetts Boston Harbor Campus Morrissey Blvd Dorchester
2. Saturday, June 26, 2010 9:00am to 2:00pm Public Works Yard 315 Gardner St West Roxbury (near Millenium Park and Home Depot)
City of Boston Public Works Department will recycle and safely dispose of residents’ household products containing
hazardous ingredients. Residents may bring up to 50 pounds of products labeled toxic, �ammable, reactive, corrosive, or
poisonous; such as paint, motor oil, pesticides, solvents, glues, bleach or ammonia-based cleaners, weed killers, photo chemicals, pool chemicals, car batteries, and used motor oil.
NO COMPUTERS, MONITORS, TVs, OR ELECTRONICSNO COMMERCIAL WASTE ACCEPTED
The City reserves the right to reject materials
PROOF OF RESIDENCY REQUIRED
Boston Public Works DepartmentThomas M. Menino, MayorJoanne P. Massaro, InterimChief of Public Works and Transportation
For more information, please call 617-635-4500 or visit www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/recycling
is it news when democrats endorse democrats?Last month the Ward 5 Democratic Committee made endorsements in statewide races,
and you won’t find any surpisese here. For governor, the group backs Deval Patrick; for lt. governor, Tim Murray; for attorney general, Martha Coakley; for secretary of state, William Galvin; and for treasurer, Steve Grossman—the only non-incumbent in the bunch. The committee did not make an endorsement in the race for state auditor.
Boston Latin raises the (green) rooFGreen Schools, a Norfolk, Mass–based nonprofit, will honor the Boston Latin School with
a Green Difference awards. The nation’s first public school earned the citation for a green roof it is building in consultation with Studio G Architects. (An increasingly popular sustainability measure, a green roof adds low-maintenance plants and sometimes solar panels to rooftops; the plants keep the building cooler in summer, reducing power used for air conditioning, and the planted areas absorb rainwater rather than sending it into city sewers during heavy storms.) “Boston Latin School’s Youth Climate Action Network (CAN) will be creating a rooftop classroom, a garden that will boast a variety of plants and green technologies,” said Green Schools’ executive director Robin Organ. “Green Schools hopes that other schools in the Boston area and beyond will pursue outdoor classrooms and projects such as this.”
emeraLd neckLace Visitors center may open this yearWork continues on the renovation of the H.H. Richardson-designed Stony Brook
Gatehouse, nestled in the incomparable landscape of the Back Bay Fens across from the Forsyth Dental Clinic. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy will turn the building into a visitor and volunteer center for the entire Emerald Necklace. Under the direction of project architect Ann Beha Associates, the restoration is due to be completed in time for an opening later this year. Both the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Conservancy consider the adaptive reuse of the decommissioned gatehouse a priority. The new center will offer both a destination and a jumping-off point for people wishing to learn explore the parks, learn about the Necklace, or join volunteers working to maintain this jewel of a park system.
accessiBiLity train FinaLLy puLLs into neighBorhood stationsThe Department of Transportation has authorized the MBTA to hire SEA Consultants for
design engineering services to bring the Symphony and Hynes stations into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, primarily by installing elevators. Wollaston Station on the Red Line will also be part of the contract. If all goes well, the work should be complete by early 2012.
now northeastern has a kennedy schooLVictoria Reggie Kennedy joined Mayor Menino and hundreds of guests last month at the
renaming of a Fenway-based charter school in honor of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The Health Careers Academy at 110 The Fenway became the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers: A Horace Mann Public Charter School. (You might need some medical attention after trying to say that in one breath). Despite its low profile, the Kennedy Academy racked up impressive results: It’s one of the few high schools in the state where 100% of grade 12 students since 2003 have passed all MCAS tests required for graduation. In 2009, the school had the highest four-year graduation rate and third lowest drop-out rate (0.5%) of all Boston public high schools. U.S. News and World Report has even discovered it, awarding the Academy two bronze medals in its annual ranking of top U.S. high schools. The school is a joint project of the Boston School Department and Northeastern University.
Newslines was compiled this month by Stephen Brophy and Steve Wolf.
>neWSlineS from page 1
� | FENWAY NEWS | JUNE 2010
BY STEPHEN BROPHY
I had an experience last month that caused me to do some serious soul-searching about my attitudes towards patriotism and flag worship—I went to the Boston Pops premiere of a new work about the Kennedy brothers.
Now, I’m a child of the 1960s and as such I’ve often felt at odds with the choices and actions of the American government, whether run by Democrats or Republicans. And in my time I have often felt assaulted by the flag-waving of those who supported wars and other official belligerence. I can’t claim to have been physically attacked, like the African-American man walking across City Hall Plaza in 1976 who was assaulted by a pack of South Boston thugs protesting the desegregation of the Boston school system—he was beaten with the flagpole they were carrying. (And he is now the president of the Boston Architectural College on Newbury Street).
Nevertheless, I have an almost visceral reaction to what I call flag worship, and the entire Pops program was built around it on the night I went. They weren’t using just any old flag, either. They had a tattered flag that was found in the debris of the World Trade Center. I stood with the rest of the audience for the National Anthem, but had a hard time feeling like part of it.
To its credit, the Pops created a program that worked to include
all Americans, not just those who wave flags while proclaiming they want to “take our country back.” America the Beautiful was sung in a rousing gospel style by Renese King. And Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” delivered by his son Arlo, was part of the mix. But I had to leave at intermission because I knew I wouldn’t withstand the tempest of emotions that would be unleashed by
participating in a patriotic sing-along, which was the last item on the program.
As I’ve thought about it since, I’ve become very thankful that Keith Lockhart and his organization created a situation in which I had to contemplate what has become a sort of knee-jerk reaction. Far from being a mindless display of patriotism, the event was quite mindful. If Lockhart intended to move his audience intellectually as well as emotionally, he sure succeeded with me.
Housekeeping: For the first time in several months, I don’t have to beat my chest and intone mea culpa—we don’t have any major errors to report from the May 2010 issue.
Finally, The Fenway News will hold a book sale on Sunday, July 10, in the park next to 73 Hemenway Street. If you would like to donate anything for the sale, send us a note at [email protected] or call 617-266-8790 and we’ll make arrangements.
from the editor Serving the Fenway, Kenmore Square, Audubon Circle, upper Back Bay, lower Roxbury, Prudential,
Mission Hill, and Longwood since 1974
Fenway news association Board oF directors
Jon Ball • Steve Chase • Helen Cox, president Joyce Foster ª Elizabeth Gillis, clerk
Steven Harnish • Ruth Khowais Gloria Platt • Steve Wolf, treasurer
editor: Stephen brophyweB editor: Jonathan KimProduction designer: Steve Wolfwriters: Joanna Arpie, Jon Ball, Luis Oscar Cardona, Helen Cox, Tracey Cusick, Lisa Fay, Lori A. Frankian, Joyce Foster, Marie Fukuda, Galen Gilbert, Elizabeth Gillis, Katherine Greenough, Anthony Gulizia, Steven Harnish, Erin Harper, Kaileigh Higgins, John Kelly, Ruth Khowais, Jonathan Kim, Pamela King, Shirley Kressel, Marc Laderman, Lauren Landry, Aqilla Manna, Erica Mattison, James McCaffrey, Richard Pendleton, Camille Platt, Stephen Post, Emily Procknal, Meena Ramakrishnan, Mike Ross, Bill Shaner, Sierra Smith, Matti Kniva Spencer, Ann Tobin, Chuck Turner, Clyde Whalen, Margaret Witham PhotograPhers: Lois Johnston, Patrick O’Connor, Matti Kniva Spencer, Steve WolfcaLendar: Helen Cox, Stephen Brophy, Penina Adelman, Meena RamakrishnanProoFreaders: Jon Ball, Tracey Cusick, Lisa WoodsuBscriPtion coordinator: cathy Jacobowitz BooKKeePer: Cathy Jacobowitz distriBution: Jon Ball, Della Gelzer, Keith Harriel, Aqilla Manna, Lauren Dewey Platt
The Fenway News is published monthly by the Fenway News Association, Inc., a community-owned corporation dedicated to community journalism. If you would like to volunteer to
write, edit, photograph, lay out, distribute, or sell advertising on commission, please contact us at:
Serving Fenway/Back Bay/Downtown Professional services and fees
Old photo restoration, head shots, event coverage
St. Botolph’s Anglican Catholic Church meets at the YMCA chapel, 316 Huntington Avenue
cC
Sunday Mass 10:00 a.m. Holy Day Mass 12:00 noonRt. Rev. Stanley Lazarczyk (Ret.)
cC
Inquiries: (617) 236-5884
BY RICHARD PENDLETON
I surprised myself on February 25 by getting to the Suffolk County Courthouse by 8 am to answer my once-every-three-years jury notice. This is a time of day at which I am normally asleep. Entry, search, check in and sitting in the jury pool room with 150 other citizens until court officers call us for an assignment or relay a wholesale dismissal order due to the lack of trial activity.
Most people summoned, including me, hope for the dismissal order. Not thinking that our participation in the process helps the court to properly carry out its duties, we think that we have better things to do with our time. The video presentation on the workings of the court system ran for about 18 minutes. It was followed by a live judge who gave a friendly talk on the fulfilling of our civic duty. At 10:30 a.m., much to our annoyance, court officers ushered us in groups of ten up to a main courtroom where juror analysis was about to begin
One hundred-plus prospective jurors were packed into the gallery as the judge explained the first-degree murder case that was forthcoming and explained what was expected of the jury that would be selected. Seven people were already sitting in the jury box, obviously picked in a similar process the day before. Each of us was given a four-by-five card with a number on it. The judge asked a series of questions all designed to filter out conflicts of interest.
He wanted to know if any of us knew the victim, the defendants, defense counsel, or the district attorney. The judge named about fifty witnesses that would be called and asked if we knew any of them. He wanted to know if we had read or heard about the case in the news. Anyone answering yes to any of these questions was to hold up their numbered card for court officers to take note and relay the information to the bench.
The circle of observers at the bench included the judge, the defense, the accused,
the D.A., the court clerk, a jury consultant and a court officer. The judge would make a general attempt to address any questions arising from yes responses to his conflict-of-interest inquiries and consider inconveniences and hardships generated by serving on a jury.
Conversations in the circle were largely inaudible, but the word we could hear the most came from the court clerk: “excused”. All pregnant women were sent home with a smile and a thank-you from the judge. We were called up to the bench by number, one by one.
Interviewees had to stand near the exit while the circle discussed each individual. If one was selected, he/she would be assigned a seat in the jury box. Rejectees could proceed out the exit and resume their lives.
One boistrous man was excused because he claimed that he was once stopped by agents of Homeland Security without a warrant. A young man walked out of the door before the
First Came Law & Order; Then, CSI; Now...Jury Duty!
> continues under JurY on next page
Fenway cdc asks your help with community needs assessment
TO THE EDITOR:
As part of our efforts to advocate for expanded community spaces in the neighborhood, the Fenway CDC has begun asking residents what activities and programs they would like to see provided.
The idea for expanded community spaces grows out of the Fenway CDC’s Urban Village Plan, which envisions the transformation of the neighborhood into an environment that fosters community. The creation of expanded community facilities is one of the CDC’s efforts to bring residents together and helpe them get the services they need.
The Fenway is one of the only neighborhoods in Boston without a community center. After hearing community members and the FCDC strongly articulate this need in the Urban Village Plan and elsewhere, local developers have pledged to
[On May 20, the body of Bob Jeffers was found in his Park Drive apartment by police who had been called to the scene by a neighbor. He apparently died of natural causes, perhaps as many as two days before the police arrived. We will have an obituary in next month’s issue. —Ed.]
BIG BOB by Walter NoonsBob, I will miss your big loping gaitAnd your warm and gentle smileYour long white hair reminding me That I wasn’t the last of the old Hippies
Well, now I know I am the lastAnd never again will we meetUntil that certain someday When we stand upon that distant shore
Waving the Flag—Or Worshipping It?
designate spaces within their buildings for community use. The spaces will be available once the developments are built, which is expected to occur within the next few years.
In the meantime, the FCDC is conducting a community needs assessment to find out what types of community programming activities residents would like to see provided once these spaces open up. The needs assessment includes interviews with local community leaders, focus groups with residents, and a resident survey. The focus groups are being held in different languages and for groups that may have unique needs, such as families with children and senior citizens.
If you would like to participate in a focus group, complete a survey, or partici-pate in the needs assessment in another way, please contact me at the Fenway CDC. I can be reached at 617-267-4637 x 16 or by email at [email protected].
Thanks for your help.CASSANDRIA CAMPBELL
letters
FENWAY NEWS | JUNE 2010 | �
gave me pats on the shoulder and welcomed me to the group. The proceeding filled the thirteenth through fifteenth seats. Ours was to be a jury of twelve with four alternates. Number 16 was picked the next morning. The jury was a friendly, humorous, diverse group, consisting of nine men and seven women. To be continued...
Richard Pendleton lives in the West Fens.
Fenway FactOn June 20, 1896, the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial, at the intersection of The Fenway and Boylston St. near today’s Mother’s Rest Playground, was dedicated.
Roof Deck Now Open
Memorial Dayto Labor Day!
Swing on in forlunch & enjoy Tavernfavorites includinghot dogs for only$1.50 during RedSox Away Games!
1270 Boylston StreetBoston, MA 02215
617.867.6526
Visit us online at:
TheBaseballTavern.com
•KENO
•ESPN Game Plan
•Draft Specials
•Great seafood and steak tips
•BuzzTime interactive television
Mass AveLock Co.
24-HOUREMERGENCY SERVICEBONDED LOCKSMITH
125 St. Botolph StreetPhone 247-9779 • Fax 536-8709
iven the complexity of the issues relating to the arbitrator’s award to the firefighters union, I have met during the last two weeks with the Administration and Finance Director for the City and her team; with the president of Local 718
and his team; and with the president and vice president of the Vulcans, Boston’s Black firefighter organization, and members of the organizations.
Based on those discussions, I have come to the conclusion that the contract is fair but unaffordable. Despite its fairness, I feel compelled to vote against it. Let me explain my dilemma. I believe that within the policy and practices of collective bargaining, the 5% above the standard four-year 14% is reasonable.
On principle, however, I don’t think that the City should have to pay to have public safety officers drug tested. However, BPD officers and EMS members have received financial incentives in their contracts for accepting drug testing, so I believe that the arbitrator’s 2.5% award in return for the firefighters’ acceptance of drug testing is fair.
Also, I also think it is reasonable for the firefighters to argue that an additional 2.5% beyond the 14% that results from the internal Transitional Career Award Program (TCAP) within the contract should not be viewed as part of the contract cost, since it has not been viewed that way in the past.
However, while the firefighters’ arguments are reasonable, the reality is that the 2.5% award for drug testing and the 2.5% cost that results from the TCAP will cost the City $9 million in fiscal 2011, and they will continue to be a financial burden during the difficult years that lie ahead. During these difficult financial times, we have to make
sure that we are not giving increased benefits to the personnel of some departments while taking away benefits from others.
At a time when we are facing layoffs of librarians, custodians, teachers, administrators, etc., we cannot afford to award a contract
that costs $9 million beyond the standard 14% for police and fire (in a four-year contract). The only answer, I believe, is for the Council to reject the arbitrator’s award and send both parties back to the table with the request to seek an agreement that limits the cost of the contract to 14% spread over four years (including TCAP) even if that requires taking drug testing off the table and sending a home rule petition to the legislature to legally require drug testing.
In addition to questioning the cost of this contract, I also question the absence of the public’s voice in negotiations with municipal unions in general. Five years ago, I and other education advocates asked Superintendent of Schools Michael Contompasis and the Boston Teachers Union president, Richard Stutman, to hold public meetings to discuss key points in the negotiations so that the public would have an opportunity to understand the bargaining process and content as well as share their perspective.
Based on the value of the past discussions, advocates have arranged with the current superintendent, Carol Johnson, and BTU head Stutman to repeat the experience beginning with a meeting this month. I believe the City Council needs to work with the Mayor and the leadership of the larger city unions to arrange a dialogue that enables the public to have a perspective on and a voice in the negotiations. I plan to file a hearing order in the next couple
of months focusing on the need for such a process.
The Turner Reportthe fenway
news has invited elected officials
who represent the neighborhood to
contribute columns on issues of
concern. these will appear on a regular basis in fensviews.
Arbitration Award May Be Fair, But It’s Not Affordable
Bring the Bottle Bill up to date—and clean up the cityBY JAMES MCCAFFREY
this legislative session, the state legislature has been reviewing an update to our Bottle Bill, which would add bottled water, sports
drinks, iced tea, juice drinks and other “new age” beverages to our current list of deposit containers.
Our existing Bottle Bill was passed 27 years ago. It is the most effective program ever devised to prevent litter and increase recycling. Not only has our Bottle Bill been a huge success, it has become a model for other states, Canadian provinces, and nations throughout the world. Due to the Bottle Bill, we redeem/recycle an amazing 80% of beverage containers. The law stops petroleum-based plastics from going to the state’s landfills, many of which are close to capacity. It dramatically cuts litter, saving communities up to $7 million in clean-up costs annually. It creates jobs in recycling and textiles, providing the feedstock for recycled materials such as upholstery, carpeting, and Polartec-type fleece.
Since the Bottle Bill was first passed, consumer tastes have shifted. Soft drinks (covered by law) have lost market share to juices, sports drinks, and bottled water (not covered by the law). As a result, one-third of beverages sold in Massachustts—over a billion containers a year—are unintentionally outside the deposit system. The solution is simple: the legislature needs to update the Bottle Bill to include these containers.
Our Bottle Bill is a model of producer responsibility: Those who create the waste are those who pay to clean it up. When we
redeem a container, we get our nickel back. But when someone chooses to throw theirs in the trash (or out the car window), they forfeit their nickel. These nickels indirectly pay for the huge cleanup and disposal costs for the non-returnables. The bottlers help pay for the costs of recycling by providing a small amount, just 2.25 cents per redeemed container. This fee keeps the redemption system running.
The resulting system, which places the clean-up burden on the bottlers and those who decide to toss recyclable containers, works incredibly well. Unfortunately, with the growing popularity of non-deposit beverages, our streets and parks are becoming litter-strewn, our landfills are reaching capacity, and our storm drains are being clogged by non-deposit beverage containers.
Most of the containers that would be added to the bottle bill are PET (#1) plastic, which is made of 99% petroleum. Consumers like PET because it’s lightweight, shatter-resistant, and re-sealable—just right for people on the go. It’s also virtually indestructible. PET will not break down for thousands of years. Fortunately, it’s easily recycled, and industry is in desperate need of more.
Recycling more of these containers will divert huge quantities of materials from Massachusetts landfills—while reducing carbon emissions. Our existing bottle bill results in the diversion of over 100,000 tons of containers every year from landfills. Meanwhile, beverages not covered by the bill result in 60,000 tons of containers being sent to landfills annually. Updating
the law to include these containers would save over 400,000 barrels of oil every year. This significant savings would help the state to meet its carbon-reduction goals. It also complements curbside recycling by targeting on-the-go containers.
This is especially important here in the Fenway. Boston’s recycling rate is among the lowest in the state. While some cities and towns recycle close to 40% of their trash, Boston lags far behind at only 11%. There are reasons why—which may include a transient student population as well as the large number of languages spoken here. Updating the Bottle Bill will not only have a huge impact on the amount of trash in our neighborhoods, but also increase the recycling rate.
Fenway Park has one of the best recycling rates of any stadium in the country, but it also provides a dramatic measure of a problem that comes from outside the stadium. The one billion empty bottles that wind up in Massachusetts landfills every year are enough to fill Fenway Park to overflowing.
Throughout the region, nearly every state has updated its bottle bill, including Connecticut, Maine, and New York. Over 140 Massachusetts cities and towns—including Boston—have passed resolutions in favor of updating the Bottle Bill. It’s time for the legislature to update our Bottle Bill
I welcome your feedback on the Bottle Bill or any other environmental issue. Please contact us at [email protected] or call 617-423-5775
James McCaffrey, Director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, lives Boston.
clerk announced that he was excused. Another man was excused and legitimately out the door, but the judge suddenly had an additional question. The man was chased by a court officer, but the dismissal stuck just the same.
Over and over, with each prospective juror, the judge had to ask the same questions regarding objectivity, a sense of fairness and an ability to analyze all testimony. It had to wear on him, given the number of people going through the process.
And then it was my turn. Thinking the judge or someone in the circle would be concerned over my reading about the case in the press, I figured “I am out of here.” The circle consulted for mere seconds before the clerk announced “seat number 12.” I was stunned! Already seated jurors chuckled,
We can’t say all five of these markets have started, because the state still has a 2009 schedule (!) on its website (www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/farmers_markets.htm). We CAN say the Copley and Prudential markets opened the third week in May.
copleY SquAre
Tuesday & Friday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.prudentiAl center: 800 boylston, across from Walgreen’s
Thursday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.miSSion hill: brigham circle
Thursday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.JAmAicA plAin: bank of America lot, centre Street
WednesdaySaturday
12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.12:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.
South end: 540 harrison Avenue (at SoWa arts market)
Sunday 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Farmer’s Markets>JurY from facing page
� | FENWAY NEWS | JUNE 2010
Boston Magazine 2008
Best of Boston
DiVe BaRThanks—Tony
BY ERIN HARPER
prelude to a Kiss, the current production at the Huntington Theatre Company, is one of those plays that sticks with us. In a few short hours, it reminds us of some important lessons—
life is too short and moments are very valuable; it’s crucial that we cherish both.
There is nothing over-the-top about Craig Lucas’s script. While there is an element of the supernatural, its simplicity is what has made it stick since its premiere 22 years ago. Peter and Rita meet, fall in love and marry within a few short months. On their wedding day, however, an old man decides to kiss Rita and their souls exchange bodies.
It never really turns into a “love the one you’re with” type of story. Peter, despite some attempts, never accepts that the wife he is living with is the wife that he married. Instead, the play encourages its audience to fight to be with the one with whom we are meant to be. Even if it’s more complex than we sign up for, being
with those who make us happy can outshine even the strangest of relationships.
The Huntington’s Artistic Director, Peter DuBois, has assembled an ideal cast, coupled with Scott Bradley’s
marvelous set design. It’s simple to forget this is a play, because the sets switch so effortlessly from apartment to bar to the surroundings of a nighttime stroll.
If the story sounds familiar, it’s because Meg ryan brought rita to the big screen in the 1992 movie version; Alec Baldwin portrayed Peter. Boston’s version has Cassie Beck in the Rita role. While Beck clicks on stage instantly as a single city girl turned bride, it is not until Rita’s body is taken
over by the Old Man’s soul that Beck is able to shine. She incorporates all the mannerisms and quirks of the Old Man at such a steady clip, it’s no wonder that Peter grows more and more suspicious as time passes.
As Peter, Brian Sgambati narrates the story with ease. The audience never questions the love Peter feels for Rita, no matter where her soul lies. Beck and Sgambati interact so well that the eventual addition of the Old Man, portrayed by MacIntyre Dixon, only adds to their chemistry. As the Old Man, Dixon conveys the morals of the story while adding a light touch of humor to the role of a woman trapped in an old man’s body. The audience understands more and more why Peter wants so desperately to love the soul of his bride.
The interesting twist in Lucas’s script is that it does not affect a couple who take each other for granted. Peter and Rita seem truly happy. Peter’s belief that he’s lost Rita helps the audience to root for him that much more to get her soul back in her body.
Prelude to a Kiss falls somewhere between myth and illusion. By the end, the questions “How” and “Why” are less relevant than they are at the beginning. But one thing is clear: it is true what people say—sometimes, a kiss really can change everything.
Erin Harper has written for The Fenway News since she was a Northeastern student. She works at the Reggie Lewis Sports Center at Roxbury Community College. Prelude to a Kiss plays through June 13. Tickets are $20 to $82.50.
BY STEPHEN BROPHY
i expect to be sitting in the Museum of Fine Arts’ Remis Auditorium a lot between June 16 and 27 to view again some of the finest Italian art of the 20th
century—the films of Federico Fellini. These movies collectively advanced
the art of filmmaking in so many ways that filmmakers still consistently place Fellini in the top rank of the pantheon. Most especially, 8 1/2 (1963) is widely regarded as having opened much new territory in what can be shown in a movie. 8 1/2 follows the story of a Felliniesque director whose recent worldwide success has left him unsure of what to do next—a situation Fellini was very familiar with at the time. anyone who says movies can’t get inside the minds of their characters the way novels can hasn’t seen 8 1/2.
The film also serves as a convenient marker for tracking the growth of Fellini’s directorial style. Plot was never very important to him, but since it was important to viewers (whom he hadn’t yet had a chance to educate visually), he allowed plots to develop in his earlier films. This is no beginning-middle-end plot that most story-tellers convey, but one that is cyclical and can turn back on itself.
Nights of Cabiria (1957) provides the best example of this. It is basically the same simple story told in five different modes. The simplest outline of it takes place in the first
MacIntyre Dixon (Old Man), Cassie Beck (Rita), and Brian Sgambati (Peter) in the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Prelude to a Kiss, playing through June 13.
photo: t. chArleS erickSon
a Kiss Changes Everything...and Lingers in the Mind
ten minutes: We see a young woman, happy because she is with a man, knocked to the ground (most often by the man), but who manages to get back on her feet again. We see the story as a comical encounter with a famous actor, as an ultimately futile search for spiritual meaning in a church, as a dreamlike visit to a ventriloquist performing in a seedy theater, and, heartbreakingly, when she finally meets a man who accepts her for what she is (a prostitute) and wants to marry her anyway.
Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife, played Cabiria, the title character. She was one of the world’s great film actors, but since she worked almost exclusively for her husband (and thus left only a small body of work), her greatness has never been fully respected. Masina appears in two other films in this MFA series—La Strada (1954) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965).
La Strada is justly revered for its story of the unlikely redemption of a brutish circus strong man (played very subtly by Anthony Quinn) through the sacrifice of his common-law wife, played by Masina. Juliet of the Spirits, released just after 8 1/2, was the director’s first feature film in color. It aspires to offer the female equivalent of the male story told in 8 1/2, but Fellini did not have enough feeling for the experience of a married woman living with a notorious womanizer—even if it was mostly autobiographical—to carry it off as effectively. It is still worth watching on many levels though, not the least of which is savoring Masina’s performance.
After 8 1/2 and Juliet of the Spirits, Fellini dispensed altogether with the structure of plots and began creating movies organized, as 8 1/2 had been, around the confusing flow of memories, dreams, impressions, and experiences. This happened simultaneously
with the dumbing down of mass-film audiences worldwide. Up through the 1960s many filmgoers had a real sense of adventure, and were willing to learn from each new film how to watch it. By the end of the 1970s, such viewers had become a minority. But by that time Fellini didn’t care.
His most successful post-8 1/2 movie was Amarcord (I Remember, 1973), a recreation of
his childhood growing up in Rimini during Mussolini’s pre-war dictatorship. Fellini had treated this same material more realistically in I Vitelloni (1953). That film charts a few months in the lives of friends caught between adolescence and adulthood, and ends with a Fellini-like character jumping on a train headed for the big city. In Amarcord we get less sense of urgency but a more relaxed look at the environment that produced an artist.
Two later films round out the MFA series.Casanova (1976), with Donald Sutherland in the title role, is definitely a lesser Fellini work, but it has amazing visuals. Roma (1972) is one of the most entertaining of several quasi-documentaries Fellini made in the second half of his career. One of many highlights involves a religious fashion show, with models stalking the catwalk garbed as priests, nuns, cardinals, and finally a pope in a blinding habit composed largely of mirrors. The film ends with a late-night invasion of motorcyclists circling the Colosseum, a
reference to the Vandals’ invasion 1,500 years earlier.
If you’ve never experienced Fellini, most of his finest work is here, so it’s an excellent place to start. For more details and screening times, go to www.mfa.org/calendar and type in Fellini in the upper-right search box.
Stephen Brophy is editor of The Fenway News and an unrepentant Fellini fanatic.
Fellini composes a scene with Giulietta Masina—his wife, star, and muse—on the set of La Strada.
in June Film series, mFa oFFers viewers a chance to Fall For Fellini For the First time—or all over again
FENWAY NEWS | JUNE 2010 | �
in the good old days, when I was a kid, Beacon Hill was a rich neighborhood and most people would have liked to live there. The Fenway, because of the many
important medical centers located there, should be even more important and isn’t for two reasons. One is Fenway Park and the other is a throughway road system including Boylston Street, that will never allow the likes of Beacon Hill to flourish here.
How does Fenway Park interfere with progress in the Fenway? Number one baseball crowds are usually loud, rude and a constant interference with local activity. If they moved the park out closer to the water, it would be a big thrill for the fans and a big relief for the neighbors, but would gentrify the neighborhood. As far as the throughway is concerned, nothing ever stops here. Three times a day, the through traffic is in and out and people have trouble getting across the street, with traffic lights and pedestrians moving at the same time. The answer to all this would be simply move Fenway Park to some other place.
Another beef concerns radio and television. Ninety-nine percent, it seems, of so-called entertainment, is information, information, information. Why do we have to be subjected to reasons for things most of us are really not involved in? There is constant guiding along paths most of us aren’t interested in, information we can’t use and suggestions we don’t want to even consider. For a simple answer, I suggest music of all kinds, except without words. Play the music and cut the chatter and we’ll all be happier.
Peterborough Senior Center is finally making a comeback, mainly because of the efforts of Fenway News editor Steve Brophy, who conducts a short story reading group, which has gone over big with performers and audience. Other changes are in the mix. Members are encouraged to join up with new efforts being made.
For those of you who may have wondered why some of my spots have been taken over by Mary Finn, at Channel 9, it couldn’t happen to a nicer person. Since the beginning, we have been together with the understanding that one could sit in for another, if the cause came up. Good luck
Mary, who has been busy writing all this time.
Barbara Finley responded to our request for chair exercise, by writing a nice letter, looking to get in on the action, to which we answered with a voluble letter. We will submit her writing for publication, as we will with anyone who seeks our aid. We are in the process of finalizing a DVD, which is a record to play on a DVD player and have submitted a copy to Curtis Henderson, manager of BNN Channel 9; to date he has
shown interest to continue on. We’ll get to you with results of his next meeting.
Have you ever met somebody to who, you’d like to say “If I had it all to do over, I’d do it all over you”? Not very sympathetic, is it?
The biggest problem in politics is getting people to agree on anything. For example, in large numbers, people disagree on whether there’s a god. Those that agree, then separate on which god is theirs. Consequently, in our world, god has many faces. I guess many people agree on at least one god, so they’ll have something to take with them, when they leave this life for eternity. Mary tells me I should leave this subject for eternity.
Audubon Circle has a church on one side and a funeral home on the other. Right behind the funeral home, there’s an alley. The other end of the alley ends out on St. Mary’s Street, where I spent the early years of my life, going to William McKinley Grammar School. The head of the school was Mr. Weatherby. He used to come in shaking a coin holder, looking for donations. I read where he and his wife were killed crossing the street in Florida many years later. It was shocking.
People are always thinking. I hope some of it is for good. How about you?
Now listen closely, if you’re going through those years, where you lose a lot of the old get-up-and-go, please know that if you keep exercising, without lifting heavy weights, including your own body, you can coax more life out of what you’ve got than probably any other way known to man. Get your butt downstairs to the “C-House” gym. Copy what you see during the action there and you’ll live longer than you ever wanted to and that’s no joke, which goes for the rest of this column. Bye, Bye from Mary and I.
West Fens resident Clyde Whalen gives “The Fenway Report” every other week on neighborhood Network News on cable channel 9.
BY RICHARD PENDLETON
a decades-long resident of the East Fens hit the news in March because neighbors reported an intense odor of oil coming from 32 St. Stephen Street. Firefighters arrived to investigate the situation, but could not gain entry to the house due to an extreme case of hoarding on the part of the owner. News
cameras showed mounds of debris in the rear yard and a quick shot inside the back door revealed ceiling-high stacks of refuse.
Friends, family and co-workers have ribbed me about having lots in common with the guy in the story. I have accumulated a lot of stuff, mostly paper, over the years. I used to be able to blame recycling rules. Whenever I got around to sorting and discarding, I would have to use two separate containers: one for newsprint and one for varying types of bond paper. New recycling procedures now allow for the mixing of newsprint and bond, thus making the process a step easier.
But the real problem is that I feel the need to hold onto information. I keep items on contemporary topics: neighborhood development, city politics, international affairs. My immediate impulse is: “I might write a piece on this someday.” This is a reasonable reaction given the orientation of the pieces I write, particularly for The Fenway News.
Nevertheless, packrat storage is counterproductive. There have been numerous occasions where, in the process of trying to find a specific item that has key information to complete an article, I come up empty handed. I know that I have the clipping in question because I would specifically remember cutting it out for its unique importance.
A contributing factor to my accumulation syndrome could be my several decades of employment in a large academic library. In any case, this can no longer be used as an excuse now that libraries have entered the digital age, an efficient path out of the morass of stockpiling.
The rationale behind the hoarding of clippings/articles is further undermined by the current ability to electronically retrieve such information. Standard city newspapers, news and feature magazines can be accessed via different avenues on the internet.
After hearing about the problem on St. Stephen Street, I have made an intellectual commitment to eliminate my personal clutter. Mustering the physical effort and concentration required to clean out the paper pandemonium is another issue.
Richard Pendleton lives in the East Fens.
Should I Join Hoarders Anonymous?
� | FENWAY NEWS | JUNE 2010
This symbol indicates a free event. For even more listings, visit www.fenwaynews.org
+
The following events take place at the Peterborough Senior Center, located two blocks from Boylston between 100 and 108 Jersey St. (walk down the alley and look left). For more information, call 617-536-7154.
recurring eventS
mondAYS• 9:30 a.m: Breakfast Club with Matti• 11:30 a.m: Film—Jun 7: The African Queen
(1951); Jun 14: Bigger Than Life (1956); Jun 21: Sherlock Holmes (2009); Jun 28:
High School Musical (2006)• 2:15 p.m: yoga
pick of the month
Wed, Jun 2: Fenway liaison for Mayor’s office of Neighborhood Services, William onuoha holds office hours, 3:30-5:30 p.m. yMCa, 316 Huntington ave. No appointment necessary. thu, Jun 3: art exhibit by after school youth. 5:30-6:30 p.m. operation Peace (use alley behind Seventh-Day adventist Church at rear of 78 Peterborough). For more info, call 617-267-1054 or visit: www.operationpeaceboston.org. SAt, Jun 5: Huge used book/video sale sponsored by City-Wide Friends of Boston Public Library, 10-4 p.m., Mezzanine Conference Room, Boston Public Library, Copley Square. For more info call 617-536-5400 x2341. tue, Jun 8: annual Rose Garden Picnic sponsored by Fenway Civic assoc. 6-8 p.m. on lawn outside Kelleher Rose Garden, (across from 85 Park Drive). Live music. Bring picnic, blanket or chairs; dessert and beverages provided. FREE.tue, Jun 15: aCNa (audubon Circle Neighborhood assoc) board meeting 6:30-
8:30 p.m., Harvard Vanguard, 131 Brookline ave., annex Bldg., Rm 3D. For more info, call: 617-262-0657. tue, Jun 15: East Fens Community/Police meeting., 6 p.m. Morville House, 100 Norway St. tue, Jun 15: Ward 5 Democratic Committee meeting, 7 p.m., Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St., Copley Square. Wed, Jun 16: Sen. Stephen tolman’s representative holds office hours: 9-11 a.m., Fenway Health Center, 1340 Boylston St. Wed, Jun 16: Fenway liaison for Mayor’s office of Neighborhood Services, William onuoha holds office hours, 3:30-5:30 p.m. yMCa, 316 Huntington ave. No appointment necessary. Wed, Jun 16: West Fens Community/Police meeting, 5 p.m. Landmark Center (Park Drive & Brookline ave.), 2nd fl, police substation next to security desk. thu, Jun 17: Congressman Capuano’s representative holds office hours, 4-5 p.m. Fenway Health Center, 1340 Boylston St.
fri, Jun 18: Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz’s representative holds office hours, 8-9 a.m. Expresso Royale Cafe, 44 Gainsborough St. For more info, call Stephanie Everett at 617-722-1673 or email [email protected]. mon., Jun 21: 6th annual Fenway Ball sponsored by Fenway Community Development Corp. 6-9:30 p.m. at Fenway Park’s State Street Pavilion.For tickets or more info, call 617-267-4637. thu, Jun 24: Rose Garden Party hosted by angela Menino and Boston Parks Commissionor antonia Pollak to benefit ParkaRtS. 5:30-8:00 p.m. in the Kelleher Rose Garden (across from 85 Park Drive). For tickets or more info, call 617-961-3039. mon, Jun 28: Longwood Medical area Forum, 6:30-8 p.m. For location or to verify if meeting will be held, email Laura at [email protected]. tue, Jun 29: Symphony Neighborhood task Force, 6 p.m. Meeting is tentative; to verify if it will be held and location, call Councilor Mike Ross’s office at 617-635-4225. Neighborhood residents welcome.
tue, Jun 15: United South End Settlements hosts its annual gala, “Step on Board.” Featuring the Harriet tubman Founders award, great food and raffle prizes. For information 617-375-8125 or [email protected]. tickets start at $125.Wed, Jun 16:. Museum of Fine arts staffer Brooke DiGiovanni Evans presents Learning to Look, a gallery talk on tips and techniques for looking at art. Learn to focus on what you see and to learn from your observations. impress your friends afterward with all that you can say about a work of art. Meet in Sharf Visitor Center at 6 p.m. included with MFa admission.thu, Jun 17: after Hours at the isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is “music, art, conversation, cocktails and more in an inviting atmosphere”—tonight combined with Jazz at the Gardner. The Folk arts Quartet performs, while you and your friends swan around the museum, cocktails in hand. Without the concert, tickets are free for members or $12 for nonmembers; with the concert, $10-$23. Visit www.gardnermuseum.org/music/ for details.fri, Jun 18: Local jazz band Persian Blue is finishing its second album, Departure, and plans a CD release party at the Precinct, in Somerville’s Union Sq. Visit www.persianbluemusic.com for all the details.Sun, Jun 20: one of the three best movies in film history (according to Fenway News resident cinephile, Stephen Brophy) screens today at the MFa—in a brand-new 35mm print. 8 1/2 follows the story of a Felli-niesque director whose recent worldwide success has left him unsure of what to do next—a situation Fellini was very familiar with at the time. anyone who says movies can’t get inside the minds of their characters the way novels can hasn’t seen 8 1/2. 10:30
a.m in Remis auditorium. tickets: $8-$10tue, Jun 22: Singer-songwriter Keppie Coutts teaches at Berklee and has built a following for accoustic music that blends pop, soul, and jazz. John Mayer’s a fan (he recorded her song “Waiting for the avalanche”). Catch her in a noontime
concert at the Prudential Center in the South Garden. FREE.
Wed, Jun 23: Second installment of T Plays gets underway at the Factory Theatre. Each play, set on a different t line, is written dur-ing a roundtrip ride. at the end of the ride the playwright submits the script, and the play is produced three days later. More info at www.Mill6.org. at the Factory Theatre, 791 tremont Street (the Piano Factory). Wednesday previews are pay-what-you-can (minimum $5); all other days, $15. Call 1-800-838-3006 or visit www.brownpapertick-ets.com.thu, Jun 24: Sports columnist Will Leitch appears at the Barnes & Noble Kenmore Square to discuss his new book, Are We Winning? Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball. Leitch is founding editor of the blog Deadspin and writes for New York magazine. 660 Beacon St., 7 p.m. call 617-236-7448 for more details. FREESun, Jun 27: For our money, this may be the hottest pop-music billing of the summer—not to mention the most unexpected. For its 40th anniversary, Rounder Records hosts smart and soulful country/folk star Mary Chapin Carpenter and quirky jazz stylist Madeleine Peyroux in a concert at Berklee Performance Center. Both singers are tour-ing behind new records and will perform with their own bands. 8:00 p.m., tickets are $46.50-$56.50 from ticketmaster or the BPC box office. www.berklee.edu for details.
tue, Jun 1: The NEC youth Jazz orchestra “lights up Jordan Hall” under the direction of NEC faculty member Ken Schaphorst,
who founded the orchestra in 2008. 8 p.m. FREE
thu, Jun 3: operation P.E.a.C.E. hosts an art exhibit of works by students in its after School Program. inspired by Picasso’s saying that “every child is an artist,” the show includes works in many media and many different subjects. opening reception, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; exhibit continues through
Sep. 1. 617-267-1054 for more info. FREE
tue, Jun 8: Harvard’s Leo Damrosch dis-cusses his new book, Tocqueville’s Discovery of America at the Mass. Historical Society. The book retraces tocqueville’s nine-month journey in 1831-1832, illuminating how his enduring insights grew out of imaginative interchange with americans, and paint-ing a vivid picture of Jacksonian america. FREE, but reservations required. Visit www.
masshist.org/events to reserve. 6 p.m. (Refreshments at 5:30 p.m.)
tue, Jun 8: in War, Sebastian Junger delivers an on-the-ground account of a platoon’s 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous part of afghanistan’s Korengal Valley.
given the strictures of isabella stewart gardner’s will, not many living artists can say they’ve shown their work at the museum. But this month, students from the Fenway, roxbury, dorchester, and Jamaica Plain can make that claim as the museum showcases the work they created in conjunction with area artists. in the community Partnership Program, students from 7 to 18 years old visit the gardner regularly over the course of the school year. They explore the galleries, learning to look closely at art and develop their own opinions about it. near
the end of their year, they are encouraged to take inspiration from what they’ve seen and create their own works of art for an exhibition. when the this show closes, community organizations receive the art created by the young artists for permanent display. The cPP art will be on view from June 5 through 13, free with museum admission. The opening reception takes place Friday, June 4, from 5 to 8 p.m.
gos (2007); Jun 8: Capitalism: A Love Story (2009); Jun 15: Black Gold (2006); Jun 22: Soul Power (2008); Jun 29: Stravinsky: Fire Bird and Les Noces Ballets (2001)
WedneSdAYS• 9:30 a.m: yoga with Julie • 10 a.m.-noon: Blood pressure check with
Joyce.thurSdAYS10 a.m: Knitting with Nan
SpeciAl eventS
Jun 2: • taxi coupons today• 11 a.m. Short story discussion with
Stephen—anton Chekhov’s “Lady with a Dog”
Jun 7: 9:30 a.m. First Breakfast Club, with MattiJun 8: 10 a.m. Planning meetingJun 9: 11 a.m. Current events discussion• noon - Watercolor class with Bill and olgaJun 10: • 11 a.m. Ellen Budnick Gross, of Deaf, inc.• noon - Lunch, $3• 12:15 p.m. Haiku writing workshop, with
Jeannie MartinJun 11: Movie/documentary selection meeting for July; all welcomeJun 15: 10 a.m. Senior task Force meetsJun 16: 11 a.m. Short story discussion with Stephen—stories by Edith Wharton and Grace PaleyJun 17: noon. trip to MFa—free admission!June 24: 11:45 a.m. Lunch, $3• noon - NEW “What Do you Think?”
discussion group on variety of issues• 1 p.m. Stroke-prevention presentation
Junger discusses the book in the Rabb Lecture Hall at Boston Public Library in Copley Square at 6 p.m. FREE
thu, Jun 10: Film director and incomparable raconteur John Waters will regale an audience at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square with tales of people who have inspired him and discuss his new book, Role Models, in conversation with Scott Heim. Waters directed such outré movie classics as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Hairspray, and Pecker (which introduced the world to
the concept of “teabagging”). BPL Rabb Lecture Hall at 6 p.m. FREE
thu, Jun 10: Clara Sandler, mezzo-soprano and co-chair of the Preparatory School Voice Department, gives a recital with pia-nist James Busby. Works by Montsalvatge,
Poulenc, and Bolcom’s “Cabaret Songs.” at NEC’s Brown Hall, 8 p.m. FREE
SAt, Jun 12: opening reception, 7-9 p.m., for The Charles River: From Source to Sea, an exhibition of new watercolors inspired by our hometown river. The show runs through July 7. at Kaji aso Studio, 40 St. Stephen St.
Call 617-247-1719 or visit www.kajia-sostudio.com for more details. FREE
mon, Jun 14: as part of its Made in Massachusetts film series, the Boston Public Library screens Field of Dreams, a 1989 movie about the religion of baseball,
starring Kevin Costner. in the Rabb Lecture Hall at 6 p.m. FREE
