You're invited to

Haiti: What Now?

a sprout spaghetti dinner

sprout spaghetti dinners is a dinner theater series seeking to bring people from the Somerville and Cambridge communities together around good food, good music, and good performance. Each month, we'll find an eclectic group of performers to explore the month's theme through different lenses. In the tradition of dinners hosted by NYC-based theater company Great Small Works, we want to cast new light on common ideas from artistic, musical, and scientific perspectives. You can find information about past dinners at our blog.

The theme for this month's dinner is Haiti: What Now? We want to ask: what should happen next in the rebuilding of Haiti, and how can we best support the reconstruction? It will happen just outside of Davis Square at sprout (339R Summer St.) on Wednesday March 17 with dinner at 7:30pm and performances beginning at 8. A $10 suggested donation will be donated to the Matenwa Community School on La Gonave.

Our performers will include ::

- Michel DeGraff is a linguist focusing on Creole and an Associate Professor at MIT. He will talking about political interests vying for influence in the reconstruction of Haiti; and present images from his recent trip there.

- The History of the Haitian Revolution is a toy theater performance written and directed by John Bell and performed by Trudi Cohen, Shaunalynn Duffy, Brooke Jarrett, Adam Schutzman, and Michael Romanyshyn. Originally performed as a part of Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti, this toy theater spectacle chronicles the history of the Haitian Revolution in miniature (battles, politics, and all), as a conflict of Enlightenment principles and 19th-century globalization.

- Cherie Miot Abbanat is a lecturer in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She will be talking about reconstruction efforts through the lens of an urban planner, exploring the politics of construction and rebuilding processes.

Please send any questions to spaghetti@thesprouts.org or call 617.575.9219.

hope to see you on the 17th!
-shaunalynn duffy and john bell

Winter Hill Reborn started this and then Wicked Local Somerville picked it up, so let's bring it here, too.

What songs do you know that mention Somerville or any particular places in Somerville? Here are three we've found so far:

Somerville, by David Misch, 1973 (lyrics)

Wintertime in Somerville, by Local Radio

( Somerville, by the Pernice Brothers )

(the last time we had this discussion, over three years ago)

Does anyone know of local ergonomics consultants, or something similar? I'm seeking advice on how to configure my workspace to better ward off RSI, etc.

An e-mail (and robo-call) I got from the city today:

Hello, this is Jackie Rossetti from the City of Somerville with information about street closures this weekend. On Sunday, March 14th beginning at 9am, Police and Traffic and Parking personnel will be detouring vehicles in and around the Davis and Teele Square areas to accommodate the running of the annual Race of Ireland road race. Secondary roads in the Davis Square area may also be closed to through traffic at that time. Major roadways including Holland Street to Alewife Brook Parkway, Powerhouse Boulevard, Broadway (in the Ball Square corridor) and Cedar Street and the Community Path will be closed from 11am to approximately 1pm. The Davis Square area will be closed to all traffic until approximately 1 p.m.

Buses to and from the Davis Square area will be rerouted down Elm Street, and during the race, buses along the race route may be delayed for a short period of time.

Police and MBTA Officials will be stationed throughout these areas to direct traffic and provide detour information.

For additional information, please call 311.

This is exciting news:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2010/03/construction_at_maxpak_could_b.html

I was glad to see the site demolished, but can't believe how much noise the trains generate without the buildings absorbing the sound. Does anyone know where I can check out the plans? How are the developers going to deal with the load trains? Thx.

We're finishing up a few odds and ends before our next major release. Our mighty Ops guys continue to slay spambots and balance load times on a highwire without a safety net (which is kind of tough dressed in full ninja gear). Down on solid ground, we're celebrating this week's virtual birthday party with a warm toast to pants. If you can rearrange the letters of your favorite city, state, and/or country (feel free to combine these elements) to spell one of Frank's favorite treats (e.g., pants, wire, paper, etc.), he'll send you over a can of whipped cream to top it all off (provided you return the empty can for his midnight snack)! And, with that, let the word scrambling commence!

Stuff you should know:

We're still working on the delayed/missing notifications issue. Sorry, we're frustrated too. We'll keep you posted. Last week, we became aware that a recently-implemented script was overwriting affiliate referral fees for some of our users. Once we confirmed this, our Ops team quickly removed the script. Please be aware that, while we may beta-test other affiliate scripts down the line, we will take greater measures to ensure that no existing user-referral arrangements are impacted in any way. While we plan to stick to a weekly news schedule, if we have a release in between regular newsletters, we'll post here to keep you informed. You can also check lj_releases for current release information.

To our paid users, we send squirrels in love!

If you have a paid or permanent account, you can send five free Squirrels in love vgifts through Monday, March 15th at 4pm, PST! You'll see both the free and the $0.99 squirrels displayed until they've scurried off to their new homes. Please send only one vgift at a time. In other words, you'll need to complete check-out and start a new order for each vgift you send. If you're not receiving vgifts (from friends and/or Frank), you may have disabled them. To enable vgifts, visit Edit profile (under Profile), scroll down to the bottom of the page, and select 'Do not disable' from the drop-down menu. Have fun!

Help is on the way!

We're pleased to announce the winner of our first charitable vgift poll, Doctors without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières, which provides critical medical care to under-served populations around the world. Priced at $2.99, we'll donate 100 percent of the proceeds we raise from the sale of this vgift (we'll cover credit card fees). We invite you to start recommending nonprofits for our next fundraising drive at ljnewscontests. We'll take suggestions through the month and post a poll in the news during the first week of April to let you choose the recipient. We thank you, again, for your passion and generosity.

We've crowned a header

Congratulations to ohterlus for submitting the winning header, which will go live next week and keep us leafy through mid-April! You can submit designs for our next header contest at ljnewscontests now until March 31st. We'll post a poll in the news to let you decide which header will sit at the top of LiveJournal from mid-April to mid-May. All artistic interpretations are welcome. The winner will get a $25 LiveJournal gift certificate. All other contributors will receive $5 gift certificates. Our heartfelt appreciation for sharing your talent and creativity!

For this week's winning photo and more adventures with Frank & Meme, we'll catch you under the cut!

( Read more... )

I work at BU (and live near Davis), and am about to take 16 CRT monitors -- you know, the huge heavy ones that look like TV sets -- out of commission. They're clunky, probably about 15" large, and use a ton of energy comparatively speaking. Still, I'd feel remiss if I didn't ask: does anyone know of a venue that could use them?

Please, specific venues only. If I can't find specific people who could use them, I'll have them recycled/trashed. It'd be optimal if people could come to BU and get them, but I can also transport some in my car for a good cause.

I'd like to hear from people who've had to apply for MassHealth for nursing-home services for elderly relatives -- especially if your relative was coming to MA from out-of-state. What was your experience like? How much did you end up paying out-of-pocket? What organizations did you contact (and how helpful were they)?

Bike lovers, check this out! No idea how complete this is, but it's potentially a good idea...

"Considering a bike ride in the Boston area? Google Maps can help you pick a route.

Google unveiled the bicycling layer to its Google Maps feature at the National Bike Summit in Washington today, the company said in a news release."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/03/google_offers_d.html

Saturday, March 12
Unity Church, 6 William Street
Doors 7:30, Concert 8:00
http://www.redhotblacktop.com


Red Hot Black Top delivers high octane acoustic entertainment. Fusing bluegrass, old-time folk and blues with a distinctive rock and roll attitude, Red Hot Black Top mixes modern with tradition. With an extensive lineup of young talent, inventive arrangements and old fashion hot licks, Red Hot Black Top delivers a show that is as exciting as it is intriguing.

$12 at the door; $10 if reservation is made at least 24 hours in advance and to UCG members; $5-10 student (with ID) rush / children under13.

Reservations to notlobreservations @ gmail.com

notloB Folk Concerts are volunteer run and not for profit.
Website ~http://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/
Mailing list ~ http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic
Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38565709718&ref=ts

Have gas rates gone up?

I normally pay around 100 dollars for a month of natural gas in the winter and my March bill is 195.80. While March sometimes goes up slightly, in the years I have lived in this apartment it has not been over 150 (and that was that year that Natural Gas was really expensive)

My landlord told me that the gas company had been over to fix something on Monday morning so perhaps it had been leaking or the meter had been broken...

Is there any recourse for not having to pay a natural gas bill that is twice the amount you normally have to pay?
(I did check and I did pay the Feburary bill)

Therms Feb - 60 - estimated
Therms March - 139 - actual

Therms from 2008 (I don't have 2009) is 72 and 78 for Feb and March

So what happened is that the meter was wrong before and they took what they haven't been getting and added it into this month's bill.

Is this legal?

( 2007-2010 gas bills )

If you have cans of food that you aren't going to use or too much of a good thing from a winter farm share, consider donating to the food pantry at St. James Church 1991 Mass Ave. (on the corner of Mass Ave and Beech St. in Cambridge.) For the very good reason that many usual donors are diverting their donations to Haiti, this local food distribution point is critically low.

Of course we WANT donations to go to Haiti! But if you aren't going to mail off that one can of beans you didn't use when your brother was in town--why not drop it off for those in our neighborhood in need.

I was wondering if anyone knew the copyright status of Mister Davis, the DARBI logo. The reason I ask was I was thinking about making a few Somerville-themed t-shirts as the weather heats up and it would be a good design element. Alternatively I'd love to hear about any other somerville merch that might be kicking around online.

Anyone know where I can get the bottom of a bottle cut off?

Anyone got the scoop on what's going on there? 

A day off turned into a vacation, turned into closing and papered over windows. Signs state that it will be opening under new management. I would love it if Rossini came back. The pizza went down the tubes when Lola took over. 

Do to some extreme health issues (like extreme sports, not nearly as much fun), the community kitchen meeting tonight has been rescheduled to Thursday at 6pm, at Blue Shirt Cafe.

This is a start up/meet and greet type of meeting, aimed at finding out what skills can be brought to the project, so if you can't attend, please feel free to send email to kitchen at sleepingcat.com and I'll keep you informed of future meetings.

Original post: http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/2118948.html

Good afternoon DS_LJ folks, just a reminder that I, like many people around here, am doing fund-raising, for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through their Team in Training Program. I'll be running a half marathon in Seattle June 26 in memory of my mother.

I saw the bake sale auction someone did a few months ago, and thought that was great. In a similar vein, I will be selling loaves of Irish Soda Bread to raise money. Not an auction. Anyone who wants to buy a loaf, or more than one, can. I just need to know by March 9th, so I can do the cooking later that week, and plan to be available to hand out loaves over the weekend of March 13/14 in the DS area. 1 loaf for $8, 2 for $15.

If anyone is interested, they can post here or PM me and we can arrange further.

To visit my fund-raising site, go to:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/rnrseatl10/eholman

Thanks for your consideration

Friday March 12, 2010

6:30 p.m.

After services, a havurah member will be hosting a potluck, vegetarian Shabbat dinner in their home. Directions to the home will be given at the end of services. Please note, there is a cat and one flight of stairs. RSVP by March 10th to registrar@thehav.org or 617-623-3376.

Havurat Shalom
113 College Ave
Somerville MA 02144

for more info
call: 617-623-3376 (voice)
go to: http://www.thehav.org/
or email: info@thehav.org

The 1st floor of Havurat Shalom is wheelchair accessible, including the prayer room, dining room, living room, and bathroom. For the health of those with allergies and chemical sensitivities, we request that you not wear perfume, aftershave, or cologne to Havurat Shalom.

This is just a reminder that tomorrow night is our next DS meetup. Its been a while since we had them at the Burren and I'm looking forward to seeing people. We meet in the back room starting at 7pm. We will be at the tables at the far end of the bar.

My boyfriend and I are looking for our first place together!

We're looking for a 1- to 2-bed (I'd kind of like a 1.5-bed) with an eat-in kitchen, preferably in Cambridge or Somerville, starting 5/15 or 5/1. One off-street parking space would be wonderful, though it's not a requirement. Within a mile walk of the T or bus is a requirement, though, since only one of us has a car. My boyfriend would adore some kind of outdoor access, like a yard or a deck. I would adore not living in a basement apartment.

We're pretty limited financially, so I'm hoping to avoid using a realtor. I've been checking Craigslist, but so far, everything is available now or available 9/1. No doubt more things will become available, but I'm a planner, and--honestly--I'm ridiculously excited to be sharing a home with my boyfriend, so I really want to get the ball rolling.

We're also considering Medford on the Somerville side of the Mystic River and Lower Allston because we're kinda strapped for cash. And we're not limiting our search to the West and North areas of Cambridge, nor West Somerville. How easy is the commute to downtown from Arlington? What about from Watertown? Do any of you have any suggestions or know of any places?