Around Town

Watertown High Grad Chosen to Conduct Research in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar

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Watertown’s Francesca Korte will use her knowledge of biology and Italian, learned while studying at Wellesley College, and her experience working in medical labs to do research during her Fulbright Scholar year in Palermo, Italy. 

The 2014 Watertown High School graduate was one more than 1,900 Americans selected to be a Fulbright Scholar in the 2018-19 academic year. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. In Sicily, Korte will work on a project to evaluate the bioethics of the practices used to autopsy and identify migrants who die while crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy. She will conduct her research at Università degli Studi di Palermo from October 2018 to July 2019. Her work will be supervised by Antonella Argo, MD, PhD. When Korte received word that her project had been chosen she had a mix of emotions.

Entertainment

Series Featuring Authors, Songwriters Returns to Mosesian Center for the Arts

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Mosesian Center for the Arts sent out the following information:

Writers reading, Songwriters singing, it’s the return of Earfull – Spring 2018 Edition at The Mosesian Center for the Arts! Join us for another amazing series of authors and musicians coming together for intimate performances on the Branch Line patio (321 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA.)

Doors at 6:30 p.m., Show at 7:00 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets please visit us at http://www.mosesianarts.org/index.php/shows/mosesian-live/earfull-spring-2018 

Earfull is made possible in part by Q Division, Brookline Booksmith, and Creamer Management

Spring 2018 Lineup:

May 22
Authors: Celeste Ng & Richard Russo
Musicians: Vapors of Morphine & Audrey Harrer

June 5
Authors: Tova Mirvis & Stephen McCauley
Musicians: Water and Sand (Kim Taylor and Todd Thibaud) & Ward Hayden (Girls Guns & Glory)

June 19
Authors: KL Pereira & Lydia Millet
Musicians: Duke Levine & Sarah Borges

Real Estate

Two Dozen Open Houses in Watertown This Weekend

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Check out all the open houses to visit in Watertown. $499,000 – 381 School St. Unit 1, 5 room, 2 bed, 1 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 1:30-3 Sunday 11:30-1

$799,000 – 2 No. Park St. Unit 1, 7 room, 4 bed, 2.5 bath townhouse, Open Houses: Saturday 12-1:30 Sunday 12-2

$734,500 – 12 Russell Ave., 2 unit, 11 total room, 5 total bedroom 2 family, Open Houses: Saturday 12-1:30 Sunday 12-1:30

$649,000 – 1030 Belmont St., 7 room, 3 bed, 1.5 bath colonial, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$689,000 – 47 Puritan Road, 7 room, 4 bed, 2 bath cape, Open House: Sunday 12-2

$739,000 – 78 Putnam Unit 78, 7 room, 3 bed, 2 bath 2/3 family, Open House: Sunday 2-4

$565,000 – 16 School Lane Unit 1, 6 room, 4 bed, 2 bath townhouse, Open Houses: Saturday 11:30-1 Sunday 12-3

$780,000 – 14-16 Irma Ave., 2 unit, 12 total room, 6 total bedroom 2 family, Open Houses: Friday 1-2:30 Saturday 11:30-1 Sunday 11:30-1

$449,000 – 41R Prospect St., 5 room, 1 bed, 1 bath contemporary, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$849,000 – 33-35 Prentiss St., 2 unit, 11 total room, 5 total bedroom, Open Houses Saturday 12-2 Sunday 5:30-6:30

Sponsored by:

$1,100,000 – 90 Marion Road, 9 room, 4 bed, 3 full 2 half bath gambrel/dutch, Open Houses: Saturday 1:30-3 Sunday 11:30-1

$969,900 – 387 School St.

Schools

Watertown Resident Elected President of Massachusetts Teachers Association

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Watertown’s Merrie Najimy will be taking a leave of absence from teaching kindergarten in Concord for two years so that she can serve as president of the largest teachers union in the state. On May 5, Najimy was elected president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association with her running made, vice president Max Page, a professor of architecture at UMass Amherst. Before being elected, Najimy served on the board of directors of the MTA for six years and was president of the Concord Teachers Association for 11 years. In the classroom, Najimy has taught grades kindergarten to third grade for 28 years, the last 23 in Concord. Both teaching and unionism run in her family, said Najimy, who has lived in Watertown for 25 years, but who grew up in Pittsfield. “When I was a child my Dad was on the board of directors of the MTA,” Najimy said.

Police/Fire

Watertown Police Practice Real-Life Situations in Life-Sized Simulator

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A man with a knife has cornered three students in the school library and is threatening to stab them. A husband barges into his wife’s workplace and has a man by the collar and is screaming at him. These are just two such situations police officers may encounter, and they only have seconds to decide how to respond. 
Members of the Watertown Police Department recently got a chance to practice  how to handle these scenarios using high tech equipment that turns the department’s shooting range into a realistic, life-sized, interactive simulation. Every officer must go through the training, which uses the Fire Arms Training Simulator made by Meggitt Training. The equipment, which costs many tens-0f-thousands of dollars, was donated to the WPD by Wyc Grousbeck, an entrepreneur and co-owner and CEO of the Boston Celtics.

Around Town

Latest Plans for Mt. Auburn St. Show One Travel Lane Most of the Length

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Town officials laid out the latest plans for the renovation of Mt. Auburn Street Monday evening, which include one travel lanes for motor vehicles and separate bike lanes for most of the length of the town’s major artery. 

Discussions of reducing the number of lanes on Mt. Auburn Street from two to one has been controversial since it was first discussed several years ago. The plans shown to the public at the Hosmer School Cafeteria had single lanes with turning lanes most of the way from Common Street east to the Cambridge line. Town officials said, however, that where it counts there are two lanes.

Food

Watertown’s Sandwich Shop Turned Destination Dining Spot is Closing

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One of Watertown’s most well known culinary spot, which has has has also been a neighborhood sandwich shop since the ’80s, will be closing it doors. 

Paul Maslow started Strip T’s, on School Street, in 1986 and specialized in soups, sandwiches and other comfort foods. Then in 2011, his son Tim brought high-end cooking techniques learned in New York to the restaurant and began a dinner service that attracts people from around the Boston area. On Monday, the Boston Globe reported that Strip T’s will be closing. Paul said that after being a hot dining spot for a few years, business has been inconsistent more recently. To read more about Strip T’s history, the Maslows, the staff, and all the connections to other restaurants in Massachusetts in the Globe’s story — click here.

Around Town

Watertown Schools Showing Film on Dangers of “Partying Culture”

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The public is invited to a free showing of a film about the dangers of drinking and other substances. 

The Watertown Public Schools in collaboration with the Clay Soper Memorial Fund is hosting a screening of the 30 minute documentary If They Had Known. School Committee member Amy Donohue organized the screening of the film. “I have wanted to bring this to Watertown for some time,” Donohue said. “It is a powerful documentary about the challenges of the current party culture our students face — mixing alcohol with prescription medication.” The documentary tells the story of the untimely death of Clay Soper, a promising young college student, who was a tragic victim of college party culture.