Around Town

Senior Events: Zoom With Sen. Brownsberger, A “Trip to Ireland” & COVID Info

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Watertown Senior Center

Programs for Week of March 15, 2021

Join us via Zoom for the following programs. Call for access info: (617) 972-6490.New participants always welcome in every program! We hope you’ll join us! Monday:   10:00 AM, Art Class with Dawn Scaltreto12:30 PM, Chair Yoga with Diane2:00 PM, Zoom with Senator BrownsbergerTuesday:     10:00 AM, Zoom Trip to Ireland11:30 AM, Grab-n-Go pick-up begins for those who registered12:30 PM, Tai Chi & Meditation with Marie2:00 PM, Line Dancing with Bradley                                     Wednesday: HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’s DAY!9:00 AM, Coffee with the Director10:00 AM, New Time & Instructor! Exercise with Shannon Lee JonesThursday:        9:00 AM, Pilates with Marina Z.10:30 AM, Talk with Tom: Coffee & Casual Conversation2:00 PM, Irish Music with Police Chief Michael LawnFriday:            10:00 AM, Exercise with Shannon Lee Jones     12:00 PM, Seated Strength & Balance with Pearl2:45 PM, Mellowtones Chorus with Anne Silverman

Looking Ahead

Wednesday, March 24 at 9:00 AM: Pet Lovers Group will host Dr. Dawn Binder, Owner of Cushing Square Veterinary Clinic in Belmont, who will talk about adopting senior pets, how to take care of senior pets, bringing new pets into the home, and answer your questions as part of “Ask a Vet”.  Please join us and don’t forget to include your pets.

Entertainment

See Small Saves All Grown Up in This Week’s Cartoon

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James DeMarco grew up in Watertown and became a goaltender at age 5. It’s his life’s passion to stand between the pipes and keep the puck out of the net. Combining this with the love of cartooning Small Saves emerged in 1991 and took on a life of his own. “To play goal–then come home and draw Small Saves — is my ideal definition of a good day.”

Government

Watertown Group to Present Police Reform Initiatives to Public Safety Committee Friday

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Watertown’s Town Hall. The following announcement was provided by Watertown Joint Police Reform Group:

The Joint Police Reform Group encourages community members to attend the upcoming meeting of the Town Council Public Safety Committee this Friday, March 12, from 4-6 pm. The official notice and Zoom link for the meeting are here. The Zoom link is https://watertown-ma.zoom.us/j/96451613926. Please join the meeting to learn about our 10 proposed initiatives and share their own concerns about Public Safety. 

Around Town

LETTER: Resident Supports Teacher, Cites Work Spreading MLK’s Nonviolence Principles

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To the Editor:

I am deeply distressed to see that the anti-racist work of Ruth Henry, Watertown Middle School teacher, has become the object of so much criticism, misinterpretation, and misunderstanding. For so many of us, Ruth has been a community icon and mentor, representing the highest standards of respect, clarity, and courage in her teachings and activist practices. Ruth’s commitment to anti-racist, anti-oppression work goes back many years. I became better acquainted with her passion for social justice when we worked together on the World in Watertown committee that planned and facilitated Dr. Bernard Lafayette’s visit to Watertown in 2016. Dr. Lafayette, one of our country’s foremost civil rights leaders, came to our community because of his close relationship with Ruth.

Environment

Watertown Groups Hosting Online Event on How Trees Can Help Manage Climate Change

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Find out about how urban trees can help manage climate change in Watertown at an event hosted by the Watertown Environment and Energy Efficiency Committee and Trees for Watertown. Organizers sent out the following announcement:

March 20 Symposium:  Trees & Climate Change in Watertown

The trees in our neighborhoods are vitally important players in protecting us from increasing urban impacts of climate change.  Join your Watertown neighbors on Saturday, March 20, 10am to noon, to learn how our city trees protect us and how we can help them do that important job.  

Register for the free symposium at this link:  http://bit.ly/WatertownTrees2021 — or search YouTube for “T&CCWatertown” to watch the livestream on YouTube.

Anti-Bias Coalition

Upcoming One-Man Performance Part of Watertown Youth Coalition’s Diversity & Equity Series

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The Watertown Anti-Bias Coalition will host An Evening With Mykee Fowlin on Monday, March 15 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The performance is called “You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me,” and will be held remotely over Zoom. It is part of a series of the Watertown Anti-Bias Coalition’s series addressing diversity and equity in the Watertown Schools. Fowlin describes it as:

“To varying degrees, we all wear masks. We are conditioned to hide our true selves, out of fear of being rejected and/or judged. We are taught to devalue or ignore our pain as if its utility is better served hidden than exposed.

Around Town

Watertown Scouts Collecting Items for Watertown Food Pantry

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Watertown Scouts collected 2.5 tons of food in the fall, and will be having another food drive in March. Watertown Scout Troop 30 provided the following announcement:

The 2.5 tons of food collected by scouts in November has gone to meet an unprecedented need in our community, so scouts are asking you again to help. March 20, 12:30-3 p.m., scouts are collecting shelf-stable food items for the Watertown Food Pantry at 80 Mt. Auburn St. 

Scouting for Food has become a tradition for Scouts in Watertown. Both Troop 30 (age 10-17) and Pack 30 (age 5-10) scouts have made the food drive part of their Thanksgiving tradition, collecting enough food that it’s measured in tons.

Letters

LETTER: Resident Calls for Stronger Response to Showing of Anti-Police Video at Middle School

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Dear Dr. Galdston,

Let me preface my comments by expressing my admiration for the vast majority of wonderful teachers that have answered a “calling” to educate children, especially those in the Watertown Public Schools. As I noted, being a teacher is far more than a job, it’s a vocation and calling. My older sister was foreign language teacher and reading specialist, before she retired. I personally saw all the hours she put into the lesson planning and correcting papers. People don’t see all the work teachers do. Nor do they see that they often buy supplies with their own money. But the most important thing many folks don’t see or understand is the emotional commitment teachers make to their students. Having said that; I must express my dismay at your weak response to the situation at the Middle School. In your statement you rightly noted that the video shown to the students was Anti-Law Enforcement.