Around Town

Library Still Closed, But Offering Curbside Pickup, Online Activities

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Watertown Free Public Library

The Watertown Library provided the following announcement:

The Watertown Free Public Library will remain closed pending guidance from the State of Massachusetts regarding safe re-opening. The Library will update the community when more information is available. This announcement is part of Town Manager Michael Driscoll’s COVID-19 Update for Watertown, issued on Friday, May 15. View the update here: bit.ly/WatertownUpdateMay15 

Next week, WFPL will continue to offer curbside book pickup and virtual programs via Zoom. For more information, visit watertownlib.org. Want to stay in the loop? The Library’s eNewsletter is the best way to learn about everything that the Library has to offer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sign up at watertownlib.org/eNews

There are so many ways to access the Library from home. Here’s a list of virtual programs for the week of May 18:

FOR CHILDRENSpringo!May 1 – 30 | Can you get bingo on our spring-themed outdoor scavenger hunt?

Entertainment

Small Saves Overcomes His Fear of Doctors

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Cartoon by James Demarco

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.”

COVID-19

Sen. Brownsberger: After Re-opening, Efforts Must Continue to Stop the Spread of COVID-19

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

The following piece was written by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston. When we begin to reopen, whenever that occurs, we will all need to accept continued personal responsibility for controlling the spread of COVID-19. 

Governor Baker faces difficult judgment calls about the pacing of reopening.  Without expressing an opinion on the particulars of his judgment calls, he is taking fundamentally the right approach – namely, an incremental and data-driven approach.  

For all the reasons that we had to shut down, the potential consequences of re-opening too fast are unacceptable.  Given the risk of a catastrophic second surge, the only safe way to proceed is incrementally.  We will want to open in phases and evaluate the disease statistics daily for any early indication of an upswing. 

As we slowly reopen while the virus is still at large in the community, it will be more important than ever to do the basic things that all the public health professionals tell us will reduce the rate of transmission:  Wear masks, don’t touch our faces, wash our hands frequently and especially after making contact with high touch surfaces, stay home when we feel sick, work from home whenever we can, maintain physical distance from each other. 

Some businesses and employers will need to change their operations to support more distancing.  If the conclusion is that people have to come in, can they come in on some kind of shift system?  Does everyone need to come together at the same time? 

The Governor  bears primary responsibility for pacing the reopening, but it will be on all of us to take the personal precautions that will make the reopening work.  People managing the work of others will bear special responsibility for protecting their employees.  Customer-facing business managers will bear special responsibility for protecting their customers.

Around Town

This Week’s Hatch Happenings: Curtain Making, Case Binding and Q&A

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The staff at Hatch continues to provide opportunities to learn a new skill, despite the makerspace being closed due to the COVID-19 shutdown. This week, the classes include curtain making and book binding. See details in the announcements below:

Maker Questions with Liz & Yi Bin

Tuesday, May 12, 4-5pmJoin the Hatch Coordinator, Liz, and the Hatch Assistant, Yi Bin, to ask all your maker questions. They will field anything from fine art to finding tools. If they don’t know the answer, they know someone that does!

Around Town

UPDATED PHONE NUMBER: Watertown Library Starting Curbside Pickups This Week!

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Watertown Free Public Library

The Watertown Library building remains closed, but its collection will be open to be borrowed using curbside pickup beginning May 11th. The library sent out the following information:

The Watertown Free Public Library will offer curbside pickup of library items for Watertown residents while the library is closed, starting the week of May 11. 

“The library is a lot of things to a lot of people,” said Library Director Leone Cole, “we often talk about how the library is more than just books, but to some people, those books are a lifeline. We know people are struggling mentally and emotionally and we hope that doing this will offer respite and a little extra energy for everyone to stay committed to physical distancing until it is safe to live our lives more publicly again.” 

Curbside pickup will not be “library business as usual”–only items that are currently available in the library can be checked out, no holds can be placed for items at other libraries or items that are already checked out, there’s a limit of five items, and only Watertown residents are eligible for the service. “We’d love to be able to do more,” Cole said, “but it just isn’t possible at this time. We’re working with extremely limited staff and we want to be safe and cautious about how we do this.” 

Placing Orders: Starting Monday, May 11, Watertown residents can call the dedicated curbside pickup line at 857-228-8308 to place an order.

Entertainment

Home School Hockey for Small Saves

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Cartoon by James Demarco

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.”

Schools

Two Watertown Students Named Outstanding Seniors at Minuteman High School

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In this photo, taken in early March prior to the coronavirus-related school closure, Minuteman High School students who were selected as Outstanding Seniors for the Class of 2020 and honored with a luncheon are photographed with school administrators. Top row (left to right): James Riley of Lancaster, John O’Keefe of Stow, Liam DaSilva of Arlington, Ben Tangora of Concord, Roxanna Sanjar of Bolton, and Career Technical Education (CTE) Director Michelle Roche. Bottom row (left to right): Assistant CTE Director Katie Bouchard, Superintendent-Director Ed Bouquillon, Joshua Kerble of Arlington, Nicholas Moy of Concord, Sabrina Raposo of Watertown, Otto Eademacher of Arlington, Jason Kim of Belmont, Assistant Superintendent Amy Perreault, and Principal George Clement. (Missing from photo: Rouaa Alwaz of Watertown and Emily Hawkins of Lexington.)

Minuteman High School sent out the following announcement:

Twelve students from the Class of 2020 at Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School were recently recognized as “Outstanding Seniors” shortly before the coronavirus emergency closed schools in March. The 12 seniors were treated to a luncheon with Minuteman administrators in the school’s student-run restaurant, The District Café.

Around Town

Watertown Library Helping Citizens’ Document Their Responses to COVID-19

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The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Library:

Watertown residents have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in varied and inspirational ways. As we support each other and our community during this unprecedented time, the staff of the Watertown Free Public Library (WFPL) believe it is important to document the experience. Preserving local history is a core and vital function of libraries. WFPL is, therefore, establishing the COVID-19 Collective Memory Initiative (watertownlib.org/memory) to collect and save the experiences, thoughts, and writings of Watertown residents during this historic time. The goalof this initiative is to provide future generations with primary source materials to understand this moment in Watertown history, while strengthening our town’s solidarity in the present.