Volume 26, Number 1 The Homebound Together Issue, July

TheNeighborhoodNewsletter.org Volume 26, Number 1

Volume 26, Number 1 The Homebound Together Issue, July 2020

A Note About The Neighborhood Newsletter

Due to the Corona virus, this issue was only published online in July. Realizing that we can deliver it safely now, we have published a paper edition and we hope you enjoy it. If you would like to receive The Neighborhood Newsletter or other neighborhood updates electronically, please go to our website at http://theneighborhoodnewsletter.org/ and select the “contact us” button on the menu to give us your email address.

We are already working on articles for the January issue and would love to have any articles, topic suggestions, new neighbors to welcome, letters or pictures, etc. Send them to [email protected].

We need volunteer distributors for three routes: Parktop Route with 38 houses, Arlmonth Route with 53 houses, and Lockland Route with 40 houses. If you can deliver the newsletter for one of these routes, contact Chenoweth Moffatt at [email protected] .

Cozy From A DistanceBy Mary Cummings (Jason Street)A survey of neighbors during the time of Covid 19 was sent out to about 40 neighbors. 31 replied to the four open ended questions giving us some idea of how we are faring during this ordeal.

1. How would you describe the Covid 19 pandemic experience in the neighborhood?One interesting response was “Challenging and increas-ingly scary in light of both health and economic impli-cations. It seems like everyone has a different feeling

about the social distancing. Mostly, people are waving from across the street or while walking their dogs. Kids are out with their parents but staying in their own yards. Yet some people seem unconcerned and are going shopping as usual.” Other thoughtful responses included “surreal,” another described the experience as “scary,” and a similar response was, “Eerie. People are out and about on nice days but one can feel the concern and the need to keep a distance from each other.” Two more detailed responses: “People are concerned. Mostly we are okay and are appreciating what we have – homes to shelter in, good neighbors, parks and yards to get outside – and thinking about how to help those who are not so lucky. Having access to these things is helping with anxiety. I have never talked to so many neighbors in a one-week period before. I have lived here 13 years. A ‘short walk’ around my block used to take five minutes, now it takes 20 because I am catching up (from a 6-foot distance) with so many neighbors. It’s fantastic.” and “I think most people are responding well enough and following health directives. There is clearly a lot of anxiety, confusion and reluctance to depart from customary ways of life. But this is all very understandable! Clearly, learning and following the advice of health officials and helping each other out is paramount.”But most people described the neighborhood as being quiet with lots of people but few vehicles outside. Several re-sponders agreed with one who declared “so far everyone in the neighborhood has seemed to be very friendly.”

2. How have you and your family been passing the time?“Working remotely, walking, gardening, cooking, reading and cleaning or organizing were among the most common uses of our extended time at home in the neighborhood. Singing with neighbors seems to be a new communal activ-ity.”“Wasting it, primarily. I depend on browsing the shelves at the library for finding books to read and I can’t even do that.” “Creating a raised vegetable garden bed, doing our largest jigsaw puzzle (1500 pieces!), walking around our wonderful hilly neighborhood, baking and cooking.” “Taking walks, rides in the car, watching movies, playing basketball, each of us using our electronic devices, reading, cleaning, being in the house A LOT. We watch and read updates on the pandemic to stay current with developments

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in what is being asked of the public. To balance the news we take a walk every day for exercise and to see neighbors who are also out and we chat at a social distance. We stay in touch with friends.”“Trying to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures that we have taken for granted such as having more meals together and playing board games. Doing stuff that we had stopped doing because we became so preoccupied with our personal tech-nology. Also doing home update and repair projects.”“We are getting bored. We decided to limit TV time – it was getting out of hand! Having music on most of the day keeps things cheerful as opposed to the news.”“We’ve been introducing our teenager to the Hitchcock movies. Of course they’re as fantastic as always – but this time we see the appalling sexism too.”“On St. Patrick’s Day, neighbors on Lincoln Street gathered with social distance, raised a glass and sang some Irish songs to celebrate the day. ”

3. Did you have any positive experiences or did you see a positive outcome from the crisis?“No.”“Family togetherness. Creativity to make good things hap-pen. Checking in by phone with friends to stay connected.”“A positive outcome would be if it helps elect anyone but Trump. Another positive outcome would be for the country to be better prepared in the future.”“A positive outcome is that people are getting pretty creative about how to spend time together while socially distant. The Boston Globe had an article (and a terrific video online) about people in Italy and in Boston doing window-to-win-dow singing!”“Three meals a day with my children. I love it.”“A wonderful woman in our neighborhood had Friday eve-ning sing-alongs! We stay in our front yards and sing songs together. Some of us brought out a glass of wine and we all got to say hi to each other.”“Our kids are playing together a lot and having fun doing so.”“I HOPE this will serve to educate us that we all breathe the same air, that partisan bickering is counterproductive, if not downright lethal. This is a big lesson in being part of the human family.”

4. What does our neighborhood have that made the experience a little easier?“Thank heaven for Menotomy Rocks Park. The smiles and waves, from strangers or friends, make us all feel like neigh-bors.”“Living close to Menotomy and great parks that we can walk through has been good.” “I find the Town notification system invaluable. Every day at 5 pm is an informative and up-to-date email from our Town Manager, and it helps me feel connected to our whole community.”“High walkability and houses close enough together that we do see people on the streets and in their gardens.”“Amazing, helpful neighbors, and Menotomy Rocks Park! What a godsend the park is. People are tending to respect physical distancing more and more.”“Menotomy Rocks park and lots of nice sidewalks!”“Our neighborhood is kind, thoughtful and caring. If some-one knows a neighbor that is elderly and needs help, there are a lot of people that would jump in and offer assistance.”“The Park is a life saver.”

A Diplomat in the NeighborhoodBy Dorothy Stephenson Nash-Web (Bartlett Avenue)After graduating from law school in the late 1980s, Kristen Bauer and Tung Huynh started their married life togeth-er in Somerville but soon bought (with Kristen’s parents) a two-family house on upper Bartlett Ave. They were only here for two years before Kristen joined the U.S. Foreign Service and they headed out to their first posting in Bang-kok, Thailand. Living in eight different countries in Asia, Africa and Eu-rope and spending 27 years with the Foreign Service was quite an adventure. Tung practiced law related to Southeast Asian investments and Kristen served initially as an eco-nomic officer and then later as a Consul General, Deputy Chief of Mission, and as Charge d’Affaires at the embas-sies in Indonesia and Myanmar. But after the 2016 elec-tions, Kristen decided to leave the Foreign Service and the couple returned to Arlington where they were very grateful to have a house waiting for them! Since returning, Kristen and Tung have been engaged in advocacy and election work. In particular, they are engaged

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Neighborhood TGIF TraditionBy Dottie Nash-Webber (Bartlett Ave)It began on a Friday in March when the Town Manager robocalled everyone suggesting “6 at 6.” Go outside at 6pm, connect with neighbors but stay 6’ apart. We did and have been repeating TGIF (Thank Goodness It is Friday) ever since except, of course, when it is raining. The time is 5pm-7pm. We thought folks would come and go like with an Open House. But actually, most people stay until 7pm or later. Might be because the conversations are varied and interesting, sometimes one conversation but more often multiple smaller groups. The smallest turn-out was 6 neighbors and the largest was 21, each time with a few new folks.Yes, there is usually a Covid-19 conversation about latest developments. Arlington topics are popular like the town’s working with the owners of the property on Mass. Ave. with red Xs on 43 trees that they plan to cut down. Or, the idea that there are two locations that would be perfect for the buildout of a Bio-tech park for early stage companies to help with the needed commercial base. With his wife’s encouragement, a neighbor confessed to playing the Shawm and that led to an animated discussion about the Boston Early Music scene. The friend of a neigh-bor and Pulitzer Prize Winner shared not-so-well know facts about bald eagles, their environmental history, etc. again with others sharing their knowledge and experiences. China’s Belt Road Initiative, the recent successes of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, missed oppor-tunities in relations with Iran and Mexico, options for safer school openings, creative ways to enjoy Zoom, have also been engaging topics. Each week is different because the

with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an organization that advocates for commonsense gun legis-lation and to elect Gun Sense Candidates. Kristen is also the co-chair of the Arlington Human Rights Commission and both are active in the work of St Agnes parish. Coming back to the States, and to a changed Arlington, was an adjustment. As Kristen put it, “I spent my career trying to evaluate how a country was evolving and predicting the political outcomes those changes would produce. Now in the United States, I am trying to do the same here and hopefully in a small way help nudge our politics in a posi-tive direction.”

Love Letter to Menotomy Rocks ParkBy Amy Lees (Jason Street)Dear Menotomy,It is quiet on the streets leading to your entrance. But once inside, there is a warm embrace of familiarity and grace. Thank you for reminding us of all the positives in the world—the bird song, the crunchy leaves, even the mud, all the delicious sticks for our dogs to chase. Thank you for being so inviting, every day, any hour, to all people and creatures. Your touch means the world to us at this time of social distancing. You draw us near, wrap your arms around us and reassure us with your beautiful landscape and peace-ful disposition. Thank you for letting us take full advantage of you, for not putting limits on us, as other places in our lives have done. You seem to know you are in some way all we’ve got! Sure, we have our sidewalks, and our yards, but you offer us your hills, pond, woods. You give us a green light to come in, socialize, breathe. Once inside your gate, we happily greet and engage each other as we stroll your paths. We walk, run, fish, sit. You let us be together, albeit six feet apart. In this time of uncertainty, we have YOU, our oasis, our respite. Thank you for your caring presence and your unwavering inspiration. Love, Your Neighbors

mix of people who come changes. Neighborhood is broadly defined like maybe Precinct 8 and 10. All are welcome. BYOM (mask) and D (drink). Two lawns, sidewalk and street at 60 Bartlett Ave., Fridays 5pm-7pm, weather permitting. To be enjoyed by all!!

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Arlington Helps Mutual Aid Network By Charlotte Pierce (Brantwood Road) As we pick our way through the new reality brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, you may have noticed a positive trend: more people helping and caring about each other in new ways and especially reaching out to those with fewer resources or physical abilities. One example of this new outreach is the mutual-aid hyper-local “pods” network taking root in our very own town: Arlington Helps. Similar networks have sprung up in Somerville/Medford (MAMAS), Cambridge (CMA), Boston, and other communities. Arlington Helps coordinators hope that this network will be one of the elements that helps the town emerge from the current crisis with a stronger, more resilient, more caring community, region, and society. Across Arlington, pod members have been rediscovering community: from sharing yard tools, to trading garden plants, poems, and recipes, to helping at-risk members with shopping, to sharing resources with other regional groups. Some have connected to advocate for food security, environmental causes, and affordable housing. Pod coordinators would be welcome for the areas of Ar-lington that don’t have one of these pods set up yet. A map of pods set up so far is on the website at ArlingtonHelps.org. One pod we know of in the Newsletter area goes from Brantwood to Norfolk & Jason to Pleasant; the acting coor-dinator is Newsletter reporter Charlotte Pierce. Two others nearby are in the High Haith area and along Mt. Vernon Street. A pod can be an apartment building; a block or group of blocks, a street, or other geographical entity.Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Arlington Helps at ArlingtonHelps.org; [email protected]; 339-707-0547 with any questions you may have, and stay safe & well!How can we support each other now & create a more resilient, connected neighborhood & community for the future? Here’s what other Arlington Helps neighborhood pods are doing:

• Assisting neighbors in need with shopping, emergency funds, chores• Sharing their best quarantine recipes!• Distributing reliable information about health & safety• Purchasing food & supplies in bulk for the pod• Lending & borrowing tools, equipment, gadgets to reduce consumption• Sharing professional & MacGyver expertise• Organizing park & neighborhood cleanups• Improving wildlife habitats, collaborating to plant street trees & vegetable gardens, exchanging plants• Assisting in nearby under-served communities• Working to increase voting & civic participation Your ideas would be welcome!

How Poems are MadeBy Andrew D. Hodgdon

On a red autumn dayBy a tree lined streetAn in-love coupleIn a top down carSaw a soccer playing childRunning not sure whereNear a dog walking manWith a pen in his hand.

Can you identify the bird in the hole?

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Traveling in the NeighborhoodBy Bill Berkowitz (Pelham Terrace)Summer is here, and for many of us that’s meant traveling -- on a faraway trip, or someplace out of state, or even a week on the Cape. The coronavirus has of course pushed all this to the side. May everyone stay safe and healthy, and may normalcy return as soon a possible.There are alternatives to conventional travel. One of them, as safety may permit, is available free of charge to everyone, and that is to open your door and walk down the street. Just being outside and opening yourself to what’s around you can be a balm for the spirit and a banquet for the senses, allowing you to experience things you’ve never noticed before. A neighborhood traveler could start very simply. For example, you might go to Menot-omy Rocks Park, find a bench, sit still for half an hour, and just observe. Take in the full visual field, the 360-degree panorama. Look for subtleties of light and motion – the faint ripples on the pond, the geometries of after-noon shadows, the paces and faces of dogs and their owners. (Even if you’ve done this before, we can always use the practice.) Or you might close your eyes, open your ears, and attune to the soundscape – the footsteps on the walking path, the trucks on Route 2, a child playing, a birdcall. It’s never silent. In one version of John Cage’s classic composition, the pianist opened the keyboard cover and closed it 4 minutes and 33 seconds later – that was it – to demonstrate that true silence is hard to find. Point definitely taken. If you let the sounds swirl around you, a symphony is always playing. Or you might walk along a neighborhood street: Pick your favorite and pay attention. Who else is walking? – maybe no one, and that will tell you something. (Even under the best conditions, our neighborhood is not known for its foot traffic.) But for those out and about, are they with anyone? Are they talking? Or wearing earbuds, or texting as they go? Or take a closer look at the houses. What’s in the front yard? What cars are in the driveway? With what bumper stickers? Are there yard signs, if it’s a political season? Any window decorations? Does someone get a newspaper home delivered, or have packages on the porch? A social

work friend of mine, veteran of many a home visit, once gave me a tutorial on “How to Read a House”; I wish she were around now.You could look upwards – at the tangle of the overhead wires, at the treetops, at the weather patterns in the sky. Or for some of the 82 species of birds who have been recorded flying in our neighborhood airspace. Or down – for instance, at the multi-colored glyphs painted on the pavement, like relics of ancient civilizations. Or at the sewer covers, many of which are individually numbered (can you find “A.S. 185”?). Even better, for those feeling free-spirited, you could get down on your belly and watch the world from an ant’s-eye view.Otherwise, you could check out the plants. What’s been cultivated? What’s growing wild? If you look in the right places, you can find edible plants, especially along the bike path and the parking lot near Spy Pond: Chicory, Ama-ranth, Lamb’s Quarter. You might forage a meal; let me know if you try it. Other plants are medicinal. My wife, a professional herb-alist, has frequently led medicinal plant walks around our neighborhood. Down and around Wellington Street she found Red Clover, Burdock, Ground Ivy. Did you know that the humble plantain, a “weed” that might grow along the edges of driveways, is good for stopping bleeding and healing infection? I didn’t until I tried it.

Or you could focus on the fauna as well as the flora: the bats, rats, dogs, cats, mice, squirrels, turkeys, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, and other denizens of our shared urban forest. They make their presence felt in not always appealing ways – the nine (9!) turkeys hanging out in my back yard, the wandering deer who took a dip in a neigh-bor’s pool, the determined rodents seeking affordable housing in some of our attics.

But after all, they are just neighbor species competing for habitat. All this is only a sample. When we can explore it, the neighborhood around us is endlessly rich and wonderful in its complexity. Perhaps earlier in life you encountered the poetry of William Blake, especially the well-known poem that begins: To see a World in a Grain of Sand And Heaven in a Wild Flower Our neighborhood is a grain of sand. And by looking attentively, you can see the world.

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What’s Going On?By Mary Cummings (Jason St.)You may not have paid much attention to the house at 125 Jason St. before because it is set back from the street and fronted by an almost 6 foot high stone wall. The driveway is so narrow that you could easily miss seeing it. The house is a large center-entrance colonial. There is an old chauf-feur’s residence and garage behind the main house – up until just a few years ago, the garage was equipped with a gravity-fed car washing tank! Amy Markov, her husband, Tom Wieand, and their chil-dren Harry and Kate are only the fifth owners of the house which was built in 1911. Amy and Tom knew the house would need some serious landscape work when they bought it in 2012. A recent backed-up sewer pipe required immediate attention which they had hoped would only involve lining the pipe but were told that it was like a “roller coaster” tunneling under the park and would have to be completely replaced. Since things were going to get torn up anyway, it seemed efficient to widen the driveway and do the landscaping they have been thinking about at the same time.The Markov-Wieands contracted two Arlington based companies, Todd Morse tree company and Rob Gilmore’s Landscape company and the project began. The first sign of action for park goers was the taking down of a huge oak tree that was at least 175 years old according to circle counts. Amy said the oak was seriously compromised and close to the house so it had to come down although the family was terribly sad to lose it. They’d been diligent about maintaining it since purchasing the house 8 years ago. But at least 2 different arborists told them that it would ulti-mately need to be taken down. Last year, the tree looked less vibrant than in years past. When it dropped a large branch on the roof this spring, they knew the time had come. A few invasive Norwood Maples also came down to the delight of The Friends of Menotomy Rocks Park. Seeds from the Maples had gotten into the sewer pipes and were part of that problem.The landscape project is one of the most exciting things to happen in the neighborhood during the Covid shut-in and it has been entertaining many a homebound passerby.

As the trees were being cut, a deep trench was dug diago-nally from the house through the front of the park field to the sidewalk. It seemed to take just one week for the pipe to be laid and the hole filled and covered with topsoil. New grass seeds were then sewn. It will probably be the best patch of grass in the park. Many thought that was all there was to it but there was a great deal more to watch. Amy and Tom felt that their house was somewhat removed from the neighborhood by the tall stone wall at the side-walk. Their main landscape goal was to better connect the house to the community. They are bringing the front wall down, regrading and widening the driveway, and terracing the front lawn. There will be a retaining wall along the park side of the driveway flanked by a new trees and a fence. A new oak will be planted in the corner and several other na-tive trees planted along the driveway and elsewhere on the property. The trees that are planned include: Serviceberry, Red Maple, Paper Birch, Flowering Dogwood, Red Cedar, Magnolia, Tupelo, Sourwood, Blue Spruce, and White Oak. Most of these will be planted between the park and the

driveway, with the excep-tion of the magnolias and the serviceberry trees, which will be planted toward the front of the house facing Jason and deeper in the yard. The part of the project that has most fascinated me is the construction of the stone wall by Otavio,

Ney and Marcone working for K.T. Fenton Masonry. They showed me how they chose a stone that was most likely to fit in a space, mark it to show how it had to be cut to fit then cut it down with hammers and chisels before carefully placing each stone on the wall. The men worked tirelessly through all the hot days while I marveled at their work from my cool kitchen across the field.Tom and Amy’s project is very much about being part of our community. It is now called “the house with the wall.” We will all be able to enjoy watching the new native trees and plants grow for many years. The best connection to the community will be the gate and steps to the park that Amy and Tom are having installed to accommodate their sup-plying electricity and other necessary things to the Spooky Walk!

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Shawn and Maeve Donnelly, Tommy (almost 8), Colin (5), and Maura (3) moved to 22 Hillsdale Road in November. Tommy will be entering 3rd grade at Brackett in the fall, and Colin will join him there as a kindergartener. Maura attends Arlington Heights Nursery School. I am a profes-sor and a special education administrator, and Shawn is an engineer. We moved here from our previous home on Cedar Avenue in Arlington, although I grew up in Evanston, Il, and Shawn is originally from southern Massachusetts. We have been enjoying spending a lot of time in Menotomy Rocks Park, as well as walking/scootering/biking around the neighbor-hood and to the Center. We have been happy to run into many familiar faces from school, soccer, and other activities as we have been walking around and playing or gardening in our yard, and we are looking forward to getting to know more of our neighbors as time goes on!

The Beecher family just moved from Cambridge to their new home on Jason Street. Lyra works as a pediatrician in the newborn nursery at Cambridge Hospital and in the neonatal ICU at Beth Israel Lahey Medical Center. Jesse shoots and edits documentary films at Northern Light Productions in Allston. Daughters Elsa (almost 7) and Faye (recently 5) enjoy biking, swimming, scram-bling on rocks, and look forward to meeting new neigh-borhood friends! We’re moving from Cambridge.

Esra and Ozgur Altinok met in Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey in 2007. Esra was studying Chemistry while Ozgur studied Physics. They both came to Tufts University for PhD programs in Chemistry & Physics. They got married in 2011 and started their new life in a 1-br condo in West Medford right next to Arlington border. Although living in a new country with a new culture, their lives did not change very much. They are still studying/working in the same college campus, and they are still having lunches together in the school cafeteria having coffee breaks in winter and ice-cream breaks in summer. They lived in Medford while they studied at Tufts and then moved to Cambridge across Fresh Pond. In 2018, their daughter, Evrim, was born. Evrim means “evolution” in Turkish. They moved to Venner Road in Arlington last Feb-ruary. Their house is right next to Exit 59. This was a quite interesting coincidence because during years of daily commutes to West Medford and Cambridge, they used Exit 59. They had been passing right in front of the house they live in today.

The Rifken family moved to Venner Road in April after relocating to Arlington from Dorchester. Peter is a Solu-tions Engineer for Quick Base and Heather is constantly trying to keep up with their toddler Jackson and two dogs, Maddy and Rosie. After years of visiting The Family Prac-tice Group in Arlington Center and always talking about how cozy it felt to visit Arlington, they decided to make the move. They can usually be found walking around Jason Heights in the evenings with the dogs gathering inspiration for home updates (DIY, if possible) and landscaping. They are constantly in awe of the love our neighbors put into maintaining their homes and are grateful to live in such a welcoming community. In December, we’ll be adding an-other little one to our family. We look forward to meeting you all soon!

It’s a pleasure to welcome four new families to the neigh-borhood with seven more children to watch grow. Please let us know if you have a new neighbor or a new baby that we can welcome.

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Editor: Mary Cummings (Jason Street)[email protected] Editor: MaryAnna Foskett (Brantwood Road)

Distribution Diva: Chenoweth Moffatt (Venner Road) Treasurer: Sharon Marie May (Wildwood Avenue) Dauntless Distributors: Amelia Mueller, Louise Friel, Bill Berkowitz, James Bailey, Dolores Schueler, Joanne Hartel, Nan Bers, J.B. Maxwell, Carol Kalauskas, Judy Weinberg, MaryAnna Foskett, Jane and Peter Howard, Lindsay Pacheco, Eugene Benson, Jessie Brown, Judy Cobean, Jane Auger, Leola Moss, and David Curren. Donations: Checks should be made payable to Neighbor-hood Newsletter and sent to the address below. The Neighborhood Newsletter, P.O. Box 295, Arlington, Ma. 02476

Miriam Cross in Love’s Labour’s LostBy Shelley Schussheim

First, tell me a little bit about the play, Arlington Friends of the Drama Love’s Labour’s Lost and the role you play.

The original is one of Shakespeare’s more long-wind-ed comedies. But this adaptation is set to a fun musical score. If you’re usually a little skittish about seeing Shakespeare, this would be a fun and easy way to get started. It’s fast paced, funny, and only 90 minutes long!The simple plot of the musical version is that the King and his best buddies decide at their five-year college reunion to focus on studying and swear off the joys of women. But when four cute, clever girls from their past show up, they’re forced to recon-sider! Add in a splashy Spanish exchange student, a performance art-loving professor, and questionably mistaken identities, and love and devotion are put to the test with hilarious results.I play Rosaline, one of the four cute, clever girls. We have a terrific ensemble cast.

I hear you have a long history with AFD?

Yes! (Though many in the cast are part of the AFD family as well!) I grew up in Arlington on the west side of Menotomy Rocks Park (one of my most favorite places) and was in two shows when I was 11, The Miracle Worker and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I had already been active in children’s theatre but fell in love with community theatre then, especially working with adults and see-ing how every aspect of a show comes together.I studied theatre in college at the Tisch School at NYU in a multi-disciplinary program (acting, di-recting, design, tech, stage management, and dra-maturgy). I realized fairly early on that a career in theatre would be extraordinarily difficult, but I never stopped loving the experience of community theatre where I could see all those disciplines come together.Over the years, I have continued to perform at com-munity theatres in the Boston area. More recently at

AFD, I played Sheila in Hair in 2011, and in the en-semble of 9 to 5 in 2018. AFD feels like home. In fact, there is a photo of the Joseph… cast hanging in the Green Room at the theatre and if you look closely you can see my 11-year-old face!

What’s next?

I’m finishing up a graduate degree to teach history where I’ll be able to use my theatre skills to engage stu-dents in stories about history. I hope to land my dream teaching job this fall and would love an opportunity to also be involved in the school’s theatre program. Fingers crossed!I also hope to continue doing shows at AFD. I have made some of my best friends here; in fact, a fellow cast member from Hair just officiated at my wedding a couple of months ago! As a fan of history and storytelling, I love the legacy of AFD and look forward to participating in it’s 100th celebration coming up in a couple of years.Arlington Friends of the Drama is at 22 Academy Street behind Town Hall.

The Neighborhood Newsletter

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Volume 26, Number 1 The Homebound Together Issue, July