Worcester Magazine - February 18 - 24, 2021 by Worcester Magazine

FEBRUARY 18 - 24, 2021 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CULTURE • ARTS • DINING • VOICES

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History repeats

How Worcester tackled pandemics, 1918 and now

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F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

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History repeats How Worcester tackled pandemics, 1918 and now Story on page 10 Telegram & Gazette file photos; Design by Donald Cloutier

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Libraries see big increase in digital check-outs, but physical books hold appeal RICHARD DUCKET T

Executive director Jason Homer shows off renovations to the children’s floor at the Worcester Public Library. The ceiling will replicate the sky and change to resemble day and night throughout the course of the day. ASHLEY GREEN

the Libby app or the OverDrive app, in browsers, on ereaders or MP3 players, or on Kindle devices. “A lot more people are using it on phones, tablets,” Lundgren said of the app. Books can be borrowed for 7, 14 or 21 days. The default is 14 days. ‘When they expire they basically disappear from your device,” Lundgren said. “No fines, nothing’s ever due.” Readers in Central and Western Massachusetts just need a valid library card from a CW MARS member library to access digital books from CW MARS’s OverDrive-powered digital collection. The digital numbers might conjure up thoughts of days ahead when there will be no physical libraries, just people borrowing books via their phones. But the print check-out num-

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the exponential rise of 2020. Member libraries with the highest amount of digital book checkouts besides Worcester included Shrewsbury Public Library, Jones Library (Amherst), Forbes Library (Northampton), Springfield Public Library, Hopkinton Public Library, Marlborough Public Library, Westborough Public Library, Westfield Athenaeum and Berkshire Athenaeum (Pittsfield). The highest-circulating title CW MARS readers borrowed through OverDrive in 2020 was “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens. According to OverDrive, it offers a growing collection of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and streaming videos. Libraries can build their individual digital collection from its catalog of millions of titles from over 30,000 publishers. Books can be borrowed through

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Nevertheless, “I don’t think that online is going away.” CW MARS member libraries have been providing readers 24/7 access to ebooks and audiobooks since 2009 through OverDrive and its Libby reading app. OverDrive Inc. is an American digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, magazines and streaming video titles that provides secure management, digital rights management, and download fulfillment services for publishers, libraries, schools, corporations and retailers. It charges libraries through leasing and licensing deals. Reader interest and usage of digital books has grown every year, Lundgren said. It was a little slow at first. “It took us nine years to hit one million,” she said. But 2018 and 2019 were good years for digital check-outs prior to

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t’s an interesting reading item. According to CW MARS, a library consortium whose members consist of many local area libraries including the Worcester Public Library, there was an increase of 34% in checkouts on digital content in member libraries in 2020 over 2019. In total, there were 1.808 million checkouts on electronic content during 2020. “We were really pleased to see the usage. 2020 was our highest (digital) check-out ever — 461,000 more,” said Jeanette Lundgren, executive director of CW MARS, which is at 67 Millbrook St. CW Mars, standing for Central and Western Massachusetts Resource Sharing, was founded in 1982 to assist member libraries, now numbering more than 150 large and small, with sharing of resources and an array of support that has become increasingly technical, including hosting and supporting the hardware and software needed to power its shared online library catalog and library staff software. The Worcester Public Library is “our number one user with the highest number number of checkouts in the (2020) calendar year,” Lundgren said. But there’s a page turner (or “click next”) in the numbers. While physical circulation in 2020 was down 54% from 2019 — probably largely accountable to the pandemic — the number of physical books checked out was 5.3 million. “The year before it was over 11 million,” Lundgren said. On the other hand, 5.3 million is more than 1.808 million. The Worcester Public Library itself saw similar numbers, said Jason L. Homer, the library’s new executive director. Given the times the library has been closed during the pandemic, “our print collection held pretty strong,” Homer said.

bers say not so fast, not to mention the millions of dollars of work on renovations at the main branch of the Worcester Public Library at 3 Salem St.. “The new normal remains to be seen,” Lundgren said. “Our print material check-outs are still materially higher than digital check-outs, but we have seen (digital) go up every year. There are a lot of patrons who prefer reading in physical book format. I don’t think that will change.” Lundgren said that digital check-outs will continue to be favored by people with distance and disability issues, among many others. And digital lending has shown its value in a year hit hard by a global pandemic. Homer came on board as the Worcester Public Library’s new executive director Dec. 7. He had previously served as director of the Morse Institute Library, a public library in Natick. “I’m very happy to be here, which is like a dream job,” he said. The main library and its branches had been closed in March, April and May due to the pandemic. The main library then reopened (with branches offering holds pickup) but closed again shortly after Christmas for a few weeks because of the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in Worcester. The main library reopened again Feb. 1 (with branches again providing holds pick up) providing limited services including appointments for computer use, printing, copying and faxing. The library was beginning with having six computers (out of a possible 20) in use at any one time, Homer said. “To get started and keep our fingers on the pulse.” Some people might use the computers for entertainment, while others are seeking jobs, he noted. When the pandemic first hit, one concern was “could we still lend books” with the coronavirus and “could it be spread from person to person?” Homer said. (Books in

FEATURED

‘Break the awkward silence’: Worcester’s poets laureate talk poetry in a convulsive year VICTOR D. INFANTE

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year ago, then-newly appointed Worcester poet laureate Juan Matos and youth poet laureate Amina Mohammed made their first official appearances, reading poems at the inauguration ceremony for the City Council and School Committee Jan. 2, 2020, at Mechanics Hall. It was an inspiring affair, with both poets imbuing the event with a sense of vitality and hope. Fast-forward a year to Jan. 26, 2021, and the pair are again reading poems before a City Council meeting, This time, though, it’s on Zoom, and while it’s not where they thought they’d be when it started, both poems are invigorating. “Resilient hearts, beating, marching on like/the hands of Worcester’s old historic clocks,” says Matos, in a tribute to Worcester’s labor heritage and to his predecessor in the poet laureate role, Gertrude Halstead, “illuminate the future, defy death.” Mohammed is more direct, her poem addressing city landmarks now gone or transformed, and despite acknowledging the current of change, asking, “Don’t you think we should just admire our city as it is?” It was a capstone to a year that didn’t go as anyone had predicted. They had expected, when they took on the roles, to be spending time with community readings and presentations in classrooms, but have instead found themselves navigating online workshops and poetry readings, including a reading scheduled for Feb. 24 with special guest Dominican poet and actress Marleny Luna. For more information on the event or to sign up for the online open reading, email Culture@WorcesterMA.gov or call (508) 799-1400, ext. 31415. Open mic sign-ups close Feb. 22. “I thought I was going to get more active with the community,” says Mohammed, reflecting on her initial plans as youth poet laureate. “Getting out there, sitting down with different individuals and youths … all types of people, all over the city, and just reading poetry to them, talking with them, getting to know them, getting active and stuff. Then COVID hit and it was like … Change of plans!”

things. ‘Let’s not talk about this issue’ because, you know, people want to stay away from it because they’re not comfortable addressing certain topics.” “In that moment,” she says, reflecting on Gorman’s poem and the hard subjects it touched upon, including the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion, “what I took from it is what can we do to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Matos says that the poems he’s been writing these days have been, “amazingly, about hope. Feeling hope. It’s the inner voice that I feel in myself … The poems that that I’ve been writing have to do with raising up humankind, raising up the people. Even though the socio-situation is difficult, we are responding to justice, and trying to make justice out of everything that’s going on … I feel that we, as writers, have a responsibility to be that voice that, in spite of everything, Worcester’s poet laureate Juan Matos and youth poet laureate Amina Mohammed. fights for hope, continues to fight for RICK CINCLAIR civil rights, and supporting art.” Matos, too, found the transition Lowell remotely, living at home with wake of the slaying of George Floyd. Both poets have found this jarring, saying, “Suddenly, life changed her father and brothers. As a poet, let Matos found himself asking. a transformative year, but that for everything. I’ve had a lot of painful alone a poet laureate, she was forced “Where’s your voice?” Mohammed transformation is more immediately loss ... friends, writers here and in the to ask herself, “Even though we’re concurred, finding herself wonderevident in Mohammed, who says the Dominican Republic. One in Colomstuck in the house, how can we still ing,” How can I use my voice to talk year “has made me more confident. be in the community? How can we bia, one in Spain. That was devastatabout distressing topics, how can my Before, I was a very shy person. I ing, of course.” He was also concerned still make a presence in the lives of poetry help to encourage others to couldn’t imagine having deep conindividuals, and try to brighten up the use their voices, use their talents to that, as a diabetic over 60 who had versations with anyone.” She recalls situation that’s going on?” recently had a heart attack, he was break the awkward silences.” That’s that reading at Mechanics Hall, a It was a question they both at risk. He found himself asking, “I’m not the sort of question to which one year before, and remembers, “I was wrestled with, and there were no easy ever finds a definitive answer. “I’m talking about poetry readings while scared, I had knots in my stomach, I answers. It’s easy to frame in terms of still figuring out how I can use my other people are passing away?” was shaking. I can even remember, what didn’t happen. Matos had very saying, “I had mixed feelings about voice to empower others,” she says, the day of the inauguration, I felt like much been looking forward to work- “Get people talking, use poetry as everything at the beginning.” I was going to pass out. I don’t really He recalls the year had gotten ing with poet Tony Brown and others a platform to encourage others to get that feeling anymore. (The year) off to great start, with a program to establish a series of community speak up as well, because it’s obvious has made me a lot more confident, at Worcester Academy where the readings in different neighborhoods there’s a lot of wrongs going on in our and made me a lot more outgoing … students put together an anthology in around the city. He had also expected society, a lot of things that need to that’s what poetry has done for me … English and Spanish, which included to spend more time in classrooms, be fixed … it’s no time to push things It has made me way more confident, poems in Spanish by non-native and instead has only visited three under the rug.” outgoing, outspoken, made me speakers. “They embraced poetry,” classes in the Worcester Public A lot of Mohammed’s thoughts realize that I need to speak up. We all says Matos. “Having them express School System, even on Zoom. “I’m were crystalized by the poem Aman- need to speak up, especially those of themselves in Spanish, even with a retired teacher,” says Matos, express- da Gorman read at the presidential us who are quiet. It’s OK to be a really a limited vocabulary, expressing ing sympathy for teachers who have inauguration, “The Hill We Climb,” reserved person, but when the time their feelings at the beginning of the had to learn new ways to teach. “I and the subsequent public reaction to comes, speak up ... There are people pandemic. That was awesome.” don’t blame colleagues.” Still, it was that poem and her poem presented that want you to be silent. They don’t Soon, though, schools would be an illustration of the many things that at the Super Bowl. want you to say anything. They don’t closed, which directly affected Moslipped through the cracks, at a time “She said everything perfectly,” want you to speak up in certain hammed, who found herself finishing when poetry seems more relevant says Mohammed. “I feel like she situations, because it’ll damage their and necessary than at any time in her senior year at Holy Name High couldn’t have been any more direct … image, their beliefs. Speak up. That’s recent memory, a point driven home She said everything that needs to be School in a virtual classroom, and what poetry has taught me.” attending her first semester of classes to both Matos and Mohammed with said. I think before, in our society, we the Black Lives Matter protests in the got comfortable with sugarcoating at University of Massachusetts –

FEATURED

Music Worcester presents Rhiannon Giddens livestream concert Feb. 20 RICHARD DUCKET T

inger-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens will perform a special hour-long program for Music Worcester audiences with frequent collaborator Francesco Turrisi direct from her living room in Dublin at 2 p.m. Feb. 20. Giddens’ latest album, “there is no Other,” recorded with multi-instrumentalist Turrisi, is set for May 3 release on Nonesuch Records. The album “illuminates the universality of music and the commonality of the human experience” and mixes original songs by Giddens with a diverse set of interpretations ranging from Ola Belle Reed’s “I’m Gonna Write Me a Letter” and Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Brown Baby” to the Italian traditional

LIBRARIES

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Tickets for the 2 p.m. Feb. 20 livestream are $15. Visit www. musicworcester.org.

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi will perform in a livestream direct from her living room in Dublin at 2 p.m. Feb. 20. SUBMITTED PHOTO

tion as we have a tighter timeline,” Homer said,. The renovation project will open up the library to the Worcester Common by creating a new entrance on Franklin Street. “This entrance will help us contribute to the vibrancy of the up-and-coming neighborhood, while making it easier to connect with people in the heart of downtown,” Homer said. In addition to the new entry, the covered walkway along Salem Street will be enclosed, adding 8,000 additional square feet of space to the first floor. “This will create more public space, and allow for the creation of a Digital Studio and Innovation Center, as well as the improvement of several areas of the ground floor, including the Teen Space, audiovisual area and bookstore.” The Periodicals area will be moving to the first floor in place of the current Children’s Room. “This new space will include quiet study areas, a computer lab and a reference desk,” Homer said.

independence, as well as group engagement with a variety of spaces and activities for children of all ages. The new Children’s Room will create a non-academic environment where children can encounter lifelong learning in a joyous way.” It will be great to read about the new look library — one way or another.

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“Finally, the Children’s Room will be moving to the current Periodicals location on the third floor. The

third floor will offer a more secure location, with its own restroom facilities and controlled points of entry. The room will be accessible from two elevators, as well as two fire-rated stairwells. An updated layout and design will make the room more visually appealing, while also supporting interactive learning and development. The new, modern Children’s Room will foster

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“It’s interesting,” Homer said. “There’s definitely going to be an increase in ebooks. Some people didn’t even know we had ebooks, so I think it definitely has increased people’s knowledge.” The library’s future online presence won’t just be in the sphere of books, just as the library offers many activities beyond lending such as classes, discussion groups and even showing movies. Homer said that a genealogy class at the library that had drawn 10 people in-person saw 45 people attending online. But meanwhile, Homer said he gets emails from people asking “ ‘when can I come back and just browse?’ “ And there’s a mood out there of “I think we can’t wait to have some in-person stuff,” he said. If it comes soon it will be timely. The main branch of the Worcester Public Library hopes to complete a major renovation in the spring, something that’s been in the works for some time. “We will have a grand opening of some kind with more informa-

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the library’s bins are quarantined.) Digital use hit 14.7% in March and then climbed to 38 % in April. The average for 2020 was 31%, Homer said. “We know people are staying home. That makes sense, especially with people with multiple risk factors.” With that, “From reopen until the end of December 2020, we have had 22,996 visitors come pick up books,” Homer said. “We saw it really high when as a state we were doing well with the numbers. As the numbers changed, the people in the building dropped. We still had curb pickup for books.” Who is picking up those books? Homer said that a Pew Research Center study found that young adults were more likely to read print books than ebooks, although most did read both. Ebooks were not a break from their regular activities, but physical books were.

“Pizzica di San Vito.” Last year, Giddens was appointed as the new artistic director of Silkroad ensemble, succeeding Yo-Yo Ma. Silkroad has been to Worcester several times, including a multi-year residence at the College of the Holy Cross.

CITY VOICES

FIRST PERSON

HARVEY

The Library of Disposable Art — video game music

DAVID MACPHERSON

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itting down in the office to write this, my son came to join in, writing his own things. He took out a record and put it on the stereo. It is the soundtrack to “Battlefield V.” It is a lush, orchestral piece of music. It is sad and monumental at turns. And it was written for a video game. My son has been introduced to so many different kinds of music because of video games. He found a love of ‘40s harmony groups, such as the Ink Spots, from playing “Fallout.” He discovered Willie Nelson through “Red Dead Redemption 2.” And the “Battlefield” games have a large cinemascope type soundtrack. This should not be a big surprise. Video game music is a big thing. A lot of musicians make some living wages from putting out music for the latest first person shooter. Scott Campbell, the founder of Post Modern Jukebox, made his first splash by making music for a “Biohazard” game. Large philharmonic orchestras have their most financially successful concerts when they program video game music. How are people introduced to music now? Through the music they hear every day, shooting ‘em up, rescuing the princess. That kind of thing. I am old. To me the music of video games were the plink-plink-plink of the ball hitting the paddle on a game of “Pong.” Or the pwew-pwew shooting sounds in “Galaga.” The only way to hear such melody was to put a quarter in the game and play your three lives. It was like listening to songs on a jukebox. I know, what the hell is a jukebox? For me, the most iconic music

from video games has to be from “Super Mario Brothers.” And the amazing thing about that music is that the composer, Koji Kondo, was quite limited by the amount of space he had for the pre-recorded sound. He could not go crazy with what he could do. So with such limitations, comes a melody we all know and love. Do we love it because of the ingenuity or in spite of it? If you want to go down a rabbit hole, or a drain pipe because we are talking about “Mario Brothers,” then go to YouTube and put in “Super Mario Brothers” theme cover. There are a lot of choices. My favorite at the moment is the Post Modern Jukebox (them again) where they do it with a Dixieland combo and a tap dancer. Got to have a tap dancer for your video game music covers! There are books that analyze the music from that first “Super Mario Brothers” book. It creates a mood. It allows you to know what is coming. If the music speeds up, then you better speed the hell up too, because you are running out of time to clear that world. Different music tells you that there are new expectations. The music was there to inform the player about certain things. And also, it needed to swing baby! Kondo, who has done tons of great music for games, has been interviewed endlessly about the original “Super Mario Brothers” music. In one of the interviews, he said, “music is inspired by the game controls, and its purpose is to heighten the feeling of how the game controls.” I love that. The music was a teaching tool to start to understand how to play the game better. It was not meant to be covered

WORCESTER MAGAZINE’S LET TERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Letters to the editor are a great way to share your thoughts and opinions with thousands of readers and online viewers each week. There is no word limit, but we reserve the right to edit for length, so brevity is your friend. If handwritten, write legibly - if we cannot read it, we are not running it. A full name and town or city of residence are required. Please include an email address or phone number for verification purposes only. That information will not be published. Make sure your letter makes it into Worcester Magazine in a timely fashion — send it in by the Monday of the next issue. Please note that letters will run as space allows. Send them to Worcester Magazine, 100 Front St., 5th Floor, Worcester, MA 01608 or by email to WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com.

by countless performers on YouTube. It’s purpose was to help you get to the Princess better. To win the game. To save the day. A few years ago, we took the kid to FunSpot in Laconia, New Hampshire. It has something like 300 vintage video games. That’s a lot of sound. That’s a lot of 8-bit music playing at once. When we walked in, it felt like the sound of all that composition playing at once would knock us over. It was a riot of music and sound designed to entice you to play this one and not that one. It was there to help you learn when to jump, when to shoot, when to run away fast. There was no way to hear any one game. It was a whirlwind of sampling and explosions. The only way to hear one song was to lean into your chosen game and get as close to the action as possible. You had to give yourself up to the game to hear the song. A song of play and conflict and rebirth (usually three lives per quarter.) An earworm. You will be singing that tiny tinny melody for the rest of the day. Or even longer. David Macpherson is a poet and writer living in the Worcester area.

Hitching a ride on Trump’s road to ruin JANICE HARVEY

ot for a moment was the outcome of Donald J.Trump’s second impeachment trial ever in question. I’d have better luck finding my high school class ring, lost in 1975, than Democrats had finding 17 Republicans willing to admit what was excruciatingly obvious from the get-go: Trump incited violent insurrection on January 6, 2021. The message from 43 Senators? So what? Big deal. Get over it. This time around, it didn’t hurt as much. It was always in the bag. Trump’s first impeachment trial was a heartbreaker because many of us still labored under the illusion that what was right had might. We hadn’t learned yet that Attorney General William Barr was conscience-free, or that the GOP had morphed into a Marvel comic villain. This time, we knew better. If the past four years have done nothing else, they’ve forced us out of Candyland and into

reality. Still, there is something unreal about the 45th president’s entire existence. He’s always managed to jump the puddles he makes and dodge accountability for crimes both small and not-so. When I think of Trump, I think of a book that made a huge impact on me as a kid, a book I loved teaching: “The Great Gatsby.” Bear with me. Nothing about Trump is so elegant and lovesick as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s protagonist. Instead, what keeps coming to mind is the road from West Egg through the Valley of Ashes. It is a road that leaves flash and flamboyance behind as it passes under the knowing eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, a road that becomes soot as it leads to ruin. Jay Gatsby’s fortune and how he made it was always a mystery. His wealth and its source were steeped in rumors. So it has always been with Donald J. Trump, despite the fact that he was born into money. Trump has always C O N T I N U E O N PA G E 14

CITY VOICES

WORCESTERIA

An ‘Idol’ conversation with Ricky Duran and Sam James VICTOR D. INFANTE

‘IDOL’ THOUGHTS: Writing the other day about Sutton teenager Chloe

Belsito auditioning for “American Idol” — the show premiered Sunday on ABC, although Belsito did not appear in that episode — really hit home to me how much the music world has changed over the past few years. Once upon a time, if you were chasing fame and fortune, your plan was to tour, make a demo, hope some A&R person discovered you and signed you to a label. It’s way more complicated than that now, as “Voice” alums Ricky Duran and Sam James explained. “Anyone doing these shows,” says Duran, “this shouldn’t be your end goal, this is just the beginning to get people’s eyes on you. After they see you, they’re going to check out your platforms, and that’s where you can shine.” Indeed, social media has been transformative in musicians’ careers. This is definitely not lost on James, who has been crushing it on Tik Tok with his acoustic covers of hip-hop songs such as Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” and Internet Money’s “Lemonade.” James advises Belsito or anyone who finds themselves in that sort of spotlight to, “Stay on top of your social media. You’re going to build fans from this experience. Give people what they want.” Which is, of course, more content. James says when he left “The Voice,” he didn’t really have anything ready to offer the fans he’d made. But unlike a television show, social media is a place where musicians can largely present the version of themselves that they want people to see. James also notes that, years later, when he appeared on the televised songwriting competition “Songland,” he was far more confidant. “When I look back on my experience, I was (expletive) my pants every day. When I got to ‘Songland,’ I couldn’t have cared less. It was such a fun experience for me. I already had a career, so it didn’t bother me as much … It’s not like you’re 24, standing in front of piano with Marry J Blige and Adam Levine.” James says that the experience of competing on these shows, and their aftermath, is “way more about building character than it is the craft.”

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STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME?: When the names of the artists on the ballot for the next class to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were released, there was one name which stood out to me: Fela Kuti. Kuti was at the forefront of the Afrobeat movement, blending African music with jazz and funk during the ‘70s and ‘80s. I started listening to him when I was a college student in England, in the ‘90s, after a friend from India told me, “You go most anywhere outside of the U.S. or Europe, and there are only three pop stars everyone recognizes: Elvis, Michael Jackson and Fela Kuti.” Kuti’s gotten a little more traction in the West now, particularly after the success of the Broadway musical based on his life, “Fela!,” but even a lot of Americans familiar with his work don’t seem to grasp his enormity, and there’s a sort of ethnocentrism in that, one that the Rock Hall nod has sort of revealed. It comes down to the question, “What do you mean when you say ‘rock ‘n’ roll?’” As hiphop’s risen up over the years, the induction of hip-hop artists into the Rock Hall has been met with some controversy. Same with other pop artists who might not be considered “rock,” such as James Taylor. Eventually, “rock ‘n’ roll” became shorthand for “Western popular music,” which allowed for all sorts of artists to be included, from country to rap. Now we’re looking at Kuti, and in some ways, he’s the biggest challenge to that definition we’ve seen. If we’re looking at “Western popular music,” how does an African icon who infused the sounds of his culture with American music fit into that puzzle, especially when you consider that the roots of most American music are rooted in African-American heritage. I don’t really have an answer for that, save to say the ephemeral thread between Kuti and American rock and jazz seems evident, and noteworthy. Perhaps Worcester poet Tony Brown said it best, in his poem “Stairway to Fela,” when he wrote, “If there had been a universe/where a Fela Kuti song/could have been heard/as often as ‘Stairway To Heaven’/by suburban American teenagers,/ what would have glittered there?/What would we all have learned?/What music might we have made?/Where might we have landed?”

COVER STORY

A tale of two pandemics: Worcester in 1918 and now VEER MUDAMBI

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F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

here’s a common refrain that the COVID crisis is unlike anything the country has faced before, but pandemics are not new. Worcester has been here before — right down to the prohibition on large gatherings, even funerals. In September and October 1918, Worcester appeared to be in the midst of an epidemic. “It was considered an epidemic even though it was certainly a pandemic,” said Donald Chamberlayne, describing how the scope of the crisis became clear only in hindsight, while at the time, localized perspectives were more prevalent. A Worcester resident and amateur historian, Chamberlayne wrote an in-depth essay on Worcester’s 1918 experience on the pandemic’s centennial. Through diligent study of archived newspapers from the time, Chamberlayne constructed a picture of Worcester’s battle with the influenza pandemic through the lens of news coverage. Two years later, students at the College of the Holy Cross worked to create an archive of research and primary sources for a project called COVID Chronicles. For his topic, Jack Hynick, a history major, chose to examine the past through the lens of the present, drawing clear parallels between 1918 and 2020. The story of the influenza pandemic that emerged matches the timeline of the current situation almost step for step, albeit in a more condensed time frame. “Influenza in Worcester was mostly about a couple of months long compared to COVID, which has been here for about a year,” said Hynick.

Straight from the top — lack of federal response On a federal level, Hynick found the 1918 influenza pandemic was characterized by “widespread government inaction and political apathy.” He went on to say that it was compounded by the actions of the Woodrow Wilson administration to suppress information and censor criticism of their handling of the crisis. The year before, the Sedition and Espionage Act had been passed, ostensibly to support the country’s World War I effort. While the law never actually mentioned the pandemic, it still had the effect of

stifling dissent, not only relating to the war but the influenza crisis as well. “By this point [in the war], anyone who would have been inclined to criticize the pandemic response was either imprisoned already or knew that would happen if they spoke up,” explained Hynick. This essentially allowed Wilson to abdicate responsibility for the virus while focusing on the war effort, embracing the role of a wartime president. In fact, Wilson never officially referred to the influenza pandemic during his time in office, even when he contracted the virus himself while on a trip to Paris.

Other officials, including his own cabinet, could not avoid commenting on the issue, but they took their cue from the president and attempted to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Then-Surgeon General Rupert Blue warned Americans “not to get into a panic.” On a more local level, the superintendent of Worcester City Hospital, Dr. Charles Drew, told city residents that he saw “no reason for folks [to] become excited.” On the ground in Worcester By mid September 1918, it was clear that a real crisis existed in

the nation. Worcester recorded its first influenza-related death on Sept. 19, when 25-year-old James W. Roche, who had come from the Newport Naval Training School to visit his parents, fell seriously ill with influenza. He was taken to City Hospital, where he died. A few days later, first his mother and then his father, a Worcester patrolman, died as well. The city had initially stated it was not going to follow measures

Nurses hang curtains and make beds in the Worcester’s Emergency Hospital to care for people suffering from the 1918 influenza epidemic. According to an Oct. 5, 1918, article in the Evening Gazette, the hospital was constructed in two days in a former Horticultural Society exhibition hall at the Greendale Fair Grounds. There were 60 beds, but “With some extra work, 300 can be cared for,” according to the article. THE EVENING GAZETTE

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The line for free COVID-19 testing at Mercantile Center Monday Dec. 21. FILE PHOTO

Women’s Christian Temperance Movement held protests that bars remained open while churches had to be closed.

He conceded that this was in part due to the lack of reliable communication and how municipalities generally, even when there was no crisis, tended to act in more of a vacuum, without state or federal guidelines. But Hynick believes the opposite is true, pointing out the reality that municipal officials only took this initiative because they understood they could not expect any real help from the state and federal governments.

Nativist backlash — finding who to blame While the newspapers may not have added a political aspect to the virus, they certainly added a racial one. The wildfire spread of the virus was, said Hynick, “laid at the feet of two quintessentially American boogeymen: international and intranational migrants.” African Americans became one of the scapegoats for the illness, which coincided with them moving from the agrarian South to the industrial North. In Worcester, the Gazette claimed that hygiene and values of the city’s migrant communities explained the spread of the disease. The aversion extended to nonAnglo-Saxon immigrants, said Hynick, including Ashkenazi Jews, Greeks and Italians, basically Southern/Eastern European immigrants who moved into Northern cities. They were berated by their neighbors and fellow citizens for their living conditions in what he says were “hovels and glorified shacks without ventilation or proper floors even as they struggled to survive a period of ineffable hardships.” The tendency to blame the “other” for societal ills, and even for the spread of disease, is a human inclination. This tendency C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 12

Media coverage — two different goals The primary difference between the two eras is news coverage. Records of public discourse during the influenza pandemic were limited to the newspaper, since home radios did not become ubiquitous till the ‘20s and ‘30s. For historians, this means that newspaper archives are one of the only sources for finding out how people felt about those events. “All they had were newspapers,” said Chamberlayne, “and 95% of that news was local.” For broader coverage, The Associated Press

was probably the only option, with most papers operating off the AP feed, being unable to send their own reporters to cover events farther afield. “The concept of worldwide communication required too much wireless broadcast [capability] that just wasn’t there,” said Chamberlayne. The hyperlocal perspective this created kept the public consciousness focused squarely at home. How the pandemic was affecting the Worcester community specifically, rather than the wider country, was the most vital — and possibly only — news. It was also not entirely reliable. “Media conventions were different back then,” said Cynthia Hooper, associate professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross. The newspaper publishers, she suggested, believed that as the almost sole source of information, their responsibility included moderating information provided to readers, as necessary, in the interest of not panicking the public. One headline from a Sept. 26 issue of The Gazette, when the number of deaths were sharply increasing, states “Influenza not causing scare in Worcester.” Over the next couple of weeks in October, there are at least four headlines

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Front line medical workers “There were numerous heroes in the medical field, just like now,” said Chamberlayne. The District Nursing Association, now called the Visiting Nurses Association, “was taking incredible risks” going into homes to care for seriously ill patients, at a time when hospitals were filled to capacity. Chamberlayne said there’s no data on how many nurses got sick, but it was surely a sizable number. The municipality only swung into emergency mode by the end of September, even encouraging masks among the general public. To mitigate the overcrowding in hospitals, the city established an emergency hospital at the Worcester Agricultural Society buildings on the Greendale Fairgrounds. While it didn’t open until Oct. 4, it was full by the end of that month, said Hynick. To staff it fully, nurses in training were allowed to leave school to tend to the public, while others came out of retirement. “When I look back on this thing,” said Chamberlayne, “what

I see is a heroic local response to something they didn’t fully understand. Nowadays there’s a whole lot more of ‘where’s Washington? Where’s the president?’”

from The Evening Post and Telegram declaring influenza’s “grip” on the city is declining. Despite this, Chamberlayne believes it’s the thought that counts. “Instead of being harsh on the press, I think it was just the time. They held a lot of power and the publishers were trying to do the right thing,” he said. The perceived role of the media is in stark contrast to 2020. News media has become a vital source of information for the public — keeping a running tally of cases and deaths but also disseminating information on how to stay safe, updates on testing sites and most recently, the vaccine rollout. Even though limited news sources were an issue in 1918, Chamberlayne believes there are too many in the present day where everyone feels they can weigh in without the necessary qualifications. “Anyone who wants to become a source of info just makes themself one,” he said, to the point that it can be difficult to discern what is true. “We have a case of overcommunication these days,” he continued. “Just none of that in 1918 that I could see,” Chamberlayne added, referring to the politicization of the COVID crisis.

F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

that were not explicitly required by the state government, said Hynick. Since all safety measures from the state were only recommendations, not requirements, this meant “a number of local, less powerful officials had to step up and take matters into their own hands.” Hynick pointed out that school closings only happened because principals found loopholes by which they could justify closure of buildings, such as inside temperatures from damp weather that left classrooms frigid. Their argument was that the damp and chilly conditions in the classrooms would help spread influenza. “Every school closed before the mayor gave the directive,” he said. School closures may have been particularly effective as containment measures, in that the influenza was seen to have affected young people more than the elderly, which may have been the result of younger and stronger immune systems mounting a more vigorous overcompensating response that can overwhelm the body. “It’s likely [the school officials] saved a lot of lives that way,” said Hynick. The progression of the containment measures in Worcester during the influenza pandemic will likely sound familiar. There were ongoing debates on what, if anything, needed to be closed down and what took precedence. It was soon clear that events with large numbers of people should be discouraged, so a little over a week after the first deaths in Worcester, churches were closed and residents were advised to limit wakes and funerals. At the height of the virus, schools, businesses and churches were closed and large gatherings were prohibited. Still, these measures were short lived compared to the present day. “Everything was on a micro scale back then,” said Chamberlayne, with restrictions measured in weeks instead of months. However, the city had been initially reluctant to shutter businesses — bars, bowling alleys and pool halls stayed open for three weeks after the cases in Worcester first began to increase. Hynick suggested that a large part of why the disease began to spread to the wealthier parts of the city around mid-October is because these businesses were not shut down soon enough. Groups such as the

COVER STORY

St. Vincent Hospital in 1918, from “The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Worcester” exhibit by Megan McBurnie, MD and John Ryan, MD. WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSUEM

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is reflected in the initial reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the administration laid the blame for the novel coronavirus at China’s door, with the president and other administration officials calling it the “China virus” and “Kung Flu.” Hooper saw the effects of this rhetoric on Chinese students, who faced the dilemma of whether or not to stay in the United States. The rising anti-Asian sentiment in the United States encouraged some of them to return to China, only to find themselves unwelcome at home. Elements inside China saw them as having chosen to leave their country and in returning were now potentially bringing new COVID cases from the West, Hooper said. “These kids were in a lonely bind and a larger kind of identity crisis in trying to develop a sense of what is a safe space for them.” Concurrent events Historians know that nothing happens in a vacuum. During concurrent national events that compete for public attention, focus is divided which can often negatively impact the response from both individuals and institutions. During the influenza pandemic, it was the First World War that affected how the nation responded to the news of illness and death on the home front as well as the war front. It caused the administration to put one crisis on the back burner while focusing on the other. A few months after the COVID pandemic began, the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent reckoning with the country’s history on race vied for public attention. Massive protests for racial justice,

a tense presidential election and allegations of election fraud followed by an attack on the Capitol Building would have all been historic events on their own. Together, they created a level of public stress, similar to a wartime setting. When the public consciousness is pulled in different directions, the conflict is played out all over the country. The dichotomy is expressed in how people react and can even be seen in retrospect, based on what people do and do not talk about afterward. “People talked about relatives dying in World War I but not the incredible number of people who died in the influenza pandemic in a short period of time,” said Hooper. It is possible that the societal perception of the crises, both the war and the pandemic, may have contributed to how it was remembered. The influenza pandemic was never acknowledged to be the widespread virulence that it was, but was perceived to be more of a local phenomenon. As a result, few people knew that the same circumstances of disease and death were playing out all over the country. And it was only in retrospect that it was deemed to have been a worldwide pandemic. Today, more than a hundred years later, we are aware that of the 4.5 million Americans who served overseas in the war, the U.S. military lost more personnel to the deadly influenza (63,114) than to combat (53,402). Now known to have been H1N1, the virus spread around the world and at home, more than 675,000 Americans died of influenza. Since the early part of 2020, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 485,000 in the U.S. so far, and 2.4 million worldwide.

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ext month will be a year since what many consider the “official” start of the COVID crisis — when statewide shutdowns were implemented, restaurants and businesses were closed and it was recommended that Americans stay home as much as possible. It’s also almost a year since Becker College professors Sharon Dipasquale and Ales Jug gave a presentation called The Hidden Truth About Pandemics. The March 2, 2020, lecture discussed how disparate factors such as global travel, supply chain management and politics all magnify the impact of a pandemic on society. “Our intent was to give the students the opportunity to look at things from an interdisciplinary perspective,” said Dipasquale, instructor of nursing. “Wouldn’t it be great to have future finance and nursing students partnering in this discussion?” The two professors had been teaching courses back to back in the same classroom, with Jug leaving just as Dipasquale came in to prepare, and they began discussing the applications of each of their fields in the other’s. According to Dipasquale, “pandemics will happen — it’s the nature of viruses and bacteria.” The trap we fall into is assuming that modern healthcare technology will insulate us from the worst of the effects. However, that very technology still depends on manufacturing based on global supply chains, and companies often have no contingency plans for when those chains are disrupted, said Jug, associate professor of management and marketing. Both point out that our systems need to take into account that pandemics can happen at any time, and our infrastructure, policy and technologies need to have built-in resilience with alternative means of supply, when faced with sudden volatility. As Jug said, “the Western world has not had a crisis like this in quite a while so it’s imperative we

invest in preparedness.” While the lecture was held in-person, Dipasquale was already bracing for the lockdown. “I did believe, at the time I gave the presentation, that it would impact our ability to meet on campus,” she said. As it happens, the lecture was one of the last events held before campuses shut down. “From a nursing perspective,” Dispasquale points out, “I knew the reality of what might happen because of the data that was coming out. My background is in community health so I probably saw that freight train sooner than others, but I couldn’t have imagined how extreme it would be. In the last pandemic, we didn’t have as much global travel — the spread and the possibility of variants has exponentially increased.” From Jug’s point of view, by the time classes closed down, the economic fallout of COVID had already begun, as major companies faced immense disruptions in their supply chains. “Only about 30% of large businesses had any back-up plan in place,” said Jug. This uncertainty was passed on to consumers, in the form of shortages and price increases for basic amenities such as toilet paper, masks, soap and hand sanitizer. The signs of the crisis to come were clearly there for anyone who knew how to look for them. Both fields, healthcare and supply-side economics, were flashing red yet both Dipasquale and Jug were hoping to be proved wrong. “Any time we tax or strain the systems, weaknesses show up and are magnified,” Dipasquale said. Even the politicization of the pandemic didn’t come as a surprise. Exposing the inherent flaws in a system of any kind will inevitably lead to finger-pointing. “Whenever you shine a light on something, people get defensive,” she said. For Jug, supply chains were the weak link, particularly U.S. dependence on China for supplies. In terms of healthcare, vulnerabilities exist, not only in medical actions — such as supplies and

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als on the whole convey the depth of urgency for something like the COVID crisis. treatment — but communication Dipasquale still didn’t anticipate and public perception. Both of these the vociferous pushback on masking are vital to implementing measures or other protocols. Adopting or not such as masks, social distancing adopting masks as a political stateand ultimately the vaccine. The ment, in particular, was unexpected. inadequacies in communications The wildfire spread of misinformaare what has seriously undermined tion that contributed to some of the “people’s perceptions of vaccines resistance to the shutdowns, mask and the state of educating the pubwearing and even the existence of the lic,” said Dipasquale. pandemic was stoked by social media. Dipasquale sees this as an opOver the last year, both profesportunity to encourage nurses to get sors found themselves warning their involved in the creation of healthstudents to be discerning about care policy. The inclusion of healththeir media consumption. “We have care perspectives “from the bedside” a lot of fake news and conspiracy could be integral to key changes in theories and we need to impress the next pandemic response. upon young people to follow only “A lot of [healthcare policy] is credible sources,” said Jug. crafted by special interest groups The pandemic has exacted a rather than nurses,” she said. “It’s massive human and economic toll really almost imperative to have but they believe that the infrastrucnursing voices if we’re going to have ture systems of their respective effective healthcare policy.” fields have the potential to come Generations like her own who out stronger. Jug cited the possibilhave lived through rapid disease ity of greater economic resilience, spreads, such as polio, will more specifically local alternatives to readily take to whatever safety global supply chains, the potential measures are enacted. Those lacking for which was demonstrated when that life experience, may not appreU.S. businesses began pivoting their ciate the gravity of the situation. It production to contribute to PPE and is those groups who depend on the ventilator stockpiles. medical community to warn them As teachers, however, the most — something that doesn’t always important point they hope the work out. “We do a really poor job country takes from this experience of speaking in lay terms,” she said, is also the simplest. The opportunity regarding how medical professionto learn and improve. C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 13

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yearned for acceptance within an East Egg circle that he couldn’t enter, as did Gatsby. All the extravagance and razzle-dazzle of Gatsby’s West Egg can be found in West Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago, where men and women who didn’t care for their host willingly wined and dined. Jay Gatsby’s ballroom would eventually be empty, littered with broken glass and confetti. Mar-a- Lago’s memberships have dried up faster than spilled Asti Spumante. When Jay Gatsby was laid to rest, the people whose acceptance and love he had courted for so long stayed away from his service. Being associated with him was no longer desirable. In fact, he had become toxic, someone to be shunned even in death. In the end, Gatsby was done in by a cuckolded widower crazed with

grief. That won’t be Trump’s undoing; if so that would’ve happened decades ago. Trump needn’t worry about the vengeance of grief-stricken liberals mourning the death of democracy — we don’t shoot. We vote. It’s the gaze of Dr. Eckleburg that Trump will always try to escape, until he no longer can avoid those judging eyes. Whether that judgment comes from the state of Georgia as it investigates his outrageous and desperate phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, or the Southern District of New York’s meticulous combing of his financial shenanigans, the doctor continues to watch. Trump speeds down that ashen road in the same garish yellow car responsible for death and suffering, and the eyes of Eckleburg are upon him. Forty-three senators hitched a ride on the running boards. The good doctor sees them, too.

CITY LIFE

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

Tom Grady resides in Holden with his wife and children. He specializes in oil portraits and large-scale figurative

painting. His award-winning paintings and drawings have been exhibited in various galleries throughout New England. His work can be seen at tomgradystudio.com.

This Artist Spotlight is presented by Worcester Magazine in partnership with ArtsWorcester. Since 1979, ArtsWorcester has exhibited and advanced the work of this region’s contemporary artists. Its exhibitions and educational events are open and free to all. Learn more at www.artsworcester.org.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Tom Grady, Self Portrait at 31, oil on canvas, 18” x 18”.

CITY LIFE

CONNELL SANDERS

Who are you, Frankie? Big slices, bigger mystery SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

try to stay on top of the food scene in Worcester, but I can’t take credit for this one. Frankie’s friended my husband on Facebook, Friday afternoon. They had plenty of mutual connections and there was a certain amount of credibility in Frankie’s business URL: www.worcestersbestpizza.com. “Ever heard of this place on Providence Street?” my husband asked me. I hadn’t, but we decided to give it a shot for dinner. He accepted the request and placed an order. My husband arrived home later than expected, carrying a pizza box the size of our coffee table. “I ordered a large,” he said, “I guess I couldn’t picture how big twenty-four-inches was until it came out of the oven.” We didn’t bother with plates. We pulled the massive slices straight from the cardboard, letting oil and juices drip down our fingers as we shoveled melted cheese into our hungry little mouths. The dog lost his mind. I was transported to a different time and place entirely — the year 2008, 2 a.m., Fordham Road in the Bronx. We used to say there were four meals a day in college: breakfast, lunch, dinner and pizza. Finally, I remembered why. Who are you Frankie? Where did you come from? How did you know who to friend on social media, because I know my husband wasn’t your only target. Was it luck? The moment I posted a picture of the pie to my Instagram story, the messages rolled in. Everyone around me seemed to be aware of Frankie’s, but no one had the scoop. Had Frankie’s been manifested in the dead of night, under a waxing crescent moon? Sort of. Based on Frankie’s posts and the experiences of friends who visited his shop over the weekend,

A mysterious new pizza shop, I Love Frankie’s, opened at 90 Providence Street in late January. SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

here’s what I have gathered: Frankie likes to sing and shout his feelings while tossing dough high up into the air. His hair is long; he favors stocking caps and the occasional fedora. Until recently, he ran a pizza shop in Colorado. On Frankie’s cross country road trip to Worcester, his appendix burst and he had to have emergency surgery in Indianapolis. Somewhere along the way, he adopted a Dalmatian puppy, a gift for his daughter. He loves Michael Jordan. The shop opened in late January at 90 Providence St., and although the sign from outside reads “A&C Pizza,” it is indeed I Love Frankie’s on the inside. Last weekend, Frankie’s sold 100 of their 24-inch pies. “You guys are relentless … thank you,” @i_lovefrankies posted on Feb. 9.

There’s something refreshing about Frankie’s lack of standard social media strategy. The account handles are all over the place, at times getting jumbled with the owner’s former business — 3 Guys Pies out of Denver. The use of an emoji in the name “I Love Frankie’s” and an on-again, off-again attitude toward apostrophes intrigues me. Frankie’s is

“The moment I posted a picture of the pie to my Instagram story, the messages rolled in. Everyone around me seemed to be aware of Frankie’s, but no one had the scoop. Had Frankie’s been manifested in the dead of night, under a waxing crescent moon?” SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

intense, aloof, mysterious. A post from Frankie’s in January cites the Law of Attraction, a popular new-age philosophy that claims positive thoughts can bring positive consequences in a person’s life. Frankie claims to have picked up a job application from a Worcester pizza shop a few years back with the intention of working his way up. According to the caption, life kept him in Colorado for much longer than expected. When he got back to Worcester in August of 2020, the very pizzeria where he had asked for a job application was now up for sale. “The law of attraction has never been more electric in my life than it is right now,” Frankie writes, “I’m literally bawling my eyes out in my car right now, sitting in front of the pizzeria — Worcester, Massachusetts ... I’m inside you.” Keep drinking that moon water and activating those crystals, Frankie. You just manifested yourself some free press. Now, tell us the whole story.

CITY LIFE

SCREEN TIME

‘Malcolm & Marie’s’ warring couple unnaturally eloquent JIM KEOGH

Maybe it was the wrong choice to watch “Malcolm & Marie” after a long week. A challenging week is meant to be capped by a comedy, or a rerun of “The Great British Baking Show,” or maybe a Celtics game — though with the way they’re playing lately, tuning in is like stumbling onto a “Dateline” murder scene. Judging by the M&M trailer, I already knew this exploration into the darkest corners of a troubled relationship would be intense and uncomfortable, the kind of viewing experience requiring focus and stamina, and maybe a couple of beers.

ton, is a film director/screenwriter whose widely acknowledged talent is augmented by a swirling Category 5 ego. His girlfriend, Marie, played by Zendaya, is cooler tempered, smart and silently seething. They return to the Malibu beach house from the premiere of Malcolm’s newest film, which has been received kindly by the audience and critics, some who are hailing Malcolm as the next Spike Lee. The director is impressed with the glowing response, yet laments how the effusive praise is couched in race. The next Spike Lee? The next great Black director? Is it so preposterous to place him in a class with, say, William Wyler, or any other number of white directors?

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Marie is less moved by his plight, and she has her reasons. Malcolm’s movie is inspired by her own troubled life; the lead character just a little too familiar. Why C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 18

But I’m a fan of both actors starring in this two-character passion play, John David Washington and Zendaya, and so decided to plunge headfirst into their abyss of dysfunction. Malcolm, played by Washing-

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John David Washington and Zendaya star in “Malcolm & Marie.”

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SCREEN TIME

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couldn’t Malcolm acknowledge her contribution and publicly thank his muse? And why is she standing at the stove, angry and alienated after this night’s grand, glittery display, making mac and cheese for her man? Over the course of nearly two hours, we come to know Malcolm and Marie as well as any therapist. They fret, they flirt, they attack and retreat. Have you ever been at a party where a couple is arguing, and you can sense the discomfort creeping up the spines of every guest in the room? That’s what it’s like watching these two go at it. Malcolm and Marie have a problem, and so do I — with them. It’s that they don’t talk like human beings. Oh, I understand the words; they’re all in the dictionary. But the characters stitch them together in a grandiloquent tapestry that rarely sounds like an exchange between two real people. They more often resem-

ble warring attorneys, oscillating between prosecution and defense before mercifully lapsing into their closing arguments. I’m not sure they make a suitable couple, but I’d certainly want them representing me in a courtroom. At one point I closed my eyes and just listened. I didn’t hear Malcolm and Marie. I heard the screenwriter, Sam Levinson (who also directed). These were his sentences — too clever by a shade, graced with too-perfect metaphors, never a stumble in their construction or delivery. The voice was all Sam’s. He was chewing the scenery from afar. I suppose that’s the danger of any tightly choreographed two-person show. Filling those mouths with interesting things to say can divert attention away from the people doing all the saying if the dialogue doesn’t resonate as genuine. I welcomed the opportunity to watch two fine actors practice their craft. Otherwise, I just felt my long week had been lengthened.

artists

Jim and Chrisoula, owners of O’Hara’s Wines & Liquors

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Time again to clean out the beer fridge of news MATTHEW TOTA

son and Timberyard Brewing Co. in East Brookfield have opened again for draft pours. It’s the kind of happy news that can jolt me out of the doldrums and give me the energy and hope to survive the winter. Medusa, which has been closed because of the pandemic since last spring, is finally accepting reservations for its downtown taproom. Medusa briefly operated an indoor beer garden, “Medusa on Broad,” which closed before the holidays. Timberyard also turned on its taps last weekend. Since December, the lumberyard brewery has only been selling to-go beer through its drive-thru. For the most up-to-date taproom hours for both breweries, visit their websites: medusabrewing.com and timberyardbrewing. com.

opened my beer fridge last weekend and shuddered. Cans from October jammed into every free space without reason. Bottles from December wedged tightly along the door. And far too many questions: When did I buy that? Why? It’s time again to clean out my beer fridge and look back at some brewery news around Central Massachusetts that got caught up in the chaos.

Between taproom tips in August 2020 and sales of its Burudika lager before the ACE gala in November, Redemption Rock Brewing Co. customers donated $2,568 to African Community Education (ACE). Pictured from left to right: Tim O’Neil, ACE’s marketing and fundraising manager, Kaska Yawo, ACE’s executive director and co-founder, and Dani Babineau, Redemption Rock’s CEO and co-founder. SUBMIT TED PHOTO

said to call it, ‘Burudika,’” he said in an interview with Redemption Rock. “That’s what it means — ‘having fun.’ When people are laughing and having a good time, we say ‘burudika’ to mean ‘they are enjoying.’ It’s like ‘cheers,’ too. When you open a drink with someone, it’s ‘burudika!’” Medusa, Timberyard reopen taprooms Two of my favorite taprooms have their taps flowing again after months of dormancy. Medusa Brewing Co. in Hud-

For details, visit treehousebrew. com.

like Umqombothi, a lighter, lower alcohol beer brewed with maize and sorghum, according to brewer and co-founder Greg Carlson. The brewery sourced malted maize from Valley Malt in Hadley and tea from Worcester’s own Acoustic Java. Worcester artist Abu Mwenye, a native of Tanzania, designed the can art for Burudika. The label is vibrant and colorful, highlighting two traditional African instruments, the marimba and zeze. Mwenye, it turns out, also came up with the beer’s name. “I

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In 2019, Redemption Rock customers raised $3,157 for ACE, which helped it hire a liaison for the Worcester Public Schools. With much of ACE’s programing going remote, the liaison position has been critical in helping keep the students, parents and schools in touch. Last week, Redemption Rock presented ACE with a check for $2,568, the money raised from tips and sales of Burudika. Redemption Rock garnered inspiration for Burudika in part from traditional African beers

Tree House hiring Want to work for the fourth best brewery in the world? Tree House Brewing Co. has posted a handful of new positions for its new locations in Deerfield and Sandwich. Tree House’s Deerfield taproom is opening on the 50-acre former home of Channing Bete Co., a publishing company that closed in 2019. Among the positions open for the taproom is a parking lot attendant, crucial given the taproom will have more than 300 parking spots. The Sandwich taproom will sit on Cape Cod Bay, between Town Neck beach and Scusset Harbor. Tree House is looking for a part-time photographer for the taproom, probably necessary to capture the beauty of the sunsplashed, seaside locale. Both taprooms are expected to open this year.

F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

Burudika! (Cheers in Swahili) Beyond the flavor, what makes a beer memorable is the story behind its creation. You don’t get those stories with the mass-produced stuff: It’s only the local breweries that have the time and patience to brew beers with tales to tell. Last year, one of my favorite stories behind the beer was how newly-minted B Corp Redemption Rock Brewery came to brew Burudika, its maize and rooibos tea lager. Burudika only happens because of Redemption Rock’s commitment to helping the city’s nonprofits. Redemption Rock has built a bond with Worcester nonprofit African Community Education, which reached out to the brewery last year asking if it would brew a beer for its most important fundraising event of the year. Redemption Rock and its customers first supported African Community Education (ACE) in August 2019, then again last summer through its charitable tipping program, in which it directs all tips to a different nonprofit every month. ACE assists the more than 20,000 African-born immigrants in Worcester through academic support, leadership development, cultural expression, and community outreach.

CITY LIFE

ADOPTION OPTION Welcome to Adoption Option, a partnership with the Worcester Animal Rescue League highlighting their adoptable pets. Check this space often to meet all of the great pets at WARL in need of homes.WARL is open seven days a week, noon-4 p.m., 139 Holden St. Check them out online at Worcesterarl.org, or call at (508) 853-0030.

Tilly was surrendered to our shelter because of the owner’s poor health. She was so

heavily matted she couldn’t walk. When we shaved off her matts, we discovered a cancerous mammary tumor, which our veterinarian removed. Her adopters must check her nipples regularly and have any new tumors removed as quickly as possible. A foster mom took Tilly home for a few weeks. Tilly was content to stay in one room. She would go over to greet the foster mom then return to her bed. She eats most of her food overnight. Tilly doesn’t want to live with animals or kids. She is most comfortable with one or two people. We recommend that you keep her in one room, so you don’t have to search your home for her hiding spots. EAST DOUGLAS PHOTO

WARL COVID-19 Procedures

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F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

As of Novemeber 9, 2021

Worcester 31 Caroline Street Plantation Street area ... Brand new One-bedroom apartment...includes washer/dryer, storage, off-street parking, heat and h/w ... No smoking, no pets. Worcester Center Hill Apts 503-505 Mill St. ...The Tatnuck area’s newest apartment homes. large 1 & 2 BR, W/D in each apt, storage, elevator, heat & hot water included. Nice walking area. No pets.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we want to share with you some changes we have implemented so that we can continue to serve the pets and people of our community while keeping our team protected. • ADOPTIONS: At this time, adoptions are being held BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you are interested in adoption, please visit our website worcesterarl.org/ adopt/ to learn more about our available animals then call us at (508) 853-0030 ext.0 or email us at info@worcesterarl. org to schedule an appointment. • Casual visits to the shelter are prohibited. We will strictly enforce this in order to keep our animal care team protected while still maintaining the most essential function of our operation...finding homes for animals in need. • ANIMAL SURRENDERS: Our business practice for surrendering a pet remains the same. All pet owners must contact WARL in advance of surrendering a pet. Please call (508) 853-0030.

To view apartments 508-756-2147 or cathy@botanybayproperties.com

• SPAY/NEUTER CLINICS: All scheduled appointments will be honored. If you have a scheduled appointment, we will be contacting you to discuss changes to our drop off/pick up procedures.

• DONATIONS ACCEPTED except for open bags of food. • Pet food, cat litter, and other shelter supplies will be essential in continuing to provide for our animals and to assist community members in need. To avoid unnecessary travel and exposure, items can be purchased online from our Amazon Wishlist - https:// www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3AX342JIL73M0 • Weekly training classes are going on for adopters. • The WARL Volunteer Program is temporarily suspended. All regular volunteer shifts are on hold. We look forward to welcoming you back as soon as we can. We have many animals in our care who depend on us to stay healthy and well. The above measures help to protect our staff and community from the spread of COVID - 19 by minimizing face-to-face interactions while continuing to operate only core essential services. Please continue to follow our Facebook page for additional updates. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the shelter at (508) 853-0030 or info@ worcesterarl.org.

Thank you for your continued FURiendship and support.

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Is Cassette contents During Eagle’s perch Disney “princess” fond of reading 54 Adams who photographed Yosemite 55 Target of some over-thecounter medicine 56 Toe the line 57 Go after flies 58 Went 40 in a 20 zone, e.g. 61 Mint-condition 62 Ending for Nepal

Last week's solution

Down 1 Building locations 2 Mature

Disperse “All ___ go!” College square “... join in ___ reindeer games” 7 Photographer Goldin 8 Short loin cut 9 ___ gobi (Indian potato dish) 10 Mailed, as a contest entry, way back when 11 Temperature where the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales meet, out of order? 12 Boo-boo 13 They give shade 18 ___-Provera (birth control injection) 22 “But she’s calling ___” (“Mr. Brightside”) 24 Off-the-highway eatery 25 It pairs with steak 28 Parking person 29 Malia’s sister 30 Buffoonish 31 1970s song whose first two words denote the first two letters 32 Letters on a boom box 33 '80s “This Old House” host Bob 34 Persevere, out of order? 36 Some side dishes 42 Country singer Campbell 44 Fail to bring up a memory

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F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

Enjoy Fun By The Numbers puzzles? Then you’ll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

Across 1 Bodily pouches (and not something like what Santa carries, unfortunately) 5 Airline to Adelaide 11 Adversary 14 How some sit by 15 Lacking the resources 16 Hedwig, for one 17 Midday song by The Moody Blues, out of order? 19 Cup edge 20 Blissful 21 Jots down 23 Throat problem, briefly 24 “Forgot About ___” (2000 single) 26 Frigid 27 Oscar winner 29 Stylish, to some 32 “We try harder” rental company 35 “Forever Mine” singer Day 37 Ray of sunshine 38 “Good Will Hunting” campus 39 Comedian Black who was Anger in “Inside Out” 40 GOP fundraising org. 41 It’s red, white, and blue for a bunch of countries 43 “Love Story” author Segal 44 “The Duchess of Alba” painter 45 Croquet need 47 “Far out!” 49 “Smallville” villain Luthor 50 “Moonrise Kingdom” director Anderson 51 Addis ___ (Ethiopia’s capital) 55 Breed of chicken once known as Indian Game 58 Vexation 59 Kimono sash 60 Punny Stephan Pastis comic strip, out of order? 63 Guitar master Paul 64 “Honor Thy Father” author Gay 65 River from Lake Victoria 66 Turn purple? 67 Like some tomatoes 68 Boat bottom

“You’re All Out of Order” — it’s all about the position. by Matt Jones

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Worcester Housing Authority Worcester Housing Authority Public Notice Public Notice The Worcester Housing Authority in-inThe Worcester Housing Authority vites vitessealed sealedbids bidsforforOffice OfficeBuilding Building Renovations Renovations- -Interior InteriorStorefronts, Storefronts, BFI BFI630 630Plantation PlantationSt,St,Worcester, Worcester, MA MA 01605; 01605;WHA WHAJob JobNo. No.2021-02, 2021-02, ininaccordance accordancewith withthe thedocuments documents prepared preparedbybyWorcester WorcesterHousing HousingAuAuthority. thority.The Thework workis isestimated estimatedtoto cost $135,000. cost $135,000. Project consists limited Project consistsofofbut butis isnot not limited to:to:Furnishing Furnishingand andinstallation installationofofin-interior teriorstorefront storefrontsystems systemsforforthe theof-office ficespaces spacesasasdescribed describedininthe the specifications and drawings. specifications and drawings. Bid Bidforms formsand andContract ContractDocuments Documents will willbebemade madeavailable availableononthe theWorWorcester cesterHousing HousingAuthority Authoritywebsite website (http://www.worcesterha.org/curre (http://www.worcesterha.org/curre ntbids.html) ntbids.html)atatnonocost. cost.Hard Hardcopies copies will willbebemade madeavailable availableononFebruary February 11, 11,2021 2021atatthe theWorcester WorcesterHousing Housing Authority, Authority,Department DepartmentofofModerniModernization, zation,8181Tacoma TacomaStreet, Street,WorcesWorcester, ter,MA MA01605 01605and andthereafter, thereafter,MonMonday daythru thruFriday Friday8:00 8:00a.m. a.m.through through 4:30 4:30p.m. p.m. Copies Copiesofofthe thecontract contract documents documentsmay maybebeobtained obtainedbyby depositing depositing$50.00 $50.00ininthe theform formofofa a company companycheck, check,made madepayable payabletoto the theWorcester WorcesterHousing HousingAuthority, Authority, forforeach eachset setofofdocuments documentssosoobobtained. tained. General GeneralBids Bidswill willbebereceived receiveduntil until 2:00 p.m. ononThursday, 25, 2:00 p.m. Thursday,February February 25, 2021 2021atatthe theWorcester WorcesterHousing HousingAuAuthority, thority,Department DepartmentofofModernizaModernization, tion,8181Tacoma TacomaStreet, Street,Worcester, Worcester, MA MA01605 01605atatwhich whichtime timeand andplace place allallbids bidswill willbebepublicly publiclyopened openedand and read aloud. read aloud. AA Pre-bid Conference will bebe held atat Pre-bid Conference will held 10:00 10:00a.m. a.m.ononThursday, Thursday,February February 18, 18,2021 2021atat630 630Plantation PlantationStreet, Street, Worcester, Worcester,MA MA 01605, 01605,atatwhich which time timebidders bidderswill willbebeinvited invitedtotovisit visit the theproject projectsite sitewith witha aWorcester Worcester Housing Housing Authority Authority representative. representative. AllAllattendees attendeesare arerequired requiredtotocomcomply plywith withState StateCOVID-19 COVID-19guidelines. guidelines. Snow SnowDate Dateforforsite sitevisit visitwill willbebeheld held atat10:00 10:00a.m. a.m.ononFriday, Friday,February February 19, 19,2021. 2021.Failure Failuretotoattend attendororvisit visit the thepremises premisesshall shallbebenonodefense defenseinin failure failuretotoperform performcontract contractterms. terms. Project Projectcompletion completiondate dateby: by:Friday Friday June 25, 2021. June 25, 2021.

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F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

LEGALS Worcester Housing Authority Worcester Housing Authority Public Notice Public Notice The Worcester Housing Authority in-inThe Worcester Housing Authority vites viteswritten writtenquotes quotesforforthe theManManagement Office Renovations agement Office Renovationslocated located atat275 275Pleasant PleasantStreet, Street,Worcester, Worcester, MA MA 01605; 01605;WHA WHARFQ RFQNo. No.2021202101Q, 01Q,ininaccordance accordancewith withthe thedocudocuments prepared byby Worcester Housments prepared Worcester Housing Authority. The work is is estimated ing Authority. The work estimated toto cost $24,400.00. cost $24,400.00. Project consists limited Project consistsofofbut butis isnot not limited to:to:Demolition, Demolition,Alterations Alterationsand andNew New construction constructionofoftransaction transactiondesk, desk, lighting lightingfixtures, fixtures,painting paintingand andcarpet carpet flooring. flooring. Bid Bidforms formsand andContract ContractDocuments Documents will willbebemade madeavailable availableononthe theWorWorcester cesterHousing HousingAuthority Authoritywebsite website (http://www.worcesterha.org/curre (http://www.worcesterha.org/curre ntbids.html) ntbids.html)atatnonocost. cost.Hard Hardcopies copies will willbebemade madeavailable availableononFebruary February 11, 11,2021 2021atatthe theWorcester WorcesterHousing Housing Authority, Authority,Department DepartmentofofModerniModernization, zation,8181Tacoma TacomaStreet, Street,WorcesWorcester, ter,MA MA01605 01605and andthereafter, thereafter,MonMonday daythru thruFriday Friday8:00 8:00a.m. a.m.through through 4:30 4:30p.m. p.m. Copies Copiesofofthe thecontract contract documents documentsmay maybebeobtained obtainedbyby depositing depositing$50.00 $50.00ininthe theform formofofa a company companycheck, check,made madepayable payabletoto the theWorcester WorcesterHousing HousingAuthority, Authority, forforeach eachset setofofdocuments documentssosoobobtained. tained. General GeneralBids Bidswill willbebereceived receiveduntil until 2:00 p.m. ononThursday, 25, 2:00 p.m. Thursday,February February 25, 2021 2021atatthe theWorcester WorcesterHousing HousingAuAuthority, thority,Department DepartmentofofModernizaModernization, tion,8181Tacoma TacomaStreet, Street,Worcester, Worcester, MA MA01605 01605atatwhich whichtime timeand andplace place allallbids bidswill willbebepublicly publiclyopened openedand and read aloud. read aloud. AA Pre-bid Conference will bebe held atat Pre-bid Conference will held 1:00 p.m. ononThursday, 18, 1:00 p.m. Thursday,February February 18, 2021 2021atat275 275Pleasant PleasantStreet, Street,WorWorcester, cester,MA MA 01605, 01605,atatwhich whichtime time bidders bidderswill willbebeinvited invitedtotovisit visitthe the project projectsite sitewith witha aWorcester WorcesterHousHousing ingAuthority Authorityrepresentative. representative.AllAllat-attendees tendeesare arerequired requiredtotocomply comply with with State State COVID-19 COVID-19 guidelines. guidelines. Snow SnowDate Dateforforsite sitevisit visitwill willbebeheld held atat10:00 10:00a.m. a.m.ononFriday, Friday,February February 19, 19,2021. 2021.Failure Failuretotoattend attendororvisit visit the thepremises premisesshall shallbebenonodefense defenseinin failure failuretotoperform performcontract contractterms. terms. Project Projectcompletion completiondate dateby: by:Friday, Friday, May 28, 2021. May 28, 2021.

SERVICE DIRECTORY Worcester Housing Authority Worcester Housing Authority Public Notice Public Notice The Worcester Housing Authority in-inThe Worcester Housing Authority vites sealed bids forfor New Mechanvites sealed bids New Mechanical icalInstallation Installationfor forBuilding BuildingB B Addition Additionininaccordance accordancewith withthe the documents documentsprepared preparedbybyWHA. WHA.The The work work is is estimated estimated toto cost cost $200,000.00. $200,000.00. Project consists limited Project consistsofofbut butis isnot not limited to:to:Furnishing Furnishingand andinstallation installationofof HVAC HVACequipment equipmentand andassociated associated systems forforthe desystems theoffice officespaces spacesasas described scribedininthe thespecifications specificationsand and drawings. drawings. Bid Bidforms formsand andContract ContractDocuments Documents will will bebe made made available available onon the the BidDocs ONLINE website BidDocs ONLINE website (www.biddocsonline.com) (www.biddocsonline.com)atatnono cost. cost.Hard Hardcopies copieswill willbebemade made available availableononFebruary February17, 17,2021 2021atat Nashoba NashobaBlue, Blue,Inc. Inc.atat433 433Main Main Street, Hudson, MA 01749 (978-568Street, Hudson, MA 01749 (978-5681167). 1167). The TheAddition Additionis isunder underconstruction construction and andthere therewill willbebenonopre-bid pre-bidconferconference. ence.The Thescope scopework workis isshown showninin the documents. the documents. General Bids will bebe received until General Bids will received until 2:00 p.m. onon Thursday March 2:00 p.m. Thursday March 4th, 2021 atat the Worcester Housing 4th, 2021 the Worcester Housing Authority, 630A Plantation Street, Authority, 630A Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605. Worcester, MA 01605.

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Sudoku Answers

LAST CALL

Molly O’Connor

Podcaster and Educator

n honor of Galentine’s Day, I checked in with my closest friend and collaborator, Molly O’Connor.

When we started “Pop It,” back in 2018, we had no clue what kind of world we’d be living in by our 100th episode. What was your original vision for the podcast and how has it changed? I think when we first started, it was kind of on a whim. Right? We thought, “Look! We have a podcast. This is a thing we’re doing for fun.” It’s great how we’ve been able to focus on talking to local women. But, I also think that it’s really cool how the podcast has become a way for us to publicly work through and maintain a friendship. We are free to talk about our own thoughts and opinions with each other in a very frank way that I hope people can relate to, or at least get something out of.

I am so glad she’s rerecording old albums. There were six songs Taylor originally had on “Fearless” and the studio said they weren’t marketable back then. She’s going to include all of them. I love when musicians are able to do that. Fleetwood Mac did that with “Silver Springs.” They decided not to include it on “Rumors.” And then, years later they released it and people were like, “This is the greatest, most beautiful and Interesting song.”

MICHAEL HENDRICKSON/UNITYMIKE.COM

talking to them about the internet of things, which is a new trend where fridges and other physical objects are online.

And who would your dream guest be for the 100th episode? I have been following a comedian named Patty Harrison. She is unbelievably funny and she’s also

Is there anything else the world should know about Molly O.? When I was a kid, I used to tell my mom that I liked visiting the doctor because I loved talking about myself. I could always go on — but, all I will say is that I think that every person should watch “Paddington 2” because it will make you happy. — Sarah Connell Sanders

I read a tweet where a girl got her phone taken away, so she was tweeting from her refrigerator. It’s so crazy. Right? At one point, I had to explain how when we were kids, you used a phone line to access the internet. They Tell us about a lesson you have never even experienced taught your elementary that. One girl asked me, “What is students this year where they ended up teaching you a phone line?” I threw together a mini-lesson called, “A brief history something. of the internet.” The curiosity with I’ve had a bunch of those fun which they approached it was moments this year, especially in talking to kids about technology. I incredible. had a lesson one day where I was

If you could celebrate our 100th episode with no restrictions or budgetary constraints, what would you do? You will know the answer, because it is my answer to any question like this, which is obviously a roller disco party. I love disco and I’m desperate to throw a party at which the only music played is from a very specific time and place and people pretend it’s 1978. That’s all I want in my life.

Would you ever consider running for public office? Oh my goodness. Not in the near future, but maybe someday. I am actually more interested in pursuing education policy. In terms of the future, I feel like I have a pretty good sense for explaining things to kids in a way that they understand, especially in science and technology. Maybe I could be like Bill Nye — a science communicator. Right now, I want to get through this school year and prioritize the kids that I have in front of me.

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Exactly. What are some of your favorite female friendships depicted in film or television? I know we both enjoy “Pen15.” I also like “Shrill” a lot. Those are both really good shows that manage to be funny and feel like real life because they’re not conflict adverse when it comes to friendships, especially “Pen15.” Teenagers have trouble being themselves and connecting to one another in a way that is expressive and honest. I think teen girls struggle so much with their own identity

Is there a local issue you feel particularly passionate about right now? For me, looking at the big picture right now, I would love a rehaul of our City Council and School Committee. I think that last election cycle, we had some really wonderful candidates. I would love to see some fresh blood in there. The city is actually being sued for voter suppression because of the way that the School Committee is elected and the way the at-large system impacts marginalized candidates. The people are not fairly represented.

It’s important to leave room for friendly disagreements. Can you share an unpopular opinion about pop culture you’ve been mulling over lately? When I was younger, I would say, “This thing sucks and you shouldn’t like it.” I’ve gotten better about being like, “You’ve got to let people enjoy what they enjoy.” But, Sarah, you’re not going to like this. I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift’s “folklore.” I don’t think, by any stretch, that any of it’s “bad.” But, to me, it feels like a boring version of music that was popular 11 years ago. I started wondering if maybe I just never liked The National as much as I thought I did. The storytelling is really strong, but I can’t remember any of the songs from “folklore.” To me, that’s something I look for. Regardless, I’ve had “Love Story” stuck in my head for a week.

F E B R U A RY 18 - 24, 2021

I think the podcast has definitely become a model of female friendship, not necessarily in an exemplary sense, but to show women as fully formed humans who share powerful relationships and have flaws. Yeah, in the same episode, we might have disagreements and also express platonic love for one another.

on “I Think You Should Leave,” a very esoteric Netflix comedy. She’s a trans woman. I would love to talk with her. So my answer is, “Patty Harris, come on Pop It.”

that it can be hard to navigate the world. I really liked how that show portrays friendship. I also love how “Captain Marvel” prioritizes the friendship of the two main characters.

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Worcester Magazine - February 18 - 24, 2021

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Connell Sanders

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