1-17, 10 | OCTOBER 1 - 7, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM
CITY VOICES LANDGREN STATE TROOPERS QUITTING OVER VACCINE MANDATE MAY HAVE CAREER PATH AHEAD OF THEM
WORCESTERIA
FIRST PERSON
The view from a Worcester backyard Joe Fusco Jr. Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
We bought a DynaTrap online because our friends swore it eliminated mosquitoes from their backyard that is fi ve times larger than our urban lot. We plugged it in early June and so far it has detained then executed approximately 7,112 moths, but the mosquitoes just hover around the device, mock the imprisoned moths, then bite us. There are also rabbits in our backyard. They have burrowed under the slide of the old swing set and lounge on the lawn eating clover. When I attempt to cut the grass, they stare me down like I’m Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction.” They don’t move until the mower’s a cottontail
away from maiming them. Our neighbors behind our backyard play Spanish music LOUDLY when they wash their cars. I’ll be in our 5,000 gallon above-ground pool in my purple speedo chillin’ to The Indigo Girls when their bass-beat sends shock waves across the placid waters. I usually just poke my head above the fence between our properties and motion for them to turn down the volume … always to no avail. Yesterday, I took out the old Boombox from storage, placed it behind the garage, and blasted Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” until they abandoned their cars and retreated inside. He does write the songs! There’s also a cast-iron fi reSee BACKYARD, Page 12
A mural by Kristian Rodriguez on Harlow Street in Worcester. VICTOR D. INFANTE/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Artist Kristian Rodriguez creates new street mural for Harlow Street neighborhood Victor D. Infante Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
One of the best things about living in Worcester is that every now and again, you turn a corner on a street you drive almost daily, and suddenly there’s something beautifully, vibrantly new. That was me last week, turning from Paine Street onto Harlow, and encountering the beautiful un-
derwater seascape mural creRodriguez says he was enated by multidisciplinary artist couraged to apply to do the Kristian Rodriguez, who also mural by his old high school works under the name Nu Ele- teacher, Liz Liedel. “She’s awement, with the help of some some,” he says, in a brief exneighborhood kids. change. “She always believed The street mural – located in my art.” Rodriguez says he next to St. Bernard’s Church – was a longshot to be chosen to was created at a block party do the mural, but was overSaturday, and features cartoo- joyed to have been chosen, “esny fi sh and a mermaid, all done pecially to see the outcome.” in bright, rich colors. It’s ex- He says the neighborhood had tremely striking, and charmSee ARTIST, Page 12 ing.
