Worcester Magazine November 12 - 18, 2020

NOVEMBER 12 - 18, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CULTURE • ARTS • DINING • VOICES

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IT’S NOT EASY City of Worcester unveils plan to tackle changing climate

GOING GREEN

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

IN THIS ISSUE

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020 • V O L U M E 46 I S S U E 12 Find us on Facebook.com/worcestermag Twitter @worcestermag Instagram: Worcestermag

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Featured ......................................................................................4 City Voices.................................................................................10 Cover Story ...............................................................................12 Artist Spotlight .......................................................................15 Connell Sanders......................................................................16 Table Hoppin’...........................................................................17 Screen Time..............................................................................18 Listen Up....................................................................................18 The Next Draft..........................................................................19 Adoption Option ....................................................................20 Games .........................................................................................21 Classifieds .................................................................................22 Last Call .....................................................................................23

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the cover It’s not easy going green City of Worcester unveils plan to tackle changing climate Story on page 10 File photo by Christine Peterson; Design by Kimberly Vasseur

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The Tie That Binds (Space, Time, and Reality) A Veterans Day reminiscence JACK MCCLINTOCK

Asia. Cold statistics about substance abuse, divorce, criminal involvement and suicide do no justice to the arly one morning in July of reality. Nearly three million Ameri1967 my mother, Julia McClintock, stood on the small cans served during Vietnam. Most entranceway veranda of our performed important functions, but only one in 10 saw actual combat, second-floor apartment in Worceswhile only one in a hundred saw ter as my brother Mark left for sustained combat on the front lines. military service. She shook his hand firmly, peered deep into his eyes and Of those, a relative handful comprised the spearhead that did most told him evenly, “Give a good account of yourself, son.” Then she sang of the killing and dying. At the very tip of that spearhead was the 173rd “Danny Boy” before he turned and walked off to the fate he was to have. Airborne Brigade, and a machineI could hear the strain in her voice gunner known to the men in his unit as The Invisible Shield: Specialist E 4, as she croaked the words, but she Mark W. McClintock. remained composed until the car The cost of war is not distributed pulled away. Once out of sight, her equitably, and for many who served face quivered and tears rolled down in combat, that cost continued to be her cheeks in silence. It was the first of three times I ever saw that woman paid for decades after their return to “The World,” as veterans called cry. The second time would come the U.S. When Mark returned, he months after Mark began operations with the 3rd of the 503rd, 173rd came home to a nation indifferent to his service, and the sacrifice it had airborne brigade somewhere in the required. A country fiercely divided Central Highlands of Vietnam. It’s about the morality of the war; one in important that you have an idea what kind of person Julia McClintock which it was best to conceal military service no matter how heroic, or was, because emotionality is associdangerous, or damaging it may have ated with weakness, and my mother was among the strongest people I’ve been.

He returned to the homeland known. he’d served so proudly only to be I’ll do my utmost to keep this told to avoid wearing the uniform account short, clear and factual. I call it an account rather than a story he’d served that nation in. This did because I want you to be aware from damage to his soul that was never the outset that everything recounted recognized by those around him, and only understood by Mark himself here is a faithful rendering of actual toward the end of his life. Before his events experienced by real people. death in 2017 he confided that durWhat I recollect is intended as a ing a life beset by regrets, all of which truthful narrative about an extraorwere in one way or another related dinary phenomenon. It’s important that such phenomena be document- to the year he spent in combat, the injury done by that insult was the ed so they may be accepted as real, only one that remained unhealed – and one day understood. and unforgiven.

My brother was drafted into the Mark had always been his own Army and served with distinction man. A natural leader even in youth, from 1967 to 1969. This was the height of the Vietnam Conflict, when his Norman Rockwell upbringing combat was most intense. Though no made him naïve about reality. That swashbuckling grasp of the world formal declaration of war was ever made, millions of people died. It was fostered bravado which could make him breathtakingly reckless or dara savage war that lasted from 1955 to 1975. It claimed the lives of nearly ing. The military helped him in this respect because it forced him to 60,000 American servicemen and left another 300,000 wounded, many develop a mature sense of personal responsibility. With this heightened with disabling injuries that would awareness, Mark married his high irrevocably diminish their lives. school sweetheart while still in the But the true cost of that war service. Once discharged, he reenhas never been accurately tallied, tered college and attained advanced because such an estimate would require some measure of the shattered degrees that enabled him to develop a career in education. lives, tortured souls and damaged Things seemed to be going well, families of those scarred by what but just below the surface lay roiling happened to them in Southeast

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

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Mark McClintock in 1968 SUBMIT TED PHOTO

anger that constantly instigated conflict, like a fight promoter touting a blood-sport competition. That anger sowed seeds of bitterness which would destroy two marriages, do injury to four children, and spread unhappiness among his family as well as his friends throughout the decades that lay ahead.

Mark and I never got along growing up, but as his life spun closer toward tragedy I undertook to be a friend as well as brother. With all the best intentions I strove to get him to “open up” about whatever was causing his barely concealed and potentially deadly rage. Once the cork was pulled from that bottle, the stories never stopped flowing. There were two kinds of stories. The first were stories, usually told sober, for which the central facts never varied.

The second were what I came to call “Tunes of Glory,” martial tales steeped in alcohol, in which central facts changed to suit the mood he was in when he told them. This account is about one of the first kind.

I know the account’s true because it was told exactly the same way whenever Mark recounted it, and because I was the one who made the critical connection splicing it together with events that happened back here at home while he was away on active duty.

Some time after midday on a Tuesday in March of 1968, a day my brother described as warm, but not unbearably humid, he and 11 other men entered a large field of elephantgrass at the top of a steep mountain trail they’d climbed as they reconnoitered for enemy troops ahead of their company. At around 1 p.m. they started out along a flat section of that trail which led across the field toward a tree-lined perimeter roughly a hundred yards ahead.

These were seasoned infantrymen all of whom knew the potential for ambush in situations like that. But they had an assignment, and no way of carrying it out without crossing that field. Strung out to avoid being easy targets, they’d reached the halfway point when fierce gunfire erupted from three sides of what soldiers call a triangulated kill zone.

Those who weren’t hit in the opening seconds dove off the trail for cover in the shoulder-high elephant grass. Mark described what happened in extraordinary detail, lending credibility to his account because he was not given to hyperbole or clever invention. “I was in the middle of our line. My weapon (M60 machine gun) wasn’t easy to carry so I usually cradled it across my chest by a strap that ran around the back of my neck. When the firefight started,

rounds from a machinegun nest on our right hit the weapon squarely on my chest. Bullets danced up the barrel with so much force they lifted me off my feet and threw me into the grass beside the trail. I was lying there on my back thinking I’d been hit, and wondering if I were going to die. I knew I needed to return fire, but I was frozen like a statue and unable to move.

“I lay there for what was probably seconds, but seemed like forever. It was like being paralyzed. I was just lying there, looking straight up into the sky. It felt so weird, like I wasn’t really there anymore. I could hear the roar of gunfire, but it was like hearing it from a long way off. The tree canopy all around the perimeter was greener than green. The sky above the canopy was bluer than blue. There were small white clouds above our position, and they were all whiter than white.”

Mark stopped to compose himself, looked at me a long moment and then assured me he wasn’t making any of his story up. He swallowed hard, then told me I could believe whatever I wanted, and continued.

“In a small perfectly white cloud right above me, I saw the face of Grammy.”

Our mother’s mother was the only one of our grandparents we’d known growing up. She’d loved us very much, but died while we were young.

Grammy was all we ever called her, and I knew exactly who he was talking about.

Mark stopped his story again, looked at me once more as if searching for some sign I wasn’t taking him seriously, and then went on. “It was the strangest thing. It was like she was right there, and she was speaking to me. Her lips weren’t moving, but I could hear her voice more plainly that the gunfire. She told me over and over, like four or five times ‘Don’t be afraid, my boy, everything will be alright.’”

Mark went on about how he’d come back to his senses. How he’d begun defending himself and his mates. How he’d run out of ammunition, taken the weapon from a fallen comrade and continued fighting as one by one the men around him were hit or killed. The firefight went on for twenty minutes or more before the rest of his company came up and drove the enemy off. All of the men with him had been killed outright, or died shortly after rescue. Mark was

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come under fire. There’s an 11-hour difference between Vietnam and Massachusetts. With virtually no connection and from more than eight thousand miles away, our mother sensed the threat to her eldest son, and it seems may have been channeling it through her own long dead mother.

I was shocked by this revelation. So were Mark and Julia when I shared the stunning connection between events with them. My mother never had an experience of this kind before, and never had another. She was a staunch Catholic for whom such things smacked of paganism. Mark was less devout, but his faith was also based on canonical teachings, not bizarre existential experiences that couldn’t be rationally explained. Both realized and accepted the authenticity of what had happened, but neither could explain it in the framework of their personal beliefs. They never dismissed or denied it, but neither was able to fully acknowledge it either. Unable to process what occurred beyond admitting that it actually happened, the event was seldom referred to, and never discussed.

Incongruous as it seems, what happened on that battlefield was not confined to that location. And it would seem that whenever we do something whatever it may be, for good or ill, the effects of it are not limited to the circumstances in which the act occurs. A wise woman once said, “Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.�

(Sonmi-451 in “Cloud Atlas�) There’s a temporal-spatial connection between all things, in all places, at all times. The nature and extent of that connectedness isn’t evident, but seems undeniable.

By some means not comprehensible, my mother was there on that battlefield with Mark, and he was here with her. Beyond that, I can offer no explanation. Science strives to explain how time and space are sides of a coin, but even the brightest among us have no idea how it’s possible for the dead to mediate events between the living; though apparently –– they do. The only thing that seems evident to me all these years later is that there are forces at work in the world that no one understands. One of those forces appears to be love, and while that’s an emotion many consider a weakness, it’s clearly powerful enough to transcend both space and time.

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

the lone survivor and received an award for gallantry because of his actions.

I never doubted Mark’s courage, but was incredulous about the part involving our grandmother. He seemed prepared for my skepticism and further explained that he’d never mentioned anything about the unusual experiences he’d had, because he knew how unreal it sounded and didn’t want to be thought crazy.

We were drinking whiskey in the basement of his home, an area of the house he called The War Room. He finished telling the story, adding that he’d always felt somehow that the presence of our grandmother was responsible for his having survived the ambush. As he made an end to the story I was struck by remembrance of something that happened to our mother while Mark was overseas. I asked if he recalled the date of the battle he’d just told me about. He smiled; a contorted sort of smile that made him look like an old man. Then told me he’d never forget it and said “It was early afternoon on March 19th. Why?�

It took me a few minutes to recall details and do the calculations, but after a few moments I was able to connect what had happened to Mark with an event that took place more than a decade before his account, at our home on Somerset Street in Worcester. It had been a little before 2 o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, March 19, 1968. I still remember vividly, being awakened by my mother’s screams. That stoic woman who took life’s hardest shots without complaint was sitting bolt upright in urine soaked sheets screaming hysterically. She called out to my brother repeatedly, shrieking almost incoherently that he was in danger.

I rushed to her, turned on the lamp next to her bed and began rousing her from what seemed a wakeful sleep state. At first gently, then with greater force, I shook her by the shoulders as she continued yelling his name and crying uncontrollably.

It took several minutes to get her to focus her attention and respond to me. Even though fully awake, she continued in great agitation telling me Mark was in danger. He was in mortal danger; she knew it somehow and could not be consoled. Nearly a half hour passed before I was able to calm her and help remake her bed with towels and dry sheets. It was an hour or more before I felt I could leave her and return to my own bed.

After carefully verifying both the time and date with her it was certain that the episode of night terrors which happened that morning occurred at the exact time Mark had

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Worcester carpenter and writer Isaac Gavin publishes novel of murder, faith

Isaac Gavin, seen outside the Worcester Public Library, recently published his novel “The Anointed Assassin.”

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

ASHLEY GREEN

RICHARD DUCKET T

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n Worcester carpenter/ writer Isaac Gavin’s first-time published novel “The Anointed Assassin,” a graduate student and part-time news reporter in New York City finds himself sleeplessly deep into a story.

Prominent officials are being murdered and it appears that an anonymous group has vowed to execute those it deems irredeemably corrupt and soulless. The narrator is contacted by “Caller,” who is part of the Faith Leaders group but has changed his perspective and wants the killings to end. But if the group finds out he is no longer committed to their goals, Caller could be the next person to get eliminated, along with his reporter contact.

It is Caller’s newly discovered Christianity along with a dream that makes him take the risk, even as the group itself is composed of people supposedly of faith.

Gavin wanted to write an interest-

ing page-turner, but the scenario of a moral assassin squad is not implausible in these tumultuous times, he acknowledged.

“With this election going on and everyone boarding up their businesses across the country, who knows what might happen? I hope it doesn’t, but some of this could happen. I hope I don’t see men of the cloth, leaders of any faith, turn to violence in any way. My intention was to be something that was an interesting read, but I’m not promoting at all violence. That’s not my intent,” Gavin said.

Indeed, Gavin’s novel is an engaging thriller that also has underpinnings of religious narrative as the graduate student/part-time reporter narrator, who wants to win a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the assassinations, starts to question his lapsed sense of faith following his conversations with Caller.

Gavin, 67, a self-employed carpenter who has also written poems and songs for an R&B group he played

with, has self-published “The Anointed Assassin” (available at Amazon) and is now waiting to see what kind of the response there might be.

Self-publishing is tough, but an increasingly plausible and affordable avenue for a writer to explore.

“I’ve gotten some sales. I’ve gotten some calls from a few outlets,” Gavin said. But he noted that some of those outlets are looking for Gavin to pay them for promoting the book, and in one case introducing the book to movie producers.

Not so fast. “I’m looking for a publisher that’s gonna do all their investing in the book,” Gavin said. “I’m waiting to see if I can get a traditional publisher to invest in the book.”

Still, asked if he feels “The Anointed Assassin” has movie potential, Gavin said, “I think it does. I think it could be a really good movie.”

Meanwhile, he’s started working on a sequel — “The Anointed Assassin 2.”

Originally from South Carolina where he grew up on a farm and was

raised by his grandmother, Gavin has lived in Worcester for 13 years after many years in Boston.

Worcester represented a quieter place than Gavin’s previous home, which was between two housing projects.

“I like Worcester,” he said. Some of his carpentry jobs are in the Worcester area. “I stay pretty busy,” he said.

When he had the time, Gavin liked to go the main branch of the Worcester Public Library to work on “The Anointed Assassin.”

“I wrote it on a Mac. Fifty to sixty percent of it was at the Worcester Public Library.”

Gavin said he would go to the top floor of the library and “sit at a table by a big window overlooking Worcester Common …”

“That was probably the most productive place. I enjoyed doing it there. You get comfortable, complacent in your apartment.”

The idea for the novel goes back to when he was young and Gavin and a best friend pondered “how we could effect change … It was almost like being an undercover agent.”

But matters become a lot more complex in “The Anointed Assassin.”

The behavior of those targeted for assassination is despicable, including sexual predatory. But the Faith Leaders, as Caller recognizes, cross a line.

“I wanted to attract some people who are interested in faith or have a relationship with God but make the story interesting in a secular scenario,” Gavin said.

The graduate student/parttime reporter narrator is a secular figure, liking a beer in the evening which starts to graduate to needing something stronger as the story he becomes embroiled in intensifies.

He’s also not unfamiliar with the bars where he meets some of his contacts, and becomes attracted to one of them, a woman named Dee. His mother, talking to the narrator on the phone, becomes concerned about her son’s well being, while Caller asks him about his own set of beliefs.

“He drifted away. It does rekindle his faith and spark something,” Gavin said of the narrator’s response to his circumstances. “ ‘Maybe I should take a closer look at what my parents have seen and have a closer relationship with God.’” Gavin was raised by his grand-

mother in South Carolina in “a religious family.” There was no choice that he had to go to church every Sunday, he recalled.

As a result, Gavin said he’s been religious “all my life — consistently the past 15 years.” He is the divorced father of three children, one of whom is deceased.

Gavin studied communications at Graham Junior College in Boston and journalism at the University of South Carolina. However, unlike the narrator of “The Anointed Assassin,” Gavin wasn’t aspiring to be a groundbreaking reporter.

“I wanted to work in the advertising field. I wanted to work on Madison Avenue,” he said. He did work for communication companies such as AT&T and Verizon before turning to carpentry.

Along the way Gavin said he’s always been writing. “I’ve been writing since I was 18. I wrote poetry, songs for an R&B band, I still write and record music.”

He has published a book of faithbased poetry, “God Knows and God Speaks: Psalms for the 21st Century.”

Locally, Gavin is a member of the To Tell A Tale book club.

“I have a few ideas and titles for books that I’d like to bring to life,” he said looking ahead.

“The Anointed Assassin” was written before all that has happened in 2020. Asked about what he thinks about Black Lives Matter, Gavin said, “I think it’s important that awareness is made of the fact that all lives matter. I think there is some systematic racism going on. Black Lives Matter brings some awareness that change needs to take place. At the same time I think that all lives matter.

I think healthy protest to bring about awareness — I think that’s important. But I don’t like the violence.”

Gavin said he has personally experienced racism, but not here. “I don’t recall any specific instances in Worcester.”

All being well, he may be soon back at his spot at the Worcester Public Library by the big window.

To anyone interested in his advice about writing, Gavin said, “I would say be determined, try to come up with an idea that’s unique — especially a title — and stick with it.

When you get writer’s block, go for a walk.”

Gavin said he likes walking.

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Shaun Connolly brings laughs and all the fixin’s with ‘Hot Dog’ ROBERT DUGUAY

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sually the setting for a stand-up comedy show at a club involves a dimly lit stage, people sitting at tables or in their chairs, the comedian relaying their material and if all goes well the room is filled with laughter.

Now take that setting and put it in a hot dog joint. Seems kind of weird, right? Well, Worcester comic Shaun

Connolly did just that and pulled it off at George’s Coney Island on 158 Southbridge St. In turn, his performance became an album titled “Hot Dog,” which was released on Oct. 16.

It’s Connolly’s debut record and it’s awfully fitting that it was made in a unique way, as the best comedy is often unconventional.

The album title comes from a monthly show Connolly has been doing at the establishment for the

past five years under the same name.

It takes place once a month on a Thursday and it was quite the local hit until COVID-19 came and shut everything down back in March.

“To tell you the truth, I have no idea how I secured a comedy show there,” Connolly says on how he got this peculiar gig. “I can’t give you the exact reason. I don’t know why Kathy Tsandikos, who runs the place, decided that it was OK, but she’s let

the guys who work behind the counter put on punk shows there from time to time. I talked to those guys about how they convinced her to do it and I pitched her the idea and they would even stay open an extra hour when the shows were happening. When I told her that I wanted to record my album at her place, she was thrilled. She was so pumped at the time and now she’s so bummed that we can’t have a party at George’s

Comedian Shaun Connolly PHOTO COURTESY/UNITYMIKE

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To purchase and stream “Hot Dog,” log on to Connolly’s Bandcamp page at shaunconnolly.bandcamp. com. If you’re looking to check out WOOtenanny’s online shows when they’re announced, keep tabs on the festival’s website at wootenanny.com.

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

for the release.”

The album was recorded by Bryan O’Donnell and WOOtenanny Productions, which also puts on the WOOtenanny Comedy Festival, of which Connelly is co-producer.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the festival wasn’t able to happen back in September, but O’Donnell and Connolly do plan on doing online shows in the near future.

“We had to cancel, there was nothing we could really do,” he says. “Comedy needs very specific parameters to happen and we couldn’t find anything close to that.

I guess we could have tried to secure an outdoor venue and make sure that everyone’s spaced out, but it’s a lot to just try to get through this pandemic as a human let alone as a show producer and festival runner.

That’s why we decided to cancel, but since we’re going to be locked down for a little while longer during the upcoming winter, we are going to start producing comedy shows online via Twitch, YouTube and our Facebook page once a week.”

For his future in comedy, Connolly plans on utilizing virtual performances as much as he can to keep his talents fresh. He’s also performed at some socially distanced outdoor gigs, but he knows those types of shows will be getting scarce once the frigid weather comes.

“The Comedy Studio in Somerville puts on online shows every week and I’ve done some shows for them, I got another one coming up there on November 21,” he said. “Those shows are great, it’s good to flex that muscle of performing, even if it’s in your living room and you’re yelling at your computer. I’ve performed a few outdoor shows at The WooHaHa Comedy Club on 50 Franklin Street a couple of times too and they were fun, the people there did a great job of putting everything on and making you feel safe. It’s gonna start to get really cold so there’s going to be no way we could perform outside.”

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CITY VOICES

FIRST PERSON

A time to let go, reflect and heal JANICE HARVEY

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

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resident-elect Biden. That sounds pretty good to me.

Election week lasted longer than my puberty.

By the time Biden was declared the winner, I had just about given up on the idea of a world without Donald Trump in the White House. I switched to decaf by Friday, hoping that my legs would stop jiggling. They didn’t.

It so happened the announcement that Joseph R. Biden would indeed become the 46th president came on the same day when my family was finally able to hold a memorial service for my brother Kevin, who passed away in July after a grueling battle with lymphoma. COVID had kept us from doing very much during the months before the election, and only 25 of us were allowed to gather, per Governor Baker’s restrictions. For my family, a warm and lovely November afternoon brought a calliope of emotions, as we felt euphoria over the news, and grief over my unabashedly liberal brother’s absence. He would surely be dancing joyously, perhaps attempting The Twist.

Did anyone realize just how exhausted we were by the last four years? By the constant worry, amazement and disgust? How many times did we say “He’s hit a new low” assuming Trump would

stop at some point? And every time those words came from our mouths, the bar dropped yet again. On Saturday, I felt a brick lifting from my chest, knowing an end to the mind-blowing reign of incompetence that was the hallmark of Trump’s presidency was near.

Even his supporters must be weary of fighting. Keeping your dukes up drains the body and soul, at least it has for me. I was voted “Most Argumentative” in high school but even I have unclenched my fists. I can’t even muster the energy to gloat — well, not much anyway. I admit to responding to a particularly vicious Trumpster with “You lost — get over it.” After all, I’m only human.

On the day when the drawnout vote count revealed that Biden could not be beat, the most breathtaking sunset painted the sky over Green Hill. The unusual warmth brought us out onto the deck of the Grill On The Hill. An American flag waved gently above the grounds of the golf course where the last tournament of the season was wrapping up. We grabbed our phones and snapped pictures of the dying light.

Saying goodbye to Kevin while confirming the end of Trump’s presidency was an emotional juggling act, but there was a

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loosening of the knot in my heart over both. When Kev’s boyhood friends, musicians Dave Abare and John Landers, performed Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” they were joined by Kevin’s son Ellery playing his father’s lovingly-restored Telecaster. The words took on a deep and dual meaning.

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd Is a man who swears he’s not to blame All day long I hear him shout so loud Crying out that he was framed …

They say ev’rything can be replaced Yet ev’ry distance is not near So I remember ev’ry face Of ev’ry man who put me here I see my light come shining From the west unto the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released Here’s to our healing — ev’ry one of us.

CITY VOICES

WORCESTERIA

Biden announcement caught Worcesterites off-guard VICTOR D. INFANTE AND VEER MUDAMBI

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MAKING HISTORY: You may wonder why we would want to remember anything about our experiences during the pandemic, let alone the year 2020. However, the nature of history is such that it records the good, the bad and the ugly. So the chance to influence how history remembers an era is not one that any of us can pass up, since we have never had the opportunity to document history in this way. Worcester Historical Museum and WPI have partnered to create Digital Worcester, the platform where all things related to your COVID reality will be displayed and catalogued. Submissions can be literally anything, as long as they can be digitally uploaded — art, poetry, storytelling, even obituaries. “The hardest part is convincing people that their story is history,” said David Connor, community engagement director at Worcester Historical Museum. So how you experience the virus and what you take away from it is what the WHM wants to know. So far the museum has received over 250 contributions through uploads on the website worcestercovid19.org — if you have trouble submitting through that, email worcestercovid19@worcesterhistory. net. At the moment, with so many students learning remotely, they have been receiving a number of school-related submissions but Connor emphasized that anything “chronicling COVID realities” is welcome. What sort of topics do they want more of, to provide a more complete picture for future generations of life under lockdown? The museum would like your unemployment stubs, photos of your reimagined upcoming holiday celebrations, your distanced election lines, your oral histories as families capture the stories of seniors as we navigate through these times. They suggest teachers participate with their classrooms and provide their experiences in a visual or audio format. Small businesses who have pivoted for the pandemic with new and amended objectives may contribute their accounts of how they came to their decisions. The project is expected to go on indefinitely as the task calls for “constantly collecting history,” according to Connor. (Veer Mudambi)

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU HEARD?: Usually, there’s a bit of ritual associated with learning who won a presidential election. We stay up late, or we read it in the news the next morning. We’re braced for it. So imagine my surprise when, over a late lunch Saturday with my wife, I glanced at a “ping” on my phone and learned that Joe Biden had won the election. (Yeah, yeah. There’s a bunch of nuisance challenges, we know.) The announcement caught us all in the midst of our normal lives. “I was at work at my restaurant,” says chef Jean-luc Wittner. “I had to force myself to not react since we don’t do politics in public. Karl A. Hakkarainen says, “I was attending the Holden Democratic Town Committee monthly meeting via Zoom when the alerts started popping up.” Musician Dale LePage says, “I was getting a facial, when the esthetician at 126 Post Salon & Spa whispered ‘I think you’ll want to know that they have declared Joe Biden the 46th president.’ I screamed, jolted upright and said, ‘I’m sorry but get this treatment off my face, I have to run home and dance in the yard with my husband!” There was a lot of dancing, actually: Kat Kimball says she was at Rural Cemetery when she learned from a “FaceTime video from a friend’s kid. We got out of the car and danced.” Worcester native Kae Collins, currently of Easthampton, was social-distance visiting with a friend in her back yard when they both got the news. “We started screaming ‘THEY CALLED IT!’ just as I got congratulatory messages from Germany and France!” Recounting the tale, Collins pauses to note, “It’s probably important for context to understand how terrifying the last four years has been for the queer community. And that’s spoken as a cis white queer.”

Likewise, one friend, who wished to remain anonymous, was at Planned Parenthood with her daughter for “a regular health checkup ... We were sobbing and screaming. Women in there were so happy.” She noted the Trump administration’s attacks on Planned Parenthood. For a lot of people, it was just a moment: One met with indifference, joy or, I’m certain for some, anger, but mostly it was a pause as they ate their breakfast or worked or spent time with their families. But for others, it was hard not to see the Trump administration as anything other than an existential threat, so the exuberance is completely understandable. (Victor D. Infante)

Fall’s a great time for home improvement.

COVER STORY

Worcester’s green plan to prepare for climate change VEER MUDAMBI

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Worcester residents respond to the COVID crisis, he now feels even better about the GWP’s long-term success. “We had an amazing local response to the pandemic, a lot of people have worked very hard to keep people as safe as possible,” he said. “Worcester is capable of getting together and making significant

improvements and we think that can translate well to the climate crisis.”

Preparing for a second crisis in the midst of the first one is not an ideal situation, but science tells us that cities like Worcester will face serious climate-related challenges unless they take steps to adapt.

Over the last year and a half, Worcester city officials have been doing just that — preparing for another crisis. By designing a broad initiative called the Green Worcester Plan, Worcester officials aim to make progress on two objectives: to significantly reduce the city’s overall carbon emissions as well as

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

he Green Worcester Plan, which outlines steps toward making the city both more energy sustainable and climate resilient, was intended to have a thematic unveiling on April 22, Earth Day 2020. Because

of COVID-related delays, however, a draft of the plan was made available for public comment on Oct. 27.

While COVID-19 may have derailed the plan’s dramatic reveal, John Odell, head of Worcester’s Department of Energy and Asset Management, has actually found it a reason to be optimistic. After seeing

John Odell, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Manager, outside of Sullivan Middle School, where solar panels are in use.

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Adapting Worcester’s infrastructure for sustainability and resiliency is a tall order, admitted Odell. Many of Worcester’s office buildings and residential homes date back decades at least, while schools go as far back as the 1800s. Though the historical character of these old buildings has always been a point of pride with the city, this does not lend itself well to the needed changes for the GWP. “Worcester is an established industrial city,� said Mathisen, “with an infrastructure constructed a long time ago that definitely needs to be updated for today’s needs.�

Being built to last is usually a good thing, but it also means there is little incentive for change. While the longevity is impressive, it will inevitably break down and “will do so at a challenging time,� said Odell.

Resistance to change in the name of preserving historic architecture is still to be expected but despite this, Odell believes that improvement and preservation are not mutually exclusive. A structure no longer has to be rebuilt from the ground up in order to be designated a green building.

There are green technology options that were not available even six years ago, said Odell, and can now be implemented on a wider scale with simpler and increasingly cost-effective measures. For example, solar power no longer means solar panels on every building but can still supply an entire community, said Odell, allowing people to lower their carbon footprint simply

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While it could be faster, Popinchalk believes that state and local policy is moving in the correct direction. “We have already seen a one degree Celsius rise in temperature and scientists didn’t understand why the atmosphere and land wasn’t heating up faster, before realizing much of the heat was being absorbed by the deep ocean.�

He explained how this leads to a “violent purging� in the manner of extreme weather events, and once the storm begins, the warm ocean water just feeds it.

But what are we preparing for — what will climate change look like in New England? Alexandra Vecchio, Climate Change Program Director at Mass Audubon, said

changes in precipitation will be most significant, with more extreme weather events throughout the year.

The transition between seasons will fluctuate, such as fall to winter being later and winter to spring coming earlier.

Though a shorter winter may seem appealing, this will also lead to a “more hazardous winter storm effect.� Additionally, summer months will have higher temperatures and less rain with droughts such as this past summer becoming the new normal. Extreme heat can create real threats to public health, said Vecchio, “especially in New England since we’re not built for dozens of days over 90 degrees.� Individuals and institutions, from the average homeowner to city councils, she said, have to be prepared for this shift in weather patterns.

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

to ensure that the city is better prepared for the inevitable detrimental effects of climate change. These two objectives will power the forward movement on the main goal of alleviating the climate crisis and its impact on Worcester.  Developed by the DEAM in partnership with the Green Worcester Working Group (a collective of city staff, environmental groups, residents and a consultant) the plan aims for Worcester to be “sustainable and resilient� by 2050. In terms of energy, the end goal is for the city to be 100% powered by renewable energy, implemented in the following three phases: municipal buildings by 2030; renewable electricity citywide by 2035; all sectors by 2045, including heating and transportation. Through this approach, the hope is that net zero building — the amount of energy a building uses being equal to the amount generated — will become the norm.

Paul Mathisen, Director of Sustainability at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, agrees that sustainability and resiliency are intrinsically connected and that “a sustainable society really needs to be resilient, in that it can make an efficient recovery from the impact of various weather events.� He believes that while it is an ambitious schedule and definitely not an easy goal, it is a commendable plan.

A member of 350 Central Mass, Paul Popinchalk, said “In general, I’m very impressed with the GWP� and it is doing all the right things, just not fast enough. 350 Central Mass was one of the entities represented in the GWWG. “[Climate change] is happening now,� emphasized Popinchalk, “not in the future.

We cannot wait until 2045, we need this tomorrow.�

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s as well as art schoo and aristo had all kinds lf going on to in gallery shows and event creative poets, painters e found herse of ry tors, dancers, over the count herself with the same types she is today. Aime now shows all the artist that und BFA in 2006. She als. She continues to surro surrealistic world. that receiving her and arts festiv the luminous colors of her the Harlequin, a magical being l and music s variou of at paint are sexual, playfu ng with the idea inspire her to people which has been worki it. These esoteric Harlequinsour world and their own to she now For several years the world that surrounds beyond the boundaries of and ing can change itself us in their thoughts of travel s: following event Greenfield. . sometimes devio sly elastic points of views om/coletteaimee or at the in al: Sept. 13-15 reach tremendou of her work at rawartists.c Aug. 24, Wormtown Festiv Check out more town Spencer: Party in down Spencer Street

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Working with the MVP plan To that effect, it is helpful to note that in 2019, Worcester completed a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Plan, a state program to help towns identify and address specific vulnerabilities to climate events.

The MVP focuses exclusively on resilience while the GWP takes a more holistic approach by working to “prevent the problem in the first place,” said Odell.

The broader GWP goals are complemented by the MVP’s more specialized focus, such as decreasing parking lot sizes and expanding green areas to prevent flooding in places such as the Green Island neighborhood, Odell said. Green Island is located in a vulnerable floodplain and could benefit from changes such as an underground

Let us feature your artwork in Worcester Magazine’s Artist spotlight! Email WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com for more information!

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CITY LIF E

Fair warning, ousemedia.com. s WMeditor@gateh tion digital copie local artist, emailde a small bio and high resolu tion and what will , or know of a If you are an artist your work, you’ll need to provie what will run, based on resolu sh in order to publi We reserve the right to choos art. of some of your newsprint. on reproduce best

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

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by changing their energy supplier.

“Society in general has no idea what goes on behind the wall where we plug our appliances,” commented Popinchalk, who built his career working in energy generation and facilities management, indicating that a change is often easier when it does not impact the end user as much.

Obstacles are not only logistical but bureaucratic as well since the building code is long out of date.

However, Worcester cannot unilaterally change the building code to better fit sustainability and resiliency guidelines since that comes under state jurisdiction. While a bill has been introduced in the state Legislature to create a statewide net zero building energy code, until it passes, the city must do what it can on the municipal level.

Blackstone Canal. While instances of precipitation will decrease, when they do occur they will be substantially more extreme, with more water in a shorter amount of time. “Without enough permeable surfaces like fields and forests,” said Vecchio, “there is nowhere for the water to go.”

The stormwater systems, having been built in the turn of the century, can no longer handle the increased runoff. This leads to street flooding in many areas and what Popinchalk referred to as “chronic basement flooding” in homes such as those situated near Beaver Brook — which also empties into the Blackstone River.

Mathison agrees that flooding is a serious concern. He pointed out that there are options that imitate natural infiltration systems such as permeable pavements, roads designed with smaller impervious areas, and spaces for water filtration that lead to subsurface basins for water storage. However, the challenge is to implement these in developed areas like Worcester.

Situated in Central Massachusetts, one thing that is not on Worcester’s list of concerns is coastal flooding. Being farther from the ocean means rising sea levels will have less of an impact than in cities like Boston. While the potential for flooding and drought issues remain, such incidents may be easier to contain.

More Trees, Less Pavement Cities like Worcester and Boston with significant areas of developed surfaces will be affected not only by flooding but heat. The MVP

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One of the points of the GWP that Popinchalk is most excited about is the notion of promoting alternate avenues of transportation. The concept of “micro mobility� — designated corridors connecting residential areas to commercial districts and office centers — will make it easier to bicycle and scooter safely as opposed to the current narrow bike lanes. Mathisen emphasizes that micro mobility is valuable for the residential populations in terms of providing a healthy city, since commuting concerns are significant so there would be value in trying to provide these options.

In terms of going green, an advantage Worcester has is its residents, said Odell, who provide an educated and relatively young workforce. “A lot of kids coming out of college and grad school are choosing to stay here,� he said, “which wasn’t the case even 20 years ago.� This younger population will be more invested in combating climate change and more open to the necessary changes.

Local response like this is key, Popinchalk emphasized. Residents and local businesses need to take advantage of the incentives offered by the city, they need to respond during the public comment period, and bring about a lasting change in how they view the environment and Worcester’s place in it. “The city [officials] can’t do this themselves,� he said, “they can only enable us.

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

assessment also highlighted the risk posed by the urban heat island effect, when certain neighborhoods become pockets of consistently higher temperatures. As three-Â to five-day heat waves become more common, heat absorbed by the pavement suffuses the area.

Tree cover can often counteract the heat island phenomenon, but as storms have increased, trees have been cut down. Branches can bring down power lines leading to widespread power outages, and many areas in the city do not have sufficient back-up systems. Cutting back trees to protect power lines (and by extension, residents) must be balanced with maintaining the proper tree cover in a tightrope act for the city.

In other parts of the city, it is the opposite situation where there is a lack of trees and an excess of asphalt and cement. A few years ago when Popinchalk and his wife volunteered as data collectors for a heat island assessment project, they were assigned to the Burncoat neighborhood. A 2008 infestation of Asian Longhorned Beetles had resulted in massive tree clearing in Worcester neighborhoods, including Burncoat. While volunteering, Popinchalk reported as much as a 10 degree difference in temperature between Burncoat and adjacent neighborhoods — which on the whole, possessed significantly more tree cover.

Beyond planting more trees and expanding green spaces, the GWP aims to remedy this through establishing an incentive program for “cool roofs� and “green roofs� to not only reduce building temperatures for the urban heat island effect, but also, in the case of green roofs, help

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N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

CITY LIFE If you are an artist, or know of a local artist, email WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com. Fair warning, in order to publish your work, you’ll need to provide a small bio and high resolution digital copies of some of your art. We reserve the right to choose what will run, based on resolution and what will reproduce best on newsprint.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

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old, and has been drawing since the age of 8. Masiella has always loved drawing and creating artwork. This work is created using sharpies.

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Chaz Masiella is 23 years

CITY LIFE

CONNELL SANDERS

John Pagano is the artist Worcester deserves SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

I

t took me a few minutes to place the compound of mill buildings on Webster Street before I recognized them from a warehouse party thrown by friends of friends, years ago. I could remember one girl in particular who wore a magnificent paper mache mask, two feet in diameter, and danced with abandon on the roof of a car while the owner urged her to climb down to safety. It wasn’t the sort of party I’d soon feel comfortable attending — not “adult” enough. But, for that one night, I was free to observe Worcester’s creatives in their natural habitat, unexposed and undetected.

The memory surfaced when my husband and I visited John Pagano’s studio on Webster Street to buy a painting for our new home a few weeks ago. We followed a labyrinth of heavy doors and wooden steps up and up to the third floor where the stairwells smelled somewhere between my elementary school art room and the old Tatnuck Bookseller.

Pagano greeted us with a scarf around his neck and a pair of spec-

tacles balanced high on the bridge of his nose. His paintings were alive.

Suggestive. Writhing and free like the girl had been atop the car so many years before. “Continuous movement,” he called it.

I was flattered when he asked me about my writing. His own work had hung beside contemporary greats such as Willie Cole, Doris Salcedo and Alice Neel. My little articles felt insignificant by comparison, but he pressed me for details.

“Have you read ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ by Philip Larkin?” he asked. I had not, but promised to seek out the 1964 poem about a man who finds himself surrounded by wedding parties on a Sunday train ride to London. He told me he thought I’d like it.

Pagano set us loose to explore hundreds of canvases spread across the three rooms of his studio space.

He hoped we’d bring our own story to the painting we chose and fill in the blanks for ourselves. “They’re sort of like my children,” he said of his work, “It’s important they go to the right homes.”

We recognized our piece right away, struck by its physicality. Bold

marks and repetitive symbols gave off the sensation of movement like ancient letters or film perforations — each one a racing caravan.

I went back to pick up the painting that Tuesday afternoon in the pouring rain. While I waited for his calling card to dry, Pagano showed me a series of pins he was tinkering with and asked if I had found the time to read Larkin’s poem. I was ashamed to not have done my homework, but he didn’t make me feel badly about it.

We hung the painting above our fireplace. We poured glasses of wine and played Leonard Cohen on vinyl.

We began to examine the stories we could see in every brushstroke and tried to imagine the details concealed from our consciousness. We felt “adult.” Pagano’s canvas held all of the creative energy of a warehouse rave without any of the repercussions.

I played a recording of Larkin reading “The Whitsun Weddings” for my husband. The tone was sophisticated, the story savage. In his poem, chaotic characters dipped in and out of one another’s lives in a thousand configurations on a single train ride,

John Pagano’s paintings create a narrative using suggestive imagery, realism and abstraction.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

only to culminate in a collective “sense of falling.” Across generations and zip codes, the passengers remained united by a singular sensation, as if Larkin could tighten the breaks and zoom out to admire the whole of humanity.

Pagano’s work, like Larkin’s, minds the gap between realism and abstraction. He helps you see the quiet train car within the speeding motorcoach.

The euphoric party girl within the

emerging art collector. The continuous movement that binds us all together.

There is great value in attempting to absorb the full picture while refusing to ignore the fine details. A painting taught me that.

You can learn more about John Pagano’s work and request a private studio tour by contacting him through his website: https://johnpagano.info/ home.html.

LISTEN UP

The Negans raise the ‘Dead’ with ‘Somethang to Fear’ VICTOR D. INFANTE

T

here’s one question that needs to be answered right up front about the Negans’ new album, “Somethang to Fear”: Do you have to watch “The Walking Dead” to understand the album?

The answer is an unequivocal “no,” because I have to confess, I have never watched a single episode of the AMC zombie drama. Weird, right?

Sure, I have enough general pop culture knowledge to know that the band is named for the bat-wielding antagonist/antihero played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and that the album references the show often, but there was never a point where I felt lost in the tribute. Certainly, an aficionado of the show or the comic book series it’s based on might get more out of it than I did, but even if you don’t

understand every reference, the band gives you a straight-up punk album with horror and apocalyptic imagery which is pretty easy to grasp. When, in the opening number, “Die by the Bat,” “Live by the bat/die by the bat/ (expletive) is going down … head bashing all around,” there’s really no need to overanalyze symbolism. We’re in the territory punk has brought us since the Ramones’ “Beat on the Brat” and the Damned’s “Smash it Up.” What makes the album work isn’t the fantasy/horror allusions, but rather the musicianship that the album’s built on. Take, for instance, the second song, “Rick’s a Prick,” presumably a reference to “Walking Dead” protagonist Sheriff Rick Grimes.

Now, I don’t know much about the character, but having once been a young punk rock fan with … ahem

… issues with authority, the refrain of the title is pretty much all I need to know. Throw in the down-and-dirty speed metal guitar by Mark Zero and the truly thunderous percussion from Joe Z., and you’re now speaking punk’s universal language of aggressive defiance. By that same count, the Rev’s crunchy bass line grounds the next song, “Lizzie’s Lament,” and the layers to Jim Halfdead’s vocals coax a universality out of lyrics such as, “This little girl grew up in a world of pestilence/no wonder she kills things and brings them to the fence.” It’s probably a reference, but you don’t need to understand it. It might as well be the Boomtown Rats singing, “I Don’t Like Mondays.” The message shines through just fine.

The album really takes off with “Murderous Murder,” where, “Every-

C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 19

CITY LIFE

TABLE HOPPIN’

LuLu’s Bakery and Café settles into Pleasant Street spot BARBARA M. HOULE

O

4 to 8 p.m. Friday; noon to 8 p.m.

Saturday; 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday through Thursday.

A wine tasting at 3 p.m. Nov. 22 will feature a selection of cabernet sauvignons from 1990 to 2018. “Each wine has a story to tell.” Reservations are required; limited availability. Call (508) 892-9090 to reserve.

The Castle Restaurant offers takeout for most items on its menu. Visit www.castlerestaurant.com for more information.

resource that reaches approximately 300 families in one day, according to Sherry Leger Callahan of Veterans Inc. Visit www.veteransinc.org to sponsor or donate to this event.

Note: All donation drop-offs at Veterans Inc. are scheduled in advance by calling (508) 791-1213, ext.

1116 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The Veterans Inc. food pantry will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 17.

New owners for Veterans Inc. to host Café Noir Holiday Harvest Veterans Inc., 69 Grove St., Worcester, will host Holiday Harvest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 24, a food distribution event that will provide veterans with all the Thanksgiving Dinner fixings to prepare a traditional holiday meal.

The annual event is a critical

Café Noir in Shrewsbury is under new ownership after being part of The Bean Counter family for the last 11 years.

“My reason to sell at this time allows me to focus my time and energy to brand Bean Counter Bakery Cafe and continue to add exciting bakery and drink products,” owner

Alice Lombardi said.

The Bean Counter last week debuted the Princess Torte, a recipe passed on to Lombardi by longtime friend Jon Lundstrom, owner of Crown Bakery & Cafe, which permanently closed this year after 60 years in business in the city.

In a Facebook post, Lombardi wished the new owners the best of luck and sent a thank you to the community for their support.

Bean Counter’s flagship store opened in May at 270 Grove St., Worcester. Other Bean Counter locations: 288 Boston Turnpike, Shrewsbury, and 113 Highland St., Worcester.

If you have a tidbit for the column, call (508) 868-5282. Send email to bhoulefood@gmail.com.

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The Castle Restaurant in Leicester has updated its hours.

The restaurant is now open from

ASHLEY GREEN

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

The Castle updates its hours

Mohamed and Olivia Hashesh, owners of LuLu’s Bakery and Cafe, located at 806 Pleasant St., Worcester.

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

livia Hashesh and husband Mohamed Hashesh are owners of LuLu’s Bakery and Café, a business on the west side of the city that opened four weeks ago in the spot once occupied by the Corner Grille.

“It had been my dream for many years to own and operate a small bakery and café,” explained Olivia Hashesh, who despite not having a background in the food industry went from a stay-at-home mom to small business owner. She readily admits opening a business amid coronavirus takes hard work and a positive attitude. Being a little savvy also helps.

The couple’s business concept is pretty simple. It’s all about serving fresh food in a warm, neighborly space. LuLu’s at 806 Pleasant St., Worcester, is a go-to place for fresh pastries, salads, sandwiches and a decent cup of coffee, said Hashesh, who first heard about the availability of the Pleasant Street space through a close friend. The iconic Corner Grille permanently closed in June after 23 years in business in the city.

Hashesh was born in Paris and grew up in London. She started baking when she was young, working summers in her godmother’s tearoom located near the Louvre in Paris. “I really believe she gave me the basic ingredients that I needed to one day be able to open a successful bakery,” said Hashesh, whose father owns a wine shop and tapas wine bar in London. “I like to say I come from a family where food is considered a love language,” said Hashesh.

Mohamed Hashesh, born in Egypt, is in hotel management in the Boston area, previously having been manager of the Southbridge Hotel & Conference Center in Southbridge.

The couple and their three young children reside in Worcester. “We joke about LuLu’s being our fourth baby,” said Hashesh. “We’ve moved around a lot as a result of Mohamed’s work, but we love Worcester and are happy to be back. We lived here for a while before we made another move.

We came back, and we’re now here to stay.”

The bakery underwent minor renovations and a fresh new coat of paint before the doors opened. “We struggled a little with figuring out a name for the business,” said Hashesh.

“My mother called me Libby LuLu when I was growing up, and my husband came up with the idea of naming the bakery LuLu’s. It’s perfect.

Easy to spell and remember.”

LuLu’s Bakery and Café is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Telephone: (774) 420-7455; visit https://lulusworcester.com. Connect on social media for daily specials, etc.

Hashesh said she’s keeping the café’s menu pretty simple for now.

Breakfast items, served all day, include yogurt parfait, breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast and “quiche for one.” Luncheon salads run the gamut from “simple” to lemon arugula, couscous, chicken roulade, Caprese and beyond. Kids meals, $6.50, are served with choice of chips, fruit or cookie, and milk or juice.

Weekend specialties include “shakshouka” (eggs nestled and baked in a bed of spiced, stewed tomatoes, peppers and onions, topped with feta and cilantro) and falafel, both made by Mohamed Hashesh’s mother. Waffles also are available Saturday and Sunday.

Fresh assorted pastries are made daily. Scones, croissants and small Indian-style pies are among best sellers so far. Feta and mint, brie and fig and raspberry white chocolate scones sell out quickly, according to Hashesh. Note: The bakery does not sell bread at this time. “It’s something we’re looking into,” said Hashesh.

LuLu’s is taking orders for Thanksgiving pies, including the perennial favorite pumpkin pie. Call the bakery

by Nov. 20 for pie selections and to order. Scheduled pickup dates are Nov. 24 or Nov. 25.

Welcome LuLu’s to the Newton Square neighborhood!

CITY LIFE

SCREEN TIME

Random thoughts on aging and transitions JIM KEOGH

A

few stray thoughts pulled together on a 70-degree November afternoon: I have not seen “The War with Grandpa” and won’t. It looks stupid. I know that’s not a learned piece of reasoning, but three words is all I could eke out for this one. If I could have summed up my feelings in syllables, I would have. “The War with Grandpa” is one of these late-stage career movies Robert De Niro churns out every now and then, I assume for the paycheck and not for the artistic challenge. “Dirty Grandpa” was another. I’m sensing a pattern. Here’s hoping the aging bull doesn’t one day venture into great-grandpa territory at the movies. *** Will Jim Carrey continue with the Joe Biden impression on “Saturday Night Live” for the next four years, or does he pass it off to a cast member? I’m still not sure how I feel about Carrey’s take on Biden, though it certainly has more life than former cast member Jason Sudeikis’ unnu-

Jim Carrey as Joe Biden and Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris in a screen capture from the Nov. 7 episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

NBC

anced interpretation. Impersonation hand-offs have been done before, usually between “SNL” castmates, such as when Will Forte inherited George W. Bush from Will Ferrell. Alec Baldwin made Donald Trump a creature of his own creation in so many “SNL” episodes that it would have seemed sacrilegious to surrender it to another performer had Trump won. Baldwin said he was weary of the caricature,

and he seemed ready to retire it after his “Macho Man” solo on Saturday night. I’m sure he’ll do spot duty prior to the transition of power in January. *** As I write this on Sunday evening, I’m reading tweets and Facebook posts of people reacting to the death of “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek, most of the tributes phrased in the form of a question. Everyone seems to have

had the same idea simultaneously, and appropriately so. His was the ultimate A&Q trivial pursuit, which prized curiosity, gamesmanship and the ability to absorb lots and lots of facts then regurgitate them in front of a national audience. Only the smartest could survive, and even they couldn’t hang on forever. Trebek inherited “Jeopardy” in 1984 and used his low-key charisma and wit to turn the show’s irresistible formula into a cultural phenomenon (Trebek made scores of TV and movie appearances, including on “Cheers” and in “White Men Can’t Jump”). He seemed to genuinely enjoy the contestants’ success yet wasn’t above gently needling them when they uttered something less than brilliant, and he deserved a special award for persevering through countless (and often pointless) get-to-know-you interviews with them. “Jeopardy” will go on, as it must, with a new host. Good luck to the person who has to fill Alex Trebek’s game shoes. *** Norman Lloyd’s most recent role was a small part in the 2015 Amy

Schumer comedy “Trainwreck.”

That’s an unremarkable piece of information except for one detail: Lloyd was 100 years old when he filmed it. On Saturday, the actor turned 106, and his personal and professional history is breathtaking. He was a charter member of Orson Welles’ legendary Mercury Theatre; he was best friends with Alfred Hitchcock; along with Tippi Hedren he’s one of only two actors to have worked with Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin; he watched Babe Ruth play in the 1926 World Series. Lloyd has performed alongside two two-time Academy Award winners, Robert De Niro (in “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle”) and Denzel Washington (in “St. Elsewhere”), and a three-time winner, Daniel Day-Lewis (in “The Age of Innocence”). Most people remember Lloyd as the sage hospital administrator Dr. Daniel Auschlander in the 1980s television drama “St. Elsewhere,” but his first acting credit is from 1939. He’s lived a long life (and counting), enjoyed an amazing career, and deserves every candle on his cake.

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

NEW ON DVD

‘Schitt’s Creek’ is the show we all need right now KATIE FORAN - MCHALE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

A

beloved sitcom following a family adapting to change in isolation tops the new DVD releases for the week of Nov. 10.

“Schitt’s Creek Complete Collection”: This year’s Emmys offered a well-earned victory in a tough year.

Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek” won a total of nine awards, completely sweeping the comedy category, from outstanding comedy series to acting wins by Eugene Levy’s no-nonsense Johnny Rose, Catherine O’Hara’s whimsically wacky Moira Rose, Daniel Levy’s ostentatious David and Annie Murphy’s vapid but lovable Alexis.

Created by Daniel and Eugene Levy, the peak comfort TV series could have plateaued as a selfish once-rich family struggling in smalltown life, as the Roses lose their fortune and are forced to move to the titular town Johnny once bought as a

joke. But as vile as the family comes across in the beginning of the series, its heartbeat grows as the characters mature and find their voices.

The delightfully outlandish performances (not to mention the wardrobe and wigs) give the series stakes in otherwise everyday situations, grounded by an equally wonderful supporting cast (Emily Hampshire’s sardonic motel clerk Stevie, Jennifer Robertson’s sweet-natured Jocelyn and Sarah Levy’s tragically cheerful Twyla just some of the best). A family thrown into chaos and not only growing from it, but developing a community through eventual empathy? It’s a perfect, timely binge, absurdities and all.

“Bill & Ted Face the Music”: The infamous best friends (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) travel through time to cheat their way out of having to write a universe-saving song.

“A Rainy Day in New York”: A young couple’s (Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning) romantic weekend

in the city is thwarted by forces pulling them apart.

“Dark Figures”: Hikers in Arizona encounter an evil spirit and its followers. Stars Kelly McCart, Shelby Lyn, Dan Nufer.

“Guest House”: A couple (Mike Castle and Aimee Teegarden) is unpleasantly surprised to find an obnoxious partier (Pauly Shore) as a resident on their dream home’s property.

“I Met a Girl”: A musician (Brenton Thwaites) sets off to find a love interest while struggling with schizophrenia.

“Mortal”: A man (Nat Wolff) discovers he has powers right from ancient Norwegian gods. In Norwegian and English.

“Spontaneous”: A pair of high school seniors (Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer) fight for survival as people begin to spontaneously combust.

“Tennessee Johnson”: The 1942 biopic of the first-ever impeached U.S. President Andrew Johnson (Van

Heflin) has been remastered.

“Upside-Down Magic”: A girl (Izabela Rose) and her friends hone their powers at a magic school.

“Penance”: Sundance Now thriller miniseries follows a married woman and grieving mother (Julie Graham) who hits it off with a man in her support group.

AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL HD NOV. 10 “Jungleland”: A boxer (Jack O’Connell) and his brother (Charlie Hunnam) embark on a long, perilous journey to a supposed last match.

“Lie Exposed”: A recovering alcoholic (Leslie Hope) poses for a Los Angeles photographer after receiving some bad news.

“Out Stealing Horses”: A widower (Stellan Skarsgard) heads to the woods and reminisces about his youth. In Norwegian.

“The Retreat”: A backpacking man (Grant Schumacher) is accosted by an evil Native American spirit.

“Sasquatch Among Wildmen”: Documentary follows the history of the infamous folklore creature.

“Sleepless Beauty”: An abducted woman (Polina Davydova) is tortured with sleep deprivation and forced to carry out violent acts. In Russian. Out on DVD and Blu-ray Nov. 17.

“Transference: A Love Story”: An affair between two nurses (Raffaello Degruttola and Emilie Sofie Johannesen) turns dark due to overwhelming mental health issues.

“Words on Bathroom Walls”: A high school senior (Charlie Plummer) is ashamed by his mental illness diagnosis and attempts to keep it a secret. Look for it on DVD and Bluray Nov. 17.

OUT ON DIGITAL HD NOV. 11 “Coded Bias”: Documentary explores the racism and sexism of facial recognition technology.

“My Summer as a Goth”: A girl in mourning (Natalie Shershow) falls for a Goth neighbor boy (Jack Levis).

CITY LIFE

THE NEXT DRAFT

Tree House transcends: ​​​​​​​Brewery to expand empire with new taprooms in Sandwich, Deerfield MATTHEW TOTA

L

ast week, Tree House Brewing Co. became something larger and more enigmatic than a craft brewery in Massachu-

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 16

roughly 7,000-square-foot building at 98 Town Neck Road – currently listed for just under $1.6 million – has been on and off market for years.

In Deerfield, Tree House chose the picturesque former home of Channing Bete Co., a publishing company that closed in 2019. The roughly 50acre site off routes 5 and 10 – listed for sale at $4.95 million – offers a verdant setting akin to the Charlton brewery.

Of the Deerfield taproom, Tree House said, “With over 300 parking spots and 100,000 square feet of building set on 50 wooded and secluded acres, we cannot fathom a more ideal location to extend our roots to. In addition to the expansive

outdoor space, the indoor atrium, complete with a sea of live plants in a flood of natural light, is a stunningly gorgeous piece of architecture.”

Tree House described both moves as strategic, the result of deep reflection over the limitations – despite constant investment – of its brewery in Charlton. “Over-demand and under-supply” necessitated expansion, the brewery said, not concerning the beer, but the Tree House experience.

“Listening intently to your feedback, we wish for nothing more than to bring you the most delightful and memorable experience possible — a place for friends, family, and kindred spirits to leave the world behind for a bit over the celebratory pint with

straightforwardness to its sound, but there’s a nice amplifier fuzz to the guitar and a low curl to the vocals that add interesting dimensions to the song.

Things pick up again with “Armageddon Waves,” with its imagery of surfing on the seas of the dead. The dime-turn tempo changes and the warm tone of Halfdead’s voice make the song truly arresting, a feeling that continues as the song’s close is buried by the avalanche of percus-

sion that kicks off the next track, “The Ghost of Mr. Jones.” “It’s all clear/I’m moving on,” sings Halfdead, but the title and something ephemeral in the song make one think that maybe the song’s persona is mistaken. The song radiates danger, as does the subsequent “Iron (to the Face),” although the direction the danger is coming from is different. Perhaps that, then, is the key to what makes this album compelling: How it takes danger and makes it familiar, rather

than otherworldly. We know streets that are more deadly than they seem.

We know a world that turns children into monsters. We see that world every day in the newspaper.

The album winds down with a high-spirited cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” which takes the original’s sense of wistfulness and resignation and amplifies it, stepping up the speed and the volume. It works immensely well, and sets the stage for the album’s closer,

the adrenaline-fueled punk banger, “Shut This (Expletive) Down,” a song that gives the album a closure. The song in some ways feels like it’s an inevitability, like this was the only way the album could end, and that in and of itself is a statement on the violence and aggression in which the album has reveled. This was the place the album was always headed: A good song about a bad end, and that’s an extremely satisfying conclusion.

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thing is mutated and decayed/so Alice/can you burn it all away.” The song moves savagely, and is extremely addictive, hook layered up on hook in a dark ballet of desperation and propulsion. Things slow down a bit with the bass-driven groove of “Bad Ass” and the Spanish-tinged “Infected Fiesta,” but the energy sustains itself from track to track. The song “Negan’s Way” has a hard-core

CHRISTINE PETERSON

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

LISTEN UP

Customers enjoy the patio at Tree House Brewing in Charlton in a 2018 photo.

health and wellness.

“When Channing Bete closed there was a lot of uncertainty, but now having Tree House come into the area could be a huge economic multiplier for businesses not only in Deerfield, but the entire county,” said Town Administrator Kayce Warren.

The town did not immediately think brewery when it started looking at possible businesses large enough to take over the 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, according to Carolyn Shores Ness, chairwoman of the Deerfield Select Board. Instead officials focused on housing, namely senior and assisted-living, working with Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy’s office as well as various Realtors.

But from the moment Tree House expressed interest in 1 Community Place, Shores Ness said, the town knew the brewery would be the right fit. Tree House hasn’t filed its plans yet, she said, but conversations have already taken place over how the brewery will manage its wastewater and safely serve the legions of people expected to visit the taproom.

“This is one of the best relationships we’ve had with a business,” Shores Ness said.

It’s a little surreal talking about a brewery in this way, as perhaps having the same economic impact on a place as a 66-year-old publishing company.

But Tree House is a transcendent force.

“Tree House will have a hugely stabilizing effect on our tax base,” Shores Ness said. “Channing Bete left a huge hole, and Tree House is filling it. They are bringing good jobs and a good attitude.”

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

setts.

As people were glued to their televisions and phones monitoring a still-undecided election, Tree House dropped two massive updates about its future.

The brewery told us it would expand its empire outside Central Massachusetts with two new taprooms: on the ocean in Sandwich and amid woods and pastures in South Deerfield.

To some extent, Tree House has always been an outlier, but now, the brewery has proven it doesn’t need distribution to succeed. It has shown it doesn’t need a taproom, even as it prepares to open two new spaces next year.

Tree House hasn’t sold draft beer since March 15, instead operating as perhaps the biggest craft beer drivethru on Earth.

And yet, as other breweries tighten their belts ahead of a winter that will likely see rising coronavirus cases and the threat of another state shutdown, Tree House has invested millions of dollars in new real estate.

Tree House is the brewery equivalent of Phish, a band that can sell out Madison Square Garden 13 straight nights without ever having produced a Billboard hit.

As expected, the new taprooms will provide beautiful views for us to admire as we wait in line, either on foot or in a car.

The Sandwich taproom will sit on Cape Cod Bay, between Town Neck beach and Scusset Harbor. The

no frills,” Tree House said. “We have not been perfect and in spite of our most earnest efforts to overcome our shortcomings with continued reinvestment we had to admit to ourselves that Charlton is not enough.”

Tree House plans to open both taprooms by 2021, depending on where the state stands in its coronavirus response. They will start as “On the Fly” taprooms, Tree House’s name for its to-go beer program, but eventually transition into serving pints and hosting events.

As always, Tree House could not be reached for comment. However, I did hear from town officials in the communities that will host the brewery. All of them are now familiar with the brewery’s reputations and global following.

Sandwich’s director of planning and economic development, Ralph Vitacco, told me Tree House has not reached out to his office yet but expects formal discussions to start soon. Historically, the lack of parking has been an issue at that location, known locally as Horizons.

“We will have discussions about traffic and parking,” Vitacco said.

Tree House, he said, represents the kind of businesses that Sandwich loves.

“We’re not a town that really relies on franchise business,” he said. “We like those craft businesses. So Tree House fits in with our personality.”

In Deerfield, local officials expect Tree House will provide the same economic benefit to their town as Channing Bete, which employed hundreds of locals at its site over its 40-year run in South Deerfield.

The publishing company printed instructional flyers and educational materials, mostly concerning public

CITY LIFE

20

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

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.

ANJIE COATES FURRY TAILS GROOMING SALON AND SPA

ADOPTION OPTION

Meet Brie! This beauty was found by a good Samaritan

and brought to our shelter. Brie is an independent woman who can be aloof when meeting new people. She will come say a quick hello with a wagging tail and check your hands for cookies, but unless you’re familiar to her, she goes on her way.

Brie likes to go for walks and LOVES to roll in the grass. She isn’t much for toys, but this girl loves food and treats. She would enjoy doing food puzzles and enrichment toys to pass the time with her new family. Brie needs to be the only pet in your home because she does not like other animals. Her new family will need to be savvy and keep her away from other animals when walking and out in public. Not having any previous history about her, she isn’t suitable to live with children. When Brie first got to the shelter she had some missing fur and skin sensitivities. She likely has some allergies that her new family will need to care for to make her comfortable. During her spay, the vet also removed a lump off of her that was a mast cell tumor. These tumors can pop up on older dogs and need to be removed. If you think Brie may be the one for you, please contact the shelter to schedule a meet and greet.

WARL COVID-19 Procedures As of Novemeber 9, 2020

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.

• 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.

GAMES

J O N E S I N’

“Leg Work” — keep on counting!

By Matt Jones

Across

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Tiny laugh Class reunion attendees Cars for execs Make happy Mathematical ratio Middle East gp.

French 101 pronoun

48 Shimerman of “Deep Space Nine” 49 Streisand’s “Funny Girl” role 50 Levy again 51 Bond, for example 52 Downhill runners 53 Hindu festival of colors 54 Maui, for one 55 Rum ___ Tugger (“Cats” cat) 56 Bitter brew, briefly 57 Athens X 58 One-hit wonder band behind “How Bizarre” 59 “When the Rain Begins to Fall” singer Zadora 60 Einstein’s birth city

Last week's solution

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©2020 Matt Jones (jonesincrosswords@gmail.com) Reference puzzle #1014

WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Down

8 “All the news that’s fit to print” initials 9 Sevastopol resident 10 Metric prefix for “tenth” 11 “Call Me Irresponsible” lyricist Sammy 12 City southwest of Tulsa 13 Sample of wine 14 Methyl ending 18 Actress Issa 22 Olympic flame lighter in Atlanta 23 Winter Games vehicles 24 Rudely abrupt 25 “Is ___ fact?”

26 Poet Gil Scott-___ 27 Advanced very slowly 28 Daft, in Derby 30 You are here 31 Van Gogh’s brother 32 “Holy moly!”

33 Maternally related 34 ___ profundo (lowest vocal range) 35 Morning TV host Kelly 36 Like some angles 41 Tiny ear bone 42 “American Gods” actor McShane 47 It might go over your head

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

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!

1 1990s Disney show with characters from “The Jungle Book” 9 Clear music holder 15 Prozac maker 16 Enter, as data 17 They have two legs each 19 Icon used in Twitch chat to express feelings 20 Uganda’s Idi 21 Being, Roman-style 22 “Tiny Alice” dramatist Edward 25 Active chemical in cannabis 28 “Parklife” group 29 The heavens, for Olympians 32 They have four legs each 37 Broadcast studio sign 38 Key to get out?

39 Cover once more?

40 They have six legs each 43 “Here are the words on the label ...”

44 State with a three-word capital 45 Abbr. in a job posting 46 Charlie of “Hot Shots!”

48 Singer with the EPs “BLQ Velvet” and “PRINCESS” 52 “Transformers” actor LaBeouf 54 Abbr. on marked-down clothes 55 They have eight legs each 61 Like a difficult battle 62 Comedian Sarah who once wrote “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” 63 “Game of Thrones” actress Williams 64 Followed

CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL

SERVICE DIRECTORY

WORCESTER HOUSING AUTHORITY ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS SEALED BIDS shall be received at the Purchasing Office, 69 Tacoma Street., Worcester, MA 01605 Solicitation package may be picked up at the location above or may be downloaded from our website: www.worcesterha.org/purchasing, or call (508) 635-3202/3203, TTY/TDD (508) 798-4530. Bidders are responsible for ensuring they have received any/all addenda prior to submitting a bid.

Separate awards will be made for each solicitation. WHA or its affiliate reserves the right to reject any or all responses, in whole or in part, deemed to be in their best interest. Award of all contracts is subject to the approval of the WHA Executive Director or Board of Commissioners. The Operating Agency shall indemnify and hold harmless the WHA and its officers or agents from any and all third party claims arising from activities under these Agreements as set forth in MGL c.258, section 2 as amended.

Bid No.

Release Date Project Title

20-48 11/10/2020 Electrical & Lighting Supplies 20-49 11/9/2020 Bathrub Refinishing 20-50 11/12/2020 Housing Choice Voucher Program Jackson Restrepo - Vice-President of Procurement

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Bid Opening 02:00 PM November 30, 2020 02:00 PM December 1, 2020 02:00 PM December 4, 2020

Where do I find such cool stuff and helpful services?

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WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

My secret is CLASSIFIEDS!

Over 90,000 Readers!

Call 888-254-3466 or email classifieds@gatehousemedia.com Sudoku Answers

classifieds@gatehousemedia.com • 888-254-3466

LAST CALL

Julia Kilgore Deputy Director of the Worcester Education Collaborative J DYLAN AZARI

ulia Kilgore joined the staff of the Worcester Education Collaborative as deputy director at the end of October. WEC is a nonprofit, non-partisan privately funded research and policy organization dedicated to empowering every Worcester Public School graduate.

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Where did it go from there?

What has your career trajectory looked like to lead you to the

Worcester Education Collaborative? I worked with the ACE program for just under six years.

I was program director, so I was doing a lot of different things in that role of managing some of the operations and engaging with the youth and the families. I was involved with human resources and finances. I did lots of grant writing. I was wearing many different hats in that role. Being able to experience all the different aspects of nonprofit was something I really enjoyed. But, at the same time, there were a lot of different challenges that we were facing beyond the control of our organization. Systemic issues related to funding, from the state, for instance. I decided to get my master’s in Public Administration, to deepen my skill set around some of those program management

How does WEC historically partner with Worcester’s schools?

In 2018, WEC co-drafted a Strategic Plan with the Worcester Public Schools, which outlined strategic What is the plan for your first goals for the district focused on 100 days at WEC? First up is areas of culture of innovation, planning for our annual meeting, academic excellence, welcoming which is taking place on Decemschools, investing in educators, ber 9, and we are thrilled to welcome Joseph South as our keynote. and technology & operations. We Joseph South is the Chief Learning have been running our Reading Together program with the disOfficer with the International trict for seven years. This is a beSociety for Technology in Educaloved and very successful program tion, and formerly served as the director of the Office of Education- that focuses on family literacy for K-3rd graders at seven elemenal Technology at the U.S. Departtary schools. WEC distributes ment of Education. South develhigh-quality books to children oped our national educational technology policy and worked on a & families, engages classrooms cross-governmental team to bring in a read-along with community high-speed broadband, interactive volunteers, and shares activities devices, professional development for their parents and caregivers to support them as they learn to read for educators and leaders, and at home. We love this program high-quality affordable digital because its supporting literacy content to classrooms across during those critical years when the U.S. Tech access and equity children are learning to read, so is, of course, a salient issue with students learning remotely due to that when they need to be able to read to learn--they are ready. For the COVID-19 pandemic; it’s also five years now, we’ve also been the True North for the Worcester pieces, but also to get a better idea running Worcester HEARS, which Education Equity Roundtable of policy and systems-level work. stands for Healthy Environments — which a group of passionate Since then, I have been working at and Resilience in Schools. This education and youth developthe systems level with organizainitiative is funded by The Health ment professionals convened by tions like Boston Afterschool & Foundation of Central MassaWEC. This coalition is working Beyond, a nonprofit intermediary. chusetts and offers training for to align key programs, outreach, They provide capacity building and advocacy with an unwavering educators on trauma-sensitive to nonprofit organizations and commitment to equity for histori- practice. In all this work, we serve educational institutions, as well as cally marginalized students in the as a critical friend to the district. work closely with the City and the When we see a concern, we raise Worcester Public Schools. Out of school district to support access that concern but we also bring this Roundtable came WooLabs, to resources and align programsolutions to the table and work which is my second major focus ming to make sure that nonprofhand-in-hand with the district for the first 100 days. WooLabs is its and educators are equipped and the community to find the a subcommittee that aims to reiwith the tools and resources they magine and amplify teaching and solutions and implement them. require to offer the highest quality learning in Worcester, particularly Regardless of what issue we are programming that they can. in response to the dual pandemics tackling or where we are working, we always keep the students at the of COVID-19 and system racHow did you decide to join center. The deciding factor is alism. WooLabs hopes to align outWorcester Education Collabof-school learning around project- ways what is best for the students orative? WEC has a very similar in Worcester Public Schools. based, student-centered learning mission, supporting Worcester and create a robust community Public Schools and ensuring excel– Sarah Connell Sanders of practice for continual, shared lence in terms of the opportunities learning and resource-sharing

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What were some of the first organizations or projects you worked on that really drew you to public service? When I was a senior at Assumption, I started volunteering with African Community Education, which is wonderful. They do youth development and educational programming with African youth across the city.

They offer math classes, English classes, tutoring, and they even have an outreach department.

They do a lot of really fun activities with drumming and dance.

It’s a great celebration of culture in their community. When I was graduating, they actually had a job opening. I felt very fortunate to join their team. And that is what really kicked off my career in public service.

across our partners. My charge is to bring in funding so that we can launch our reimagination projects with this group by early 2021.

N O V E M B E R 12 - 18, 2020

How did you end up in Worcester? I am from north of Worcester and I attended undergrad at Assumption College. I studied sociology, social policy and community service learning there.

Through those programs, I did a lot of volunteering around the city, got to know more about the community. I also did a lot of work with local nonprofits and cultural institutions and started to really experience the charm of Worcester and to know more about the restaurants and parks. I loved all of the different places to experience art and music and all of the enriching diversity that the city has to offer. Since then, I’ve started to consider Worcester my home, even though I’m not originally from the city itself.

that students have in the district, both during the school day and outside of the school day as well. I am really excited to be transitioning into a support role where I can help to address some of those challenges that I faced early in my career with ACE.

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