Worcester Magazine - December 24 - 30, 2020 by Worcester Magazine

DECEMBER 24 - 30, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

CULTURE • ARTS • DINING • VOICES

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Tell 2020 blues to take a hike

Safeguarding one of the region’s best-kept secrets

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

IN THIS ISSUE

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020 • V O L U M E 46 I S S U E 17 Find us on Facebook.com/worcestermag Twitter @worcestermag Instagram: Worcestermag

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Tell 2020 blues to take a hike Safeguarding one of the region’s best-kept secrets. Story on page 10 Photo by Rick Cinclair; Design by Donald Cloutier

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FEATURED

ValleyCAST Virtual Art & Music Makers Festival features artists of all abilities RICHARD DUCKET T

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

he ValleyCAST Art & Music Makers Festival in the past has been a one-day event at the plaza of the renovated Whitin Mill in Whitinsville. “It was a fun day,” said Cristi Collari, director of community outreach for ValleyCAST, the arts and culture arm of Open Sky Community Services. ValleyCAST operates a theater, gallery and artist studios at Whitin Mill and its mission is to use the arts and the Whitin Mill’s cultural assets to build an inclusive community in Blackstone Valley in which the arts bring people with and without disabilities together. “We closed down in March and haven’t opened yet,” Collari said of the effects of the pandemic. But the first ever ValleyCAST Virtual Art & Music Makers Festival will be getting underway Dec. 29, and it is going to last for more than one day. At noon every Tuesday and Thursday starting Dec. 29, the festival will air a video made by one of the participating artists or musicians on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Each video ranges from about 6 to 7 to 25 minutes long. Some of the participants are autistic, one musician is blind, there’s a husband and wife duo, and young artists and performers with Main IDEA from Main South in Worcester. It’s all inclusive. “We like to say artists of all abilities,” Collari said, in the spirit of ValleyCAST. Artists include: Beckwith Strings, Just Rosy, Dominic Killiany, Lindsey Epstein Pottery, Carolyn Letvin, Madeline Lord, Main IDEA Arts Center, Philip Marshall, Stephen Paulson, Saori Worcester, Jon Sarkin, Lisa Shea, Nicholas B. Swearer, Derrick TePaske, Sam Tomasiello, Andy Volpe and Zentangle. The artists are printmakers, sculptors, painters, potters, metal smiths, jewelry makers and more. “A lot of the artists are local artists that have had shows with us

The Promise is Hope is one of the many acts performing at the ValleyCAST Art & Music Makers Festival. PROMOTIONAL IMAGE

in the gallery. Some of them are new who have approached us and asked if they could be included, and we haven’t found anyone we didn’t want to include,” Collari said. Musicians include: Adrian Anantawan, Blackstone Valley Quartet, Main IDEA Arts Center students, Noé Socha, and The Promise Is Hope. Musicians range from soloists, duos and a quartet. Joy Rachelle Murrieta, executive director of Main IDEA, had approached Collari about taking part in the festival this year, and young musicians from Main IDEA will be featured in videos. The festival would have taken place physically in the plaza again this year, “but of course we couldn’t,” Collari said. But ValleyCAST wanted to put on a festival. “Bands are suffering so much, we still wanted to pay them. Artists still wanted to let people know they’re out there,” Collari said. Collari has organized the plaza

festivals and now the virtual festival. “The virtual aspect, I’m not used to that. It’s a challenging new world. It’s a learning curve,” she said. The videos proved to be exciting. At the physical festival, artists in tents would do demonstrations. For the virtual festival some have videoed themselves making art. “It’s fun,” Collari said. Several participants made more than one video for the festival. A couple of musicians made four 15-minute videos. “Most of the artists also did their own videos. A few we went to their studios and videoed them. It’s going to be a mish-mash of video technology, which I think is really cool. It’s going to be really genuine and immediate. Everyone doing these candid shots, candid videos,” Collari said. The festival will shuffle all the videos up so that there’s no set advance line-up. “We like that a lot. We thought, maybe it’s better if they don’t know who they are going to see.” Meanwhile, Collari said research

had indicated that noon was the best time to air the videos for viewership. Many of the artists and musicians are local but a few are from farther away. Noé Socha is a Brooklyn-based guitar and harmonica player who won awards at Berklee College of Music. In 2017, he released the album “Blues and the World Beyond,” which he recorded as one half of Likho Duo. His YouTube channel is called Blind Selfie. Award-winning violinist Adrian Anantawan, who was born without a right hand, has been based in Boston. He submitted a 15-minute video to the festival. “I was just thrilled he would participate,” Collari said. Closer to home, The Promise Is Hope is the acclaimed Worcester wife and husband folk duo Ash and Eric L’Esperance. Theater-goers might be familiar with ValleyCAST via the G.B. and Lexi Singh Performance Center at Whitin Mill, which has been the home of a number of theater groups,

including Stepping Stone Community Theater, an inclusive theater company that was so successful there it moved to a larger venue. “At one time we had nine theater groups using it,” Collari said. The question now is how many will there be post-pandemic. “We’re working on a strategic plan on how to get more theater groups. We’ve just been scrambling to keep ValleyCAST on the radar,” Collari said. “Actors and theater groups are probably not working at all. Same with musicians. The performance space is going to be a lot harder to get up and running and back. The theater’s going to take a while because you can’t plan longterm right now. Are people going to be comfortable being in that space?” The ValleyCAST Virtual Art & Music Makers Festival might help in keeping people aware of its work and goals over quite a long period of time. As was mentioned earlier, it is not a one-day event. Collari said the plan is to air the videos Tuesdays and Thursdays “until we run out of videos.” That might be in April, or possibly longer. The videos will then live on the ValleyCAST YouTube Channel indefinitely, enabling community members to go back and view videos they’ve missed, or watch their favorites again. “The more people that watch and like and share, the more people will be tuning in,” Collari said. “We’re trying to get some more social media presence for ValleyCAST in the community and educate people about what we do.” Collari said the more that people are exposed to art and performance by people with and without disabilities, the more they are enriched. “It goes both ways. And it brings some joy and distraction in the times we’re in right now. Art and music are joyful. Visit https://www.openskycs.org/ news-events/events/virtual-art-music-makers-festival for a full list of participating artists and musicians with links to their online presence.

FEATURED

RCA’s First Responders Program helps those who help others STEPHANIE JARVIS CAMPBELL

help with that struggle instead. The First Responders Program tries to help with managing that struggle and learning how to ask for help. Although first responders and veterans understand the word “training” as it relates to their job, “quite possibly, they were never trained in how to be themselves or how to be themselves sober. What happens when that person needs

began. Once participants leave the program, the support groups and 12-Step meetings are still open to them as a long-term resource. Knowing that they do have these resources is particularly important, Jones said. Although there are similar programs at RCA in Danvers and in Devon, Pa., Jones said they are all structured differently and are

Anthony Jones is a first responder counselor at Recovery Centers of America. RICK CINCLAIR

The Serenity Prayer is painted on a meeting room wall in the Recovery Centers of America in Westminster RICK CINCLAIR

is an important step in their recovery. “They all have different traumatic experiences, but they have similar emotions attached to it,” Jones said. When in meetings, Jones said he tells them, “’This is your basic training of recovery, and to help you navigate your recovery.’ It’s important to use language they understand.” Jones estimated that approximately 150 people have gone through the program since it

not cookie-cutter. Neither are the men and women in uniform who come to RCA and the First Responders Program seeking help, he noted. “I try to be cognizant and very aware that each person who comes through the door is individual and different,” he said, adding, “My plan is to continue doing what we’re doing – help people who want to be helped. It’s a different way of looking at their lives, and it starts here.”

911?” Jones asked. “They may not know where to go, what to talk about.” Many times, Jones said, people in uniform feel that no one else understands their experiences or emotions. But, he pointed out, “active addition is active addition. Just inviting them to join the rest of the world is really important. There are people who understand. … For a person to know that someone gets it, they understand it, it’s sort of a relief.” The program participants

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time,” when officer suicides were prevalent. “I made it my walking path that I was going to help people in uniform,” he said. That opportunity came about three years ago, when he took a job at RCA in Westminster, and then, about 18 months ago, he helped launched the First Responders Program for those who have been admitted to treatment in the residential unit. The program aims to help first responders and veterans deal with work-related traumatic events, depression and anxiety, guilt about breaking public trust, fear of disappointing their co-workers, drinking culture, fear of losing their jobs, and difficulty asking for help. Oftentimes, Jones said, those in uniform are trained to “figure it out” or “suffer in silence,” but, “that’s not how recovery works.” Those emotions do exist, even though “we’re kind of told to leave the job at the door. It doesn’t necessarily work that way. It’s not as easy as punching out at the door,” he said. For some, those currently in service and those who are retired, emotions and that silence become more difficult to manage. “They’ll self-medicate those emotions,” Jones said, adding that “there’s always a doctor or a medication or a package store” that they use to

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

irst responders spend their careers helping others, but what happens when they themselves need help? That is the question — and the answer — behind a program at Recovery Centers of America in Westminster, developed and run by Anthony Jones, to exclusively help first responders who are struggling with substance use disorder. “There’s a stigma attached to addiction, and there’s an added stigma attached to people in uniform,” Jones said. “A person is a person; it just happens to be in uniform.” RCA’s First Responders Program aims to help eliminate that stigma by providing specialty and private groups and individualized treatment specifically for those who wear or have worn a uniform — in law enforcement, fire, dispatch and EMS, as well for as military veterans. With that uniform comes unique challenges, however. “Years after years after years, that’s their identity – that uniform. For some people it creates difficulties,” Jones said, adding, “Being in uniform may have robbed them of their identity.” Through his longtime career spanning 33 years, Jones knows firsthand what it is like to wear a uniform in service. A former security specialist for the Air Force, he then worked for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, from where he retired. He later served as a firefighter and EMT for the town of Phillipston and as instructor and coordinator for the Department of Public Health/ Office of Emergency Medical Services. During that time, Jones also has seen firsthand the issues surrounding addiction among those who serve in uniform. Toward the end of his career with the Department of Corrections, he witnessed what he called a “dark

meet with Jones four times a week in a closed setting, as well as in individual sessions, using a workbook specifically designed for those in uniform. They work with support staff who, like Jones, have been or currently are first responders. It is hoped that by meeting with their peers, they will become more confident in discussing their struggles, which

FEATURED

‘SeltzerTime’ podcast celebrates 100 episodes of Worcester love LIZ FAY

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

icky Nelson and Travis Duda might seem familiar. The pair exude a blissful essence of quirky, hipster ‘90s-kid vibes, and you could swear you know them from somewhere. Maybe it was at Redemption Rock Brewery over the weekend, or during your daily coffee run to Crust Bakeshop. Perhaps you bumped into them last time you were at Buds Goods & Provisions, your favorite dispensary. Ever made a trip to Worcester Wares? If so, you definitely know who they are. These two are always around town, making coffee stops at Crust and New Tradition before shifts at Worcester Wares, and grabbing a bite at Palmas Bakery before a PWW meeting. Ricky and Travis love Worcester. In fact, these two love Worcester so much they host a weekly podcast called “SeltzerTime” — and it’s all about the city and its people. Popular for being “Worcester’s hype-men,” Nelson and Duda are catalysts of Millennial Worcester culture. They dedicate every episode toward showcasing Worcester’s best perks and people. “The whole point of ‘SeltzerTime’ is to help bring more attention to people who are doing things to make Worcester so cool and give them a voice,” says Nelson. “We tend to focus mostly on the arts, service industry, or any one of Worcester’s small businesses.” Nelson is the founder of “SeltzerTime.” “He’s an energetic, fun, loving human being who has a lust for life and a lust for finding the good time in all situations,” said Duda about his co-host. “He loves our city and loves supporting its small businesses, and shouting out local people who deserve to have more attention drawn to them.” Nelson met Duda through a mutual friend back in November 2018 while conjuring up the idea of a podcast. The guys met

“SeltzerTime” podcasters Ricky Nelson, left, and Travis Duda. JOHN GONZALEZ-DUFRESNE

in person at Table Talk Pies, where they exchanged ideas and expressed their mutual love for Worcester. Duda, having a background in graphic design and a pleasant demeanor, was the fit Nelson was looking for. Though Nelson may be the outgoing comedian you see cracking a seltzer can — or joking every day on Instagram, Duda is the backbone of “SeltzerTime” operations. According to the former Dive Bar tapster, “Travis is definitely the most important part of ‘SeltzerTime’ in my opinion. He keeps us organized, he’s always prepared,

and he makes all of our graphics. He’s super passionate about Worcester, and he’s always ready with the best questions for our guests. Without him there is no

such thing as the ‘SeltzerTime’ podcast.” Just a month after “SeltzerTime’s” second year anniversary, Ricky and Travis are now

“This year was definitely the largest growth we’ve ever had,” —Ricky Nelson

celebrating the podcast’s 100th episode. This nostalgic episode is scheduled to run around 7 p.m. on Dec. 29. The guys will spend the hour reflecting on “SeltzerTime’s” most memorable moments, and are also including video submissions from fans. Despite coronavirus restrictions, “SeltzerTime” continued to flourish in 2020 after hosting a variety of important guest speakers such as Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, Four Year Strong tour manager Evan Pierri, and Rep. Jim McGovern. Throughout the pandemic, the guys paid special attention to plenty of Worcester’s small businesses. Memorable episodes include Glazy Susan Donuts, Lincoln Crafted, The Queen’s Cups, Greater Good Imperial Brewing, Worcester Regional Environmental Council, Buds Goods & Provisions and Michelangelo’s Barbershop. “This year was definitely the largest growth we’ve ever had,” said Nelson. “Even though we went from always conducting our interviews in person, we could only do that for like six episodes this year and then we had to do everything over Zoom. But it was cool. I guess the biggest thing we did this year was actually grow outside of Worcester. We interviewed people from Nashville and from LA when we talked to Kevin. It’s kinda wild because the day after things started shutting down in March we interviewed Jim McGovern,” which according to Duda “was one of our best episodes ever.” As a couple of Worcester’s biggest advocates, Nelson and Duda are always looking for the next greatest thing to come up in the exciting city of Worcester, which makes “SeltzerTime” essential to a Worcester-lover’s podcast lineup. The podcast can be found at SeltzerTime.com, Apple, Spotify, YouTube or most podcast download platforms.

FEATURED

High Command stays relevant with ‘Everlasting Torment’ ROBERT DUGUAY

“We’re already deep into writing the next album but we don’t have any set plans for putting it out yet.”

to be a connection to both their first album and their second one when it’s officially released. “We’re already deep into writing the next album but we don’t have any set plans for putting it out yet,” McArdle says. I think when shows happen again we’re probably going to try to do some touring for ‘Beyond The Wall Of Desolation’ before we drop the next one. This 7” definitely has more of the vibe that our first album has, the next record won’t be completely different but we’re going to be heading in a bit of a different direction. It’s something that will eventually bridge the two albums.” To stream and purchase the digital version of the “Everlasting Torment” 7”, visit High Command’s Bandcamp page.

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the whole band is a fan of Tolkien and sword and sorcery books like ‘Conan The Barbarian,’ ‘Elric of Melniboné’ by Michael Moorcock and a bunch of other fantasy literature from the ‘70s. They’re all a big inspiration for us.” Looking to the future, the quintet have started working on their next full-length record but they’d first like to hit the road at some point next year to support their debut when it’s safe to do so. In the meantime, they view the 7”

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went back to Machines With Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to work with producer Seth Manchester on the release, with Seth also playing synth on the title track and “The Infernal March/ Sword Of Wisdom.” Vocalist Kevin Fitzgerald, bassist Chris Berg, drummer Ryan Pitz and guitarists Ryan McArdle and Mike Bonetti continue a sound similar to their debut with heavy and fast guitar riffs, feverish rhythms and intense growling coming from Fitzgerald.

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“This was kind of a result of COVID-19, pretty much,” McArecause of COVID-19 oblitdle says on the making of the 7”. erating most live music this “When we put out ‘Beyond The year, bands and musicians Wall Of Desolation’ last year, we have been finding different had four months of being able ways to let people know they’re to play on it a little bit and then still around. Live streams and the pandemic happened with all virtual events have become the of our plans to tour to support popular outlet for musical acts to it going to (expletive). This 7” is connect with fans while others basically our way of letting people have been doing it in a more tradi- know we’re still kicking and tional fashion. There isn’t a more working on new music. It’s almost old-fashioned way of signaling to like an appendix to what the fullmusic fans that you’re not going length is.” anywhere than with a new record. A statement on High ComWorcester thrash metal destroymand’s Bandcamp page deers High Command did this with scribes how the release keeps the Dec. 4 release of its new 7” with the band’s fantasy storytellrecord, “Everlasting Torment.” It’s ing style. This inspiration comes the band’s second release through from a few bands who adopted the Los Angeles-based label this motif back in the ‘70s and Southern Lord Recordings, which ‘80s along with literature from the follows up its debut studio album, same time period. “Beyond The Wall Of Desolation,” “Kevin (Fitzgerald) is a big that came out in September of fan of bands like Immortal and last year. The record is currently Manowar,” McArdle says about only available through streaming, High Command’s influences for but the plan is to release it as a this lyrical approach. “Those vinyl single at some point in the bands used their lyrics to make future. up this world that revolves Much like its debut, the band around their music. In general,

CITY VOICES

POETRY TOWN

LETTERS

‘ A Certain Sense of Self ’

Mulled cider, pine boughs and melting wax; the smell of roast turkey at Christmas. The hushed roar of heavy snow falling slowly on empty streets. The rush of night wind outside the ice crystal condensation on the bedroom windows. The soft rhythm of her gentle slumber beside me in the dark. These are my memories, and my joys. Deliberate effort made through the years. Sustained effort meant to please. Thoughtful consideration of the other. The subtle joy of giving, learned from years of watching her. The warmth of a smile, and sweet contentment of rolling in affection. The reassurance of her too delicate touch. These are my riches, and my reasons for staying. There was a time I was without her; unbaked bread, raw meat, green wine. There was a time I presumed to understand reality; self deluded wrenched arrogance.

There was a time I closed myself and needed no one. How did I live before this higher order? My purpose now, protect and serve this better half of me. What wonderful counterpoint we are for one another. How odd I am to her even, how up I am to her down. How perfectly she tempers my inadequacy. How shyly she steels my courage. I am no man without this woman, but half a human being. I cannot be alone again. I fear my death; still more, the thought of life without her. I have become the dark side of the one they call us. I am her fist and her crusader. She is my heart and my conscience. I am a sword, she the scabbard that holds it.

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

I am not as naughty a boy as you might think, I’m not a bad kid, I am not as bad as all that, Who knew paint should not be poured down the sink? Or that you should never try to shave the cat. No matter what stories you might have heard, I can be pretty darn good when I give it a try. The cat will never again be stuffed in the cage with the bird, Or slingshot to see if he can be taught how to fly. I eat all of mom’s cooking, no matter how bad I do my best to clean up my plate. Only once did I hide the car keys in the freezer on Dad The line I walk is narrow and straight. I am sorry about the window, it was an accident I was just playing ball with my friends. I will pay for the glass, one hundred percent And do whatever I can to make amends. I am sure that Grandma has forgotten about those plates She has forgotten about almost every other thing. And I never bring her frogs or the snakes she hates I have not muddied her carpets since Spring. And about my kid sister, her hair will grow back, Dad said she looked cuter than cute. I think the rug in my room looks better in black And Grandpa already replaced his gray suit. So give me a break, Santa, I’m trying real hard, It’s not easy keeping grownups happy, you see.

The volume and issue numbers (Volume 46, Issue 15, 2020) of the WM (or the T&G) don’t reflect the number of good writers whose names have disappeared, sometimes abruptly, over the years. I am here to thank a few of those who made the current issue of WM worth reading: Victor Infante (though his name is misspelled on p. 18) and Jim Keogh for their reviews. The “Worcesteria” column is now clear and informative. Veer Mudambi for a perhaps

incomplete but generous spread of Worcester charities in need of donations. Janice Harvey for exploring the dark side of our lives. While I long to stir honey into Janice’s hot apple cider vinegar (a la D.C. Jarvis of New England Folk Medicine fame) I look for her column first in each new issue. May 2021 fulfill at least some of our hopes!

You are Santa, you know the truth, I am really OK I’m not a bad kid all of the time, Just please bring me Christmas, I’ll do whatever you say, I will even stop writing in rhyme.

Please cut me a little slack for next year.

Julia Severens lives in Worcester.

Jack McClintock says this poem is dedicated to “Kathleen ‘Mavorneen’ Christmas 1997: Wife, friend, ally, and lover. You have shown me the meaning of virtue and made me want to be a better man. Without Wax, your husband John (Mad Jack)”.

‘Dear Santa, Let Me Explain’ Dear Santa Claus, way up in the North Pole Please, at least give me a chance to explain! How was I supposed to know Dad’s remote control Would get crushed when run over by a toy train?

You like us! You really like us!

Maybe pirates really did bury treasure in our yard, If I had found it, they would be happy, I guarantee. So maybe sometimes I get in trouble when I get into a fight Maybe sometimes I have to clap erasers after school, I’m just full of energy, holding me down is not right So what if I don’t follow their stupid rules.

Just one more thing Santa, and I hope you don’t mind I really want to spread holiday cheer, So if your list falls a little bit behind,

Christopher Reilley, a two-time Pushcart nominee and former poet laureate of Dedham, is the author of three poetry books, his latest, “One Night Stanzas,” a collection of love poems for the 21st century, is available from Big Table Publishing.

CITY VOICES

WORCESTERIA

Poetry, music and what makes Worcester special VICTOR D. INFANTE

ASYLUM SEEKERS: I first showed up at the Worcester Poets’ Asylum the week of Halloween, 1996, back when it was held at the now long-gone Eleni’s Midnite Cafe. I was living in California, then, and seeing a woman from Worcester long-distance. This was also my first featured reading on the East Coast, although I was an old hand at it on the West. Before the reading, I suspected I’d end up moving to Worcester. The relationship had been getting serious, and at that time, my life was more flexible. By the end of the reading, I was certain. The Poets’ Asylum, with its mix of warmth, fun and talent, made Worcester instantly feel like home. (Which is good, because I also did a gig in Boston that week, and it sucked out loud.) Fast forward to the Sunday before Winter Solstice 2020, and my now-wife and I are in the mix of 40-odd poets in a Poets’ Asylum reading on Zoom, hosted by Rush Frazier. The faces are familiar, although some have moved off to places as close as New Hampshire or as far as Hawaii. Readers such as Ohio’s Scott Woods and Chicago’s Molly Meacham popped in to read poems. They never lived here, but bonded tightly with the community. The spirit was warm, and the poem’s were good. That was my first impression of Worcester, and it was what I felt Sunday night. MISSION POSSIBLE: One of the most moving presentations Sunday night was

SOLSTICE SONGS: At roughly the same time, elsewhere on Zoom, Worcester

JANICE HARVEY

These are the same windbags who would run weeping from a classroom after spending 15 minutes in charge of 34 kids. There are plenty of things that need fixing; I won’t Pollyanna the state of education. Don’t get me going on the nightmare we call MCAS testing. That biased moneymaking machine makes my blood boil. I’m sure that COVID-19 is making changes in education that will be permanent — some good, some not so much. Time will tell. I said that leaving coworkers was the second hardest part of retiring. The first part is leaving the students. I’m old-school when it comes to school. I need to have kids in front of me, so I can figure out what’s going on in their heads. I am at my best when I look them in the eye, when I can engage them in the classroom, not on a screen. I’m a paper, pencil and textbook teacher in a high-tech world, and that’s a fact. I still type with two fingers, even after writing this column for 25 years. And though I’m considered a tough cookie, I’m getting too old to bury a kid every summer thanks to gang violence. My heart has been broken too many times. I’m tired of saying: “Be safe. Come back in one piece on Monday,” every Friday. I saw a former student working at a local store recently. He recognized my crazy hair despite my sunglasses and mask, and told his coworkers I was his favorite teacher. In truth, he gave me a run for my money, cutting class, flunking tests and goofing off. But I remembered too that he was a sweetheart, with a shy smile now hidden by his mask. He noticed that I had a cumbersome bundle of purchases and offered to walk me to my car. “That’s OK, I said. “I can do it.” He looked at me, lifted his mask and for a second I saw that smile. “Nah. I got you, Miss,” he said. Geez, I’m gonna miss that.

to adhere to social distancing and mask-wearing until every breath made a list. I checked it more we take is a safe one. I know teen-aged kids. I’d be a fool to than twice. On one side, I wrote “PROS” and on the oth- think they’ve been following CDC er side “CONS,” and at the top guidelines for 10 months. A big plus? Spending time with my four of the page I scribbled the words grandkids ranks high on my list “Reasons to Retire Earlier Than of reasons to leave the classroom. Planned.” In the end, the “PROS” I had a wonderful grandmother outnumbered the “CONS.” It was always my plan to leave and I’m determined to beat her memory as “World’s Best Nana” teaching in 2021 with 31 years though it will be no small task. I’m behind me. Thanks to a perfect up to the challenge. storm of calamities, including a The “CONS” side? A percentfew deaths that knocked the wind age cut. Tightening my belt for a out of me, I put in my papers a couple of months ago. I’m leaving year or two. You’d think one year the much-maligned and under-ap- wouldn’t matter but trust me, the magic formula of “age plus years preciated job of educator on my in” used by the Massachusetts birthday, two days after Christmas. It’s a job I knew as a kid I was Teachers Retirement Association is quite an aggravating system. I destined for, though at the time, might have to cut back on some I wanted to be an art instrucspending, though the lure of TJ tor. As it turned out, my love of Maxx on the ride home from work words overshadowed my love of will no longer capture my wallet. paints and brushes, and instead, I have earned a reputation as a I became a teacher of English snappy dresser over the years, and Language Arts. I started out as an instruction- now I can slum it in sweats. That fact meets requirements of both al assistant, hired to help special the pro and con, sadly. education teachers. I believe the Leaving behind coworkers I pay was a whopping $6.50 an adore and leaned on more than hour. Along the way, I raised a once will be the second hardcouple of kids as a single mom est part of retiring. Worcester and chipped away at a diploma from Clark University. I became an has some of the best educators EAW union rep, and remained one I’ve had the pleasure to know, and I say that as a product of for 25 years. Administration got my Irish up more than once, and I the system. Teachers I had at tangled with downtown at least a Columbus Park Elementary, half-dozen times. I was raised by a Woodland St. Preparatory and the union man, and to this day I know original South High on Richard Street made we want to learn, what having a union to watch made me feel that I could do one’s back can mean: the stark whatever I set my mind to, and difference between keeping a job in my mind I was someday going and losing one. The “PROS” side of my list was to Clark University. I am a Main just as clear. I am the oldest teach- South kid through and through. Like any institution, the WPS er in my building, a school that has its share of people who chose provides credit recovery for kids who have lost their way and fallen the wrong career, but those are few and far between. For the most far behind. COVID-!9 has forced part, I’ve worked with dedicated the Worcester Public Schools to provide remote learning since last men and women who put in long after-hours, fret over other peoMarch, but alternative schools ple’s kids and endure scorn from will return to on-site learning smart alecks who think they’ve before the end of January. I have little confidence that we will all be “got it made,” because of summer vaccinated and faithfully continue vacations and holiday breaks.

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songstress Cara Brindisi had gathered together an eclectic array of 30-odd of the region’s best musical acts. Having been otherwise occupied, I missed the show, but it seems clear from Facebook buzz that it had much the sense of goodwill and joy as the Asylum event did, and honestly, that speaks to something inherent in the Worcester arts community: It’s always been far closer-knit than most of its counterparts in other cities, and far more prone to experimentation and off-the-wall collaborations. You don’t move to Worcester as an artist for commercial success, but in the past, artists have come here, either to visit or stay for a stint, because the community has always driven each other to make better art, a spirit of friendly competition and encouragement that’s long made the city stand out. Here’s hoping that spirit can be rekindled when the pandemic passes and we’re faced with the completely different challenge of gentrification. A recent article in Vanyaland by Victoria Wasylak notes that Boston’s lost seven popular music venues during the course of this pandemic: ONCE Somerville, Thunder Road, Bull McCabe’s, Bella Luna Restaurant & Milky Way Lounge, Wonder Bar, The Cantab, and Great Scott (which is attempting to return in a new form at Allston’s old Regina Pizzeria building). Worcester appears to have fared better so far, although the ultimate fate of a few art and music spaces remains up in the air, mostly because of extenuating circumstances. So as we drudge through the winter toward spring, perhaps the question we need to start asking ourselves is how to preserve and cultivate the things we love about Worcester’s arts and entertainment scene, and how do we adapt for the future?

Class dismissed — Saying goodbye to 30 years of teaching

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

by California poet Mike McGee, who lived in Worcester briefly. McGee, who at the time toured constantly year-round, talked lovingly about his time here, sharing a tanka (a Japanese-styled poem) about the experience: “Poet’s Asylum Worcester/three words became house and home/those words saved my life/ all your voices filled with words/and all your words saved my life.” It’s easy to be a jaded artist, but it’s jarring to be reminded how much a community can mean for an artist, and for the climate of art in a city. It was extremely moving, as was local poet Tony Brown resurrecting one of his classic poems, “Mission Statement,” which sums up the Asylum’s soul: “poets in other places and times have died/doing what we do here tonight so casually/They stand at our elbows every time we pick up that pen/step to the mike or/(God Forbid!) listen to one another/so: do not let anyone define your voice/and if you want a leader then lead—/you lead/And many voices will come together in one mission/The way storm clouds come together to make lightning/And when lightning passes it leaves thunder/And one day/they will/say the same/about us.”

HARVEY

COVER STORY

Where there’s a will, there’s a trail: Midstate Trail is a ‘massive team effort’ VEER MUDAMBI

providing a hidden escape into the forest for anyone who knows he Midstate Trail is one of where to look. Worcester county’s best “The nature of Worcester kept secrets — and the county is different now,” said Greater Worcester Land Novick. In the late ‘50s and early Trust wants to let you in on it. ‘60s, most of the area was owned The trail passes through some by farmers willing to make of the most beautiful scenery in informal agreements regarding Central Massachusetts and offers a path through their property. truly spectacular views. “Nowadays, it’s office parks and The 92-mile hiking trail subdivisions and you need more has come a long way, both than a handshake with an old geographically and historically. farmer who loves the land and But on any long road like this, wants others to see it.” hurdles, bumps and full-on There’s also been an increase roadblocks are not only likely, in suburbanization in the more but inevitable. rural areas along the trail. “With So how has the Midstate Trail that comes landowners who lasted this long? “A massive team buy a house on their half-acre effort,” said Colin Novick of the and then they get the ‘not in my GWLT, which joined back in backyard’ attitude about people 2000 with the Green Mountain walking by their house,” said Club and the Worcester Chapter Mike Pekar, chairman of the of the Appalachian Mountain Midstate Trail Committee. Club to create the Midstate Trail With these changes, the Committee. MTC has begun an ongoing The MTC’s primary purpose project of pursuing more official is to maintain the trail — both protections and agreements for physically through volunteer the trails, that can be depended labor and bureaucratically on to stay in place even as by protecting the land from ownership shifts. There are a few development. The latter is often different tools to secure the land the more complex of the two, for trail use and which one is since the trail crosses large tracts chosen depends on the situation. of private land and relationships The most common is a trail must be maintained with easement, where an agreement individual landowners, ensures that the land stays as something that has grown part of the owner’s property, markedly more complicated in allowing the MTC or GWLT to recent years. maintain the trail for hiking. Last month, the state These are very convenient Conservation Partnership agreements, but they aren’t free. Program provided a $10,215 The CPP grant to the GWLT grant — via the GWLT — to the allowed for the purchase of Midstate Trail specifically for the an easement which secured a purpose of trail conservation. vital crossing on Route 9. For a The Midstate dates back to trail that extends as far as the the 1920s when it was just a well- Midstate, crossing highways trodden path connecting Mount can present a problem, and the Wachusett, near Princeton, CCP grant secured the north and Mount Watatic, near side of Route 9. The south side, Ashburnham. It fell into disuse Polar Springs Road, was already shortly after World War II, until settled through an earlier Mass an initiative by the Worcester Audubon easement. “To ensure County Commissioners led that the trail survives, we need A Midstate Trail marker seen on the Balance Rock Trail, a section of the Midstate Trail to its current, more complete good crossings,” said Novick. incarnation as a trail across the A similar agreement, in in the Wachusett Mountain Reservation. entire county in the late 1970s, that the landowner retains RICK CINCLAIR

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

COVER STORY

organization. Whatever the legal agreement used, as the value of the land continues to increase, owners are less willing to give it up to easements, CRs and donations. “A farmer in 1970 who had 100 acres of land had no problem with a trail across the back of their lot,” Pekar said, but today that means relinquishing valuable real estate where every square foot counts. “We

constantly see the kids of these landowners making a lot of noise about the fact their parents gave up land because they only see dollar signs.” Compared to individual owners, towns tend to be easier to work with, but attitudes can vary from town to town as well, said Pekar. “It’s a bureaucratic challenge, of course, because each town has a different set of players that you have to be

familiar with and a different relationship with nature.” Some can have a pro-development stance, being less supportive of preserving land, while others will be more in favor of conservation and the Midstate Trail. A group of hikers on snowshoes approaches Mike Pekar on the Balance Rock Trail, a section of the Midstate Trail in the Wachusett Mountain Reservation.

“For land conservation, it’s all about local relationships,” said Novick, “figuring out who knows who, who cares about what.” By far, the most helpful partners are conservation organizations and sanctuaries such as the Department of Conservation and Recreation or Mass Audubon, as their goals will align best with the MCT. Though conservation lands will C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 12

ownership, is to place a Conservation Restriction, or CR, on the land. In doing so, the owner gives up rights to develop it. Some of these can have specific restrictions (no tree cutting, building, etc.) and, importantly for the purposes of the MTC, follow the land from owner to owner. Finally, the land can simply be donated to a trust, such as the GWLT or conservation

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SUBMIT TED PHOTO

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

Princeton volunteers and the Midstate Trail Committee of the Appalachian Mountain Club have joined forces in a major effort to build a 50’ footbridge that will allow a re-route of the Midstate Trail through Princeton’s Four Corners Conservation Area.

COVER STORY

GET YOUR SMILE BACK! DON’T SUFFER FROM BROKEN-DOWN OR MISSING TEETH!

A group of hikers on snowshoes approaches Mike Pekar on the Balance Rock Trail, a section of the Midstate Trail in the Wachusett Mountain Reservation. RICK CINCLAIR

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While the overarching objective is to secure the land it’s on, there are other priorities as have their own rules — the trail well. One of these is to make the passes through three Audubon trail user friendly for thru-hikers, wildlife sanctuaries where no which requires more amenities running is allowed. for overnight camping. Though The landowners are not there are shelters in Douglas, the only relationships that Spencer and Rutland, they the MTC needs to maintain. are too many miles apart. The “We’re managing close to 20 Appalachian Trail, for instance, individual volunteers who has shelters at set intervals. each have a section along the Novick is less focused on this trail,” explained Pekar. Some aspect of the trail and pointed sections may have more than out that “the MTC should focus one “maintainer,” while others on making sure the bread and have none at all. Ensuring the butter users — day hikers — have entirety of the trail is taken good trail markers, groomed care of while accommodating trails, etc.” everyone’s schedules, locations Pekar, on the other hand, and preferences is “the definition would like to have shelter spots of cat juggling,” Pekar said with no more than 12 miles apart, a chuckle. It is widely accepted which makes for a long day for that if you leave any piece of land some hikers but not so much for for even a year, the forest begins others. He is appreciative of the to take it back. So naturally fact that GWLT, which is steward the trail is dependent on this of several plots through which dedicated volunteer group that is the trail passes, has allowed the out there with chainsaws and MTC to set up campsites. loppers every week of the year.

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 11

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Among other goals for the trail are sections in towns like Oxford, Charlton, Spencer, Douglas where the trail is on the road and the MTC hopes to move it into the woods. While there are some places where they can never do that, the hope is to reduce the number. One of the biggest draws of the trail is that users can run into wildlife such as fisher cats, bobcats, otters and on occasion, even moose, bears, porcupinesÂ and coyotes. Pekar recounted seeing signs of otters while cross country skiing one winter â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Â â&#x20AC;&#x153;the little slide marks that otters had made on the snow down to the river.â&#x20AC;? He

continued to say that â&#x20AC;&#x153;if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re as quiet as possible, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see some great wildlife at any time, but dawn and dusk are best.â&#x20AC;? And passing, as it does, through bird sanctuaries makes it an especially rewarding destination for birders. Both Pekar and Novick remind hikers that when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going through Worcester County you will see everything from farms, office parks, abandoned sawmillsÂ and sub-divisions. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a wild mix of everything in the area but tends more towardÂ old farms and forests like the rest of Massachusetts, providing a trail user with a unique perspective of the countryside.

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CITY LIFE

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020 WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM

Mike Macro is a painter and glassblower based out of Holden. He has been drawing and creating since he was a young child. Mike is very inspired by indigenous cultures and their artworks. This piece is a depiction of Patecatl, Mayan god of herbology and medicine.

CITY LIFE

CONNELL SANDERS

My husband got COVID. I got co-dependent SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

My husband tested positive for COVID-19 nine days ago, but we had learned of his exposure to t’s like we’re on that reality “ the virus five days before that. All show, ‘Love is Blind,’” I this is to say, I haven’t smooched shouted through the wall. his handsome mug in two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful “You mean the one with the his symptoms are moderate. I woman who lets her dog drink don’t even mind leaving cute out of a wine glass?” he yelled little love notes and trays of soup back. outside his door. But, I sure do miss him. “Yes. That’s the one.” There have been a few alarming moments as his caretaker. I heard his muffled sigh Like, when I thought I heard him through the door. crying in pain, but it turned out he was just watching the “Fresh “It could be worse,” I said, “I could be Kathy Bates in ‘Misery.’” Prince of Bel-Air Reunion.” No shade; it’s an emotional journey. We’ve both shown our idio“Not funny,” he replied. syncrasies. I like to rearrange “I’ll leave you to your puzzles,” the tracks on Taylor Swift’s “evermore” and “folklore” albums I told him and walked down the to create various iterations of big lonely stairs to wander the a cohesive master-playlist and rooms of our big lonely house.

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

then explain my rationale like a doctoral thesis over Facetime. My husband likes to memorize the top-10 players on every NBA roster and see how fast he can recite each one. He’s closing in on the 20-minute marker, which I’m sure would be very impressive to the right person. Every day, he goes for a walk in the yard and we wave at each other through the window. Once I tried mooning him, but he didn’t think it was very funny. Neither did the neighbors. I started to worry about his dishes, but he told me they were all “taken care of.” I suspected they were piling up in a bin in the closet, so I left a sponge and some dish soap outside his door. He said they smelled “fine,” but I read that loss of smell is a COVID symptom. Come to think of it, he also claimed he no longer

HAPPY

SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

from MCU! To ensure that our employees can enjoy the holidays with their families, MCU will observe the following Christmas and New Year Holiday hours:

Christmas Holiday hours: Thursday, 12/24 – all locations will close at 1:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 12/25 and 12/26 – all locations will be closed

New Year Holiday hours: Thursday, 12/31– all locations will close at 4:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1/1 and 1/2 – all locations will be closed

requires deodorant. (Something about resetting his skin’s “natural microbiome?”) I cry foul. I put a portrait of me in his isolation room. My grandma painted it. The eyes follow you wherever you go, which is a nice feature because I wouldn’t want him getting lonesome up there. My first test came back inconclusive, which seems kind of suspect. I’m not saying he called in a favor or anything, but he does seem to be enjoying the uninterrupted time to play video games and rearrange his baseball cards. Either way, I’m expecting a result in the next few days. If it’s positive, we can reunite. If it’s negative, we’ll be in the clear

by Christmas Eve. I can’t wait to squeeze him like a lemon. In the meantime, I ordered a Wilson volleyball off Amazon. I plan to paint a face on it so he can have a friend like Tom Hanks in that movie, “Cast Away.” My heart is with those who are not in a position to make light of this godforsaken year. Here’s wishing you a joyful and healthy holiday from the Sanders. And, a special thank you to our friends and family for the outpouring of love and baked goods. May we cross the COVID finish line together with the hindsight of Jessica the Messica and the fortitude of James Caan.

CITY LIFE

TABLE HOPPIN’

Old Sturbridge Village offers Gingerbread House contest online BARBARA M. HOULE

p.m. Take-out and curbside service are available. Business hours and menus are posted on Facebook.

An entry from the 2018 Gingerbread House Contest during Christmas by Candlelight at Old Sturbridge Village. JAMES MARABELLO

cooks and a dishwasher during the pandemic. “We consider ourselves to be very fortunate in an industry that has been hit so hard,” he said. The restaurant currently is open for indoor dining only on weekends, Friday and Saturday beginning at 5

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

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A toast to Drunken Snowman Michael and Lisa Merrigan, owners of 118 Main Street Kitchen

& Spirits in Upton, spread seasonal cheer not only with great food, but also a new adult holiday drink, the Drunken Snowman. This hot chocolate amaretto with Bailey’s Irish Cream and cinnamon remains on the restaurant’s bar menu through winter months. It’s already a hit with guests, especially when they see it being served for the first time, said Michael Merrigan. “They always ask, ‘What’s that?’” The drink is cute and a lot of fun to serve, according to the Merrigans, who opened 118 Main Street Kitchen & Spirits in 2019. The photo of the drink first was posted on the restaurant’s website and the Taste of Massachusetts website The restaurant is doing OK amid the pandemic, said Merrigan, who described the customer base as very loyal. Outdoor summer seating helped expand business, he said, and being a small restaurant allows him to order all fresh ingredients as he plans the menus. The farmto-table restaurant has been able to employ several bartenders and

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

thinking we were able to keep the beloved tradition of the Gingerbread House Contest alive.” Gingerbread house builders are a competitive bunch, battling over bragging rights for the best candied-covered house. I haven’t decked the halls with my own gingerbread house in a while but through the years I have judged gingerbread house competitions, including OSV’s. Displays have been mind-blowing. Amateur and professional “architects” who create and decorate these incredible gingerbread houses go way beyond, using candy canes, gumdrops, marshmallows, licorice and “Peeps” Christmas trees. And, sometimes they bite off more than they can chew. Big or small, snow-draped or heavily glittered, gingerbread houses capture the holiday spirit. Enjoy!

Little Leaf, Food Hub deliver holiday boxes Little Leaf Farms in Devens partnered with Worcester Regional Food Hub this month to donate boxes of local produce, dairy and more to food pantries, senior centers and organizations that help people experiencing food insecurity. The company committed to sponsoring more than 250 boxes of locally produced lettuce for the holiday donation. Each donated box included two boxes of Little Leaf Farms lettuce; Nutty Bird Granola (Sherborn company); Minuteman Kettle Corn (Worcester company); eggs from Lilac Hedge Farm in Jefferson; milk, Mapleline Farm in Hadley; apples, Carlson Orchards in Harvard; potatoes, carrots, onions and acorn squash from Pioneer Valley farms. Shout out to all participating vendors and the Worcester Regional Food Hub.

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ld Sturbridge Village has taken its annual Gingerbread House Contest to a new format this season, asking contestants to enter virtually. OSV received several dozen “spectacular” entries, according to Daniel Friel, director of public and government relations at OSV, who said the popular contest held during the village’s Christmas by Candlelight program was changed as a result of spatial and safety concerns amid COVID-19. Contestants submitted photos of their entries in one of four categories that included adult non-professional, adult professional, youth and family. Prizes (gift certificates to the village) will be awarded in each category to the top entry, said Friel. “This year’s virtual format has allowed us to learn more about the creators, their backstory and how they decided their design,” added Friel. “Although the virtual isn’t our ideal, we have enjoyed the process and opportunity to maintain the great tradition.” Do you know a good gingerbread house when you see one? Here’s your chance to be a competition judge. Visitors are able to view the entries on a monitor in OSV’s Visitor Center as well as on its website and vote for “Best in Show.” Visit www.osv.org through Dec. 30 to cast your vote for your favorite entry. Guest judges will choose category winners. All contest winners will be announced at the conclusion of Christmas by Candlelight 2020. Note: A limited amount of tickets for Christmas by Candlelight are still available and can be purchased on OSV’s website. “Our annual holiday event is still a very festive recreation of the past, and we’ve kept as many of the popular elements as possible and added new ones,” said Jim O’Brien, director of public events at OSV. “With innovation and creative

CITY LIFE

SCREEN TIME

Have yourself some dreary Christmas movie factoids JIM KEOGH

eyed girl to demon spawn, darts out of the house and decapitates his column started pret- an entire family of snowmen in ty dark. I was compiling the backyard. (Un-Grinchy Fact: some lesser known, In a 2019 interview, Margaret less happy facts about O’Brien, who played Tootie, Christmas movie classics (hey, recalled how much fun it was to it’s still 2020), and as I was writsmash the snowmen, which were ing about Vera-Ellen’s anorexia I made of Styrofoam and needed a started wondering just how bleak few good whacks to take down. I wanted to go. I mean, even a Having Judy Garland serenade weird and isolating Christmas her with an immortal holiday is still Christmas, right? Since carol was pretty nice, too.) I’m no Grinch, at the end of each item I offer some light. *** If you watch “White Christ*** mas,” you can’t help but be Everyone loves the scene in charmed by the vivacious “Meet Me in St. Louis” when Judy Vera-Ellen, who plays half of a Garland sings “Have Yourself a sister song-and-dance team (with Merry Little Christmas” to conRosemary Clooney) that partners Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen star sole her little sister Tootie, who’s with Bing Crosby and Danny in “White Christmas. distraught her family is moving Kaye to stage a Christmas show PARAMOUNT to New York. It’s what happens they hope will save the Vermont next that gets overlooked. Once inn owned by the guys’ former Judy trills the final “And have from anorexia, a condition not thin, particularly in her waist. Army commander. Vera-Ellen yourself a merry little Christmas is a powerhouse in her dance yet recognized by the medical A compulsive dieter, the actress now” Tootie morphs from teary- numbers. She’s also frighteningly is believed to have suffered community. (Un-Grinchy Fact:

Vera-Allen is one of only a handful of dancers to have performed on film with both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, who said of her, “She was a real accomplished dancer, that girl. Ballet, tap dancing, anything you wanted to do.”) *** Bedford Falls is the perfect Christmas town. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a perfect Christmas story. The snow wafting from the sky is the perfect amalgam of foamite (the stuff in fire extinguishers), soap, sugar and water pumped at high pressure through a wind machine. “IAWL” was filmed in California during a searing heat wave, far in geography and climate from the movie’s upstate New York setting. That scene on the bridge where Clarence the angel saves George Bailey from jumping to his death? It was filmed in 90-degree heat, which is why Jimmy Stewart is sweating like a fat guy on a C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 19

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

NEXT DRAFT

Lancaster brewery weighs clean break, fresh start Bull Spit Brewing Co. plans new brewery in Winchendon MATTHEW TOTA

nce, naively, I believed that a brewery could thrive in any town or city in this state. I had been convinced that every community could benefit from hosting one or even three breweries. Any trepidation from local leaders would fade once they see the kind of social and economic benefits breweries offer, or get to know the hardworking small business owners running them. There are always exceptions, of course — see Sunday River Brewing Co. in Maine — but mostly you’ll find examples of breweries beloved in their hometowns, lauded as model businesses. But now I understand that in some places, a brewery will

Bull Spit Brewing Company in Lancaster. DONEEN DURLING/GARDNER NEWS

never work. In July, I wrote about Bull Spit Brewing Co. at Kalon Farm in

Lancaster and the maddening road it traveled to open. Owner Keith Kopley had to fight a legal

battle in order to defend his right to build a brewery at his own farm. Kopley struggled to convince town officials that Bull Spit could follow in the footsteps of other successful farm-breweries, like Barre’s Stone Cow Brewery, which promote the importance of local agriculture while working to preserve it. After so much contention, it finally appeared that Bull Spit and Lancaster were starting to work together. However, in the months since my column, the relationship has again devolved. According to The Item, the Select Board declined to renew Kopley’s license to sell wine and beer, citing “serious safety violations and code issues,” which he denies exist. In response, Kopley closed his

taproom. Lancaster’s elected leaders, Kopley believes, do not want Bull Spit to succeed. And rather than shut down, he has decided to move out. Next summer, Bull Spit plans to open a new 25,000-squarefoot brewery in Winchendon, with a 15-barrel brewhouse, canning line and large outdoor beer garden modeled after Wachusett Brewing Co’s “Brew Yard.” The Winchendon brewery, at 4 Summer St., will triple Bull Spit’s size and allow it to contract brew for other breweries. More than anything, Kopley said, it’s a fresh start. “We wanted to go into a community willing to work with us,” he said. “And the situation C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 19

CITY LIFE

SCREEN TIME

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 18

Peleton. (Un-Grinchy Fact: Yes, the snow was faker than William Shatner’s hairpiece, but its revolutionary composition changed the movie business. Films made prior to IAWL used cornflakes painted white that crunched when the actors walked across them, often ruining the sound and necessitating redubbing. IAWL’s snow was silent, so actors could recite their lines without sounding like they were trudging through a field of Wheaties.) *** At the end of “Miracle on 34th Street,” the department store Santa is found to be the real thing when thousands of letters from believing boys and girls are dumped onto a judge’s desk. But it’s really not over yet. The movie concludes with the pampered

N E XT D RA F T

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 18

Winchendon than Bull Spit ever brewed in Lancaster. “Dave has always been a mentor for us,” Kopley said. “He’s been in the business a long time.” As for Lancaster, Kopley is not only mulling whether to close the taproom and brewery there for good, but also whether to sell the farm. The latter option would be the most disappointing, he said, because

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

there is like a fresh canvas.” Bull Spit has been embraced in Winchendon, with local officials looking forward to the brewery redeveloping the old, rundown building and creating new jobs. Kopley said work begins soon to transform 4 Summer St. into a destination brewery, one that overlooks a

little girl played by Natalie Wood getting what she always wanted: her dream house in the country. Did people really leave the movie theater in 1947 relieved that Natalie and her executive mother could finally break free from the constraints of their spacious Manhattan apartment? Honestly, it’s worse than those Christmas-morning Lexus ads. (UnGrinchy Fact: In the 1994 remake of “Miracle,” the girl was played by Mara Wilson, who was the “it” child actor at the time. Wilson grew out of her cute phase, and producers stopped calling. Yet rather than disassemble, she’s persevered in smaller roles and through her writing. She’s smart, funny and clear-eyed about the business. Check her out in the documentary “Showbiz Kids.” I may have resented the character she played 26 years ago, but I’m a big fan of Mara today.)

“We wanted to go into a community willing to work with us,”

it would mean potentially losing some 52 acres of farmland to housing. I’m still holding out hope that Bull Spit and Lancaster can work out their differences: It would be terrible to lose so much open land – not to mention an up-andcoming brewery – because of some noise complaints and disagreements over building code. WM-0000456395-03

picturesque pond and sits at the end of a busy bike trail. Meanwhile, Bull Spit has brought on a new brewer, Dave Higgins, formerly head brewer at Wachusett Brewing Co. Higgins, who worked at Wachusett for nearly two decades, joins Bull Spit’s current head brewer Chris Fontaine, who came over from Berkshire Brewing Co. The duo will be brewing far more beer in

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—Keith Kopley

CITY LIFE

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

Meet Mikey! This little emerald jewel is Mikey. She was surrendered to us as a Conure, but we are pretty certain that she is a Quaker Parrot. Mikey, 9 years old, wants a permanent new shoulder that is preferably attached to a person who will let her sit on them and eat their shirt, feed her snacks, and snuggle her all day. She is sweet and outgoing. Her likes include: nibbling holes in your clothing, grooming your hair, messing with your glasses and mask, snacks and snuggles and purring at her person. Her dislikes include: being in her cage, being on a perch, being more than 2 feet from her person, and not being in the center of where the action is. She will let you know, very loudly when she is displeased.She has a squawk that can rupture your eardrum, and she will ruthlessly take over your Zoom meeting, before delegating all the work to you. Quaker parrots can live to be 20-30 years old when properly cared for. They are also illegal or have ownership restrictions in several New England states and New York. Mikey will only be considered for adoption to Massachusetts and New Hampshire where there are no current ownership restrictions. You must be over 21 to adopt Mikey, and you must be able to provide proof of veterinary care for your past and current birds and current home ownership prior to scheduling an appointment. Adoption fee is $100. To meet Mikey, please call for an appointment at 508-853-0030.

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D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

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GAMES

J O N E S I N’

41 Producers of “Dallas,” “Falcon Crest,” and “Knots Landing” 45 1840s First Family 48 East ___ (nation since 2002) 49 Nail file material 50 Feeling of uneasiness 52 Enterprise counselor Deanna 53 Natural rope fiber 57 Exclamation often prompted by Bart Simpson

Last week's solution

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Down 1 College founder Stanford 2 It’s the least you can rate 3 Phrase said with a downcast look

4 “Ghostbusters” stuff 5 Author Harriet Beecher ___ 6 Beneficiaries of some trust funds 7 “___ telling anyone” 8 Medium that was often psychedelic in the 1960s 9 Reason for a winter shot 10 Former Brazilian president ___ da Silva 11 “Diary of ___ Black Woman” (2005 film) 12 Put in writing 13 Tangled 14 Rave flashers 24 ___ d’Or (prize at Cannes) 28 Mosque leader 31 “The cow ___ [mooooo]” (pull-string toy output) 32 Like some bathrooms 33 Full of detail 34 “øPor quÈ no los ___?” 35 When Easter falls 37 It’s “like a carrot doused in perfume,” according to http:/ protect-us.mimecast.com/s/i d5CQWKP0I62gRYqtxLvtv domain=cookscountry.com 38 Go boom 39 More out-of-the-way 40 Hockey player’s concern

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 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!

Across 1 Underscores? 6 Belt holders near belts? 15 Establish by law 16 Subject of a constitutional clause 17 Culminated in 18 Porcelain, when around electricity 19 “Must have been ___ news day” 20 Fall apart 21 Expand 22 Semiconductor classification whose first letter stands for “negative” 23 “Remove plastic,” e.g. 25 Wagering venue, for short 26 ___ Webster (Twain’s “celebrated jumping frog”) 27 BBC’s Italian counterpart 29 Like some hours 30 Salty snack from an air fryer, maybe 36 Popeye, as the theme song goes 37 Passive-aggressive message header implying you should’ve read 42 Projectile at some bars 43 Formula One racer Vettel, to fans 44 Aberdeen resident 46 Spinning stat 47 Spoil, with “on” 50 Search engine input 51 Slacker’s sin 54 Edge 55 Store-hours word 56 Restoration site of 2019 58 Stops on ___ 59 Kind of phenomenon that explains why Ouija board planchettes move 60 1996 presidential candidate Alexander 61 Edge 62 Powers portrayer

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LEGALS Invitation For Bids The Worcester Housing Authority invites sealed bids for 275 Façade Renovation at MA 12-05 Pleasant Tower Apartments in accordance with the documents prepared by Garofalo Design Associates, Inc. The work is estimated to cost $8,300,000. Project consists of but is not limited to: Façade renovation including; ACM abatement, new EIFS assembly with metal framing, masonry restoration, window replacements, sealants, electrical and fire protection work. General Bids will be received until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at the Worcester Housing Authority, Department of Modernization, 81 Tacoma Street, Worcester, MA 01605 at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. Filed Sub-Bids will be received until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday January 6, 2021, and publicly opened and read aloud at the same address. Filed subbids will be taken for the following portions of the work: Section 04 00 01 MASONRY Section 07 00 01 WATERPROOFING, DAMPPROOFING AND CAULKING Section 07 00 02 ROOFING AND FLASHING Section 08 00 01 METAL WINDOWS Section 26 00 01 ELECTRICAL A pre-bid conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 30, 2020 at 275 Pleasant Street at which time bidders will be invited to visit the project site with a Worcester Housing Authority representative. Failure to attend or visit the premises shall be no defense in failure to perform contract terms. Bids are subject to M.G.L c149 §44A-J and Davis Bacon wage rates as well as other applicable laws. General Bidders must be certified by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) in the following category of work: General Building Construction. Each bid shall be accompanied by a bid deposit in the amount of 5% of the bid price in the form of a Bid Bond, issued by a responsible surety company licensed to do business in Massachusetts, or a certified check, or a treasurer’s or cashier’s check issued by a responsible bank or trust company, made payable to the Worcester Housing Authority by bidders for the greatest possible bid amount (considering all alternates). Bid forms and Contract Documents will be made available on the Worcester Housing Authority website (http://www.worcesterha.org/currentbids.html) at no cost. Hard copies will be made available on December 23, 2020 at the Worcester Housing Authority, Department of Modernization, 81 Tacoma Street, Worcester, MA 01605 and thereafter, Monday thru Friday 8:00 A.M. through 4:30 P. M. Copies of the contract documents may be obtained by depositing $50.00 in the form of a company check, made payable to the Worcester Housing Authority, for each set of documents so obtained. The amount of the deposit will be refunded to each person who returns the plans, specifications and other documents in good condition within ten (10) days after bid opening. Bidders requesting contract documents to be mailed to them should include a separate check in the amount of $40.00 for each set payable to the Worcester Housing Authority to cover mailing and handling costs. The contract documents may be seen, but not removed at: 1. Worcester Housing Authority, Department of Modernization, 81 Tacoma Street, Worcester, MA 01605 2. F.W. Dodge, 24 Hartwell Ave., Lexington, MA 02173 3. Reed Construction Data, 30 Technology Parkway South, Norcross, GA 30092 4. Project Dog, 18 Graf Road Unit #8 Plan Room, Newburyport, MA 01950 Attention is called to the following: 1. Provisions of Equal Employment Opportunity; 2. Provisions for payment of not less than the minimum wages as set forth in the Specifications; 3. Provisions of Chapter 14, Acts of 1966, Imposing a Temporary Sales Tax, Section 1, Subsection 6 (d) and (k) exempting the Authority from the operation of such a chapter; 4. Requirement to furnish and pay for a Performance Bond and a Labor and Materials Bond as set forth in the specifications, 5. Insurance certificate indicating coverage for public liability, property damage and workers compensation, in accordance with the contract requirements, must be filed by the successful bidder upon signing of the contract. The contract will be awarded to the responsible and eligible bidder with the lowest proposed contract price including the dollar amount of all accepted alternates. Questions regarding this project shall be submitted in writing 72 hours prior to opening and emailed to Mod-Bids@worcesterha.org. Reference the WHA Job Number only in the subject line. Worcester Housing Authority Joseph P. Carlson, Chairperson

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN PURSUANT TO PROVISIONS OF M.L.C. 225 sec 39A. THE FOLLOWING VEHICLES WILL BE SOLD ON 12/26/20 TO SATISFY OUR GARAGE LIEN THEREON FOR TOWING AND STORAGE CHARGES AND EXPENSES OF SALE AND NOTICE: VIN# 2T3BFREV7FW231823 2015 TOYOTA RAV 4 THE SALE WILL BE HELD AT CARRETELA AUTO RENTAL ON 350 HARDING ST, WORCESTER, MA 1610 ON DECEMBER 26, 2020. 12/10, 17, 24, 2020 WM

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LAST CALL

Maddie Whalen Maddie’s Dash Cams M other-daughter team Aly Forson Whalen and Madison Whalen began handing out dash cameras to Black and brown men over the summer. They asked no questions about income. There were no expectations attached. Madison simply wanted to help, “keep dads safe,” in any way she could.

of school on a Saturday, and we have guest speakers, basketball games, and activities to help start the kids off on the right foot for the summer. We also have the annual Holiday Toy Drive and the Annual Backpack Giveaway.

On her Facebook page, Aly wrote, “Madison and I love our Black Men and need them to come home safe to continue to support our community; we cannot continue to endure the slaughter of our family units.” Donations rolled in and soon the Whalens teamed up with local philanthropic organizer Woodrow Adams Jr. of 508 Forever Young to expand their reach. Together, Adams and the Whalens intend to distribute 75 more cameras this January at Scoop Drip on Millbury Street and Michaelangelo’s Barbershop on Green Street.

WA: I know Madison from Saint Peter’s Basketball League. I’m now the director over there and she played in the league as well as her younger brother. She and her family found out about different things I was doing in the community as far as giving back. So, when she thought of this idea, she immediately reached out because I’m connected with many different Black and brown men in the community. I offered to help her distribute those cameras and she was generous enough to donate a check of $500 towards our nonprofit organization.

Madison, how old are you and where do you go to school?

I was really moved when I heard you speak about racial injustice at a rally this summer.

How long have you known Madison?

How did the idea for Maddie’s Dash Cams come about?

MW: After the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, I was scared for my dad. All the stories I had been hearing made me nervous for him to even be out walking around. Me and my mom created this idea over the summer to help the community in the best way that we could.

MW: Our original goal was a thousand dollars and we raised that much in an hour, so we started upping the goal until we got to $5,000. When school started, we had already handed out 20 cameras.

DYLAN AZARI

be a cool experience for her and we’d be done, but that’s not what happened. We ended up needing to figure out a bigger plan. I come from the city. I have roots in the city. I’m the regional director for DYS, so obviously, I have a lot of interest in Black and brown youth in the system. Maddie used to play basketball for Woodrow Adams of 508 Forever Young and we decided to contact him to help us form a more strategic plan. We made a $500 donation to 508 Forever Young and we tried to really figure out where Black and brown men are congregating in Worcester. Starting in January, we will be distributing another 75 cameras at businesses like Scoop Drip and Michelangelo’s.

Can people just drop in if they are interested?

AFW: Yes, we will keep people posted on social media. They can even ask us personally for cameras. We plan to hand them out until they’re gone.

Have there been successful efforts like this in other communities?

AFW: I’ve never heard of a project like this and I’m pretty down with what’s going on. As a Black mom, I’m well aware that we are targeted at rates much higher than our white counterparts. With that said, I’m also trying to raise kids that aren’t fearful of good police. Good police don’t care about people having dash cams because they’re going to do the right thing no matter what. Likewise, people following the law are not going to care about having dash

cams because they’re trying to do the right thing no matter what.

Do you have plans for the future, Maddie?

MW: I want to attend a Historically Black College or University and become an engineer or architect.

Woodrow, what is the mission of 508foreveryoung?

WA: To give back to our community and celebrate the positive role models and citizens of Worcester.

What sort of programming do you host throughout the year?

WA: We have three annual events. Our Annual Stop the Violence event is held at the Boys and Girls Club. It takes place following the last week

WA: I believe they’re definitely effective. A dashcam holds the officer responsible as far as the way they handle situations and the way they speak to the person in the vehicle. It holds everyone accountable, including the person who is behind the wheel. I will place one in my vehicle. I think it’s a great idea. Madison turned some traumatic experiences into something positive where she’s pushing people to not be victims, but become victors. She could have just sat back, but the fact that she stepped up, stood out, and didn’t complain allowed her to use this moment to uplift men and women of color. It’s amazing.

— Sarah Connell Sanders

AFW: It got much bigger than she could manage on her own. Full transparency, I was thinking, “Great idea, Maddie! I know 25 Black guys that we can hand cameras to.” I assumed it would

Aly Whalen, Maddie Whalen and Woodrow Adams Jr.

As a Black man and a court officer living and working in Worcester, what is your take on the effectiveness of dash cams? Are you going to use one yourself?

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Can you explain how your campaign has grown since the summer?

WA: It’s my pleasure. This is my calling.

D E C E M B E R 24 - 30, 2020

MW: I’m 13 years old and I go to St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School.

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Worcester Magazine - December 24 - 30, 2020

Articles inside

Connell Sanders

Cover Story

Games

Table Hoppin

City Voices