Somerville Voices

Come see the power of words and the power of girls join forces at Teen Voices’ annual Pens of Power Conference! Join over 100 Boston teens for a Saturday devoted to the power of the written word. Local female poets, novelists and journalists will lead exciting workshops and talk about what motivates them to write. Enjoy free lunch, prizes and beats from DJ D’hana.

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is gathering public input for a study of emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of people with disabilities. Information gathered will be used in the development of NCD’s next annual progress report to the President and Congress, “National Disability Policy: A Progress Report,” which is required by Section 401(b) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

The Sunsetters are a group of preteens and teenagers who sing and
dance to Broadway tunes. Check them out at the fireworks celebration, June 26 at 6PM.

Another of the city’s popular family events, Family Fun Day includes a variety of activities for residents of all ages. Obstacle courses, games, watermelon eating contests, dancing, and a dunk tank are only a few examples of the day’s events! Dunk the Mayor! Dunk your Alderman! Eat your weight in watermelon! Bring your children, your parents, and your friends.

The Turbulent Tween Years

Communicating with your 8-13 year-old daughter

a facilitated discussion to help parents understand the unique challenges associated with growing up in today’s environment. Sponsered by Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.

Somerville families don’t have to run away to join the OPENAIR Circus. The Circus is offering its 23d year of summer circus workshops for children, teens, and adults. Classes will run June 24th through July 24th. Performances will be August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.under the big top at Nunziato Field near Union Square in Somerville.

For those of you who may not know, Governor Patrick filed the environmental bond bill (H.4446) this past December. Open space for outdoor recreation (as we all know) is extremely limited in Somerville. These funds can be used to develop Foss Park into the Urban Oasis we so desperately need in Somerville. There is tremendous potential to significantly upgrade the park for all who utilize the area. We must maximize this critical moment by taking advantage of these opportunities.

When school’s out, it can be hard to find enough good things for your kids to do. Here’s a local guide that several of us have put together.…

Beyond the 4th Wall is dedicated to providing children and teens with an affordable outlet for theater, visual, and performing arts. Students ages 9-15 are encouraged not only to develop as performers, but also to build self-confidence, learn how to work as a team, and to practice creative thinking–and to have a GREAT time while doing so! We would like to invite children and teens from the Somerville area to participate in our Summer 2008 classes, camps, and events.

The Youth Media program at Somerville Community Television is hosting a free screening of short films shot by the youth members of THE NEXT GENERATION PRODUCERS. This screening will be at 6pm Tuesday June 3, at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

It seems that a good deal of energy and money could be saved if these lights were turned off during off-hours. Particularly the one on Spring Hill at Summer St. Lots of these lights blink, even in the Summer. Small and simple, but helpful…

Folks, This unfortunate series of events was extremely complicated and will be impossible to unravel and understand. This concert could have been a very positive event and the intentions of Centro Presente — to promote support for immigrants and peace among youth — are exemplary.

The following letter was released by Centro Presente yesterday regarding the cancellation of their hip-hop concert scheduled for Friday of last week at the Somerville High School.

It is one of our School Committee’s Long Range goals to consider extending the school day. There is a big push for this gathering on the state level as well, and schools are beginning to take advantage of grant money offered to give $1,300 per student for 300 hours of additional instruction/enrichment hours. I found…

Do you want to help set the direction for Somerville’s anti-poverty agency? The Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) is seeking candidates—and voters—for its Board elections, coming up the week of May 19th at two locations in Somerville.

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It’s great that people have been responding to Linda Conte’s post proposing a parent-made directory of summer camps and other summer educational activities.…

This speech about Somerville young people killed by drugs, made the front page of the Globe’s City section. But publicity’s not enough. What should Somerville do about it?…

Having toddlers kind of put the kibosh on my favorite summertime activity—reading at the beach. Still, when they would eventually exhaust themselves with swimming, shell collecting, and digging to China, we could stay on the beach a little longer if I pulled out some read-aloud material.…

Here’s a fascinating forum on MCAS and what it really means on the ground level, inside our schools.…

Is high-stakes testing “the civil rights issue of our time” or a strategy for avoid the hard steps we need to take to improve education? See what you think.…

Somerville Teachers Association President Linda Vitiello (an elementary school teacher) tells a story about a child, a mural, and what paper-and-pencil tests don’t measure.…