CPL Nature Club: Danehy Park Winter Plant Walk (O'Neill)
Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a meander through Danehy park to meet wintertime city plants and explore their medicinal uses! We will explore weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs, and have lots of space for questions and conversation. Bring a notebook if you like, and meet us at the parking lot on Sherman Street (if you're late you should be able to find us -- we won't move too far too fast!). Registration is required. This event has been rescheduled from 2/27/25
Cybersecurity Basics - how to recognize and avoid online scams (Virtual)
Learn how to be safer online with accounts and passwords. We will provide an overview of frauds and scams to watch out for.
To view and register for other Basic Tech Classes at the Library, please go to tinyurl.com/basictechclass.
This is a virtual event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event.
Registration is encouraged, but not required.
Molly Jong-Fast presents: How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir (Main)
Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Molly Jong-Fast—contributing writer at Vanity Fair, political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast “Fast Politics”—for a discussion of her new book How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir. She will be joined in conversation by Laura Zigman—author of six novels, including the bestsellers Small World, Separation Anxiety, and Animal Husbandry. Registration is required.
34 Artists And Organizations Awarded $112,461 In Local Cultural Council Grant Funding By Cambridge Arts
34 artists and organizations are being awarded $112,461 in Local Cultural Council Grant funding by Cambridge Arts and the City of Cambridge. Funded projects include a comics camp for foster children, a hip-hop dance class for seniors, a celebration of the history of Black American music, a poetry writing program pairing teens with older adults, an elementary school playwriting project addressing the indigenous history and ecosystem of the Charles River, performances of short plays by short plays by Asian Americans, a documentary about the late Cambridge artist Peter Valentine, and a documentary about The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub.
Multifamily Citywide
In March 2024, the City Council passed Policy Order 2024 #37, which asked the Community Development Department “to work with the chairs of the Housing Committee to create zoning language that effectively promotes multifamily housing, including income-restricted affordable housing with the goal of having viable housing for everyone especially lower-income residents.” A series of Housing Committee meetings will be held to discuss the proposal throughout the summer and fall of 2024. Additional information will be posted here as the proposal is developed.
Championing Sustainability & Improving Our Community
Continued implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) guides development of Cambridge’s tree assets and enables the City to expand the urban forest canopy and be more resilient to climate change. In FY22, Public Works reached the UFMP ecommendation of planting 1,000 trees annually. To increase long-term survival of newly planted trees, Public Works has improved pre-planting soil preparation and post-planting aftercare. In fall 2021, over 10 tons of soil from composted yard waste was
used to plant 475 trees. Miyawaki Microforest.
Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy (Main/Virtual)
To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series.
Retrace George Washington’s post-inaugural journeys and explore how he sought to unite a fragile new nation, featuring:
Peter Drummey, Chief Historian of the Massachusetts Historical Society (Ret.)
Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, along with many other New York Times bestselling books
CPL Presents: Johnisha Matthews Levi, the author of Numbers Up (Main Library)
For four decades, Johnisha Matthews Levi believed a conventional story about her birth, picturing her happy parents at the hospital together. While sorting through her late mother's belongings, however, she discovered a document indicating that her father was instead serving time in Lorton Correctional Complex. This revelation, along with rumors about an FBI investigation of her deceased parents' "private business," leads Levi to unearth the hidden history of her family. She ties this story to public policy, demonstrating how state lottery legalization and the War on Drugs disrupted the Black institutions and communities in Washington, DC. Registration is required.
Free COVID-19 Testing to be Offered on Thursdays Only Beginning July 1
Beginning Thursday, July 1, the City of Cambridge will offer free COVID-19 testing one day per week on Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. inside the CambridgeSide Mall. No appointment is needed. Thursday testing at the CambridgeSide Mall will no longer be drive-through testing by motor vehicle but will become a walk-in testing site without appointments inside the CambridgeSide Mall on the 2nd Floor above the Food Court. The current drive-through testing in the garage will shut down.
CPL Nature Club: Medicinal Plant Walk at Alewife Reservation (O'Neill)
Join clinical herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a walk around the Alewife Reservation to learn about the medicine, botany and magic of medicinal herbs. We will discuss medicinal plants in Cambridge and their specific indications and properties. Bring a notebook as we delight in the bounty of our neighborhood!
Registration is required.
We will meet at the seating area on the bike path near the Alewife Brook Pathway and DCR Wetland Boardwalk: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CC32nJqG1Xk3b5zDA. It is a 6 minute walk from Alewife MBTA station, accessible by bus or by the Red Line. There is no parking available on-site. Parking is available at Alewife MBTA station, the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive or limited on-street parking on Cambridgepark Drive.