Teen Takeover Block Party
This event brings together the community together to celebrate the creativity, leadership, and entrepreneurship of young people in Cambridge.
The Silenced Muse: Emily Hale, T. S. Eliot, and the Role of a Lifetime (Main)
In January 2020, the largest and most eagerly awaited cache of new materials written by the Nobel-Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot was finally opened: the 1,131 letters he sent Emily Hale, his little-known American love, over the course of their lifetimes. Their relationship was, in their own words, an “unnatural” love affair, one that began in Cambridge in 1913, when Eliot was a graduate student at Harvard and Hale, an aspiring amateur actress, and that played out in Boston, England and California over the years.
Named as one of its "Fifty Notable Non-fiction Books of 2024" by the Washington Post, Fitzgerald's biography of Hale is based on the embargoed letters and extensive research into Hale’s life and times. Hale was much more than just a muse to a literary celebrity. She overcame personal hardship to pursue a career as a professor of speech and drama at prominent American women’s colleges and schools, including Simmons and Smith Colleges and Abbot and Concord Academies. She was a talented amateur actress and director, who performed at many Boston area theaters and later guided Eliot as he tried his hand at playwriting. But in the end, Eliot disavowed her, sending a secret letter to Harvard in 1960 that claimed his love for Hale was that of “a ghost for a ghost,” and confirming that he had arranged for Hale’s side of their 27-year correspondence to be destroyed. In the words of The Washington Post reviewer, “Missing letters, a secret love affair, a famous poet, a beautiful actress—what else could you possibly want in a story?"
Sara Fitzgerald is a retired journalist whose career included fifteen years as an editor and new media developer for The Washington Post. In 2020, she also published The Poet’s Girl: A Novel of Emily Hale and T. S. Eliot. Since then, her essays about Hale have appeared in multiple volumes of the Journal of the T. S. Eliot Society and the T. S. Eliot Studies Annual. She has presented at the annual meetings of the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, the International T. S. Eliot Society, and at the T. S. Eliot Summer School at Oxford. She is also the author of the biography, Elly Peterson: “Mother” of the Moderates and Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX.
Calendar
Calendar events related to the City of Cambridge American Freedmen Commission
CPL Nature Club: Herb of the Month - Plantain (Collins)
Come spend the afternoon getting deeply acquainted with May's Herb of the Month - the plantain! We’ll spend time getting to know the plant through drawing, taste, science, and stories of herbalists’ experience. Bring your journal and leave with an in-depth account of botany, history, use, safety issues, preparation and dosage, and much much more.
The group will meet at the Collins Library (64 Aberdeen Ave) and walk to Fresh Pond together.
This program is part of a series hosted around the area with guest herbalist, Mo Katz-Christy. Come each month to build your materia medica or just once to meet a new plant friend!
Annual Personal Property Filing
Annual Personal Property Filing is a state required form notifying the Assessor's Office of all business equipment, furniture, fixtures and sales inventory for each year.
Kindergarten Card Party! (Main)
Party like you just got your first library card! Kindergartners and their grown-ups are invited to a special party! Drop in between 5:30 and 6:30pm to enjoy pizza, create a collaborative mural, and learn about all the fun things you can do with your new library card! Kindergartners, along with their families and friends, are welcome to attend.
Families with Children ages 4-8: Pilot a New Math App!
We’re seeking Cambridge families with children ages 4-8 to pilot Math! Everywhere!, an exciting new math app that encourages your child to explore interactive math tasks - right in your neighborhood. The app, created by local organization MathTalk, supports the goals of the Early Childhood Math Group facilitated by the Cambridge STEAM Initiative.