Cards for Community (Valente)
Join us to write holiday cards for your neighbors! We will provide pens, art supplies, and blank cards for you to decorate. You are welcome to bring your own cards if you have them. Registration is required.
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.
Summer Reading: Capoeira for Everyone with Mass Capoeira (Main)
Join us for a demonstration of capoeira, a unique Afro-Brazilian art form combining martial arts, dance, music and acrobatics. Following the performance, children will have the opportunity to learn basic capoeira movements. Recommended for children of all ages and their caregivers.
Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.
Citizenship Preparation Classes (Central Square)
Come join this free 10-week class, in partnership with St. Mark Community Education Program. This series of classes prepares students for all parts of the Citizenship interview. This class is offered as a 10-week series. Attendance at all sessions is expected.
Requirements:
Intermediate-level English
Legal Permanent Resident card for 4 years and 9 months (2 years and 9 months if married to a U.S. citizen)
Class Meeting Dates:
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
NO MEETING Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Registration is required.
Click Here to Register
For more information about registering or classes contact St. Marks at stmarkesol@gmail.com or 617-288-8515.