Reel Reads Book Club (O'Connell)
Is it true the book is always better? Join our new book club at the O'Connell Branch to delve into this question! Each month we will read a book selection with a movie adaptation, and discuss the relationship between the two and the merits and/or drawbacks of each.
The Reel Reads book club will meet the first Tuesday evening of each month at the O'Connell Branch Library on 48 Sixth St.
For our inaugural meeting in May, we will be discussing Forrest Gump by Winston Groom, and the 1994 film of the same name.
How to get the print book and physical movie: Copies of the book and DVD are set aside at the O'Connell Branch. Click here for O'Connell Branch Hours
This book group meets in person at the O'Connell Branch. No registration is needed. Drop-ins welcome.
For more information contact the branch at 617-349-4019.
Cambridge Offers New Apprenticeship Program
The Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Office of Workforce Development (OWD) will collaborate to identify residents interested in committing to one to two-year paid apprenticeships.
Public Works Announces 2025 Commissioner's Award Winners
As part of a national celebration of Public Works Week, the Department of Public Works (DPW) Commissioner Kathy Watkins and other City officials recently honored the recipients of the 2025 Commissioner’s Award for Outstanding Performance during a ceremony at the DPW yard. Congratulations to T.J. Shea, Irina Sidorenko, Steven Arruda, Charles Harkins, and Emanuel Mercury.
Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Joint Public Meeting #7
Join the Cities of Cambridge and Somerville, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, for a public meeting on the recommended combined sewer overflow control plan for Alewife Brook, Upper Mystic River, and Charles River.
Cambridge Urban Forestry Division Celebrates 2024 Milestones
In 2024, the Urban Forestry Division of Cambridge Public Works planted 1,250 new trees and removed 5,000 square feet of pavement to create better planting conditions, enhancing the city's green infrastructure. The Division maintained a strong tree survival rate, with only 3.5% mortality for spring plantings, and expanded community engagement through the revamped Cambridge Urban Forest Friends newsletter, which saw over 105% subscriber growth. Residents can support the city's urban forest by becoming an Urban Forest Friend or subscribing to the newsletter.
The Past is Now: An Intertribal Panel on King Philip's War, Past and Present (Main/Virtual)
Is King Philip’s War really part of the past? Four Indigenous speakers tell us that it’s still deeply present.
People who are not Indigenous often think of Metacom’s Resistance – more commonly known as King Philip’s War – if they know of it - as part of a distant past. If we have read children’s stories of an idealized colonial life, or educated with traditional textbooks, we might think of the war as a single violent chapter in an otherwise quaint, albeit colorful, history, with colonial heroes bravely conquering their enemies.
Historical markers dotting the New England countryside, especially in Massachusetts, reinforce this idea: it was brutal, but the colonists emerged victorious, and in any event it was long ago – nothing to do with life today. For Indigenous communities, the past is not so easily left behind – and nor should it be for non-Indigenous people. We all live today with its aftermath. King Philip’s War continues to shape daily life, experience, and memory.
Panelists include:
Hartman Deetz, Mashpee Wampanoag
Brad Lopes, Aquinnah Wampanoag
Brittney Walley, Hassanamisco Nipmuc
Elizabeth Solomon, Massachusett at Ponkapoag, moderator
On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, this panel invites audiences to grapple with a foundational war of Indigenous resistance on its 350th anniversary - and to see that it is not past, but deeply present, for us all.