Appreciating Cambridge

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we can all use some connection and healing right now. Hosted by the Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI) , which is dedicated to changing how social justice is imagined, developed and deployed here in the United States, InPublic Festival 2021 was an interactive experience on the steps at Downtown Crossing in Boston (on the far side of the old Filene's building, for those of us that have been around here for a while). The event, which took place November 5-7, featured works by 60 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) artists who contributed pieces in response to the question "What Will You Tend To?" A musical and spoken work soundscape set the mood for this event, in which participants were encouraged to create decorated stones to place around the works of art as we walked among them on steps leading up to a banner saying "We Will Heal Together." Participants - either at th...

A moonlit Autumnal Equinox night, an atmospheric setting, and a creative place-based play. All of these added up to an inspiring, engaging, and educational performance of Moonlight Abolitionists , written by Patrick Gabridge and staged at Mount Auburn Cemetery September 20-22. In the performance, six abolitionists interred at Mount Auburn told their stories through monologues and conversations with each other. Although I know a fair amount about Cambridge History, and have participated in tours of the grave sites of some of the many illustrious people interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery, I was only familiar with two of the six prior to the performance; Harriet Jacobs and Joshua Bowen Smith. The six abolitionists included: Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) - played by Rached Cognata Charles Turner Torrey (1813-1846) - played by Alexander Platt Mary Stearns (1821-1901) - played by Amanda Collins George Stearns (1809-1867) - played by Lewis D. Wheeler Samuel Gridley Howe (...

I'm always excited to learn more about Cambridge history, especially newly researched or amplified stories that haven't been told. So I was excited to learn, through the Cambridge Black History Project , which served as a community partner, of the creation by students of the Abolitionist Women and Their Worlds course at Harvard College, of the African American Women of 19th Century Cambridge, MA Tour . The students put in hours of discussion, research, and writing to build this walking tour that "we hope will make the history of Cambridge’s Black community more accessible." Each stop on the tour includes information about the featured woman, a map, photos, references, and a text to speech option. The tour , which can be accessed via the Clio app (available for Apple or Android devices) or on a computer, with a downloadable PDF map option, highlights the following influential Black women of 19th Century Cambridge: - Maria L. Baldwin - Charlotte Hawkins ...

“I work in sound design, says artist Skooby Laposky, talking about the Hidden Life Radio Project, “so I’m always looking for new ways to create sounds. The idea of dialing back my creative impulses and letting something natural influence my workflow interested and excited me.”  This public art project, supported in part by a Cambridge Arts grant through funds from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, allows anyone to listen to a live stream from each of three trees at Cambridge Public Library branches:  - Copper Beech Tree (80+ years old) – Main Branch, in front of building  - Honey Locust Tree (30 years old) – Boudreau Branch, at side of building on Donnell Street  - Red Oak Tree (60 years old) – Collins Branch, in front of yellow house to the right of library  Each tree has a solar-powered biodata sonification kit installed on one of its branches that measures the tree’s “hidden” activities, such as absorbing water during a rainstorm. According to Laposky, "...