News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.
By Alice C. Waugh
Christopher “CJ” Dwyer of Littleton, a seventh-grade special-education student at the Lincoln School, died on April 25. Lincoln School K-4 Principal Steve McKenna made the announcement to school families in an email Monday morning.
[Read more…] about Lincoln School student CJ Dwyer passes away
The Lincoln School Foundation’s eighth annual Spelling Bee attracted its biggest-ever roster of participants (136) from the Lincoln and Hanscom schools to benefit the LSF, which awards grants to enrich the curriculum, extend professional development, and enhance the school and community partnership.
[Read more…] about Kids stay calm and spell on in annual LSF bee
Children enjoy the green open space at Farrington Nature Linc.
By Alice C. Waugh
A century-old Lincoln facility originally built to offer rural respite to undernourished city girls has reinvented itself and hopes to expand its programs that connect low-income urban children to the natural world.
[Read more…] about Farrington hopes its nature programming will blossom
“Art in the Garden” at StonegateStonegate Gardens (339 South Great Road, Lincoln) will have a representative from the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum at its “Art in the Garden” event on Saturday, April 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Also featured: stone sculpture by Inspired Stones of Concord, screen prints by Rusty & Ingrid Creative Co. of Gloucester, and stone carvings by Kevin Duffy of Arlington.
Calling all fairies, elves, gnomes and other magical creatures! Come to Farrington Nature Linc (291 Cambridge Turnpike) on Saturday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and take an elf training class, create a wizard stick or magic wand, and visit the fairy post office and kitchen. Meet the Fairy Queen and help her make fairy houses in our spruce forest. This event is perfect for children ages 4-10, but younger and older kids are also welcome. Elves and fairies should be accompanied by an adult. Online preregistration is required; tickets are $20 per child-adult pair, plus $5 for each additional child.
Join Sarah Greeley, David Bloom and L-S Connections on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School cafeteria for a discussion geared towards helping parents plan for the upcoming proms with their children. The event is open to parents of all grades, since you may have a ninth- or tenth-grader who’s planning to attend the Junior or Senior Prom. We’ll be going over key logistics for prom night (bus, limo or car to the prom?) as well as sharing tips and strategies for handling last-minute changes in prom plans. This is an opportunity to brainstorm with other parents how to handle the myriad of issues that come up around prom, such as parties and parked cars. You’ll leave the cafeteria with a Plan B sheet, a list of questions to ask your students and other parents, and the realization that you’re not alone in struggling with these issues.
The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum will unveil Walking Sculpture 1967–2015, an exhibition about the history and practice of walking as a means for questioning social, political, economic and artistic hierarchies, on Saturday, May 9. It will be on view in the galleries and the Sculpture Park through September 13.
Inspired by Michelangelo Pistoletto’s 1967 performance Walking Sculpture, in which the artist rolled a newspaper sphere through city streets in Turin, Italy, Walking Sculpture 1967–2015 features an international selection of artists who engage in walking as an autonomous form of art, as cartography, as an exploration of physical experience and as social practice. Sculpture, video, photography, and performance converge in this exhibition to address the multidisciplinary practice of ambulation through the cityscape and the countryside. The exhibit is accompanied by a robust slate of public programming, including commissioned and artist-led walks in the sculpture park and in surrounding conservation lands in Lincoln and Concord.
The April 2015 issue of School Administrator magazine includes an article written by Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon, Minuteman’s superintendent-director, titled “Career Skills v. Academics: Not an Either/Or Proposition.” Last September, Minuteman High School was featured in a national radio broadcast on American RadioWorks titled “A 21st-Century Vocational High School.” Minuteman is also mentioned in Job U: How to Find Wealth and Success by Developing the Skills Companies Actually Need by Nicholas Wyman, published in paperback in January 2015.
Farm and third-graders make syrup for charityMatlock Farm is selling maple syrup they made with the help of Lincoln School third-graders and donating the proceeds to charity.
After the children collected sap from trees at the school and did a math/science project on the amount they got. Then Nancy Bergen and Ephraim Flint of Matlock Farm added sap from other trees in town and boiled it in their evaporator. The third-graders chose UNICEF as the charity to receive the proceeds from the sale of syrup. Anyone interested in purchasing some should come to Matlock Farm at 27 Lexington Rd. or call ahead to see if they’re at home (781-259-8402). Quart jars of syrup are $25 and there are a few pint jars that sell for $12.50.
This is the second year of the maple syrup collaboration. Organizers hope to beat last year’s tally of $550 that was donated to Partners in Health.
The Lincoln Minute Men (LMM) invite residents to the following activities in the days before and after Patriots Day. For more information, click on one of the event titles on the Lincoln Minute Men website and battleroad.org. For photos of past events, visit the LMM Facebook page.
Tuesday, April 14
Saturday, April 18
Sunday, April 19
Monday, April 20
Sunday, April 26
Now that spring has sprung, there are lots of nature-related activities coming up in Lincoln.
[Read more…] about Outdoor activities to get you into the swing of spring
Job, profession, vocation, career—what we do or did to “earn our living” is who we were or are or will become. Does it then follow that the “oddest” jobs just might attract the oddest people, who might then provide the most peculiar and engaging stories, true or fictitious? Find out in the “Odd Jobs” film series presented this month by the Lincoln Library Film Society:
Marimekko’s Unikko fabric by Maija Isola.
Put on your new or vintage Marimekko dress and dig out your beloved Sarpaneva casserole pot and bring them to “Remembering Design Research,” a modern design program in Lincoln on Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m. in Bemis Hall.Former Design Research (D/R) co-owner Jane Thompson’s slide show will describe the heydays of the pioneering modern design store in Harvard Square (1953-1979), and textile historian Susan Ward will illustrate the history of the Finnish Marimekko fabric and fashion company, whose brightly colored fabrics and dresses were one of D/R’s mainstays. There’ll also be groovy ’60s music, a Marimekko fashion show, a show-and-tell, book signing, silent auction, raffle prizes and fabulous Finnish treats. Tickets are $27. More information is available on the Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln’s website.
Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI), part of part of Minuteman High School, is now accepting applications for September 2015 admission into nine different postgraduate programs: advanced automotive technology, building construction technology, cosmetology, culinary arts/baking, dental assisting, early education and care, electrical wiring, hospitality management and plumbing. Minuteman Community Education also offers April vacation and summer programs for children up to grade 12 as well as continuing education for adults.
Adults may apply to an MTI program to hone their skills in a technical area, retrain for new employment or learn new skills. MTI offers interest-free payment plans for all of its programs, and students who live in one of Minuteman’s 16 district towns receive a 50 percent tuition discount. Open houses with more information about postgraduate programs and the application process will be held on May 12 and June 9 at 6 p.m. at the school (758 Marrett Rd., Lexington). For more information and to apply, go to www.MinutemanTI.org or call 781-861-7151.
Celebrate the end of a long winter at the Lincoln Public Library’s Spring Fling on Saturday, May 2 from 1–4 p.m. At 1 p.m., Tufts University’s co-ed a cappella group the Amalgamates will perform. The group has released 13 CDs and has performed at venues including Fenway Park and the National Portrait Gallery in London. At 3 p.m., the Toe Jam Puppet Band will be on hand to perform interactive songs, stories and& puppets, including a barn dance and a car wash song where kids get sprayed. Refreshments will be served throughout the afternoon.
Bunny Bonanza at Pierce House this SaturdayAll Lincoln School families are invited to hop on over to the Pierce House on Saturday, April 4 at 10 a.m. for the Lincoln Family Association‘s Bunny Bonanza. Welcome springtime with musicians, refreshments, and of course a massive egg hunt for all ages (please bring your own basket). Festivities begin promptly at 10 a.m. LFA members are free; non-members are $10 per child.
Diane Edgecomb
All Lincoln residents middle-school age and older are invited to a free performance on Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m. at Bemis Hall of “One Thousand Doorways: Journey among the Kurds of Turkey,” the true account of storyteller Diane Edgecomb’s decade-long quest to document the vanishing folk tales of the Kurds of Turkey. This solo performance, based on true events, sheds light on the Kurds’ struggles and their ancient culture.
A chance meeting with a young Kurdish refugee set Edgecomb on a quest of danger and discovery to bring to the world the ancient legends of this oppressed culture. This is a deeply moving, richly entertaining story of her journey through the remote mountains of Turkey and of the extraordinary people who shared their lives and their stories. Share her experiences from her first humorous meetings with carpet dealers and chain-smoking elders to her travels up sheer mountain passes to remote villages usually forbidden to outsiders.
A featured performer at festivals and theaters throughout the country, Edgecomb is known for her ability to embody the various characters in her pieces. She has been hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “a storyteller in the grand tradition, a virtuoso of the spoken word…an entire cast rolled into one.” Her storytelling was recently featured on NPR’s “Living on Earth” program.
This event is supported in part by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information, call the Lincoln Council on Aging at 781-259-8811.
ADDITION: The Lincoln Squirrel received this photo too late to include with the March 26 story on the Lincoln School eighth-graders’ warrant article. Left to right: Amalia Munn, Allie Dwyer, Colin Christian, Greer Harnden and Elena Christenfeld.
Due to the expected turnout for Town Meeting and the limited parking spaces available at the school complex, the town is asking residents to carpool. Also, the town is offering a shuttle service from the Lincoln commuter lot (non-resident paved lot) to the school complex from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The shuttle will run continuously throughout Town Meeting.
In the event that attendance at Town Meeting exceeds the capacity of the Brooks auditorium, overflow seating will be available in the Reed Gym, with audio feeds and other accommodations to allow full participation.
If necessary, Town Meeting will be paused on Saturday and resume on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Brooks auditorium.
Lincoln’s third-grade Girl Scouts will be selling hot coffee, tea and a limited supply of homemade baked goods at Town Meeting from 9-11 a.m. Everything is $1. The sixth-grade Girl Scouts also will be selling boxed lunches for $10 apiece.
Don’t forget to vote in the town election on Monday, March 30 from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Smith gym (not starting at 7 a.m. as previously reported). Voters will be asked to approve spending for a school renovation feasibility study and a school campus master plan. Many town offices are also on the ballot, including contested races for Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee and Planning Board. See this Lincoln Squirrel article for a sample ballot and summary of letters to the editor about the contested races.
Lincoln’s eighth-grade Girl Scouts are offering babysitting in Hartwell Pod B from 12:45-5 p.m. These hours were chosen to coincide with discussion of the school building and community center issues in which many young families have expressed interest. The Girl Scouts are Red Cross trained in babysitting, and adults will also be on duty to help supervise. The children will be located in two rooms, one for the preschoolers and another for elementary school children. Advance registration is preferred; please email Linda Hammett Ory at LHamme@aol.com. Babysitting is offered at no charge, but donations are encouraged to help support the eighth-grade Cadettes’ service projects.
Here are links to Lincoln Squirrel news stories about some of the warrant articles.