The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

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Lincoln Cultural Council seeks feedback and members

The Lincoln Cultural Council asks residents to take a quick online survey to help it shape the programs it brings to town. The council—whose mission is to solicit and review proposals for grants to sponsor cultural activities in Lincoln—is also seeking members. You don’t need to be an artist, musician or writer to join; all you need is a desire to help. Because the LCC is an official council of the town of Lincoln, members must apply to and be approved by the Board of Selectmen. If appointed, members should be willing to serve at least one three-year term and complete a short online basic training program on the Massachusetts Cultural Council website.

Learn more by attending an introductory meeting on Saturday, April 7 at 10 a.m. at 152 Lincoln Rd., Suite #4 or contacting Meg Ramsey, president, at meg.ramsey@verizon.net.

Recycle styrofoam in Sudbury

Residents can recycle styrofoam on Saturday, April 7 from 9 a.m.—noon at the Sudbury Department of Public Works at 275 Old Lancaster Rd. in Sudbury. Recycling is free for members of Sustainable Sudbury, or you can pay a $5 drop-off fee. Bring your hard packing styrofoam (#6) and soft (#4) LDPE foam. To receive a reminder about the next collection, email sustainablesudbury@gmail.com.

“The Role of Men in the Time of #Metoo”

The Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable White Ribbon Day commemoration originally scheduled in March will be held on Tuesday, April 10 at 3 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room of the Wayland Public Safety Building (38 Cochituate Rd.) starting with a discussion of “The Role of Men in the Time of #Metoo.” After an opening ceremony featuring the raising of the White Ribbon flag, there will be two short films—one with local men and boys sharing their thoughts on the #MeToo movement and a segment of the CBS program, “A Panel of Men on the #MeToo Movement”—followed by a moderated discussion.

The Massachusetts White Ribbon Day Campaign was conceived as a call to action for men and women to take a pledge to move from the sidelines and be part of the solution to ending violence against women and all gender-based violence. White Ribbon Day messaging focuses on promoting healthy masculinity and assessing the impact that toxic norms have on all of us but especially men and boys.

“Prom, Parties and Parked Cars”

LSRHS Connections will sponsor “Prom, Parties and Parked Cars: How to Survive and Enjoy Prom Season” on Tuesday, April 24 from 7:30–9 p.m. in the L-S cafeteria. This event is open to parents of all grades, as you may have a ninth- or tenth-grader who will attending the Junior or Senior Prom (and parents of seniors are very welcome to share their experiences). We will be going over key logistics for prom night (bus, limo or car to the prom?) as well as tips and strategies for handling last-minute changes in prom plans. This is an opportunity to brainstorm with other parents about how to handle the myriad issues that come up around prom. You’ll leave with a “Plan B” sheet, a list of questions to ask your students and other parents, and the realization that we are all in this together. No cost, but please RSVP here for a head count.

A sign of spring? (Lincoln Through the Lens)

A worker prepares last week to unload some brand-new brushes for the town’s street sweepers at the DPW. Some of the roads in town get swept of sand and other winter debris when the threat of snow has passed. However, given Monday morning’s forecast, it may be a few more days before the brushes get put to use.

FELS talk on healthy living April 12

“What’s the Buzz About your Health and Wellness: A 360-degree Lens on Healthy Living and a Healthy Earth” is the topic of this year’s annual Faye Goldberg-Scheff Memorial Lecture sponsored by FELS (the Foundation for Educators at Lincoln-Sudbury), on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in the high school’s Kirshner Auditorium. 

The evening will feature professionals in a variety of fields including organic farming, bee keeping, healthy home and personal care, healthy treatments for mind and body, conservation and the environment, and healthy life choices for teens. The panelists will discuss agricultural, environmental, physical, emotional, and mental approaches to our health. For example, how is the health of bees a barometer of the Earth’s health? How does making a change in personal care and household product use impact the health of those using those products? Why organic? What is the impact of stress on our physical wellbeing?

The moderator will be Christopher Collins, environmental science/earth science faculty, Environmental Club advisor at L-S, and filmmaker with National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, and PBS. Panelists (subject to change) are:

  • Jen Barsamian, consultant, Pure Haven Natural, Organic Personal and Home Care Products in Sudbury
  • Ari Kurtz, owner/head farmer at Lindentree Farm in Lincoln, one of the first CSAs in eastern Massachusetts
  • Rick Reault, owner/operator of New England Beekeeping/Carlisle Honey in Tyngsboro
  • Susan Shields, wellness faculty at L-S and faculty advisor to Students Together Empowering Women and the Youth Peer Tutoring program  
  • Judi Weinstein, acupuncturist and owner of Acupuncture Family Practice in Sudbury

The evening will include about an hour of directed questions from the moderator, followed by opportunities for audience questions. Admission is $10. All proceeds will benefit FELS, a nonprofit organization that awards enrichment grants to L-S faculty and staff to pursue their professional and personal interests and passions. 

L-S welcomes German government delegation

Left to right: Joan Campbell, L-S German faculty; Heidrun Tempel, German Foreign Office; student Caitlin Kenney; Rolf Horlemann, New England German consul general; students Audrey Bauer and Cal Hamandi; and Liz Von Wagner, consular cultural and press affairs officer.

A German government delegation visited Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on March 20 in connection with the L-S World Language Department’s participation in the PASCH program, which is supported by the German government.

PASCH (“Schools: Partner for the Future Initiative” in German) is a global network of approximately 1,800 schools that place a high value on German language education. L-S was named a PASCH school in 2009 and is one of nine PASCH program schools in the United States.

The German visitors included Heidrun Tempel, director of research and academic relations policy and cultural relations policy for the German Foreign Office in Berlin, PASCH program overseer, and co-chair of the German Fulbright Commission. She was accompanied by Rolf Horlemann, New England consul general at the German Consulate in Boston, and Liz von Wagner, consular cultural and press affairs officer. Coincidentally, von Wagner was a judge in the World Language Declamation at L-S on March 16.

The delegation toured the high school with L-S German language students and heard about their experiences in the German exchange program. The trio also met with teachers Joan Campbell, World Language Department coordinator, and Sarah Farrell; Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong; Virginia Blake, director of curriculum and scheduling, and Nancy Marshall, L-S School Committee member and parent of two former L-S German language students. They concluded their morning by attending a German level 4 class taught by Farrell.

One offering of the PASCH program is a fully funded language and cultural immersion for two L-S students for three weeks every summer. In addition, through PASCH, L-S receives professional development support for teachers, teaching materials and technical equipment, opportunities for faculty visits to Germany, and exposure to German educational practices, student language and study abroad support, including secondary and college-level educational opportunities as well as cultural student exchange programs. The links between the PASCH schools around the world allow for networking and curriculum sharing.

Since 1983, L-S has had an annual three-week cultural exchange through the German American Partnership Program. L-S families host 20 students in the fall; the following summer, 20 L-S students go to Germany for home stays and to attend the Gymnasium Vilshofen in Bavaria. Additionally, one L-S student plans to attend a German secondary school through the AFS program in 2018-19.

“Foreign language is a critical tool for student growth in its exposure to—and empathy for—other cultures and differing world perspectives,” Blake said.

Many universities are pairing of German and engineering majors, resulting in a broad array of job opportunities for students after graduation.  “Speaking German sets you apart… there are lots of business and scientific opportunities,” Campbell told the Sudbury Town Crier in 2009. L-S has 190 students enrolled in German in 2017-18.

In 2009, Campbell was recognized by the American Association of Teachers of German and the Massachusetts Association of Teachers of German as Massachusetts German Teacher of the Year.

Letter to the editor: inclusion means listening for the sake of learning

To the editor:

Many in our community have shared with me their feelings and reactions coming out of Lincoln’s recent annual Town Meeting—reactions which have included sadness, anger, frustration, and confusion, to name a few. We in Lincoln hold as a community value the inclusion of all, and yet many neighbors in town experienced that value tested against publicly expressed perspectives that felt elitist, classist, and/or racist. In turn, that experience sits side by side with a desire to not “other-ize” those we may disagree with, those who might otherize us, even those who we might experience as offensive.

In the midst of so much division that already exists in our country, how do we navigate divisiveness in a loving and even healing way? How do we actually live into the values that our community holds, creating the inclusive environment we all seek?  There are no “perfect” answers to these questions, but I’d like to offer a few guiding principles.

First, we meet reality where it is. Lincoln is a great town, a “desirable” community. It has a rich history, beautiful natural environment, and guiding values that are worth taking the time to both understand and live into. And Lincoln exists within the United States of America—a nation that has been having very serious and socially divisive conversations on issues such as the increasing class divide in American society and structural barriers that help perpetuate endemic poverty and racial oppression.

We in Lincoln are a part of those national conversations; like every city, town, and village in America, we are a microcosm of the whole, with good people along the whole ideological spectrum, with good people who are struggling to figure out how to talk to one another, listen to one another, and leave that experience with a mutual sense of being valued and “seen.”  The struggles and needs that exist in our nation right now exist here in Lincoln.

As we navigate those conversations, we must be clear that “winning” is not the point. As an American people, we have learned to be satisfied if we feel that we have “won” on an issue, and dissatisfied—even angry and indignant—if we feel that we are on a “losing”’ side. Winning has become more important than relationship, more important than learning from one another, or collaboratively seeking a greater good. Bipartisanship is practically dead in Washington, D.C., and has been for some time now.

That national reality is mirrored at the local level throughout our country. We cheer on our favorite political orthodoxy, applauding ideological purity and entrenchment, while efforts at building cross-ideological bridges are deemed a waste of time. We are left in bubbles talking most regularly with others who think like us, stepping outside of those bubbles to be surprised that close by are neighbors who might hold a diametrically opposed view or life experience.

Our community and our nation need more from us than this, and I believe there is good cause to feel hopeful because we already hold as a town value, and in my congregation as a community value, one of the most important ingredients to a better future: the value we place on genuine inclusion and the understanding that Lincoln is a town where all are welcome and included. This is mirrored in the value that my congregation, the First Parish, is a religious community in which all are spiritually welcome and included. Living into that reality is quite hard, but also a beautiful and worthy aspiration.

It is more than just patiently listening to someone we disagree with or find disagreeable; it involves listening for the sake of learning. What does this other human being, my neighbor, this person who is inherently valuable, value? Why do they care about the things that they care about? How can I personally ensure that they know that I have “seen” and heard who they are and what they value? Ideally, building the world we yearn for needs all of us listening, doing, and acting in these life-affirming ways. But in the absence of that, we can trust that even one of us behaving in these ways can have ripples of impact that we cannot predict.  When we honor the light of others, our own light shines brighter, radiating out into the world in ways that will have a positive effect.

William Ellery Channing is credited with having said, “Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.” May we each find ways to allow legitimate difference to help us grow more deeply in our relationships with one another. It is in this way that we hold the possibility of bringing alive peace, love, and hope for ourselves and our wider world.

Sincerely,

Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti
Senior Minister, First Parish in Lincoln

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

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Two Lincoln drives for Cradles to Crayons

Lincoln Girl Scout Troop 72886 and project 351 are collecting gently used and new children’s clothing for Cradles to Crayons from March 28 through April 11. Collection bins will be located in the Lincoln Library and the Stone Church at First Parish. Please note that pajamas, socks and underwear must be new. They accept any children’s clothing from birth to size adult medium, but the most-needed items include:

  • Boys’ and girls’ size 18-24 months shirts or onesies
  • Boys’ sweaters size 14/16
  • Boys’ pants size 4/5T to 18/20
  • Girls’ shirts size 2T to 7/8
  • Boys’ and girls’ spring jackets, all sizes up to 18/20 (adult medium)

Lincoln School eighth-grader Kiran Rajagopal is coordinating collections for Project 351, a youth-driven service organization that unites eighth-grade ambassadors from each of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts for a year of servic, leadership development, and enrichment.

Collection boxes for new or like-new children’s clothing, coats, and footwear will be in the Smith and Brooks entryway and the Lincoln preschool until the morning of April 6. Anyone with questions may email Kiran at kiranthant@gmail.com.

Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12 living in homeless or low-income situations with the essential items they need to thrive free of charge. Donated items are processed and packaged by volunteers and distributed to disadvantaged children across Massachusetts through a network of social service agencies and school partners.

L-S Jazz Night on April 5

The Lincoln-Sudbury Music Department presents Jazz Night 2018 on Thursday, April 5 at 7 p.m. in the L-S auditorium. The concert is open to the public and admission is free. April is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), a global celebration to advance recognition of jazz as a historical and contemporary art form.

Jazz Night showcases talented student musicians performing jazz literature from the swing, funk, and Latin genres. L-S performing groups include the Symphonic and Concert Jazz Ensembles, the Sax Quartet, and the Select Jazz Combo. The groups are led by Thomas Grandprey, director of instrumental music and graduate of The Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music Collaborative Jazz Masters program.

Special guest groups include the Lincoln Middle School Jazz Band directed by Clayton DeWalt and the Curtis Middle School Select Jazz Band under the direction of Kevin Donegan. The middle school students will combine with the L-S groups for a joint performance of Paul Clark’s fiery Latin composition, “Dance Like No One’s Watching.” Sales of snacks and refreshments will benefit the L-S Friends of Music.

Film Society movies in April

The Lincoln Library Film Society continues its “Swinging London” series of movies in April. All screening are at 3 p.m. in the library’s Tarbell Room.

  • April 2 — “Alfie” (1966) starring Michael Caine and Shelley Winters. An unrepentant ladies’ man gradually begins to understand the consequences of his lifestyle.
  • April 9 — “Georgy Girl” (1966) starring Lynne Redgrave and Alan Bates. A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father’s middle-aged employer while striving to capture some of the glamorous life of her swinging London roommate.
  • April 23 — “Morgan” (1966) starring Vanessa Redgrave and David Warner. After his wife leaves him for his former best friend, a failed London artist begins his descent into madness in trying to win her back.
  • April 30 — “Blow-up” (1966) starring Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings. A mod London photographer finds something very suspicious in the shots he has taken of a mysterious beauty in a desolate park.

Joachim wins second seat on L-S committee

Ellen Joachim of Sudbury has won the second write-in seat on the Lincoln-Sudbury District School Committee. She will join Lincoln’s Carol Kasper, who earned the most votes—and who had endorsed Joachim as her unofficial running mate.

In Sudbury, Joachim won by a margin of 866 to 677, according to Sudbury’s unofficial results posted Tuesday afternoon. She also won Lincoln by a whopping 712–16 margin. When adding in Lincoln’s official results (see table), Joachim had a two-town total of 1,578 votes compared to 693 for Hullinger. A third write-in candidate on the ballot, Cara Endyke-Doran of Sudbury, got 236 votes in Sudbury and two in Lincoln.

Kasper will take the seat of retiring Lincoln member Nancy Marshall. Committee member Gerald Quirk of Sudbury decided not to run again after the candidates’ filing deadline had passed, necessitating the write-in campaign. The race was the subject of vigorous campaigning by their supporters in both Lincoln and Sudbury, including numerous letters to the editor. 

The official results also correct an error in the unofficial results posted earlier today in the Squirrel, which mistakenly listed 366 write-in votes for Lincoln School Committee in Precinct 1 (they were actually blank ballots).

A squeaker for Parks and Rec; LSSC race still awaiting Sudbury totals

Sarah Chester narrowly defeated Adam Hogue for a seat on the Parks and Recreation Commission, 296–288, while Rey Romero finished third with 204 votes, according to unofficial results from the town election on March 26. Chester won Precinct 2 by a single cote, but it wasn’t enough for s town-wide victory. (Click here to see a map of Lincoln’s two voting precincts.)

Carol Kasper and write-in candidate Ellen Joachim of Sudbury won the most Lincoln votes for the two openings on the Lincoln-Sudbury District School Committee, but the Sudbury vote totals were still unavailable as of 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Sudbury’s Siobhan Hullinger also campaigned as a write-in candidate but won only 15 Lincoln votes vs. 711 for Joachim.

Check the Lincoln Squirrel later on Tuesday for final results of the L-S  race once Sudbury totals become available.

Unofficial results for the March 24, 2018 town election (click to enlarge).

Correction

An article headlined “Town Meeting 2018 roundup” incorrectly stated the number of homes in the new Brown’s Wood Historic District. That number is 11. The original article has bene updated to reflect this correction.