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

Memoir group open to new members in January

The memoir group is a good place to try out your writing on a supportive audience. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t written a word or if you’ve already written enough for two lifetimes—the group will welcome you and help you move along in the process. (They will also laugh and cry with you sometimes.) If you’re interested in joining the group or if you just want to know more before making a commitment, please get in touch with facilitator Connie Lewis at con.lewis@comcast.net or  781-259-9415.

The group meets on Wednesdays, usually twice a month from 10 a.m. to noon. The schedule for the winter/spring term isn’t set yet, but the first meeting will be on January 15. The cost is $50 if the group continues with the six-meeting schedule or $75 if they decide to meet eight times.

Free sand for slippery times ahead

snowcloudIn preparation for tomorrow’s snowstorm, you may have stocked up on snow shovels and windshield washer fluid, but your already-icy driveways and paths will be needing more sand—and Lincoln residents can get some for free

The Department of Public Works allows Lincoln residents to take one five-gallon bucket of sand from the small shed at the DPW site on Lewis Street. The shed is just to the right of the main building across from the school buses. There’s even a shovel you can use, but be careful unloading—sand is even heavier than you think.

The DPW also reminds residents that they are not permitted to take sand or salt from the larger sheds at the rear of the site.

Clark wins easily in Lincoln and 5th District

Here are the election results for Lincoln and surrounding towns for the 5th Congressional District special election on  December 10. Among the 24 towns in the district, Lincoln was second only to Cambridge in percentage of residents who voted for winner Katherine Clark (Cambridge went for Clark by a margin of 93 percent to 6 percent). The only town that Frank Addivinola won was Woburn, by a vote of 1,347 to 1,161 (53 percent to 45 percent).

Lincoln’s voter turnout was 17 percent, compared to 13 percent for the district as a whole.

Katherine Clark (D) Frank Addivinola (R)
Lincoln 590 (80%) 139 (19%)
Lexington
 2,951 (79%) 740 (20%)
Sudbury 834 (64%) 445 (34%)
Weston 525 (59%) 348 (39%)
District total
 40,172 (66%) 19,319 (32%)

Sustainability author Brayton Shanley at library

On December 18 at 7 p.m., Brayton Shanley will speak about his 25 years of living off the land, building a straw bale house and running a “grease” car all while working in the community to build a more peaceful and responsible world. Sustainability is a word held dear by Shanley. His new book, taken from his essays in Servant Song, is entitled The Many Sides of Peace: Christian Nonviolence, the Contemplative Life, and Sustainable Living.

Gingerbread activities at library on Wednesday

gingerbreadOn Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 4 p.m., come to the Lincoln Public Library to hear gingerbread stories and decorate your own gingerbread cookies. For ages 4 and up. 

Space is limited so please sign up in advance by calling 781-259-8465. Sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library, Inc.

Morris Engel films at library this month

movie reelThe Lincoln Library Film Society  will be showcasing the  work of acclaimed New York photographer and filmmaker Morris Engel in December. Along with photographer Ruth Orkin, Engel pioneered the use of hand-held cameras in cinematography, which, along with other techniques, helped them capture true slices of life and weave images of everyday reality into their fiction films.

A native of Brooklyn, Engel spent five years as a combat photographer during World War II. He was an active member of the Photo League, a left-wing photo cooperative based in New York, which produced and distributed socially-themed work. It was there that he met Ruth Orkin, a freelance photographer from Los Angeles, who would later become his filmmaking partner. Their 1953 film Little Fugitive, with its infusion of documentary photography with staged narrative, is considered an important forerunner to the films of John Cassavetes and the French New Wave films of Truffaut and Godard. The films that the pair made, along with Engel’s subsequent solo work as director and cinematographer, comprise an independent cinema before there was independent cinema, having proved highly influential over the many facets of postwar realism to follow.

Tuesday, December 10 at 7 p.m.

Lovers and Lollipops
USA / 1956 / in English / 82 minutes.
The follow-up to Little Fugitive is similarly made on a minuscule budget, with money raised by Engel and Orkin, and filmed using highly portable cameras. The film depicts the efforts of Peggy, a seven-year-old, to thwart the blossoming romance between her fashion model mother, Ann, and Larry, an engineer. The film brings to life the textures and nuances of city life with wit and charm, favoring authenticity over narrative efficiency, and once again shows how ordinary children can be more genuine and demonstrative than many adult actors.

Ruth Orkin: Frames of Life
USA / 1996 / in English / 18 minutes
This short documentary, directed by her daughter, Mary Engel, charts the chronology of Orkin’s career through photographs and film clips.

Tuesday, December 17 at  7 p.m.

Weddings and Babies
USA / 1958 / in English. 81 minutes
This more mature film by Engel, his first to use synchronous sound, won the Critic’s Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1958. It merges a ground-level naturalism, seen in his earlier films, with increased production values. Al, a photographer living in New York, feels pressure from his girlfriend, Bea, to marry and settle down. His elderly mother, whom he recently put in a nursing home, only complicates things as Al tries to get his life in order. The film uses improvisational performances and naturalistic settings, with cinematographer Engel picking up on the detailed emotional resonance of everyday life.

Morris Engel: The Independent
USA / 2008 / in English / 28 minutes
Mary’s portrait of her father assembles interviews and clips, bringing some of the original cast of Little Fugitive back to Coney Island.

Panel to discuss possible school calendar changes

schoolThe School Committee will discuss options for the 2014-15 school calendar on Thursday, Dec. 5 in the Hartwell Multipurpose Room. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and discussion of the calendar is slated to begin at approximately 7:55 p.m. (see complete agenda).

The committee will also discuss next steps for the school building project starting at approximately 8:40 p.m.

The 2012-13 school year ended later than usual because of several snow days but also because the schedule included days off for parent conferences and religious holidays. Among the options under consideration (click to download a PDF) are taking fewer of those days off, and/or starting the school year some time before Labor Day.

School Committee chair Jennifer Glass said there will be at least one more calendar discussion after tonight before a final decision is made. Public input is welcome either during the public comments period at the start of the meeting, or via email to schoolroom@lincnet.org.

Winter wellness clinics for all ages starting Dec. 6

Lincoln residents of all ages are invited to meet with a nurse at no charge at one of several wellness clinics. Get your blood pressure and/or BMI (body mass index) checked, ask questions, or learn about wellness resources.

Clinics will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on the following Fridays at the Community Building at Lincoln Woods at 50 Wells Road:

  • December 6
  • January 10
  • February 7
  • March 14

There will also be a clinic at St. Joseph’s Church (142 Lincoln Road) on Wednesday, December 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

These clinics are funded by CHNA 15 and provided by Emerson Hospital Home Care. For more information, please call the Lincoln Council on Aging at (781) 259-8811.