STATE POLITICAL PARTIES AGREE: VOTE NO ON 3 Massachusetts residents will decide on nine ballot questions this election season – the most in over 30 years. Question 3 would end party primaries and replace them with an all-party ‘jungle primary,' where the top two advance to the general election. Despite positive polling and a multimillion-dollar war chest, parties across the political spectrum agree: jungle primaries are a really bad idea. Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carevale said the existing party system is crucial to allowing voters the choice between alternate philosophies at the ballot box. The party itself called the initiative misguided and said it would undermine democratic principles by eroding the party’s ability to select nominees, marginalizing smaller parties, and stifling ideological diversity. Veteran Massachusetts Democrats Martina Jackson and Ann Roosevelt filed a lawsuit to block the question in March. “By restricting general election ballots to only two candidates, the Petition dilutes the ‘diversity and competition in the marketplace of ideas’ in the phase of the electoral process in which policy choices are most seriously considered,” the complaint reads.
PAGE LAYOUTS: Adrian Alvarez: p. 6, 8 Kelsey Deemer: p. 2, 3, 7 Grace Martin: p.1, 4, 5
Even Libertarian and Socialist groups, who often run third-party candidates, warn that Question 3 passing would eliminate them from the ballot entirely. “California has adopted this election method, and often the two top vote winners are in the same party, depending upon the district, both are Democrats or both Republicans, giving voters no real choice in the general election,” wrote Libertarian Party of Massachusetts State Committee member Thomas Eddlem. The bipartisan opposition to the question stems from how it would deflate the role of political parties in state elections. To an electorate ever more frustrated with America’s two-party system, this may seem an appealing offer. No parties would not necessarily make elections more competitive or representative, however. Instead, power would be shifted upward to wealthy donors. Boston Democratic Socialist of America (BDSA) Electoral Working Group committee member Sam Levine said their decision not to support Question 3 comes from the kind of candidates a jungle primary would empower: Moderate Democrats whose more conservative policies make them more appealing to wealthy donors. “It makes it hard for first-time, workingclass candidates to run because it really raises the cost of running for office,” he said.
\ because they see it as a way to lock out the left and really raise the barrier of running for office.” The No on 3 campaign reports that the bulk of the more than $5.5 million raised to support Question 3 comes from 22 millionaires, mostly current and former executives with private equity firms Bain Capital, Berkshire Partners, and Cove Hill. In an all-party election, these donors would hold the keys to the general. In the primaries, candidates would have to appeal to the broadest number of voters possible as opposed to just ideological and partisan allies. They then have to repeat this process in the general, functionally running the same campaign twice, requiring more volunteers and funding to reach the most voters. Levine said he understands the frustration in Massachusetts politics. State-level seats frequently run uncontested, making incumbents less accountable to their constituency. “I think people are just very frustrated by the lack of movement, the lack of competition, and are willing to take any change, even if it's the wrong one,” he said. Instead, Levine and BDSA support rank choice voting, an electoral system where voters rank candidates in order of preference.
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The candidate that receives more than half the first-choice picks wins If no candidate secures more than half, an instant runoff is triggered, eliminating the least preferred candidate, and funneling their support into their second choice. Levine said Left-wing candidates tend to fail because people are afraid that they will not be able to win and defer to the incremental gains offered by moderates. “I think ranked choice voting is a lot of the reason why [Zohran Mamdani] was able to win in New York City. A lot of people didn't think he had a shot, but could still rank him first anyway, because if he wasn't going to get anywhere, their second choice vote would still matter,” he said. Voting yes on Question 3 will shift most state-level elections to an all-party primary and top-two general election. Voting no will keep the current system in place. Election Day will take place on November 3. To check or update voter information, visit www.sec.state.ma.us/OVR/.
—— JACOB DOWNEY BOSTONCOMPASSNEWSPAPER.COM
TRASH IS TRAGIC REST IS RESISTANCE
"Waste" is a complex word. Hold it up to the light, and from one angle it looks like "inefficiency." Turn it slightly and it becomes "natural byproduct." Shift it again and it shows you "imbalance with nature."
BLUR OF WARMTH AND BUZZ CAPTURED IN
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM William Greaves, known for his work as a director on documentary “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One” and his work as a producer on “The Black Journal,” passed away in August of 2014, but with the help of his brother David Greaves, has released his film “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” over ten years after his death. His latest film is not just a time capsule of history and memory, but one commemorating the joy of an artists’ community. The Brattle screened the film during their 12th annual Boston Independent Film Festival Fall Focus series on October 9th, coincidentally the day after Greaves’s birthday.
someone as brilliant as Greaves to steer the audience through the joyful chaos. Between conversations about each other's work and reminiscing about those not present at the partysuch as sculptor Augusta Savage and poet Countee Cullen, it is difficult to leave the space of the film itself. Ida Mae Cullen playfully wagged her finger at the camera, and Ruth Hill proclaimed, “If George Schuyler doesn’t something, I’ll shoot him.”
say
Richard B. Nugent yelled at Leigh Whipper, the oldest of the bunch and Greaves’s 1968 hybrid-documentary dubbed “The Emperor” for his “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One” portrayal of Emperor Haile Selassie in keeps you guessing as a frantic Miles “Mission to Moscow,” Davis score keeps your pulse racing. Greaves, clad in a green fishnet top, “Leigh, I am pausing so you can say seemingly disconnected from his crew, something!” paces as the audience tries to decide if this man knows, at all, what he is The Brattle exploded in laughter again doing. when Whipper responded that he wanted “the angels in heaven to keep It is clear, however, in his latest film, quiet” so he could make his point. that Greaves knew precisely what he Never has there been a more enticing was doing. “Once Upon a Time in room to act as the fly on the wall. Harlem" is a testament to will and forethought. The film takes place at a There is a moment where Ida Mae party Greaves orchestrated at Duke Cullen addresses Greaves and his Ellington’s home in 1972 to gather camera crew, emphasizing the artists, thinkers and activists from the importance of his work. Ruth Hill states Harlem Renaissance and reflect on the later on that “young people are never time period and what it meant to going to get anywhere until they know them. The guest list included Arna their history.” There is a possibility that Bontempts, James Van Der Zee, the participants of this documentary George Schuyler, Ruth Hill, Regina knew exactly the weight of what they Andrews, Richard Bruce Nugent, Leigh were saying that night fifty years ago, Whipper, and John Henrik Clarke. and again fifty years before. Each of these luminaries provide us with more context for the famed There is a richness to “Once Upon a artistic movement until our cup Time in Harlem” that cannot be overfloweth; from the teachings of replicated in any other film - the Hubert Harrison and socialized culmination of joy, passion, and education, to the “freedom” that knowledge is a truly special thing to Aaron Douglass remembered feeling witness. Both William and David at the time. Greaves found a masterful way of capturing that kind of verbal and visual As each of them talk amongst and lightning to this medium. over one another, trying to cram every bit of knowledge and memory into a Ellington’s home was a blur of warmth packed room, the cameras don’t and buzz with every word as Nugent waver, they find their marks and focus called for the partygoers to remember with ease. As the viewer, it is easy to the words of Zora Neale Hurston. The get lost in the party - the rich colors of film cuts into voiceover, reading her Ellington’s home, the laughter and the words as requested. “I do not weep at lively conversation. The wisdom of the world - I am too busy sharpening those who came before us would be my oyster knife.” difficult to wade through without
––– HANNAH PEOPLES
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Efficiency can be useful, but it is a false god. I have a habit of packing tasks into my capacity until I can barely breathe. Efficiency can be a survival method - when you're low income and live in one of the most expensive cities in the country, you get clever with your schedule. Efficiency can be a mental health strategy - depression, anxiety, and ADHD swell during unstructured time, and there sure is a lot to worry about right now. Efficiency can also be training. Capitalism and the rich want to keep the lower classes frantic, bought-in, struggling, self-blaming, and distracted. Grind culture achieves all of these objectives, and we're bombarded with its messages dozens if not hundreds of times a day. When I was a kid I read Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. The third book, "The Amber Spyglass," gave me this fishhook of a sentence: “If you wanted to divert a mighty river into a different course, and all you had was a single pebble, you could do it, as long as you put the pebble in the right place to send the first trickle of water that way instead of this.” Childhood was also when I learned about climate change. I yearned to be that pebble because I thought it was necessary to save the world, and because most of my books were hero stories. As I learned more, the wish became desperate, abstract, and dreamlike. I didn't see any way that one person could create such an enormous effect, but the expectation remained. In early 2025 I suffered a massive insomnia attack. It was triggered by a medication, but primed by five years of intense personal and professional pressures, COVID-19 not least. For a month I couldn't walk further than the end of my street without assistance. Friends took shifts to help me eat. My housemate did my dishes for a year. Listening to the news was physically harmful. I fought dizziness, nausea, an obliterated reading capacity, severe memory loss, and ~the feeling that the top of my skull was a cold, spongy miasma that was open to the sky~ to make care plans, schedule
appointments, and get any sleep I could. Somehow, I still blamed myself for not doing more in the world. Have you heard of The Nap Ministry? It's a social art project by "Nap Bishop" Tricia Hersey, and its whole point is that rest is an act of resistance. I got their "Rest Deck," a pack of 50 cards with rest care activities. One of my favorites reads: "...The lie of individualism keeps us separated, isolated, exhausted, and disconnected. Without collaborating in rest and care, we will not make it. We need one another in order to make it." Today I realized my body is a root. I'm made of earth, and I can be sensitive to the earth's needs through my own. I become nutrient deficient like the soil, I uptake poison as easily as a carrot, and I slow down in winter with all the other birds. If I sit with no plans and a cup of tea, and daydream, I will hear more lessons from myself, and I will have more imagination and empathy ready. In Tricia Hersey's words again, "When I wake up from the limited thinking given to me by exhaustion, a world of invention will open to me."
–––––– AMELIA YOUNG
Photo Credit: Chris Dempsey
COUNTRY MUSIC IN BOSTON THE TALKING HEARTS’ NEW ALBUM “Memory Lane”
It's hard for me to admit that our electric guitar, which for me gives a academic-ass capital city is not perfect touch of modernity without commonly associated with country and spoiling the vision. That and some western music. But as Clifford R. surprise horn section hidden in the Murphy explains in his fantastic book middle. “Yankee Twang,” country music is NOT an exclusively southern export. We are I will say, I didn't love the bold, cutesy actually back, you could say, if you album artwork at first but once I know-of and lust-for the days when discovered traditional polish paper Boston had multiple country bars and cutting Wycinanki artist Sam Wrobel, I bands playing nightly. This is where I was sold. He makes super detailed, discovered The Talking Hearts - a psychedelic art that matches the bonafide classic country outfit who Talking Hearts energy, so I've really hosts a monthly honky tonk up in warmed up to it. Don't judge a CD by Somerville. Their new CD hit my desk its cover, behind the folksy artwork is this month and I'm pleased to say it's got more than enough hooks to hang your hat.
MASSACHUSETTS MINUTE
LUCY is placing you under “CITIZEN'S ARREST” Have you ever driven through Amherst, Massachusetts on a late November night, when the last leaves cling to the soon-to-be-frosted limbs of the oak and red maple trees? If you have, you know once you’ve escaped the ever-stretching grasp of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Amherst College campuses, a certain mystique takes hold – one that floods the mind, body, and soul with a mix of tranquility and reverie. You feel profoundly alone, yet acutely aware that you’re merely a small part of something more vast.
The new LP “Memory Lane” is a follow up to 2023's “Over Your Spell” and it's definitely got the band in their bag. It's really an exquisite ensemble of country musicians doing their intertwining twanging thing with every sound you want to hear when dentin' planks. I'm a huge fan of all these players and it's just a ball to hear them expand on their sound and translate their live chemistry to tape. Even though bandleader Rachel is responsible for all songs, I think there's something special about three different front people taking turns on vocal duties. I love it! There are tasty licks and familiar melodies to lots of classic country songs but I really love the original songs and lyrics. One of the singles already released, "Out of the Frying Pan (Into The Fire)," is one of my favorites on the album and features vocals from acoustic guitar player and 2nd fiddle, Sophie Wellington. It's not just the catchy toe tappers either, the album offers a spectrum of styles and feels in the C&W canon. The whole band shines throughout: pedal steel kicks off the whole album, plinky plunky the nothin-but-solid country music, piano lays it up to dual fiddles, and the baby. So glad The Talking Hearts are bass and drums hold it down like still pumping, they're a pillar of our ballast on a train track. One thing you community and us two-steppers thank might not find if you teleported back to them especially. There's a two-step Hank Williams last years is the killer lesson before their monthly firstTuesdays btw so beginners are more than welcome ;) Forget talkin’, this crew has my heart SINGIN'.
It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve seen the Pioneer Valley with my own eyes, but these dormant feelings that I categorically label as western Massachusetts-core immediately sprang back to life after hearing Cooper B. Handy's latest project, “CITIZEN’S ARREST.” Also known as LUCY, Cooper is all too familiar with the premonitions of Amherst I’ve just –––––– DJ GROAN MAN described. Though originally from the Cape, LUCY has called western
Massachusetts home for a number of years, and the small town of Amherst has served as the backdrop against which the protean, unclassifiable artist has built the bulk of his oeuvre. “CITIZEN’S ARREST” is the latest of a long line of projects that make up LUCY’s discography, and the poetic, avant-garde pop-folk album feels a bit like a fabulistic fever dream. Having recently completed Roberto Bolaño’s “2666,” LUCY’s writing across the 18song project reminds me a lot of Bolaño’s digressive, labyrinthine method of storytelling. Particularly across songs like “COURTSIDE,” “FORGIVABLE,” “CAN’T TOUCH,” and “CHECK ON ANYBODY,” ad-hoc tapestries of words compel listeners along the winding road of his psyche. One moment, he emphatically rambles on about how he “traded it all for a fancy chandelier.” The next, he illustrates a scene of “cows all in the stable, pumpkins all in the patch” while reflecting on the life he lives as a result of his parents not raising “NO QUITTER.” Whether the songs appearing across this track list are simply delectable phrasal patterns or profound observations about life in disguise is up to each listener to determine (and the amount of weed you’ve smoked), but there’s no denying the narcotic quality of “CITIZEN’S ARREST.” Taking inspiration from decades of American pop music, LUCY woozily synthesizes the likes of Tom Petty and Snatches of Pink into a patina’d mix of buoyant 808s and antiquated piano riffs, ultimately making for a bizarre, enchanting collection of songs that embody an artistry that is uniquely Cooper’s. LUCY will be taking his enchanting show on the road from now until December 6th, when he’ll bring his national tour to a close at The Rockwell in Somerville. This means you won’t have to drive the 2+ hours across the state to experience the odd vibrations of western Massachusetts for yourself. Give “CITIZEN’S ARREST” a listen, buy a ticket to the show, and give LUCY aka Cooper B. Handy some love, as he’s certainly one of the most exciting acts in the area right now.
–––––––– SHAMUS HILL
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community
11/3 Boston Open Screen Open mic 11/1 Día De Los Muertos Traditional night for filmmakers. Project your short community celebration and altar film in a dark room with lively strangers building with music, dancing, and food @ Coolidge Corner Theatre 7pm All @ Spontaneous Celebrations 9am-5pm Ages $10 All Ages FREE
music 11/1 Both Kinds Country AND Western DJ Groanman and Wilted On The Vine play every first Sunday @ State Park Bar 8pm 21+ FREE 11/5 Open Circuit: Across Generations An intergenerational open mic with music, art, and performances @ The Substation 5pm8pm All Ages FREE 11/6 Sweeping Promises, Landowner, Pew Pew, Purse @ Deep Cuts Deli 7pm 18+ $20 11/7 Really Great, Miss Bones, Bird Bath Split release show of Really Great and Miss Bones's EP "Laugh It Off" @ Deep Cuts Deli 7pm 18+ $10 11/7 PV, Kidbully, Fiberglass, Peacock @ Tourist Trap 7pm 18+ 11/7 Coraldefense, Breathplay, Shane "Bray" Kerr Itchy, dreamy, and dubby electronics @ The Pond 8pm $10-$15 11/8 Kass Richards & Chris Brokaw Celebrate the release of Kass Richards's EP "Gospel" @ Lilypad 7pm9:30pm All Ages $10-$15 11/10 Secretary, UpSide, AJ Foss Band @ The Jungle 6pm-9pm 21+ FREE 11/12 Hot Seat, Makeout Palace, Tongue Love @ O'Briens Pub 7pm 21+ $15 11/13 HARDDRIVE Night of dancing to our digital DJs and enjoying pole and drag pop up shows @ Crystal Ballroom 8pm 18+ $35 11/14 African Import Concert Celebrate the release of Zakiyyah’s newest album, African Import, with an evening of bold, genre-blending music @ Boston Arts Academy 7pm-10pm All Ages $60 11/15 Sunday Jazz: Brian Friedland Birthday Jam @ The Square Root Cafe 7pm-10pm 21+ FREE 11/18 Matt Charette, Matt Woods, Coffin Salesman, Mic Harrison @ Midway Cafe 8pm 21+ $10 11/19 Gollylagging, Jonny Tex, Bus Crush, King's Evil Release show of Gollylaggin's Record "Real Life" @ Deep Cuts Deli 7pm 18+ $15 11/20 Boston Fiddle Funk Fest High energy night with Celtic, Funk and Jazz musicians including Scottish Fish and Neil Pearlman & the Wallbreakers @ Arts at the Armory 7pm $40 11/21 A Special Night Of Western Mass Hip-Hop Old school and new school hip-hop featuring Unagi, Dome Lettuce, DJ Toro Bravo, Soma79, and Hymn @ Lilypad 7:30pm All Ages $10 11/22 Andrew Yee's Trans Requiem Coro Allegro season opening performance, developed for trans voices, mixed chorus, and string orchestra @ Church of the Covenant 3pm-6pm All Ages 11/22 Trans Day Of Resistance Minifestival supporting Protect Trans Futures featuring Ezra Furman, Ted Leo, and more @ Deep Cuts Deli 3pm 18+ $25
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11/5-11/8 Finding Bright Film 11/4 On The Mend: The Basics Learn Festival Professional festival for weird, basic stitching and mending ambitious, independent, and techniques while reflecting on repair as international filmmakers. Experience a practice of care @ The Coop Social 11/22 Commonplace Zine Fest artistic risk, handmade craft, and Club 7pm-8:30pm All Ages FREE Explore independent, Massachusettsunorthodox storytelling @ The Capitol based zines, magazines, newsletters Theatre 11/4 Wax & Stacks Bring your own 11/23 Sutekh Hexen, Sin Pavillion, and miscellaneous publications @ The vinyl to spin and pick up the latest BCN Infinexhuma, Valedicton, The Vomit Foundry 12pm-5pm All Ages FREE 11/18 An Autumn’s Tale (1987) hot off the press @ Midway Cafe 9pmArsonist @ O'Briens Pub 8pm 18+ $15 Featuring noteworthy female director 11pm 21+ FREE 11/23 Tabletop Game Night Start off Mabel Cheung Yuen-Ting as she 11/27 Good Music Showcase Series the week with playing your favorite portrays the main characters’ 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26 Featuring Reks, Tega, F.B_3483, Noir, table top games @ The Square Root Cantonese diasporic experiences @ Queeraoke Critically acclaimed Brandie Blaze, Bratty Bonnie, and more Cafe 8pm-11pm 21+ FREE Somerville Public Library 6:30pm All karaoke and one of the longest @ Sugar Kane Alley 9pm 21+ $15 Ages FREE running queer nights in New England, 11/27 Record Store Day Black Friday every Thursday @ Midway Cafe 8pm 11/28 Durvasi, Royal Blue, Untidy, Vinyl exclusives, discounts, and $1 11/20 SpliceTape #1 Somerville 21+ $8 Mister Lipstick @ The Jungle 8pm record bonanza @ Deep Cuts Deli Ciné-Club film series focuses on 21+ $10 adv, $15 dos 12pm-5pm All Ages FREE presenting nontraditional formats for 11/6 MASI Live music, drag, Desi nontraditional venues, screening from performances, art, and Diwali festivities 12/6 Lucy (Cooper B. Handy) with 16mm & 8mm film, or Betamax & VHS @ Boston City Hall Plaza 5pm-9pm All 11/27 Buy Nothing Day Party Festive support from F.G.S. @ The Rockwell anti-consumerism party with free stuff tapes @ Aeronaut Brewing Co. 7:30pm Ages FREE 8pm All Ages $20-$25 swap, dance, snacks, and art @ Calvary 21+ FREE Church Arlington 6pm-9:30pm All 11/6 Haus Party Curated, queer 11/23 Persepolis (2007) Graphic gallery show that is part museum, part Ages FREE novel adapted into an animated nightclub with performances and live 11/29 Love Your Neighbor, Write autobiography of a young girl during visuals @ Glitch Gallery 7pm $15 Your Neighbor Holiday letter writing the Iranian Revolution @ Brattle suggested donation to incarcerated folks, all supplies Theatre 6:30pm All Ages $15.50 Literary Art 11/7 The Platform Opening Day provided @ Just Book-ish 11am11/5 Author Event: We Radiant Enjoy live music, family-friendly 12:30pm All Ages FREE Things Franny Choi discusses her activities, and dance performances debut essay collection with Maria from BANDALOOP @ The Platform Pinto @ Just Book-ish 6:30pm-8pm 12pm All Ages All Ages FREE
literary art
visual art
11/7-11/8 Boston Anarchist Bookfair Celebrate anarchism with authors, publishers, organizers, punks, queers, and accomplices of all kinds @ Cambridge Community Center 12pm-6pm All Ages FREE 11/11 Comics Reading Roundabout Monthly live-reading series featuring Ava Pom, Bryce Davidson, Zombi3 Bunny, and more @ Just Book-ish 6:30pm-8pm All Ages FREE 11/14-11/15 Boston Art Book Fair Explore artist books, zines, catalogs, experimental publications, comics, and printed matter from local, national, and international creators @ BCA Cyclorama 12pm-6pm All Ages FREE
performance 11/6 Yes & Everything Warehouse cabaret with a slumber party theme @ The Loov 8pm $20 11/7 Trans Artist Open Mic An afternoon celebrating trans art, lives, history, and legacy in recognition of Transgender Awareness Month @ Ula Cafe 3pm-6pm All Ages FREE 11/7-11/8 Fork & Shoe 2026 Staged Reading Festival Five brand new featured plays with a facilitated feedback session after each reading @ The Foundry 7pm All Ages PWYC, FREE-$52 11/14 Now Kiss: Comedy Showcase w/ Erin Lee Public school teacher by day, comic by night, enjoy an unforgettable night of standup, sketch, improv @ The Loov 7pm-9pm $15
10/6-1/22 Absurdity Curated exhibition honoring self-love and acceptance featuring photographers and mixed media artists Alissa Wyle, Ally Schmaling, Amanda Macchia, and Meg Walker @ Enso Gallery 6:00 pm9:00 pm All Ages FREE
11/11 Pub Quiz @ The Square Root Cafe 8pm-11pm 21+ FREE 11/12 Queer Entrepreneur Mixer Mingle with local queer artists with complimentary bites and affordable bevs @ Artisans Asylum 6pm-8pm All Ages FREE
10/22-11/21 Electro Motives Exhibition of interactive and electronic 11/13 Flash Day $100-$150 tattoos @ artworks using analog technologies @ Said and Done Tattoo 10am-late 18+ Boston Cyberarts Gallery 5pm All Ages FREE 11/15 Analog Fest Over 80 tables with video games, consoles, vinyl 11/6 Nick Shea's First Art Show records, VHS, and more @ "Holiday Displaying drawings, paintings, and t- Inn, Dedham, MA" 10am-3pm All Ages shirts with live music and drawing $5 performance @ Brownstone Skateshop 6pm-9pm All Ages FREE 11/15 AIR Public Program: A Table Full Of Stories Immersive installation, 11/12 Emerging From Rupture: bilingual storytelling, participatory art, Chinese Adoptee Voices Opening and shared food celebrating the role Reception Join the exhibit curator of Chinese restaurants in shaping and artists who will each share a peek family memories, neighborhood into their art making process and identity, and community belonging @ journey @ PAO Arts Center 6pm-8pm PAO Arts Center 4pm-6pm All Ages All Ages FREE FREE 11/18 Free Screen Print Shop Night Quick and easy printing activity arranged by a skilled instructor @ Artisans Asylum 6pm All Ages FREE
11/17 Movie Trivia Assemble your team and test your movie knowledge for prizes @ Crystal Ballroom 7pm All Ages FREE
advocacy
11/19 Boston Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting Join BARC for their monthly meeting and learn about amateur radio @ Artisans Asylum 7pm9:30pm All Ages FREE
11/9 The People's Coalition; Queer Liberation In Practice Gain a deeper connection to America’s lineage of queer revolutionaries and a clearer understanding of what our community needs to reach liberation @ Virtual 6pm-7:30pm All Ages FREE
11/15 Non-violent Direct Action Training Learn how to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience from the 11/20 Just Be(loved) Poetry Slam & theory behind direct action to the logistics of arrest and potential legal Open Mic Featuring poet Pages implications @ Virtual 1pm-2:30pm All Matam and $75 cash prize @ Just Ages FREE Book-ish 6:30pm-9:30pm All Ages FREE 11/18 History of Money with Chris 11/20 Omen Roy And The Undead Desan Learn how cash, equity, and Theatrical concert blending music, debt have been used by the dominant theater, shadow puppetry, and economic system to measure and choreography @ PAO Arts Center control value from the Leo Gottlieb 7pm-8pm All Ages FREE Professor of Law @ The Coop Social Club 6pm-7:15pm All Ages FREE 11/27 Wampanoag Nation Singers And Dancers Stories, music, and dances celebrating Native American Heritage Month @ John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum 10:30am-2pm All Ages FREE
11/21 Just Book-ish Birthday Bash Drag story hour with Patty Bourrée and music from DJ 411 @ Just Book-ish 10am-6pm All Ages FREE 11/21 Art @ Night A night of vendors, live music, drinks, and art @ First Street Market 4pm-9pm All Ages FREE 11/22 Holiday Plant Market Shop local artists and small businesses, discover plants, and grow your community @ Arts at the Armory 10am4pm All Ages FREE
opportunity
11/5, 11/12, 11/19 Artist Development Series Expert guidance and workshops on gallery models, artist residencies, and getting press ready @ Gallery 263 6:30pm-8pm $5-$10
11/7 Collective Works: Creative Entrepreneurship Summit Network with creative entrepreneurs and small business owners, explore the resource fair, and enjoy panel discussions @ Massachusetts College of Art and Design 9:30am-4pm All Ages $25 general, $10 student
Emerging Artist Fellowship Professional development for emerging artists of color. Includes sessions and intensives, individual consultation, and stipend @ Dunamis Boston The deadline to apply is 11/10 Child-friendly Housing Design Challenge Architects, builders, designers, contractors called to submit child-friendly housing designs for a chance to win $10,000 The deadline to apply is 11/15 Call For Artists: Go Green Art Fluent is currently accepting entries of all fine art mediums for their green online exhibit. Cash prizes up to $750 offered The deadline to apply is 11/20 Grrl Haus Cinema Film Festival Women, trans, non-binary, and genderqueer filmmakers called to submit experimental, low-budget, and underground cinema for professional screening and exhibition The deadline to apply is 11/30
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COMPASS CROSSWORD
ANSWER KEY!
–––– BEN TOLKIN
SCAN OR VISIT WWW. BOSTONCOMPASS NEWSPAPER.COM/ CROSSWORD-ANSWER
ACROSS
1 Like an expensive cheese or wine 5 Driver's aid, briefly 8 Supportive undergarment 11 Uncut, in a way 12 "Once again..." 14 English abbot who the original "Boston" was named for 16 Rappers 17 Name of the first three Holy Roman Emperors 18 Anglo-Saxon landowner who was the origin of the name "Brighton" 21 In the style of 24 As you read this 25 Turn red, maybe 26 Why "Roxbury" is named that 30 "West Side Story" song 31 "For real!" 35 Where the name "Jamaica Plain" comes from 38 Suitably-named "Amazing SpiderMan" director Marc 39 "A Life Outdoors is a Life Well Lived" chain 40 "Pass" 41 Test you have to talk your way out of 42 Was perfect, slangily 43 Period 44 Leftwards from norte 45 Grunts, so to speak 46 Darn, maybe
DOWN
1 Church area with an altar 2 Westernmost territory of the United States 3 Jamie Foxx or George Orwell, at birth 4 Bright star in the constellation Cygnus 5 Pickled onion-featuring martini 6 Point in favor, e.g. 7 Ready follower? 8 Sang with gusto 9 With full attention 10 Comfortable or familiar, so to speak 13 Hundred Acre Wood resident, for short 15 Basic top 19 13-Down's friend and Kanga's son
20 Snack cakes that were originally banana flavored 21 It's in a sleeve 22 Cars a shop gives you while your car's in the shop 23 Circus tumbler 27 "Boy ___" (stereotypical gym bro meal of ground beef and rice, e.g.) 28 Rockets legend Ming 29 Horror icon Chaney 32 Roadway markers 33 Paying attention 34 "Phooey!" 36 Gender-bending performance 37 Sasquatch-like cryptid of the Himalayas 38 Sorrow
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SEASON 11
Alien Romance by GS Silva
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Ask A.L.I.C.E by Blujay Buckley
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Career Day by Francis Bordeleau
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Former Friends, Current Acquaintances by Ellie Erhart
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MEET THE ARTIST Victoria “thirteenvic” Del Valle (b. 2000) is a Diasporican visual artist and designer born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Growing up in the South End's Villa Victoria neighborhood, her creative journey began with spoken word poetry, performing at Louder Than a Bomb, Brave New Voices, and Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies before finding her way into visual art.
EMILY ROSE NAVARRO Create No Matter the Circumstances
I connected with interdisciplinary multimedia artist Emily Rose Navarro’s unique visuals on home and memory while visiting her open house. Each painting on the wall took me back to a nostalgic place where I could envision past memories, reflecting on my upbringing and its distinctive beauty.
The ideation for “Absurdity” began with a vague vision of bright colors and bedazzled portraiture. Final works that make sense, because they don’t. Queer, Hyper-Femme, Gauche, Camp, Questioning. Inspiration pulled from our gender bending absurdist foreparents; Cindy Sherman’s “Clowns” and Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw The TV Glow.”
Latina Bohemian: Tell me about your work and your beginnings.
ERN: It depends on what kind of job you have. If you're working in the arts, I find in my own experience that I make more artwork. If I'm not working in the art sector, I have recognized that I make less art. Before my 9 to 5, I was a full-time artist, and I was making a ton of work. It is a challenge, but I am working through it. LB: What has helped you continue your artistic path?
Find more of her work at thirteenvic.com; Growing up in Boston's social justice– @thirteenvicarchive on Instagram. centered youth arts programs, she understands firsthand the impact of creative mentorship, which continues to inform her work in arts education and community engagement. VICTORIA DEL VALLE
Captured in “Absurdity”
We discussed Navarro’s advocacy for artists to continue their craft while dealing with personal obstacles. According to her, it's important to find an outlet to express yourself.
LB: Does working a full-time job affect your creative process?
More recently, she participated in an artist residency at Surf Point in York, Maine, presented her 2026 solo exhibition “We Find Ourselves in the Shape of Home” at Atlantic Works Gallery in East Boston, and completed a street art and graffiti residency at Lynch Family Skatepark with the Charles River Conservancy.
GENDER, PERFORMANCE, AND EXPRESSION
Her studio residency is a collaborative space with Beatriz Amelia. Navarro says, “I feel abundant. I get to share a studio with a best friend and with other great artists; I didn't think I was going to be here, and it started off just being in the corner of my room.”
Emily Rose Navarro: I create work about my family and about memories and dreams. I use found objects, I turn them into sculptures, or I create them into installations. Or sometimes, if I have the time, I also will use textiles, fabrics, and a little bit of painting. I feel like I've always been creative since I was a young child. I was drawn more to 2D work, such as sketching, paper, pen, and pencil.
Though her medium has changed, storytelling remains central to her practice. Her work explores identity, cultural memory, and transformation, using playfulness, humor, and expressive imagery to make difficult truths more approachable. Drawing from her Puerto Rican heritage, personal experiences, and the communities that shaped her, Del Valle finds ways to balance serious subject matter with curiosity and imagination.
Del Valle earned her BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2022 and continued her studies in illustration at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. In 2023, she debuted her first solo exhibition, “Lost Grief,” at Nubian Square Open Studios for the Arts in Roxbury. Her practice has since been supported by fellowships and grants from Dunamis, Artists for Humanity, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, Mass Cultural Council, and the City of Boston.
it, and at some point, you will thank yourself for not giving up. LB: In what way does your studio residency support you? ERN: The staff is amazing and the opportunities they give to us are great. Being in a community with other artists, knowing what they're doing, is really awesome. I would say for myself because I do work 9 to 5, I wish I was here more often. All I want to do is create. I just want to be in the studio and I want to create work. LB: How can artists in the present moment find motivation? ERN: I feel, given today's times, especially this year, it has been really, truly difficult for a lot of people, a lot of artists. Maintaining your spirit, protecting your spirit, strengthening your spirit will help you get through the darkest moments of your life. If we're all going through something, it's other people who can uplift you; you can uplift yourself.
ERN: Being around my family and friends has really helped me. They hold me accountable to make sure that I'm doing my practice; they are very loving and kind and just remind me that I have things to do LB: What advice would you share with and have things to create. creative peers? LB: How can artists create art with limited ERN: Please continue. It's going to save resources? you. I feel we're put here on this earth to ERN: Before I got into this beautiful studio be expressive and to create. Keep creating, even if the work may not sell, at the Boston Center for the Arts, my even if the work isn't going to be in a studio was in my room that I shared with gallery; it's really not about that. It's really my sister. I was living with my mom and for you; it's for your spirit. Making sure that other sister at the time and the house was you need to do what you have to do to get packed. There were not a lot of resources by to make you through really dark times, for me to do a lot of work. However, I just keep going. needed my corner, basic materials, and to keep making. I find just working with what you have is important. Just keep going at
LATINA BOHEMIAN
him, and them. A world of subjects, unconsenting candids, and monetized sexualization.
In their respective aesthetics, each artist focuses on an aligned theme; honoring selflove and the internal work it takes to arrive within this acceptance. Harnessing self-expression as an act of reflective questioning, as an act of protest of these gendered conRooted within an obsession, born from a fines to which they, we, have knowingly and hyper-fixation of the exaggeration of gen- unknowingly been subjected. der expression, and the absolute absurdity of it all. “Absurdity” focuses on this notion We collectively, coincidentally, yet not surthat we are all in drag at all times. Gender, prisingly, overlap in our practices, collabothe expression of femininity and masculin- rating with the same artists who work within ity, through fashion and material aesthetic mediums beyond photography. This gathchoices, has been constructed slowly, over ering of visual artists organically expanded generations. Why do we adhere? A lack of into a gathering of performers: drag kings, reflection? Fear of safety? A depth of gen- burlesque artists, fiber artists, and painters. uine connection that happens to align? This expansion flows easily, breathing life How can we see for ourselves, without be- into static works. Performance artists create ginning to explore and test our boundaries experiences within the galleries, surrounded by visual artists’ creations in colwithin a safe space? laboration with themselves, creating from I had a deep desire to pull together the creation, a loop of community to art to art femme and nonbinary artists whose work to community. Together, we have quesI’ve loved and respected from a distance for tioned arbitrary confines, confines we once some time, to work within the medium of assumed to be naturally intrinsic. contrived docu-studio photography. Each of these artists hold a deep care and re- “Absurdity” is currently on display at the spect for those with whom they collaborate, Enso Gallery in Brockton until January 22ⁿᵈ, something that can be hard to come by in and will exhibit for an expanded, second the world of photography. It is a medium showing at the Piano Craft Gallery from with a history of the objectification of her, June 4ᵗʰ to June 22ⁿᵈ 2027. This curated group exhibition features photographers and mixed media artists working in some capacity within the medium of photography. The talented, queer, femme and gender nonconforming artists featured are; Alissa Wyle, Ally Schmaling, Amanda Macchia, and Meg Walker. “Absurdity” is curated by Sophie Adams, and is supported by the Piano Craft Gallery, Brockton Arts, Eastern Bank, and the Griffin Museum of Photography. A special thank you for the time and support of Jamaal Eversley and Flor Delgadillo - this exhibition wouldn’t exist without you. Studio portraiture photography is a community endeavor - thank you to all the artists whose work went into creating these images: set designers, costume designers, models, make up artists, performers, drag kings, and gaffers. It is an honor, gathering this already existent community together in another layer of queer honoring and community building.
SOPHIE ADAMS
8
DECEMBER 5+6, 2026 BOSTON UNIVERSITY 808 COMMonwealth ave.
REGISTER FOR FREE ADMISSION!
FEATURED GUESTS
OVER 150 ARTISTS & WRITERS! DRAWING DEMONSTRATIONS! LIVE PANELS! WORKSHOPS!
ILLUSTRATION BY SHAINA LU
TRUNG LE NGUYEN JULIA WERTZ NOAH VAN SCIVER ARCHIE BONGIOVANNI SHADIA AMIN LEELA CORMAN KATY DOUGHTY James Spooner Carey Pietsch TOM HART
C
R O F NT N O OUR Y ISSUES
BOSTON COMPASS 2026 ART SHOW Brian Huntress SToNE David House Gabriel Joy Reid Megan Aki Shaina Lu Ella Scheuerell Jesse Kahn Francis Bordeleau Lexx Rivera Tori Del Valle and more!
Saturday
12/12/2026
Free | All Ages | 4-6pm
@Boston Figurative Arts Center Union Sq, Somerville