DigBoston 1.11.18

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SAVAGE LOVE

WHAT THE CUCK? EARTHWORMS IN YOUR CROTCH

HOMELESSNESS

SOUTH STATION SHELTER NO SERVICES, LESS HOPE

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ON THE COVER PHOTO OF JENNIFER—A VOLUNTEER FROM QUINCY C.O.P.E. (LEFT) WITH ONE OF THE PEOPLE HER GROUP HAS BEEN HELPING IN SOUTH STATION—BY DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN. READ MORE IN NEWS.

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BRIDGE TO SELL Dear Reader, I did a Facebook Live cast on Tuesday to complain about the City of Boston’s non-response to this week’s cover story on the struggling homeless people in South Station. As many readers have reported back to me, people answering the phones at City Hall claimed that they haven’t heard about this issue, while someone from the MBTA Transit Police, when asked about why officers remove the blankets people use to keep warm, responded, “Do you believe everything you read?”

If I am frustrated, it’s impossible to think how people on the street and those who advocate for them must feel.

Their voices are routinely lost in this discussion; they’re essentially called liars, as politicians do whatever is politically expedient for them and bullshit about any later consequences.

During my social media spiel, a former media relations director for Tito Jackson pointed out that Walsh’s tone on Long Island has switched drastically since the election. I checked the video, and holy crap, it sure does. Here’s what Walsh said in an October 2017 WGBH debate against thenCity Councilor and challenger Jackson: What we used to do is take homeless people off the streets and ship ’em off to Long Island and not deal with the issue. We’re actually dealing with the issue. Someday there will be a bridge built back to Long Island, but you know what’s not going to go back out there? The homeless people, because we shouldn’t be hiding homeless people. What we should be doing is working to get them a home, so they can live in a home, and put the supports around them. And that’s what my administration has done.

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Now here is Walsh in a Boston Globe op-ed from yesterday titled “A new bridge to recovery on Long Island”: A full-service campus will meet the most pressing need we have in the fight against opioids: more treatment beds, more transitional supports and sober housing, and a more seamless “continuum of care” across the journey from detox to a life reclaimed. Too many people are relapsing because a solid next step is not there for them in time. And providers are expending too much of their precious energy on the struggle to help clients find their next placement.

He goes on and on, but here’s the richest part: Of those who suggest we are seeking to hide the problem out on the island, who among you would welcome a facility this size in your own neighborhood? Who among you has experienced the life-changing relief of building a recovery foundation away from those familiar places and faces that can so easily trigger early relapse?

It would be one thing if the mayor was a bit apologetic for the fallout since the bridge was torn down, but he isn’t. Not in his op-ed at least. Instead, he defends the role that his administration’s played in, among other things, “working continuously with a compassionate neighborhood to make the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard a ‘recovery road,’ with more outreach workers, an expanded treatment access program, and an engagement center providing comfort and resources.”

He could be right that a new bridge to Long Island is one of the answers to this city’s problems. Certainly a lot of advocates and stakeholders think so. But if the scene at Mass and Cass looks like recovery to Walsh, then I guess I’m not surprised that no one in his office thought the tragedy at South Station last week was worth paying attention to.

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NEWS+OPINION

PHOTO OF D

THE TERMINAL NEWS TO US

South Station is a homeless shelter with no services WORDS BY CHRIS FARAONE @FARA1 | PHOTOS BY DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN @DEREKIMAGE “One guy I know just walked into a store, put some sneakers on his feet, and walked right out so he would get arrested.”

It’s 9 pm on Saturday, and Charles, who is camped out in South Station for the brutal cold snap, is explaining the extremes some people he knows have resorted to so they can stay alive without relying on the city’s designated shelters.

“At least if you’re locked up at Nashua Street, you get three hots and a cot.”

Charles, whom regulars around here know as D, has played a leadership role in these atypically stormy days.

Many of his friends who also generally stay in the vicinity of Summer Street, often curling up on Dewey Square, have been scared off by the hundreds of new people seeking refuge in South Station since last Thursday.

“I don’t want to go to Pine Street, I don’t want to be 4

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in a shelter,” D says. The city shelter downtown, he adds, doesn’t allow people to bring in their own blankets, and the close proximity to individuals with mental health issues can cause anxiety. “I got my own problems,” he says.

“I don’t need everybody else’s.”

D has been living inside and around the area of South Station for three years. His story is unique—they all are—but follows many of the same horrific contours that others in comparable binds ofen endure. At 50 years old, he’s wrestled with the justice system and a drinking problem. At one point he was working on a trash route, but he mangled his knee beyond anything that he could possibly afford to heal.

“It’s really degrading,” he says about living in the open. “I’m not a bad person. My mother died. My sister has my daughter. I think she’s sleeping on the couch there. My daughter’s mother died when she was three. It’s

miserable, man.”

Thanks to the help of volunteers from Quincy C.O.P.E., a bootstrap volunteer group whose members come from as far away as Cape Cod to help out in places where municipal services don’t reach, D says he is close to getting on his feet. It’s the closest he has been to rehabilitation since the demolition of the bridge to Long Island, where he often spent the evening and met counselors. D is on a list for starter housing now, and he takes pride in his clean appearance. For the past week, however, the main thing on his mind—and on the mind of everyone around him—has been survival.

“When we came here on Thursday, they had nothing,” says Jennifer, a vol from Quincy C.O.P.E. “The mayor said that South Station was going to stay open 24/7, so they all came here. No blankets, no food, no winter gear. Three of us have been able to bring food every night since then,

PHOTO OF DAN THE BAGEL MAN AND LARKIN, HIS PARTNER IN FEEDING PEOPLE

and we passed out more than 150 blankets that first night alone.”

It’s barely warmer inside the commuter rail and Amtrak terminal than it is in the tundra. Every time one of the many automatic doors slides open, wind gusts rip through, stinging any skin that’s left exposed and serving as a punishing reminder of what is in store outside.

Several bundled people sit in chairs, slumping over metal tables with their coats or blankets covering their heads.

Some don’t move for hours.

While those who often crash around these parts have difficult but long-established relationships with the hired guards and MBTA police who patrol South Station, some say the increasing numbers now relying on the building has led to more tension than usual. Certain measures taken appear to be unnecessary, if not arbitrary acts of cruelty, such as blocking outlets so that people can’t charge phones, barricading off the warmest nooks, and enforcing a strict blanket ban on freezing nights. As television journalists reported that New England Patriots fans donated comforters for homeless people, transit cops disposed of every single blanket that the folks from Quincy C.O.P.E. and others handed out inside South Station.

“They say this is a shelter this week,” D says. “If it’s a shelter, where are the mats?

Why do they shut off the heat at night?”

In these most depressing of imaginable circumstances, there are also random acts of kindness, like the McDonald’s cards and warm boxes of joe that are occasionally gifted by compassionate commuters.

PHOTO OF WILLIAM And while some who have sought shelter in the terminal are wrapped from head to

toe and prefer sitting alone with their heads tucked deep between their legs, others socialize and hang around at tables. For a few minutes on Saturday, a spontaneous dance party even breaks out.

Like the C.O.P.E. crew, David comes here on his own to help fill voids. He says his father died when he was young, and he knows how easy it is to wind up on the street. On Friday, David tried to bring a young pregnant woman to a shelter in the South End, but she wound up coming back to the terminal. She says that she is newly homeless and nomadic, and is reluctant to surrender all of her belongings upon entry as required.

Also on hand to assist is Dan the Bagel Man, who

NEWS TO US

wheels a baggage cart stacked up with milk crates filled with pastries. Boston’s longtime grassroots Grubhub for the downtrodden and hungry, Dan has been hustling overtime hours in tandem with the folks from Quincy C.O.P.E. since last week.

“I got all this from the Starbucks on Newbury Street,” Dan says. The group that he helps run, Boston Food for Activists, rescues and recycles leftovers from restaurants and grocery stores all over Cambridge and the Hub. “I also have a couple pizzas that I got from Crazy Dough’s inside the Transportation Building.”

Dan walks past the tracks along the open platform and enters the bus terminal side of South Station, where there are about 30 additional people who have been spending nights. It’s warmer and much quieter than over by the trains, reportedly because they “do not tolerate the riffraff,” as one person explains.

I approach some squatters by the food concession to ask what it’s like to spend time in this wing of the complex. One explains that it is possible to purchase a round-trip ticket for a bus with no specified departure date, which technically enables you to wait around for up to a year. Even then, however, he says you are likely to be shown the door after a number of days.

William, who relies on a wheelchair due to suffering from chronic arthritis, takes a break from reading a Neil Gaiman novel to break down the quagmire that many of those grappling with homelessness face in this city— especially with snow drifts rendering the alleyways and sidewalks uninhabitable.

“For some people, I’m sure shelters are great,” William says. “But for me, shelters are like prison. You spend half your day looking for a bed. And what grown person should have their bags searched all the time?”

As for the South Station train terminal, William adds, “People don’t know how to get in late at night. That’s not how emergency shelters are supposed to work.

“The way they’re treating us bleeds into the way people are treated as a whole. It’s like India, it’s a caste system. You’re born poor, you stay poor. You end up in here.”

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THE STATE OF PROTEST IN 2018: A CASE STUDY DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

What the “People’s March on Washington” tells us about the state of the opposition

BY BAYNARD WOODS @BAYNARDWOODS

Donald Trump’s second year in office begins like every new Star Wars movie: with the Resistance in tatters, trying to rebuild. There is plenty of internet #Resistance, ranging from insane conspiracy theories to serious commentary and organizing—but this online profusion has resulted in IRL confusion.

It’s certainly not anywhere near Homage to Catalonia levels, but dissension among the opposition to Trump is fierce.

The divide is mirrored in the Bernie/Hillary split—but it is also something deeper and something that moves further to the fringes. It, in many ways, mirrors the new divisions within the far right where the alt-light litigiously differentiates itself from the more openly racist alt-right.

Last year, there was the Disrupt J20 protest on Inauguration Day, which led to the prosecution of nearly 200 individuals, identified by the police and the prosecution as anarchists. The next day, hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets for the Women’s March. There is little sympathy or support between these groups, with many anarchists and hardcore organizers mocking the feel-good liberal desire to #Resist by supporting the FBI, intelligence agencies, and Robert Mueller. Liberals, on the other hand, attempt to distance themselves from anyone further to the left than they are for fear of being tainted by the the anarchist stench of hippies. As a result, liberals have been far more concerned about Putin’s abuse of reporters than they have about the prosecution of journalists who were covering the J20 protests.

Though that case has been largely ignored by the mainstream press, it has had an immeasurable effect on the state of protest—and created fear, distrust, and division on the left.

Over the last couple of weeks, some of these tensions have bubbled up in largely online debates about a real-life rally slated for Washington DC on Jan 27. The “People’s March on Washington,” also called the “The Impeachment March,” has gained a lot of online support—25,000 are “interested” on Facebook and more than 2,000 say they are going—and it has gotten a lot of pushback.

The rally was organized by a group called People Demand Action, which is headed up by a 24-year-old African-American man named Lawrence Nathaniel, who is a big-thinking, marketingminded millennial leftist who says that he worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign and, after he got over his disappointment following the primary loss, for Hillary Clinton. When Trump won, he began to think about what he could do.

One of the things he set about organizing—he has a long list of sometimes improbable plans and goals, including opening a free private school in Bamberg, South Carolina—was this march calling for the impeachment of the president.

But as interest in the march grew—and organizers began trying to raise money—so did the questions surrounding it.

I first heard questions about the march when Dave Troy, a technologist and writer in 6

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Baltimore, wrote me about it. Troy is deeply concerned about Russian trolls and “active measures.” When he saw some of the confusion surrounding the event, he initially thought it might be the result of some Kremlin campaign. But when he started to look into it, he attributed the perceived failings of the organizers to inexperience rather than malfeasance.

Nathaniel has set up a number of organizations to promote the march and his various other endeavors. People have been calling them “shell organizations” or “false fronts,” but that seems a little too harsh. The one organization that has filed official papers is called the Presidential House and proposes some sort of weird shadow government in Charleston, South Carolina, with Nathaniel as president. Troy called it “unhinged, fantastical nonsense.”

“When I started the Presidential House, I started volunteering for the Obama campaign,” Nathaniel said when I called him. He acknowledged that the original scheme was kind of goofy but said it came from his enthusiasm for Obama. “I was 16 or 17 and was very excited, and so I started something called the Presidential House to get out in my community.”

But for Nathaniel, inexperience is part of the point of protest.

“Many of us, especially young people in the political realm, don’t really get our voices heard because it’s mostly a ‘who has more experience’ type thing versus a protest where we’re able to organize it, either locally or nationally, and our voices can be heard much easier there than working with politics,” Nathaniel said. But he said he is still interested in electoral politics and local issues. “My goal was to run for United States Congress this year, but I decided not to because Annabelle Robertson, who is way more qualified than I am, decided to run [against Republic Joe “You Lie” Wilson].

So I decided to put my action behind her and get out and protest.”

Critics point to the “Rally at the Border” in San Ysidro, the only other rally Nathaniel has organized. It failed amid concerns of top-down organizing that didn’t take the needs of the community into consideration and and could have put

a lot of people at risk.

Once news of the border rally became public, people began demanding to see the permit for the march on Washington. Nathaniel says he has a permit and has met with DC police, Park Police, the Secret Service, and the FBI. But for the local organizers in San Ysidro and in DC, working with the authorities is precisely the problem.

Washington’s police department threw more than 70 grenades and emptied hundreds of canisters of pepper spray against protesters at the Disrupt J20 protest during the inauguration. At a right-wing rally recently, Park Police claimed to be working with right-wing militias.

“In DC we do not like interfacing with police,” Brendan Orsinger, an organizer in DC, said on the phone. “We don’t like the idea of the state giving permission for us to march. And we don’t need it.… It’s actually much safer not to have police involved in the planning of the march.”

Orsinger has been vociferous in his criticism of the march.

But like Troy, he doesn’t see a conspiracy. “There are good intentions here. But one of the things that I learned over the last year is that good intentions are not good enough to make change happen in this country,” he said.

This raises the larger question: What are protests for? The prosecution of the nearly 200 people charged with rioting after the inauguration may have had a chilling effect, but it has also shown the effectiveness of protest—if the US Attorney’s office works that hard to shut them down, then they must have some power. So, the question becomes: How can a larger movement bring Russiagaters like Troy, local grassroots organizers like Orsinger, and enthusiastic young people like Nathaniel together? If people really want to resist and not just #Resist, they need to answer this question while embracing a diversity of tactics and figuring out how to form coalitions.

Baynard Woods is a reporter at the Real News. Email baynard@therealnews.com. Twitter @baynardwoods.

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IS THERE MOLDY CANNABIS IN MASS? TOKIN’ TRUTH

Contaminated flower may be getting patients and employees sick

BY MIKE CRAWFORD @MIKECANNBOSTON Anne Hassel had high hopes for a new career when she applied for a job serving medical marijuana patients at New England Treatment Access (NETA), a registered medical dispensary (RMD) in Massachusetts. A licensed physical therapist, she believes in the efficacy of cannabis and says that she appreciated how NETA was presented “as having a new business paradigm, one of worker input and responsive management.”

That was then. Now, nearly a year after she quit working at NETA and filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) claiming she was regularly exposed to mold via cannabis flower, Hassel mockingly says NETA stands for “Never Ethically Treating Anybody.”

“Mold was an issue at both [NETA’s] Franklin cultivation center and the Northampton dispensary,” Hassel wrote in her complaint to OSHA. The former budtender reported that she “observed powered mildew flower” while trimming cannabis in 2016 in Franklin but was instructed by a supervisor to “cut around it.” She also says that management dunked “marijuana flower into a hydrogen peroxide solution to treat the mold.”

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In response to a request for comment, a NETA spokesperson wrote, “Our product is tested for mold, yeast, bacterial and other biological pathogens, by independent laboratories… No product is delivered to the dispensaries that has not passed state testing protocols.” Regarding hydrogen peroxide, the spokesperson offered information that was previously unavailable in the companies’ response to regulators: “NETA has been open and public about our use. The [response to Hassel’s OSHA complaint] pertained to our Northampton RMD and would be misapplied when discussing our harvest practices.”

In her May 2017 complaint, in which she detailed her employment as an RMD agent from September 2015 through March 2017, Hassel claimed that she was “not informed” that people were breathing in potentially hazardous mold. She says, and another former employee confirms, that NETA supervisors said the use of hydrogen peroxide to clean moldy cannabis is the “industry standard.”

But some experts claim otherwise.

According to Dr. Jordan Tishler, a Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital-trained physician who specializes in cannabis treatment, “Hydrogen peroxide

isn’t going to contaminate the flower as peroxides are too unstable to remain. However, they are quite caustic and will react with the plant material. This may change the cannabinoids, as well as general plant material, into God knows what. So, not a great idea. Moldy flower should be tossed.”

Hassel’s complaint, drawn from her experience as a budtender at NETA, continues: In the dispensary the marijuana flower is kept in bins that are constantly opened in order to weigh the flower in front of the patient. At times while dispensing I would experience allergic reactions including throat irritation. On multiple occasions I observed moldy flower in the bins and when management was approached, I was told to take out the visibly moldy flower but sell the remainder in the bin.

The NETA spokesperson wrote: “Regarding the use in harvest, hydrogen peroxide applied to harvested plant material last occurred more than two years ago to remediate powdery mildew. We are pleased to report that there have been no signs of this issue for the past 18 months

at our cultivation facility.”

(Ed. note: Not to be confused, mold and mildew are both fungi, though mold is more invasive.)

---///--Experienced and educated cannabis consumers are concerned about mold in their medicine. They talk about it at conferences and online, and report negative experiences to vendors, hoping for corrections. Patient advocates I contacted for this story said that another Massachusetts RMD, Sage Cannabis, has a record of addressing such a complaint with transparency. Contacted for this story, Sage CEO Michael Dundas emailed: We had a patient inform us that there appeared to be mold on several buds in an ounce of White Walker Kush.

We asked the patient to return the unused portion of the product and immediately began an investigation. We pulled all remaining units from the same batch off the shelf and inspected them. No contaminants of any kind were found.

According to Dundas, Sage additionally took its response a step further: We also reached out to every patient who had purchased any product from the same batch and informed them of the situation. They were given the opportunity to return the product for an exchange or refund. To my knowledge, none of those individuals reported finding any contaminants.

Sage has been applauded in chat forums and among more learned cannabis consumers for its handling of said complaint. In the case of NETA, OSHA closed Hassel’s complaint without consulting other employees, past or present, or even visiting the workplaces. While NETA responded to the federal agency by denying the presence of mold, stating that it has not used hydrogen peroxide as charged. As proof of its position, the RMD included lab results of tested cannabis marked as mold-free.

I have spoken with several former NETA employees, all of whom confirm the presence of mold as well as hydrogen peroxide used to clean affected cannabis. Said one source: “When I worked in cultivation everyone was getting red rashes. … No ventilation in the room and certainly no one forcing us to wear a mask for safety.” Another ex-employee confirmed the presence of “H2O2” (hydrogen peroxide), posting on Facebook: I was… a cultivator there at the point when they decided “dunking” [cannabis in hydrogen peroxide] was somehow a good idea. … There’s no way in hell they threw all of that [moldy] crop away. … They prided themselves on “do the right thing” everywhere they go but couldn’t manage to put out a good product because of the lack of care for the environment the crops were growing in.

---///--In September, one of the NETA founders, Kevin Fisher, had a scare related to banned pesticides at a dispensary he co-owns in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. As was reported by the Aspen Times, after “tests by the Colorado Department of Agriculture showed that there was a pesticide called Avermectin Bla found in some of the [dispensary’s] marijuana,” “the Colorado Department of Revenue sent out a public health and safety advisory for some marijuana grown by Rocky Mountain Remedies.”

In response, Fisher denied the allegations. “I know that we didn’t spray it,” he told reporters. “If we sprayed it, we would spray it at all of our grows.” He added, “that product’s not out there. … It hasn’t been sold,” and said the pesticide “might have came from cloned plants that had been properly acquired from a third-party vendor.”

Fisher’s run afoul of the Commonwealth regulatory process as well. As the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported in 2014, “The executive director of the company planning to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Northampton and Brookline resigned over the weekend after misrepresenting

his academic credentials in an application to the state.”

Following the incident, NETA announced Fisher’s resignation from his executive director role. But Fisher has had a continued presence at their facilities as a registered agent and consultant, speaking at subsequent employee meetings in Northampton and Franklin.

---///--In an attempt to understand how such an issue can continue unmitigated, I reached out to OSHA. A spokesperson from the US Department of Labor responded to my inquiry about Hassel’s formal complaint, emailing: The Springfield OSHA Office conducted a non-formal (phone/fax ) investigation. It contacted New England Treatment Access describing the safety and health concerns raised by an employee. It accepted New England Treatment Access’s written response to the complaint regarding hazards alleged by the complainant in the Northampton dispensary and the non-formal phone investigation was closed.

OSHA also noted that the agency “does not regulate or have any jurisdiction regarding the safety of the marijuana product(s) for consumers or the public,” but “is willing to review additional information regarding employee exposure to hydrogen peroxide and mold as a result of work activities in the Northampton dispensary and could consider re-opening the investigation in order to perform an on-site inspection.” Furthermore, the spokesperson wrote: “There is no OSHA standard specific to airborne mold in the workplace,” while “OSHA’s non-formal phone investigations do not normally include an investigation to verify employer statements made in response to a complaint.”

In her part, Hassel has continued to pursue the issue with regulators and has also contacted the Mass Department of Health and the state attorney general. She worries that some former NETA workers are afraid of being blackballed by other dispensaries and that by complaining they could violate confidentiality agreements they signed.

Hassel’s not entirely alone in speaking out publicly, though.

One other vocal former NETA employee, Gregg Padula, posted his grievance on Facebook: I personally soaked hundreds of plants in [hydrogen peroxide] as part of my formers employers’ frantic race to mask the powdery mildew enough to get it into the dispensary. The floor was soaked with the strong solution— strong enough to bleach my fingers if my elbow high gloves slipped off. Plants dripping water, strewn all over the ground, then hung back to dry. I have a list of at least a dozen exemployees who are sick. You can literally taste the peroxide on the flower.

Padula and another former NETA employee, Maggie Kinsella, also spoke about their experiences on a July show of my WEMF Radio program The Young Jurks. They describe an experience in which employees who expressed concerns about their safety were unfairly scrutinized, ignored, and intimidated.

Though NETA has reportedly been unresponsive to employee gripes, there is one case in which management responded to a problem that was covered by the Globe. Last May, reporter Kay Lazar revealed that NETA, among other dispensaries, “placed low-income patients on waiting lists for discounted products—creating delays that run afoul of state law.” And they were “effectively denying those lowincome patients the discounts state regulations require for anyone with a verified financial hardship, with no cap on the number.”

Following the Globe report, NETA reportedly honored the discount for all qualified hardship patients.

---///--NETA isn’t the only dispensary operation in Mass with political ties, but its proximity to power is significant. From the start, as was reported in the Globe in 2014, the company NEWS TO US

employed a patient/medical director who was “a key former DPH staff member,” and “a nurse who helped craft the state’s medical marijuana regulations before retiring from government.”

It may have been good luck or such plentiful connections in high places that helped NETA get over the hurdles formed after Fisher, a founding co-owner, ran into difficulty with his Mass application. In 2014, then-Gov. Deval Patrick said, “If somebody lied on their application, they are not going to get a license.” But when it came to Fisher’s credentials being misrepresented, that rule apparently did not apply. “We’re trying to understand whether, in fact, it was a lie,” Patrick told reporters in 2014. “That’s not clear yet. There’s certainly an inaccuracy, and we’re going to get to the bottom of that.”

In the end, NETA got the green light from the DPH. Critics of the dispensary who were contacted for this article point to the top of NETA’s food chain. The RMD is owned by recreational cannabis operators with established Colorado grass roots, so to speak, and backed in part financially by Howard Kessler, a financial titan who, according to a Bloomberg business profile, “serves on a number of nonprofit boards in Boston, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital, United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Babson College and Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital.”

Kessler, a Palm Beach staple who has hosted Hillary and Bill Clinton at his $30 million beachfront estate, has given to the campaign funds of multiple elected pols. According to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, his contributions over several years include $8,000 to Secretary of State William Galvin, $2,000 to Gov. Charlie Baker, $1,000 to Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, $3,000 to Treasurer Deb Goldberg, and $1,000 to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Other NETA execs have made comparable contributions, spreading money all across the state into the war chests of various influencers.

Also of note, former US Congressman Barney Frank was for a short time listed as NETA’s director of government and community relations—until NETA was approved by then-Gov. Patrick as a finalist for licensure. According to MassLive, “Fisher said Frank served an ‘important internal role’ during NETA’s initial permitting process, and won’t be on staff moving forward.”

---///--Hassel, as well as the other former NETA employees who spoke for this story, fears that she was exposed to a moldy product, as a worker and as a consumer, that negatively impacted her health. She says she paid to have physical evaluations, the results of which she offered: “My heavy metal test[s] very high (3x norm) for lead, high for cadmium.” Last June, she wrote a letter to the DPH: Two months after beginning to consume NETA products, I began to experience the following symptoms: headaches, sore throat and multiple respiratory illnesses. Once the marijuana concentrates (shatter, wax) were released in 2016, I began consuming them. My symptoms progressed to bloating in my abdomen, nausea, cramps in my GI tract and difficulty sleeping.

Neurological symptoms such as neuropathy (numbness in the toes and ball of my foot) and tetany (spasms) in my calves greatly increased in escalating pain intensity and frequency starting November 2016, and I also began to experience fasciculations (twitching) in my calves when seated in the beginning of 2017.

NETA, meanwhile, is apparently eyeing the legal market. As was reported by the Globe and others, an October 2017 letter, submitted to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission by a law firm representing NETA and other dispensaries, advocated for cracking down on gray market providers, all while asking that existing medical dispensaries get the first access to recreational consumers.

Considering how things have gone for them so far, it’s likely that they’ll get their way.

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CAMBRIDGE NEEDS A KING OP-ED

MLK’s dream for “building the beloved community” extends to Cambridge, too

BY REV. IRENE MONROE @REVIMONROE This year is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. It’s a painful and necessary anniversary to remember, considering where the country is today. Americans on the margins have the most to lose in a nation now eroding if not dismantling decades-long civil rights gains that allowed full protections and participation in an evolving multicultural democracy.

While I am nervous about where we are in 2018 after an Obama presidency, I am also reminded of MLK and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. My looking back at that era gives me hope to look forward beyond this moment.

In the inimitable rhetorical style of the AfricanAmerican jeremiad tradition, King’s voice is most remembered from his “I Have a Dream” speech of 1963.

The now-deceased newscaster Mike Wallace expressed my feelings of missing King when I read one day in the Boston Globe these words by him. “I miss the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. I miss the sound of his voice, the things he said with that voice, and the choir that resounded within him with that voice.”

Martin Luther King articulated his dream of wanting every town and city throughout the world “building the Beloved Community.” The King Center explains the concept: “In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.”

During the time of King’s dream of “building the Beloved Community,” Southern states had long systematized a peculiar brand of justice with its “separate but equal” laws that allowed for separate drinking fountains, restrooms, restaurants, and hotels, to name a few. The South during the civil rights movement was a place where the entire country could watch African10

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Americans being subdued by blazing water hoses or being charged by aggressive German shepherds on national television. And at night, when no one was watching, the Ku Klux Klan rode through black neighborhoods to burn their property and/or them, brandishing fire and terror as symbols of white supremacy.

However, racism did not just situate itself unabashedly in the South; it also tainted life in the North for AfricanAmericans, albeit differently and less visibly. And, although segregationist practices directly violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the US Constitution, the federal government exerted little to no effort to enforce these amendments—in either North or South.

Our job in keeping King’s dream alive is to be part of a participatory government—local and national—that is feverishly working to dismantle all existing discriminatory laws and practices that truncate full participation of its citizens in the fight to advance democracy.

Cambridge, where I live, is proudly dubbed by some “The People’s Republic of Cambridge” and is considered one of the most liberal cities in America. And with two of the country’s premier institutions of higher learning—Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology— that draw students and scholars from around the world, Cambridge’s showcase of diversity and multiculturalism rivals that of the UN. Cambridge is no doubt a progressive city. However, when you scratch below Cambridge’s surface, there is also liberal racism that is as intolerant as Southern racism. Just like Southern racism that keeps blacks in their place, liberal racism does, too. For example, Cambridge’s liberal ruling class maintains its racial boundaries not by designated “colored” water fountains, toilets, or restaurants, but rather by its zip codes; major street intersections known as squares, like the renowned Harvard Square, and residential border areas that are designated numbers, like Area 4

(now known as the Port)—which was a predominantly black poor and working-class enclave—that are now gentrified by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical boom.

Cambridge’s liberal ruling elite exploit these tensions by their claims to not see race, until, of course, an unknown black man appears in their neighborhood Segregation in this city is not only along racial lines but class, too. With Cambridge’s tony enclaves sprinkled with homes at starting prices over a half-million dollars, Cambridge has become a city that is predominately white and upper class. Poor working-class whites and white immigrants do not experience the fullness their white skin privilege would abundantly afford them if they too were part of Cambridge’s professional or monied class.

If King were among us today, he would say that it is not enough to just look outside ourselves and communities to see the places where society is broken. King would want us to examine institutions, workplaces, and universities that separate people from one another based on race, religion, gender, class, and sexual orientation, to name a few, by looking at ourselves and communities made up of people like you and me.

The top three concerns for Cambridge’s marginalized communities are access to quality public education, racial profiling by police and other community members, and affordable housing.

Cambridge is a world city. It now must work at “building the Beloved Community.”

Reverend Irene Monroe is a speaker, theologian, and syndicated columnist. Read more at irenemonroe.com. Rev. Monroe is hosting the annual MLK Day celebration at the Cambridge Public Library in Central Square.

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WAITING FOR RECIPROCITY FEATURE

Nurses, teachers, other Puerto Ricans in Mass struggle to get professional licenses WORD AND PHOTOS BY SARAH BETANCOURT @SWEETADELINEVT When Hurricane Maria devastated her area of Isabela, Puerto Rico, 52-year-old Brenda Trujillo traveled to Holyoke in search of a more stable life and employment.

Trujillo has been a nurse for nearly 30 years, but since arriving on Nov 3 she has not been able to find a job in her profession. One of the reasons is that despite her vast experience, she does not have a license to practice nursing in the state of Massachusetts.

“I have 28 years of experience as a psychiatric nurse and 12 as what you would consider to be an RN,” she said. “I have phlebotomy training and have worked in emergency situations and trauma.”

Many professions, including nursing, require licensure by a state regulatory board. When licensed professionals move from state to state, there are usually clear instructions about how they can acquire the correct certifications in Massachusetts. But with territories like Puerto Rico, this is more vague. Laws of reciprocity, as they are often called, can require education preparation programs, and significant amounts of time and money spent on waiting for approval.

To navigate through the confusing state system, Trujillo headed to a dimly lit room last month at nonprofit Enlace de Familias in Holyoke. The room was packed with displaced Puerto Ricans looking for all kinds of social aid help. MassHealth, Holyoke Community College, the Department of Transitional Assistance, and other groups had representatives at tables waiting to talk to them as their numbers were called.

Trujillo sat with a counselor from CareerPoint, a statefunded organization that specializes in employment assistance. She’s been searching for nursing assistant jobs, or certified nursing assistant jobs, hoping that her most recent recertification for nurse licensure in Puerto Rico in 2015 will be enough to find her a job.

After receiving advice from the counselor, Trujillo is hoping to take ESL classes with the Valley Opportunity 12

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Council and to find any job to sustain her until she can take a nursing exam.

---///--Puerto Rico is entering its fourth month after Hurricane Maria, a storm that left millions without power, food, education, and income. The continued lack of electricity and clean water on much of the island is a constant reminder for Puerto Ricans of the inadequate disaster response by the United States government.

Hundreds of thousands have flocked to the mainland, and Massachusetts is one of their top three destinations, according to information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The other two are Florida and New York.

Springfield and Holyoke in particular have had an influx of displaced Puerto Ricans, coming to stay with their families, in hotels, homeless shelters, and with friends.

Beyond the question of what to do for housing as winter settles in comes the concern over employment, and more specifically, what to do for people who have licensure and years of education in their professions.

Teachers, health care professionals, hairdressers, and surgeons are among the displaced who have settled into Western Mass. The Valley Advocate interviewed people in these professions and was made aware of several other people who have licensure in Puerto Rico to be truck drivers, cosmetologists, and therapists. But when they arrived to Massachusetts, these trained professionals wondered, “What’s next?”

Massachusetts’ government is trying to find ways to expedite licensure, bypass it temporarily, or adjust reciprocity laws. The need is great. A spokeswoman for the Department of Transitional Assistance said the office has served approximately 6,300 displaced Puerto Ricans, with nearly half of those coming just from Springfield (2,100

individuals) and Holyoke (900 people).

“There is no reciprocity, but it has been a problem for a long time, long before Maria,” said Holyoke City Councilor Jossie Valentin, who works at Holyoke Community College as an academic counselor.

She also said there has never been such an increase of people who needed this issue to be ironed out from a US territory. Most of the licensure issues have happened to Spanish speakers from Central America, she said.

---///--Eduarte Mar, 25 carries a blue binder through the Springfield Welcome Center with his nursing certification paperwork from Puerto Rico, his bachelor’s degree, and his employment paperwork. He proudly says that he thought to put everything in a special compartment of his car before hurricane rains hit his home in Vega Alta.

Mar worked as a nurse for the elderly, specifically people with Alzheimer’s disease, but is trained for what he says is the Puerto Rican equivalent of an RN, with five years at a university. After the hurricane, Mar worked at a center for the elderly, working in a place that only had electricity from a generator 4 hours a day.

“Sometimes, there were 45 patients and one person to cover everyone. There were no ambulances. Roads were hard to pass,” he said.

Since moving to Springfield on Nov 9, Mar is looking for any job he can. He is living at a hotel covered by FEMA until housing relief runs out.

“Washing floors, washing bathrooms, it’s a bad financial situation,” he said.

He has been researching the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing and is trying to figure out what is needed in order for him to sit for an exam. He is taking English classes with a nonprofit twice a week.

Mar was licensed though the Professional Association

of Nursing of Puerto Rico, a process involving 60 hours of coursework every two years, a $300 payment, a lawyer, and a lot of paperwork. But in Massachusetts, he can’t get licensed until he takes the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN), a state requirement.

“In Puerto Rico, they didn’t have that test. There are no comparisons,” he said.

Hoping to make it to the Board of Registration offices in Boston, Mar is unsure of when it’s willing to meet with prospective licensure candidates and how he will even be able to drive to Boston without a car.

“I’m not really sure of what to do. No one has really told me,” he said.

The Board of Registration is monitoring requests for licensure, according to a statement. In the meantime, Mar continues to volunteer at a welcome center in Springfield that is providing assistance to displaced Puerto Ricans.

Like Mar, many nurses have come to Massachusetts wondering what their options are. Everyone interviewed for this story expressed that it was confusing to figure out what the rules are for license reciprocity in Massachusetts, especially for a US territory. All expressed a desire to see steps outlined in a clear fashion that was comprehensive for nurses of all education levels.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health outlined the guidelines, saying that nurse applications who took a board exam in Puerto Rico in Spanish are not eligible for nurse licensure in Massachusetts by reciprocity, because they did not sit for an exam with the NCLEX-RN. In the rare cases that nurses in Puerto Rico took that exam, they can have the process expedited after obtaining transcripts from Puerto Rico.

Only one testing center in Puerto Rico offers the NCLEXRN. Additionally, because they are from a non-English speaking area, applicants must complete a Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools evaluation and the Test of English as a Foreign Language. The process can take months and be expensive.

For the remaining licensed professionals, the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure oversees management of its 28 different boards of registration, including those of cosmetologists, social workers, plumbers, and veterinarians. The division did not mention any specific plans being put in place for professionals to have clear reciprocity from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts.

Gov Charlie Baker’s press office asked that all press inquiries be directed to specific departments, after being asked specifically what his office is doing to support different departments with licensure reciprocity issues.

---///--Educators have had an easier battle than health care workers.

In Massachusetts, teachers have been granted a pathway to become substitute teachers until they seek licensure, a well-fitting Band-Aid for many instructors, as well as for school districts who are seeking qualified help to handle the influx of Spanish-speaking students moving from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts.

Spokesman Jacqueline Reis at the office of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) shared a statement from Jeff Wulfson, acting commissioner, that was sent out to schools in early December.

In a policy adjustment, the ESE has determined that educators temporarily relocating from Puerto Rico can be considered as exchange teachers and will be exempt from the requirement of Massachusetts licensure for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. She also said that as of Dec 15, the state had more than 2,100 students enrolled from post-hurricane Puerto Rico, with 87 percent of school districts reporting.

The department would prefer that employers verify the license and employment status of these educators, but understands that obtaining documentation may be difficult in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico.

“In such situations, ESE encourages the district to obtain an affidavit or notarized letter regarding the educator’s status as an educator in Puerto Rico,” the department’s statement reads.

Standard Criminal Offender Record Information and Statewide Applicant Fingerprint Identification Services background checks are also conducted on all soon-tobe teachers. Educators will have one year to pass the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure exams or obtain an appropriate Massachusetts educator license within a year if they seek employment at charter schools. ESE is supporting districts by helping conduct background checks and ensuring the teacher’s license was not revoked in Puerto Rico.

One beneficiary of the policy is Jose Lopez, a displaced Puerto Rican with a bachelor’s degree in special education and history. Lopez, 30, was a year into a master’s program when Hurricane Maria interrupted his studies. After weeks cut off from communication in Salinas, Puerto Rico, he moved to Springfield on Oct 18 and plans to stay for the foreseeable future.

He received help after inquiring about work at the Department of Education in Holyoke.

“This person was so kind and told me to look on the Holyoke Public Schools webpage. They’ve been receiving so many students from Puerto Rico,” he said.

Lopez reached out to the school and, with paperwork and an interview, was hired as a full-time substitute teacher. “They needed someone who speaks Spanish to work with the kids,” he said.

Lopez isn’t planning to return to Puerto Rico, saying that no help has been given to Salinas, his area, and it will take years for things to improve.

With the policy, Lopez will have 17 months to be working toward his teaching certification in Massachusetts.

“I’m going to take English classes here and start the process for the teaching exam and certification,” he said. He’s hoping to continue his master’s degree after

NEWS TO US

fulfilling requirements.

Dr. Steve Zrike is the superintendent of Holyoke Public Schools. He said in mid-December, “It’s really significant for us. We’ve enrolled the most students from Puerto Rico of any school system of the state [by proportion]. We have 5,500 students in the system and enrolled 130 students on top of that.”

Zrike said that the Holyoke School District had employed four Puerto Rican teachers by mid-December and another group as substitutes. The substitutes include a math teacher and an ESL teacher.

---///--The bulk of people with licensure in a profession in Puerto Rico speaking with Careerpoint representatives are nurses and teachers, according to David Gadaire, president of Careerpoint.

“We did have a person who was a surgeon and teaching at a local college in Puerto Rico, and is working here as a certified nurse assistant,” he said. “She desperately wanted to be working, so our staff worked with her. We know that what it takes to get a nursing or medical license is different here than it is there, but at the minimum, can’t we give them a look or a test?” he said.

Careerpoint counselors continue to go to the Enlace center daily to give recommendations on how to find employment for all displaced Puerto Ricans, helping many find immediate low-wage jobs in fast food. They’ve helped 354 people as of Jan 2.

Careerpoint held a job fair with the Holyoke School Department on Jan 10 and is in talks with the Division of Professional Licensure on a similar event for healthcare workers. Even the promise of a career fair is exciting for nurses coming over from the island.

Wilfredo Feliciano, 27, is a surgical nurse who works in Aibonito, a town hit by Hurricane Maria in the mountains of Puerto Rico. Winds took away the roof of his home and washed out the roads he uses to get to work. Feliciano is planning to move to Springfield with family on Jan 5.

He has worked with small practices and graduated from a nursing program in 2009. “I would really like to be a nurse there,” he said by phone from Coamo, Puerto Rico. “I would like to stay over there and create a new home.”

Feliciano said he wasn’t sure of what the requirements were for licensure in Massachusetts, but that he is hoping for all the advice he can get upon arrival.

This article was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.

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BREAKHEART RESERVATION | SAUGUS

POWDER WALKING GTFO

Five snowshoe hikes and walks inside Route 128

BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON

It wasn’t much of a winter last year, as snow was on the ground for, oh, a few hours or so, but this year has already seen its share of the white stuff, and there’s a lot more of the winter to get through. So what is one to do? You could certainly spend the next couple of months eating pizza and watching mindless shows on TV, and while this actually sounds really good, why not get out and enjoy the scenic beauty that snow brings to the region? The Boston area has many places to get out and about, and one of the best ways to do so is by snowshoe, which costs very little (many outdoors stores rent them) and is extremely easy to do. Below are five particularly good local options for snowshoeing, all inside Route 128 and all but one easily accessible by public transportation (see note about Breakheart below).

Arnold Arboretum (Paved Walkways), Jamaica Plain The only option listed here that is within the Boston city limits, this 275-acre outdoor area is very popular in the spring, summer, and fall for its blooming plants and trees along with its overall greenery, but during the winter, this Jamaica Plain gem is perfect for a relatively simple snowshoe hike that can be as short or as long as you want.

Because it’s not as busy during the winter, the paved roads (which are off-limits to cars) aren’t usually crowded, which makes them a terrific option for snowshoeing, and they hit some of the best parts of the Arboretum, including a winding route up Bussey Hill and a loop up Peters Hill, both of which have views of the Boston skyline. Because of the twists and turns that the paved walkways take, it is best to bring a map, but because of its relatively compact size in a mostly residential part of Boston, you’d have to try really hard to get lost here.

Skill level: Moderate. Length: Approximately 4 miles.

[125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain. Directions using public transportation: Orange Line to Forest Hills, then walk up the Arborway to the main entrance on the left. Map: arboretum.

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harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/basic-map-b+w.pdf]

If you leave the road, make sure you have a map because although the reservation is relatively small at only 650 acres, it is pretty easy to get lost if you don’t know the trails.

Skill level: Moderate. Length: Approximately 5 miles.

[Forest St., Saugus. Directions using public transportation: No buses go directly to Breakheart, but one option is to take the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line to Lynn, then bus #429 to the Saugus Plaza, then a mostly unpleasant—but doable—one-mile walk down Route 1 south to Lynn Fells Parkway and Forest Street.

Map: saugus.com/images/stories/parks_recreation/ breakheartmap.pdf]

Breakheart Reservation (Paved Walkways), Saugus Route 1 in Saugus isn’t exactly a scenic road, and while it can be charming in some ways for its “old Americana” feel, it can certainly be stressful as well, depending what time of day you’re on it. There is a real oasis just off this highway, though, and the approach to Breakheart on Forest Street brings about a remarkable change from the craziness of Route 1 to deep woods and a rustic visitor center (complete with working fireplace) that looks like it was brought in from the Adirondack Mountains in New York. Much like the Arnold Arboretum, the popular route to take is the series of paved roads through snowy forests that are offlimits to cars, but unlike that area, the paved walkways through Breakheart take you through very remotefeeling lands, and they can be steep in parts.

And while the outer and inner loops go past some great spots such as the hillside beach at Pearce Lake, some of the most interesting snowshoeing can be found just off the road, with Eagle Rock, Breakheart Hill, and Castle Rock being three ARNOLD ARBORETUM | JAMAICA PLAIN of the best because of their spectacular views.

enough highlights to satisfy most hikers, however, going over such windswept “peaks” as Rattlesnake Hill, Wampatuck Hill, Nahanton Hill, and Chickatawbut Hill before dropping dramatically down to Route 28 where you can either turn around and retrace your steps or choose an easier valley route (which could include the very mellow Bouncing Brook Path). If you choose the latter option, bring a map because this is a vast wilderness area consisting of approximately 7,000 acres, which is a whole lot of open space considering how close it is to Boston.

Skill level: Difficult. Length: Approximately 7 miles.

[651 Willard St., Quincy. Directions using public transportation: Red Line to Quincy Adams, then bus #238 to Shea Rink (where trailhead is) on Willard Street.

Map: mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/parks/trails/blue-hills-trailmap-2016.pdf]

MIDDLESEX FELLS | MALDEN/MEDFORD/STONEHAM/MELROSE

Middlesex Fells (Rock Circuit Trail), Malden/ Medford/Stoneham/Melrose The Middlesex Fells is a large wilderness area that straddles Route 93 a few miles north of Boston, and the west side of the reservation is the flatter and more serene side, which makes it great for an easy to moderate snowshoe hike. One problem, however, is that it isn’t exactly simple to get to by public transportation; sure, you could take the commuter rail to Winchester Center and walk the mile or so along main roads, but it’s much easier to take the Orange Line to Oak Grove on the east side and do a much shorter walk to the entrance. And this part of the Fells is a great option for snowshoers who want a real challenge, as the Rock Circuit Trail is every bit as steep and rugged as the Skyline Trail is in the Eastern Blue Hills on the other side of Boston (Melrose Rock, Black Rock, and Pinnacle Rock aren’t for the faint of heart). One advantage that the Rock Circuit has over the Skyline is that it is a loop trail, so you can snowshoe nearly the entire route without having to backtrack. One note—the entrance off Elliot Street isn’t part of the Rock Circuit Trail but it does quickly lead to it via other trails; a map is a good idea here so you don’t get lost, though some maps do not show the

BLUE HILLS | QUINCY

entrance trail, so you may need to “blindly” take that trail until you reach the Rock Circuit, which has white blazes on the trees.

Skill level: Difficult. Length: Approximately 5 miles.

[Elliott St., Malden. Directions using public transportation: Orange Line to Oak Grove, then walk up Washington Street two blocks north, then left on Glen Rock Avenue for two blocks, then right on Elliot Street to trailhead on left. Maps: friendsofthefells.org/wp-content/ uploads/2014/04/Fells_Reservation_Map.pdf and mass. gov/eea/docs/dcr/parks/trails/fells.pdf] Blue Hills (Skyline Trail), Quincy If you want to feel like you’re in the deep woods of Northern New England but don’t have the desire (or wheels) to travel, the Eastern Blue Hills area is one of the most wild and rugged places that you’ll find in Eastern Massachusetts. This part of the reservation has many trails, but one of the most interesting—and most difficult—is the Skyline Trail, which starts at the Shea Rink and actually goes a whopping 9 miles westward over countless hilltops; it really can’t be snowshoed in its entirety in one day unless you spot cars at each end.

The section of the trail in the Eastern Blue Hills has

Horn Pond (Paved and Unpaved Walkways), Woburn For those of you who are looking for an easy and mostly flat snowshoe walk, this deceptively large conservation area is a great place to go if you want to get a feel for snowshoeing, or if you simply wish to enjoy the great outdoors without having to put much effort into it. Horn Pond, like the Arnold Arboretum, is a busy place during the warmer months, but during the winter, you may just have it to yourself except for dog walkers here and there, which makes the paved and unpaved main walkways rather pleasant routes to take. A few options are available from the main parking lot, including simply going up and over the little hill by the lot to the walkway, taking a right and following the pond, then once you cross the causeway by the far end of the pond, you can take a left along the lagoon and, eventually, various wetlands where you may see a swan or two (they can be found in the lagoon as well). From there, you can loop around the south end of the wetlands and lagoon, and if you feel adventurous, wander through some of the trails in a beautiful pine forest or continue on to the causeway, where you can return to the parking lot. (Another more difficult option is to climb Horn Pond Mountain/Mount Towanda via a heart-pumping path that goes up, up, up to a stunning overlook where the Boston skyline can be seen.)

Skill level: Easy. Length: Approximately 3 miles.

[85 Lake Ave., Woburn. Directions using public transportation: Orange Line to Wellington, then bus #134 to Main Street and Lake Avenue/Cranes Court. Walk down Lake Avenue for three blocks to parking lot on right. Map: woburnrec.com/forms/6048_walking_woburn_horn_ pond_map_final.pdf]

HORN POND | WOBURN

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WHEEL OF TUNES: DEERHOOF MUSIC

The wild art rock band talks gratitude, trashy songs, and muting people on Twitter

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

1. “Slow Motion Detonation” Have you ever experienced an intense situation where it felt like time slowed down? If so, what happened?

Yeah, for sure. Today, I was at a vegan smoothie restaurant in Baltimore ordering something called “blueberry pie.” It has, among other things, blueberries and maple-flavored walnuts. As I was enjoying sucking this thing through a straw, I realized I was going to be late to Baltimore-Washington International Airport to fly to Scandinavia and do a tour with a bunch of Norwegians that I’d never met before. I started sucking just a little more rapidly, went to BWI, and got on the plane with no trouble at all. Then I arrived in Chicago and had a five-hour layover.

Suddenly time slowed down again.

2. “Con Sordino” If you could mute anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

Did you see that crazy thing the other day that Twitter put up, a half-assed thing a year and a half after Trump declared presidency? About why they don’t block world leaders? Doesn’t matter if they’re a serial killer or a mass

murder or a known rapist. They aren’t going to block them because they’re important? It’s the most inverted logic possible. The fact that those people have that much power means they should be that much more muted. The fact that it took Twitter a year and a half to come up with that excuse for why they don’t block Trump is incredibly weak.

I’m lacking in words. It shows an incredible fearfulness of getting on the bad side of damaging their profit margins.

So yeah, I think the majority of Twitter users in this world would choose to mute Donald Trump, myself included.

3. “I Will Spite Survive” What’s a far-fetched goal you tried to go for, despite friends or family advising otherwise?

About every time I’ve ever fallen in love. Isn’t that what it is? Unless you’re talking about an arranged marriage, you’re talking about taking a ridiculous chance, placing your heart on the chopping block, making yourself vulnerable to every possible kind of hurt—all with no guarantee that it will not only succeed or last, but that it will even start in the first place. The fact that humans are still doing that every day all over the world is very inspiring and amazing, and it makes me think that what they are is still so far beyond the ways they’ve been turned into statistics, AI algorithm targets, and mere customers. We’re still rather illogical, and we are driven for emotional reasons to do unreasonably beautiful, kind, selfsacrificing things. I may be in love in the moment, hence the answer [laughs].

4. “Come Down Here and Say That” Let’s vent anonymously. What’s an insult you’ve wanted to say to someone for a while but can’t because of your relation to them?

Wow, that’s amazing. I don’t know. I’d feel that I’m being mean. It feels like a situation all of us are in every day, where somebody is our representative but we don’t have any say. What was that crazy moment from last year where they took years’ worth of data on a wide variety of issues and divided it up by income. They found that 90 percent of the population of America over 20 years that the actual policy aligns with their opinions 5 percent of the time. If you’re a millionaire, it aligns with your opinion a good 10-20 percent of time. If you’re a politician, it’s almost 90

percent. That’s the way I think a lot of us deal. We have all kinds of things we want to say, but sorry, we don’t get to have a say.

5. “Gracias a la Vida” When closing out 2017, what are two things you realized you’re incredibly thankful for?

Oh my god. That question, man. That’s trying to make me well up [laughs]. One is falling hard for a polyamorous human being who teaches me every day to re-examine and question my assumptions and expectations, a lifetime of white male hetero middle-class privileges. The other thing I’m thankful of is the same thing I was thankful of by the end of 2016: Deerhoof is still a band. It’s totally incredible.

This band shouldn’t have lasted five minutes. Here we are still going 20 years later, and it’s only gotten more fun. The members of the band that should be at each other’s throats by now for tumultuous life changes are still close. We feel like we’ve gotten over hump after hump. Every new year we can make music together is like a gift and a celebration.

6. “Begin Countdown” What are you currently counting down the days until?

That’s a tough one.

That’s like something you say on a rocket launch, but in this case the rocket that the president has his fingers on is the one that will cause the annihilation of the human race. To begin countdown is not something you’re looking forward to, it’s something that you’re dreading. The band’s survival and the human races survival against the odds. You can’t expect it will continue, that your luck will never run out. It will at some point. The band will, for whatever reason, cease to be a band. There’s a feeling of extreme dread that the same fate may befall the human race. We will no longer go on tour to Boston.

When looking forward to something, though, I’m counting down the days to a piece I wrote. I just wrote an orchestra bit with Casio keyboards. I’m counting down the days until that show. It’ll be nuts. It took me several years to write because of constant revisions. Now that I’m putting it in writing in your publication, it’s official. I’m not changing it anymore.

Check out the rest of the track list at digboston.com

>> DEERHOOF, FAMILY PLANNING, OLIVIA NEUTRON-JOHN. THU 1.18. BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL, 158 BRIGHTON AVE., ALLSTON. 8PM/18+/$16. CROSSROADSPRESENTS.COM.

MUSIC EVENTS THU 01.11

SAY HOWDY AT THE ROCK SHOW THE BIG LONESOME + LANNEN + NICK AND THE ADVERSARIES + FIELD DAY

[O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave., Allston. 8pm/21+/$10. obrienspubboston.com]

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FRI 01.12

FRI 01.12

[The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$20. sinclaircambridge.com]

[O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave., Allston. 8pm/21+/$10. obrienspubboston.com]

LIFE IN THE DARK AMERICANA FARM THE FELICE BROTHERS + SUN PARADE

DIGBOSTON.COM

WEIRD ART STUDENTS UNITE DENTIST + HALFSOUR + FUCKO + HORSE GIRL

SAT 01.13

YOUNG PUNK FROM THE GREAT GOTH NORTH WILDHONEY + HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE + MINI DRESSES + MORE [Great Scott, 1222 Comm.

Ave., Allston. 9pm/21+/$12. greatscottboston.com]

SUN 01.14

DALLAS DOOM GOES STONER ROCK TRUE WIDOW + KAL MARKS

[Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston.

8:30pm/18+/$13. greatscottboston.com]

WED 01.17

ALIVE WITH THE GLORY OF POP PUNK LOVE SAY ANYTHING + TIM KASHER + MORE

[Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Allston.

6:30pm/18+/$27.50. crossroadspresents.com]

ALBUM ARTWORK COURTESY OF DEERHOOF

Way back in 1994, a little San Francisco band called Deerhoof formed to try to get the improvisational urges out of their systems. Instead, they only got stronger. Fastforward over two decades, and singer and bassist Satomi Matsuzaki, drummer Greg Saunier, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez are still coming up with new ideas not just in their discography, but in indie rock’s at large.

Their brand of hyper noise pop tries on new shoes with Mountain Moves, their latest album. Deerhoof teamed up with a phenomenally talented and somehow underrated roster of musicians to bring the songs to life. Juana Molina, Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Violeta Parra, Awkwafina, Xenia Rubinos, Matana Roberts, and more join them for some of their most vibrant and politically charged songs yet.

“Collaborating wasn’t just what we planned for this album, but really for every album,” says Saunier. “Some of the people on this record, like Awkwafina, are people we toured with previously. When you get to the end and you’re sad to part, you want to find a way to do something. This time it was fueled by the scale of derangement of people in power who will terminate the human species; we suddenly had someone at a higher end of that spectrum than we’d ever had before. We, and a lot of people, felt a weird urgency that translated into a realization: All those things we said we wanted to do in life suddenly have to take place now.”

To help Deerhoof shake off some extra energy before headlining Brighton Music Hall, we interviewed Greg Saunier for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask bands questions inspired by their song titles.

Unsurprisingly, his answers feel as in-the-moment as the songs on Mountain Moves do.

ELEPHANTS MUSIC

The local power pop group sets five guidelines to get music shit done

| RESTAURANT | INTIMATE CONCERT VENUE | | URBAN WINERY | PRIVATE EVENT SPACE |

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN It’s not easy to make music happen.

As long as you try, though, you will get farther than you expected. At least that’s the case for Elephants.

The part-indie rock, part-power pop group has been making rounds in Boston for a while, but it’s been a long climb until then. Elephants formed back in Western Mass when singer-guitarist Loren Ipsum and Ryan Young were in college. They began playing acoustic shows in 2011. After trying their hand at going electric in 2012, things began to pick up. The two credit it to putting in the effort. Since then, they’ve done what most small DIY groups would hope to: record an EP, do a small tour, record an album, move to Boston, do an East Coast tour, record some more, play basements, play proper venues, meet bands they admire, press songs to vinyl.

While there’ve been some downs along the way—the biggest of which is roster changes, though there are no complaints, especially about their current lineup with Chris Gaudette and Andrea Neuenfeldt—Elephants have not only found a way to survive as independent musicians, but they’ve found a way to grow.

Their songs flit between charming downers to uplifting reminders, where the group flies through melodies with ease. Their most recent record, 2016’s Endless Arcade, proved them to be at the top of their game. There’s passion in all that they do. Yet despite that, Elephants never sounds like it’s nose is in the air. The band is grateful to everyone who helped it along the way—Sleep Crimes, the Young Leaves, Halfsour, Quiet Giant—and wants to keep that going. So we caught up with Ipsum and Young to talk about how they’ve grown over the years and what other musicians can learn from their mistakes.

upcoming shows

JANUARY 14

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the verve pipe

Tyminski

JANUARY 18

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SANDRA BERNHARD

LLOYd COLE

Sandemonium

JANUARY 20

JANUARY 21

the the band band Alejandro Escovedo Tribute to The Band

JANUARY 23

JANUARY 24

REVISE YOUR GOALS “The original goals were to play loud rock music, specifically the kind from the ’90s because we both liked a lot of the same bands.

That’s partially where the name Elephants came from: the idea of something that’s massive but nice, playing off the origin of Swans’ name,” says Young. “Now, our goals haven’t changed, but we’ve had a sharper vision. Fortune or fame are pretty nebulous at this point.

I just want to keep making songs and build a community through that art. You just want to get better. We want to keep playing loud rock, but are trying to make it.”

the ventures

Tinsley Ellis

JANUARY 25

JANUARY 26

GUSH OVER EMAIL “Making band friends is hard, so reach out to people you like. Early on, within the first few years of us being a band, there was a duo that I really liked called Radio Control. They were a two-piece guitar and drums garage rock band. They were so good. I loved their band, but I didn’t know them. So one day I decided to email them. I remember being really nervous, typing them a message, and sent it, not expecting them to respond. But they did! And they were one of the first bands that we clicked with,” says Ipsum. “They wound up being so helpful. They moved to the West Coast a couple years ago, but every now and then keep in touch.”

Howie Day

the posies

JANUARY 27

JANUARY 28

The Black Lillies

Brandy Clark

NOT ALL FIGHTS ARE BAD FIGHTS “We’re at a point where we get in fights now, and I’m worried people overhear us and think it’s the bad kind,” laughs Young. “We come up with the basic song parts together and then bring it to Andrea and Chris so they can write their parts. We change stuff around based on feedback. We’ve been writing songs for years, so we’re not incompatible, but we have different things we like in songs. I tend to be a maximalist. I want a verse, a chorus, a post-chorus, a bridge, and a crazy dueling guitar solo. Then Loren says she wants to repeat the verse and chorus and then let’s stop it. There are great simple songs, but I don’t think I can write them. I hide my nervousness about songwriting by throwing complexity at it. There’s a song like that called ‘King of Pajama Mountain’ where I wanted to throw the Wedding Present and Built to Spill together in a blender.”

special events 1.16

Ridge wine dinner 1.17

DON’T FEAR FLUIDITY “The first album that we ever recorded was us finding what we wanted to be doing. We don’t play many songs from it. You listen and hear it’s all over the place, influences on our sleeves,” says Young. “Our last EP was a conscious effort to write shorter power pop.

We’re still in the act of becoming. That sounds so hippy, but I mean it. Does a caterpillar know it’s going to become a butterfly or does it just crawl into a cocoon and wonder what the fuck is happening? It’s okay to not know what your process is, and it’s okay to keep altering it as you go.”

BEFRIEND YOUR NEIGHBORS “The Western Mass scene feels tighter knit, but still diverse. Boston has more scenes, but they’re spread out, so each one has its own circle. That’s a function of being in a bigger pool, of course,” says Ipsum. “People need to help one another play out of town more. You have to step up sometimes, too. That’s important. I think some bands in Boston have a hard time getting out of the city because they don’t know anyone there, but it’s cool to do that. Having grown that community outside of Boston, or vice versa, it’s important to find like-minded bands in other geographic locations. That can only help you. It can be intimidating to meet people you don’t know, but ask friends if they have friends out there. Just send a note saying hi. You’d be surprised.”

City Winery and Diageo Present

Botanical Gin Lab stump trivia january 13th january 29th

Get Married in Urban Wine Country email eventsboston@citywinery.com for more info

>> ELEPHANTS, JOEY SPRINKLES, SPELLING, PSYCHIC LIFE COACH, IDLING. SAT 1.13. O’BRIEN’S PUB, 3 HARVARD AVE., ALLSTON. 8PM/18+/$8.

OBRIENSPUBBOSTON.COM

80 beverly st. Boston Ma 02114 (617) 933-8047 |www.citywinery.com/boston

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

SUICIDE MAGNETS PERFORM IN A BOSTON HASSLE SHOW AT DORCHESTER ART PROJECT, DEC. 17, 2017 (OMARI SPEARS) SUICIDE MAGNETS AT A BOSTON HASSLE EVENT

BRAIN ARTS ORGANIZATION TO RUN DORCHESTER ART PROJECT ARTS NEWS

The folks behind Boston Hassle and Boston Compass taking the reins

BY GREG COOK @AESTHETICRESEAR Dorchester Art Project—the artist-run, alternative space in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood devoted to “innovative artistic practice outside of the city’s academic institutions and commercial galleries”—is under new leadership.

Brain Arts Organization—the Boston music and arts nonprofit known for its boundary-pushing local music and arts programming via its Boston Hassle shows and website, monthly Boston Compass newspaper, and bimonthly Black Market flea market—took over the lease on the 5,000-square-foot, second-floor space at 1486 Dorchester Ave. on Jan. 1, according to Dan Shea.

“We’re just ultra excited to finally have a space of our own,” Shea says. “We’re very excited to be in Dorchester.

We’re very excited to be right on the Red Line. We’re very excited to make this space as awesome as it can be.”

Beginning around 2010 or so, Shea and Sam Potrykus founded Boston Hassle and then Brain Arts. Last year, they produced more than 100 shows around greater Boston— including one at the Dorchester Art Project on Dec 17 (pictured here in photos by Omari Spears).

For a while now, the Hassle folks have been talking about their desire to have their own music and arts space.

“We’ll be continuing to try to open a full-fledged venue,” Shea says, “but an opportunity arose to take over an art space that was going to cease to exist. So we’ve taken over and signed a five-year lease.”

Shea says, “We’re staggering toward legitimacy.”

Legitimacy? That sounds horrible.

“Don’t worry,” Shea says. “We’ll always be staggering.”

The Dorchester Art Project (“We’re keeping that name,”

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Jameson Johnson, Emma Leavitt, and Chloe DuBois. Shea Shea says, to maintain continuity) began as a cooperative and Potrykus will lead the music, film, performance art, studio and gallery space around 2011 under the name music lessons, pop-up shops and so on. They note that “the Howard Art Project. At the end of May 2015, it transformed space(s) in our space are available for rent by the public as into the Dorchester Art Project when they announced they well.” were “handing over the space to some longtime friends and collaborators. We are very happy to report that the space will continue to function as a studio and exhibition Greg Cook writes about art and more at Wonderland: space, but under a different name, different mission, and a a magazine of arts and cultures, gregcookland.com/ new cast of organizers. We wish them well.” wonderland. This article is simultaneously published Now the baton has been passed again. Shea says they there. plan to maintain the 13 artist studios (rentals), two galleries, and an existing artist-inresidence program while they continue to also produce shows all over town.

“It’s going to be a multifaceted art and music space,” Shea says. “We’re going to try to run it as much as a venue as we can.”

They’re still figuring out the permitting.

Art programming there will be lead MELISSA WEIKART PERFORMS IN A BOSTON HASSLE SHOW

by Sophia Giordano, AT DORCHESTER ART PROJECT, DEC. 17, 2017 (OMARI SPEARS)

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

>> DISPLACED. 1.1–1.27. CLOSING RECEPTION SAT 1.20. 7-10 PM. AVIARY GALLERY, 48 SOUTH ST., JAMAICA PLAIN. AVIARYGALLERY.COM

DISPLACED AT AVIARY GALLERY VISUAL ARTS

Art that reminds the community to heal

BY M.J. TIDWELL @MJTIDWELL781 A new mixed-media art show co-curated by artist Noah Grigni and the Aviary Gallery in Jamaica Plain delves into the many faceted experiences of displacement, while raising money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico where so many people have been physically displaced.

Yet many of the pieces in the show are distinctly positive, and some of the artists say that in creating their work, they saw in the theme of displacement a side of healing, of acceptance, and of love in their community.

On display until Jan 27, the show features work from Noel’le Longhaul, Sami Martasian, Kuresse Bolds, Beyon Wren Moor, Aria Mizuki Carpenter, Rocky Cotard, Sheri Furneaux, Noah Grigni, Olivia Grim, YoAhn Han, Louis Roe, and Mosheh Tucker.

Grigni said with this show he wanted to create a bridge between different communities, opening up space to artists who aren’t necessarily established or part of the mainstream art world to share their unique experiences of feeling displaced.

“I think art serves many purposes,” he said. “To process traumatic experiences, to uplift one’s community, to remind one’s community to heal, as introspective conversation … I wanted the artists to be able to explore that side of their work in this show.”

Grigni said he chose “displaced” as the theme to be intentionally broad and create mutual liberation. Each artist brings their own personal stories of displacement, in their many varied forms.

His own experiences of displacement are reflected in the three-piece series Womb he created for the show. A delicate overlay of cut paper that he says holds emotional significance, on mylar, which reflects a warped image of the viewer inside the art they are viewing, Womb is a visual representation of how he experiences gender dysphoria.

“The series is about feeling displaced in my own body, being a non-binary trans-masculine person who is male20

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DIGBOSTON.COM

passing but still has a vagina,” he said. “It’s about learning to embrace that and find strength in that, rather than succumbing to pressure to change it.”

For artist YoAhn Han, creating a piece for the show meant grappling with his South Korean heritage and identity as a gay man, balancing the happiness of being a newlywed with the vulnerability of coming out to his family.

His piece, intricate cut paper that swirls from dark sea to wood casket to the droop of a chrysanthemum over a shifting wash of color, plays with these tensions of heritage, identity, and culture through references to an ancient Korean legend he recollected from his childhood.

Cultural identity also inspired photographer Olivia Grim, who said she strives to show raw moments where others work through their multicultural identities through her photography.

“I’ve recognized that I am saddened by my reality that I have to make an extra effort to connect with my Thai culture more than my Spanish culture because I am not just one or two, I am inherently both,” she wrote in an email to the Dig. Illustrator Kuresse Bolds created a piece of digital artwork that celebrates his outsiderness as a black man who some perceive as “acting feminine.”

“Masculinity runs very, very heavy in the black community, from my own experience,” he said. “‘Acting feminine’ is not accepted; it’s seen in a negative light, which it shouldn’t be,” he said. “It’s okay to be black and also feminine, you’re being your true self.”

This inspired his piece’s vibrant flowers and is why, he says, the subject’s dance is so high and so tall.

Photographer Sheri Furneaux chose to showcase prints of places in other cities that, while not her place, still make her feel like she belongs.

“I feel like when we hear the word displacement, we

focus on the negative. … how we can’t find a way out of feeling sad or lost or angry,” she said. “I wanted to show things that really meant something positive. … Giving art back to people who are using it to heal themselves is incredibly important.”

Trans tattoo artist, printmaker, and musician Noel’le Longhaul also brought the idea of healing to the piece she contributed to the show.

“The piece ‘Clearing Bittersweet With My Father’ deals with my responsibility to address the decisions of my ancestors, and the complexity of doing that with my father, who struggles to gender me correctly and does not share my radical politics. It is a drawing about healing that is done in a moment in which I am taking in the immense scope of the work that needs to be done,” she wrote in an email interview. “This has become a potent metaphor for dealing with the trauma I’ve endured as a trans woman.”

Throughout Displaced there is a sense of ebullience and vivacity, of acceptance and love in a community for the many variations of the human experience. Each piece, too, stands alone as a gracious testament to the many ways of feeling displaced in a fractured and fragmented technology-driven 21st century.

On an individual basis, the artists have decided on a percentage of the sales from their artwork from Displaced to donate to Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico.

“When Maria hit, we felt it was really necessary to donate because so many people are currently displaced,” Grigni said, adding that he worked to find an organization located on the island doing reputable work to ensure the funds reach the people who most need it.

He will be donating 50 percent of any proceeds from the show to ConPRmetidos and says many of the other artists have also chosen to donate 50 or 25 percent, or to donate to another relief fund they know of personally.

LIVE MUSIC • LOCAVORE MENU PRIVATE EVENTS 1/12

Upheaval Record Release Show

512 Mass. Ave. Central Sq. Cambridge, MA 617-576-6260 phoenixlandingbar.com

Boston’s Best Irish Pub

With Black Mass, Ritual Blade & Untombed 1/13

Parlour Bells, Diablogato, Test Meat, Cujo

Alternative meets glam meets rock 1/15

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Boston Free radio

With Sister, Lunamariposa, & BABY! 1/18

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With Rothstein, Jymmy Kafka, Teamarr, Peter James, & Olivia Doh

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1/2 PRICED APPS DAILY 5 - 7PM WATCH EVERY SOCCER GAME! VOTED BOSTON’S BEST SOCCER BAR ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Saturdays & Sundays Every Game shown live in HD on 12 Massive TVs. We Show All European Soccer including Champions League, Europa League, German, French, Italian & Spanish Leagues.

CHECK OUT ALL PHOENIX LANDING NIGHTLY EVENTS AT:

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

21

SAVAGE LOVE

WHAT THE CUCK?

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

Someone at work—not my boss—asked me to fuck his wife. He’s a nice guy, his wife is hot, and I’m single.

This is a first for me. Besides STI status, what questions should I ask?

Help Interested Straight Boy Understand Lust’s Limitations 1. “Are you a cuckold or is this a hotwife thing?”

(Considering your sign-off, HISBULL, either you’ve assumed he’s a cuckold or he’s told you he is one. If he is a cuck, he may want dirty texts and pictures—or he’ll want to be in the room where it happens. Is that okay with you?)

2. “Have you done this before?” (The reality of another person sleeping with your up-to-nowmonogamous spouse can dredge up intense emotions, e.g., jealousy, sadness, anger, rage. If they’ve done this before and enjoyed it, you can jump right in. If they haven’t, maybe start with a make-out session at a time or in a place where you can’t progress to sex.)

3. “Can I speak directly with your wife?” (You’ll want to make sure she isn’t doing this under duress and that she’s into you, and you’ll want to independently verify the things he’s told you about their arrangement, health, experiences, etc.)

I recently started seeing a gorgeous 24-year-old woman who’s smart and sweet and also happens to have a few out-there fetishes. There’s not much I’ll say no to, Dan, but one of the things she’s into is formicophilia (a sexual interest in being crawled on or nibbled by insects). I offered to get some ants and worms to crawl on her body while I fuck her, but she wants me to put earthworms in her vagina. Is there a safe way to do this? Female condom? I want to help, but putting worms in your vagina seems like it will end with an embarrassing trip to the ER. Worries Over Really Messy Scenario “I thought I had heard everything,” said Dr. Jen Gunter, an ob-gyn in San Francisco.

“Apparently not.”

Dr. Gunter, “Twitter’s resident gynecologist,” first went viral when she urged women not to put jade eggs in their vaginas, just one of the many idiocies pushed by the idiots at Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s idiotic “lifestyle” website. Last week, Dr. Gunter had to urge women and men not to shoot coffee up their butts, also recommended by Goop. So I thought she might have something to say about stuffing earthworms in your girlfriend’s vagina.

“This is obviously unstudied,” Dr. Gunter said, “but anything that lives in soil could easily inoculate the vagina with pathogenic bacteria. Also, I am not sure what earthworm innards could do to the vagina, but I am guessing the worms would get squished and meet an untimely demise during sex. How would you get the pieces of dead earthworm out of her vagina? I can think of a lot of ways this could go very wrong. I would advise against it.”

I’m with Dr. Gunter (and, no doubt, PETA): Don’t stuff earthworms in your girlfriend’s vagina.

Listen to the Savage Lovecast every week at savagelovecast.com!.

COMEDY EVENTS THU 01.11 - SAT 01.13

SALEM COMEDY & SPIRITS FESTIVAL

Featuring top area performing comedians, locally crafted spirits and cider, and related special events at a variety of renowned Salem venues.

TIX & INFO @ SALEMCOMEDYFESTIVAL.COM THU 01.11

COMEDY NIGHT @ ARTLOUNGE ARLINGTON

Featuring: Brett Johnson, Dennis Hurley, Katie McCarthy, Magically Delicious, Molly Dugan, Nonye Brown-West, & Val Kappa.

Hosted by Laura Burns

1346 MASS AVE., ARLINGTON | 7PM | $10 FRI 01.12

MICHAEL BLACKSON @ THE WILBUR

He has been called one of the most original standup comics in the country, and his performances leave audiences laughing in tears. Michael Blackson, aka, ‘The African King of Comedy’, has been entertaining audiences all around the globe for more than a decade. Inspired by the stand up comedy of Eddie Murphy, Blackson began to develop his comedic talent in 1992 in the unkind comedy clubs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

246 TREMONT ST., BOSTON | 7PM | $30-$77 FRI 01.12

FRANK SANTORELLI AT THE COMEDY SCENE

Frank Santorelli is best known for playing the recurring role of “Georgie the Bartender” in The Sopranos. Frank is also well known for his star role in The Godfathers of Comedy. Frank has starred in numerous movies, including: No Reservations, Meet the Parents, and Crooked Lines. His passion has always been comedy and has headlined at some of the world’s most famous comedy clubs.

Hosted by Chris Tabb

200 PATRIOT PLACE FOXBOROUGH | 8:30PM | $20 SAT 01.13

BOSTON COMEDY CHICKS @ DOYLE’S CAFE

Featuring: Lillian DeVane, Laura Severse, Erika Rettman Welch, Shaun Connolly, & Mariel Cabral.

Hosted by Kindra Lansburg

3484 WASHINGTON ST., JP | 8PM | $12 SUN 01.14

BARON VAUGHN @ LAUGH BOSTON

Actor/comedian/writer Baron Vaughn graduated from Boston University’s theatre program and immediately went on to the Williamstown Theatre Festival. That same year he was cast in DROWNING CROW with Alfre Woodard on Broadway. As a comedian, Baron has toured all over the country performing at festivals, clubs and theatres. He has been featured on NBC’s LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON and twice on CONAN on TBS. He has had a half hour special on Comedy Central, and his comedy album, RAISED BY CABLE, is available on iTunes.

425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | 8PM | $20 WED 01.17

STARSTRUCK STORIES @ THE ROCKWELL

Did you ever have an awkward encounter with an idol/ celebrity/crush and blow it? Do you wish you could do it over? Comedians Bethany Van Delft, Nick Chambers, & friends tell cringeworthy tales about acting a fool in front of the ones you want to impress the most. The favorite story gets a redo by dope sketch group, The Redo Crew (Shaun Connolly, Nonye Brown West, & Katie McCarthy)

255 ELM ST., SOMERVILLE | 7PM | $15

Lineup & shows to change without notice. For more info visit BostonComedyShows.com

savagelovecast.com 22

01.11.18 - 01.18.18 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

HEADLINING THIS WEEK!

Annie Lederman

MTV, E!, Comedy Central Thursday - Saturday

COMING SOON Jimmy Plunkett

Special Engagement: Sat, Jan 13

Baron Vaughn

Netflix’s Grace and Frankie, Comedy Central

THE WAY WE WEREN’T

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

Special Engagement: Sun, Jan 14

Tim Dillon

Last Comic Standing, The Chris Gethard Show Jan 18+20 (No Friday Shows)

Christopher Titus 7 Comedy Specials Special Engagement: Weds, Jan 24

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

Rich Vos

Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing Jan 25-27 617.72.LAUGH | laughboston.com 425 Summer Street at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

23

Tell Governor Baker: Don’t Give Away The MBTA

First Transit has a terrible track record across the country.1 Now, they’re trying to take over MBTA bus safety and maintenance. If that happens, it will be bad for taxpayers and riders.

First Transit already hurt Massachusetts seniors and people with disabilities when they wrongfully walked away from providing MBTA paratransit service2, causing a $66 million budget deficit for the MBTA.3

Let’s protect Massachusetts from First Transit.

www.DontGiveAwayTheMBTA.org 1 “Audit finds DC Circulator Safety Defects,” The Hoya: Georgetown University, 4/19/2016, “Union wary as Wave extends contract,” Star-News, 4/29/2016, “City of Phoenix puts contractor on notice to fix bus service,” KJZZ, 7/12/2017 2 “MBTA taken for a ride,” Boston Herald, 5/23/2009, “Ohio company settles with MBTA,” Eagle-Tribune, 11/4/2012 3 “MBTA taken for a ride,” Boston Herald, 5/23/2009

PAID FOR BY INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS LOCAL 264.