DigBoston 7.12.18

DIGBOSTON.COM 07.12.18 - 07.19.18

BOSTON HOPES TO TRANSFORM INTO A ‘ZERO WASTE’ CITY...

RE CY C TH LE I ISS S UE BUT AT WHAT COST? AN INVESTIGATION BY THE BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Faraone EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jason Pramas MANAGING EDITOR Mitchell Dewar MUSIC EDITOR Nina Corcoran FILM EDITOR Jake Mulligan THEATER EDITOR Christopher Ehlers COMEDY EDITOR Dennis Maler STAFF WRITER Haley Hamilton CONTRIBUTORS G. Valentino Ball, Sarah Betancourt, Tim Bugbee, Patrick Cochran, Mike Crawford, Britni de la Cretaz, Kori Feener, Eoin Higgins, Zack Huffman, Marc Hurwitz, Marcus Johnson-Smith, C. Shardae Jobson, Heather Kapplow, Derek Kouyoumjian, Dan McCarthy, Rev. Irene Monroe, Peter Roberge, Maya Shaffer, Citizen Strain, M.J. Tidwell, Miriam Wasser, Dave Wedge, Baynard Woods INTERNS Thomas Ashton (Hampshire College), Endre Joseph (UMass Boston), Abigail Martin-Ryan (Lesley University)

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ROYALE

DEAR READER

RAPHAEL SAADIQ

RACISTS DAY PARADE

I’m not sure where to start. Because if you regularly read this column, then it won’t make too much sense when I begin by saying that I spent part of my Fourth of July at some cheap suburban parade. One of those blocks-long homages to that vibe in the first Back to the Future, an America that was jolly and dandy (literally, people used those words) for white folks in sweater vests, but more or less a shit puddle for everyone else. Norman Rockwell, but without the texture and talent.

In any case, let’s just say that I was there with family and friends. I won’t even note what awful Massachusetts town I was unfortunate to be in, not only because I don’t want to embarass or shame the people I was with who also just happened to be invited to a party down the street from where the floats passed, but I also can’t stress enough how these spectacles are all the same everywhere anyway. I’m not sure why different groups across the state feel they need to host their own parades instead of simply teaming up with neighboring communities, but I’m sure that even asking such a question these days (yeah, I know, I kind of just did) is rhetorically tantamount to spitting into an overthe-top patriotic conservative’s cocktail if they walk in your restaurant.

What do parades have to do with right-wing politics anyway? Good question. I’m not exactly sure, since Americans are red, white, and blue, plus a lot of other shades. Also, these things are supposed to be for kids, right?

And judging by how few of them vote after they turn 18, most children aren’t heavy into politics. Nevertheless, between the booming brass bands and the veterans in glistening antique machines (both of which I’m happy to admit I’ve rather enjoyed ogling at many such parades throughout the years) were legionaries of some notably depraved GOP candidates for office, as well as the hopefuls themselves in some cases.

Perhaps I’m being lazy, but sometimes it is hard to find the energy to explain in great detail why people like Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz, whose office cost the state nearly a quarter-million dollars in just one fine last year, or Trump-thumping state Rep. Geoff Diehl aren’t worth a smidgen of the shameless superficial claps they were all pitied in Everytown, Mass, last week. There has been some outrage on social media about Shiva Ayyadurai, who is running against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren and whose bus bearing the slogan “Only a REAL INDIAN can defeat the Fake Indian” barrelled through multiple towns (people were especially pissed about his appearance in Plymouth, understandably, considering genocide, etc.). But when it actually went down, at least from where I was standing, people simply stood there on the sidelines making sounds and clapping for some seriously unsavory characters. And that’s unfortunate.

Finally, and I can’t believe I feel I have to say this even after all these years of writing nonviolent dissenting opinions, here’s a departing note preemptively addressed for any ignoramus who thinks any of the shit I spun above makes me or even people who think all parades are stupid automatically unpatriotic. As I have both believed and said out loud since George W. Bush started more wars than he has read books, it’s far more shameful to back military actions that serve to make a few wealthy people fatter than it is to call for justice and transparency for those who risk their lives. The latter is the definition of patriotic; the former is a fraud.

Now there’s a message that belongs on a float. Maybe if a halfway decent politician marches with the mouthbreathers one day, they will consider using it.

CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Need more Dig? Sign up for the Daily Dig @ tiny.cc/DailyDig

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NEWS+OPINION THE PURGE NEWS

In region’s latest mass eviction of artists, Northeastern boots African-American creatives from JP space

BY OLIVIA DENG @OLIVIADENG1

***

PHOTOS VIA AAMARP (SMALL), OLIVIA DENG (BACKGROUND) On the corner of a quiet street in Jamaica Plain is a brick building that houses the studio for the African American Master Artists in Residence Program. The program is affiliated with the Northeastern University Department of African American Studies and has provided critical free work space to AAMARP talent for 40 years.

But now the artists face an uncertain future.

Maria Cimilluca, vice president for facilities at Northeastern, wrote a letter dated June 28 to AAMARP leader Gloretta Baynes asking all AAMARP artists to vacate their studios, located at 76 Atherton St. in JP, by July 13. In the letter, the administrator suggested that the artists in the space contributed to the building’s deterioration: “We understand that this news may disappoint you and others, but given the deteriorated condition of the building, and the derelict way that some of the users/occupants have abused the space, we have no alternative to the planned approach.”

In the time since their eviction note arrived, discussions have led to Northeastern extending the move-out date to July 31, and offering to assist with heavy lifting. But in initially informing tenants that they have two weeks to remove all of their work and vacate, some say that the university acted swiftly and unreasonably, even removing the AAMARP page from the university’s website.

If considered in a vacuum, this purging of creatives— and artists of color, no less—would seem bad enough to those who wish to keep urban communities eclectic and vibrant (as of last month, a dozen artists were using the building). But this eviction is merely the latest in a recent string of such noteworthy displacements, such as the EMF building in Cambridge, the Piano Factory in Boston’s South End, and the Taza Chocolate Factory in Somerville. The JP ouster has been perceived by some as a particular blow to the African-American artist community and artists of color, which also reflects national trends. According to a 2015 study from the University of Maryland, arts programs of color are particularly vulnerable, with “many leading arts organizations of color suffering from chronic deficits, with nearly half of the nation’s 20 largest arts organizations of color surveyed running deficits of at least 10 percent of their total annual budgets.”

Shea Justice, an illustrator and activist who joined the program in 2003, called the situation “sudden and 4

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traumatic,” saying that the news came without any precedent or warning.

“There hadn’t been any incidents recently,” Justice told DigBoston. “There have been some in the past, but there haven’t been any situations to bring on this sudden bum rush to just kick everyone out.”

***

Justice said that artists have been reaching out to Northeastern for repairs for years.

“We’ve asked for over a year for Northeastern to please fix it so that the place is handicap-accessible,” Justice said.

“They never did.”

The artist added that, among other offenses, Northeastern neglected to shovel during the winter: “If there’s any issue with the building, ‘Oh, this isn’t right, or these things aren’t functional, and this thing’s falling apart,’ to put that blame [on the artists] is just simply untrue.”

Don West, a photographer who’s been with AAMARP for 20 years, also said that he was wary of Northeastern’s reasoning that artists wrecked the building.

“They purported we had committed infractions on the structure of the building and that they were concerned about the safety of people in the building, etc. The so-called infractions that they outlined were issues that had come up in the past and we had addressed them. Some of them were inaccurate. Some of their views about our relationship to the building and the program were inaccurate.”

Asked about the school’s relationship and communication with AAMARP artists, and about repairs and the requests that tenants say they made for fixes, Renata Nyul, vice president of communications at Northeastern, said, “Over the years, multiple times, the university has reached out to the artist leadership to warn them about misuse of the space and to let them know how it compromises safety. … Just so you know, the issues of safety and security over the years range from incidents involving police activity, police having to be called to the space.” (In response, Justice said that he has only known of one or two specific incidents involving the police, including one in which an artist had a breakdown: “For them [Northeastern] to say, ‘The cops are coming there,’ they’re making a broad generalization that just isn’t true.”)

When AAMARP artists showed up, as instructed, on July 1 to obtain their pass keys for a new security system Northeastern installed in the building, Justice said the university sent armed guards but no means for individual access. Since getting their own passes, the tenants have been subject to surveillance as they clear out.

In preparation for the July 13 moving date, Cimilluca’s letter instructed the artists to “vacate the building and take any personal items with them.” Justice said that to categorize 30 years worth of artwork, supplies, computers, and equipment as “personal items” in the vein of T-shirts and toothbrushes trivializes the dedication people put into the space.

“They [Northeastern] gave us no opportunity for discussion or response to their views,” West said. “It’s like a hammer that came down on us unexpectedly and out of the blue with no opportunity to respond to it.”

While a spokesperson didn’t offer specifics about the future of the program, they said details will be discussed in upcoming meetings: “There are conversations going on right now with the leadership of AAMARP to figure out a viable schedule to make sure the artists can vacate the premises so the work can begin and to also talk about the future of the program.”

***

AAMARP, created by artist Dana Chandler, has a rich history in Boston. Justice said the group has been a significant support system for artists of color and was always very open and welcoming to the public.

“People know they can come,” Justice said. “They can look at a diverse range of exhibitions—whether it is L’Merchie Frazier’s quilting, or Don West’s wonderful photography from around the world, or Hakim Raquib’s printout work, or Marlon Forrester’s wonderful work. And we’ve always invited other artists to come check it out and do collaborations with us.”

While Justice said that artists who work in the building have always attempted to give Northeastern credit where it was due for the space, the school’s communications director said the “AAMARP program is loosely affiliated with the university.” As for who belongs there, Justice added, “Northeastern got [the] building … under the premise that … AAMARP, which was under the African American studies program, would be allowed to be there. That was the agreement. I guess they’ll figure it out legally at this point. … It’s just sad. A lot of African-American artists, wonderful, wonderful creative people are going to be displaced.”

“We need to support space for our artists,” said Abigail Norman, executive director of the Eliot School, another local art program with a rich Jamaica Plain history. “To displace established, important artists with strong community connections from existing spaces is a very bad idea. … It’s a very disturbing move at a moment when artist space is so limited and as an action against an important group of artists in Boston.

“I would like to see AAMARP artists remain in their longtime studios. I would like to see Northeastern make that possible for them. … To keep our artists is to keep our city vibrant. Keeping artists of color is a very, very important part of that picture.”

Ed. note: To help keep artists of color in Boston, Justice suggested that people draft petitions, make calls to representatives and Northeastern University, and visit the studio space to better understand their plight.

RED TAPE NATIONAL WIRE

The delayed reunion of a mother and child seeking refuge in MA

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Worshipper, The Devil’s Twins, Tigerman Woah, Heavy Necker

BOSTON - While the Justice Department asks for more time to reunite children and parents separated at the southern US border, it was red tape and bureaucracy that delayed reuniting a 31-year-old Guatemalan mother and her 8-yearold daughter seeking refugee status in Massachusetts.

It took 55 days to reunite Angelica Gonzalez-Garcia with her daughter last week at Logan International Airport in Boston.

Attorney Susan Church says it took “a herculean effort” to reunite them.

“The hope is always the fact that so many people joined together to help this one family, and I suspect similar group efforts are happening around the country,” Church states. “It’s just absolutely infuriating that it takes such extensive use of resources to reunite a mother with her child.”

Meanwhile, officials are scrambling to pair children with parents.

The Trump administration maintains the court mandate for reuniting all children under age five with their parents

by July 10—and all other children by July 26—isn’t enough time to verify and vet each parent.

But according to Church, the delay in the Gonzalez-Garcia case was due to the government’s inefficient fingerprint verification process.

Gonzalez-Garcia and her daughter were separated at the US-Mexico border in Arizona and sent to different parts of the country.

Church says authorities kept putting off appointments to verify the mother’s and daughter’s fingerprints.

“The delay is being caused by these fingerprints that the Office of Refugee Resettlement requires the parents to take before their children are returned,” Church notes. “However, all the parents have had their fingerprints taken already at the border.”

In Congress, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, who worked to help reunite the family, described the reunion as “heart-wrenching” and said, “We know there are just under 3,000 more like her who are still waiting.”

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HIGHER LEARNING APPARENT HORIZON

Meet the Tufts student working for Snoop’s cannabis venture capital firm

BY CONNOR DALE

What is CVC’s role in investing in the cannabis industry? What specific startups is it looking to fund?

Casa Verde Capital is a venture capital fund focusing on the ancillary cannabis industry, which is commonly referred to as “not touching the plant.” The firm employs a “picks and shovels” strategy to support the emerging industry [Ed. note: As in the old saying, “In a gold rush, sell shovels”]. Through this, we hope to help the space grow and mature. We also have a substantial network and significant market intelligence that we leverage on a daily basis.

Regardless of when recreational dispensaries materialize in Mass, it’s no secret that the industry presents significant economic opportunities. The word is already out on that one. According to a report by Arcview Market Research, one of many available indicators, the Mass cannabis market is expected to balloon from $52 million in 2016, to an estimated $1.07 billion in 2020 with medical and recreational sales combined.

While much of this revenue will come from frontend dispensary and retailer transactions, there’s also money to be made (or lost, of course) in pure investment—in 2017, investors poured $500 million into private cannabis companies in a $9.7 billion US market. Boston area firms like Dutchess Capital and 4Front Ventures are looking to fund marijuana startups, while Sira Naturals—a company which, judging by how things are going so far, is likely to operationalize some of the state’s first recreational licenses—even has its own microbusiness accelerator.

It has the most growth potential out of any multibilliondollar industry over the next five or so years.

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Julian Goldhill is starting to get in on the game. A rising senior at Tufts University in Somerville, he studies economics and finance, smokes pot regularly, and hopes to found his school’s first-ever cannabis club next school year. Oh, and he is also an analyst for Casa Verde Capital (CVC), Snoop Dogg’s own venture capital firm that invests in the ancillary cannabis industry, which means they don’t mess with the plant directly (think pipes, fertilizers, packaging, products of that sort). The firm’s a leading player in the West Coast weed investment landscape, having just closed with a debut fund of $45 million.

As a local student with some venture capital experience, Julian shared thoughts on the expanding industry and explained what he thinks successful investment opportunities might look like here in Massachusetts.

Tell us about your previous experience in investing and working with venture capital firms.

I didn’t have much experience with investing before I came to Tufts, but when I arrived I got involved with the Tufts Financial Group and became a lead analyst during my sophomore year. I’ve had great internships in wealth management and microfinance, and have had some superb mentors in the three years I’ve been here.

Where does your interest in the cannabis industry come from?

It has the most growth potential out of any multibillion-dollar industry over the next five or so years.

What broadband internet was to the 2000s and what cable was to the ’90s, cannabis is to the present.

How did you get involved with Casa Verde Capital, especially as a Tufts student?

I reached out to Casa Verde’s partner, Yoni Meyer, a Tufts ’08 alumni. I did some remote work for the company and then flew down for the summer.

What is the investment environment like? Is it competitive? Too early to tell?

What people don’t quite realize yet is that this industry is small in only one respect—it is only small in the sense of how big the industry will become in the coming years.

There are tons of companies out there simply trying to take advantage of this growing market, and there are plenty of legitimate companies with huge potential. Our job is to vet all these companies to find the potential and to find investments that both make sense numbers-wise and portfolio-wise.

In the cannabis industry as a whole, there are a lot of players and it is rather competitive—this is to be expected, as it is up-and-coming. Now this is mirrored on the investment side—there are many people pouring money into this industry, and the onus is on companies to pick the correct strategic partners for their business.

What should Massachusetts investors look for in terms of capital criteria?

Businesses that are able to scale and scale quickly.

With laws changing all the time, the companies that are able to grow at the flick of a switch are going to be successful. That is why we focus on the ancillary side—the service firms that provide the backbone to this industry will thrive. When I say service firms I am talking about the business-to-business wholesalers or ordering platforms—LeafLink, for example—the delivery companies, such as Eaze, the point of sale software providers, like Green Bits, and the tracking/compliance companies, like Trellis.

What’s your specific role at CVC? I am a summer analyst. I do a lot of things, from company due diligence, to industry research, to participating in calls with prospective companies. Every day is extremely interesting and I am learning a lot.

Casa Verde is obviously out of Los Angeles, but what can you say about the Boston cannabis industry with the legalization of recreational pot and commercial adult-use cannabis sales beginning soon?

LA only legalized recreational consumption in January of 2018, and since then the market has exploded—in a good way. All I can say is that big things are going to happen in Boston. Plenty of people on the West Coast believe Boston has the potential to be the LA of cannabis on the East Coast.

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PHOTO CREDIT: DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN

LIVING ON SCRAPS SPECIAL FEATURE

Boston is aiming to achieve “zero waste,” which some say can create more living-wage jobs.

Is part of this lofty goal rooted in the region’s dirtiest hypocrisy?

BY COLE ROSENGREN As Mayor Marty Walsh and members of his administration have boasted on several fronts, the future of this city depends on sustainability. To that end, Boston has grand plans for a new “zero waste” economy, where everything that people throw away becomes a resource and recycling helps fuel regional industries.

It’s a lofty goal, but it may not include everyone.

For Boston’s vision appears to have left out recycling workers, who fair-wage advocates say have been shortchanged by the city and its neighboring municipalities for decades.

Though they work on municipal contracts, which are traditionally covered by a set of little-known “living wage” ordinances that should boost their pay by thousands of dollars per year, none of the workers at the Casella Waste Systems recycling facility in Charlestown are technically public employees. Even though Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville were at the forefront of the living-wage movement in the late 1990s, and despite their auras of progressive leadership, each has given Casella several living wage exemptions. While this was once seen as a controversy worthy of headlines and protests, the practice has gradually calcified into official policy.

The rationale for these exemptions—first supplied by Casella itself—is that said contracts were for the sale of goods, not services. Back when cities were making a lot of money on recyclables after they were sorted and sold, it was a lot harder to argue with that logic.

Now, global recycling markets are in turmoil due to Chinese trade policy, and the financial tables have turned. Last year, for example, Somerville wound up paying Casella more than $223,000, while Cambridge paid nearly $127,000. Boston still made money on its recycling contract in 2017, but it looks increasingly likely that will not happen again this year.

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In some ways, the sliding market may help the case made by labor and environmental advocates who argue that these cities are manipulating a living-wage ordinance loophole. At the same time, it raises the question of whether they’ll suddenly pay higher wages as recycling contracts are expected to get much more expensive.

If Boston, Somerville, and Cambridge do find the will to make sure that recycling employees qualify for their living wages ($14.82, $12.80, and $15.64 respectively), they can look to examples in other states. Plus, they can leverage a potential boost from the state’s minimum wage climbing from $11 to $15 by 2023. Per the original spirit of the living-wage movement, cities should now be more compelled than ever before to evaluate how they can pay and maintain higher salaries for outside contracts. Furthermore, Boston’s current “zero waste” planning process has the potential to transform the entire region in multiple areas.

Still, considering the way that one publicly traded company has been able to successfully subvert landmark municipal policy for years, one has to wonder if new plans will become similarly superficial.

Whatever happens next, any honest discussion about a future recycling economy should address the complex history of activism, politics, and systematic obfuscation that the current one is built on.

LESS THAN ZERO

“We’ve got a huge opportunity.”

Boston Chief of Environment Austin Blackmon speaks to a large crowd at City Hall during the Hub’s inaugural Zero Waste Advisory Committee meeting in February.

“We’ve made great progress already. … But when we look at our peers across the country, like San Francisco where they’re diverting up to 80 percent of their waste

from landfill, we’ve got a long way to go.”

The definition of “zero waste” can differ from city to city and region to region. Various presentations prepared for Boston by some of the country’s best-known recycling consultants have included nods to “equity” and making worker safety, health, and job quality priorities.

Likewise, according to Boston’s 2014 Climate Action Plan, this sort of “waste recovery” is seen as a way to “create safe jobs with living wages.”

Whatever the meaning, Boston’s nowhere close to “zero waste” by any measure. The city’s residential recycling rate is currently around 25 percent, meaning the majority of everything people put out at their curbs is still going to various waste-to-energy incinerators throughout the state. Alternatively, they could reduce and reuse more material, pull out food waste for composting or anaerobic digestion, and maximize their participation in the current recycling program.

In other cities that are pursuing comparable goals, commonly cited results have included an influx of local

“‘Zero waste’ is not just about the trash, it’s not only about the recycling. It’s also about having a socially just circular system of handling waste.”

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investment and higher wage jobs. In one case, San Francisco has a recycling facility that is a union shop, run by worker-owned company Recology. Other major cities with “zero waste” goals—Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Austin—also work with recycling facilities that are either staffed by union labor or covered by wage ordinances.

“Part of that package of being an exemplary ‘zero waste’ city is prioritizing and valuing the recycling workers,” said Ahmina Maxey, a regional coordinator with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. “‘Zero waste’ is not just about the trash, it’s not only about the recycling. It’s also about having a socially just circular system of handling waste.”

Everything is technically still on the table for Boston’s “zero waste” planning process, with final recommendations due by early fall (ahead of 2019 contract expirations). Certain components are already being pushed aside, though, since they’re seen as being outside the scope of what is achievable.

On a larger scale, any effort to influence Casella’s wages would have to be regionally coordinated. The facility works with an estimated 50 municipalities, plus commercial customers, with Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville combined comprising less than 25 percent of the material coming in every year. Nevertheless, advocates with the Zero Waste Boston coalition believe this is a convenient excuse to overlook the core issue; regardless of whether it is Casella or the cities paying higher rates, no one can dispute that sorters are among the lowest earners in the waste and recycling sector.

“It’s irresponsible to continue this way,” Alex Papali of Zero Waste Boston and Clean Water Action said.

“The contractors who hold these city contracts have an obligation to provide wages that are going to allow people to stay living in our communities.”

If Boston does take truly transformative steps approaching “zero waste,” many of the future “green” jobs that yields will likely involve specialized recycling and the manufacturing of goods with recycled content.

But there will still be a need for the far less lucrative work of sifting through junk mail, sticky beer bottles, and crusty peanut butter jars.

Based on their location and longstanding municipal relationships, Casella will continue to be in the mix as well. The company’s Charlestown facility is the only one of its kind for miles around. Through the years, this dynamic has made the regional recycling behemoth both a necessity for public works departments and a white whale for the labor community.

A FINE SORT Curbside residential recycling has existed in its current form in Greater Boston since the early 1990s. As for the complex global operation that proceeds once items leave the curb in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, that process has almost always started at a large warehouse complex in Charlestown, next to a set of overgrown tennis courts on the edge of Bunker Hill Community College’s campus. Northbound traffic passes overhead on I-93. Orange Line trains run alongside.

Currently owned by Vermont-based Casella, which acquired the plant in 1999 with the purchase of KTI Recycling, this is one of the largest recycling facilities in the country. An estimated 230,000 tons of material from communities and businesses throughout the region pass through here every year.

About 5 percent of Casella’s company-wide workforce of 2,000 people is unionized, but none at this facility are members. National Labor Relations Board records show only one election that could have changed that; it was led unsuccessfully by UFCW Local 445 nearly 15 years ago.

The drivers who bring recycling in from Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville all make at least $27.75 per hour—plus benefits—either under Teamsters contracts or the state’s prevailing wage law. In the view of Casella and its municipal customers, any living-wage ordinance liability stops as soon as the material leaves the trucks.

From there, a new set of workers is responsible for separating everything into marketable commodities.

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temporary workers—with wages ranging from the state minimum of $11 up to $30.

“We deliberately promote many entry-level employees to openings in higher-skill, higher-wage positions regularly,” Casella Vice President Joe Fusco wrote in response to questions via email. “Our approach has been to offer a path to increasingly responsible job duties and growth in compensation.” Fusco added that sorting jobs are “a desirable opportunity for many to acquire or exceed the skills and experience typical of living wage careers and beyond.”

The higher end of that spectrum may include supervisors, mechanics, scale operators, equipment technicians, forklift drivers, and other specialized positions. But it’s the entry-level recycling sorters picking items off conveyor belts and cleaning machinery who make less and are at the heart of this debate.

Statistically, they will be exposed to a variety of hazards caused by repetitive motion, airborne dust, dangerous items put in recycling carts, and other factors on a daily basis. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed the injury rate at private recycling facilities is nearly double the national average for all industries.

Because it’s common practice for recycling facilities to utilize temporary labor, which is categorized separately and thus harder to track, these numbers could actually be higher. Temporary workers are seen as a necessity by many recycling plants because volumes can vary day to day. Overtime, workers’ compensation, health care, and other benefits, if there are any, go through the employment agency, not Casella.

Some of the industry’s largest companies have recognized that temp work presents inherent safety challenges. Initial training often falls on outside agencies and may not always be as extensive as it is for full-time employees. All of which feeds into the portrayal by local labor groups that these employees are at risk, making low-end wages to spend at least part of their days on essential city work.

“If we’re really committed to lifting Boston families out of poverty we have a really relevant example here with the Casella workers,” Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) organizer Tolle Graham, who recently announced her retirement, said at a 2017 city meeting.

Fusco said that training at Casella is “extensive as well as frequent.” Reports, however, show that there have been some troubles at the Charlestown plant.

In 2005, the state attorney general’s office announced a settlement with Casella for nearly $80,000 in back pay owed to 30 employees, complete with testimony about poor working conditions and intimidation. The company paid a $5,500 penalty.

Regarding more recent conditions at the Charlestown facility, there have been five OSHA violations since 2010.

In 2015, MassCOSH co-authored a report portraying poor standards for sorters, which included commentary from a former worker who said they left Casella because of the job’s inherent hazards.

“We would find lots of glass, and needles,” she said.

“Sometimes workers are punctured and hurt from the needles. We would find dead animals in the bins and it really stinks. It’s also very hot, there isn’t much air [circulation].”

When initially contacted for this story, Casella’s Fusco said, “The working environment at Charlestown is excellent.” Outside sources also vouched that Casella’s safety culture and training program is thought to be one of the more comprehensive in the industry for a company of its size.

But those same sources also recognize that even at its safest, sorting is a tough gig. When problems do occur, they can be serious. Another former Casella worker confirmed two incidents in particular that Fusco later verified. One employee broke their ankle while cutting bales of recyclables in 2014, and another suffered a worse outcome.

“Unfortunately, in 2017 an employee did require an amputation of his hand when he reached into a machine in operation—an action he took in direct violation of safety protocols, specifically our Lock-out/Tag-out

Program, and which was contrary to his training.”

An OSHA inspection report described the incident: At 2:00 a.m. on August 25, 2017, an employee was working with 2 coworkers while installing a paddle seal on an air lock. One of the coworkers hit the wrong button which turned on the air lock where the employee was working with his second coworker. The employee had his hand amputated when the air lock moved and caught it.

In the eyes of labor advocates, these accidents just reinforce the fact that this job merits more attention.

Many recycling sorters are immigrants, and some work multiple jobs to support their families. They’re also performing a task that local recycling programs couldn’t exist without. In fact, many in the field believe these sorters are exactly who the living wage was meant to cover.

THE EXEMPTIONS When Baltimore became the first major city to pass a living-wage ordinance in 1994, the federal minimum wage was $4.25 (about $7.17 today). Following years of wage stagnation, municipal privatization and urban disinvestment, advocates wanted a way to drive local change.

Boston joined the first wave of cities to harness that energy—which many have likened to today’s “Fight for $15” movement—and passed its own ordinance in 1997.

At the time, Mayor Tom Menino said, “It is incumbent upon us to ensure that the rising tide does in fact raise all boats, not just the yachts.”

While that ordinance would later be watered down by business community pushback—foreshadowing what was to come—it nonetheless served as a catalyst.

Somerville and Cambridge passed their own ordinances in 1999.

LIVING ON SCRAPS continued on pg. 12

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After years of activism in the Boston area and across the country, the labor community was feeling upbeat heading into the 2000s. The Mass minimum wage was $6, but the three cities now had a tool to aid more workers with living wages ranging from $8.23 to $10. At least in theory.

In practice, activists and organizers identified KTI Recycling as a “key company” for living-wage coverage, but one that was expected to put up a fight even before Casella bought it in 1999. Then-Somerville Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay even mentioned the company’s likely exemption during a press conference in July of that year marking the ordinance’s implementation. On May 10, 2000, she submitted a letter to the Board of Aldermen requesting an exemption for a new three-year contract with the company:

These haven’t been the only contracts blessed with living-wage exemptions in the three cities. Various requests for senior and disabled transport, camping programs, parking garages, and child care, among others, have all come up. Still, the continuing pattern of recycling waivers has historically stood out—locally as well as nationally.

Stephanie Luce, a labor studies professor at the City University of New York, tracked the success of early ordinances in the book Fighting for a Living Wage and views what came next in Boston as particularly notable.

Some cities lapsed in their implementation, but Luce said, “Boston was exceptional … it was taking such an active oversight.” As for the recycling piece, the professor added, “The KTI case was really crazy and frustrating.”

During the following two years, Boston officials vetted the issue thoroughly, yet to no avail.

“We hated that they got away with getting an exemption because there was no alternative, but struggled to figure out how to make the argument with the city, or how the city could still use its power to push back against that,” said Lisa Clauson, a former organizer with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

Recycling was profitable—generating $250,000 in 2001—and disrupting that over a labor ordinance was controversial. So after all three companies that bid on Boston’s next recycling contract submitted pricing without any mention of the living wage, the city’s thenDPW Director Joe Casazza filed a hardship waiver request.

A transcript of an April 2002 hearing, chaired by Boston Living Wage Administrator Mimi Turchinetz, offers a stark Recycling services to the City will be curtailed if strict picture of the leverage these companies held at the time. compliance with the LWO is required because KTI will None provided evidence of economic hardship. Workers not contract with the City … Following an exhaustive were not in attendance, and questions were raised about investigation, the City determined that there are no other whether they had even been notified. local recycling companies that can adequately address its “Are you at all aware of the impact of these wages needs. on your employees? Like, do you know how they can live, making this little amount of money?” Turchinetz asked.

Somerville was stuck. The board approved a two-year “Am I aware of it?” replied Ray Volucci of KTI. exemption in June, with future Mayor Joe Curtatone, then “Yes.” an alderman, among the members who voted it out of “They—some of them do quite well.” committee.

“They do quite well, okay.”

Cambridge was next. Later that same year, KTI “(inaudible) we offer them overtime.”

Residential Sales Manager Greg Appleton wrote multiple With three industry powerhouses bidding but letters to the city’s recycling director. One estimated that refusing to enter a contract that required living wages, compliance with Cambridge’s ordinance would cost at the labor community became livid. least $750,000 per year.

“Recycling sorters are the very people the living wage “Our question is—should KTI be considered a Service ordinance was enacted to help,” Mary Jo Connolly, then a or Supply vendor?” Appleton’s letter asked. “We believe research associate at UMass Boston, said in her testimony. that we would be a Supply vendor. We currently do have “Waiving the living wage ordinance for Boston’s recycling Supply Agreements with some of our customers.” contract amounts to agreeing to poverty wages for Cambridge Deputy City Manager Richard Rossi soon workers at these facilities and using the citizens’ tax wrote an exemption request letter to the city’s purchasing dollars to do it.” director, categorizing the contract as “recyclables “If our living wage ordinance can be tossed aside processing services” multiple times. The Cambridge Living by any company that threatens us, then it’s not worth Wage Advisory Board (LWAB) approved that waiver in anything,” said Betty McGuire, who worked on the issue December 2000. At the time, its members expressed a for ACORN. “It’s not worth all the fighting that we went desire to address the issue in coordination with Boston through to get it passed.” and Somerville, but the board has not been given another The week after the Boston hearing, Somerville Mayor chance to vote on the issue in 18 years. Instead, the city Kelly Gay submitted another request to the Board of manager unilaterally approved another exemption for Aldermen in her city, asking for a new exemption because Casella during the next contract renewal.

“KTI has stated that it will not adhere to the requirements of the LWO.” Kelly Gay’s exemption was granted by the end of the year.

Alderman Bruce Desmond was the lone “no” vote, telling a Globe reporter, “If we’re going to be serious about enforcing a living wage ordinance, we have to hold these people accountable.”

Boston put its contract back out for bid in July 2002, and the issue received ongoing coverage throughout the region. In October, two companies, including KTI, again submitted bids that didn’t include the living wage. The city INAUGURAL MEETING OF BOSTON’S ZERO WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE rejected them.

IN CITY HALL’S PIEDMONT ROOM ON FEB. 12, 2018.

The following January,

Following an exhaustive investigation, the City determined that there are no other local recycling companies that can adequately address its needs.

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Turchinetz, the living-wage administrator, convened a second hardship waiver hearing. Digging in its heels, KTI noted that compliance presented a “tremendous cost” and would be impossible without raising prices for all customers. The AFL-CIO called the entire process “an affront”; others questioned why Boston seemed so willing to let KTI dictate the terms.

Public pressure ramped up throughout 2003. Labor groups staged a protest outside KTI in Charlestown that February, while council members expressed their dismay and worker affidavits were sent to the state attorney general’s office.

Some of that activism eventually led to the aforementioned overtime settlement. In the end, though, KTI prevailed. Details about the internal struggles and corporate maneuvering behind the scenes remain unclear, but in December 2003, Turchinetz approved the hardship waiver. Menino, for whom the recycling contract had become a hot potato that garnered negative headlines, extended the KTI contract to 2005.

After that, the media attention disappeared, with future exemptions meeting far less resistance.

DOUBLING DOWN In the nearly 15 years since Boston capitulated under recycling industry pressure, all affected cities in the region have had chances to change course. Instead, they allowed the supply versus services argument to become status quo.

In late 2004, Casella sent a letter to the Cambridge DPW—ahead of a contract renewal—to “reiterate our stance that this is not actually a Service Agreement, but simply a Supply Agreement.” In the communication, educational assistance, company outings, and prizes for avoiding accidents—such as free safety glasses and gloves, or gift certificates to Filene’s and Demoulas—were touted as signs of a positive work environment.

Cambridge City Solicitor Donald Drisdell agreed with the position, laying out his rationale in a January 2005 letter that noted the “substantial sums” paid by Casella for the city’s recyclables. The following month, Somerville solicitor John Gannon cited this specific opinion as rationale for maintaining that city’s policy.

In Boston, the cementing of the waiver happened in a June 2009 memo, authored by then-Corporation Counsel William Sinnott, stating: “The recyclables are delivered to the bidder and title will transfer at that time. No services are performed by the bidder prior to the title transfer.”

Living-wage organizers have been critical of that opinion, saying that it isn’t based on existing statutes, regulations, case law, or other definitions.

“I think it’s unfortunate that they seem to have bought Casella’s interpretation without giving it a serious rigorous thought,” said Richard Juang, an attorney with the Roxbury-based Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE). “Municipalities need to be making their own independent judgments, and as democratic bodies the people they should first and foremost be considering is the residents and workers in their cities.

Corporate entities come and go.”

Multiple attempts to contact Sinnott, who is currently in private practice, were unsuccessful.

Some thought Mayor Marty Walsh’s labor background might make him sympathetic to this issue, but he didn’t seem to be when the city’s recycling contract came up for rebid during his early months on the job in 2014. Initial documents mentioned the living-wage requirement, yet emails obtained via public records request show the city’s recycling director quickly clarified this had been done “inadvertently” and that the ordinance wouldn’t apply.

That April, the Walsh transition team’s environmental working group report even called out the issue directly: “If no bidders for recyclables processing contracts are currently willing to offer a living wage to workers, the city should make an official commitment to prefer the first qualified bidder willing to do so, providing an incentive for responsible evolution of the industry.”

Worker advocates sent a letter to Walsh early that June asking for a contract delay based on such factors, but the contract was approved later that month.

When asked after a May 2017 City Hall meeting

whether the waiver might be reevaluated in the city’s next contract, Chief of Environment Blackmon, who recently announced that he is leaving the administration, said, “We want to make sure that we live up to all of our responsibilities here in the city of Boston, including anything as it relates to labor.”

Asked later that same month how living-wage compliance might affect Casella’s bid on Boston’s 2019 contract, CEO John Casella said it was up to Boston to make that policy. “How do they want to put the [request for proposals] out? So we’ll put our proposal in based on whatever RFP the city puts out. … That’s their decision in terms of how they want to approach that, not the private sector,” he said at an industry convention in New Orleans.

When asked how the company would respond today, Casella’s Joe Fusco wrote, “We are always open to discussing the economic rationale and their appetite for different cost structures with our municipal customers during bid specifications and contract negotiations.”

MONEY TALKS At least a dozen local governments around the country cover their recyclable sorting contracts under living-wage ordinances, with varying details about how that cost is distributed.

In some cases, the policies have been in place for decades and were enacted with little fanfare. Others came after years of activism, union organizing, litigation, or a combination of the three. In a few cities this even led to back-pay settlements.

Two other examples involved Casella.

In 2005, the City Council of Ann Arbor, Michigan, voted to fund the gap between the living wage and what sorters were making at a municipally owned recycling facility after Casella subsidiary FCR refused to do so. At the time, the cost was $105,650 per year. While Casella no longer operates the facility, that policy continues.

Tompkins County in New York took a similar step in 2015 by approving a one-time $20,000 disbursement to Casella, which then raised wages for recycling workers.

Overall, the increase was expected to cost $105,000 per year, with Casella covering the difference. (Ed. note: For even more examples from around the country, check out the longer version of this feature at digboston.com).

Based on Casella’s experiences in Michigan and New York, and the company’s stance that municipalities set public policy and they just follow it, some feel it is possible for a different arrangement to be formulated in Boston.

That would also require the Walsh administration to live up to its rhetorical position. In a February podcast interview, the mayor shared his thoughts about the relevance of labor movements in the modern economy.

“You can’t raise a family on declining revenue,” Walsh said. “Meanwhile companies are making record profits.

I’m not looking to take away from companies, and this sounds like the typical Democratic response, but both can exist together.”

According to Casella’s latest earnings report, which showed $147.5 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2018, business is “stellar” with the exception of one key area—recycling. Like many other companies in the industry, Casella is forecasting millions in lost revenue this year because of China’s big trade changes.

This has led to varying degrees of strife for many of Casella’s municipal customers too—depending on their contract terms—and is almost certainly going to mean higher prices when those contracts come up for renewal.

Casella has already begun trying to renegotiate terms with multiple cities beforehand.

With Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville all committed to continuing their recycling programs— regardless of current or future cost spikes—it seems likely all three cities will end up surpassing the amounts at which their wage ordinances technically kick in. Each ordinance specifies in various language that contracts worth a certain amount are subject to living-wage coverage. For Boston, it’s $25,000. In the other two, it’s $10,000.

In Casella’s view, these conditions only stand to bolster the company’s position.

“Market fluctuations in value are a distinct characteristic of tangible goods,” Fusco wrote. “This argument is strengthened when market fluctuations are at play, as the goods have shifting values that impact what customers delivering recyclables pay based on the quality of the materials.”

Walsh’s press office echoed this interpretation in an unattributed email statement: “Regardless of fluctuations in the City’s revenue share, the nature of the contract remains unchanged. Since the contract is for the acceptance or sale of goods and is not a service contract, it is exempt from the living wage ordinance.”

Boston’s Living Wage Advisory Committee has considered formally asking Walsh to change course on the recycling contract, along with broader recommendations to update the ordinance. Draft language has been discussed for months, but nothing has been finalized.

(Just this month, the Walsh administration proposed a living wage ordinance amendment to broaden protections for security and maintenance workers at cityowned buildings. In a press release touting the move, the mayor said, “I am proud that we are leading by example in lifting up workers who provide critical services to our city and oftentimes go unrecognized for their important contributions.”)

Cambridge Director of Communication Lee Gianetti initially agreed to provide a statement about his city’s current position but has not done so as of publication.

Somerville reiterated its goods versus services stance in an emailed statement, but left the door open for reconsideration. Comments at a June budget hearing show that remains the case.

“We have actually reached out to Boston and Cambridge to understand how they might approach this, as I think we have varying expirations on the contract,” Mayor Curtatone said after an alderman brought up the topic. “I think together we’d have greater impact on that issue. … It’s a fair point and we do agree on that.”

at the very bottom, and I don’t know that cities should be racing to the bottom,” said Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, whose district includes Casella’s facility. “To keep a middle class or working class in Boston we have to have that realistic conversation about how we can’t afford to just pay minimum wages no matter what they are.”

Edwards may be setting the tone for upcoming discussions about the recycling contract, adding, “I think we should recognize the power that we have, or any city should, as an economic engine for a company. … That’s very powerful to say to them, ‘We will not contract with you.’”

Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan said he believes a broader conversation about wage equity is needed, beyond just individual contracts. “If a company says, ‘We have to charge you this much and we pay a living wage,’ and another company says, ‘We charge you less, but we don’t pay a living wage,’ then I think we should go with the company that pays a living wage even if it’s more expensive,” Zondervan said. “That’s the point of having a living-wage ordinance.”

Somerville Alderman Ben Ewen-Campen agreed that maintaining a living wage above $15 was still important and said he would be open to an arrangement in which the city foots some of the bill—under the right circumstances—if it can help the sorters.

“Somerville is a place where workers’ rights are a top priority for the residents, and I think we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is,” Ewen-Campen said.

Change won’t come easy—especially without a visible plea from the workers, consensus from local politicians, and increased public engagement around recycling in general. The average person still has no concept of where their recycling goes, let alone who has to handle their empties. Even when attention was high in the early 2000s, advocates still lost. Though with Boston taking on a major aspiration such as “zero waste” and the financial model for recycling upended, this may be an ideal time to hash it out once and for all.

“We want to make sure that this planning process, which gives us a limited window of opportunity to talk about our waste system, is doing it in a comprehensive way,” said Papali of Zero Waste Boston. “We want to make sure that we do right by the workers in the industry and capture all the economic value.”

The next Zero Waste Advisory Committee meeting is on July 16. Final recommendations are expected this fall, and discussions about the 2019 recycling contract are already underway.

Depending on what happens, Boston—and as an extension, the entire region—could be in for one of the most drastic shifts toward sustainability and equity in the history of its waste and recycling system.

Or not.

FOLLOW THE LITER Hopes of collaborating on recycling have come up in all three cities before, though all of their contracts remain staggered. Somerville’s is up in 2021, Cambridge’s in 2020, and Boston’s next year.

While there appears to be nascent interest in rekindling the issue from officials across the Charles in both cities, it will be up to Boston to command the lead.

After initially demurring that it wasn’t their place to get involved with the “political” side of this process, the city’s “zero waste” consulting team has offered possibilities and new approaches. One is to create a twophase bid process for the next recycling contract, in which price alone would not be the sole factor. Another idea, mentioned at an advisory meeting in May, was for Boston to build its own recycling facility, as Somerville considered in the ’90s. The costs are high, though, and any such This article was produced in collaboration with the project would take years to fund and complete.

Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. To see more The city could also theoretically contract with another reporting like this please consider making a contribution company—which it has done for select neighborhoods at givetobinj.org. in the past—but their facilities are all farther away than Charlestown. Other unresolved questions include how to reconcile each city’s different wage rate, or the fact that the majority of cities sending material to Casella don’t have living-wage ordinances at all.

On the compensation front, the gradual increase to a $15 state minimum wage will help recycling sorters in the long run; in the short run, a looming boost could motivate some leaders to address the concept of living-wage rates right now.

“The point of the PHOTO CREDIT: DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN minimum wage is to be NEWS TO US

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NOT QUITE ISLAND HOPPING (THE SEQUEL) HIKES

How to walk across Boston Harbor without getting in trouble WORDS AND PHOTOS BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON

A couple of years ago I wrote about a spectacular hike I led for the Appalachian Mountain Club where we literally walked “on” Boston Harbor, using a spit of land to get to Thompson Island at low tide. You may also remember that I subsequently got into a bit of a pickle for doing so and ended up being labeled the “bad boy of the AMC,” which I feel ashamed about but never fail to use whenever I’m telling stories in the bars.

Well, being the obsessive person that I am, I decided to try again, this time leading a hike that would check out some of the best parts but wouldn’t actually get me kicked off a Boston Harbor island, which, when you think about it, is pretty impressive, especially when embellishing it in the bars. And the result? A hike that really is quite memorable while also being completely legal to do.

As mentioned in the earlier article, Thompson Island is quite close to the mainland and is one of two islands south of Boston that you can actually walk to at low tide via a sandbar. From the main road leading from North Quincy/ Wollaston Beach to Squantum, you can see the spit of land between the eastern edge of Squantum and Thompson Island at low tide if you look hard enough, but it really doesn’t look like much from street level, so it isn’t all that well known.

But if you hike the wooded trails from Secret Squantum Park (and yes, that’s its name, though some also say Nickerson Beach or Squaw Rock) off Moon Island Road by the Nickerson American Legion Post, you can quickly get to the beginning of the sandbar in a few minutes, though one note: Your best bet for parking is not in the American Legion lot or along the street there, but back a few hundred feet along one of the side streets, making sure there are no “No Parking” signs. And if you want to get to the starting point but don’t have a car, you can take the 211 bus from the Quincy Center T stop and get off at Dorchester Street and Bellevue Road, which is close to the park.

Our recent sunset hike from Squantum to the start of Thompson Island took us along a high coastal trail from the road, with jaw-dropping views of the Boston skyline along the way, and soon, a side view of the sandbar, before 14

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dipping back down into the woods, keeping the ocean to our left until we got to the start of the sandbar. Just before taking a left down to the spit of land, we passed a rocky trail to the right that went up to a cliff overlooking the water, noting that this is a good place to watch the sun drop from the horizon at the end of the hike.

As to the sandbar itself, you need to know a few things: First, the spit of land is generally accessible 90 minutes before low tide and 90 minutes after high tide, though this can vary—and vary a lot depending on any breaches formed during recent storms—so try to get to the start 90 minutes before low tide if possible, and definitely head back to at least within sight of the start about an hour after low tide just in case it starts filling in, unless you want to pretend to be Gilligan for a night (and possibly get kicked off the island, which, as noted, would make for a good story for the bars).

Second, you may picture the sandbar as being a narrow strip of land where you have to walk single file, but it’s actually 100 feet wide or possibly even more, so it’s plenty safe and doesn’t feel dicey at all.

Walking across a sandbar to an island only to turn around at the island itself might not sound very interesting, but the Thompson Island sandbar has some of the best views on the entire Massachusetts coast, especially late in the day when the lighting is so interesting. Doing the 20-minute walk from Squantum to the island will give you views of Boston, the Blue Hills, and more to the left, while the views to the right are like a totally different world, including pristine islands and distant scenes of the South Shore looking more like something out of midcoast Maine than the city of Boston—and yes, you are indeed in Boston for part of this hike.

Our walk took all of this in, and eventually we reached the southern edge of the island and were greeted by a “No

Trespassing” sign, which caused confusion the first time we went and still causes a bit of confusion. To make a long story short, we were under the impression that not only could you walk along the water’s edge at low tide (because it seems that Massachusetts law says you can do this), but you could also walk onto the island on summer weekends as long as you stayed away from the campus area where youth and education programs take place.

Unfortunately, we were told on a follow-up hike—after the first article was published—that none of this could be done after all (and we were almost escorted off the island by boat, but cooler heads prevailed), so when we hit the sign this time, our options were to go to the right for a short distance and get one last look at the other islands, or go left and head a short distance parallel to the sign to catch more views of Boston along with interesting views of the southern part of the island (or both, which we did).

This spot by the sign, by the way, is a good place for a picnic or a quick lunch/dinner break, as there are some pieces of driftwood to sit on, which is precisely what we did for a 15-minute dinner break, taking in the setting sun, the salt air, the absolute peace and quiet, and the endless scenery.

You may think that at this point, the hike is basically over and you simply reverse direction, heading back to the road. This isn’t exactly true if you do what we did, which was to go back to the Squantum side of the sandbar, then scamper up the trail leading to the road, but immediately taking a left up the cliff face mentioned earlier. If you’re here at sunset, this is a must, because the views from the top of the ledges—which are commonly known as the Chapel Rocks—are possibly the best views of the entire trip.

Below you’ll get to see the sandbar in its entirety, while looking right will give you higher-up views of the islands and the South Shore, and looking left will give you views of the rocky coast of Squantum as well as the sun setting over the water.

The original Thompson Island hike, which included Thompson Island itself, was something I’ll never forget for several reasons, but this perfectly legal walk includes mostly similar sights and may also give you a bit of cachet, since saying that you walked across Boston Harbor sounds like the stuff of legend. If you want to do something totally different that entails very little effort, this walk is certainly one to consider.

SQUANTUM TO START OF THOMPSON ISLAND VIA SANDBAR. 3-4 MILES TOTAL, 2 HOURS. ARTICLE ON ORIGINAL HIKE CAN BE FOUND AT DIGBOSTON.COM/SPECIAL-LOW-TIDEFEATURE-THOMPSON-ISLAND/

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

ANJIMILE MUSIC

How to say “fuck it” with flying colors

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN Taking that first leap is hard. Sometimes you have to hope things will work out how you want them to. If you’re Anjimile, you decided to take that leap anyway, because deep down you know that having a say in your future leads to a better outcome than one led by complacency— even if it means you might change in the process.

Anjimile, the chosen moniker of Anji Chithambo, is one of the most intriguing singer-songwriters in Boston’s bubbling music scene. Anjimile’s debut record, Human Nature, landed on our Best Local Albums of 2015 list, but since then there’s been plenty of change. As a queer and trans artist, Anjimile turns their experiences into songs of joy, rebuttal, and curiosity. As a first-generation Malawian-American raised in Texan suburbs, it would be easy for Anjimile to channel every lyric into their experiences with racism, homophobia, and xenophobia.

Instead Anjimile’s music reaches beyond the obvious lessons that could be taught to instead use radical queer politics to address the spectrum of issues and triumphs they have experienced, emphasizing the warm tenderness that comes from music rather than pointing fingers.

All of that said, it seems like music was a no-brainer outlet for Anjimile’s energy. As a kid, music positioned itself as the obvious yet unlikely driving factor in Anjimile’s life. Their two older sisters sang in the school choir, filling the house with melodies everywhere they walked. Anjimile’s oldest sister taught them how to harmonize to “Heart and Soul.” Their parents blasted artists like Madonna and Whitney Houston, the result of growing up in the ’80s heyday, and Anjimile began to see the world through that bold lens as a result.

“They used to make an ordeal out of it on Saturday mornings,” says Anjimile. “They made us breakfast then, and they would wake us up super early by blasting music.

We would all complain and be super ungrateful that we were being woken up by Michael Jackson’s Dangerous or an immaculate collection of Madonna records. They unintentionally instilled a deep love of music in me.”

But that didn’t mean Anjimile’s parents saw music as a realistic job. Nearly everyone in the family studies traditionally academic fields in science, medicine, and math. Anjimile’s father is a doctor, their mother is a computer programmer, one sister is a psychologist, and the other sister is going to school to be a doctor. Tack on their varying experiences in the US after emigrating from Malawi, and the inconsistencies of life as a musician seem too unpredictable to bank on. In their eyes, music was a side interest, not a career path. There’s a difference between appreciating art and pursuing art, so Anjimile applied to Northeastern as an English major. That only lasted a year and a half. Without telling their parents, Anjimile switched majors to focus on music.

That choice wasn’t an impromptu decision. After playing open mics and writing music in the dorm rooms, Anjimile found a new confidence. Suddenly, people began encouraging Anjimile to create more music, both friends and strangers at open mics. After jamming with two

friends who showed Anjimile that musical connections, particularly on a deeper and natural level, were possible, music presented itself as a beneficial career choice, one that could lead to all sorts of expression. The epiphany struck.

But along this path, Anjimile ran into two major life events. First came a dark period where alcoholism turned controlling. Anjimile left college for two years to confront those struggles. After trying to focus on how to heal themself, Anjimile decided to move to Florida for a year to access the specific mental health and addiction services offered at a facility in the state. A full-time job in food service provided structure outside of the health services.

Slowly, Anjimile returned to college part time and then, eventually, segued into full-time courses. Now that the final stretch of college at Northeastern is on the horizon, Anjimile has found a way to balance all parts of their life: graduating from college, working part time as an urban farmer, and committing to their career as a musician as much as possible.

The second life event is less easy to outline: Anjimile decided to pursue physical changes to better settle into their identity as a nonbinary, transmasculine person.

Though the process isn’t a simple or quick change, the open-endedness of the process has proven to be an unexpected but long-awaited change. While there’s a comfort in knowing who you are, taking steps to feel more comfortable in your body, and feeling in control of how you are presented to others, there also comes the slow realization that you aren’t who you used to be. For Anjimile, this realization has been unfolding over the past eight months after beginning to take testosterone.

“When I first released an EP, I was scared and wanted to sound pretty,” says Anjimile. “[Taking testosterone] has completely changed my singing voice in a way that, honestly, freaks me the fuck out. The one hesitation I had in taking testosterone as a way to help affirm my gender as a nonbinary, transmasculine person was that it would change my voice. These old pipes are, fingers crossed, the money maker. What’s going to happen? It’s been really difficult, because I’ve been learning how to sing in a different way over the past eight months because I have lost my upper vocal range and a lot of my mid vocal range. My voice has dropped and the lower range has widened whereas the higher range has thinned. With my older tunes, it’s almost as if I’m covering myself because I can’t sing in that range anymore. It’s kind of sad to let go of that piece of me. Because it’s not just about singing, but about self-expression. It’s deeply ironic that going through this change with testosterone as a way to affirm my identity meant literally changing another part of my identity: my voice, something I was super comfortable with.”

Anjimile’s long-awaited new album, Colors, comes on the heels of coming to terms with both major life events. The beautiful scope it covers, directly and indirectly, speaks to the affirming yet unnerving process of gradually setting in to your own skin. Anjimile was granted a three-month artist residency at Industry Lab, an eclectic co-working space in Cambridge, early this spring. The entirety of Colors was written and recorded in those three months. Though the main room in which Anjimile worked was relatively bare, they filled the space with musical vividness and vibrancy, chasing after various musical genres and tonal waves that reflect the wide array of colors in our everyday

>> ANJIMILE, JULISSE EMILE. FRI 7.12. INDUSTRY LAB, 288 NORFOLK ST., CAMBRIDGE. 8PM/ALL AGES/$5-10. ANJIMILE.COM

MUSIC EVENTS FRI 07.13

SOUTHERN SIDE STEP ALI MCGUIRK + THE SILKS + RICHARD JAMES AND THE NAME CHANGERS [The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge.

7:30pm/18+/$15. ]

16

07.12.18 - 07.19.18 |

SAT 07.14

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SUN 07.15

[Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston. 7pm/18+/$15. crossroadspresents.com]

[Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave., Boston.

7:30pm/all ages/$40. bostonpavilion.net]

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and imagined life. By sharing that space in Industry Lab with engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists, graphic designers, programmers, architects and artists, Anjimile found additional inspiration came from the inventive and imaginative works of people outside of the music industry.

On record, that translates into a beautiful hodgepodge of sound. Opener “Ipswich” cascades with an acoustic guitar strum, like part-bossanova part-folk romance. “Dysphoria” address what it’s like living with body dysphoria, questioning how and why you do or don’t fit into the very body in which you were born, and untangling what you can do about it. “Green” imagines what the apocalypse would look, sound, and feel like if nature took total control over the end of the world. “Many moons to this day / When the canyons collide / And the rivers reverse / And the known universe blooms infinity across the sky,” Anjimile sings, painting a beautiful and terrible explosion of life worth witnessing.

Best of all, Colors showcases what it’s like to embrace the multiple facets of your personality, identity, and body. Fans will recognize the biggest difference right away: that Anjimile explores deeper vocal ranges, baritone scales, and new self-harmonizing parts, pulling each off with a welcome, relaxed confidence. When asked about it, though, Anjimile looks surprised, as if certain listeners could see through that tone to realize that change in vocals wasn’t as easy as flipping a switch.

“Recording this album was super scary because I was afraid I couldn’t sing anymore,” says Anjimile. “Taking testosterone made it so I had a lot to learn about my voice. Though it took some time, I got comfortable with it. Now I have access to this whole new range of tools and a lower range. That’s cool! Learning it was cool took time, learning how to see it as a possibility. All I had to do was say ‘fuck it’ and see what happens—which is kind of what life is, I guess.”

Listening to Colors, that’s what you can hear: Anjimile learning to explore their new mode of expression and the best ways to achieve that. It’s a record of learning in motion, and though that change was a new feeling at first, it’s become a fun experiment. If Anjimile could conquer this in a three-month window, then there’s a lot left for them to conquer in the coming years as a musician and singer-songwriter—a time period where taking leaps will feel a little more familiar and, with that, a little less scary.

PHOTO BY LEAH EVE CORBETT

TUE 07.17

EMO NIGHT LIVE (FOR REAL THIS TIME) COHEED AND CAMBRIA + TAKING BACK SUNDAY [Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave., Boston.

6:30pm/all ages/$50.

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WED 07.18

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TWO INCH ASTRONAUT WHEEL OF TUNES

Post-hardcore trio touch on teaching kindergarten and taking a hiatus

BY NINA CORCORAN @NINA_CORCORAN

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We regret to inform you that Two Inch Astronaut is breaking up, especially because each time we hear that news our hearts get heavy all over again. After nearly 10 years of being a band, the DC post-hardcore alt rock trio is taking an indefinite hiatus. There’s no bad blood between all three members—singer and guitarist Sam Rosenberg, bassist and vocalist Andy Chervenak, and drummer and cellist (among many other things) Matt Gatwood—or abstinence from music at large— Gatwood has a standout solo album in the works, Chervenak is making music with Sloganeers, and Rosenberg is priming an EP under his Mister Goblin moniker—that you need to worry about. Instead, you need to catch the band live on their last hurrah this July. And after that, it’s about being grateful Two Inch Astronaut left us with so much great music, including last year’s Can You Please Not Help.

There’s a lot to champion on Can You Please Not Help, Two Inch Astronaut’s newest and likely last record. It’s got the usual bombastic, reckless, and heavy guitar playing that makes them stand out from their peers. The band’s sound would be a cult favorite had it existed in the ’90s, and this album sees all three members find their peak as a unit, sounding far bigger and more intricate than any trio should sound while waxing wry lyrics in between.

“I’d like to think we’ve gotten better at writing and playing generally, but as a member that’s sort of hard to have perspective on,” says Rosenberg. “I just think we have less reservations about doing things in our songs that wouldn’t normally be found in our ‘genre,’ such as Matt’s cello arrangement at the end of ‘I’ll Leave You Alone’ or Matt and Andy doing barbershop harmonies in the choruses of ‘Play to No One.’ We used to stick pretty faithfully to the whole guitar, bass, drums script, but now if we have a wacky idea for something, or if a song seems to call for a less traditional device, we tend to just lean with it.”

To give Two Inch Astronaut’s blend of musical wit one final hurrah, we interviewed Sam Rosenberg for a round of Wheel of Tunes, a series where we ask musicians questions inspired by their song titles. With Can You Please Not Help as the prompt, his answers are at once comical and intriguing—a peak into the band’s onstage persona you can see firsthand when it headlines O’Brien’s Pub this Monday.

1. “Kenk” Considering the English dictionary accepts new words, including slang, as years pass, what word would you love to see added to the dictionary?

Mermolt: When a mermaid molts and finds a new fish tail.

2. “Can You Please Not Help” When you were a kid, what was the one thing you were persistent about doing by yourself?

I had a toy lawn mower that produced bubbles that I was pretty serious about. If anyone tried to show me how to use it or tried to usurp my position with a real lawn mower, they were getting cut the fuck down.

3. “Play to No One” How small was the smallest crowd you ever played to?

We once played to two members of the complex community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. This was at Bard College, I believe.

READ THE REST OF NINA’S INTERVIEW AT DIGBOSTON.COM >> TWO INCH ASTRONAUT, PET FOX, HEXPET, ALEXANDER. MON 7.16. O’BRIEN’S PUB, 3 HARVARD AVE., ALLSTON. 8PM/18+/$8. OBRIENSPUBBOSTON.COM

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

17

Feeling bored with the usual board meeting?

GALLERY REVIEWS VISUAL ARTS

BY FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH AND JONATHAN SIMCOSKY

French Pastels: Treasures from the Vault— Museum of Fine Arts

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Léon-Augustin Lhermitte is one of those supremely able artists that history, for its own cruel reasons, discarded like a soda can from a car window. His pastels are extraordinary, and one of them, Women and Children Bathing in a EDGAR DEGAS, DANCERS IN ROSE, ABOUT 1900; River, is on rare display CAMILLE PISSARRO, MFA BOSTON at the MFA in a show dedicated to French pastellists. If you’re indifferent to impressionism, regard the scene in light of Sally Mann’s related photos up at the Peabody Essex Museum. It’s more disquieted than it looks at first.

Cassatt and Pissarro are geniuses and Degas came uncannily close to inventing lyrical abstraction, but you knew that already. The standout of this show is Millet, from whom there are a dozen works. Pastels, ideally suited to bright hazes, in Millet’s hand become capable of ominous depictions of dusk, and astute, painterly specificity like the garden snail in Primroses (1867-68) and the steel hoe slung over the farmer’s shoulder in Path Through the Wheat (ca. 1867) that punctuates the buzzing field.

Show runs until 1.6.19. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. mfa.org —Franklin Einspruch

POULTRY MARKET AT GISORS, 1885.

VIA FRENCH PASTELS TREASURES FROM THE VAULT, MFA BOSTON

Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings—Peabody Essex Museum Sally Mann, who received no formal training yet is one of the United States’ most distinguished photographers, is perhaps most famous for inflaming America’s culture wars with tender portraits of her three young children, often naked. Some of that early work is among this sprawling exhibition of 115 photographs exploring family, place, and memory. Throughout, death and decay in her native South provoke related aspirations to innocence.

Scars, blood, and specters haunt the large-format photographs, most of them black and white. Blurs, streaks, and scratches, fatal mistakes to most, become marks of meaning as Mann exploits the technology of her medium: antique lenses, highcontrast Ortho film, and the 19th-century collodion wet-plate process.

Subjects that might feel distant or irrelevant under another’s gaze—Civil War battlefields, a bloody nose, black bodies—are visceral and agonizing when the viewer follows Mann’s lead to look at them as though for the first time..

Show runs until 9.23. Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem. pem.org —Jonathan Simcosky These shorts are being simultaneously published at Delicious Line, deliciousline. org. Franklin Einspruch is the editor-in-chief of Delicious Line. Jonathan Simcosky is a Salem-based editor and writer exploring ideas related to food, faith, and creation, jonathansimcosky.com.

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BOOKS

RENDEZVOUS WITH OBLIVION

Baffler founder Thomas Frank smashes McMansions in new collection

BY ED MEEK

Thomas Frank is a unique voice in nonfiction. He is both witty and well informed.

In his new book of essays, he claims to deal with “matters of grave import” with “a certain amount of levity.” The essays, written between 2012 and 2018, appeared in Harper’s, Salon, the Guardian, and Thomas Frank’s online publication the Baffler. The book is divided into sections covering inequality, higher education, journalism, the election of Trump, and the state of the Democratic Party. Frank maintains a breezy tone with an underlying sense of both hope and cynicism. He is a liberal, but he is critical of both the Democrats and the Republicans. As the title implies, he thinks we are in deep shit.

Frank’s specialty is focusing on Xdevelopments in our country that either don’t seem to make sense or are ridiculous but fit into his perspective that we’re out of joint. In a chapter on inequality, he examines the origin and growth of McMansions.

He says everyone hates them but the new elite buys them anyway to cement their elite status. Another essay in the same section talks about the lack of empathy rich people have for the rest of the populace: “They are more rude and less generous.”

Frank writes about fast food enterprises that pay workers minimum wage Lack energy or for feelfood stressed?

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Website: https://www.puti.org/en The last section focuses on politics, and that is where Frank is most on point.

He has an interesting essay about the way establishment journalists failed to take Bernie Sanders seriously. He laments the Democratic Party’s move to centrism and its loss of support among blue-collar workers. Frank makes the case that Trump was the only candidate who addressed middle America’s concerns about trade. Trump also promised action on jobs, wages, schools, and Social Security. So did Bernie, but he was not the Democratic nominee. Frank accuses Dems of hubris, of being in love with the sound of their own voices. He warns us that there are decent odds that Trump could be re-elected in 2020 if Democrats don’t get their act together.

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19

PHOTO VIA NETFLIX

DADDY’S HOME FILM

Father/son is the scenario for Jody Hill’s latest comedy

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN Writer/producer/director Jody Hill has been a primary creative participant on five major projects to date: HBO programs Eastbound & Down [2009-13] and Vice Principals [2016-17], and feature-length movies The Foot Fist Way [2006], Observe and Report [2008], and now The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter [2018], which premiered on Netflix last Friday. They have their similarities and they have their differences, but one could fairly say the first four projects all obeyed the same general conceit—each one is a borderline-melodramatic absurdist comedy in which the lead character is a vulgar, verbally transgressive white man whose outbursts are usually inflamed by whatever character they’re sharing a given scene with. But in Whitetail Deer Hunter, the mode of behavior is discernibly more conservative. And ironically enough that’s made clear during an exchange regarding cuss words themselves: Pseudo-celebrity deer hunter Buck Ferguson (Josh Brolin) is driving out toward the mountains of North Carolina with his 12-year-old son Jaden (Montana Jordan) and his cinematographer Don (McBride) when Don lets out a “goddamn,” which Buck then excitedly celebrates. “That’s what I’m talking about,” he says with a squealing glee, “colorful language!” Don follows that cue by making a few jokes about jerking off (“The only women coming on this trip are Rosy Palmer and her five sisters”), but that quickly unnerves Buck, who curtails his joyful tone to admonish his cameraman instead (“We talked about that sexual stuff—stop it.”)

Whitetail Deer Hunter isn’t any kind of wholesome— there’re more than a few “sexual references” left to arrive, as the MPAA might’ve called them. But this exchange nonetheless signals that Hill’s latest film is anchored by a much different energy than, say, Eastbound & Down—it signals that Buck Ferguson is the type of person who’d be repulsed and maybe even offended by one Kenny Powers.

The Hill/McBride team have long set their narratives within

the culturally conservative enclaves of the southeastern United States, and with Buck they’ve selected a character who embodies that sociopolitical ethos: one who gestures toward valuing a sense of debauchery yet moralistically disavows any such behavior that happens outside the margins of his extremely narrow comfort zone (I was reminded of another upcoming release, Andrew Bujalski’s Support the Girls [2018], which displays a very sincere interest in the cultural psychology that might lead a place like Hooters to brand itself as a “family restaurant”).

Though other Hill projects were guided by the very idea that characters were saying what shouldn’t be said, this one builds a baseline for “respectable” social mores right into the narrative itself.

Most of the film’s scant runtime (the end credits roll at 79 minutes) is occupied by the whitetail deer hunt undertaken by Buck, Jaden, and Don, which is being filmed for one of Buck’s “videos” (one imagines he sold tapes in, like, the Suncoast Video era, but as for when this film is taking place, I don’t know; maybe he sells DVDs to an ever-dwindling base online). Jaden, Buck realizes, is quickly growing away from him: The 12-year-old’s expected phone addiction has recently been amplified by his new girlfriend (always offscreen), whose constant texts and calls serve as a regular interruption during the first passages of the film; and Jaden’s constant references to his parents own failed marriage creates further interruptions later in the hunt. From this point, the movie pretty much goes exactly where you’d expect a father/son camping trip comedy to go: A random trauma intercedes and strands all three men, which exacerbates their preexisting anxieties, but which also forces the group to work together to survive, creating the very bonds they hoped to form in the first place. As written, it’s standard-issue Sundance storytelling—and beyond certain exchanges, the film does plays out in a thoroughly unsurprising manner. So when the cliche

>> THE LEGACY OF A WHITETAIL DEER HUNTER IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO STREAM ON NETFLIX. 20

07.12.18 - 07.19.18 |

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bits do arrive—the picturesque cinematography, the kidwith-a-secret-talent setup/payoff, the indifferently lensed action climax—they play like examples of the same old, as opposed to a skewered rewrite. Whitetail is a strong and well-textured film at moments, perhaps, but not one that anyone on any coast would ever mistake for being transgressive.

There hasn’t been much press surrounding Whitetail Deer Hunter, but the reportage I have seen does indeed focus on that particular tonal shift. In three different interviews I found with Hill, the opening questions were all pretty much the same: Why was this project softer than the last ones? To wit, Collider asked him why he “ma[de] something that’s a little less twisted,” to which Hill offered the following explanation: “Yes, but not necessarily in a reactionary way. … I just wanted to try something a little different. I don’t know, maybe it was something I was going through or whatever, but I wanted a heart-on-sleeve kind of film.” “Heart on sleeve” is a suitable description of Whitetail Deer Hunter, but I’m not sure that puts it into opposition with Hill’s other projects: A heart-on-sleeve quality was exactly what pushed works like Eastbound and Observe far beyond their contemporaries in absurdist comedy—that Hill and his regular collaborators (McBride and writer/director/producer David Gordon Green) could find real pathos without ever abandoning the outrightassaultive manner of their dialogue. And there is a certain sense of transgressive vulgarity on the margins of Whitetail, but the nature of the film’s very milieu demands that it never take full hold. Even the film’s look is more traditional and more refined, exhibiting little of the juvenile cinematic verve that came through in Hill’s other works. If there’s a real difference between those projects and Whitetail, I’d suggest it’s not really about “heart,” but is more simply just a matter of good manners.

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21

COMEDY EVENTS

LOPSIDERS SAVAGE LOVE

THU 07.12

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

Longtime Savage Love fanboy with a bit of a conundrum—and it’s your fault! I’m a bi man in my 30s. To use Charles M. Blow’s word, my bisexuality is “lopsided.” This means that I fall in love with women exclusively, but I love to have sex with men occasionally. My current girlfriend not only approves, she likes to join in. We have a great kinky sex life, and at times we invite a hot bi dude to join us. You keep saying that to counter bisexual erasure, it is the duty of every bisexual to come out of the closet. If I were a “proper” bisexual, i.e., romantically interested in men also, that would be no problem—my family and work and social circles are extremely liberal.

However, your advice to us kinksters and people in open relationships is that we probably shouldn’t come out to our parents or colleagues, since when it comes to sex, it’s advisable to operate on a need-to-know basis. While I agree with this completely—my mother doesn’t need to know my girlfriend pegs me—the rule keeps me in the closet as well. Since I’m only sexually interested in men, wouldn’t I be revealing facts about my sex life if I came out as bi? I also wouldn’t want to mislead gay men into thinking that I’m available for romantic relationships with them. So which rule is more important: the duty to come out as a bisexual or the advice to operate on a need-to-know basis when it comes to your sex life?

Bisexual Leaning Out Warily There’s nothing improper about your bisexuality, BLOW—or Charles M. Blow’s bisexuality, or the bisexuality of other “lopsided” bisexuals. While the idea that bisexuals are equally attracted to men and women sexually and romantically used to be pushed by a lot of bi activists (“I fall in love with people, not genitals!”), it didn’t reflect the lived/fucked/sucked experience of most bisexuals. Like you and Blow (hetero-romantic bisexuals), many bisexuals have a strong preference for either women or men as romantic partners. My recently “gay married” bisexual friend Eric, however, is one of those bi-romantic bisexuals.

This popular misconception—that bisexuals are indifferent to gender (and more highly evolved than all those genital-obsessed monosexuals)— left many people who were having sex with men and women feeling as if they didn’t have an identity. Not straight, not gay, and disqualified from bi.

But thanks to bisexuals like Blow coming out and owning their bisexuality and their lopsidedness, a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of bisexuality has taken root. That nuance is reflected in bisexual activist Robyn Ochs’s definition of bisexuality: “I call myself bisexual,” Ochs says, “because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted— romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.”

Lopsided or not, BLOW, you’re a proper bisexual, and if you’re in a position to come out to your family and friends, you should. And rest assured, telling people you’re bi doesn’t mean you’re divulging details about your sex life. You’re disclosing your sexual orientation, not detailing your sexual practices. You can tell someone you’re attracted to men and women—at the same time, in your case, if not in the same way—without telling them about the hot bi dudes you and the girlfriend bed together. And if you and the girlfriend are perceived to be monogamous, and you want to keep it that way, you can allow people to continue to make that assumption.

Finally, BLOW, most gay men are aware that bi guys usually aren’t romantically interested in other men. And that’s fine—so long as heteroromantic bi guys don’t mislead us, most gay men are down to fuck. (And gay men who won’t date homo-romantic or bi-romantic men? You guys are missing out. My friend Eric was a hot, hung, adventurous catch. Congrats, Christian!) And since you’re partnered and presumed to be monogamous, you’re also presumed to be unavailable. But if you’re worried a gay friend might hire a hit man to off the girlfriend so he can have a shot at your heart, come out to him as hetero-romantic at the same time you come out to him as bi.

On the Lovecast, the author of Many Love, Sophie Lucido Johnson:savagelovecast.com

HEADLINERS IN THE SQUARE @ JOHN HARVARD’S BREWERY & ALE HOUSE

Featuring: Jess Miller, Kyle McNally, Josh Filipowski, Tim King, Shyam Subramanian, AJ O’Connell, Shiv Patel, & Andrew Della Volpe.

Hosted by Tom Kelly

33 DUNSTER ST., CAMBRIDGE | 9PM | FREE FRI 07.13

THE GAS! @ GREAT SCOTT

Featuring: Jan Davidson, Arti Gollapudi, Kendall Farrel, John Paul Rivera, Kyle Legacy, John Baglio, & Wes Hazard.

Hosted by Rob Crean

1222 COMM AVE., ALLSTON | 7PM | $5 FRI 07.13

HEATHER MCDONALD @ CITY WINERY

In addition to stand-up, television guest spots and uncredited reality TV cameos, Heather can be heard twice a week on her hit podcast, Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald, breaking down pop culture, her own personal drama and anything ‘juicy’ people are talking about that week. Guests range from Real Housewives to real listeners.

Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald averages over 1.3 million downloads a month and has over five thousand, five (5) star reviews on ITunes.

Heather wrote best sellers, You’ll Never Blue Ball in this Town Again and MY INAPPROPRIATE LIFE: Some Material Not Suitable for Small Children, Nuns, or Mature Adults.

ALLSTON | 7:30PM | $25 SAT 07.14

DON’T TELL BOSTON (SOUTH END)

Comedy’s Worst Kept Secret.

South End Soccer is a youth soccer league that provides free programs to over 1,200 Boston youth annually. They work to bring together diverse communities through soccer, and break the barriers of economics and logistics that hinder urban youth playing sports.

To purchase tickets you can go to our website: http://www.donttellcomedy.com.

SOUTH END | 7:30PM | $25 SUN 07.15

LIQUID COURAGE COMEDY @ SLUMBREW

Featuring: Jonathan Tillson, Chris Post, Janet McNamara, Kwasi Mensah, Megan Baker, Kathleen DeMarle, Mike Settlow, & Rob Crean.

Hosted by Liam McGurk

15 WARD ST., SOMERVILLE | 8PM | $5 SUN 07.15

THE PEOPLE’S SHOW @ IMPROVBOSTON

Comedy for the people, by the people.

Featuring: Sam Ike, Francesca Villa, Reece Cotton, Jack Burke, Mike Dorval, & Srilatha Rajamani.

Hosted by Gloria Rose

40 PROSPECT ST. CAMBRIDGE | 9:30PM | $5 MON 07.16

FREE COMEDY @ CITYSIDE

Featuring: Abby Rosenquist, Mickey McCauley & more.

Hosted by Kyle Legacy

1960 BEACON ST., BRIGHTON | 8:30PM | FREE WED 07.18

THE COMEDY STUDIO PRESENTS @ REMNANT BREWING CO.

Featuring: Drew Dunn, Matt Kona, Tim McIntire, Vinnie Pagano, Katie Qué, Emily Ruskowski, & Erin Spencer.

Hosted by Rick Jenkins

2 BOW MARKET WAY SOMERVILLE | 8PM | $5

savagelovecast.com

22

07.12.18 - 07.19.18 |

DIGBOSTON.COM

Lineup & shows to change without notice. For more info on everything Boston Comedy visit BostonComedyShows.com Bios & writeups pulled from various sources, including from the clubs & comics…

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

HEADLINING THIS WEEK! CODE DIG TAKES 5 OFF S $5 ELE SHOW CT S.

Funniest Person in Massachusetts Competition Tuesday - Saturday

DIG5 code valid on ALL SHOWS.

COMING SOON Alex Edelman

Just For Laughs, @Midnight, Conan Jul 19-21 DIG5 code valid on ALL SHOWS.

Chad Prather

Special Engagements: Jul 22 + 23

THE WAY WE WEREN’T

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

Corey Rodrigues + Kelly MacFarland July 27 + 28

Ron Jeremy’s XL Comedy Tour Special Engagement: Sun, July 29 OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

The World Series of Comedy Aug 1-4

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