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POLITICS

WARREN SHOTS PLUS THE WAR ON

RACHAEL ROLLINS

WINTER SPORTS

BIKING THROUGH BLIZZARDS PLUS A HIKE THROUGH

MILTON, DOT + MATTAPAN

MUSIC: GANG GREEN - SOLIDARITY FOR DOHERTY

MON. 1/14

FRI. 2/22

THE LEMON TWIGS

MORGAN WALLEN

JACKIE COHEN

HARDY, LAINEY WILSON

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SET IT OFF

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MICHAEL BRUN

DON JAMIESON, SAVAGE AFTER MIDNIGHT

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DEVIN DAWSON

JILLIAN JACQUELINE

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TEENAGE FANCLUB

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POPPY

THE LOVE LANGUAGE

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GHOST OF PAUL REVERE

WHISKEY MYERS

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BONES OWENS

AUBREY HADDARD

VUNDABAR

COIN

SIDNEY GISH

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CORROSION OF CONFORMITY

JAYDAYOUNGAN, TNT TEZ

CROWBAR, THE OBSESSED, MOTHERSHIP

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SIR BABYGIRL, CAVE PEOPLE

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ROYALE

To understand the war that’s being waged on newly inaugurated Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, it helps to have seen the excited faces on police when the man she is replacing, Daniel Conley, walked into any room. From big city events to press conferences, Boston’s finest gushed and grinned, for in their DA they saw a man who caught their backs unconditionally. In his 16 years in the elected office, Conley never once found an officer to have done any wrong in a cop-involved killing—a trend including one case where a young woman was shot in the backseat of a car driving away from an officer. This as Conley’s gutless team of lawyers prosecuted cases built on stop-and-frisk arrests and other unscrupulous practices.

In running for the seat left vacant by Conley last year, Rollins noted that under her progressive leadership, several common petty charges— trespassing, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, others—would effectively be decriminalized, and with some exceptions either outright dismissed or treated as civil infractions. Her campaign pledges in this regard were based not on some demented hope of coddling criminals but rather on the general idea that trapping people in the so-called justice system for minor offenses hurts us all over the long term. So naturally, parties that support the status quo began to have a fit and have been throwing tantrums ever since. Culminating in the National Police Association filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Bar Association on Dec 23, weeks before Rollins was even sworn into office. An NPA press release alleged: The Boston lawyer violated ethics rules when she campaigned for District Attorney representing to the public that Rollins, regardless of what laws were in place and regardless of the rule of law itself, would affirmatively enact policy changes that directly, adversely and will foreseeably impact the safety and well-being of those that she is soon charged to represent in her official capacity as District Attorney.

There are other fronts and theaters in the war on Rollins, including mainstream media, where reporters have already questioned the new DA more over the past couple of months than they did Conley about his decisions over nearly two decades in office. Is this sort of treatment racist? Of course it is. Only a bigot would deny it. But it’s also an assault on taxpayers, which will sadly be a more convincing argument to voters and newspaper readers in the influential outer throes of Suffolk County such as West Roxbury, Hyde Park, and Winthrop. Their reaction to the hyperventilation in the Caucasian establishment will help guide the future of the court system around here, and will impact whether Greater Boston forges ahead with reforms that experts who review actual data and most people who live in communities that are heavily impacted by crime are rallying for alongside Rollins. Or if the residents of these cities will roll on muddy tires as parties that profit off cyclical enslavement battle enlightened new measures by any means necessary, including violent ones.

I sure hope it is the former, because other than some Trump-supporting scoundrels and police who get paid lavishly to make appearances in court after arresting people on small crimes, I don’t know anybody else who thinks the legal system ought to regress. In Suffolk or anyplace else.

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

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FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

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NEWS US

PHOTO BY BRYNNE QUINLAN

WARREN REPORT NEWS+ANALYSIS

What the senator’s mixed 2018 election bag could mean for her presidential aspirations

BY PATRICK COCHRAN So it begins. On New Year’s Eve 2018, Elizabeth Warren rang in the official start of the 2020 presidential campaign when she posted a video previewing her launch of an exploratory committee to consider a run for the highest office in the land.

In plain speech: She’s running.

Warren’s announcement marks the first high-profile candidate from the Commonwealth since former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012, and the first Democrat since John Kerry in 2004. But her candidacy is primed to be decidedly different from Mass’ establishment cozy candidates of elections past.

At a time when some liberals are pushing for a return-to-normalcy-style candidate as a foil to the erratic presidency of Donald Trump, Warren’s announcement offered an indictment of the system that made Trump possible.

“I’ve spent my career getting to the bottom of why America’s promise works for some families but others who work just as hard slip through the cracks into disaster, and what I found is terrifying,” Warren says in the video.

And has reiterated ad nauseum since. “These aren’t cracks families are falling into, they’re traps. America’s middle class is under attack.”

Four years ago, progressives were begging Warren to jump into the 2016 race, which seemed destined to be dominated by centrists with deep ties to the political establishment. When she didn’t, that energy was swooped up and taken to another level by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ insurgent candidacy. Her decision not to endorse Sanders in the primary still doesn’t sit well with some on the left.

“I feel that was unfortunate and possibly even a critical error,” said Juliann Rubijono, an activist and Sanders 4

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volunteer in 2016.

Hated by the right, considered unpragmatic by the center and untrustworthy by the left, it’s possible that Warren lacks the philosophical constituency to make a successful run.

“I’m willing to bet that she won’t even win Massachusetts,” Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara tweeted.

But at a time when progressive ideas are gaining salience, and women have surged into the political spotlight, Warren might not be the worst bet in a field that will start filling up very soon. Even if she isn’t everybody’s first choice, the prospect of a President Warren—a proponent of stiff corporate regulations, an increased minimum wage, student debt forgiveness, and singlepayer health care—is still intriguing on the left.

“No candidate is perfect and narratives can be spun all over the place,” Rubijono said. “At the end of the day, she fights for what I care about—anti-corruption and systemic fairness for economic opportunity.”

Analyzing 2018 In 2018, I approached Warren’s reelection bid as the first leg of the 2020 presidential primary. She didn’t lose, but despite beating her opponent by 20 points, it wasn’t a great result.

Nationally, Democrats soared on election night, running well ahead of Trump’s 2016 numbers—even in seats they lost. Despite ceding some seats to the GOP, the Democrats dominated their opponents in Senate contests nationwide, picking nearly 57 percent of the total vote.

Of the 35 Senate elections in 2018, there were just three where the Republican candidate ran ahead of Trump’s 2016 numbers. One was in Mississippi, a deep conservative state

that featured two races in 2018—one close, the other a GOP blowout. A second was in New Jersey, where Democrats defended the seat of Sen. Bob Menendez, a deeply corrupt politician who nearly went to jail for his crimes less than a year before the election.

But the third was Warren’s race. While Democrats in Senate races ran seven points ahead of Clinton, nationally, Warren’s numbers virtually tied the party’s presidential results from the previous cycle.

Perhaps more significantly, GOP nominee Geoff Diehl, who spent a majority of his campaign tying himself to the president, handily surpassed Trump’s 2016 numbers.

So, to this point, the one finite electoral result we have for Warren showed her essentially plateaued at Clinton’s 2016 performance, and her right-wing opponents gaining ground.

The Washington Post reported that “even Warren’s supporters acknowledge that she has lost ground in the last few months, both by her own hand and because the November midterm elections redefined Democratic success with candidates who were in many cases a generation younger.”

However, while Warren’s election night results didn’t exceed any expectations, they didn’t buck the major nationwide trends: Progressive areas are getting more progressive, conservative areas are getting more conservative, suburbs are becoming more liberal, and leftleaning populist agendas aren’t damning campaigns the way centrists predicted. These are all good signs for Warren.

In traditionally progressive western Mass, Warren’s numbers surged from Clinton’s already-strong showing from 2016, while in the more conservative parts of the state, like Plymouth County and the rural parts of

Worcester County, Diehl outperformed Trump. It’s a long way off, but if these trends hold through 2020 on a national level, any Democrat could emerge victorious.

And evidence from 2018 suggests that the ideas Warren espouses can win elections outside of Democratic strongholds.

Nov 6 wasn’t a great night for progressives. In competitive races, leftleaning challengers went down against their GOP opponents at a high rate, with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party claiming no meaningful wins at the national level that weren’t predetermined. (Though, at the state and local levels, the progressive movement saw greater success, particularly on ballot initiatives promoting voting rights and health care expansion.)

But there was one race that was broadly overlooked, both for the tight results and California’s slow ballot-counting process. Over a week after voters went to the polls in her Orange County district, Democrat Katie Porter was declared the winner of the state’s 45th House seat. Months earlier, the UC Irvine professor and Warren protege (she studied under Warren at Harvard) surprised pundits by pulling out a second-place finish in the district’s “jungle primary,” which earned her a spot on the ballot in November next to incumbent GOP Rep. Mimi Walters.

“Walters is all but certain to defeat the Elizabeth Warren-baked Democratic second place finisher, Katie Porter, whose policy agenda focused on single payer health care is out of step with her traditionally right-leaning district,” Douglas Schoen wrote in the Hill after the primary. He wasn’t alone.

Porter’s win was widely interpreted as the case where the left pushed the party too far and it would end in failure. Five months later, Porter had secured a four-point victory.

Of course, one result isn’t a bellwether of how Warren’s presidential campaign will fair. Nevertheless, there are a lot of factors worth considering.

In Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown was reelected convincingly in a state that Trump carried by eight points in 2016. On the same day, that electorate voted against Richard Cordray, the Warren-endorsed candidate for governor who had succeeded Warren in her role as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

So 2018 was truly a mixed bag for Warren.

What does it all mean? At this point, Warren’s ideas, policies, and reputation don’t make her unelectable. Her progressive views on trade and organized labor could help her in the Rust Belt states that decided the fate of the 2016 election, and more left-leaning ideas like single-payer health care and increased wages don’t hurt in the wealthy suburbs that have steadily trended toward the Democratic Party.

But they don’t make her an exceptional candidate either. Her star power did little, if anything, to help Cordray, and her own results in Mass show a potential drift from centrism to Trumpism.

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GIVETOBINJ.org SAVE THE DATE 2019 Winter Gateway Speaker

APRIL RYAN

Many women in health care earn less than $15 an hour

Correspondent and author April Ryan will visit Northeastern University as the third annual Winter Gateway Speaker to meet and talk with students, faculty, staff and members of the community.

BY LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM (COMMONWEALTH NEWS SERVICE) About three-quarters of the people working in health care jobs are women, and a new national study from Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania finds a large share of them earn low wages and have few benefits.

The researchers found 34 percent of female health care workers made less than $15 an hour in 2017, including nearly half of black and Latina women in the health sector. Kathryn Himmelstein, a lead author of the study, blames the income gap on gender and racial divisions in the health care workforce.

“A much larger share of men in health care work as physicians and managers, and a larger share of women work as nurses and nurse’s aides,” says Himmelstein. “And then, the occupational structure is racially stratified.”

She says white and Asian women make up a higher percentage of doctors and nurses, while more black, Latina and Native American women work as nurse’s aides, home health aides, and in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

In total, the study estimates 1.7 million women in health care and their children live in poverty. Himmelstein recommends raising the minimum wage to address this income gap.

While the minimum-wage debate has often centered around jobs in fields like fast-food and child care, Himmelstein says increasing it to $15 an hour would dramatically help those who work in many facets of health care, as well.

“It would reduce poverty among women health care workers by up to 50 percent. And the costs associated with that are relatively modest,” says Himmelstein. “So, less than 1.5 percent of total health care spending.”

The research team analyzed 2017 Census Bureau data, and more than 10,000 health care workers responded to an economic supplement. The results are in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Free and open to the public!

Friday, February 8, 2019 Northeastern University RSVP: northeastern.edu/ crossing For more information: 617-373-2555

NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

5

A WINDOW INTO THE STATE HOUSE APPARENT HORIZON

Rep. Mike Connolly’s blog offers a critical look behind the curtain of Mass politics

BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS

The Massachusetts State House is not a bastion of democracy. I think a growing number of people in the Commonwealth are pretty clear on that fact. Dominated for decades by a series of imperial House speakers, and to a lesser extent by its Senate presidents, it’s a great place to watch if you want to see America’s oligarchy in action.

On issue after issue, corporations and the rich get their way—aided and abetted by legislative leadership.

And working people get the shaft. Though there is always a thin veneer of social conscience laid over the almost uniformly capitalist policy decisions made there.

And how could it be otherwise given that the legislature is controlled by conservative Democrats? Who reflexively talk left but break right.

Most of whom, let’s face it, are just old-school Republicans by another name—in an era when the new Republicans are focused on building concentration camps for little immigrant kids. They’re not the old machine Democrats who, sure, sucked up to money and power, but at least remembered to get real stuff for their constituents. Like public schools, colleges, housing, transportation, and jobs. And supported reforms like rent control that did indeed force the real estate industry to settle for mere profits in parts of the lucrative Boston area housing market. Rather than the super profits they’ve enjoyed since they bankrolled the statewide referendum campaign that killed it. With the assistance of the Mass legislature (and the Mass Supreme Judicial Court), it must be remembered.

However, there is a wind of change blowing on Beacon Hill. Well, not precisely a wind… more like a breeze of change. Because while there has long been a fairly sizable left-leaning Progressive Caucus at the State House, the bulk of its members find themselves going along to get along shortly after arriving there. Since they know that they simply won’t get anything done for their districts if they challenge leadership directly.

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Especially in the House where they’ve rarely had much power. Nevertheless, a new breed of politician is starting to get elected in numbers far too low to take control of the legislature anytime soon, but large enough to start shaking up the joint.

Now starting his second term, Rep. Mike Connolly (D-Somerville) represents the leading edge of this nascent political current. Part of a generation that was inspired by grassroots democratic movements like Occupy and Black Lives Matter, that was enraged by the election of Trump, and that has an increasingly favorable opinion of socialism, he first showed up at the House chamber a couple of years ago. After beating Cambridge’s Tim Toomey—the pol who owned the 26th Middlesex district seat for 24 years—in a tough race.

One of the things that makes Connolly different than many other state legislators is that he writes a blog. Not merely a typical politician’s blog—replete with tripe about how many babies were kissed in the previous quarter and how giving millions to multinationals like Amazon will somehow trickle down to the unwashed masses in the misty future. Rather, in between more prosaic entries, he occasionally writes very detailed accounts of key policy issues that sometimes involve him challenging not just House Speaker Robert DeLeo, but also Gov. Charlie Baker and major corporations. In doing so he gives readers a very good education on how the State House actually works… on behalf of our region’s ruling elite.

As someone who once organized lobbying and protest campaigns at the legislature in support of a variety of popular (and therefore doomed) bills for labor and community nonprofits, and who has written about state politics for many years, I am thrilled to see any Bay State legislators willing to write critically about their workplace in the light of day. Which helps journalists like me—and constituents as well—get a better handle on what’s happening in state government. But Connolly

isn’t just talking the talk, he’s walking the walk—that is, taking real political risks.

And writing about battles he’s fighting while they’re still happening. This is highly unusual behavior for a Massachusetts politician, and worthy of note.

Two recent examples of this practice are blog entries about his late 2018 action to delay a problematic housing initiative by the governor and this year’s early attempt by some of the legislature’s new blood to change the rules used to elect the House speaker to make them more democratic.

After Thanksgiving— toward the end of yet another two-year legislative session that saw every decent initiative to reign in the powerful real estate industry in the service of legions of screwed working class renters taken off the table—a sadly typical coalition of dominant private sector real estate industry groups and supplicant public sector municipal lobbyists was “calling on the legislature to enact Governor Baker’s housing production bill in an ‘informal session,’ where debate and roll call votes are not allowed, and few legislators are in the room.” This according to Connolly’s December blog entry titled “Inherent Inequity: The Push to Enact Gov. Baker’s ‘Housing Choices’ Bill In An Informal Session.”

The bill in question was called the Act to Promote Housing Choices—which had already died in committee earlier in 2018. Ironically because it lacked real estate industry support. Its main innovation was to help increase the production of more housing in the suburbs by forcing local zoning boards to make decisions about allowing developers to build certain types of structures by a simple majority vote rather than the usual two-thirds vote. Particularly multifamily housing developments of the type that is woefully lacking outside Boston’s already-crowded urban core and inner suburbs.

A reasonable reform, he agrees. But without protections for tenants of the type that had already been forced off the legislative table last year after real estate industry pressure, Connolly felt that the bill was not going to end up aiding the populations that the governor and his allies were claiming it would. Instead the benefits would end up going to the same interests that always seem to profit from such housing schemes: the big companies that make up the real estate industry.

And there would be no tenant protections in the unamended “clean” version of the bill the lobbyists were trying to get passed on the sly.

Connolly then lists several significant criticisms of the bill that he explains “constituents, activists, advocates, and fellow legislators have raised.” Starting with this telling point:

No affordability requirements for “Housing Choices” zoning. Amazingly, under “Housing Choices,” a municipality will be able to change zoning to facilitate denser development with a simple majority vote, but new affordability provisions, such as inclusionary zoning, will continue to require a two-thirds majority vote. This means “Housing Choices” is writing inequity into law. Why not allow deeper affordability measures to pass by a simple majority, too?

The blog entry goes on to explain how Speaker DeLeo was on the record in July stating that he was essentially taking marching orders from commercial real estate lobbyists and municipal lobbyists who had made an agreement that they would only accept the governor’s bill if legislators weren’t allowed to make any amendments to it. And as the 2017-2018 session came to a close, Connolly heard that those same lobbyists were trying to organize the very legislative maneuver—the informal session—that would allow them to do just that. Which, I will add, is one of the many undemocratic tricks the legislature can use to ram through bills with little or no public oversight. Tricks that are not as frequently discussed in that light in the news media as they should be.

Fortunately, a single representative is allowed to block informal sessions under House rules. And that’s what Connolly did, despite being a low-ranking backbencher on the outs with House leadership. He wrote a letter to DeLeo indicating that he could not support the governor’s bill without tenant protection and affordable housing amendments and said that the bill really needed to be held in committee until the 2019-2020 session and go through the normal legislative process again to make sure these concerns were heard.

He stuck to his guns as the year drew to a close. Despite some surprise attacks from people the average observer would expect to support his strategy. Like the failed last-minute attempt by Cambridge City Councilor Denise Simmons to get a council vote enjoining the Cambridge House delegation—which includes Connolly—to support the governor’s bill. And some truly strange social media slams from partisans of nonprofit housing developers and YIMBY groups that tried to frame his defense of largely low-income tenants as somehow racist.

The Somerville representative would have none of it. Defending his position toward the end of his blog entry, he said: Call it a pro-equity, pro-growth agenda. Call it development without displacement. Or maybe call it YIMBY Socialism. It’s time to bridge the gap that too often exists between the pro-growth/YIMBY movement and the pro-equity/anti-displacement movement. It’s time for progressives to have a really progressive housing agenda. When it comes to supporting housing production, I say: “Yes…and…”

As in, ‘Yes, we can promote housing production across the region—and—we can also work to protect tenants and boost housing affordability.’ It’s really easy to say. So why can’t more of our elected leaders (or the Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal) use those words?

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Hopefully, his antagonists among supposedly forward-thinking “rational development” activists will take this position to heart going forward and work with Connolly on these matters—rather than fighting him in the interest of making the same kind of easy compromises with the real estate industry that have resulted in the housing crisis we now face in Massachusetts. The predictable outcome of government at all levels allowing corporate developers to build far too much expensive “luxury” housing, and far too little “affordable” housing… that all too often isn’t really affordable to many Commonwealth residents.

Whatever nonprofit developer types might say to the contrary.

In any case, he won the fight. The governor’s bill now has to go through the entire legislative process again over the next year and a half.

Rep. Connolly’s other intriguing recent blog entry recounts last week’s unsuccessful effort by Rep. Maria Robinson (D-Framingham), himself, and a handful of other reps—both new and veteran—to reform the way the House speaker is elected by its Democratic majority. On Robinson’s first day in office: As the meeting was called to order, Rep. Robinson stood and proposed an amendment to the Rules of the Democratic Caucus that would reform the process for how the Caucus picks its nominee for Speaker. The proposed change would implement a private ballot within the caucus, while retaining an open and transparent roll call vote for the election of the Speaker during the full formal session in the House Chamber. The proposal would take effect the next time there is an election for Speaker.

He explains that the benefit of the approach is that it would allow House members to judge support for various speaker candidates before taking the final roll call vote. Which would likely result in making it easier for incipient leadership groups to emerge from session to session. As long as the Democrats are in power, anyway. Connolly concludes with a helpful discursus on the history and use of such secret ballots by numerous legislative bodies.

Fascinating stuff. We can use much more of it from the better area politicians.

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7

NIGHT SHIFT CROP CIRCLES BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU

Loops, they did it again

BY CITIZEN STRAIN

I saw a documentary about crop circles once in which a bunch of dudes with a whole lot of time on their hands showed how they make giant marks in fields that look like massive alien etchings using no more than some rope and a board. It’s enough to make a sane person with regular brain function abandon a silly belief in supernatural insanity and to spur natural skeptics like yours truly to look for special activity right here on earth.

One thing I have come to actually believe in since then, along with countless other fans of superior suds, is Night Shift Brewing in Everett. Believe me when I say that I deplore adoring things that everybody else loves—seriously, I work for an alternative newspaper, and historically we have typically loathed everything that the collective public approves, even if we secretly love it. Night Shift, however, is one of the rare popular beasts that we can’t in decent faith ignore, a brand so consistently superior to many of its peers that we would truly look like dopes if we instinctively pulled the we are hipsters and this isn’t cool on principle card in critiquing them.

Wait a second, where were we? That’s right, we’re supposed to be reviewing the Everett brewery’s Crop Circles New England IPA. I think it is designed for people who have been downing Night Shift staples such as Whirlpool and Mosaic, and who need some change without wandering too far off of the reservation. I’m so satisfied with this selection that I hate to reach in ascertaining what exactly makes it sing—it’s probably not the best testament to Crop Circle’s subtle brilliance, but the most impressive thing about this beer may actually be what it is not: Not too pretentious, nor too light, hazy, or sweet, it’s balanced magic in a goddamn can.

As for what it actually is—again, we’re working with another Night Shift offering that flirts with the same sensibilities that several of its various ale cousins comparably fondle. Technically, from what I gather, the process behind this particular exquisite potion involves El Dorado and Idaho 7 hops, plus whatever the hell else it takes to stir up an incredibly bodacious brew.

That’s all I really need to know. The phenomenon of crop circles appearing in fields may have been ruined for me years ago, but at least it’s somewhat of a mystery how Night Shift manages to brew beer after beer that tastes out of this world.

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9

CRACK IS WACK LIFESTYLE

10 facial cleansers to get your skin through winter

BY CHRISTOPHER EHLERS @_CHRISEHLERS

sea fennel (what?!) purifies and vitamin E reduces the appearance of pores. What’s more, this cleanser is so moisturizing that it can be used on lips, cuticles, and dry patches as a leave-on treatment.

Votary Clarifying Cleansing Oil with Rosemary and Oat votary.co.uk, $70 Whether you have acne-prone skin or are just suffering from a little breakout, the last thing you should ever do is reach for a harsh scrub. It seems counter-intuitive to use oil on blemishes, but we promise, it works.

And by turning to a clarifying oil cleanser like this one from Votary, the authority on all things oil, skin is clean, balanced, and healthier.

There is also a lovely Votarian ritual involving a hot towel, which comes with the cleanser, but we’ll let you discover that on your own.

Go-To Properly Clean sephora.com, $24

Boston winters aren’t gentle. Just as we change our wardrobe with the seasons, it’s critical that we take our skin’s needs into consideration. Now put down the St. Ives Apricot Scrub, because what we wash our faces with is more important than you might think: Harsh cleansers can decimate our moisture barrier and wreak general havoc on skin that won’t stand a chance against the subzero chill, let alone the dry heat inside. Here are 10 facial cleansers that are ideal for the harsh months when all our faces need a little extra love.

Jordan Samuel Skin The After Show Treatment Cleanser jordansamuelskin.com, $20

DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil dhc.com, $28

Royal Fern Phytoactive Cleansing Balm royalfern.com, $85

Oil cleansers are having a moment, but this Japanese cleansing oil is the OG cleansing oil pioneer, and it still ranks among the best for good reason. Made with organic olive oil, DHC’s Deep Cleansing Oil dissolves makeup and melts away impurities without stressing out your skin. Your skin is left insanely soft and ridiculously happy.

Dr. Timm Golueke’s Royal Fern products all contain Royal Fern Complex, a patented powerhouse blend of botanicals, antioxidants, and hyaluronic acid. This cleanser is skin’s ideal cold weather companion in that it completely cleanses your skin while hydrating, soothing, softening, and restoring.

These are lofty claims for a cleanser, but this luxurious cleansing balm makes good on its promises.

Darphin Aromatic Cleansing Balm darphin.com, $49 If cleansing oils sound luxurious, just wait until you get into cleansing balms. Darphin’s Aromatic Cleansing Balm with Rosewood provides a decadent and effective cleanse that stimulates the senses (seriously, you won’t be able to stop sniffing this one). Water transforms the yellow balm into a smooth, milky texture that makes this a breeze to rinse off. If your skin tends to get tight and uncomfortable during the colder months, this is a great place to start.

Kat Burki Vitamin C Nourishing Cleansing Balm katburki.com, $65 Double cleansing is another article for another time, but this sublime balm cleanser from Kat Burki is meant to be the second step of a two-step cleanse. Made with 15 percent vitamin C (cue angels singing) and seven different coldprocessed oils, this cleanser plumps, brightens, and helps skin retain moisture. And don’t let the $65 price tag scare you away: a little goes a long way.

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Have we ever been so obsessed with a skincare brand so fast? Maybe not. This gel-to-oil cleanser removes makeup and impurities while gently exfoliating away the sins of the day (or night). The company has also just launched a version of this cleanser for sensitive skin that does away with the exfoliating fruit acids, doubling down on its soothing, hydrating properties.

TULA Purifying Cleanser tula.com, $28 We love this cleanser and so will you: It works for every single type of skin and addresses multiple skin concerns, from exfoliating and removing impurities to firming, calming, protecting, and moisturizing. Oh, and the foundation of all TULA products is probiotics. Who knew that a little bit of bacteria is actually good for your skin? We don’t love the overwhelming perfume fragrance, but it took us only three days of cleansing with this to see and feel a difference in our skin.

Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm emmahardie.com, $60 It was love at first cleanse for us and this sensuous, luxurious cleansing balm that routinely lands itself atop lists such as these, and for good reason. It goes on like a dream and leaves skin looking and feeling clean and hydrated. Moringa seed extract balances the skin while wild

I’ve given a lot of love to richer and more luxurious cleansers here, but Go-To’s Properly Clean mousse cleanser is a breath of fresh air in a market that is beyond saturated by little cleansers making big claims. Straight-forward, gentle, clean, all-natural, and allaround irresistible, this foaming cleanser from Australian brand Go-To isn’t just fun to use, but it actually works.

In Fiore Lustra Illuminating Cleansing Essence infiore.net, $125 I know what you’re thinking—yes, $125—but hear us out. This oil cleanser is so divine; so luxurious, effective, and delicious that we had to fight the urge to wash our faces four times a day. It literally targets every problem for every skin type, all the while maintaining the health of skin cells, improving the absorption of nutrients, and soothing and renewing skin. It also increases lymphatic circulation and stimulates collagen, things that few cleansers can promise.

This is a splurge in every sense of the word.

BONUS CLEANSING DEVICE: Foreo LUNA fofo Custom Cleansing Brush foreo.com, $89 We have always loved the idea of cleansing brushes, but at the end of the day, it usually seems like too cumbersome a thing to incorporate into our daily routine. Most brushes are great for in-shower use, but they don’t travel well and tend to make a mess of the bathroom sink. Enter Foreo, which with its LUNA line has revolutionized how fun and easy cleansing with a device can be. Its newest addition, the cutely named fofo, is everything that we have been missing in our nighttime or travel skincare routine. Not only is it waterproof and bacteria resistant, but it can be used up to 400 times without having to change the battery, which means no more charging cables. But wait! There’s more.

The back of the fofo is outfitted with two 24K gold-plated sensors that, when paired to your phone, analyze skin hydration levels and provide a custom cleansing routine.

Foreo for president.

VOL 11

Saturday • January 12 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Art by JAM Sketches

Grove Hall Branch of the Boston Public Library 41 Geneva Ave • Dorchester 02121

Comics In Color is a safe space where you can come and nerd out about illustrated stories by and about people of color.

THIS MONTH! Featured Guest:Charity Everett

Charity will talk about her Augmented Reality story telling project “Go Back and Fetch It”

Discussion: Is Digital Publishing the future of Comics?

• All-levels comics making activity • Samples of Black Comics • SNACKS! All are welcome but this is an event focused on comics by and about people of color.

COMICSINCOLOR.ORG

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11

SNOWY SADDLES, ICY BIKING FEATURE

From gear to routes to maintenance, keep you and your bicycle safe through the sleet

BY ANDY METZGER Winter is the worst time of year to be on a bicycle. It is dark As the winter goes on, the streets become littered with and cold. Road salt eats into your gear. Slippery surfaces call abandoned bikes shackled to sign posts and buried in snow. for slower speeds, and blasts of freezing wind can nearly “Once a bike gets plowed under, it’s pretty much stop you in your tracks. dead,” Mook said. “I consider it detritus and I think it’s a Still, for many it beats jamming into a subway car or burden on whoever the landowner is to clear those bikes. shivering outdoors waiting for the bus. You might think And I just think it’s a shame. I think bikers should be more drivers have the responsible.” right idea for The good news for anyone thinking about outfitting a getting around bike for the winter is bike shops are often empty when it is Boston in the nasty out, and staff are happy to talk about gear like fenders winter, but they are and outerwear. the ones shoveling Brakes are an important consideration. Rim brakes are out their cars after common on older bikes, but they will grind salt and sand every snowstorm, into your wheels, wearing them out. Disc brakes and other scrambling for alternatives can help preserve the wheel. parking during A single-speed fixed-gear can be useful in the winter, snow emergencies, because its simple parts prevent some complications caused and dealing with a by snow and ice. slew of mechanical “It’s a pretty popular bike style for the winter,” Lee said. problems.

Riding will warm you up faster than many heating Some benefits systems, but extremities remain vulnerable to the cold, so of biking accrue no heavy-duty gloves and wool socks are useful. matter the weather: It is possible to ride through a couple inches of snow or free parking, over patches of ice, but it is a different feel than dry asphalt. minimal traffic, Do not lean into turns and make sure you have extra aerobic exercise, stopping distance, Mook advised. New riders can practice the occasional thrill. riding in empty, snow-blanketed lots, he said.

Maybe that’s why Cambridge resident Colin Durrant carries his 4-year-old more cyclists pedal daughter to school in the front of his cargo bike—unless their way through there is too much snow, when he starts to worry about the snowy months. drivers skidding.

“Anecdotally we see just more and more ridership every single winter,” said Galen Mook, executive director of MassBike. A survey of its members found 40 percent plan to ride year-round, Mook said.

Winter riding requires some forethought, starting with a fundamental question: Do you want a cheap and disposable winter ride, or do you want to shell out for a little more comfort and safety?

The winter takes its toll, so many people buy a cheap bike that they don’t care much about.

“It might be worth buying a beater bike,” Mook said.

There is another important factor that isn’t for sale at any bike shop: real estate.

“If you don’t have indoor storage, it can definitely do a lot more damage,” said Max Lee, a bike mechanic at Ferris Wheels in Jamaica Plain. Outdoors, moisture and freezing cold can rupture a bike’s frame similar to a burst pipe, according to Lee, who said locks also freeze up, leaving PHOTO BY ANDY METZGER cyclists with few options.

You might think drivers have the right idea for getting around Boston in the winter, but they are the ones shoveling out their cars after every snowstorm, scrambling for parking during snow emergencies, and dealing with a slew of mechanical problems.

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“She loves it,” Durrant said. “Cold weather is fine. You can always put on more layers.”

When street shoulders are mounded with snow, cyclists should not be shy about taking a traffic lane, and drivers tend to be forgiving in the snow, according to Mook, who said bikers should make themselves extra visible.

Snow clearing of bike lanes varies by municipality. Draft pedestrian recommendations from MassDOT say cities should make a plan to “ensure bikeways are cleared quickly after a snow event,” and MassDOT’s draft bicycle plan calls for a snow-clearing pilot program on MassDOT-owned bike routes.

Many paths in Boston are maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which puts a high priority on clearing the Southwest Corridor and aims to clear the Neponset River Greenway within 12 hours of a storm.

Everyone has a limit to where they feel comfortable and safe riding in the winter.

That line was drawn for Cambridge resident Ruthann Rudel by a patch of ice on Mass Ave early one morning a few years ago. Rudel’s bike slid out from under her, and she wound up on the pavement on one of the city’s busiest roadways.

“Since it was so early there wasn’t really any traffic,” said Rudel.

She wasn’t injured, but the fall did have lasting impact.

Now Rudel stays off her bike if there is a risk of ice on the roadway.

e h t e v a S ! e t Da

SomERviLlE ComMUniTy

SumMIt

Somerville residents* are welcome to come meet DigBoston journalists and colleagues from other news outlets to discuss local issues that need more coverage

2pm 2 1 , 16 Center . b e F ia Sat., ille e Med

erv vill r m e o m S , o S quare S n o i 90 Un ston, o B g i

by D d ofit e r r p o n s o n o for N e Co-sp t u t i the t s d n n I a , n ) C) (BINJ Bosto M S ( m s r i l e t Journa Media Cen ille v r e m So

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13

AWAY FROM IT ALL GTFO

A hike through Dorchester, Milton, and Mattapan WORDS AND PHOTOS BY MARC HURWITZ @HIDDENBOSTON In September of 2017, we took a look at some “welcome back” walks that people can take to get to know the city of Boston a little better. One of the walks mentioned was the Neponset River Greenway, which at the time led walkers through quiet parts of Dorchester and Milton, including Lower Mills, a historic industrial area that has some really interesting things to check out.

Not too long before the article’s publication, a new section of the Greenway had debuted, and since it was (at the time) unexplored territory, it wasn’t covered in the piece, but now with several treks along the new part under our belts, it’s time to look at the entire walkway, including this new section, which leads to an area of the city that had traditionally been rarely seen by hikers and walkers.

Perhaps the best place to start on the Neponset River Greenway is from the Pope John Paul II Park parking lot at the end of Hallet Street in Dorchester if you’re driving, or for those looking to use public transportation, the Butler stop on the Orange Line trolley, which is by the Greenway about a mile west of the Hallet Street lot, shortening the walk by a couple of miles or so (unless you decide to walk east to the park, then back west, which isn’t a bad idea because Pope John Paul Park II is 14

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pretty scenic).

From the lot, walking back onto Hallet Street (and under the Expressway) will quickly lead to the Greenway, which goes in both directions; taking it to the right eventually leads to Tenean Beach and then… nowhere, unless walking through dusty commercial and industrial areas to Morrissey Boulevard sounds like fun (it isn’t).

Going to the left is the way to go for this walk, with the trail skirting the Neponset River before the Granite Avenue intersection and marshlands to the left after the intersection; it is well worth exploring the scenic trails in these marshlands before returning

to the Greenway, which goes past the massive Cedar Grove Cemetery on the right before arriving at the aforementioned Butler T stop. Between Butler and Lower Mills is a river crossing at a place called Neponset Gorge, which isn’t quite as dramatic as it sounds (but is still quite nice), then you can leave the Greenway at Lower Mills if you feel like exploring the charming village area on the Dorchester side or the serene Milton Landing area on the Milton side. At this point, a side trip can be taken south on Adams Street up Milton Hill to Governor Hutchinson’s Field, which has stunning views of the Neponset River and beyond, and is a nice spot for a lunch break/picnic.

After the Adams Street Bridge, more exploring can be done just off the trail to the right where there is a booming waterfall and some old factory buildings, including one with a towering smokestack, and this section also marks the end of the “old” Greenway, which used to stop at the next intersection where Central Avenue meets Eliot Street. The new section of the walkway beyond this point has a different feel from the old section, as much of it is wooded and peaceful, paralleling Eliot Street to the south and the Neponset River to the north before veering away from the road and following the river for the most part.

About a mile west of the Central Avenue intersection where the new part begins, the Greenway approaches what initially looks like a miniature version of one of the Cape Cod Canal bridges. The Harvest River Bridge is a real beauty, with the arched bridge going over the Neponset River and into Mattapan near a playground, and it is certainly a good place to take a break and enjoy the views of the river in both directions. Now on the north side of the Neponset and staying in Mattapan for the duration, the trail initially goes through deep woods and has a surprisingly remote feel to it, and as it approaches Mattapan Square you’ll find yourself gradually going up a very long bridge over the end of the trolley line, coming down on the other side into Mattapan Square where it ends.

There has been talk of extending the Neponset River Greenway so that it might cross Blue Hill Avenue and continue into the Neponset River Reservation along the Truman Parkway, briefly traversing another piece of Milton, then into Hyde Park and Readville, at which point it could even connect to the Blue Hills Reservation, though any project like this would probably be a long way off.

Oh, and there’s also talk about the other end of the Greenway, possibly extending it from Tenean Beach to Victory Road past the gas tank then along Morrissey Boulevard, which means it could perhaps connect to a piece of the Harborwalk that goes all the way to Castle Island in South Boston. Don’t hold your breath waiting for either end of the Neponset River Greenway to be extended in the immediate future, but for now, it’s great to see a walkway along Boston’s southern border that goes into some really gorgeous areas, including some interesting parts of Boston that typically aren’t visited all that much.

Directions to Pope John Paul II Park parking lot: From Route 93S, take exit 11B (11 from Route 93N) to Granite Avenue, north over the Neponset River, an immediate right on Hilltop Street, then right on Hallet Street under the bridge into the parking lot.

BOSTON, MA MARCH 22-24

Tickets on sale Nov. 12th, 2018

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Tickets on sale Mar. 1st, 2019

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

15

RAPPERS + SUBSTANCE = W.O.K.E. MUSIC

For the hunger and the passionate skill they’re killin’

BY MIKE CRAWFORD @MIKECANNBOSTON As individual MCs and with their other projects and collectives, Lateb and Oblivious have touched Greater Boston’s hip-hop scene in various capacities over the past several years, bridging the heady underground sound that has dominated around here since the aughts with more contemporary rap that bumps nationally. Collectively, however, they are W.O.K.E., touching on topics ranging from creeping fascism and artificial intelligence to prison and debt. Their music is hard without fronting and even addresses the studio gangsterism that is so damn prevalent in commercial hip-hop. I sat with them for an interview on my Disrupt Boston radio show, The Young Jurks.

Tell us about W.O.K.E. O: It’s a collaborative effort from Lateb and myself supported musically by super producer Jon Glass.

Over the past few years we have recorded songs and we’ve finally been able to narrow it down to the ones we believe best represent not only ourselves but the message we are trying to portray. This project represents a testament to our growth—not only as individuals, but as artists. We were both extremely proud of the effort and look forward to sharing it with the world.

I’ve known you through your music and activism for decades now. What would today’s Oblivious be telling the younger version of yourself?

O: You have a lot to learn, never stop! Oh, and it’s OK to love yourself.

You touch on a lot of topics, where’s the inspiration come from?

O: Just life in general, trying to be as conscious and observant as possible, also being fortunate enough to have an extremely diverse group of people around me to constantly push me to grow and do my best to understand and document the world around me as I see it. Nowadays it’s not all puppies and rainbows.

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L: Oblivious really makes me step up my game substance-wise. He has a vast wealth of knowledge and we are both very opinionated, but at the same time, not naive. Observation is key, and my lyrics on a project like this are inspired by things I personally have experienced. I am a victim of Sallie Mae to this day; I have been targeted by police, and have felt unsafe many times, as have many people in my life. I have been in the prison system and seen the ugliness and the mindstate of people who can’t get out of their own minds. It’s a vicious cycle. Not everyone will agree with our views, but as long as we make people question things that maybe trigger new thoughts and ideas, then the goal is accomplished.

I recall seeing you, Oblivious, at Occupy Boston in 2011.

Looking back, what’s your feeling about that movement today?

O: Occupy, I mean, though I was young and full of leftover teenage angst, I guess I still believe in what myself and many others set out to accomplish.

Successful or not, it taught me a lot about myself.

You mention Colin Kaepernick on this release. Do you want to elaborate on why you wear his jersey?

O: I guess it is my wordless letter of solidarity to the plight of the indigenous and melanated peoples—not only of our country, but worldwide.

Any advice for struggling creatives today?

O: Greatness is attained through hard work and dedication. Study those that came before you and mastered their crafts. Most of all never compromise your integrity for anybody or anything. Be yourself.

L: There is no substitute for hard work. You can enjoy something and not be passionate about it and that’s OK. Your passion can be your hobby too and maybe you luck out and blow up, but we know 99.9 percent of the time that doesn’t happen. My advice first and foremost

is to look within yourself and ask yourself if you have enough passion to go through the struggle to sacrifice much more than even an above average person, to fight for it. Musically my advice is to force nothing. If you don’t feel it, don’t do it, but mostly keep learning, reading, researching, trying new things and don’t burn bridges, because you never know when things will come full circle.

Where do you see yourself over the next decade? Longer term goals?

O: Wiser. Established.

L: Living of my passion with the ability to help people other than myself. Being Peruvian I would like to help underdeveloped Central and South American countries in some sort of way. I’ve seen what good nonprofits like Worthy Village based in Guatemala have done. Maybe that’ll be my swan song. A Grammy would be nice too, but it’s not the ultimate goal.

What’s your hope for the future of hip-hop?

O: Ain’t shit changed but the date. There has and always will be different styles and approaches. There will be the innovators there will be the imitators. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

L: In death there is also rebirth. People with less talent became popularized and simplicity more glorified, but with it came the introduction of melodies into the genre which was previously deemed not hip-hop. I’m a fan of music, so while I too disliked a lot of music during that cultural shift [identified by Nas on Hip-Hop Is Dead in 2006], I took from it some good things that we now even on this W.O.K.E. project have incorporated. Hip-hop will always exist. It may shapeshift at times and give birth to things we don’t like, but there will always be those exceptional talents that are unquestionably great in any era.

VOICES CARRY MUSIC

Boston old tyme hardcore rallies to aid Gang Green’s Chris Doherty

BY NATE HOMAN terrorize, and show more enthusiasm toward drinking than fucking. That youthful insanity earned them a place alongside Minor Threat, Black Flag, Bad Brains, and the Dead Kennedys, to name a few OGs of hardcore.

“I got a copy of This Is Boston Not LA from TAANG records, and I was amazed that the bands on this comp were contemporaries with my national punk heroes,” Unseen bassist Trip Underwood told the Dig. “Only difference was, they came from areas I could relate to—Fall River, the Cape, Braintree. Their stickers were visible on the back of road signs and skate ramps up and down 93 south. You still find their albums for less than $8 at local thrift stores or mom and pop shops in the ’burbs. For whatever reason, in my 15-year-old brain, being able to visualize the towns where this music was born helped me contextualize it so much better.”

Gang Green also helped align skateboarding with East Coast punk rock when Doherty appeared on the cover of Thrasher in 1987, the same year a few members of Marshfield’s Worm were born.

“A lot of the old punk and hardcore Boston bands were all outta the South Shore,” Mike Worm said. “They blazed the trail for our era of punk, early 2000s and South Shore punk bands.”

Legend has it that the Braintree-born rocker delivered pizzas via skateboard in Quincy at one point in his early days. There are countless elder tales about “getting wasted with Chris” at some shitty townie bar, or about the group ripping the roof off of a VFW hall in some random suburb.

“When I got to see Gang Green play live, the first thing that struck me was how freaking young they were,” said punk rock writer Nancy Barile, author of I’m Not Holding Your Coat: A Punk/Hardcore Memoir From a Woman’s Perspective. “They were kids up there, probably still in or just outta high school, playing crazed, noisy, energetic hardcore.”

Gang Green saw many lineup changes, but Doherty held firm in the fun and frenetic hellscape. With the Paradise show, the scene will respond to help him recover so that he can get back to his two loves: Gang Green and his daughter Grace.

“Chris Doherty is Gang Green,” said Wizard Security sorcerer Jeff Freeman. “Whoever was in the mix when they played, it was always a great night of craziness and fun music. The energy started as soon as they showed up at the venue and lasted till the club was shut down for the night after a good mix of music and insanity.”

When it comes to the genre’s agitated inception, the heaviest rally cries of 1980s hardcore still echo from under shards of busted bottles and stomped cigarette butts along frost-mangled sidewalks that Gang Green’s Chris Doherty skated on.

The Gang Green party machine hit a wicked serious snag when founding member/guitarist/singer Doherty suffered a stroke on Halloween. The condition hammered both his heart and brain, leaving him paralyzed on his left side. While emergency brain surgery prevented an early epitaph, the dude has a long way to go and no health insurance.

In a scene where loyalty is lauded, it was only fitting that regular acts from the days of the Rat, along with local knuckleheads, put together Not A Wasted Night: A Benefit for Chris Doherty, a one-night-only show with hometown

hardcore heavyweights including Slapshot, the Dogmatics, the Outlets, Unnatural Axe, White Dynomite, the F.U.’s, and SSD’s Springa. It all goes down at the Paradise on Jan 11, when South Shore stalwarts Worm will also join various Gang Green alumni on stage to raise money for Doherty’s recovery. Truth is, he can’t live without it.

“They were a step above most others locally in that particular genre as far musicianship is concerned,” Agnostic Front and Slapshot guitarist Craig Silverman said of Gang Green’s unique take on chaotic thrash style speed.

“They weren’t just a hardcore punk band. I heard lots of rock and roll and metal influences that weren’t evident in most hardcore bands of that era. They didn’t sound like anybody else, and nobody does today either.”

Gang Green championed a simple, snarling message: Tear it up with an eight ball, have fun, skate to hell,

>> NOT A WASTED NIGHT: A BENEFIT FOR CHRIS DOHERTY OF GANG GREEN. PARADISE ROCK CLUB, 967 COMM. AVE., BOSTON. FRI 1.11. $25-$75.

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

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17

AN ALL-AROUND FUN GUY BOOKS

Mighty Cambridge writer and mycologist drops 16th book

BY DIG STAFF @DIGBOSTON

You have released 16 books independently over the years. What’s been the most successful one and why?

What’s been the biggest bomb?

The two most successful books have been Last Places, which has been translated into 11 languages, and A Kayak Full of Ghosts, which has been in print continuously for 30 years.

The biggest bomb? My collection of parodic diaries entitled Paris Was My Paramour. It came out shortly after 9/11, and that apparently wasn’t a time in our country’s history for humor.

If you hang out among mushrooms in the forest or around Cambridge, you may already be familiar with Lawrence Millman. A mycologist and prolific author, he’s called both those places home for 30 years and has authored more than half that many books over that time.

We threw a few curveballs at Millman about his latest, the Book of Origins, which he promises “is likely to offend a good portion of the population.” He hopes so, at least.

You are primarily a mycologist. I understand that’s basically a fungi expert, is that correct? Can you tell us a little more about exactly what it is you do in that profession?

I wear many hats, one of which is that of a mycologist.

This means I’m an aficionado of fungi (mushrooms). I study their ecology—how are they helping or hindering their respective but not always respectable habitats. I also delight in their whimsical nature. You never know what you’re going to see next. It’s a good way to look at life.

How does being a mycologist feed into your writing? Is it there sometimes and not others?

Fungi astonish me. They remind me that the purpose of good writing is to astonish one’s readers. To expand their three-and-a-half-pound thrones of wisdom (i.e., brains). On the other hand, they tend to hinder my writing because, if it’s a good day outside, I think, To hell with putting words onto paper, I’ll go outside and look for fungi.

You have been a creature of Cambridge for 30 years.

Where did you come from before that? And why have you stayed?

Before I came to Cambridge, I lived in Iceland (where I taught), Greenland (where I collected folk tales), and Vermont (where I mostly wrote). Mercifully, I’ve never lived in Florida, an utterly damnable place! I’ve remained in Cambridge because it has good bookstores and good libraries as well as a relatively literate and politically alert population.

I write everything in longhand first, and then type it out not on an old Royal but a not-so-old Communicator I typewriter. Then I’m obliged to type the manuscript on my iMac, as no editor would deign to read either a longhand manuscript or one written on such a primitive entity as a typewriter.

For your latest, the Book of Origins, it appears that you have turned to allegory. Why this book, and why that device at this moment in time?

The Book of Origins is not allegory so much as satire.

Not surprisingly, Donald Trump sometimes shows up in its pages. It consists of 100 short pieces, each of which gives the true origin of wellness, zombies, the afterlife, etc. The book is a celebration of political incorrectness and owes its allegiance to George Carlin and Mark Twain, but not, definitely not, Henry James—my all-time least favorite writer.

On the back cover, you’re laying on your side, kind of like a shirtless Scott Brown in his centerfold moment. And you’re holding something in your right hand. I hope this isn’t too intrusive of a question, but what is that thing you are holding?

I know what you’re thinking: that I’m holding some sort of iDevice. Perish the thought! I would never hold such a thing, especially on a remote island in the Azores, where the photo was taken. Why would I want to have my travels interrupted by a phone call that says, “Sorry, Mr. Millman, but I’ve got bad news for you”? Actually, I’m holding the case for a point-and-shoot camera.

Since I know it’s hard for a Cambridge lifer like you to answer this many questions without a chance to tee off on the president and war and global warming, please by all means finish us off with a rant about the horrific state of global affairs.

Your question effectively blots out my thought processes, except for three words: Impeach Comrade Trumpski!

Where do you hang out? Where do you write?

I hang out mostly in the woods, where I’m looking not only for fungi but also for communion with my favorite thing in all the world—nature.

As for where I write, it’s usually in my own abode. I would write in coffee shops, but all the tables are always taken up by people umbilically affixed to their laptops.

Are we correct to assume that all your manuscripts originate on napkins before being typed out on an old Royal?

>> THE BOOK OF ORIGINS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN LOCAL BOOKSTORES IN FEBRUARY. MILLMAN WILL ALSO READ FROM HIS LATEST ON 2.5 AT THE HARVARD COOP, 1400 MASS. AVE., CAMBRIDGE. CHECK OUT LAWRENCEMILLMAN.COM FOR MORE.

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DEPT. OF COMMERCE

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

19

BEALE STREET TALK FILM

Barry Jenkins’ new film confirms him a supreme director of dialogue scenes

BY JAKE MULLIGAN @_JAKEMULLIGAN The latest feature by writer/director Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk [2018], his third, is adapted from the 1973 fiction novel of the same name by James Baldwin, his fifth. In a number of recent interviews, including one with fellow writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson (published as a podcast by the Director’s Guild of America), Jenkins has said the project originated in part because Beale Street seems the most “visual” of Baldwin’s novels. By that I think he means: More than most other James Baldwin fiction works, Beale Street is propelled by extended scenes of dialogue amongst characters. And so its potential for adaptation is no fresh subject. “As a novel it is not a success, being too sentimental and predictable by half,” said writer Martha Duffy in a mixed review published by Time Magazine way back in 1974. “But it has the makings of a splendid opera.”

Jenkins has made a splendid opera from the material, “faithfully” as the saying goes. Both novel and film depict a stretch in the lives of 19-year-old Clementine “Tish” Rivers and 22-year-old sculptor Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (played

by KiKi Layne and Stephan James in the film), two black Americans living in Harlem in what appears to be the ’60s or the early ’70s. During the year or so of time across which most of the story takes place, Tish and Fonny begin sleeping together (they’ve grown up as best friends); search for a Greenwich Village loft space (an effort made nearly impossible by white landlords and realtors); conceive their child; reconnect with Fonny’s old school friend Daniel (Brian Tyree Henry), who’s recently out of jail following a two-year sentence for a bullshit charge; and finally, tragically, have their first encounters with the murderous and racist Officer Bell (Ed Skrein), who soon afterward frames Fonny for the rape of Victoria Rogers (Emily Rios).

The rest of the primary characters are members of Tish and Fonny’s respective families, all brought together early on by one of those extended dialogue scenes. It’s a depiction of the long evening that follows after Tish informs Fonny—now imprisoned on the false charge—that she’s pregnant with his child. Over a series of conversations and fruitful stares, the news is passed onto Tish’s mother Sharon (Regina King), then to her dad Joseph (Colman Domingo) and her sister Ernestine (Teyonah Parris), then finally to the Hunt family: dad Frank (Michael Beach), sisters Adrienne and Sheila, and self-righteous church-lady Mrs. Hunt (Aunjanue Ellis). Jenkins and his cast accept the novel’s dialogue as it was written, better or worse, and a few perform it with such actorly intensity that one knows the back row can see them clearly: Parris delivers “Unbow your head, sister” to her conflicted sibling as if orating from on high; Ellis cries her exit line “That child, that child…” like she is acting out the end of a Hollywood melodrama (a decision that, I should note, is not inconsistent with the characterization). This is an uneven and unwieldy scene—but not an untrue one! on the contrary—the different modes of acting line up with the different character’s differing psychologies, creating a dynamic that can’t quite exist on the page.

It’s a daring moment of high theatricality inside the kind of moderately realist drama that typically has no room for such affectations, and Jenkins’ film is all the better for it.

In both iterations of Beale Street, the tale is told from Tish’s point of view (Layne performs voiceover narration in the film), in a nonchronological and strangely (or divinely?) omniscient manner. This long evening is interrupted twice, for instance, divided by scenes that depict Fonny and Tish in their lives together before his arrest. This structural conceit, also, is from the text. But in Jenkins’ film, Tish does not guide us through the story, the way she does in

the novel, nor, let’s say, the way the Henry Hill character guides us through Goodfellas [1990]—although Beale Street does capture something of a Scorsesean energy in the very best of its voiceover/cutaway combinations—but instead her narration drops in on intermittent occasions, less a guide than an occasional commentator. Sometimes it’s worthy texture, expanding the world of the film, as in sequences where Tish speaks from one of Baldwin’s impassioned digressions while the frame displays a series of still photographs from the period. But sometimes these sequences play out like, well, the result of someone reading aloud from a book—as when we hear Tish describing the way her child’s kicking has made her drop eggs and coffeepots, and grip tightly onto counters, narration that is accompanied on the screen by images that depict her dropping eggs and coffeepots, and gripping tightly onto a counter. Admirable in Jenkins’ Beale Street adaptation is the choice not to place the story in chronological order, to trust in the loose associations that provoke the movement back and forth, and to leave empty those margins in time that we the audience must now fill in. But the film never quite finds a principle for its own design beyond its loose approximation of the novel’s own; it goes halfway in a few varying directions and in this case the ruptures are not so much for the better.

For this writer all the film’s richest qualities are showcased most clearly during the dialogue sequences.

For instance Jenkins’ use of “Jonathan Demme close-ups,” where characters are composed to stare directly into the frame rather than past it, are stylistically motivated, organic, and deeply affecting when placed within the dialogue scenes, whereas in the transitions and montages this same manner of close-up sometimes plays out as self-consciously showy and unproductive. Even the film’s lighting and color palette—the cinematography is by Jenkins’ longtime collaborator James Paxton—is developed further by the dialogue. Take for instance another of Jenkins’ long dialogue sequences, this one depicting Fonny and Daniel catching up at the former man’s place, “Blue in Green” on the soundtrack, an auburn evening light illuminating the interior set (the same color that dominates the larger film, with blue or green usually offsetting it somewhere in the margins of any given frame). This is a complex and dynamic exchange, rich with drama as well as with specific detail about the material’s central subject—that being “oppression as the condition

KIKI LAYNE AND COLMAN DOMINGO IN IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, IMAGE COURTESY ANNAPURNA PICTURES

>>IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK. RATED R. NOW PLAYING AT VARIOUS BOSTON-AREA MOVIE THEATERS. 20

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of black American life,” a phrase Hilton Als once used to describe Baldwin’s most recurring theme: Daniel is trying to open up to Fonny about his experiences in prison and the traumas he suffered physically and mentally while being apprehended, convicted, and imprisoned; Fonny is trying to empathize and understand, but he can only do so much. As their conversation extends into the night, and the distance between them (placed there by unjust forces) seems to both grow (with the difference in experience) and recede (by way of their communion at this table), the autumnal color of the scene grows toward a darker and less discernible shade. Some of the exchange is framed in medium close-ups, but there’s also a composition that drifts from Daniel to Fonny and back again, suggesting both their vital connection and their tragic alienation in one single camera movement. The editing is calm, often turning on nonverbal cues from the actors rather than from the usual look-at-who’s-talking pattern. It’s a nearly perfect stretch of filmmaking by Jenkins, pictorially beautiful yet also restrained, unshowy, and entirely aligned with the work of the other artists involved, the kind of scene that makes you excited for everything this relatively young director might stage in the future.

On a purely superficial level, the scene is not too far off from a climactic sequence in Jenkins’ last film, Moonlight [2016], the one where Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) and Kevin (André Holland) catch up at the diner where the latter works. Like the scene with Fonny and Daniel in Beale Street, it’s a dialogue sequence that’s highly attuned to the physical details of the space in which it’s taking place; that places a rightful importance on the sounds (musical and otherwise) emanating in that same space; that allows the actors to deliver the dialogue (adapted in both cases) with rare patience (both scenes go over 10 minutes) and daring performance choices; that reveals something of both character’s psychologies not only by what they say but also by what they don’t say (secrets that the film and performers reveal more physically); and that captures something of the real beauty of each performer, as well as capturing something of the evils that have so worn that same beauty. Very few contemporary directors stage dialogue with such artistry, such intelligence, such density of aesthetic design. There are parts of Baldwin’s text that I believe this film struggles in translating. But when it comes time to sit down at the table and talk, no other director could’ve played better host.

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21

40 FOR 30

COMEDY EVENTS

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE @FAKEDANSAVAGE | MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET I’m a 40-year-old guy with a 30-year-old girlfriend. We’ve been together a year, and I can see a future with her. But there are problems. This girl comes after two minutes of stimulation, be it manual, oral, or penile. As someone who takes pride in my foreplay/pussy-eating abilities, this is a bummer. She gets wet to the point where all friction is lost during PIV and my boners don’t last. It’s like fucking a bowlful of jelly. Part of me is flattered that I get her off, but damnit I miss a tight fit! (Her oral skills aren’t great, either, so that’s not an option, and anal is a no-go.) I love to fuck hard, and that’s difficult when I’m sticking my dick into a frictionless void. Is there a way to decrease wetness? Help, please.

Can’t Last Inside Tonight First things first: She’s not doing anything wrong, CLIT, and neither are you—at least you’re not doing anything wrong during sex. (When you sit down to write letters to advice columnists, on the other hand…) She can’t help how much vaginal mucus she produces or how much vaginal sweating your foreplay/pussy-eating skills induce, any more than you can help how much pre-ejaculate you pump out.

(Her wetness is a combo of vaginal mucus and vaginal sweating—the latter is not a derogatory expression, that’s just the term for it.) And all that moisture is there for a good reason: It preps the vagina for penetration. In its absence, PIV can be extremely painful for the fuckee. So the last thing you want to do is dry your girlfriend up somehow.

Now here’s something you are doing wrong: “It’s like fucking a bowlful of jelly,” “I miss a tight fit,” “Her oral skills aren’t great, either,” “I’m sticking my dick into a frictionless void.” You’re going to need to have a conversation with your girlfriend about this, CLIT, you’ll need to use your words, but you can’t have that conversation—not a constructive one—until you can find some less denigrating, resentful, shame-heaping words.

Again, she’s doing nothing wrong. She gets very wet when she’s turned on. That’s just how her body works. Too much lubrication makes it harder for you to get off.

That’s how your body works. And this presents a problem that you two need to work on together, but insults like “bowlful of jelly” and “frictionless void” are going to shut the conversation down and/or end the relationship. So try this instead: “I love how turned on you get, honey, and I love how wet you get. But it can make it difficult for me to come during PIV.” If you don’t put her on the defensive—if you don’t make her feel like shit about her pussy—you might be able to have a constructive conversation and come up with some possible PIV hacks. If there’s a move (clitoral stimulation) or an event (her first orgasm) that really opens up the tap, CLIT, save that move or delay that event until after you’ve climaxed or until after you’ve reached the point of orgasmic inevitability—if PIV isn’t painful for her when she’s a little less wet.

You can also experiment with different positions to find one that provides you with a little more friction and doesn’t hit her clit just so—perhaps doggy style—and then shift into a position that engages her clit when you’re going to come. And there’s no shame in pulling out and stroking yourself during intercourse before diving back in. Be constructive, get creative, and never again speak of her pussy like it’s a defective home appliance, CLIT, and you might be able to solve this (pretty good) problem (to have).

On the Lovecast, who are furries and what do they want?: savagelovecast.com.

THU 01.10, SAT 01.12, SUN 01.13

SAMUEL J. COMROE @ LAUGH BOSTON

Samuel J. Comroe made his TV debut on TBS’ Conan, has appeared on BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood with Kevin Hart, and America’s Got Talent. In addition to his TV appearances Sam was recently featured on All Def Digital’s Comedy Originals. He is also the winner of Ricky Gervais’ Comedy Competition, & The San Francisco Comedy Competition.

425 SUMMER ST., BOSTON | VARIOUS | $20-$25 THU 01.10

OSAKA KOMEDY @ OSAKA JAPANESE SUSHI & STEAK HOUSE

Featuring: Dan Crohn, Bethany Van Delft, Brian Plumb, Kindra Lansburg, Cindy Doan, Sam Pelletier, & Jimmy Cash.

Hosted by Ben Quick

14 GREEN ST., BROOKLINE | 8PM | FREE FRI 01.11 - SAT 01.12

NICK’S COMEDY STOP

Friday: Christine Hurley Saturday: Marty Caproni

100 WARRENTON ST., BOSTON | 8PM | $20 FRI 01.11

NEW YAK CITY @ MAKE SHIFT BOSTON

Featuring: Demetrius Hullum, Justin P Drew, Lee Newton, Dom Smith, Tyiesha Thompson.

Hosted by Jason Cordova & Trent Wells

549 COLUMBUS AVE., BOSTON | 7PM | $5 SAT 01.12

BOSTON COMEDY CHICKS COMEDY SHOWCASE @ DOYLE’S

Featuring: Carmen Lagala, Diana Lu, Dylan Uscher, & Katie McCarthy.

Hosted by Kathe Farris

3484 WASHINGTON ST., JP | 8PM | $12 SUN 01.13

LIQUID COURAGE COMEDY @ SLUMBREW

Featuring: Ben Quick, Janet McNamara, Deadair Dennis Maler, Kwasi Mensah, Amanda Cohen, Pete Andrews, Joe Kozlowski, & Mike Setlow.

Hosted by Jeff Medoff

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

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…

RUTHERFORD

BY DON KUSS DONKUSS@DIGBOSTON.COM

savagelovecast.com “I KNEW I SHOULDN’t have asked for the whine list” 22

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WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST

BY PATT KELLEY PATTKELLEY.COM

HEADLINING THIS WEEK!

Samuel J. Comroe

Thursday, Saturday + Sunday America’s Got Talent

COMING SOON Rafinha Bastos Netflix Jan 18 + 19

Jiggy

THE WAY WE WEREN’T

BY PAT FALCO ILLFALCO.COM

Special Engagement: Weds, Jan 23

K. Trevor Wilson Roast Battle, Jimmy Kimmel Live Jan 24-26

Greg Fitzsimmons

Netflix, The Howard Stern Show Jan 31-Feb 2

OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS

BY TIM CHAMBERLAIN OURVC.NET

Eddie Ifft

Comedy Central Presents, Last Comic Standing Feb 7-9 617.72.LAUGH | laughboston.com 425 Summer Street at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District NEWS TO US

FEATURE

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

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23

JANUARY 20