A!er another brisk year of local real estate sales in 2017, 2018 has started off cold and snowy. So far, the weather has not frozen demand for housing. Open houses around the holidays were well a"ended. Inventory of all sizes and types—single family, multi-family, and condominiums— continues to be low. Although interest rates are predicted to rise in 2018, they remained low at the beginning of the year. The recently passed Federal tax bill does not appear to have any features that will negatively impact the local real estate market in the next few months. Once again, the combination of high demand, limited inventory, strong local economy, low unemployment, and low interest rates, makes it likely that this year will also be good for sellers and challenging for buyers.
Coming Soon
Commercial
East Somerville 3-Family
62 Bow Street Unit #60-b, Somerville $299,000
Owned, occupied, and lovingly maintained by the same family for three generations, this cheerful three-family with driveway and yard is just steps to the culinary delights of East Broadway and within walking distance of two Orange Line stops, Assembly Row, Union Square, and Charlestown.
Davis Square Single Family Spacious, renovated single with 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths, yard, and driveway on a lovely street in an ideal residential location near the T, bike path, shops, and nightlife.
Stunning Union Square Condo Beautifully renovated 3 bedroom/2 bath unit on upper 2 levels. Master bedroom has large deck with roof top views. On a side street with parking and yard, steps to the heart of the square.
Spring Hill Condo Tastefully updated, spacious one bedroom condo with garage parking, close to Porter and Davis Squares.
Roslindale Single Family Dreamy Victorian single family with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms on a large double lot with great views. Beautiful mix of new and old including a gorgeous family room addition and commanding deck off the kitchen. Lovely foyer, staircase, and restored mouldings and doors.
This highly visible, centrally located, street-level commercial condo is in the heart of Union Square with residential condos above it. Open room with exposed brick, picture windows onto the street, half bathroom, and separate area. Currently used by the owners as a small music lesson/performance space, previously used as a drop-off (no plant onsite) dry cleaner, it could be used for other retail or office purposes. (Buyers should review Somerville zoning code and condominium documents for any restrictions on use) Near restaurants, grocery stores, businesses, offices, residential neighborhoods, universities. Quick access to Boston and Cambridge by public transit, car, bike, or foot. On several bus lines, including the CT2, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 91. Steps from long-awaited Union Square Green Line Extension subway stop (now slated to open 2021). Close to several highways, including Routes 93, 38, 28, 90, 16, and 2. Excellent opportunity at an exciting time.
61 Roseland Street Unit 2, Somerville $85,000 Small commercial office on Somerville/Cambridge line, just a block from the Porter Square T, commuter rail, and Mass. Ave. bus. Ground floor 10’ x 14’ office with wood floor plus exposed brick/stone walls in a gut-renovated Victorian of 10 office suites, most occupied by therapists. Could be suitable space for designer, writer, architect, photographer, wedding planner, psychotherapist, massage therapist, CPA, or other office uses. Shared 1/2 baths and waiting area. Condo fee includes heat, a/c, water, sewer, snow removal, and common area cleaning. New common heating system installed 2017. Plenty of street parking available nearby with Somerville or Cambridge resident permits; at meter spots on Beacon Street and Mass. Ave.; or in paid lot behind Porter Exchange Building on corner of Roseland and Mass. Ave. Perfect option for people who want to move their office out of the house and into an affordable, conveniently located space suitable for meeting clients. Numerous restaurants and shops just steps away. FOR LEASE: Class A Office Space in Union Square — coming soon
Free Classes
Thalia Tringo
President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Basic Home Maintenance:
preparing your home for winter Tuesday, January 16th
6:30-7:45 pm
Do you worry about pipes bursting? Ice dams? Clogged gu"ers? Broken downspouts? Heat loss? Damage from broken tree limbs? Heating system failure? Routine maintenance is the best way to prevent damage to your most important investment: your home. Come to this class to get a checklist and explanation of the things you need to do to maintain your home—and sanity.
First Time Home Buyers:
an overview of the buying process Wednesday, January 24th
Niké Damaskos
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
6:30-7:45 pm
If you’re considering buying your first home and want to understand what’s in store, this is a quick and helpful overview. Led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, it includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time:
Jennifer Rose
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
for homeowners contemplating a move Monday, January 29th
6:30-7:45 pm
If trying to figure out the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one makes your head spin, this workshop will help make the process understandable. This workshop, led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Lynn C. Graham
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
How Individuals Can Buy Property Together as a Group: a primer for non-traditional homebuyers Tuesday, February 6th
6:30-7:45 pm
When two or more people, whether or not they are related, buy property together, what are their options for taking title? How do you determine each one’s financial contributions, percentage legal interest in the property, and expense allocation? What kind of arrangements can be made in the event one or more parties want to move on but others want to keep the property? What type of financing is available? We will address these and other questions in this class with a follow-up Q&A session. Lead by our team and a local real estate a"orney.
Eco-Friendly/Green Homes Tuesday, January 23rd
6:30-8:00 pm
If you’re dreaming of a home that’s the ultimate in energy efficiency, join us for a presentation about green homes, also known as passive homes. We’ll discuss the lingo associated with this technology, show various examples of homes that use the passive home design/standards, and the various programs currently available to retrofit your home. Presented by a local Architect/Designer, Tagore Hernandez with Group Design Build. 1 hour presentation and 20 minutes Q&A. Handouts and refreshments provided.
To reserve space in any class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
Best Real Estate Agency
Best Real Estate Agent
Brendon Edwards
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.895.6267 cell/text Brendon@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Adaria Brooks
Executive Assistant to the President, Realtor ® 617.308.0064 cell/text Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
About our company... We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. We are also commi!ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction. Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
JANUARY 15 - MARCH 12, 2018 ::: VOLUME 30 ::: SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM
Veg-friendly spots
THE WELLNESS ISSUE 16 // VEGAN & VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT ROUNDUP Whether you keep vegetarian or vegan or just want to incorporate healthier meals into your routine, this rundown on local veg-friendly spots will help you get the New Year started on the right foot. 20 // EXERCISE LOVES COMPANY When Sheree Watson faced numerous health problems, the November Project’s intense group exercises helped her pull through. 24 // SHIFTING OUT OF AUTOPILOT: THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF BEING PRESENT Cambridge Health Alliance teaches mindfulness courses where people can learn techniques for coping with daily stressors.
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26 // BLOOD AND BIOMARKERS: TRACKING THE BODY FROM THE INSIDE InsideTracker takes personalized health to the next level by taking a look at what your blood has to say about you.
contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE 8 // WINNERS & LOSERS Cambridge will see at least 200 new inclusionary housing units in the next year, according to officials, plus the Department of Justice is investigating Harvard’s affirmative action policies. 10 // WHAT’S NEW? Eversource rates are going up this year, but Cambridge’s Community Electricity program can help.
14 // NEWS: EDUCATION FIRST BRINGS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO THE “LOST HALF-MILE” Education First broke ground on a 300,000-square-foot, 12-story building with dedicated public space and amenities in Cambridge’s North Point neighborhood this fall. 36 // CALENDAR 38 // SCOUT YOU
26
28 // HARVARD LAW STUDENTS CARVE OUT SPACE FOR QUEER CRUSHES Dyke bars are disappearing around the country, but two Harvard students are determined to make spaces for queer women and transgender and non-binary folks. 32 // THE APOTHECARY WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NAME This mom-and-pop apothecary treats being on a first-name basis with its customers like a common courtesy. 38 // LOCAL WELLNESS DIRECTORY These Scout sponsors can help you feel your best this New Year.
Photo, top: Life Alive. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, bottom: Rony Sellam, CEO of InsideTracker. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. On the cover: Sheree Watson participates in a November Project group exercise. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
When it’s your blood telling you you have a problem, you probably feel a little more compelled to do something about it.”
(we do other things, too.) (thank you!)
The UPS Store 4978
519 Somerville Ave (between Porter & Union Squares) store4978@theupsstore.com theupsstorelocal.com/4978 617.591.0199 facebook.com/theupsstore4978
EDITOR’S NOTE
I
t’s 2018, believe it or not, and a common refrain around this part of the calendar is the wish for a “happy and healthy new year.” People share this wish with others, and harbor it for themselves—making New Year’s resolutions to exercise more, take up a new hobby that they’ve always wanted to do, or to give back to their community in some way. This special time of the year, when our lives are up for reevaluation and reforming, inspired us to create a Wellness Issue. We dive into what wellness is and can be, challenging a limited definition of the concept and presenting some of the aweinspiring people in the city who are pushing for wellness, both for themselves and for others. Our cover features Sheree Watson, a woman who faced numerous health problems and Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. came out stronger. She’s a proponent of the November Project, which forges bonds through grueling group exercises. We also highlight two Harvard Law students who know firsthand the importance of community spaces for marginalized groups. They put together a Queer Crush Happy Hour designed to compensate for the lack of dyke bars in the city. In this issue we also explore the mental health benefits of being present and how you can learn this tricky skill, and look at what your blood can say about you. Plus we’ve put together a roundup of the city’s vegan and vegetarian restaurants, for those of you who are hoping to squeeze more meatless or animal-product-free meals into your new year. We hope this issue can help you think about what wellness is for you and that it shows the many efforts that are being made to make Cambridge a healthier city. From all of us here at Scout, we hope you have a happy and healthy new year.
Reena Karasin Reena Karasin, Editor-in-Chief rkarasin@scoutmagazines.com
PUBLISHER Holli Banks Allien hbanks@scoutmagazines.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Reena Karasin rkarasin@scoutmagazines.com ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Adrianne Mathiowetz photo@scoutmagazines.com adriannemathiowetz.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jerry Allien jallien@scoutmagazines.com STAFF WRITER AND SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Tim Gagnon tgagnon@scoutmagazines.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Adam Sennott, Amanda Lucidi, Hannah Walters, Jonathan Barlam, Martha Schick CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Lauren Holahan COPY EDITOR Amanda Kersey BANKS PUBLICATIONS 519 Somerville Ave, #314 Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutcambridge.com scoutcambridge
scoutcambridge @scoutmags
Office Phone: 617-996-2283 Advertising inquiries? Please contact hbanks@scoutmagazines.com. GET A COPY Scout Cambridge is available for free at more than 250 drop spots throughout the city (and just beyond its borders). Additionally, thousands of Cambridge homes receive a copy in their mailbox each edition, hitting every neighborhood in the city throughout the year...sometimes twice! You can find sign up for home delivery by visiting scoutcambridge.com/shop. 6 The Wellness Issue
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Come in as a customer
, leave as a friend.
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the ski trails
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The Wellness Issue
7
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
BUS RIDERS A trip from Cambridge to Watertown is roughly five miles, but it feels like an odyssey of Greek epic proportions when the buses start running slowly. But a $100,000 grant that will introduce a bus rapid transit pilot program on Mt. Auburn Street in 2018 aims to do away with any comparisons between the bus and your high school English class. The Cambridge Chronicle reports that the grant will test “all-day, dedicated bus lanes,” queue jump lanes that let buses cut around lines of cars at red lights, and transit signal prioritization, which will keep lights green whenever a bus is approaching. A City of Cambridge statement says the bus lanes alone could cut about three minutes per trip.
STOLEN SIGNS You’d think stealing public signs would only be thrilling to teens in the suburbs with nothing better to do (not speaking from personal experience here or anything), but some thief made off with the “G” from PAGU in Central Square. Boston Magazine reported that head chef/owner Tracy Chang put two Band-Aids in its place and ordered a new “G,” but is still crushed by the theft. “It was sentimental. It stinks,” Chang told Boston Magazine.
MIT MIT seems to have out-MIT-ed itself at the end of 2017. MIT designer Natan Linder launched Tulip, an app that “connects every element of a production line ... so crews can smarten and streamline their operation,” according to the Cambridge Patch. Tech and design weblog Inhabitat also detailed new “soft robotic muscle” prototypes from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Harvard’s Wyss Institute that “can lift 1,000 times their weight.” As if that wasn’t enough, researchers also detailed “a new system that could potentially be used for converting power plant emissions of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide.” INCLUSIONARY HOUSING After a City Council amendment last April required 20 percent of residential developments with 10 or more units to include low-to-moderateincome tenants, Cambridge Patch reported in the fall that officials were highly optimistic about clearing 1,100 total units of inclusionary housing in the city. “There are more than 200 inclusionary units expected to be approved over the coming year,” a city spokesperson told the Patch. Some upcoming projects include a development in North Cambridge that will offer 25 affordable rental units and the Avalon North Point building in East Cambridge, which will house 31 affordable units.
PETCO If Petco’s relationship with Mayor Marc McGovern could be summed up in one word, “ruff ” might do the trick. Terrible dog puns aside, the national pet store chain announced plans to shutter its First Street location in January, telling customers that the closure was because of a 2016 ordinance banning the sale of pets not obtained through rescue shelters. McGovern clarified the ordinance in the Cambridge Chronicle, saying the ordinance merely limits sales from commercial breeders, rather than banning pet sales altogether. “We’re going to set up partnerships with area rescues and the MSPCA where Petco could have adopted or obtained animals,” McGovern told the Chronicle. “They then could have sold those animals for profit. They just can’t get them from commercial breeders.” AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INVESTIGATIONS The Department of Justice is investigating Harvard University after a court complaint accused Harvard’s affirmative action policies of putting certain students at a significant disadvantage. The 2015 complaint alleges that Asian-American applicants with high SAT scores and GPAs were not accepted while “applicants of other races [had] been admitted.” Some are critical of Attorney General Sessions’s influence on the Justice Department. “It speaks volumes that Jeff Sessions’s Justice Department is prioritizing attacking affirmative action at a time when white nationalists are marching openly in the streets,” Department of Justice Executive Director of American Oversight Austin Evers wrote in a statement.
Someone rustle your jimmies or tickle your fancy?
Let us know at scoutcambridge.com/contact-us, and we just might crown them a winner or loser.
8 The Wellness Issue
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NEWS FROM THE NORTH Here’s just some of what you’ll find in The Wellness Issue of our sibling publication, Scout Somerville.
MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS AMBASSADORS PUT SPOTLIGHT ON TEEN VOICES
Ten teens are part of the Mental Health Ambassadors program, where they pioneer workshops, open mic nights, dances, and more for their peers across the city.
MORE TO LOVE CHALLENGES DEFINITION OF WELLNESS
Rachel Estapa dreamed of an approach to yoga that was not just welcoming to larger bodies but designed for them. Her interest in business kicked in, and More to Love was born.
AFTER THE MARCH
To mark the anniversary of the Women’s March, we decided to speak with some of Somerville’s female entrepreneurs about their experience of the march, what they think a more woman-led society would be like, and what they’d like to say to women in America today.
Scout Somerville is available at McCabe’s on Mass, the S&S Restaurant and hundreds of other places throughout Cambridge and Somerville. Head to scoutsomerville.com/ pick-up-spots for a full list of locations!
YOUR FUN, NEIGHBORHOOD PUB A few of your neighbors have taken over the space formerly known as On the Hill Tavern. We’ve updated the menu, brushed up the look and welcome you to come by and hang with us.
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The Wellness Issue
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WHAT’S NEW?
FAREWELLS AND HELLOS
HANDING OVER THE REINS
A
farewell ceremony was held during the final City Council meeting of 2017 for executive assistant Sandra Albano and three councillors who decided not to run for reelection. Councillor David Maher will devote his time to his position as president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce in 2018, while Nadeem Mazen and Leland Cheung indicated family and career changes as their reasons for leaving, according to The Cambridge Day. Mazen is running for U.S. Congress. easy-going” vision back in April. Reservations were apparently still on the books through November, which led to some confusion upon its closing. INMAN SQUARE
PITA
COMING SOON
Tiny but beloved Mexican spot Olécito on Springfield Street is gone, but its ambitious replacement is looking to bring fast Middle Eastern food to Inman, according to the Cambridge Day. Pita, which is co-owned by Moona owners Mohamed El Zein and Radouan Ouassaidi, aims to replicate the tight, line-out-the-door experience of Olécito, but will offer up “sandwiches, salads, and plates of classic fare such as falafel, pita, and hummus” from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. The restaurant is looking at opening in early 2018. HARVARD SQUARE
ZAMBRERO
COMING SOON
Although Zambrero hasn’t even announced an open date for its Cambridge location, the restaurant’s making waves by snatching up former Boloco spaces and earning a reputation as the most charitable burrito place in the city. Zambrero’s already a hit over in Australia, but the Harvard Square spot marks the chain’s first stateside location. Zambrero’s mission is simple, according to its website: “helping end world hunger, not just yours.” With each burrito or 10 The Wellness Issue
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bowl purchased, a meal goes to a person in need through MOVED partnerships with organizations including Rise Against Hunger. HARVARD SQUARE
THE JUST CRUST
After months of reported renovations and messages asking about a re-open COMING date going unanswered, theSOON Cambridge Day confirmed in early December that The Just Crust was, in fact, closing. Operations manager Becky Lopes-Filho told the Day that the pizza spot’s “lease is up and the rents
are high and going up higher” on Brattle Street, ultimately contributing to the switch from renovating to closing, but that she’s looking into opening a Brookline location down the line. AVON HILL
SELF PORTRAIT
After a rollercoaster
MOVED year of name changes, rebranding,
and mixed messages, Self Portrait COMING closed in November after six SOON months of business, Boston Magazine reports. The French bistro was formerly known as T.W. Food and ran for a decade under the ownership of Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann until they unveiled Self-Portrait, a “faster, more accessible, and more
POLAROIDS
After serving as inspiration for Instagram’s format and hipster cliches alike, the Cambridgebred photo giant shuttered its film production back in 2008, but the retro OneStep 2 analog instant camera is now on shelves to close out the company’s 80th birthday. The camera’s availability is thanks in part to nostalgic fans and former employees who MOVED “swooped in to buy the company’s last remaining factory” and attracted a crucial stakeholder to bring the camera to production, according to the Improper Bostonian.
Photo, top left, courtesy of David Maher. Photo, top right, courtesy of Abide.
MOVE
STARTING YOUR HEALTHY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
NOW LEASING 315BROADWAY SOMERVILLE, MA 02145
CENTRAL SQUARE
ABIDE
Wondering what that “Abide” sticker on Middlesex Lounge is all about? No, it’s not another rebranding—it’s a longterm pop-up slinging sweet, tea-based drinks, according to Eater Boston. With quirky drinks on the menu like the Violet Beauregarde (a fittingly blueberry, tea-heavy concoction for the “Willy Wonka” fans) and the Godfather (a Strawberry matcha “so smooth, it’s worth the jailbreak”), we’re hoping Abide’s planning on making its temporary residence an extended stay. HARVARD SQUARE
THE GROCERY STORE MYSTERY After Market In The Square was seized by a sheriff over unpaid rent and closed in early November, the Cambridge Day reported that a new market called Hello Fresh would take its place. If your first thought is that the supermassive meal delivery service HelloFresh is going terrestrial, you’re mistaken ... but definitely not alone in the
confusion. The Day reported that a “License Commission error” is to blame for the name confusion; the store is actually going to be Wholesome Fresh and the owner is “a small businessman who runs a couple of similar grocery stores in New England.” Harvard Square’s website lists the market’s opening date as spring 2018. CENTRAL & HARVARD SQUARES
WHOLE HEART PROVISIONS
COMING SOON
A restaurant that specializes in vegan, largely gluten-free bowls of veggie and grain goodness can sound like an exercise in trying to stay healthy, but ending up hungry within two hours and stopping off at a burger joint. But we tried Whole Heart Provision’s bowls, and can definitely confirm that these bowls are filling and a meal your body will thank you for. Cambridge residents will have two opportunities to test our word later in 2018, with new locations opening in Central Square and at Harvard University’s Smith Center, according to Boston Restaurant Talk.
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The Wellness Issue
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WHAT’S NEW?
QUITTING YOUR HEALTHY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION INMAN SQUARE
EAST COAST GRILL GETS REVAMPED
The road for this Highland Kitchenaffiliated spot has been a bit rocky. Owners Mark Romano and Marci Joy, who actually met at the storied East Coast Grill, reopened the restaurant as a passion project back in January 2017. But they told Boston Magazine that the revived business was running into some trouble. East Coast Grill has now taken on a new life as Highland Fried and boasts a much more streamlined menu. Fried chicken is the focus, but the corn and zucchini arepas and smoked tofu dan dan noodles will surely appeal to any vegetarians/vegans in your party. For fans of a more liquid dinner, may we introduce the “Long Suffering Bastard” to the end of your brutal work week? HARVARD SQUARE
AMORINO’S
COMING SOON
It’s hard to picture wanting gelato right now, but dear readers, it’ll be summer one day, and Amorino’s rose-shaped gelato treats sound like a perfect reward at the end of a brutal winter. Speculation has surrounded a Harvard Square location since the Harvard Crimson published a potential open date of summer 2017, but an Eater Boston update in November shows that Amorino’s is now vying for a location on JFK Street without a tentative open date. PORTER SQUARE
SHAKING CRAB
CENTRAL SQUARE
BOSTON BURGER COMPANY
I
COMING SOON
f you can’t deny that burger craving though, local chain Boston Burger Company might be of assistance in Central. The burger joint is planning a fourth location on Main Street as soon as early 2018, Eater Boston reports. While burger options like “Hot Mess” and “Artery Clogger” sound like perfect ways to induce a food coma, definitely save room for the #freakfrappes (hashtag included), topped with whole slices of strawberry shortcake or towers of s’mores.
12 The Wellness Issue
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MOVED
For plugged up sinuses this winter, we’re thinking the one-two punch of cajun spices andCOMING seafood might MOVED SOON help clear up your nose really, really well. Specifically, Massachusettsbased chain Shaking Crab, which has taken the place of the former Tavern in the Square in Porter. The seafood spot began its mini-empire in Newton, Eater Boston reports, but has since staked out locations across Boston and gone as far south as Manhattan and Queens. Shaking Crab plans to make use of the previous tenant’s seemingly endless beer tap lines, partner Kevin Duong told Eater, by offering 50 taps and an expanded menu. Photo, left, by Christina Orso.
MOVE
ONGOING NEWS
EVERSOURCE BILLS ARE ON THE RISE...
The Department of Public Utilities approved an annual rate hike of $37 million for Eversource, according to the Cambridge Patch. The actual figure was reportedly half of what the Fortune 500 energy company initially wanted to charge customers. Eversource representatives say this lower increase is dissatisfying, while Attorney General Maura Healey is far from pleased with the uptick. The rate hike will cost Eversource users in Eastern Massachusetts a collective $12.2 million more each year, the Patch reports.
...BUT COMMUNITY ELECTRICITY HAS YOUR BACK Cambridge’s Community Electricity program began back in June, but the City of Cambridge took to the Cambridge Day in December to remind residents that the program is “cheaper than Eversource” and boasts 100 percent renewable electricity. “We are proud to offer a program that has allowed people to support the city’s climate goals without negative impacts on their personal finances,” City Manager Louis A. DePasquale added.
TRUMP’S TAX BILL
Some key, tax-exempt bonds for refurbishing lower-income housing made it into the Republican tax plan after threats of being cut in earlier drafts, the Cambridge Day reports. But their values are reduced an estimated 14 percent. “Some is better than
none,” Cambridge Housing Authority executive director Michael Johnston commented at a meeting, calling the funding save “somewhat good news,” according to the Day.
THE TRUE COST OF A LIQUOR LICENSE
A liquor license in Cambridge can cost you $300,000 or $0. A “quirky City Council vote in 1981” allowed local officials to rule on licenses rather than adhere to the state’s liquor license quota, according to the Boston Globe. A slew of bars and taverns made off with free licenses, but only after showing “they’d made ‘every effort’ to buy one,” which was confusing and difficult to prove, the Globe reports. The cost disparity has made finances challenging for some of the not-so-lucky local bars and restaurants.
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HARVARD TAKES ON ALLSTON
Harvard’s expansions into Allston have a track record of being a bit slow-moving (see: the recently started development on Western Avenue, which took nearly a decade to get off the ground), but the university’s new plans for a tract of unused land off of the Mass Pike might take the cake. Harvard claimed a corner of the property that, according to the Boston Globe, “will be one of those once-in-a-generation projects that can change an entire section of the city,” but MassDOT’s recent announcement that a transit station won’t come to the area until 2040 has community members in uproar.
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The Wellness Issue 13
NEWS
EDUCATION FIRST BRINGS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO THE ‘LOST HALF-MILE’ BY ADAM SENNOTT
E
ducation First (EF) took another step in revitalizing what was once known as the “lost half-mile of the Charles River” this fall when it broke ground on a 300,000-square-foot, 12-story building with dedicated public space and amenities in Cambridge’s North Point neighborhood. 14 The Wellness Issue
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Cambridge is home to the North American headquarters of EF, a 52-year-old, familyowned company that provides language classes, academic degrees, cultural exchanges, and study abroad programs around the world. EF’s Vice President of Properties Shawna Marino says she likes to think of the company
as “the private-sector State Department.” “Our mission is to open the world through education,” Marino says. “Everything we do under our roof, under our umbrella, really helps bring the world together and break down barriers of language, culture, and geography.” The company was founded
in Sweden in 1965, and has employees at 231 locations in 116 countries around the world, according to its website. When EF opened its first office in Cambridge at One Memorial Drive in 1987, it had only three employees, Marino says. In 1996, the company had grown enough for a building of
its own, which it built at One Education St. in Cambridge’s North Point neighborhood. This was the beginning of EF’s relationship with the North Point Neighborhood, a part of the city that until the 1960s was made up of railway yards, was not open to the public, and garnered the nickname “the lost half-mile,” according to Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission. “As the railroad contracted, beginning in the 1960s, the railways were no longer necessary, and they sold off land piecemeal,” Sullivan says. “Then,
about 15 years ago, the railroad sold off a large chunk of land to a developer, and then that became known as North Point. It’s a made-up name.” “By usage it has become the name of that neighborhood, which never had a name before, because it never was a neighborhood before,” he adds. EF broke ground on its North American headquarters at Two Education St. in 2012. The company realized it needed more space almost immediately after construction began, and began looking for a site for a third building, according to Marino. “As we were constructing our North American headquarters, we started working on a very complicated transaction, and a public-private partnership in its truest form with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to acquire … 125,000 square feet of land,” Marino says. The company plans to use the new building at 10 North Point Blvd. to create general office and administrative space, above-grade parking, and student housing for the independent Hult International Business School— an independent nonprofit that EF’s founder, Bertil Hult, is a benefactor of—according to a press release and Marino. The land was previously owned by the State Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), which used it as a maintenance facility, Marino says. The land was purchased from the state for $20.4 million in 2014, according to Marino. The money generated from the sale allowed the state to purchase its own permanent maintenance facility. It also gave EF an opportunity to eventually give the public access to the space, which was not permitted when it was being used by the DCR, Marino says. The project includes almost two new acres of revitalized park land. “That’s really the exciting part of this entire project, from a community perspective,” Marino says. “Since this land was technically park land, EF was committed to replacing that park land as part of this project and really reclaiming it for public use.” A public fitness center with a rock climbing wall, a small
Photo, left, by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Rendering, right, by Wilson Architects.
café, public restrooms, and hundreds of new public bike parking spaces will be available on the ground floor. “It’s an exciting, sort of mixed-use building,” Marino said. “You’re going to have student housing, plus office space, plus recreational amenities for the public all in one.” Those amenities will include a five-on-five flex soccer field, an outdoor sports track that can be used for yoga and fitness classes, and a circuit of adult training challenges circulating throughout the entire outside area of the building. “So, if you’re on a bike ride or a run and coming past
used for classroom space for Hult. The company plans to develop the space behind it by creating publicly accessible basketball and tennis courts. “It’s going to be open to the public, and will be really an extension of North Point Park,” Marino says, noting that in total EF is contributing about twoacres of new public open space. Being able to add that much open space “in the heart of the city” is “pretty unique,” Marino says. The building will be another contribution EF has made to a landscape that “used to look much different than it does now,” she adds. “In the past 20 years we’ve
“It’s been a massive public-private partnership for many, many years between EF, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the City of Cambridge to really bring this area to where it is today.” this area, you can stop and do some additional intense lifting, or whatever you want to do,” Marino says. EF hopes to have the building at 10 North Point Blvd. finished and open in the late spring of 2019, according to Marino. EF also bought an additional small building at 17 Monsignor O’Brien Highway that will be
been fortunate to play a real, pivotal role in the overall transformation of what used to be called the ‘lost half-mile of the Charles River,’” Marino says. “It’s been a massive public-private partnership for many, many years between EF, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the City of Cambridge to really bring this area to where it is today.” scoutcambridge.com
The Wellness Issue 15
THE WELLNESS ISSUE
& n a g e V an i r a t e Veg t n a r u a Rest up d n u o R rs
ah Walte
By Hann
Life Alive
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ife Alive is a destination for the crunchy (or crunchy-curious!) vegetarian, vegan, or omnivore. The official mission of Life Alive, in fact, is to “renew your energy and connection to life by soulfully serving you the most fantastic, vibrant, organic, therapeutic, whole food you could ever imagine.” Based on the line often displayed out the door of the restaurant, the community is on board. The menu includes 13 different smoothies—picking from them is one of the hardest decisions you’ll have to make—as well as warm grain bowls, salad bowls, and grilled 16 The Wellness Issue
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765 Massachusetts Ave • lifealive.com • (617) 354-5433
wraps with ingredients like miso, ginger nama shoyu sauce, toasted sesame, brown rice, tofu, any veggie imaginable, and plenty of Bragg nutritional flakes (which are a vegetarian’s dream for getting extra B vitamins). Of course, there’s also kombucha on tap. In addition to the healthy heartiness of the menu, Live Alive’s signature digs are part of the experience. Walking through the doors of Life Alive feels like walking into a woodland oasis, away from the concrete landscape just outside the doors in Central Square. Plants of all sizes press themselves against the expansive
windows facing Cambridge City Hall as they bask in the warmth of the restaurant and sunshine that streams in during the day. You’re greeted with the sights and sounds of staff blending smoothies or dropping off orders with names like “Goddess” or “Swami” to eagerly awaiting eaters. Downstairs is a warm, welcoming seating area with meditative art, tapestries, rustic wooden table tops, and couches tucked away in corners. It’s a space that feels like it should be a secret in such a busy urban area.
Life Alive photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Veggie Galaxy photo courtesy of Veggie Galaxy.
Veggie Galaxy 450 Massachusetts Ave • veggiegalaxy.com • (617) 497-1513
V
eggie Galaxy is the go-to spot for funky atmosphere and a bit of indulgence. A diner right in Central Square that serves breakfast all day, Veggie Galaxy is brightly lit, with glittery booth seats, fun wait staff, and a rotating pie display case in the front window to tempt passersby. Aside from the all-day breakfast, Veggie Galaxy has vegetarian and vegan spins on all the classics: salads, sandwiches, “meat” and potatotype platters, milkshakes (even boozy ones!) and a litany of desserts. Some favorite dishes include mac and cheese, cheese fries, “chicken” and waffles, and five kinds of burgers. All dishes, of course, can be made vegan (or are only offered vegan, like the milkshakes). Michael Bissanti, who ironically owned the non-vegetarian 4 Burgers joint in Central Square until 2016, first signed on to work with Veggie Galaxy as an operations consultant and is now the
general manager. After learning the ropes of vegan/ vegetarian operations, Bissanti says he appreciates how much he’s learned about the cuisines. His favorite thing to eat at Veggie Galaxy? The carrot cake—“I have a real sweet tooth ... good luck telling that’s vegan,” he says. But you can feel good about eating at Veggie Galaxy for more than just the vegan and vegetarian dishes. At the bottom of each check, customers will see that a three percent fee is charged, all of which goes directly to the kitchen staff. The idea is that when servers are earning more tips on busy nights, the equally busy kitchen staff deserve a bump too. The diner adopted the “Close the Gap” practice in September 2017. “Our staff mean a lot of us,” Bissanti explains. He estimates that back-of-house staff at Veggie Galaxy, who were already paid above minimum wage, now make an additional several more dollars on top of their hourly rate with the new practice.
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The Wellness Issue
17
THE WELLNESS ISSUE Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurant Roundup
Clover Various locations throughout Cambridge • cloverfoodlab.com
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ne might consider Clover the laboratory for vegetarian eating that provides a perfect mix of adventure and nostalgia. In the fall of 2017, it introduced an “impossible meatball sandwich,” which used a form of new vegetarian food intelligence direct from a San Francisco lab. The “meatball” is completely vegetarian, but the secret, meatlike ingredient is heme—a protein found in all living things (including plants!). Heme is what gives meat it’s meaty flavor, smell, and red color. In the meatball, heme has been extracted from yeast and made an ingredient of the meatball, making it almost indistinguishable from a real meatball. While the impossible meatball is a new level of experimentation for the folks at Clover, the vegetarian fast food joint has always had a propensity for adaptation and testing new recipes. Clover sources as much as it can from local suppliers, and so the menu changes based on seasonal availability. This winter, Clover will introduce three daily winter soups for lunch (think African Peanut and Parsnip Pear), as well as a new breakfast series of indulgent oatmeal and granola. While Clover is proud of keeping it local, scale is a key aspect of their mission. Creative Director Lucia Jazayeri tells me with excitement that Clover is now at the point where one of its farmers in Hadley, Mass. calls the restaurant up to ask how many fields of parsnip he should plant for them. On a visit to the farm, she’s seen a barn full of carrots and parsnips
just for Clover—their soups and sandwiches deconstructed in a barn. One day, the folks at Clover would love for their low-emission, meatless, compostable packaged business model to become the way to do fast food. “We want to be bigger than McDonald’s,” Jazayeri says. Speaking to that mission, Jazayeri explains that Clover hasn’t outright branded itself as vegetarian in part because the restaurant would like to invite more people into the meatless movement without making it the immediate focal point of the business. “Our mission is to get carnivores to fall in love with vegetables,” Jazayeri explains. With four locations in Cambridge alone, it seems to be going well: “So many people come eat at Clover, and over a year later they ask us, ‘Oh, are you guys vegetarian?’”
VO2 Vegan Cafe T 1001 Massachusetts Ave • o2yoga.com/o2-vegan-cafe • (617) 492-2233
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he inspiration for VO2 Cafe arose from the blissful feeling of community that often follows a yoga class—and the cafe literally taps into that feeling, as it operates in the lobby of Cambridge’s O2 yoga studio. “We wanted to have more space for people to hang out after class … a space for community building,” Mimi Loureiro, the owner of O2 Yoga and VO2 Cafe, explains. With VO2 located at the front end of the Cambridge yoga studio, that mission is being filled. In Loureiro’s eyes, offering food seems a natural way to bring the practice of yoga off the mat and introduce consumers to more thoughtful options. “We wanted to extend the ethics of the practice into another realm,” Loureiro says. “Our goal has always been to make people think more thoroughly … to make it easier for people to make good choices.” Lucky for us, ethics never tasted so good. The VO2 menu features sandwiches, soups, smoothies, tea, coffee, and even
nachos—all vegan, and all recipes created by Loureiro herself. Clearly, her expertise was in demand: within a few months of opening VO2 in 2013, Loureiro and her crew quickly moved from serving just smoothies and brewed drinks to a full food menu. While the food at VO2 may be unlike what most people ate during their childhoods, Loureiro makes food that conjures nostalgia and warmth. “The food should feel like someone who cares for you made it,” she says. And VO2 itself is full of Loureiro’s loved ones— her partner, Steven Carpenter, has been her regular source of encouragement, a creative force and responsible for the physical build outs of the Cambridge studio and cafe space, she says. Her sons have spent time helping with build outs and behind the counter. It’s a business that Loureiro is proud to say is compassionately and thoughtfully run—something she’d like to see more people demand when they make purchases: “I’d say that I’d just like people to support owners who give a s--t.”
Clover and VO2 Vegan Cafe photos by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
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Stephanie came to this specialization through her own healing path from burnout in the field of social work. Her healing path incorporated a variety of holistic health practices which led her to engage in professional trainings to share these gifts with others. Over a cup of tea, Stephanie shares with her clients antidotes she has learned along the way combined with professional guidance on how to heal from burnout and stress. Rather than just surviving, Stephanie helps her clients Strive to Thrive! Stephanie offers her unique blend of counseling in her office in Harvard Square as well as corporate stress management programming to assist employees to better manage workplace and home life stress.
www.yourwholehealing.com yourwholehealing@gmail.com • 617-702-4640
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The Wellness Issue 19
THE WELLNESS ISSUE
EXERCISE loves COMPANY BY JONATHAN BARLAM | PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
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hundred people were gathered in Harvard Stadium at 6:30 on a cold November morning. The massive complex that can seat 30,000 was reverberating with impassioned screaming at a time when most people would still be in bed. The horde of people had come together to exercise. The routines vary based on ability level, but they all involve trekking up big, steep steps, moving across to the next row, and hopping down the little steps. It seems simple enough, though one finds only a few rows in that it is anything but easy. 20 The Wellness Issue
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Your legs start to give in and feel like they’re locking up. The steps begin to seem endless. Yet, you find just as you’re ready to give up, there is always someone there, enduring the very same workout, telling you, “good job.” People constantly give each other positive feedback, and even plenty of big bear hugs. The communal experience encourages even the novices to keep pushing themselves. This mass workout is part of November Project, or NP. Two Boston friends, Bojan Mandaric and Brogan Graham, founded the program in 2011 when they
were looking to start a rigorous but fun exercise plan for New England winters. The foundation of NP is positive group support and a high sense of accountability for each other. Six years later, NP is an international movement, with subgroups in over 40 cities all around the world. Its website explains that all kinds of people participate, “from Olympic medalists … to complete fitness rookies and recent couch potatoes.” Cambridge resident Sheree Watson was climbing those steps tenaciously without breaking a
sweat. She was born in Jamaica and moved to Brooklyn when she was 7 years old. The United States was recruiting nurses from the Caribbean, and her mother, a nurse, seized the opportunity. Sheree was an excellent student and sprinted throughout high school and college, nurturing a passion for both intellectual and physical wellbeing. During her senior year of college, Watson was diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases. One of them was incurable, so she and her doctors had to monitor it closely. She continued to excel
despite these diagnoses. After graduating from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, she moved to Boston in 2005 for pediatric residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital and continued on to a pediatric gastroenterology fellowship. But she started to feel tired often. Being a subspecialist trainee working 80 hours or more a week, it was hard to tell whether or not the source of the fatigue was from the rigors of the program. She decided to take some time off. “I decided that I needed to
prioritize figuring out what was going on with me health-wise and well being-wise, [rather] than trying to push … getting through this training program,” she says. Though her symptoms remained prevalent, Watson kept up with her medical reading, did volunteer work, and joined a dance ensemble. She even started training to run the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s half marathon. One day in spring 2014, Watson had to go to the hospital. Blood tests showed her liver function was very abnormal. A
month later she went into septic shock and had her gallbladder removed. Watson was diagnosed with bile duct cancer. She needed chemotherapy and a liver transplant, and stayed in Minnesota at the Gift of Life Transplant House. At the Gift of Life, a transplant psychiatrist encouraged Sheree to make goals, both for the short-term and the long-term. “She said to me, ‘Make plans for what you’re going to do. Make plans for what you’re going to do in an hour, make plans for what you’re going to do in a
day, make plans for what you’re going to do 10 months after you get your transplant. But make plans. It’ll give you something to look forward to.’ And so, it took me a while to buy into that, but eventually I did,” Watson says. “One of the things I said to myself was, ‘I’m going to run my race once I get better.’” Watson got her transplant and returned to Cambridge after a long stay away from home. At first, it was hard to even stand for 10 minutes at a time. But before long, she began to build up endurance. “Basically, by the time I was scoutcambridge.com
The Wellness Issue 21
THE WELLNESS ISSUE Exercise Loves Company
walking comfortably, I was saying to my doctor, ‘When can I start dancing again? When can I start running again?’ Because I had set my mind on that … It was kind of like to prove to myself that I could be my old self again,” Watson says. A friend told Watson about November Project back in the winter of 2013, and while the prospect of 6:30 a.m. stair steps was intimidating and off-putting, in August of 2016 she found herself at her first Harvard Stadium gathering. She went alone, and was a little late so she missed the introduction for beginners. But she hopped right in like a fish in a stream. “I realized that I needed to run with other people, not necessarily for the competition, but for the company. Because, you know, the saying, ‘misery likes company,’ so it’s a lot easier to get through something like that,” she says with a laugh. The workout was so intense she needed a couple weeks to recuperate. Watson then became fully engaged in November Project’s three-day schedule, which involves Wednesday stair steps, Friday hill runs at Corey Hill Outlook Park in Brookline, and Monday “Destination Decks.” These Monday workouts involve core exercises and speed work, with the location changing every week. Many of the locations are in Somerville and Cambridge, from more traditional venues like Tufts, Longfellow Park, and runs along the Charles, to some creative and unexpected locales, like an onramp for McGrath Highway that vehicles can’t access. There are varied spinoff groups as well, with exercise parties for Halloween or “Game of Thrones.” But for Watson, NP isn’t so much about running itself as about persevering. “[NP] has given me a connection to a lot of people that I’ve become friends with, and who may be going through similar things. It’s always good to have people you can share commonalities with or feel like they understand what you’re experiencing, who can give you advice because at some point they were in that position, or at least can empathize,” she says. “There are so many people who have stories of where they’re coming from and where they were before NP, and for some of them NP was the thing that was like the turning point in getting them past some crap in life. It is like family for them.” 22 The Wellness Issue
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“THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE STORIES OF WHERE THEY’RE COMING FROM AND WHERE THEY WERE BEFORE NP, AND FOR SOME OF THEM NP WAS THE THING THAT WAS LIKE THE TURNING POINT.”
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The Wellness Issue 23
THE WELLNESS ISSUE
SHIFTING OUT OF AUTOPILOT:
The Health Benefits of Being Present BY AMANDA LUCIDI PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
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avid Foster Wallace stood in front of Kenyon College’s graduating class in 2005 and gave a commencement speech. He chose to impart his wisdom to the graduates using a tale of two fish. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says, ‘Morning boys, how’s the water?’ Eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’ Wallace said, according to a transcript of the speech. “The point of the story is merely that the most obvious and important realities are often the ones hardest to see and talk about,” he continued. These realities he talks about are the ones of routine. Commuting, traffic, grocery shopping, and all of the other tedious activities that are part of everyday life and that hold our
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free time hostage. But the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC) at Cambridge Health Alliance offers a way out. Not a way out of traffic or grocery shopping, but a way out of the frustrations and exhaustion that comes with routine—cyclical thinking, cyclical behavior, and a seemingly cyclical life. And it’s not necessarily about breaking the pattern, but rather how we think about it: accepting what comes without judgement.
THE POWER OF MINDFULNESS
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ince the start of this millennium, mindfulness research has increased 20fold. Some studies show that children have more brain flexibility after practicing mindfulness. Two weeks of mindfulness training changes brain waves of depression. Even
youth with HIV showed a reduced viral load after mindfulness-based stress reduction. People have been practicing mindfulness for thousands of years, and its roots stretch into Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions. Most modern Western teachers and students have adopted Buddhist and Hindu practices. CMC aims to enhance health by integrating mindfulness and compassion into healthcare. It’s insurance reimbursable, and the program hopes to foster an inclusive, caring, and multicultural community that allows individuals to thrive. Using empirically-supported theory and practice, CMC trains individuals and healthcare providers how to treat anxiety, depression, chronic illness, and more. Richa Gawande, research and programs manager at CMC, says secular mindfulness blossomed in the West with several different goals—a way to feel more joy, savor the present
moment, and spend less time mulling over the future or past. Hilary Smith gave the program’s eight-week course a try when she was frustrated at her new job. “I was doing office work and sorting through papers and kind of having this loop in my head of being annoyed that there are no windows in my office and ‘How am I going to survive this job where the environment isn’t ideal?’” Smith says. “And then I remembered some stuff from class.” Rather than focusing on the fluorescent lights and her new job, she focused on the sensations of her body. “The paper that I was holding felt really nice in my hand. And instead of focusing on bad thoughts, I tried to focus on the feeling of enjoying the paper and enjoying not being in pain—kind of reframing a situation,” she says. “And that’s a very small example, but your mind can go on those loops. And the class really helped me understand I have more control over my thoughts.” Part of the process is called decentering. You observe your thoughts and feelings as temporary events rather than as facts or truths about you. CMC often reminds students that the practice is simple, but not easy. “In the eight-week course we might offer 20 or 25 formal and informal practices that people can draw on in their daily life,” Gawande says. “They might take a mindful moment while they are eating and tune into the sense of taste and the sense of smell. They might use mindful listening while they are at a work meeting instead of zoning out and ignoring anger. They might notice, ‘Oh, I’m feeling anger. Where do I feel that in my body?’” These practices can include a moment of silence, a kindness practice, or a focused breath. Some researchers say the average person has 50,000 thoughts a day. Mindfulness offers a mechanism to quiet that inner traffic. “We think we constantly have this invitation to do what we need to do. But it is actually very hard to pause and feel like there is a choice moment or to feel like you are connected to
what’s happening,” Gawande says. “We are on autopilot.” When a person spends time in silence they start to see how many thoughts, sounds, and body sensations envelop them, she says. Our minds can process 126 pieces of information every second. “And actually how little choice it feels like there is in the experience,” she adds. “I think what mindfulness offers is a lot more moments in the day that offers choice because you are aware of all of the different layers of experience.” Smith has found that the practice doesn’t serve as an immediate fix, but rather takes constant practice. An average “present moment” lasts about three to four seconds, so a wandering mind is not just normal, but inevitable. The goal is to constantly reroute yourself from thinking on autopilot. Another patient, Steven Braun, tried medication and therapy for his depression. He went through a different eightweek mindfulness-based stress reduction program in 2016, but didn’t feel that he got much out of the class. His depression continued, so his therapist suggested he revisit mindfulness. He gave mindfulness another shot and enrolled at CMC. “The last time around the person who was leading the classes didn’t have a great grasp on the material,” Braun says. “With this program, the facilitators are clearly deeply invested. They made it clear they have spent a lot of time on their own grappling with the practices.” Braun spent an entire day in silence during the program. The facilitators warned that focused attention for such an extended period would be extremely difficult, but it was Braun’s favorite day of the program. “Failure is a very relative term when it comes to mindfulness practice,” he says. “Some days in some situations it will be a lot easier to follow through a practice and concentrate on the practice at hand, and some days it’s a lot more difficult. A natural implication of building those practices of daily life and working within circumstances of daily routine.” scoutcambridge.com
The Wellness Issue 25
THE WELLNESS ISSUE
BLOOD AND BIOMARKERS:
TRACKING THE BODY
FROM THE INSIDE 26 The Wellness Issue
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BY REENA KARASIN | PHOTO BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
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aura Ingalls is a marathon runner, triathlete, and running coach. In late 2013, she inexplicably began to gain weight. Her doctor told her nothing was wrong, and that to combat weight gain she should exercise more—a recommendation that she found baffling, given her active lifestyle. Ingalls tried out InsideTracker, a Cambridge-based health optimization service that uses blood biomarkers to give individualized recommendations. She got one alert about her extremely high calcium levels, but dismissed it. When she got a second note, she decided to take a closer look. Based on the data from InsideTracker, Ingalls found out she had tumors on her parathyroid gland and needed surgery. “My doctor had not caught it, but InsideTracker had,” Ingalls says. “Every system in my body was being affected by this.”
explains. “It might be that your bad cholesterol is great and your iron is low, so it might be that you need to eat a little more red meat. But if your bad cholesterol is looking not so good and your iron is low, we’ll find another type of intervention that wouldn’t have an impact on your cholesterol. So we’re trying to look at the overall picture that all the inputs are telling us.” Looking at these biomarkers helps InsideTracker’s team thoroughly personalize its recommendations. This approach worked well for Ingalls, unlike her doctor’s generic advice of exercising more to lose weight. “Part of the problems with my doctors was that they kept saying ‘Well, your calcium’s high but it’s not that high.’ But it’s not that high for the range of humans, but it was extremely high for a woman who was 35 years old and highly active,” Ingalls says.
BLOOD HAS A LOT TO SAY
IMPLEMENTING BLOOD’S RECOMMENDATIONS
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nsideTracker began when a team of scientists from local universities were researching how to increase people’s lifespans. Their research underscored how differently people react to certain foods, exercises, and lifestyle interventions. They also discovered that blood is a great indicator of individuals’ needs. “Rather than looking at a one-size-fitsall, they realized that you could take the 7 or 8,000 food items out there, use them as specific, varied interventions for individuals to follow, and that you could measure the impact of those changes in people’s’ blood,” InsideTracker CEO Rony Sellam says. InsideTracker uses peer-reviewed science and a large set of data as a baseline to analyze individual people’s biomarkers. While InsideTracker helped Ingalls find out she had a medical condition, the product’s main goal is wellness optimization—not curing illnesses, but rather improving people’s everyday health. Blood biomarkers range from cholesterol to testosterone to iron levels. Some can signify muscle degradation and show that a person is overexerting themselves. Others can reflect why someone’s having trouble sleeping or isn’t losing weight despite dieting. InsideTracker tests 42 biomarkers. These chosen markers are measures of health, wellness, and fitness rather than of disease. They are areas where people can make a difference through intervention, and they’re biomarkers that are relevant to big portions of the population. “We connect those different biomarkers together. They tell a story together,” Sellam
nsideTracker takes a person’s health goals into account—whether they’re hoping to feel more energetic, lose weight, or build endurance—and then creates a personalized action plan around four types of changes: lifestyle, food, supplements, and exercise. Lifestyle adjustments could include spending more time outside in the sun, intermittent fasting, or changes to sleep habits. Food recommendations are one of the areas where InsideTracker can shine compared to typical weight loss approaches. Everyone reacts to foods differently, Sellam says—“We don’t believe that food is intrinsically good or bad for you”—and so InsideTracker gives personalized plans based on biomarkers, rather than programs that suggest a standard slate of “healthy” foods. InsideTracker’s supplement recommendations allow people to hone in on what nutrients they actually need, rather than relying on a generic multivitamin. Exercise changes go beyond telling people to exercise more—a recommendation could be to add a bit of strength training into a cardio workout to maximize results. When following an individualized action plan, tangible results can happen in a matter of weeks, Sellam says. People often feel more compelled to follow advice from InsideTracker than generic health recommendations, according to Sellam. “When it’s your blood telling you you have a problem, you probably feel a little more compelled to do something about it. You also trust it as an input,” Sellam says. InsideTracker has nutritionists, health
coaches, and personal trainers available to help people implement their recommended changes. As a health and running coach, Ingalls often has her clients use InsideTracker so they have more information to work with. InsideTracker offers a range of plans that vary in comprehensiveness. The DIY plan is for people who already have blood data, which InsideTracker can analyze at a basic ($49) or advanced ($119) level. Up the price ladder are plans including Essentials ($189) and High Performance ($299). The most extensive option, Ultimate ($589), tests everything from inflammation to liver health to oxygen and performance. Several professional sports teams use InsideTracker to cope with challenges like fatigue and overexertion. Each athlete gets an individualized action plan, and the coach can help players implement their specific plans. “It allows coaches to understand who’s overworked and who’s not, and where there’s opportunity for improvement,” Sellam says. “It allows us to create team-level views of what you should think about as a team. If you’re a team and you get on a bus to go to an event, if you have InsideTracker’s team platform you’re going to know what to stock the fridge with, because it’s going to look at the best bang for the buck for the entire group.” When Sellam started using InsideTracker himself, he felt empowered. He’s implemented strength trainings, intermittent fasting, and oatmeal—which his wife had been recommending for years—into his daily life. His energy has increased dramatically, he says. “I could genuinely see the impact of my lifestyle on my blood,” he says. “I eat oatmeal every day, and it’s because InsideTracker told me I needed to. I felt in control and I saw that, even though I’m not sick, I do have a lot of opportunities for improvement in my lifestyle, and I made a lot of these changes.” The scientists at InsideTracker are starting to look into genetics and how they can further personalize health recommendations through that frontier. “We’re interested in what your DNA can help us understand about you,” Sellam says. “Our goal for the future is to combine all the data inputs into a coherent and strong picture of who you really are. Your DNA, your blood biomarkers, as well as physiological markers that you might be able to obtain from an activity tracker—your resting heart rate, weight. The entire goal for us is to help you be empowered to know what you can do to improve your wellness and know that it’s supported by science.”
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The Wellness Issue 27
THE WELLNESS ISSUE
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Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
HARVARD LAW STUDENTS CARVE OUT SPACE FOR
r ! u Q s e h s u Cr
H
The greatest satisfaction is understanding our client’s needs to translate their vision into form and functional art.
BY MARTHA SCHICK
eather Lynn Pickerell and Sejal Singh stood with drinks in hand, surrounded by friends and strangers, at Russell House Tavern in late October. The two Harvard law students had invited some of their new classmates to their inaugural “Queer Crush Happy Hour”— an evening for queer women and transgender and nonbinary folks. With booze flowing, the group of individuals, couples, and friends chatted away for hours about law school, about Harry Potter, about anything and everything that came to mind. While Singh and Pickerell knew almost all of the 35 people who came through at the first happy hour, they’re encouraging attendees to bring “friends and lovers” to expand the happy hour’s reach. The duo plans to hold the happy hour monthly, each time at a different bar in Cambridge or Somerville. “We just want people to be
able to come, chill, get a drink, and vent with people who share their experiences,” Singh says. The idea for the happy hour stemmed from an expedition to a popular gay club in downtown Boston. Singh says the experience was fun, but “it was very, very obvious that there were like seven women there. And they were all with our group.” Tanekwah Hinds, the women’s health program coordinator at Fenway Health, a Boston community health center focused on the LGBTQ+ community, agreed based on her own experiences and those she’s heard about from other queer women. “In male and masculine spaces, from what I’ve observed specifically within the LGBTQ community, is that misogyny and sexism manifests in different ways,” Hinds says, explaining that in predominantly masculine spaces she has had to deal with invasions of her space and
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The Wellness Issue 29
THE WELLNESS ISSUE Harvard Law Students Carve Out Space for Queer Crushes
happy hour was talking with a few other queer Asian women and cracking “Ali Wong-type” jokes about their experiences together. “I think complex identities are important,” she said. “Being queer and Asian are inextricable to me.” Hinds says that being mindful of and embracing complex identities is integral to creating programming for queer people. “Once you enter a space that validates [your identity], whether it’s a bar, whether it’s a workshop, I think that that’s really important because it allows you to feel validated in your narrative and it kind of brings you closer to folks who have had similar experiences,” Hinds explains. Powers says that while some queer people enjoy a “mixed” space, many will tend toward a group of people like them, in terms of gender, race, and sexuality. “It can feel particularly affirming to find [a role model] who is reflective of their lived experience,” Powers says.
STRIVING FOR INCLUSIVITY TANEKWAH HINDS comments about women’s bodies. According to a study published in the American Journal of Health, women are more likely to have anxiety and mood disorders than men. Looking at the numbers for mood disorders in queer women—44 percent of lesbians and 59 percent of bisexual women, in contrast to 42 percent of gay men and 37 percent of bisexual men—Hinds says it’s obvious there is “a gender gap that folks aren’t addressing.”
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
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roups for members of marginalized identities can be incredibly beneficial to individuals, according to Jane Powers, the director of behavioral health at Fenway Health. From 30 The Wellness Issue
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a mental health perspective, she says events like Singh and Pickerell’s happy hour can greatly help those feeling isolated due to their sexuality. “Clinically, we are often recommending that people find social relationships that support their being authentic and whole people,” says Powers, a licensed social worker. While some people may prefer an affirming hiking group or a faith community to a happy hour, the important part is finding a sense of community, she says. Singh, who is from New York and lived in Washington, D.C., was surprised by the total lack of lesbian bars and similar spaces when she moved for school. “I was taken aback by how little space there is for queer women in this city, or at least that I was aware of as a newcomer,” Singh says. “We’re the kind of people who, if
something that we want doesn’t exist in the world, we like to go do something about that.” Both Singh and Pickerell are in their first year of law school and plan to pursue careers in civil rights law. Singh says she wants to focus on “fighting discrimination against women and girls, especially women and girls of color.” Pickerell would like to work for the American Civil Liberties Union or the Department of Justice. Pickerell says that because she and Singh share a perspective that few others have, they can vent to each other about topics or comments in their studies that others might not relate to or understand. Singh and Pickerell first met at an event for LGBTQ+ Asians in D.C. soon after they’d both been accepted to Harvard. Pickerell said her most meaningful experience at the first
P
ickerell and Singh wrote on the Facebook event that the happy hour was for “a lady who likes ladies” and those who are “trans/NB.” They explain the language surrounding gender was meant to make it clear that all are welcome. “Our goal is to be very intentional and very upfront about the kind of space that we’re trying to create,” Singh explains. “One thing to be mindful of when you run these events is, you know, I’m not going to police somebody’s gender identity when they show up. I’ve had friends who are trans women tell me that they felt [events for queer women] were exclusionary because they felt that their gender presentation wasn’t femme enough or that they hadn’t physically transitioned enough. That’s why we very explicitly said anybody can come. It’s all about hanging out, chilling with our friends, trying to be supportive of one another.” Pickerell says she felt Photo courtesy of Tanekwah Hinds.
marginalized at her previous job, as the only woman in a “pretty male, pretty white, pretty old” LGBT forum board. She took ownership of an event for queer women, publicizing it and making it her own. She then got an email from a transgender friend and colleague, talking about how her event, in trying to address her own marginalization, had made him feel excluded. “That was a hard thing to hear at the time, but upon retrospect, I’m really glad he told me that,” Pickerell says. “That informed our inclusion in this event and every other aspect of my life. That philosophy has to apply not just to hanging out at happy hours, but standing up for your friends, your allies, and the people in your community every time that it’s necessary.” Hinds says creating inclusive
MISSING SPACES
T
he complete lack of dyke bars in the Greater Boston area is not an isolated phenomenon. Singh and Pickerell recalled their hunt for bars and clubs in other cities, but most of the time, they resorted to dyke nights that “invaded” straight or predominantly male gay bars. Powers says it’s a “particularly interesting time in our culture and society” to talk about the queer community carving out spaces in bars. “When I was coming out, many years ago,” she said with a laugh, “there were a lot of lesbian bars in Boston—and gay bars, in general, and mixed bars— that catered to queer-identified people. I think that for people who identified as not straight—
We Sell Properties
3%
Commission “IT IS CERTAINLY ON THE HEART OF THE QUEER COMMUNITY TO SEE THE DYKE BARS DYING. IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE LOSING A HUGE PART OF OUR HISTORY. I’M JUST NOT WILLING TO DO NOTHING WHILE THAT HAPPENS.” spaces for transgender people should be a focus when planning an event for queer folks. “Thinking about the layer of transphobia and how they face it not only in the straight, cis world, but also within the queer community too is really important,” Hinds says. Pickerell and Singh agreed that while the happy hour can provide a romantic space for people to meet each other, it runs deeper than a singles event. “If beautiful relationships start at our happy hour, I will be very proud,” Singh said. “But I also really think it is more about personal community and friendship and family.”
whatever language they might have used—it was so important to have a space that was defined as safe and welcoming and affirming.” Singh sees the happy hour as a continuation of the legacy of queer women before her. “It’s not just nightlife for queer people,” Singh explains. “For so long, clubs and bars were the only places where queer people could be open about themselves, and in some ways that is still true. It is certainly on the heart of the queer community to see the dyke bars dying. It feels like we are losing a huge part of our history. I’m just not willing to do nothing while that happens.”
T R U S T. KNOWLEDGE. EXPERIENCE. VA L U E . GRIFFIN PROPERTIES
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THE WELLNESS ISSUE
BY TIM GAGNON PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
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few miles away from the setting of “Cheers,” there’s another mythic place where everyone knows your name after a visit or two. To be fair, it’s probably best for a pharmacy to know everyone’s name for the sake of filling out prescriptions, but Skenderian Apothecary treats a first-name basis like a common courtesy, not a requirement. “I’ve been blessed with a fairly good memory,” Robert Skenderian, pharmacist and manager of the apothecary, says. “If someone comes in here more than once or twice, I pretty much know their name.” Robert opts to chat in one of the pharmacy’s aisles. He’s perched on a fold-up walker, while I claim a raised toilet seat display nearby. Conversations around the store fluctuate between how to properly take certain medications and how things are going around the house. While the store on Cambridge Street has been passed down through two generations, the business itself has lasted three. Robert’s father was trapped in the apothecary during the Blizzard of 1978, kept the store safe during a major power outage in the 1980s, and witnessed the myriad changes in the Cambridge neighborhood over a half century. Robert and his brothers, Thomas and Joseph, experienced Cambridge from the vantage point of the store. “I would come from grammar school to here, put things away, vacuum the floor, file things, and take out the trash,” Robert says. “I probably started
when I was eight or 10 years old. I got a dollar an hour.” Over the years, the Skenderian family business evolved from a corner stop to a full-sized apothecary (which, for those who are wondering, is essentially the same as a pharmacy but comes from a Latin word meaning “storehouse”). Robert’s father purchased the additional space from a neighboring pharmacy sometime in the early 1960s and kept expanding through the ’70s and ’80s as business continued booming. Despite the store’s success, Robert wasn’t always planning on taking over his father’s business. “When I was a kid, I read James Herriot’s ‘All Creatures Great and Small,’” he recalls. “It’s this whole series of books on being a veterinarian. I was brainwashed.” Robert went as far as to join a pre-veterinary program at the University of New Hampshire, but the self-proclaimed brainwashing ended while assisting veterinarians over summer breaks. The intense, unpaid workload on the basis of it being “a privilege to work for them” quickly burnt Robert out. After graduation, he went to pharmacy school and took up co-ownership of the apothecary with his brothers. “There’s no real typical day here. It’s a typical day in that it’s helping people with problems,” Robert says. “People think of pharmacists as the people who
take big bottles of pills and put them into little bottles of pills … that’s not what it’s about. Pharmacy is all about problem solving.” Practically every customer that comes through Skenderian’s doors falls into one of three categories, according to Robert: people who are sick and unsure of what to take, people who are sick and unsure how to take their medicine, and people asking for directions around Harvard Square. When asked about the threat of big chain pharmacies, Robert remains surprisingly cheery. “I love the chain stores. I think they’re great,” Robert says. “If I didn’t have something, I’d just call CVS or Walgreens to get a prescription filled. There’s always been trading back and forth so that people can get taken care of.” What does affect mom-and pop-apothecaries, Robert adds, is whether or not they can take a person’s insurance. “The reimbursement has gotten so bad with so many of these plans,” he says. “I don’t take Harvard Pilgrim or some of these national plans anymore. The ones I do take, I have to be very careful with what they’re doing because [sometimes] they don’t pay enough to cover the cost of the prescription.” Between insurance plans that are, in Robert’s words, “going insane,” new rules and regulations that impose on pharmacists’ abilities to carry certain prescriptions at all times, and seismic changes in healthcare legislation, a pharmacist’s ability to problem-solve gets harder every day, even for a family with decades of experience, he explains. But Robert regularly
e le t i a a ist a t e e le ta e i le i a tt e i t l le le i ... at t at it a t. a a i a a t le l i . returns to the fact that he’s an educator as well as a problem-solver. It’s a point he especially drives home when discussing the ever-growing opioid epidemic sweeping the country. “I don’t like to use the term ‘crisis.’ It’s like saying we’re at war, like a war against drugs. It’s not a war; it’s a social problem, a social ill. It needs to be dealt with through proper social supports,” he says. Robert acknowledges that he has to take on new information to remain a support in the local health care sphere. Case in point: a recent training informed him that white, middle-aged men are a rising demographic affected by opioid addiction. “It was totally off my radar screen,” Robert admits. “This 41-46-year old demographic are also [one of] the highest demographics for suicide by gun … what speaks to me there is that we’re in a country that has taken away middle-aged people’s hope.” Still, Robert remains positive and hopeful for his community. “Cambridge has fabulous supports,” he continues, “but you have to know where they are and how to access them. The [Cambridge] Health Alliance has all kinds of people working there that do a really good job, but a lot of times, people don’t even know they’re there.” Although his children are slowly getting involved in the business (for now, their role is
keeping tabs on the business’s Yelp reviews), Skenderian Apothecary is a business of brothers. Friends and family playfully call them “the Three Stooges,” but Robert sees their dynamic in a more historical light. “Are you familiar with the original Roman governmental system of the Triumvirate? Back before there was an empire, before the Republic … the Romans [had] three leaders, a triumvirate. Things ran pretty smoothly with three and nobody got assassinated … that’s kind of what we have here,” he says. “The three of us, we have our thoughts, we share things that are going on because all of us can’t be here all of the time, and we make decisions based on the information we get.” The amicable back-and-forth among Robert, Thomas, and Joseph is, in part, what has kept the Skenderian business thriving amid Cambridge’s ever-changing landscape. “The thing about being in a business like this is you actually have that one thing that very few people get anymore: control of your destiny,” Robert says. “You can make a living, take care of your family, take care of your employees, and control all that because it’s yours. That is probably the biggest and best part about having your own business, for sure.” scoutcambridge.com
The Wellness Issue 33
Heal! & Wellness D I R E C T O RY
Please consider supporting these and other Scout sponsors. O2 YOGA
1001 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge 288 Highland Ave., Somerville o2yoga.com Athletic, empowering, energizing practice improving body, mind and spirit.
VO2 VEGAN CAFE
1001 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge 617-492-2233 o2yoga.com/o2-vegan-cafe Exclusively vegan shop serving sandwiches, salads, soups, bagels and world-class smoothies.
CAMBRIDGE NATURALS
23 White St., Cambridge 617-492-4452, cambridgenaturals.com A curated selection of natural wellness goods including supplements, body care, bulk herbs & organic groceries.
OLYMPIA FENCING CENTER 127 Smith Pl., Cambridge olympiafencingcenter.com info@olympiafencingcenter.com Fencing programs for kids 6 and up. First class is always FREE.
OAT SHOP
22A College Ave., Somerville 617-996-6581, oatshopboston.com Wholesome, sweet and savory oatmeal bowls. Coffee, tea, espresso drinks and healthy snacks.
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DR. KATIE TALMO, D.M.D.
180 Highland Ave., Somerville 617-864-6111 Dr. Talmo provides a personalize approach to dental care. Come enjoy a comfortable dental experience in her newly renovated office space.
YOUR WHOLE HEALING
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REVOLUTIONARY CLINICS
1158 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge 617-702-4640, yourwholehealing.com Integration of mindfulness, yoga, nutrition and positive psychology to help you manage stress and gain resilience.
67 Broadway, Somerville 617-213-6006, revolutionaryclinics.org Professional, well-respected medical marijuana clinic offering natural solutions to a wide variety of illnesses and chronic conditions.
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MASSAGE THERAPY WORKS 255 Elm St #302, Somerville 617-684-4000 Leader in clinical bodywork and therapeutic massage since 1997.
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OPEN SPACE COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE 70 Union Square #102, Somerville 617-627-9700 openspaceacupuncture.com Affordable acupuncture in a peaceful community setting. $20-$40 sliding scale. Book Online!
THE JUICE UNION
23 Bow St., Union Sq., Somerville thejuiceunion.com Fresh juices, healthy smoothies, nitro lattes and hearty salads.
GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN AND ENJOY YOUR PARTY. Healthy, delicious and ALL LOCAL, ALL THE TIME. WEDDINGS ANNIVERSARIES BRIDAL & BABY SHOWERS BIRTHDAY PARTIES GRADUATIONS SPECIAL EVENTS PERSONAL CHEFFING
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CALENDAR EVERY SATURDAY
Photo courtesy of Cambridge Farmers Market
DEC. 18-FEB. 28
Photo by JJ Gonson
Photo courtesy of Hear Word!
| PHOTOGRAPHY
JANUARY 21
| TECHNOLOGY
VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE TEEN ROOM 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., Free Cambridge Public Library Main Branch The Cambridge Public Library has a new virtual reality headset, and it’s willing to share. This event, which is open to ages 13-18, will let teens “travel to the bottom of the ocean, soar above the earth, or hang out in space!”
FEBRUARY 1 Photo by Eric Politzer
| MUSIC
LÚNASA 7:30 p.m., $35 Somerville Theatre This quintet is traveling all the way from Ireland to play for a Somerville audience. Get ready for the fiddle, flute, uilleann pipes, and more.
FEBRUARY 10 | MUSIC
CAMBRIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FAMILY CONCERT 2 p.m., 4 p.m., $15 for adults/$5 for children Center for Arts at the Armory This concert will feature “The Journey of Phillis Wheatley” by Nkeiru Okoye, which tells the story of an African-American poet who lived in Boston in the 1700s, and is geared toward children. After the show there will be an “instrument petting zoo” where kids can check out the symphony’s instruments.
JANUARY 26-28
| FOOD
CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL Harvard Square Restaurants and retailers will have chocolate on the brain for Harvard Square’s 10th annual chocolate festival. Think chocolate appetizers, chocolate cocktails, and chocolate entrees, plus a free chocolate tasting on Brattle Plaza.
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HEAR WORD! NAIJA WOMAN TALK TRUE Times vary, Tickets start at $25 64 Brattle Street This show explores the challenges that Nigerian women face. A mix of music and dance and with an all-Nigerian cast, the show “grapples with the issues affecting the lives of women across Nigeria, and the factors that limit their potential for independence, leadership, and meaningful contribution in society.”
JANUARY 30
| MUSIC
BOSTON CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL Times vary, $15-$65 Harvard Square Celtic music and dance will permeate Harvard Square at this annual festival, stretching from Club Passim to The Sinclair. This weekend is put on by Cambridge non-profit Passim.
36 The Wellness Issue
THEATER
FIRST EDIT Diesel Cafe ONCE Somerville’s JJ Gonson photographed musicians when they played in Greater Boston in the ’80s and ’90s, and her work is available for all to see on the walls of Diesel Cafe through February. “These images were made on film at a time when indie bands were getting in vans and taking it on the road,” she said in a statement. “Venues like The Rat, The Channel, and TT the Bears come back to life through the lens of a young woman armed with a crappy Minolta camera and a lot of chutzpah.”
JANUARY 18-21
Photo by Bill Manley
JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 11
| FOOD
CAMBRIDGE WINTER FARMERS MARKET 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Cambridge Community Center It’s the dead of winter, and good, fresh produce seems like a distant memory. But this weekly market can help remind you of the farmers markets of summer. More than two dozen vendors offer, produce, baked goods, meat, fish, and more, plus there’s live music.
| FUNDRAISER
BOSTON STANDS AGAIN: A MARDI GRAS BENEFIT FOR THE ACLU 8:30 p.m., $20 ONCE Somerville This benefit features performers including Shaun Wolf Wortis & The Legendary Vudu Krewe and sends all proceeds to the ACLU.
FEBRUARY 14
| FOOD
VALENTINE’S DAY TRUFFLE EXPERIENCE WITH TAZA CHOCOLATE 6 p.m., $60-$75 Boston Public Market What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a Taza Chocolate class? Make a vat of chocolate ganache fondue, roll up your own dark chocolate truffles, and pair your chocolates with local wines in this special, two-hour class.
LOCAL SHOPPING DIRECTORY
T R U S T. KNOWLEDGE. EXPERIENCE. VA L U E .
Please consider shopping with these and other Scout sponsors. BLUE CLOUD GALLERY
713 Broadway, Somerville bluecloudgallery.com A unique gift shop that sells handcrafted gifts by 140 local artists.
QRST’S
561 Windsor St., Ste A301, Somerville 617-625-3335, qrsts.com Custom screen printing, embroidery and direct-to-garment printing.
JOANNA KIRYLO Joanna@VisitGriffin.com 55a Elm Street
www.VisitGriffin.com
Leone’s Sub and Pizza HUB COMICS
19 Bow St., Somerville 617-718-0987, hubcomics.com Graphic novels, quirky minicomics, thousands of dollar books, and more in Union Square – Comics For Everyone!
Pizza and Subs fit for a king!
PRACTICE SPACE
practice-space.com @makespaceforpractice A studio and a shop in Inman Square. Useful objects made by artists and designers.
Since 1954
Best Pizza
5-time Winner! Everything made in-house to order! 292 BROADWAY, SOMERVILLE 617-776-2511 • OPEN DAILY 8AM-11PM
DAVIS SQUARED
409 Highland Ave., Somerville 617-666-6700, davissquared.com Fun, modern gifts for him, her, house and baby.
PORTER SQUARE BOOKS
25 White St., Cambridge 617-491-2220, portersquarebooks.com Porter Square Books is your fiercely independent source for great books, magazines, fun gifts and more.
MAGPIE KIDS
95 Elm St., Somerville 617-764-4110, magpiekids.com Modern gifts for modern kids. Clothes, toys, books and more!
Thank you Scout Readers! Best Restaurant in Ball Square
MAGPIE
416 Highland Ave., Somerville 617-623-3330, magpie-store.com
Unique jewelry, apothecary, art, edibles, housewares and more!
BREAKFAST
BALL SQUARE FINE WINES
716 Broadway, Somerville 617-623-9500, ballsquarefinewines.com Well known for stunning selection and service. Made-to-order gift baskets and food platters too.
FULL BAR
DINNER
SPINDLER CONFECTIONS 2257 Mass Ave., Cambridge 617-714-4871 www.SpindlerConfections.com Handmade chocolates & candies. Check out our candy museum!
704 BROADWAY • 617.623.8338 • OPEN 6:30AM - 9:30PM WWW.SOUNDBITESRESTAURANT.COM
HAPPY NEW YEAR! scoutcambridge.com
The Wellness Issue 37
SCOUT YOU
Photos by Angela Cook
John from Cambridge and Jessica meet coffee and to read the newspaper at a local cafe. A musician out writing new songs in Harvard Square.
Georgia State computer science students Soukaina and Hamdi took in the sights in Cambridge while in town for a conference.
People rushing through Harvard Square on a cold winter day. People out for a walk in Cambridge Common despite the frigid temperatures. 38 The Wellness Issue
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New Year, New You
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Whether you wish to pursue a culinary career or master your craft for home entertaining, our extensive programs in culinary and pastry arts provide the springboard for your most delicious ambitions.
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