Hi all,
Happy May Day! Yes – we’re in a pandemic, and we are scared and nervous and stressed… AND we must channel positive energy when we can. Although the wonderful and sometimes goofy and always affirming MayDay rituals along the Charles River did not happen today, I’m celebrating May Day by enjoying the signs of spring, and visualizing MayDay dances and looking forward to…… Citywide Movie night – Tonight! (See details below).
I hope these emails continue to provide some good news and needed resources. As always, let me know if you have any good news to share on your end! And don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything.
Patty
The City Council is hosting a movie night along with the wonderful Brattle Theatre (thanks to the Mayor and Vice-Mayor for setting this up)! You can pick out a movie from their curated list and order takeout from a Cambridge restaurant. My favorite places to get take out from are Passage to India, Sarah’s Market, Life Alive, El Jefe.
And this week’s trivia…my favorite directors are Barbara Kopple, John Huston, George Cukor and Mira Nair. Can anyone guess which movie for each director is my favorite by that director? Prize if you guess two or more.
Let’s continue to support our local businesses every way we can!
Inspiration
I posted about the many people across Cambridge making masks for others, and giving them away, including CRLS students who made sure all in the homeless shelter at the War Memorial had cloth masks. And more recently, the Chinese Center and Buddist Temple donated masks so the city can give them to those who don’t have them.
Across the country…teens in Texas made masks from yarmulkes for the homeless community in Houston, and an 89 year old Beatles fan in Chicago sewed up a storm while jamming.
We’re not Venice, (yet – might have canals in Boston in a few decades if sea level rise continues) but we can enjoy the idea of gondolas used to distribute groceries…
Meanwhile, young people’s creativity and passion continue to drive innovation to save the planet.
Cambridge’s own Yo-Yo Ma has been releasing a series of “Songs of Comfort” that are absolutely beautiful. Listen and share!
Emotional Support and Wellbeing
Mutual Aid Cambridge is offering weekly sessions for emotional wellness and social support for the community. Please fill out this registration form if you are interested in joining this network. The sessions are slated to start during the week of May 10th. The exact date and other details regarding the sessions will be communicated to the registrants in the next few days
In response to COVID-19, Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and City Manager Louis A. DePasquale activated the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund on March 19, 2020 to provide emergency assistance to individuals and families in Cambridge who are experiencing financial hardship due to the virus outbreak. Thanks to the generosity of the Cambridge community, more than $3.3 million has been raised and the Fund continues to accept donations.
And FeedOurFrontlines Cambridge – affiliated with FeedTheFightBoston – has delivered almost 2,480 meals (at less than $10/each) from small local Cambridge restaurants to Mt. Auburn Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance in both Cambridge and Everett, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and recently hard-hit Chelsea!! Incredible impact by some hardworking Cantabridgians – shout out to Sarah Block and Jen Fries (THANK YOU to any of you who donated! … if we raise another $2000 we can fulfill current requests).
Another Cambridge Musician Doing Amazing Things!
NPR featured Alisa Amador on their tiny desk series! Here is what they said:
“In a time when being apart is necessary to our survival, Alisa Amador’s “Together” is a unifying light in a tunnel of solitude and a salve to the pain we’ve all become so accustomed to enduring.”