[Carter]: No, it's not resilience, is it?
[SPEAKER_02]: A climate engagement associate.
[Carter]: Client engagement associate, yes, beautiful. Shannon engages community members and organizations in the upstream misted communities to ensure climate resilient solutions reflect their interests and needs. She works on building relationships around the impacts of stormwater flooding and other issues residents are facing due to climate change. Before joining MIRA, she completed a service term in public health through AmeriCorps, hosted by Everett Community Growers. During that time, she grew a passion for community engagement and food justice. Shannon graduated from the University of Connecticut, go Huskies, with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Human Rights. In her free time, this is interesting, she enjoys going for walks, crocheting, Cutting hair. I was trying to figure that one out. OK. And trying new foods. Please allow me to introduce a new friend to the program, Myra Shannon Collins. All righty. All righty. So as is my custom in hosting these evenings, those of you that have been to a number of them certainly know this, and particularly as we observe National Poetry Month, I'd like to share a bit of verse to help shape the evening. I'm in my justice phase for a whole lot of reasons. Okay, um, and since we're going to talk about being abutters to a great New England river, and since my mind is always on equity, um, and, um, and social justice, let's have a listen to Mystic River Melancholy. The freshly quaffed boho boys make real estate videos extolling the finer virtues of West Medford and life along the Mystic River. Maybe they're new money kids or tough grads that don't know the rich history of the village. They do have a sense that this is a minor mecca for ex-city dwellers, flush with IPO cash, NFT windfalls, or Bitcoin early adoptions. A new gentry that wants to be landed for their dogs and their Range Rovers and their wine tastings and the next generation of trust fund babies. The would-be property princes have a target market. The YouTube appeal is slick and shiny. Classic Americana with a side of sushi or a venti mocha latte. They have no idea of what used to be. They know what the next wave wants to see. They want to see the bikes, the hikes, and the kids on trikes. They want to post pics that will get lots of likes. They want to see the flowering trees and the birds and the bees. Their high rise havens had none of these. They want to see if they can grow something green in a backyard garden beyond the green that's growing in their bulging bank accounts. Designer overalls and Doc Martens do not a farmer make. No worries, Whole Foods has gone 100% organic with a great selection of finely curated herbs and spices. I know that this sounds like resentment. Resignation frequently does. But when the private boat clubs bookend the public beach and the abutters don't want loud, unruly Dominicans descending on their hillsides for beachfront parking, well, what's a brother from the Ville to think? My daddy taught me how to fish here. Not much more than eels and sunfish in the water then, but we felt like it was legacy. And we were happy to have it. They really didn't want us at their beach back then either. But we were mighty in our minority. We didn't want to fight, folks. But the lake wasn't exactly pristine, so why begrudge it to anybody? We could walk the half mile or ride our stingray bikes down the infield connected to the small waves and the gentle wake. We could wonder about the kayakers and the canoe paddlers. the colorful sunfishes, occasional scholars, and the ubiquitous motor boaters. We could dream a little dream about owning a dinghy and a trawling engine and making a few waves of our own. Don't get me wrong. I love the new fish ladders and the intrepid herring counters, the trout infusion, and the bald eagle sightings, and the focus on environmental sustainability. Thing is, they love it too, and they can afford to pay for it. 1.4 mil for Queen Dorothy Elizabeth Tucker's old homestead. It should have been a historical landmark. Instead, it's yet another preview of coming attractions. Meanwhile, the sleepy little Nubian Hamlet has released its black and brown patina to the inexorable tug of real property values and the dying off of the old guard. Mine is the last generation that knew about the first three streets, Arlington, Lincoln, and Jerome. That knew about the little store, the old Shiloh Baptist, and the library in the fire station. Mine is the last generation that knew about Charlie Booker and the Bruins, the five fighting Phillips brothers, Uncle Buddy's postal command, Doc Count's blue books, Faucina and Evelyn's beauty salon, and exactly why it's called Duggar Park. So many firsts, so much history, so little time to savor and to save, to preserve and to pass on. So many departures and so few arrivals of the black and the brown and the tan. Meanwhile, the developers mostly have their way. The Spanish day laborers tear it down, build it back up. Like Lee Majors and the six million dollar man, they have the technology. They can make them better than they were. Better, stronger, faster. Condos and townhouses, Tony and Trendy out with the old, in with the new. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Meanwhile, the freshly quaffed boho boys make real estate videos, extolling the finer virtues of West Medford and life along the Mystic River. All right. All right. Very good. Very good. So now let's have a look at Myra and see what's new and exciting. It's time for a friendly chat with our friend Shannon Collins. So Shannon, will you talk a little bit about your educational background and what attracted you to environmental studies and human rights as a major?
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely. So I studied environmental studies at UConn and I started doing environmental science because I really just like being outside and then took my first lab class and realized I couldn't do the math and like microscope kind of science. But I really loved the environment still, and I knew I loved people, so I was like, how do I find a job where I can work with people all day, but it's for the betterment of the environment and addressing climate change, which I think is probably the issue of my generation. I immediately after school worked in Everett at the Everett Community Growers Community Farm organization and it was like a perfect combination of working with people and a local community and getting some really important things done but like for the earth and for the community and that's my favorite thing so at Mystic River Watershed I got to do a really similar work so I love it.
[Carter]: Fantastic. Now were you from here originally?
[SPEAKER_02]: So I grew up in Melrose, my dad grew up in Arlington, and my parents' first apartment together was actually on High Street.
[Carter]: Okay, so you're somewhat local. Pretty local. Okay, very good, very good. For the folks that may not be familiar with MIRA, can you talk about the mission and the work of the organization?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, so the watershed, for those that don't know, is a big regional way of thinking about the connections from the Mystic River. So it's 21 communities from Boston up to Burlington and Reading, all in between, and it all drains into the Mystic River. So that's the area we work in. And because water doesn't care about town lines, we work throughout all those towns and communities. Myra works with keeping the river healthy, the communities healthy, and started as just a water quality organization and then has grown way more into looking at parks and paths like we're talking about today, looking at climate, looking at river herring. So yeah, we do a lot of cool things.
[Carter]: Okay, very good, very good. So my own experience with Myra has shown me that you're very much a volunteer-driven organization. What sort of ways can community members be involved with the watershed?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so it's Poetry Month and it's also Earth Month, which is a really cool combination. So as it's getting warmer, there's so many ways to get out into the watershed and do some volunteering with us and other awesome groups. So we do have a ton of events. I wrote some down because it's a really exciting time. We have a lot of tree plantings coming up, which are going to be really fun for Earth Month. We do trash pickups as well. So get your gloves on and pick up some trash in your favorite park. We're doing a refresh of the mural up at the Mystic Dam. So we do lots of art projects, like educational programs too, which is cool. You could help out with anything. We do invasive species removals. So plants that are suffocating, like the native plants, we rip them out. We bring people with a bunch of clippers and gloves and rip them out. We do water quality monitoring so you can volunteer and you can learn about how we measure the water quality and get down in the water and look at samples there. We count the river herring and track their migration. Yeah, and we have really cool events coming up this summer. So if you subscribe to our newsletter, you can hear about something every month and get involved in.
[Carter]: Yeah, I like the fact that there's virtually nothing that you do that you don't seek to hear the voices of the communities that are being impacted by whatever it is that you're talking about, whatever it is that you're planning and talking about. So, I know the big deal for the organization right now in terms of, you know, kind of planning projects and developing new strategies is our own Mystic Shoreline initiative. So would you like to enlighten us a little bit about that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, so the Mystic Shoreline Initiative is part of our Greenways program, so talking about the paths along the river or the parks too. And in this project, it's been ongoing for a couple years, we're talking about the Mystic Lakes, the eastern shoreline and Mystic Valley Parkway, down past the Rotaries on High Street, all the way up around our beautiful West Medford shoreline to Boston Ave. So that's our project area. And through this project, we've also looked at roadway safety. That came a lot more last year. And this year, we spent a lot more time on the West Medford chunk of the shoreline itself. So it's been a really cool process. And I can dive a little bit more into the specifics of the project.
[Carter]: Yes, absolutely. But I want to give a disclaimer first. I actually had the pleasure in the enlightenment of serving on the steering committee for one half of this shoreline initiative and now serving on the steering committee for the other half, which is What's happening here in West Medford? So I just want to want to let you know I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of what's being discussed Okay, so take it away.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Yeah, and like you said, it's all community driven. So we're glad to be chatting about it So basically, we know this is a amazing culturally rich area environmentally incredible historically significant for a lot of folks and we've also heard from a lot of folks in the community and the state and That there's some challenges there. So we're looking at accessibility So people being able to use the path with all like needs and we're looking at ecological improvements so when it comes to erosion of the paths or the way stormwater is affecting in the river and And we're also looking at recreation. So do we need more benches? Stuff like that. So that's our project right now, which is really awesome. And like you said, we have a steering committee, which is incredible, which is 14 people from the neighborhood. They all have amazing backgrounds and stories related to the neighborhood and the river. And we come together and we talk about, okay, what do we want to see here? And we also dive in with maps and really get into the specifics. We also bring it out to the community at large. I've been putting flyers up if anyone sees them on the streets.
[Carter]: I did see one today.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good, good. And last night we had our second meeting that was public on Zoom. And so there we bring it to everyone and we say, here's our plan, what do you guys think? We have people put their input right in Zoom, and if you can't make it to Zoom, you can fill out a survey after. So we're trying to get as much comments as possible, and we've gotten thousands of comments of people's opinions on the idea, so it's awesome.
[Carter]: Yeah, and it may take a long time for it to happen, but in each case, the case from High Street down to the Mystic Lakes and slightly beyond that, as well as the case from this side of High Street and on down to Boston Ave, both developments would dramatically change and enhance the way that people can use the resources. I really believe that that's true. So, it's pretty extraordinary stuff, but it's also really, really ambitious, especially given, you know, kind of where we're at socially right now. So, and you talked about there being some challenges. Can you talk a little bit more about what some of those challenges might be?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so the current challenges that we're seeing along the path that people are bringing to us are a lot, a lot of comments about how it's a dirt path with a lot of roots and that just is not accessible for a wheelchair, for a stroller. So kind of just like, what can we do to make this actual path more connected and accessible for everybody? So that's one of our huge goals. We've also been looking at traffic safety a lot and the tragic passing By the rotary this winter is absolutely raising how important this is in this area So we've gotten so many comments to about just making crosswalks like speed, but whatever we can do So that's also a huge thing. We're looking at and and then with erosion, so looking at the actual shoreline environment, and do we have invasive plants, do we have places where it's just not constructed well along the river, so it's not good for the river or the land, so yeah, lots of great opportunities.
[Carter]: Yeah, I mean, so many things have come up in our discussions in terms of the steering committee, and the issue of parking, obviously, and then there, you know, the issues of, you know, kind of noise and, you know, the abutters, you know, having some issues with, you know, some of the things that are, you know, going on during the summer and, you know. It's one of those you can't make everybody happy, but you try to find solutions that improve it a little for everybody and a lot for some folks, and hopefully everybody. So I guess the other thing is right now implementing expensive infrastructure improvements without having full control of the funding streams and the required state and federal supports, it puts us in a real bind in terms of predicting how soon these things can happen.
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, and it's the hardest question because with this work, you do kind of have to realize it takes years just to get a plan and then to get the plan approved and then to get stuff constructed. It takes so long, but my organization's role is pretty much just being the one to lead these Community processes and the meetings and the surveys and we're just collecting all the information so that eventually With obviously we can't promise anything, you know, you never really know but like what's important is just getting all this together so that we can hand it off and Hopefully see it through
[Carter]: I mean, we at the community center really know about this first hand because we have been trying to provoke the powers that be, particularly the city of Medford and DCR in partnership, to make some improvements back out here so we could have two things. One is a path across the DCR land to the street, so that people coming into the center from this side don't have to walk through mush and mud and snow, so that we could at least have a pavable path. And then the other thing is safety issues and parking issues on Mystic River Road. And we finally have pretty much all the nuts and bolts in place to have that happen. And fortunately, it actually kind of went beyond what we're hoping and turned into a plan for basically from Harvard Ave all the way down to Fairfield Street. So it's gonna make some pretty dramatic improvements overall in how people can experience this part of the geography that you guys are talking about with the Mystic River side of the PATH project. So tell me more specifically what kind of your public engagement process looks like.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so it's been a really, really incredible process and I've had a lot of fun working on this because basically a lot of my job has been hanging up flyers and I've found nice, beautiful days. I walk up and down, I walk through the neighborhoods and what we do is we have a steering committee put together, incredible folks with such amazing stories to bring and such great conversations across the table. Well you know it's important to have like some comments about we love a natural feel to things you know sometimes people really love the dirt right hiking feel so how do we how do we honor that and how do we also add accessibility and it's a really awesome dialogue and we're so grateful to have community leaders like you on our steering committee.
[Carter]: I had never heard of a ramble until we started talking about how the natural path in some instances is preferable to anything that's really engineered. But also to counter that was, and you mentioned it earlier, all of the roots from the trees that can sometimes impact how that nice natural path can be accessed by people who have any disabilities, particularly that require a wheelchair or canes, crutches, etc. and so forth. So yeah, it's very interesting. It's great.
[SPEAKER_02]: And people's different stories about like, well, one time I was putting my kayak in over here and or one time I was in Winchester and I saw this new bench. Can we get something like that? Like hearing people's specific input is so amazing. And it's really fun for me too because I get to listen to those conversations, then we open it up on Zoom and we invite all neighbors to come and chat with us and we get so many more comments there. Then we go back to our offices and read through them all and sort them out and we say, okay, we got 100 comments about the path, we got 60 comments about benches, signs, it's really exciting. I have some specifics for you if you're interested. So we broke it up into three categories, so accessibility, like the paths and such, the environment, so the shorelines, environmental health, and the recreation. So we got 162 comments talking about safe roadway crossings, to no one's surprise, so that's a huge accessibility thing. Also lots of comments about access to the shoreline, educational interpretive signage, which is really fun, Okay, that was me Lighting maybe some wayfinding signage so like to show people where they're at some more like history stuff like that So that was really cool some specific comments We got were a lot about the bridges and the rotaries and just connecting the trails And also, yeah, like I have a stroller. I have a wheelchair. This is not accessible to me Like that's invaluable to hear for us and bring back to the project team. Absolutely And then also when we looked at the environment, we got 70 plus comments about the beautiful trees, making sure we're protecting the trees along the path, maybe having some more trees or better maintained new trees. We got a lot of comments about some native plantings. So ripping out those invasive species that are crowding and having like a pollinator meadow or like plants that are there to sustain and natural to the area. So lots of comments about that. We got a lot of trash receptacle comments. That's a huge one So yeah Really cool stuff. I love the idea of like incorporating public art memorials like information And then for recreation we got a lot of comments about having more overlooks so like intentional clearings to look out to the river so maybe just that's removing a little bit of the shrubbery at the bottom and opening it up a little bit more and Improved non-motorized boating access is a big one. So that's such a question in our meetings is how do you let people put their kayaks, but it's not a jet ski. That came up so much. And yeah, some cool comments about the open lawn areas. So like people sharing that they bring their dogs, how important it is for that. picnic tables, all really cool, really cool stuff. So yeah, and we're still open to comments. It's an ongoing process.
[Carter]: Absolutely, absolutely. So in terms of, so maybe folks can get an idea of some of the types of things that have kind of been teased out, especially in the plan from High Street down to almost to Winchester, or actually to Winchester, Wedgmere, What kinds of things are, you know, have been scoped out in terms of implementation?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so again, I have my notes here because there's a lot of great stuff. So we have a lot of, again, breaking it into like safety, accessibility, environmental, we have a lot of proposed safer crossings, which is huge, and our design team makes really cool maps where they show all this out, and you can find that on our website, which I'll plug at the end. But safer crossings was a huge one So they mapped out a bunch of areas where they thought it'd be good to have some safety improvements on the road We also have that Improved path so not a paved path, but like a stone dust That's better for a wheelchair user or something and maybe why they widening the path a little bit making it more like accessible and regular and like just a little bit more connected along the stretch and And then wayfinding signs, which I think are awesome some benches I think would be huge and yeah, maybe a scenic overview so like selective clearing of the Shrubbery to have some intentional spots to go and enjoy So those are some have some more info We have yeah picnic tables nature play which I think is cute like a Natural little like set of logs for kids to jump on stuff like that Non-motorized boat launches. So just kind of formalizing where people are already putting their kayaks Maybe making some of the steeper sections a little bit more, you know regular The steps from Boston Ave that go down to the path that there's no steps It's just kind of like that weird block and you're kind of you feel like you're in someone's backyard Formalizing that entrance a little bit So yeah lots of really cool stuff and totally go on our website and check out the pictures Because that's such a good way to look absolutely put your input.
[Carter]: Yeah Fantastic Okay I Okay, so again, if folks wanna get involved, whether they're folks in the audience or folks at home, what would be the best thing for them to do?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so for this process, we started last year and had our consultants and landscape architects survey the area. So they looked at everything, took pictures, checked out the erosion, the roads, everything. and then we went into our visioning process which is where I was saying we got thousands of comments and that was kind of just a What do you like? What do you not like? What do you think we should do? What do you think we shouldn't touch? So that process is really huge. That was cool that was our first meeting to our first public meeting and steering committee meeting was just a Generally, what do folks have to say about this area? And then last night, we had a meeting where we had these initial designs. So these are the maps that our team put together and it shows like, here's where we're proposing a new bench, here's where we're proposing a new crosswalk, stuff like that. And we presented this to folks both at the steering committee meeting and then the public meeting last night. And also had an option for people to type if they support an idea, don't support an idea, have a different idea. So our next step is going through all those comments.
[Carter]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah a lot of polling a lot of polling but it's so fun because I like reading all the comments because it like I'm on my computer, but I feel like they're telling me about their walk along the path and I'm like But following that meeting last night We now have a survey open that has all these pictures and walks you down the short line and shows you the different proposed ideas and so you can look at each chunk and put I think this, this, and this. I don't like this, this, and this. You can put that on the survey. So that's our next phase, which is really awesome and really important to have everyone be a part of. And then we'll have a third set of meetings. So it'll be about, we've gotten your feedback from our initial plan. We've changed it a little bit based on people's input. This is what we're finalizing and sending off to hopefully go to construction. It's a really cool process, but June will be our last set of meetings, and you should go to our website and learn all about this, and then we can sign you up for emails to get info about it.
[Carter]: Absolutely, absolutely. And it's really a wonderful opportunity to have your voice heard on all of what is being discussed.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I will not forget, next week we're actually having an in-person option too, so if an online survey or meeting isn't the best, we're going to be on Thursday, April 24th, we're going to be at Duggar Park, or if it's raining, we'll be right in here, from 3.30 to 5.30, and we're going to have big maps out on the table with all this stuff, so you can just talk to us and we'll write down what you think. And then Friday, April 25th, so a week from today, we're going to be at Shannon Beach in Winchester with the same thing. And if that's a rainy day, we'll be at the Winchester Public Library from 4 to 515. So write that down or go to our website.
[Carter]: Very good, very good. So, and here's the $64,000 question. It's probably a lot more now, but what does the current state of racial reckoning and a growing retreat from a healthy dialogue about diversity, equity, and inclusion mean for the support of environmental justice in our community?
[SPEAKER_02]: That is a huge question, but so glad you asked that because I think it's so important for us to all be thinking about that right now. And my perspective is basically we have to just keep trucking and do what we can and just kind of like, you know, if we let the hopelessness sink in, then you're like, oh, I'm not going to go to this meeting. I'm not going to, Go to the shoreline and because I'm like what's gonna make a difference, you know And that kind of attitude is just like for me. It's not not how we get through. No, so I think this is a great example of like what can I do in my backyard my local river and That has some importance and meaning to me and I can't control The country I can't control the decisions of some people but I can control My input in my own processes like this and I think it's important to get involved because it helps Inspire you and connect you with people which is what we all need right now
[Carter]: Absolutely agree too. I think in anyone that has ever been out to, you know, count the herring or help deal with some of the, you know, the Japanese knotweed and all of these different invasive plants, you know, I think that that's the attitude that they've taken. They've decided that they're not going to let you know, the affairs of the day, and the constant clanging of the newsreel keep them from doing whatever they feel like they can do. And you, as an organization, giving them the opportunity to do these things is really a tonic for the spirit, because in a lot of instances, if there's no entity out there that you can kind of formally attach yourself to and say, okay, I'm with these guys over here, And we're doing X and Y and Z, and we're making a difference. And I think that's one thing that Myra does extremely well, is it gives everybody a home base to come to and say, OK, well, we can go out and we can do this because Myra's going to be over here. We can go out and we can do that because Myra's going to be over there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Definitely, and I would say also working with places like the center and with folks like you all and it's like that's what inspires us and keeps us going is having partnerships with amazing other local groups and thinking what they say like Think globally act locally.
[Carter]: Act locally. That's what we do. You know Tip O'Neill said it best. He said all politics is local at the end of the day all politics is local so even looking at it from a political perspective, we have to do what we can where we are. Oh, and speaking of which, I know that one of the platforms that you're diving off of right now, so to speak, is flood resilience. Would you talk a little bit about that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, yeah, thank you. So my job is to help support a lot of these projects with community input and stuff and also something that I've been working on in my role is looking at stormwater flooding in the Mystic. So that's a very early phases project and we're going to be working with the center and other folks across 10 different communities in the watershed And basically our goal this summer is to just, similar to this process, reach out and find a bunch of people and have a big community party or something and get people talking about their experiences with flooding. And it's like I said earlier, where obviously it's a long process. You have to be patient with what can we actually do about this when it comes to constructing stuff differently. But something about my job is we're just in the information collection phase. So this summer I'm going to be going out to different places like the center and around different communities and talking to people about where they're seeing flooding and I think it's really it's really a good thing to do because it's like again community conversations is how you get people mobilized and inspired, so I'm gonna bring back that information to my organization and push it forward again to, okay, now we've collected where all this flooding is happening, what can we do about it? And that's something that I think is also just important, to keep gathering the information even if you don't know what you're doing.
[Carter]: So I have a follow-up question to that because, you know, I'm, and maybe it's just ignorance on my part, but I'm, not aware of this area having had issues with the rising tide of the river and having the water come over into the neighborhood. Now, have you seen evidence of this in the past?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I should clarify. So specifically for this project, we're looking at stormwater flooding. So when it's raining like crazy and your drains can't hold it all and it's coming up or it's like you have a street that doesn't have the right drainage.
[Carter]: So we're not actually talking about the river overflowing its banks, so to speak.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're not talking about that right now.
[Carter]: We should talk about it. But yeah, it's all related, too. That makes perfect sense to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: But if people have stories about that, we need to hear that, too, because it all is related.
[Carter]: It is, indeed. OK. So this is kind of a corollary to the first question. We have a seeming denial, by many, of a lot of bedrock climate science. in the retreat from environmental protections and the aspiration toward dealing with these things better by the federal administration. How does that kind of stuff impact your organization?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so the way that I think is really helpful for me to think about it is when we're talking about climate change, so taboo sometimes, it's really helpful for me to phrase it without saying like, we're talking about climate resilience today. I just say we're talking about flooding or extreme heat. Because even if you're talking to people who are a little bit more like, oh, I don't know if I believe in this. It's like, do you believe that you're really hot this summer and it hasn't been this hot before? But just because we don't have to draw it back to the science if people don't wanna do that, you can say, okay, the river is eroding or you're not seeing as much birds. There's stuff that you don't have to say is climate but people can relate to and kinda gets the gears turning. That's what's helpful for me at least.
[Carter]: So it ends up in a lot of instances being kind of terminology and how you approach it in terms of whether you talk to folks so that those who are, whether it's on the fence or whether they're outright deniers or whatever, they can kind of relate to it in terms that don't require them to think that, you know, there's an engineer up there who's trying to make them do stuff they don't want to do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, yeah.
[Carter]: Very good, very good. Okay, so I like to do this with my guests and hopefully we can play. So I want to play a little game of word association. Okay. Okay, and what I would like to do is I want to give you a word-word phrase and ask you to please give me a few sentences on what that word-word phrase means to you. Okay. All right. So, you know, and we've actually heard a couple of these words during the course of our conversation tonight. But so when you hear the term invasive species, what do you think about?
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I think of like an evil monster that's like crawling and climbing and vining and wrapping around. Because the way it wraps around native plants, it can literally choke out. Like when I worked at the farm last year, beautiful stalks of corn getting suffocated by this vine and it's like, it's like a monster.
[Carter]: And what was the vine?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm so bad. It might be bittersweet fine, but I'm not the scientist.
[Carter]: It's scary, it's scary. All right, but physically choking out corn. Yeah, it's scary, like a tentacle. Wow, sounds like wrestling or something like that. Okay, so jet skis.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think jet skis are really fun for like Cancun or something, but I understand that maybe they're not what a lot of people want to see on their neighborhood river.
[Carter]: Yeah, kind of overpowering for the Mystic Lakes.
[SPEAKER_02]: It might be, and actually my friend has a cat named Jetski because he's fast and dangerous, so I have to plug him too.
[Carter]: Okay, okay. Your namesake, Shannon Beach.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, so my dad grew up in Arlington and he always tells us stories about how after his dinners when he was like 10, his great uncle or whatever would make him walk around the entire Mystic Lakes. So I've had a lot of funny stories about Shannon Beach and I remember it used to be called Sandy Beach.
[Carter]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember when they changed it, one of my other uncles was like, hey, you know, they called it Shannon Beach. I was like, what? But everyone else is kind of mad about it.
[Carter]: Yeah, well, everybody down here for sure was mad about it because, you know, that was we had always grown up with Sandy Beach and we didn't always have great stories about it because, you know, like when I was young, you know, we we got harassed and hassled sometimes, you know, going down to the beach because, you know, we look like everybody else. But but we got over it. We dealt with it, you know. OK. Herring run.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, the herring run. I will admit, I have not been to see the herring. So I just started in November. But I think it's one of the coolest things that my organization does. And I think it's so incredible because we've gotten like the biggest count in New England now, I think. So, and I think it's an incredible story of, like, there's so many beautiful indigenous stories about it, like, just the history of, like, the herring, it's incredible.
[Carter]: But I haven't actually seen it, so that's on my list for, like, this month. Well, it's so, and the other thing is, it's so connective, connected to the history of, you know, kind of Native Americans in the area, because it was obviously a, you know, a great, you know, food source and food resource. But it also, you know, just brings back all of the stories of how the natives really, really wanted initially to share the land and to be, you know, good neighbors. And they were already good stewards and they already knew how to farm and fish and all of that. And things didn't work out, you know, very well in their favor.
[SPEAKER_02]: Also a beautiful story about resilience though because like as we keep connecting more and more fish ladders and stuff Yeah, it brings back the history and the fish remember the way, you know Well, I you know, I like the fact that you have so many people that come out to do this particular thing, you know when you have the
[Carter]: the herring runs and you issue the call for folks to come out and count the fish, it's really cool that you have literally hundreds of people that wanna come out and count fish.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and the volunteer slots filled up in three days.
[Carter]: Yeah, that's what I mean, it's pretty crazy. It's pretty crazy. Okay, so what should folks in our audience and in the watershed absolutely know about Myra?
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I would say you should know that you're always welcome. So go online and find an email and just email someone if you're interested in their project or like our offices are right in Arlington Center. Show up there, write us a letter, whatever you want to do. Just come talk to us and we're always willing to hear your stories related to the river, the environment, hear your concerns. And it really is a community-driven organization. We have grown so much because of all the power of the community and the new partnerships we've made and stuff. So just find a way or find one thing you're interested in. If it's fish, trash, climate, anything, just find your way and someone will love to talk to you and get you involved.
[Carter]: So they, and I'm not sure how it came into their possession, but the organization got this big old Victorian house off of Pleasant Street in Arlington, and it's really, really cool because it's like you're at work and at home at the same time. I've been there a couple of times for our meetings and such, and even going to the restroom or whatever, It's very much like being in your own home. It's not at all like a business building, but it's real nice. And they're very, very open and welcoming. So just like if you walked through the front door and said, what's what, they would take the time to hang out with you and show you around and talk to you about whatever you wanted to talk about. So it's real nice. Absolutely. Yeah. OK, so I want to give you the last word. What are your parting thoughts?
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay parting thoughts are I'm just already feeling so inspired from this conversation and I hope you guys are all feeling a little awakened with the spring and everything happening and I think for me nature is one of like the best ways to just like re-center yourself with everything else we're dealing with right now like just go sit on the shoreline and you know Whatever you want to do like get together with a neighbor like right now. We need that more than ever So just get outside talk to someone you'll feel better all right, very good, so I
[Carter]: Shannon, really thank you so much for bringing a broad perspective and really fantastic organizational and ecological insight into this community in greater Medford. Obviously it's important work that Myra does and I hope that folks all over Medford will become increasingly more aware of the watershed's importance, of its equity as a resource, and its health and safekeeping. And to everyone that's been watching in the room, obviously, and also out there in TV land, as they used to call it, thanks so much for your attentiveness and your interest in our discussion. And thanks for coming along with us as we continue to refresh for greater flexibility and bringing the best stories and entertainment possible. So get ready for something very special on the musical side of the coin right after we take a break to reset our stage, and I'll come back and share some WMCC announcements, and then we'll get started with the music portion of Words and Music. Thank you, Shannon.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
[Carter]: Thank you. All right. Okay, very good. Check, check. Okay. All right. Here we go. Here we go. All right. Boom, boom, boom. All righty. We're about ready. We're about ready. OK. We're good? OK. I wait to get my high sign from my man back there. Okay, so more often than not, and I'm going to hold off to the end with all the promotional stuff and so forth, because I want to get into this. More often than not, when we do Words in Music, we go out there and we beat the bushes and we find wonderful singers and we find, you know, outstanding musicians. We, you know, we've got, you know, we're looped into the Berkeley community and the New England Conservatory community, and we get some amazing folks to come in, you know, and do stuff for us. But it's Poetry Month. And my bishop, my pastor, would say to us all the time, he would say, it's a sorry frog that won't praise his own pond. So I'm calling my own number tonight. But, and I'm fortunate in this, I'm not doing it by myself. Several years ago, I had the outrageous fortune to link up with this guy. His name is Jonathan Fagan. Okay. And, you know, John kind of heard it through the grapevine that, you know, there was this poet guy out there doing some stuff that, you know, he kind of liked. And we talked, and one thing led to another, and we started talking about a collaboration. And the collaboration became what's known as the Ally Project. And the ally part is obviously a throw to the fact that we were both seeking a way to make poetry and music address some of the social justice issues that we both really feel very strongly about. And that's what it became. And it became that to the effect that we developed this quartet And that's Greg Toro on the bass back there. And our first drummer, John Dalton, real busy guy, doing a bunch of different stuff, and not always available to us. But because Jonathan knows like a million musicians, he was able to find a great drummer that could step into John's shoes. And we literally never missed a beat. So back here is Gordon Angleguy. Okay, and it was cool because we, you know, Jonathan is also the founder of the Medford Jazz Festival, which has been going on for several years now, in which we've had for the past three or four years, here at the community center right out in our backyard. And this summer it's gonna be in August, I think it's the 16th and the 17th, and it's a don't miss thing, because this kind of stuff just doesn't happen in West Medford very often. You want to be able to, you know, we set about 60 or 70 chairs back in the back, and the sun is shining, and oh man, it's a great atmosphere, and it's August, so it's still nice and warm and sunny. So it's a Saturday and a Sunday afternoon, and it's free. And you got access to Duggar Park, and there's refreshments, and we have a big time. So hopefully, you'll do that. But anyways. we've been playing together for several years now, and we actually, we cut a record. So over there on the table is a CD, if anybody still has a CD player, it's crazy. And it's called the Ally Project. So a lot of what we do tonight, and there's some new stuff too, because I'm working on my seventh book, but a lot of it is actually on that CD. So, Greg Toro, Gordon Engelgau, Jonathan Fagan, I'm Terry Cotter, and we are the Allied Project. All right? Can we play for you? All right, let's do it. Okay, John. Okay. This first piece we're going to do is called Hired by the Mystic. And for me, as a poet in West Medford, this is kind of where it all started. So, hopefully you'll enjoy it. They gave my people the lowlands, and not much of it, just a few streets hard by the river. Banks turned a blind eye behind the red lines, and it wasn't about the money. Class was an irresistible force. Race was an immovable object. Perhaps it wasn't the written rule, but white folks knew the legal tool to keep us in our place in this mystic valley space, where slaves and rum and ships had built some mansions, made some millionaires, and hid some old money. So it was hard by the mystic we went, muddy and a bit turned down, the only place where one could be brown in this ancient Middlesex County town. But we named it, we claimed it, we made it our own. Even in the heat of summer when the shores were parched and the soil was rank with the decay of aquatic alchemy, we were one with the river. We followed its flow to the lakes and the sandy beachfront. On our own Jordan shore, we baptized and blessed our brothers and sisters in Christ. We caught the little fishes to go with our loaves of bread and became the teeming multitude who our Lord Jesus fed, hired by the mystic. We became community. We commanded unity. We embraced the village and raised up our children in the way they should go. As the river ebbs and flows, the tides will turn and our fortune grows. A few more streets become our home. Houses on Sharon join Kin on Jerome. From Duggar Park to the railroad tracks, the white folks make more room for blacks. The color line recedes a bit. Church and school and center fit. The Ville becomes the heart of it, hard by the mystic shore. Now the worm has surely learned and folks who left have surely learned things couldn't stay the same. That muddy mystic most days is clean. The banks are freshly cut and green. Faces once distinctly brown are not the only ones in town. These streets that once were our confines must now embrace what gentry defines, condominium culture, bedroom convenience, university sprawl, access, egress, invest, and dispossess. Now those lowlands have become the highlights of a trending city. And sometimes that success isn't pretty when it's at the expense of your black and brown and tan friends. And yet, the river still turns and bends from where it begins to where it ends. the only place where one could be brown in this ancient Middlesex County town. But we named it, we claimed it, and made it our own. Very good. Very good. So when I'm feeling nostalgic, I always go back to living in West Medford. I live in Randolph now. When my wife and I first got married, and we've been married almost 38 years now, The first five years that we were married, we lived on Arlington Street in a rental apartment that some friends of my family had. And loved it here in West Medford. But she was working for, actually for Boston Water and Sewer at the time, and they pressed the residency requirement. And she was six months from getting grandfathered. So we had to move into Boston in order for her to keep her job. She liked her job. I liked her liking her job. So, you know, so we moved. And we moved to Dorchester. And we lived in two different apartments in Dorchester for about 17 years. And then it was, you know, when we thought that we had all of our ducks in a row to be able to buy a house, we came back to Medford first to look. Couldn't touch it. Couldn't touch it. So we started looking. We looked in Boston for like that long. But you could touch, if you couldn't touch Medford, you definitely couldn't touch Boston, especially in the areas where we, that we were interested in. And we started looking south and we had some friends in Randolph. We started looking in Randolph and we finally found a nice place. We have a nice little split level ranch with a big yard in Randolph and that's home. But Home is where the heart is, obviously. So again, whenever I want to reminisce and think back to the good old days, I come back to my West Medford home. And I work here during the week, and it keeps me connected. And the beauty of it is that my mother, my father, and my baby brother all had cancer, and they passed away. And I had it, but I beat it. You know, God is good. And they're looking down on me and I hope they're proud of me. But anyways. It gave me an opportunity, coming back to work at the community center, to be in West Medford, to be with my family, to go through some of what they were going through, and to be there as a resource for them while they were going through it. So, you know, they say, never curse the bridge that brought you safely over. So I never, never curse West Medford. But I do care some of the things that have happened to West Medford that have made it less West Medford for a lot of folks. So this is a little bit of that. I'm not mad. I'm just truthful. This is called Corner Lot. Okay. Getting a little bit of fuzzy fuzzy. Okay. We good? We better? Okay. Okay. Thank you. standing at the apex of Arlington and Jerome, trying to remember the black and the brown and the tan. Ronnie and Otis used to live in the big house on the corner lot. It's probably changed hands half a dozen times since then. Current owner's been there for a minute. He's good with his hands and knows his way around wood and tools. Place has been gussied up quite a bit. Picket fence is off-white, but if you know, you know. Asian kid in a Tufts hoodie just whipped by in a helmet and rollerblades. Didn't see much of that back in the day. The university sort of hit on a hillside trying its best to be a baby Ivy. But the cohorts come here all the time now. Basketballs, tennis rackets, and pickleball paddles in tow on bikes, benzos, and rollerblades. We used to bust ourselves up pretty good on rickety metal skates with clunky keys and leather straps. Nothing a little Vaseline and Mercura comb couldn't handle. How did Henley put it in Invictus? Oh yeah, bloodied but unbowed. Not too many white and off-white kids hanging out down here back then. It was as if the invisible lines once drawn to keep us in sometimes kept other folks out too. Now they've pretty much taken over. Duggar Park, the Rhone Tennis Courts, the Hervey Schoolyard, and a hundred addresses on Arlington, Lincoln, and Jerome. A host of our remembered places, so few of our original faces. Meanwhile, back at Ronnie and Otis's old place, I'm still standing like that centurion, knowing that Jesus doesn't have to go in to heal his servant. He just has to speak a word. I keep hoping that he'll speak a word to the Cornelot, too, and bring back the black and the brown and the tan. Across the street is the river. It's low tide, but the smell is gone and the grass is greener than I recall. That was our little park, away from Duggar and a lot less hectic. We had makeshift bases or discarded cones for football and softball. We lost a few in the river, but nobody was going in that muck to retrieve anything. We'd probably wade in that water today. They planted some trees there many years ago. They're all pretty big now. Maple and ash, I think. Nobody plays baseball or football there anymore. But there are lots of dogs frolicking off leash and gaggles of fat geese daring pitties, pugs, and poodles to chase them off. I can't imagine my childhood without losing a few softballs there. I can't imagine not hearing Mrs. Allen calling James Michael to come eat, or little Charlie watching us play from his folding chair, because his spindly legs were too weak to let him run. I can't imagine that I'm still here. But Ronnie and Otis, Darryl King, Frankie French, Aaron McDaniel, and Marky Davis are all gone. Everyone had a nickname back then. Darryl was super fast, so we called him Road Runner and Jack Rabbit. Mark was thick as a big tree trunk, so we came up with oak for him. Aaron was bud, Frankie was fruit man, and I was top cat. Too cool, ran the school. Everyone wants the corner lot. Little more land, and perhaps the new perspectives that angles create. I wonder if that meant anything to Ronnie and Otis, or Jed and Miles and Gib, Barry, Coco, Keith Wing, and Kenny Byfield. It certainly meant something to the white folks looking to displace, transplant, and uproot the local color. Black folks built homes here, only place where we were allowed to be, where they could color inside the lines Medford once drew against the perceived discomforts of darker skin. We were here first. First firefighters, police officers, war heroes, shop owners, tradesmen, postal chiefs, teachers, artists, and preachers. We were the human bedrock of the only neighborhood they'd let us build. The old church is gone. Nelson even changed the street number as if to erase the fact that the original Shiloh Baptist ever existed. But if you know, you know. That corner lot still has a cornerstone. And Nelson couldn't do nothing about it without a more draconian demolition. two more condos in the house of the Lord, two more houses that us first folk can't afford, two more dismissals of the blessing of his word, one more holy stone rejected and ignored. Okay, nostalgia is hard sometimes, whew. Okay, so, but it's also happy sometimes, so that's what this next piece is about. And you may have heard it before, but you're getting ready to hear it once again more. Okay. Okay. Thank you. The Little Store, you're right there. All right. Good, good. Okay. It was a tiny red hovel on Upper Jerome. A bit run down and rough around the edges. And Mr. Henry seemed so old to us, even then, with a lot of whiskers, impatient and a little scary. One would suspect that he didn't even like kids. But he really must have loved us. Or else, where did all that penny candy come from? He had all of it, no seriously. We'd bust in there with a few nickels or a handful of pennies, all loud and unruly. He'd hush us up while he finished up with grown folks' business. Then he'd be back, like a black Willy Wonka up in that old shack. He'd peer over those old horn-rimmed glasses and tell us he didn't have all day. Then he'd blow open one of those small brown craft paper bags and get to stuffing while we were oohing and aahing and huffing and puffing. See, Mr. Henry had all the treats, all of our favorites, a hundred great sweets. root beer barrels and pixie stip, squirrel nut zippers and banana splits, green mint juleps and button strips, red licorice ropes and bottle nips. He had bazooka Joe bubblegum and a tiny sucker called a dum-dum, jawbreakers and tootsie rolls, sugary love for little kids' souls. Candy necklaces to wear and bite, and waxy red lips was such a sight. Fat gum cigars and kids cigarettes, right beside the crunchy six-lets. Mary Jane chewies and BB bats, hot fireballs and Mexican hats. Just the genuine Hershey's kisses, all the hits and none of the misses. Like kits, taffy squares, and Necco wafers, liquor made in Boston baked beans, gold rocks, nuggets of gum in a bag, a kid's idea, sweet to swag. Before the days of Laffy Taffys, we would gobble up peppermint patties. Before we knew about gummy bears, Twizzlers always came in pairs. Chewy cow tails had a creamy filling, but sugar babies had top billing. Reese's peanut butter cups had us squealing like newborn pups. Mike and Ikes and orange slices, saltwater taffy and tiny prices. Lifesavers and charms and fruity flavors, we grabbed those bags like potty favors. Chuckles were a favorite choice, and Milk Duds made us all rejoice. Jolly Ranchers and Bitter Honey, we always got a lot for our money. Talk about kids getting excited. You can't imagine the flame he ignited. Our greedy fingers could barely wait to take that candy like fish take bait. From cold January to chilly December, more kinds of candy than I can remember. At the Ville storefront on Upper Jerome, I knew I had to write this poem. See, Mr. Henry had all the treats, all of our favorites, 100 great sweets. Yeah, a little nicer, a little nicer. OK, very good. Where we going, Jenny? Yes, yes, absolutely. Okay. So in many ways, we as a country are in a bit of a crisis. And unless you were Massachusetts, Pawtucket, Nipmuck, Wampanoag, in this area, you came from someplace else. So this piece is called Beloved Country, and you'll get it. Ah, pat it now, kid. I love it. I can love this country, too. I didn't have to be born on these barney shores. I didn't have to be a son of the Pentacook, Quinnipiac, or Mohican. I didn't have to have a pilgrim pedigree or be a Connecticut Yankee from King Arthur's Corps. I can be the Dahomey, the Pole, or the child of Caribbean suns in Amazon shade. I can love this country too. My green card was a welcome ticket to a new life in a new land. My passport was stamped with new hopes and new dreams. My suitcases were packed full with new aspirations and some apprehensions too. Perhaps I didn't see the harbor sign that said, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Perhaps I didn't see the lady in the lamp, but I did see the gleaming city on a hill that couldn't be hid, and my soul responded. I can love this country too. I can love its rolling meadows and its gospel songs. I can love its asphalt highways and its born-to-run boss. I can love its teeming ghetto and its urban sprawl. I can love its old spires, new minarets, and golden menorahs. But can America love me too? Can she love my curry spices, roti, and oxtails? Can she love my hijab and henna tattoos? Can she love my Hajj, my Mecca, and my Medina? Can she love my Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos? Can she love my kente cloth, dredge, twist, and locks? Can she love the skin I'm in? Be it ebony, ivory, dulce de leche, or cafe au lait. Can she love me by name? Chicana Glory, Muhammad bin Said, Anastasia Kozov, Cleophis Dorsey, or Claudia Gonzalez. Can she love me by name? And what if I am among those huddled masses in that wretched refuge or that homeless, tempest-tossed? Will she continue to lift her lamp? Or do war and rumors of war, IEDs, sleeper cells, and faith distortions make me a pariah to be eliminated, a scourge to be annihilated, and a plague to be exterminated? I come in peace. And I love this country too. I love its boundless opportunity. I love its generosity of spirit. I love the audacity of its hope. I love its rolling meadows and its joyful songs. I love its asphalt highways and its little red Corvette. I love its teeming ghetto and its urban sprawl. I love its old spires, new minarets, and golden menorahs. And I love America too. I come in peace. And I love America too. All right. All right. All right. Greg Toro on the big sexy bass. Gordon Angle Gow on the drums. Jonathan Fagan on the keys. All right. All right. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so here's the corollary. All right, because there's always got to be some connective tissue to this stuff. All right, so we're going to do a piece called Alienation. And it's really, really on my mind right now. So maybe on a lot of y'all's as well. So here we go. Is this great? What does this mean? Okay, all right. Here is a fence without a gate. You can't get in, you have to wait. You can't be foreign or somehow strange. This isn't your home, home on the range. You can't arrive in a rickety boat. Our castle has a treacherous moat. We won't host refugees at our door. You're not the sort we're looking for. Take good note. We stay on guard. We don't want you in our backyard. Despite the dangers you seek to avoid, our best deterrents have been deployed. You say your country's full of peril. But like stray cats, we think you're feral. We think you're prone to filth and crime. We don't want either at this time. We don't care what the nations say. They won't do more than hope and pray. Our stance is clear on human rights. Lock the door. Turn off the lights. You saw that statue in the bay. It stood for liberty until today. It welcomed tired and huddled masses, not criminals from your underclasses. We've got militias on the border. They own big guns to keep the order. Law enforcement lets them stay to help them keep your kind at bay. Why do we feel that this is good? Why can't we share the neighborhood? Is it because you're black and brown? No, we just choose to stand our ground. stay in your place, deal with your issues. We'll send lots of coal and tissues. Don't form caravans and run. You'll find yourself in the sight of a gun. There are no streets here lined with gold. Our eyes are closed, our hearts are cold. There is no flowing milk and honey. American skies are not that sunny. The fences we build keep aliens out. They serve to keep our faith devout. This land we scheme to make our own, it's ours, you see, and ours alone. As long as you stay on the other side, we can maintain our national pride. Please don't show us your anguished faces. We're cutting back on other races. We've had enough of this global inclusion. We're ridding this country of race confusion. We know how to win these fights and limit all these civil rights. Safety nets in the welfare state will have to stop for the lost and late. A rising tide that favors the rich. That's our favorite campaign pitch. Me Too movements and Black Lives Matter? In all due time, your ranks will scatter. You think that you shall overcome? Just cross this line. We'll give you some. We'll give you a taste of burning churches and black boys hung from oaks and birches. We'll give you a taste of incarceration in prisons.com, the corporate plantation. We're taking this country back to a time when a brown life wasn't worth a dime, except for the way it worked in the field, except for a bushel of crops to yield. We're taking this country back to the day when white meant right in every way, when men of privilege could rape and beat and kill for spite, then lie and cheat. We're taking this homeland back to the season when hooded marauders needed no reason to hunt folks down with rifles and dogs through the lonely woods, the swamps, and bogs. When Confederate flags were boldly raised and crosses in the darkness blazed and the land was full of racial hate served with grits on a breakfast plate. You thought this worm had surely turned and young black bodies no longer burned. Yet here you are again today with the specter of prejudice winning the day. The MAGA caps we wear with pride, they let us know who's on our side. That pointed hood and long white robe, fine clothes for the xenophobe. Perhaps this place that immigrants covet can somehow heal and rise above it. Until that day, our best advice to call this home, you'll pay a price. You'll pay a price as many misguided embrace the hate their voice provided. His Twitter rants and sound bites full of ethnocentric cock and bull. You'll pay a price as higher walls lead great climbers to greater falls. Where fences are the new condition announcing the refugees abolition. This isn't our nation's greatest hour, this flexing of white supremacist power. And yet, the season is fully revealing the stain of hatred we've been concealing. So take good note and be on guard of deadly traps around the yard. Our agents are on high alert to keep you foreigners off this dirt. Tolerance is in short supply. We won't let your kind occupy this sacred land our forebears built. We don't subscribe to Anglo guilt. This fence was built without a gate to keep out all who come here late. To all you aliens, we don't like strange. No room at the inn in our home on the range. Yeah, okay. All right, so you've had a lot of the social justice, but not as much as the outright jazz. So we're going to do the outright jazz right now. This is called Okay, so backstory on this is Herbie Hancock wrote a beautiful composition many years ago called Tell Me a Bedtime Story, and Quincy Jones re-recorded it beautifully. So this is a reimagining of Tell Me a Bedtime Story, and it's called Tell Me Another Bedtime Story. Is this where the Sandman picks up each grain, restoring the beauty, reducing the pain? Is this where we fly to never, never land like a troop of lost boys with Peter Pan? All of the mystery of hidden dreams, nothing now is as it seems. Tell a sweet tale that sugars and creams with flashes of stardust and shining moonbeams. As I lay down to my slumber, paint a landscape of ochre and umber. Let there be a hint of romance. Turn up the quiet. Love wants to dance. tell me a bedtime story please of secret gardens and pecan trees of babbling brooks and waterfalls of gentle breezes that summer calls of hidden havens and wondrous spaces of astral planes and mystical places Let there be a melody that sings in four-part harmony. Let it resound in symphony, then fold into dreamland's reverie. Tell me a fable of Arabian nights spread on a table of earthly delights, free from the label of anger and fights, willing and able to scale higher heights. Tell me a bedtime story now, as the baby rocks in the maple bough, as the blue ox puts his nose to the plow, and the sweaty farmer wipes his brow, as each green seedling happily vows to yield each fruit the ground allows, and seven dwarves whistle a happy tune, and sleeping beauty awakens soon. Let there be a melody that sings in four-part harmony. Let it resound in symphony, then fold into dreamland's reverie. This is a time when the sandman whispers, and seven grooms meet seven sisters, and the prairie sings an ode to love as angels release the turtle dove. For now, I lay me down to sleep and pray to God my soul to keep. Gordon Angle got on the drums. Yeah, buddy. Real nice, real nice, real nice. Okay, so let's do another jazz piece. Is this just me and you? Okay, so if you know the jazz canon at all, you know like the big names and you know, Miles Davis and you know, John Coltrane and you know, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, you know, you just, you know the big names. Sometimes the folks that could go by a first name only. This was one of those people. And you could use either his first name or his last name. You could call him Monk or you could call him Thelonious. And everybody knew who you were talking about. I call him Thelonious. All right, anyways. This piece is called Thelonious Assault. Kind of play on words. Okay. You were the mystic and the mage with every scribble on each lined page. So deadly serious at that bench with eyes ablaze and teeth in clench. Tones that spin, discordant perfection, harmonic twists in every direction. What is the meaning of all this scatter as you summon rhythmic anti-matter? Why must you rage and violently pound each key to achieve such a potent sound, reveling in a cerulean funk? You were the least obedient monk. Sometimes you'd wax melodic and quiet. Then you'd revert to the din of a riot. Every chord with a stranglehold on conventional music's centerfold. A bit of the Duke's panache in style with James P. Johnson's strident guile. Yours was the most ambitious spirit in every bar the night can hear it. The grand piano majestically sits. It has no sense of the crimes it commits. It tolerates explosive bits of cosmic slop as the maestro sits. In a soft felt fez or a pork pie hat? You are a different kind of cat. Fingers like Harlem stickball bats, scurrying quick like tenement rats. Over those keys while the saxophone scats. Over those keys while the drummer pats. Over those keys with sharps and flats while the bass man thumbs out welcome mats. In front of the door of Handy and Fats. Real conversation, not idle chats. Wed to the notes like a pretty young wife, you brought jazz piano back to life. And made the music cut like a knife, skipping chords and dissonant strife. Never to march like a drum and fife, with crackling sparks your soul was rife. Yet waves of sickness embraced your spirit. The music allowed you to hardly hear it. Oceans of darkness and you didn't fear it. A constant hurdle, we watched you clear it. Oh, rather we listened in special awe As camels buckled with every straw You piled on top of harmonic law As bop and stride made doubters thaw You'd ever succumb to a tragic flaw And be undone by depression's claw So still, the vinyl adorns the platter as we revel in musical anti-matter. Madame Panonica's lilting splatter round midnight with a truly mad hatter. Solitude embraces a tortured soul that scales the peaks of an opposite pole through a Thorazine haze that takes its toll. And still the maestro maintains control. The Steinway bursts in dynamic tone, and yet the madness won't leave him alone. The abbot cowers and runs to pray as the musical friar prepares to slay. The Steinway engages in mystical work while legions of demons quietly lurk, ready to take the altar away to assault the monk as we hear him play. Jonathan Fagan on the keys, channeling his inner Thelonious. Very good. Okay, let's do Legacy and if Bobby had a choice. Okay, all right. So, we're gonna do a piece called Legacy that we really, really love. I hope I can find it. Okay, here we go. All right. This is for the storytellers in all of us. Okay, here we go. It's not for you to tell your own story. That is the burden of your children. They must shoulder this yoke with love and loyalty. And yet, you have not gathered them and bid them sit before the campfires of their elders. You have not seasoned their meals with the spice of their identity and the savor of their names. How will they learn to walk the walk and talk the talk? How will they learn to tell your stories even as they live out their own? Sons and daughters and heirs, if you didn't smell the burning ash or feel the warmth of the flame on your neck, you don't know. If you didn't revel in the growl of the griot's earthy reply or the trill of the mockingbird's cry, you don't know. If mama was too tired and daddy too long gone to carry the wood, light the spark, and stoke the flames, you don't know. And until the lion cub knows how to tell the pride stories, the hunters will always tell them first. The good book says, train up the child in the way they should go. Will we let them depart from the community of faith and the city on a hill without the master's touch, without the oil of his anointing and his full measure of grace? Will we not show them Anansi's clever ways, Popo and Fufina's journey, Mufaro's beautiful daughters, the people who could fly, the wonders of Wakanda, and Songololo's new tackies? The prophet says he will encourage fathers and their children to return. But how will they know the way home if no map charts the seas, measures the roads, sites, the peaks and valleys, and names each forest despite the thickening trees? Will the burden of the elder stories be too heavy for the children? Will they care to carry? Will they dare to tarry? Will they linger at the foot of the griot? Will they hunger for the wisdom of the sage? We must put them on the page, where hard work earns the man his wage, where power is measured by God's own gauge, where miracles scoff at the wand of a mage. We must share with them the truth that is loyal and fierce, like Naomi and Ruth, that doesn't wait for the confessional booth, that has the bite of the panther's tooth. This is a gift of legacy, where a glorious past sets the captives free, and a candle's light beckons liberty. Sons and daughters and heirs, I bid you sit before the campfires of your elders, hear their stories, gather up their stones, and build up your strength. They will show you Anansi's clever ways, Popo and Fafina's journey, Mufaro's beautiful daughters, the people who could fly, the wonders of Wakanda and Songololo's new tackies. Soon, you will be the herald. Write these things down on the tablets of your spirit. Let them put a running in your feet. With each quickening step, you repel the arrows of the hunter with the shield of abiding faith. You capture the flags of your enemies and gather up their spoils. You remain the lions of the pride and your tails will always be your children's brand. You will never abandon the community of faith, though you build a thousand cities on a hill, drawing wonderous strength from the master's touch as the oil of his anointing fills your clay jars with his grace. Cool. All right. A long while ago, I wrote this piece, and Ruth Youngblood, God Rest Her Gentle Soul, it was her favorite, favorite poem. And whenever she would hear me, you know, or be somewhere where I was going to read poetry, she would always say, Are you gonna do the Barbie poem? Are you gonna do the Barbie poem? And the poem was called Barbie Doesn't Live Here. I hope that Ruth is in eternity smiling down on us right now, because I wrote a corollary to that poem that I think that she would like as well, and it's called If Barbie Had a Choice. If Barbie had a choice, I believe that from day one, she would have made it a black thing. She would have ditched the creamsicle skin and gone with the lustrous ebony you. She would have spoken with an evil dialect with a true queen's attitude and said, to hell with you colonizers. package me up in a pink box with white lettering and a bunch of beachy palms and sand in the background? I think not. You can't get these ample breasts and these curvaceous hips into that Goldie Hawn psychedelic mini. I'ma need a little something more substantial. I'ma need copious yards of single-leaf cotton with shiny batik totems and all the colors of the motherland. I'ma need a Wakanda seamstress straight out of the Ruth Powder School to hook the thing right and show the world what I'm working with. I'ma need Maiden Dahomey, not by Mattel and Disney. If Barbie had a choice, Ken would have looked more like Ali or Denzel or that fine ass dark chocolate British cat Idris Elba. He would have been melanated, not barely suntanned. And by no means would he have seen more holiday tissue wrap than 150 grit sandpaper. He would have been swashbuckling like Marvel's T'Challa, woke like Tupac, and standing on business like Brother Malcolm. She would have kissed that man with unretouched, un-botoxed, black girl lips, lush and full as a tropical rainforest. She would have engulfed her man in every quaking inch of the last poet's black thighs. If you don't know, YouTube it. She would have no need for a Brazilian butt lift or a Beverly Hills boob job or an Adobe Photoshop session. Mother Africa and a generous genome took care of all of that. You feel me? If Barbie had a choice, you would never have been able to buy her at Toys R Us, F.A.O. Schwartz, or Mary Arnold's. She wouldn't have been a fake trophy bride, a chick on the side, or a Bonnie for Clyde. She wouldn't have been an American Girl Addie, a hot Lana Batty, or Dance Moms Maddie. She wouldn't have been It Girl Margot Robbie, or Cherry Pie's Barbie, or P. Diddy Harvey. I'ma close the flow with a few more rhymes, just a few bronze bars to end this on time. A new newbie and Bobby wouldn't stand for nonsense. A brother's pursuit couldn't sit on the fence. Her womanly wiles would be truly immense. A player would just find her game too intense. With never a true shot at love's recompense. Though he might pull up in a Bentley or Rolls, he'd lose by a landslide at a real queen's pose. A new newbie in Bobby would demand mad respect. She wouldn't suffer abuse or neglect. She'd fight for her own like a goji elite. She wouldn't be tame, demure, or petite. No, things would be different on this I make bet. A pimp or a hustler would not be a threat. As fine as the print on the national debt, her beauty and wisdom would not break a sweat. That glitzy white Barbie might have a toy jet, but she hasn't landed a soul plane yet. My African queen makes the real kings forget. though she might wanna keep that fly pink Corvette. All right, all right. Greg Toro on the bass. Gordon Angle, guy on the drums. My man, Jonathan Fagan on the piano. I'm Terry E. Carter. You've been a very gracious and lovely audience. That's pretty much it for the music portion of this evening. I just want to make a few announcements, a few pauses for the cause. So give me just a second. All right, so again, thanks to everyone who's joined us for the more recent Fresh Fridays program. We've had a lot, we have lots more great conversations to explore and more great music to discover and connect you with. Elders, join us each week, Tuesday through Thursday, for a nutritious lunch and a vibrant fellowship. Lunch is served at 12 noon. Call 781-483-3042 to make a reservation. Please join us in WMCC membership and make sure that we have your contact information for future outreach and noise. Check our indoor and outdoor bulletin boards regularly for all kinds of valuable information and community updates. WMCC is planning a few special events for the celebration of our 90th anniversary as a legacy neighborhood organization in Medford. Stay tuned for more news about these events that will take place over Memorial Day weekend. How you can help us? Your tax-deductible donations help to support the mission of WMCC. We're dealing with the probability of less money from CDBG grant because of them potentially getting less or potentially no money from the federal government who we are in deep doo-doo with apparently because we live here in Massachusetts. But that's another story for another day. Partner with us in carrying the mission forward. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to this vital community organization. You make your donation, by phone, online, or by check, please contact Lisa Crossman at 781-483-3042 for more information or to become a member. Okay, so Wednesday, May 7th, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m., commemorate the significant roles that black people played in the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19th, 1775. Military Patriot Silas Burdue had a key role in that battle. He was an active combatant, and there's been a documentary made about that called the Black Patriots of Lexington. And there's some screenings that will be taking place. okay and and one of them actually will be here at the community center on wednesday may seventh uh... twenty twenty five from six to eight p m west method community center offers community resource drop-in hours with community liaison stacy more and will be She'll be talking to folks as they feel led to talk about MassHealth, the Massachusetts Health Connector, heat assistance, SNAP and WIC, and MBTA reduced fares. So, you know, she's available and she definitely wants to talk with folks here in West Medford. uh... how can you protect yourself from fraud the a a r p is having a spotting scams and staying safe workshop it's free here at the west medford community center five sixteen twenty five or may sixteen uh... two thousand twenty five at eleven a m and you can register online and this will be back on the bulletin board i think it already is and there's an online address where you can register to join in. I want to say thank you to Shannon Collins for joining us tonight and really, really explaining a lot of the good stuff that Myra is doing here in Medford, Massachusetts. I want to say thank you to the great sponsors of WMCC First Fridays program, Medford Arts Council, Medford Community Media, soon to be, if not already, Myra missed river watershed association make sure that we have the email address if you want to be included in our regular constant contact outreach you can also call us anytime at seven eight one forty three zero Thanks again to the Starwarts back there at Medford Community Media, Kevin Harrington, a super volunteer, Mark Davidson. Thanks for lending us your expertise and as usual keeping us on time and in good shape to do what we do. I'm Terry E. Carter. I'm happy to have shared this time with you tonight. That's the Ally Project. And we've loved presenting for you here this evening. Take good care. Have a wonderful night. And we'll hopefully see you back here again soon. Thank you. Oh yeah, if you're interested.