Somerville Growing Center, twice

[magid]

I've made it to the Somerville Growing Center on Vinal* Avenue twice in the past week. I went almost a year without managing to walk over; I'm glad I got to see this year's art and improvements. Most noticeably, there are clothes hanging from branches around the whole area, a bit worn from the weather, but colorful pieces, some looking period, others more of the now, all of it embellished and colorful. There are also little white tables, that are actually lidded boxes on legs. Each has a glassed over photo/collage about nature, plus relevant words stamped into the lid (the bee one had words like honey and drone). The top entry to the amphitheater space now has a mosaic in earth tones. The pond has more water flowers than I remember, and the short covered walkway hosts some kind of berries that look like a near relative of blackberries.

I've been wondering for a couple of years now what kind of tree has those little red spiky fruits, and now I know! They're flowering dogwoods, and the name apparently is because dogs like the fruit. (Edible, if unsprayed. I haven't tried any yet.)

The first visit was to see a screening of short films, presented by Women in Film & Video/New England. It took a while to get the screen steady enough to show the seven shorts. I found I much preferred the pieces that were representational and had plot. Not surprising, I suppose. The lineup:

• Mayday on the Mystic (Chelsea Spear, 4 min), part of a larger silent feature, showing workers rallying for May Day and ladies dancing around a May pole, etc. Also had the advantage of having Prog in a supporting role.
  
• Kristy (Stephanie Gray, 7 min), which was lots of repeated visually off-kilter snippets of Kristy McNichol, with background music that was a slowed version of [Dang; I'm forgetting the song.]. Amusing, a little, but it went on too long for what it was. (Hm. I went to high school with somebody named Stephanie Gray; I wonder if it's her?)
  
• Poisoned Garden (Jaclyn Genega, 13 min), which had lots of nature shots, plus some squicky needles and medical stuff. I liked seeing the forest from the vantage of someone on a swing, but otherwise, this didn't much work for me.
  
• Twitch (Leah Meyerhoff, 10 min), showed a teenager's fears that she's getting her mother's disabling disease (whatever it is that landed her in a wheelchair). I think I reacted to this more positively than I might've had it not been the first one with a clear plot and actual dialogue.
  
• Why Overweight Preteen Girles With Glasses Often Like Unicorns (Jennifer Matotek, 4 min), won my best title award. It's mostly shots of unicorn art, lots of it, unicorns alone, then unicorns with girls, unicorns with women, unicorns with unicorn foals. I don't know where it all came from; I don't envy the researcher.
  
• Why the Anderson Children Didn't Come to Dinner (Jamie Travis, 16 min) was my hands down favorite, the excellently creepy story of three triplets on their birthday. The mother (always with her portable IV) making bizarre meals, each child with focused pursuits, whether testing the flushable waters, digging deep holes for plants, or painting the playground to escape to. Bizarre and wonderful.
  
• Sluice (Adra Raine, 3 min) (if it was Sluice; I'm not sure whether it was) was just a roll of Super 8 film that had been hand-developed. I'm not sure what the point of it was.

The second visit I heard a concert by Asia Mei and the Waters. It started late: the musicians had gotten lost. But there was time to hear some lovely music (that I yet again did not dance to. I've got to get over this self-conscious thing :-). Of course, now that I've heard them, they're moving to NYC.

* No, not vinyl. This Somervillian spelling grates on me. And Somerville has both a Vinal Street and a Vinal Ave. What's up with that?

Comments

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

And Somerville has both a Vinal Street and a Vinal Ave. What's up with that?

The street names might come from the (admittedly obscure) meaning "having to do with wine." (Hmm... aha, I did find one (http://phrontistery.info/v.html) web citation of that meaning.) I don't suppose there was ever a vinyard or vintner on Vinal?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I can see "vinal" having to do with wine. Somerville vintners, though? Not likely.

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

Somerville vintners, though? Not likely.

Why not? I mean, surely there was some wine-making in the vicinity of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A hundred years ago, the cattle drive to the slaugherhouse used to go down Broadway(?) in Somerville. I don't see why there couldn't have been vintners there too...

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Well, with all the grape vines I see people growing, it's, well, slightly likely :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

That's all over Somerville, though, not that street in particular.

[arfur]

hm...I wonder if there's any winemaking going on on Vinalhaven, up in Maine.

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

Their history page (http://www.vinalhaven.org/about/history.htm) says:

In 1785 seventy-five settlers petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts "to relinquish any claims that this Commonwealth may have to said Islands, to all inhabitants and their Heirs and Assigns forever...". The attorney representing the Islanders at the Court was a Bostonian, John Vinal, Esq. and the Islands were named for him.

Which leaves open the question of whether John Vinal, Esq. was related to Nomi's Robert A. Vinal below, I suppose.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Five will get you ten that Vinal Ave./Vinal St. in Somerville were named for Robert A. Vinal of the Somerville Fire Department (http://www.somervillelocal76.org/index.cfm?zone=/unionactive/view_page.cfm&page=History20of20the20SFD).

[magid.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Two streets after one guy; I should be so lucky :-)

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

Two points for you; I'm wholly convinced.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I figured it looked too much like a personal name to be a coincidence, so I went looking for connections between people named Vinal and the city of Somerville.

I run an informal research service called AskNomi. So for posts that have anything to do with that sort of research, I made that icon.

And I tell you, I've gotten some odd questions.