Two busy days
Sep. 21st, 2014 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidFriday I took a tour of the Park(ing) Day parks around Cambridge (minus the ones out by Fresh Pond (I was lazy) and the ones that stopped early (boo on them for not noting that!). It was interesting, seeing what different groups did, ranging from a basic pop-up tent with tables just like some festival (some of which had interesting information and such, but didn't feel appropriate for the day) to full-blown parklets.
The best of these included the one by Dwell (on Broadway), which had a zigzag of plants in heavy felt bags, ranging from edibles to medicinals to ornamentals, plus benches, live music, and a bike stand for someone to do bike maintenance. Also one put up by the Biker's Union in Central Square, which had vertical pallets with branches stuck in them for greenery, seating, hay bales, and a pedal-blender to make smoothies. And the one outside the Door Store on Mass Ave, which had modular furniture with bookshelves holding games and lots of seating at interesting angles, but was unfortunately rather solitary.
In a lot of them, I had interesting conversations, ranging from transportation (I hadn't realized car registrations have dropped yearly since about 2007 in Cambridge) to art to city improvement (I want the curbside compostables experiment expanded to the whole city, and one of the quarterly hazardous waste drop-off days to change from Saturday to Sunday; I should also have mentioned the winter farmers market issue (Cambridge chose Saturday even though Somerville had already as well, but there aren't any on Sunday on this side of the river), to canning (one guy had had a great tomato year, hence his first canning experiments), and more. It was interesting how many of the spaces involved non-car transit in some way (Hubway, Biker's Union, EZ Ride shuttle, more).
Oh, and my favorite signage was for the parklet that billed itself as a baby rave (there were lots of moms and babies enjoying the music). (Best sign not for the event: "Drama Queen Parking Only", in someone's driveway.)
Shabbat day after davening (my first time at Harvard Hillel in a very long time), I went over to Longfellow House, which was participating in Cambridge Discovery Day. I hadn't been there before, and it was fascinating.
The house was built by one of the Vassall families, then abandoned in 1774 (as were many along was was informally called Tory Row), used by General Washington for a time while the fighting was around here (Martha and other members of his family joining him for some of that). After the war, the Craigies bought it (he was the first Apothecary General of the uS, which somehow fells very different from a Surgeon General!). After his death, she ran it as a boarding house, and Longfellow became one of her boarders when he moved from Maine to become a lecturer at Harvard. When she died, his to-be father-in-law bought the house for them (the gift had to officially have a money price attached to it, and the cost was "$1 and a father's love"). They raised their five children there, and three of the nearby houses were built by the children when they marriage (Alice stayed in her parents' house, while Charlie went traveling the world over). The house is not quite as it was built in 1754; the 6000 square feet almost doubled when the new addition was put on in 1791. Since then, the only changes have been for things like adding gas lighting, and later electricity, modern plumbing, and an elevator for Alice Longfellow in her later years, when she had mobility issues. Since its history has always been known, much has been preserved; there's original wallpaper of the Longfellows upstairs, the standing desk Longfellow preferred, and so on. I also hadn't realized just how iconic he was, not only a literary figure but essentially a pop culture one too.
Though originally it was a working farm with over 100 acres, now the grounds are much smaller, though there is a formal garden with pergola in addition to the lawns visible from the street.
As part of the day, there was also the "Dead Writers Showcase", which had costumed, in-character actors talking about and reading from their works, including Washington Irving, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Jula Ward Howe, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Richard Henry Dana Jr. I listened to some, but was more interested in the house tour, so missed many of the presentations.
I walked over the Somerville's BIG Little House Festival, and was not impressed. There were a lot of tables of art, and municipal departments with information, even one portable forge, but only one actual tiny house, and the line was enormous to be able to step inside. I didn't feel like waiting, so headed home again.
I walked up to Porter Square for a friend's investiture in a Masonic group. He'd invited me to his other investiture the week before, so I had a chance to compare the ceremonies. Common features included men in formal wear, fancy aprons (some with fringes), a sword or two, one man escorting the others around (hand on elbow) to organ music making it feel like a 50s skating rink, and the high-sounding phrases that didn't give much detail but were general sentiments most would find reasonable. The room had dark wood, red-velvet covered pews down the long sides of the room, the pipes of the organ above the middle of one long side. On either end, and below the organ pipes were daises with fancier chairs, and in the middle, an altar with kneelers around it, that had various religious books (Xtian Bible, Tanakh, Koran, etc) and the Masonic square and ruler. This ceremony featured blue and white aprons with silver fringe (and matching necklaces), while the other had featured red and white with gold and slightly different symbols; they're apparently different levels of Masons. The previous ceremony also had someone getting a large shepher's crook, and the master putting on a breastplate reminiscent of the Kohen Gadol's,, which I particularly liked. One bit that irked me, literalist that I am: the end of the room where the master sat was called the east (with the other directions taken from that), but it was actually west.
What I've liked both times: afterward, people are very werlcoming, happy to chat with whoever was there, which felt rather different than kiddush had earlier, actually.
Previously, I'd thought of the Masons as a somewhat mysterious group, more important in the past than now, who also run a museum in Lexington. Now it seems more of a fraternal organization that can help its members through the vicissitudes of life. Of course, chapters can be very different in focus from one place to anothers; this seems to be what's important to the Cambridge area. Of course, it's still a men's only club, and my vague impression of the Order of the Eastern STar is a bit more about supporting our men than actually doing things themselves. [I did ask my friend about trans people, and he had heard of one transwoman who'd been forced out after transitioning, but is not sure that transmen would be welcome, either.]
Today I have nothing on the calendar; I hope I make it out, though I've managed something over 14 miles in the last two days, putting me at 90something miles for the month already...
The best of these included the one by Dwell (on Broadway), which had a zigzag of plants in heavy felt bags, ranging from edibles to medicinals to ornamentals, plus benches, live music, and a bike stand for someone to do bike maintenance. Also one put up by the Biker's Union in Central Square, which had vertical pallets with branches stuck in them for greenery, seating, hay bales, and a pedal-blender to make smoothies. And the one outside the Door Store on Mass Ave, which had modular furniture with bookshelves holding games and lots of seating at interesting angles, but was unfortunately rather solitary.
In a lot of them, I had interesting conversations, ranging from transportation (I hadn't realized car registrations have dropped yearly since about 2007 in Cambridge) to art to city improvement (I want the curbside compostables experiment expanded to the whole city, and one of the quarterly hazardous waste drop-off days to change from Saturday to Sunday; I should also have mentioned the winter farmers market issue (Cambridge chose Saturday even though Somerville had already as well, but there aren't any on Sunday on this side of the river), to canning (one guy had had a great tomato year, hence his first canning experiments), and more. It was interesting how many of the spaces involved non-car transit in some way (Hubway, Biker's Union, EZ Ride shuttle, more).
Oh, and my favorite signage was for the parklet that billed itself as a baby rave (there were lots of moms and babies enjoying the music). (Best sign not for the event: "Drama Queen Parking Only", in someone's driveway.)
Shabbat day after davening (my first time at Harvard Hillel in a very long time), I went over to Longfellow House, which was participating in Cambridge Discovery Day. I hadn't been there before, and it was fascinating.
The house was built by one of the Vassall families, then abandoned in 1774 (as were many along was was informally called Tory Row), used by General Washington for a time while the fighting was around here (Martha and other members of his family joining him for some of that). After the war, the Craigies bought it (he was the first Apothecary General of the uS, which somehow fells very different from a Surgeon General!). After his death, she ran it as a boarding house, and Longfellow became one of her boarders when he moved from Maine to become a lecturer at Harvard. When she died, his to-be father-in-law bought the house for them (the gift had to officially have a money price attached to it, and the cost was "$1 and a father's love"). They raised their five children there, and three of the nearby houses were built by the children when they marriage (Alice stayed in her parents' house, while Charlie went traveling the world over). The house is not quite as it was built in 1754; the 6000 square feet almost doubled when the new addition was put on in 1791. Since then, the only changes have been for things like adding gas lighting, and later electricity, modern plumbing, and an elevator for Alice Longfellow in her later years, when she had mobility issues. Since its history has always been known, much has been preserved; there's original wallpaper of the Longfellows upstairs, the standing desk Longfellow preferred, and so on. I also hadn't realized just how iconic he was, not only a literary figure but essentially a pop culture one too.
Though originally it was a working farm with over 100 acres, now the grounds are much smaller, though there is a formal garden with pergola in addition to the lawns visible from the street.
As part of the day, there was also the "Dead Writers Showcase", which had costumed, in-character actors talking about and reading from their works, including Washington Irving, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Jula Ward Howe, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Richard Henry Dana Jr. I listened to some, but was more interested in the house tour, so missed many of the presentations.
I walked over the Somerville's BIG Little House Festival, and was not impressed. There were a lot of tables of art, and municipal departments with information, even one portable forge, but only one actual tiny house, and the line was enormous to be able to step inside. I didn't feel like waiting, so headed home again.
I walked up to Porter Square for a friend's investiture in a Masonic group. He'd invited me to his other investiture the week before, so I had a chance to compare the ceremonies. Common features included men in formal wear, fancy aprons (some with fringes), a sword or two, one man escorting the others around (hand on elbow) to organ music making it feel like a 50s skating rink, and the high-sounding phrases that didn't give much detail but were general sentiments most would find reasonable. The room had dark wood, red-velvet covered pews down the long sides of the room, the pipes of the organ above the middle of one long side. On either end, and below the organ pipes were daises with fancier chairs, and in the middle, an altar with kneelers around it, that had various religious books (Xtian Bible, Tanakh, Koran, etc) and the Masonic square and ruler. This ceremony featured blue and white aprons with silver fringe (and matching necklaces), while the other had featured red and white with gold and slightly different symbols; they're apparently different levels of Masons. The previous ceremony also had someone getting a large shepher's crook, and the master putting on a breastplate reminiscent of the Kohen Gadol's,, which I particularly liked. One bit that irked me, literalist that I am: the end of the room where the master sat was called the east (with the other directions taken from that), but it was actually west.
What I've liked both times: afterward, people are very werlcoming, happy to chat with whoever was there, which felt rather different than kiddush had earlier, actually.
Previously, I'd thought of the Masons as a somewhat mysterious group, more important in the past than now, who also run a museum in Lexington. Now it seems more of a fraternal organization that can help its members through the vicissitudes of life. Of course, chapters can be very different in focus from one place to anothers; this seems to be what's important to the Cambridge area. Of course, it's still a men's only club, and my vague impression of the Order of the Eastern STar is a bit more about supporting our men than actually doing things themselves. [I did ask my friend about trans people, and he had heard of one transwoman who'd been forced out after transitioning, but is not sure that transmen would be welcome, either.]
Today I have nothing on the calendar; I hope I make it out, though I've managed something over 14 miles in the last two days, putting me at 90something miles for the month already...
no subject
Date: 2014-09-23 08:35 pm (UTC)I still have no idea what they do.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-23 11:00 pm (UTC)