Wellesley Cultural Council seeks grant applications

August 22, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Cultural Council will be accepting applications beginning Sept. from artists, educators, performers and organizations for community-oriented programs that will enrich the cultural life of the residents of Wellesley. Applicants may request funding for programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences, including (but not limited to) performances, lectures, workshops, exhibits, and festivals to be presented in 2020,. All applicants must have a confirmed venue for their project for their application to be considered. Applications must be completed online and must be submitted by October 15, 2019.

To apply for a grant, applicants should go to www.mass-culture.org, click on “Applicants,” and type “Wellesley” into the left side bar. All the information and online forms required can be found there. Before filling out the application, applicants are strongly urged to read what is written under the “Council Priorities” tab in order to ensure that your application will comply with the Wellesley Cultural Council programs guidelines.

The Wellesley Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 local cultural councils which provide cultural programming to all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Funding for these local cultural councils comes from an annual appropriation from the state legislature to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which then distributes those funds to its local cultural councils.

Wellesley on lookout for non-verbal 3-year-old boy’s crucial iPad

August 16, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

iPad (Update: WPD reports that “although we have not located Preston’s iPad, we have learned that Preston has a replacement iPad and is doing very well.”)

The Wellesley Police Department is asking for the public’s help to locate a lost iPad that a 3-year-old boy with autism uses to communicate. The device has been shut off, so the find-my-device app isn’t a solution.

The boy and his mother left the iPad behind on Thursday, Aug. 5 shortly before 5pm in the rear of the parking lot of 42 Washington St., across from Glen Road in Lower Falls.

Young Preston uses the iPad and an app called GoTalk to communicate with his parents and the world, as he cannot do so verbally. The 6th generation iPad is black with a blue case and has “Preston” written on it.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Travis Dixon [email protected]or Officer Mike Pino [email protected] . You can also call the station at 781-235-1212. The goal here is get the iPad back to Preston, no questions asked…

Babson hosting interactive program to help you ID cultural blind spots

August 13, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

To help students and local residents explore their unconscious biases, Babson College is hosting the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion’s Check Your Blind Spots tour on Sept. 10 from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.

The program uses virtual reality, gaming technology and additional interactive formats to give participants better perspective on cultural biases that others face.

The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, which promotes workplace fairness, is backed by hundreds of executives.

Wellesley’s Boss Lady is not amused

June 17, 2019 by bbrown 3 Comments

Imagine this scenario: You’ve schlepped back to Wellesley from a long day at work, probably suffered a commuter rail delay, and get back to your car nearby the Wellesley Farms train station. You then notice the following nastygram placed under your windshield wipers by a poetic anti-hero who goes by the name Boss Lady and apparently has a trusty dog for a sidekick.

Wellesley boss lady — Redacted slightly: Hey, this is a family website

Now we can only speculate about the details of this situation, which we hope will not escalate to Wellesley Police log level.

Apparently some commuter, looking to save a few bucks, has been parking on a nearby road (parking is $6 a day at the Farms lot and the beleaguered MBTA is about to jack up commuter rail fares by about 7%). As far as we could see, there were no “No Parking” signs along this road, though am unclear whether there might be any town rules prohibiting such parking.

Maybe the car operator has been biding time awaiting services of an outfit such as Boxcar, which has begun addressing the Wellesley Hills commuter rail station parking crunch by renting out nearby spaces from a church for commuters to use.

Either way, Boss Lady isn’t amused. Her poetic note begins with salty language and ends with a heart emoji, so this could go in either direction.

I’m reminded of a time that I parked before a Red Sox game, legally, on a street nearby the Eliot green line station in Newton. Upon my return I found one of the windshields bashed in on my stylin’ Dodge Colt — a “crumy hatchback” [sic] to use Boss Lady’s terminology. I do recall getting the hairy eyeball from some porch-dwelling neighbors on my walk to the station, while I smugly thought of how I might use my $5 or $6 in parking savings on a third of a Fenway beer. Anyway, I flagged down a police officer and showed him my car. I vaguely recall filing a report that he said wouldn’t amount to anything, but I vividly remember the cop telling me that I should just park in the lot next time.

We’re not suggesting the Wellesley situation is going to head down that road. But we’ll be interested to see just how powerful Boss Lady turns out to be.

YOU’RE THE BOSS: Here’s how to Advertise and/or Donate to support our independent journalism venture.

Beyond Swellesley: Boston Pride Parade

June 9, 2019 by bbrown Leave a Comment

The Boston Pride Parade, which attracted thousands of marchers from a slew of educational, arts and political organizations and thousands more lining the streets, lived up to its colorful reputation on Saturday. Lots of sparkles, rainbows and unicorns, some poignant signs recalling those lost to hate incidents, and drag queens galore. It was way longer and elaborate than it used to be when it cruised down Charles Street past my post-college apartment back in the day.

The MBTA predictably botched its logistics, resulting in uncomfortably crammed standing room only on its commuter rail trains that stopped in Wellesley to pick up parade watchers and Red Sox fans. But we eventually got in, and I found a good spot to watch the parade near Carrie Nation, the place where my office usually goes to bid farewell to colleagues. The pub was having its usual Drag Me to Brunch event and pumped out what seemed like endless Lady Gaga tunes through its open windows.

I recognized a few Wellesley faces in the crowd, and then there was Dana Hall School, which had a bunch of marchers who hustled along behind me to catch the train back to Wellesley when the parade was nearly finished.