23.09.23

Hello Dear Readers,

The Autumnal Equinox occurred at 2:50 am Eastern Time in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is likely that many of you were sleeping.  I was.  So that point of balance passed without much notice, a moment in the cycle.

Irving House has been busy, as it should be.  Visitors arrive new to the city to begin the next phase of their lives, or return to enjoy their familiar haunts, to see friends and family.  The thickening density and complexity of greater Boston is felt everywhere during a few weeks’ time.  This is familiar, very reassuring, and always inspires nostalgia.

It was in September 49 years ago that I first came to live in this area.  As the media is now fully reminding us, that fall was when Boston began bussing its students around: from white to black and black to white neighborhood schools.  It was by court order: a lame, costly, dangerous, cynical, desperate attempt to de-segregate the Boston schools. This was my first impression of my adopted home.  It was not pretty; it impressed me then, and continues to do so.

I am pleased to see that there is some new fuller telling of this ugly history.  We need to remember, to keep it in mind. And know that even as de-segregation has been a painful, stupid haltingly slow plod, our true goal should be integration.  Then we could just savor and celebrate the delights of our diverse humanity.

In the garden, late summer blooms still offer their bright beauty, still lure the pollinators.  Their earlier blooming neighbors, now gone to seed stand dry and brown on stiff dead stalks.  This is the garden’s balance.  I have not clipped the dead stalks.  They have their beauty too…
~Rachael

Irving House front desk is just his day-job…Bill Kelle is a book lover too!

Bill has worked at Irving House for . . . a long while. Most of this time, he has also worked with Červená Barva Press where he has designed many covers for its books of poetry.

          

This year Červená Barva Press celebrates 18 years of publishing. Founded in 2005 by Gloria Mindock, editor and publisher.  Červená Barva Press has published over 245 books of poetry, fiction, and translations.  All cover designs are by William J. Kelle, who works at Irving House behind the desk. He is also the webmaster of the press. Červená Barva Press has twelve writers on staff and offers numerous events every year such as:  poetry and fiction readings, book launches, poetry roundtables, translation roundtables, Pastry with Poets, Portrait of an Artist and Poet, Červená Barva Press Reads Around the World (a reading series with readers from different countries throughout the world), collaborations with the Interpoezia reading series in NYC and a monthly newsletter. The press is offering a poetry and fiction summit for the first time this year. Visit their website at: www.cervenabarvapress.com

Sweeney Todd is coming to Harvard Square!We have for some time been awaiting the reopening of the lovely small theater at 2 Arrow Street.  Now, with a production headed to a bigger stage, you can enjoy some of what makes
Our Fair City so much fun!

The history of innovation in Cambridge is celebrated with a guided tour:
Put on your walking shoes, grab a curious friend!
Recently named the Best Walking Tour on Boston Magazine’s esteemed Best of Boston list, Innovation Trail is the way to see the sites.
Cambridge Innovation Tours

Little Amal visits Harvard Yard:

As we look to our quieter months,
we savor our two favorite specials for the month of November: 

November 2022

“The miracle is this:
the more you give, the more you have.”

– Leonard Nimoy

Hello Dear Readers,
   I hope this missive finds you well.  I had not planned to send another issue, as you are, we hope, spending time counting and sharing your blessings with loved ones and your community.
      But Zoia has been busy taking pictures that seemed worthy of sharing. We enjoyed a full house for the Harvard-Yale football game, and are looking forward to the arrivals of our Thanksgiving guests and Community Servings’ pies!
We wish for you all good health and lovely holidays in your circle of loved ones.

~Rachael

The city of Cambridge planted a new tree in front of our house!

Yale beat Harvard and took the Ivy League Crown at the celebrated match last weekend.
Here are some Bulldog fans who stayed with us for the fun.

Winter Deal!
All winter long, for YOU subscribers:
20% off for your stays
December 2022 ~ March 2023
Request by email or phone.
CODE: BRRR

Our mailing address is:
24 Irving Street
Cambridge,  MA 02138

22.09.22

Hello Dear Readers,

These autumn days are just splendid.  This is the time of year I first arrived in Boston forty-eight years ago.  At that time I had no idea I would stay.

But as guests stop by the office after breakfast (three this morning already!) conveying to me their happiness with their stay here, I think I found the right place to make my life and work.

And now as I am settling in to retirement ~ only here one day a week ~ this newsletter is more and more prepared by the managers.

Zoia Krastanova knows all the doings of the house, and her photographs capture the little happenings that keep us all cheerful so that we Wish You Were Here.  Briana Pearson keeps tabs on the community and so finds what is happening in Our Fair City.

~Rachael

a full day beckons
as long as the sun is bright
lightness holds the dark

22.06.22

Dear Reader,

Good morning on this longest day of the year~!

Yes, summer days are here, inviting, encouraging, full of growth and, I hope, some lazy hours, some good company, some fine adventures for you, for all of us.

While much has been made of Juneteenth, presenting it as a celebration of emancipation, I think of it more as a moment to reflect on why this date, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation is so important:  Because it took US troops arriving in Galveston, Texas to deliver the word that had been the law of the land for two years. And the proclamation hardly provided any pathway to any kind of equality for the newly unenslaved people then, and has not still.  I am reminded, we should ALL be reminded, that the ugliness of white supremacy persists.  There is still so much work to be done to make the USofA a more perfect union….

This year, Harvard & MIT combined three years of commencement ceremonies and reunions into one four day stretch.  Our Fair City was fairly bursting at the seams.  Irving House was as full as it could possibly be.  All hands on deck!  And even now, in the relative quiet, with moving vans emptying graduate student housing, travelers are still arriving for all sorts of reasons, with all kinds of plans.   So, while we are not officially out of the pandemic, maybe we are getting back to some new kind of normal.

It is gratifying to see that a steady stream of subscribers are signing up through our web site. Welcome new readers, wherever you are!  We are happy to receive your questions and suggestions…

We still wear masks in common areas and keep a respectful distance from those not in our family circle.  We still encourage vaccinations and booster shots of same to keep up with the variations that will now always be circulating widely.  This is our new normal.  And we count ourselves fortunate to have all the medical knowledge and services to get us through this.  We hope the same is true for you all.

And we hope to see you around Irving House some time!

Yours sincerely,

Rachael