{"id":6953,"date":"2018-04-21T13:35:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T17:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=6953"},"modified":"2018-04-21T13:35:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T17:35:01","slug":"starting-over-festival-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/04\/21\/starting-over-festival-2\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Starting Over Festival’ Celebrates Turning Over A New Leaf In Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somerville’s tiniest urban wild will be home to the “Starting Over Festival,” a free Arbor Day and Earth Day festival organized by the Somerville Arts Council and Wonderland editor Greg Cook at the Quincy Street Open Space, 16 Quincy St., from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22, 2018. (Rain date: April 29.)\u00a0The festival\u2019s title is meant to evoke the new beginnings of spring as well as turning over a new leaf socially and politically.<\/p>\n

\"Jef<\/a>
Jef Taylor, of Boston\u2019s Urban Nature Walks group, leads a tour during the 2017 “Tiny Great Outdoors Festival.” (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Join a scientist on a tiny hike in the park exploring wildlife here in Somerville. Help plant a tree and take home a free seedling. Hear poetry. Participate in activities, games and art. Bring clean, unwanted clothing for a free clothing swap \u2013 or donate your clothes to be recycled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During the festival, you can explore the park on your own using a subway-style map designed by Rajiv Raman. Tour the park with Jef C. Taylor of Boston\u2019s Urban Nature Walks group. He’s a naturalist specializing in urban wildlife, bugs, mushrooms, creepy crawlies and weird stuff. Hear spoken-word poetry by Eddy Toussaint Tontongi, a Haitian immigrant who plans to read his poem responding to Donald Trump\u2019s insults of his homeland, and by Marshall Gillson, who was a National Poetry Slam finalist as a member of the 2016 House Slam team from Boston\u2019s Haley House.<\/p>\n

Paint mosaic-style animals with muralist Liz LaManche. Make animal masks to take home with Kari Percival (who made the event poster). See Andy Pepper\u2019s sculpture of a fallen tree truck made from recycled plastic wrap and cartoonist Ansis Purins’s banner-murals. Try out worm-bin composting with Groundwork Somerville. Learn about how we can reduce our carbon output and live more sustainably by playing educational games presented by the city\u2019s SustainaVille program.<\/p>\n