MAXFIELD & COMPANY (617) 293-8003 REAL ESTATE MILDRED HAILEY UNITY DAY, PAGES 6 + 7 Vol. 28 No. 11 24 Pages • Free Delivery BOOK YOUR 25 Cents at Stores Jamaica Plain POST IT Call Your Advertising Rep Printed on (617)524-7662 Recycled Paper AZETTE 617-524-2626 • WWWG.JAMAICAPLAINGAZETTE.COM JULY 12, 2019 CIRCULATION 16,000 CATCH AND RELEASE WITH THE BOSTON POLICE BHA Admin. McGonagle to retire this month Confident that Mildred Hailey redevelopment will happen without him BY SETH DANIEL Boston public housing develop- ments and shared a unique bond Boston Housing Authority – rather than the animosity some (BHA) Administrator Bill Mc- directors have - with residents Gonagle announced this week in Jamaica Plain and all over he will retire – or in his terms, Boston. ‘transition’ – from his long-time “That’s one thing I am partic- post at the BHA, and he will ularly proud of in my career,” he do so with absolute confidence said. “Having grown up in public that the redevelopment efforts of housing, I think that has giv- properties like the Mildred Hai- en me a unique perspective and ley Apartments in JP will move allowed me to develop personal forward without him at the helm. relationships with our residents. Superintendent Nora Baston, Bass Pro Rep., Commissioner William Gross, Bass Pro rep., “I’m not using the word re- I have the capacity to empathize, Deputy Superintendent James Chin, Sgt. Mike Aziz, Sgt. John Dougherty during the annual tirement,” he joked on Tuesday, not sympathize, with the…chal- Boston Police Department Kids’ Fishing Derby on June 22 at Jamaica Pond. See more photos after announcing on Monday his lenges they’re going through… on pages 12 and 13. departure from the agency after I’m on a first-name basis with our 40 years. resident leadership and residents He noted he still has a ceramic all over the city.” JP storyteller helps people reconnect with nature lamp in his living room given McGonagle will retire on July to him years ago by the Senior 26, but it won’t be an end to his BY LAUREN BENNETT from a large variety of sources- the original integrity of the sto- Citizens ceramics class from one career. odd collections like “Forgotten ries, while still making them “live of the elderly developments in After having worked a time as Folktales of the English Coun- and breathe” for a more contem- Storyteller Diane Edgecomb the city. That lamp was some- a janitor/groundskeeper at the ties” and “Old Tales for a New porary audience. thinks a lot about trees. At her thing that symbolized his time Day” to stories that had multiple She said she’s not a fan of annual Summer Solstice story- at the BHA more than anything, sources from which I could craft picking up stories from the inter- telling event at the Arnold Ar- as a man who grew up in South Continued on page 3 boretum—the 18th one— last my own version of the story.” Edgecomb is careful to preserve weekend, Edgecomb and harper Continued on page 2 Margot Chamberlain took lis- UNITY DAY teners on a journey through the groves of the arboretum, telling Narradora de JP ayuda a las personas myths, legends, and fairytales that inspire connection to trees. a reconectarse con la naturaleza But where do these stories come BY LAUREN BENNETT ecciones extrañas como ‘Cuentos from? populares olvidados de los conda- “The stories and legends them- La narradora Diane Edgecomb dos ingleses’”. selves I found in various books piensa mucho en los árboles. En Aunque Edgecomb cuenta in my copious library of nature su evento anual de cuentacuentos sus cuentos en otros lugares con myths and stories collected over en el Arnold Arboretum el fin de audiencias mucho más grandes, twenty years,” Edgecomb said. “I semana pasado, Edgecomb llevó algunos de sus eventos más popu- have also collected stories from a sus oyentes en un viaje a través lares son los eventos del solsticio collections in various libraries de los bosques del arboreto, con- de verano e invierno, que están over the years and every time I tando historias que inspiran una limitados a 30 personas. Sin em- PHOTO BY MIKE MEJIA found a nature myth or legend conexión con la naturaleza. bargo, en el evento del pasado fin Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz paints Bella Canan’s face during that spoke to me -I notated the "Son mitos y leyendas que en- Unity Day at the Mildred C. Hailey apartments on Saturday, source, Xeroxed and added it to contré en varios libros a lo largo June 29. The annual event brought out several families on a my collection. So the stories come de los años", dijo Edgecomb. “Col- Continued on page 2 warm, summer afternoon. 2 • Jamaica Plain Gazette • JULY 12, 2019 with nature,” she said. Storyteller That notion is another huge theme with the Arboretum event— Continued from page 1 Edgecomb said she feels that the modern, busy world we live in net, as she said she can never be makes us feel disconnected from sure of the source as most are not nature, and in telling these stories, usually credited. “Sometimes the stories are changed badly, and the she helps her listeners focus on integrity of the story is gone,” she the meaning that can be found in said. Instead, she prefers more nature and help them reconnect. folkloric sources that feature a The group is taken out at twi- collection of stories with informa- light for this storytelling experi- tion about where the story came ence, as “dawn and twilight are from. “I definitely bring my sen- the transition times within the sibility to it, but trying to work transition time of the solstice,” more like a sculptor, uncovering Edgecomb said. “Personally I am the basic form as opposed to tak- moved by this time of year in gen- ing it so far,” she said. “I always eral. It is so deeply beautiful. You want to make sure that the con- can feel it in the air, it’s magical tent that this they was designed this whole time of year and this Storyteller Diane Edgecomb and harper Margot Chamberlain perform the Kansakura (Sacred to delivered is delivered.” performance is our way of bring- Cherry Tree) story as part of the Summer Solstice event at the Arnold Arboretum. Though Edgecomb tells stories ing our audience to treasured moved around within the arbo- at other venues to much larg- places to reflect on the meaning retum due to the new no-mowing sobre la importancia que la na- er audiences, some of her most nature and trees have had to turaleza ha tenido para varias policy in some areas. Narradora popular events are the Summer various cultures.” culturas”. Edgecomb has been chosen for and Winter solstice events, which Edgecomb said she really en- Continued from page 1 Edgecomb dijo que realmente are limited to around 30 people joys watching people’s moods the National Storytelling Net- disfruta ver cómo se transfor- maximum, she said. However, at de semana, permitieron que más and attention spans transform work’s Circle of Excellence Ora- man los estados de ánimo y la this past weekend’s event, she que 40 personas vinieran. over the course of the evening. cle award, which is presented to capacidad de atención de las per- said they were sold out “well in Edgecomb dijo que una de “At the beginning of the evening, artists who are nationally recog- sonas a lo largo del evento. "Al advance,” so they allowed be- people are transitioning, coming las cosas más raros sobre estos tween 42 and 44 people to come nized storytellers. She will trav- eventos es que se trata de las final, nadie quiere irse", dijo. from workday or life and they’re el to Fremont, California next Edgecomb ha estudiado re- along for the journey. Her events still occasionally looking at their narraciones tradicionales. "Una month to accept the award and ligión y mitólogos "para ver are highly praised and often sold watch,” she said. But then “they historia es un mensajero para out ahead of time. to give a workshop about how to nosotros que nos sentimos de- cómo funcionan las historias”. begin to quiet, and by the end, Ella cree que cada historia es Edgecomb said that one of the craft an eco-narrative. “It will be sconectados de la naturaleza", nobody wants to leave.” un viaje, y aunque el programa most unusual things about these Over the years, Edgecomb has a wonderful gathering of the tribe dijo. events is that they are about tra- Esta idea es otro tema im- sigue siendo el mismo, lo modi- studied religion and mythologists [of storytellers],” she said. fica cada año para que sea una ditional storytelling. She tries to “to see how stories functioned,” portante en el event. Edgecomb Edgecomb said the stories she mejor experiencia. approach stories as if they are a she said. She believes that every dijo que el mundo moderno y tells come from such a different Edgecomb ha sido elegida person. She is encountering. “A story is a journey, and though ocupado en el que vivimos nos period of time, but she still wants para un premio de la Red de story is a messenger, it’s a trav- the program remains the same hace sentirnos desconectados de people to “believe in possibility.” Cuentacuentos Nacional, que se eler, and I want it to arrive with each year, she tweaks it a little to la naturaleza. otorga a narradores reconocidos integrity to be able to touch so make it a better experience.