Graffiti stenciling workshop in Davis Square:

The immediacy and poignancy of stencil art has made it a prominent tool in DIY political, social and artistic movements. Stencils are a creative and easy way to express opinions, spread messages and expand the boundaries of your artistic language.

This workshop will teach you how to make your own stencil from a found or original image for use on clothing, in fine arts, as wall decoration, or for any purpose you choose. Among the topics covered will be altering images to translate to stencil format, single and multi-layered techniques, large scale and portable stencils, types of paint and stencil frames to use, and how best to use your stencils on different surfaces.

Sandcastlematt was at the Somerville fireworks the other night.

Maria Varmazis pays one last visit to the Good Time Emporium in Somerville before it's torn down to make way for Björkkuden and Jokkmokk:

... Towards the end of our visit, some of the guys found the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sidescroller arcade game from when we all were kids. They all pooled their coins together and four of them started button mashing through a pretty decent number of levels. ...

Ed. Extensive Research Note: As part of my extensive research, I went to Babelfish to translate "Let the Good Times Roll" (get it?) into French. Its translation was "laissez le bon pain de périodes," which even a non-French-speaker like me can recognize means something like "Allow the good periodic bread." Oh, Babelfish, you never get any better, do you?

From the T:

Route 83 is being diverted due to gas leak in Porter Square. buses will be unable to service stops at Porter Sq or Sommerville Ave & Elm Sts.

Anybody know anything more about this?

Tufts gets a $2.5-million grant to study the effects of living next to a major highway in both Chinatown and Somerville:

... As part of the study, to be known as the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH), participants will be asked to submit written surveys and blood samples to be tested for evidence of heart and lung disease. "Many people live close to I-93 and I-95, and they may well be exposed to these tiny particles, but they aren't aware of it," says Bart Laws, PhD, senior investigator at the Latin American Health Institute. "The particles are invisible and odorless.” ...

Whether it's protecting marriage equality, fighting for fair treatment for transgender people, or standing up on behalf of equality for LGBT people, State Representative Carl Sciortino has been there helping lead the charge every single time.

As one of our only four openly-gay legislators inside the State House, Carl has become the most outspoken champion of LGBT equality in the House since winning his seat in an historic upset of an anti-equality incumbent four years ago.

Steve Bagley reports a man bicycling down Park Street in Somerville was hit in the face with a paintball yesterday morning; he had to be taken to Mass. General.

Alicia notices an interesting Craigslist ad:

Become MA's Next 8th Congressional District US Representative (8th Congressional District)

Yes, we're serious.

We're looking for a candidate to run under a new political party intent on representing people directly through online polling. ...

So watch out, Mike Capuano: Some anonymous political party with no candidate (yet) is gunning for you.

Somerville's Good Time Emporium must close at the end of this month, to make way for IKEA construction.

Somerville News editor George Hassett will especially miss the many entertaining police reports that the place has generated over the years. Such as this one.

Rob Bellinger took this photo out his apartment window and reports:

Remember the city sidewalk job outside my apartment that took five months to complete last year? Last Friday at 7:30am, this guy showed up with a giant concrete saw and cut a lot of it up.