CAPTION: Folk artist and children’s author Will Moses at a book signing.

As Will Moses looks forward to his third visit to Blackstone's of Beacon Hill next month, the noted folk artist and children’s author can’t help but refelect on the small town charm of the neighborhood that is most apparent around the holidays.
“Beacon Hill harkens back to old times. It’s kind of Old World in a way, which is nice,” said Moses, who will be on hand for a Dec. 5 book signing of “Raspberries,” his latest children’s book. “I’ve also gotten to know the people who come into the store, so I look forward to seeing them.”
A lifelong resident of East Bridge, N.Y., on the Vermont border, Moses is the 56-year-old great-grandson of celebrated American folk artist “Granma Moses.” At age 4, he began painting under the guidance of his gradfather, Forrest K. Moses, who had also gained notereity as a folk artist. Moses continued to hone his own meticuloisly detailed style of Americana as a self-taught artist while drawing on his great-grandmother’s work for inspiration.
“Granma developed a very unique way unique way of expressing herself, and I’ve carried on in that vein,” Moses said. “I didn’t know any better until was too late.”
Moses married his wife, Sharon, in 1979 and was splitting his time between creating new art, taking classes and working on the family farm. In 1982, he and Sharon began publishing his artwork and, soon afterwards, converted an old barn on their property into the Mt. Nebo Gallery, which continues to offer a wide selection of Moses’ original paintings, serigraphs, prints, etchings and posters.
Over the years, Moses’ work has graced exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Japan, where he has found a devoted following. His paintings can now be found in many distinguished collections, including those of the White House, The Smithsonian Institution and the New York State Museum, among others.
In 1997, Moses wrote and illustrated his first children’s book, “Silent Night,” which was based on the lyrics to the beloved Christmas carol. Since then, he has published eight more books – “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow,” “Rip Van Winkle,” “Johnny Appleseed,” “Mother Goose,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Night Before Christmas,” “Raining Cats and Dogs: A Collection of Irresistible Idioms and Illustrations to Tickle the Funny Bones of Young People” and “Raspberries.”
Since he didn’t write the story as he usually does, “Rasberries” is a bit of a departure for Moses. Instead, he created illustrations to accompany a work by Brookline native Jay O’Callahan at the publisher’s request. The story centers around Simon, a baker who overcomes misfortune, thanks to magic rasberries he receives from a young girl as a token of gratitude for once helping her family.
As for the future, Moses plans to continue creating new art and writing and illustrating future children’s books from the studio in his family’s 200-year-old farmhouse.
“I don’t have any ‘holy cow’ plans that make everyone stand up and take notice,” he said. “This is what I do, and it’s kind of like waiting for concrete to harden.”
Will Moses will make an in-store appearance at Blackstone's of Beacon Hill, 46 Charles St., on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 6 p.m. For more information, call 617-227-4646 or visit www.blackstonesbeaconhill.com.

CAPTION: Sandy Righter, Beacon Hill Village Program Committee co-chair, receives a $2,500 donation to benefit the “Conversations with…” series from Donna Petro, vice president and branch manager of Cambridge Trust Co.

When Beacon Hill Village (BHV) launched its “Conversations with…” series, the idea was to offer something akin to a dinner party, bringing a noteworthy person in the community together with a dozen or so residents for a roundtable discussion.
“[The program] was not supposed to be a lecture or a presentation, but instead it afforded the opportunity for some of our neighbors who have some prominence to tell us whet they’re doing and allowed us to literally have a conversation with them,” said Frank Mead, a founding director of BHV, a membership organization established in 2001 to make city living more fulfilling and comfortable for Boston residents, ages 50 and above.
Early “Conversations with…” speakers were BHV members or professionals from the neighborhood, but the program was soon expanded to include guests from the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Today, the series regularly features experts in the fields of health, science, medicine, literature and the arts, as well as incoming leaders of local non-profits, such as the Boston Foundation, the French Library Alliance Française of Boston and the New England Conservatory.
Other noteworthy guests have included: Paul Tucker, a University of Massachusetts professor and renowned Impressionist and Monet scholar who spoke earlier this month on the artist’s later work; John Spooner, a fiction writer and financial guru who discussed the current state of the stock market; and late Beacon Hill resident Joan Goody, a noted architect who led a talk on the controversy surrounding City Hall and its proposed relocation to the South Boston waterfront.
While no new installments of “Conversations with…” are scheduled for the remainder of 2009, TV arts-and-entertainment anchor and three-time cancer survivor Joyce Kulhawik will be on hand when the series resumes at 64 Beacon St. on the evening of Monday, Jan. 11, 2010.
Sandy Righter, who co-chairs the BHV Programming Committee with Judy Bracken, said high-profile speakers sometimes attract upwards of 30 attendees, but regardless of the crowd’s size, the events still maintain the feel of an intimate dinner party. To enhance the festive atmosphere, wine and cheese are usually served before and after the main program, thanks in part to a recent $2,500 grant from the Cambridge Trust Company.
Righter added that she hopes the series will serve to introduce newcomers to other BHV programming, including its Health and Wellness Series, daytrips to museums and additional cultural and social offerings.
Meanwhile, “Conversations with…” has successfully opened up a friendly dialogue between neighbors who otherwise might never have met.
“The mission is to get people out of their homes, to have a little fun and to learn something in the process,” Mead said.
“Conversations with…” is free for BHV members, and the public is also welcome to attend for a nominal fee of $20 per person. For information or to suggest a future guest for the series, call Linda McLaughlin, program coordinator, at 617-723-9713.

The Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) board of directors voted unanimously to oppose a proposal to modify the Charles Street building that is home to DeLuca’s Market last week, following an earlier recommendation against the project from its Architectural Zoning and Licensing Committee.
Virgil Aiello, proprietor of DeLuca’s and the building owner, planned to add a one-story addition to the structure’s ell at the rear of Charles Street Cleaners, which abuts Branch Street, to accommodate a single studio apartment. He also intended to expand the first floor of DeLuca’s into the adjacent space.
Aiello's proposal requires zoning relief from the city because the market would be expanded into space now zoned as residential and the addition of the studio apartment would increase the floor-area ratio of the ell, among other variances.
On Nov. 4, the BHCA Architectural Zoning and Licensing Committee voted to recommend that the board of directors oppose the project after more than 40 nearby residents objected to Aiello’s proposal. No one publicly spoke in favor of the project at that time, according to BHCA Executive Director Suzanne Besser.
Despite the objections to the project, Aiello told the Times that he plans to present his proposal to the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 24 after he meets with DeLuca’s neighbors and abutters to address their concerns.
“I, as always, will make every effort to resolve any issues with the operation of the store,” Aiello said. “My main purpose in day-to-day operations is to serve the neighborhood by having the nicest store possible. Even though we might disagree on particular aspects of the business and its architecture and zoning, I am open to any constructive criticism on how to make the store better.”
In the spring, Architectural Consulting LLC, the construction firm for the project at the time, began work on what its Web site described as a “1,350 square-foot underpinning project, including new mechanical and electrical services.” The job also entailed razing two studio apartments that previously occupied the ell.
During construction, Aiello was issued a stop-work order from the city’s Inspectional Service for working without permits, as well as citations from the Boston Transportation Department for failure to secure proper street-occupancy permits and the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission for altering the building’s façade without approval.

On Nov. 6, bestselling children's book author Carol McCloud encouraged positive behavior at the Kingsley Montessori School's community assembly. Students enjoyed learning about the concept of "bucket filling," a metaphor used for understanding the rewards of expressing daily kindness, appreciation, and love, based on the author's book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today." For more information, visit www.kingsley.org.

Bunker Hill Day is sacred,
but Beacon Hill politicians don’t care

The Battle of Bunker Hill represented then, and represents today, a moment in the formation of the American nation when heroism against tremendous – impossible odds – and sacrifice, announced to the world that a new nation was being born.
At Bunker Hill, where so many brave men died – most of them buried where they fell – the shackles put upon the people of North America by the British were broken, and so too was the myth that the British could not be defeated in battle.
The British won the Battle of Bunker Hill but they ultimately lost the war and North America.
And so, this was a battle of exceptional note. The sacrifice made here was enormous. The bloodshed was the worst ever experienced in North America up to that moment and it signaled what lay ahead. The British lost 226 dead and 800 wounded. There were 450 American dead and wounded.
The nation rising out of the bloodshed and the ashes of a burned Charlestown signaled mightily that American patriotism and the desire to be a free people meant more to the heroes at Bunker Hill than their lives.
Now comes the Massachusetts state government led by Governor Deval Patrick and the Legislature attempting and promising to do away with Bunker Hill Day and describing it as a holiday whose time has come.
We will grant the mayor that it is a bit of an oddity, that is, celebrating a great American victory as a Suffolk County holiday.
However, Bunker Hill Day is a day of remembrance and of honor whose time should be immemorial.
Until and unless this nation ceases to exist, the Bunker Hill Monument and battle site and the annual remembrance of this day each year on June 17, should stand as a hallowed place and moment recalling the making of this nation.
It was an extraordinary day in 1775 when men sacrificed their homes, their families, their fortunes and their lives to let the British know that Americans were done being slaves and that Americans wanted to be free men.
It is amazing what men will do to be free of oppression.
It is depressing and disheartening that those who know very little about sacrifice are willing to eliminate Bunker Hill Day as a Suffolk County holiday saying its time has come.
When, in the annals of our national history, have so many died to be free only to have the effort mocked and attempts made to eliminate the memory of the sacrifice made that day and year?
Governor Patrick and the Legislature should be ashamed of themselves.