麻州橘線地鐵8月19日起全線停駛一個月 地鐵當局將提供免費接駁巴士

麻州州長查理貝克 (Charlie Baker)和交通廳廳長 Jamey Tesler交換意見。 (周菊子攝)

           (Boston Orange 編譯) 麻州地鐵 (MBTA)橘線將在8月19日至9月18日間，全線停駛一個月。麻州地鐵將在這期間出動約200輛巴士接載乘客。

            麻州州長查理貝克 (Charlie Baker)和麻州交通廳廳長 James Tesler，以及麻州地鐵總經理Steve Poftak 於8月3日在橘線地鐵的威靈頓 (Wellington)車站作了以上宣佈。 他們表示這前所未有的做法是為加速完成麻州地鐵原本預定5年完成的維修軌道，更新號誌。

麻州地鐵總經理 Steve Poftak 說明地鐵的相關細節。 (周菊子攝)

            Steve Poftak表示，麻州地鐵從未試過停駛整條地鐵線，但這是照顧乘客利益的最快，最有效方式。

            橘線地鐵的全線停駛，將從8月19日的晚上9點開始，一直到9月19日的早上5點為止。

            麻州州長查理貝克估計，屆時橘線地鐵將會全面使用新車廂。這行動也可預防將來出現為了更新軌道而出現的地鐵服務臨時中斷。

麻州政府和中車公司 (CRRC)簽有組裝新車廂的10億元合約。

停在威靈頓車站的橘線地鐵車廂，有新有舊。 (周菊子攝)

            整條橘線共有20個車站，約12萬1000英尺的軌道，一旦全線停駛，麻州地鐵將可一天24小的進行更換車軌，更新號誌，改善車站等各項工作。

            麻州地鐵總經理Steve Poftak表示，在聯邦交通管理局 (FTA) 的要求下，地鐵現有速度限制和慢速區，地鐵將更換這些區段的車軌，包括傑克森廣場 (Jackson Square)，後灣 (Back Bay)，塔芙茨 (Tufts)，以及乾草市場 (Haymarket)等。地鐵當局也會更換其他幾個地區的車軌。

                      在橘線停駛的這30天之中，地鐵當局將更新綠線地鐵的D線和E線的車軌，更換紅線地鐵的多徹斯特大道橋樑。

                麻州交通廳 (MassDOT)廳長  Jamey Tesler表示，麻州地鐵在這段期間可以和私人巴士公司簽約，為乘客提供可免費搭乘的接駁巴士，全因麻州政府在新年度預算中增撥了2億6600萬元。

政府中心到聯合廣場綠線地鐵8月22日起停駛4週 乘客將可免費搭巴士

          (Boston Orange 綜合編譯) 麻州地鐵宣佈，從8月19日至9月19日橘線地鐵全線停駛1個月後，8月5日再宣佈，包括新開通，展延到聯合廣場 (Union Square) 的部分綠線地鐵停駛4週。展延到麥德福 (Medford) 的綠線開通日期也延到11月底。

麻州地鐵人員表示，從8月22日至9月18日，從政府中心站到聯合廣場站的綠線地鐵必須停駛，以完成麥德福 (Medford)站的工程，以及發展商斥資13億元，拆除政府中心停車場，蓋國會辦公室大樓一號的持續工作。

這段展延進尚莫維爾市 (Somerville) 到聯合廣場站的地鐵路線，歷經32年，也不過是今年3月23日才開通。

麻州地鐵總經理Steve Poftak表示，他了解乘客感到挫折，但這是必須做的工作，請大家給點耐心。他們也想要重新開始服務。

有乘客對麻州地鐵完全沒信心，稱從沒看過地鐵準時完成任何工程，這次的綠線停駛，恐怕一停就會停幾個月。

Steve Poftak表示，在橘線停駛之際，決定停駛部分綠線，原因有好幾個，包括麻州地鐵早就計畫要在某個時候關閉部分綠線，以加速開通麥德福線的工程，此外在政府中心停車場預定地拆除工程期間，麻州地鐵也面對著轉移乾草市場 (Haymarke)t站服務的需要。

3月時，政府中心車站坍塌，大約110噸的水泥碎塊墜落至橘線及綠線隧道頂端的地面，導致有人意外死亡，地鐵服務也受影響，一部分的橘線地鐵停駛了3天，一部分的綠線關閉了2個多星期。

在發展商發現支撐停車場的水泥柱持續遭受水害，必須立即修理後，這些停駛、關閉，6月時又來了一次。

Steve Poftak說，麻州地鐵認為與其安排許多次的轉移服務或停駛，為這段綠線地鐵安排許多種不同的服務模式，還不如持續不受阻礙的進入整個地段來工作。

在Haymarket和北端 (North End) 站之間的綠線及橘線軌道市平行的。麻州地鐵表示，星期三這天，大約有2500人在聯合廣場和Lechmere登上電纜車 (trolley)。橘線地鐵截至10月的平日乘客平均數為10萬4000人。

          在停駛期間，乘客可搭免費巴士。這些巴士會在Lechmere車站，以及Lechmere的巴士接駁站停靠，讓乘客上下車，但不會在科學園車站停靠。

          麻州地鐵表示，正常營運估計會在9月19日恢復。

          麻州地鐵計畫為橘線的停駛動用至少160輛巴士，為綠線的部分停駛，動用22輛巴士。

波士頓市府廣場今年10月能否飄國旗? 兩岸人民都在等

2012年，波士頓僑胞在波士頓市府廣場升旗。時任波士頓經文處處長的洪慧珠(前右)與
副處長(前左)陳銘俊和僑教中心主任黃正杰，馬滌凡，楊克敬，梅錫銳、陳毓璇，余麗媖
等人一起行注目禮。站在它們身後的還有時任麻州眾議員的麥家威 (Aaron Michlewitz)，
時任波士頓市議員的Felix Arroyo。 (檔案照片，周菊子攝)

                  (Boston Orange 周菊子波士頓綜合報導) 「升旗」、「不升旗」，這是波士頓華人社區每到將近10月時都關心的話題。今年遇上「憲法營」打贏官司，一度出現市府不再升任何旗幟的決定。8月2日，波士頓市議員遞出更新升旗條例議案，這事又有了變數。

              10月1日是中華人民共和國國慶，10月10日是中華民國國慶。隔著台灣海峽兩岸的這” 兩個國家” ，過去15年以來，每年都在波士頓市府廣場升旗，通常9月底先升起五星旗，接著10月初升起青天白日滿地紅旗。

              在講究自由民主的美國，每個人都有自由表達的權力，這似乎很正常。

2008年喬萬鈞指揮合唱團在中華人民共和國國慶升旗典禮中演唱。 (檔案照片，周菊子攝)

            不過這”升旗自由”，卻因為一宗訟案，出現了變化。

             2017年，保守的基督教派組織憲法營 (Camp Constitution) 申請升旗，想在市府廣場升旗台，升起該組織的白底右上角有十字架旗幟，竟被時任市長的馬丁華殊 (Martin Walsh)拒絕了。

             憲法營認為在市府廣場升旗是憲法賦予他們的權力，一怒之下，告上法庭，還一路敗訴，一路上訴，把這訟案從地方法院一直打到了最高法院。

             5月份時，最高法院判他們贏了，法官Stephen Breyer代表大多數法官撰寫的意見聲明稱，依照波士頓市府的許可流程，升旗也是受保護的個人表達自由。

                  於是憲法營支持者歡歡喜喜的，8月3日在波士頓市政府廣場升旗台。冉冉升起這十字架旗幟。

                     已經改朝換代，由吳弭 (Michelle Wu)當市長的波士頓市鑑於升旗有爭議，在5月份獲悉最高法院的裁決後，索性暫時中止了所有的升旗申請。這下子沒人，沒組織可以在市政府廣場升旗了。

                  到8月2日時，波士頓市長辦公室突然發出新聞稿，表示在市議員Kenzie Bok提案，波士頓市長吳弭和市議會議長Ed Flynn，市議員Ruthzee Louijeune 聯名支持下，他們遞出了「更新在市政府廣場升旗的市府政策條例」議案，要規定今後凡有人想要在市政府廣場升旗，必須先徵得任何一名市議員，或者市長的支持，才能辦理申請手續。

               波士頓市長辦公室在新聞稿中說明，此舉是因應美國最高法院對波士頓市政府以往流程所做裁決，澄清了市政府要維持旗桿作為表達市府價值觀和理想的場所，必須更積極的採取行動。

             該議案遞交進市議會後，8月3日市議會並未處理。波士頓市議會議長Ed Flynn表示，這議案下週三才會交給議會討論及考慮。

            波士頓市市長的新聞辦公室在回應本刊查詢時表示，升旗事宜，由波士頓市物業管理辦公室負責，新的升旗條例要等市議會討論通過後，才能確認詳細流程。至於目前有哪些機構、團體已提出升旗申請，命運如何，則未回應。                    

中華表演藝術基金會夏日音樂會系列延至8月11日開場

          (Boston Orange) 中華表演藝術基金會的2022年夏日系列音樂會，原訂8月10日開場，因演奏者 Kuok-Wai Lio航班時間更改，該場演出將延期至8月15日舉行，音樂會系列因此改為8月11日開場，所有其他演出仍照原定計畫進行。

在8月11日至27日之間，在紐英崙音樂學院的威廉斯廳及喬頓廳，將有23位音樂家免費演出15場音樂會。

8月20及21日，另有傅聰國際協奏曲比賽的複賽及決賽。

以下為早前刊佈的音樂會消息:

(Boston Orange) 中華表演藝術基金會2022年夏日系列音樂會，訂8月10日至27日在紐英崙音樂學院的威廉斯廳及喬頓廳，由23位音樂家免費演出15場。8月20及21日，另有傅聰國際協奏曲比賽的複賽及決賽。

受新冠病毒疫情影響，中華表演藝術基金會主辦的這夏日系列音樂會（Summer FREE Concerts @ NEC），已中斷兩年，今年終於恢復，已排定15場免費音樂會，將於8月10日至27日在紐英崙音樂學院（New England Conservatory）的威廉斯廳（Williams Hall）及喬頓廳（Jordan Hall）舉行。

8月20至21日，將同時舉行傅聰國際協奏曲比賽的複賽及決賽。

這15場夏日系列音樂會的演出者介紹和曲目詳請，已在中華表演藝術基金會的官網上公佈，http://www.chineseperformingarts.net/contents/summer/2022/index.html。

23位大、中、小提琴、鋼琴、及聲樂音樂家中，有享譽全球，在紐英崙音樂學院，寇蒂斯（Curtis)，茱麗亞（Juilliard)等名校任教的資深教授（如：Victor Rosenbaum、黃心芸、Sergey Schepkin 等)，有蕭邦、范克萊本、柴可夫斯基、西貝流斯（Sibelius)、Paganini等世界大賽的獲獎者（如：Inmo Yang、Evren Ozel、JJ Bui等)，有職業樂團的首席及團員（如：李倩茜、Nathan Vickery、Zachary Mowitz等)，有獲得 Avery Fischer 職業獎者（如：廖國瑋)，有2022年度被選入古典樂台全球30位30歲以下(Classical FM’s 30 Under 30)的傑出音樂家 (如：郭紫堯)，以及多位已獲得音樂博士或藝術家文憑（Artist Diploma)，已在世界樂壇上展露才華的新星們。他們將獨奏、雙重奏，或四重奏的演出。加上團員近百人，曾獲2010年美國獎（American Prize）的水晶（Mercury）交響樂團訂8月27日演出的表演，總共有15場音樂會，可讓大波士頓人一享耳福。

今年的傅聰國際協奏曲比賽，指定曲目是貝多芬第五號降E大調皇帝交響曲，複賽及決賽，已定8月20及21日舉行。初選由五位分別在臺灣、中國、及美國各城市的大學鋼琴教授負責評審，從來自加拿大、中國、紐西蘭、新加坡、台灣、及美國的參賽者所繳交視頻，選出了10人進入複賽。

這10名複賽入圍者，有1 人因簽證問題退出，其他9人將來到紐英崙音樂學院，參加現場複賽，爭取成為5名決賽入圍者之一。

中華表演藝術基金會官網上，已公佈10名晉級複賽者的簡介及20分鐘獨奏曲，以及負責複賽及決賽的5名評委簡介，包括三名紐英崙音樂學院的鋼琴教授（Bruce Brubaker、Hae Sun Paik、Sergey Schepkin)，水晶樂團的音樂總監及指揮 Channing Yu，以及曾任波士頓環球報（Boston Globe）資深樂評，以及范克萊本、克理夫蘭、仙台（Sendai）等國際鋼琴大賽評委的 Richard Dyer。(http://www.chineseperformingarts.net/contents/summer/2022/0820/index.html)

協奏曲比賽第一名獎金5000美元，第二名1500美元。第三名1000美元。

所有15場音樂會都是免費演出。主辦單位呼籲聽眾戴口罩出席，勿攜帶6歲以下兒童入場。並請愛樂者慷慨解囊，樂捐10元，以資助邀音樂家演出的相關演出費、旅費、住宿、音樂廳場租、錄音、錄影等費用。捐款可在官網上辦理，http://www.chineseperformingarts.net/donation/index.htm，或寄支票至中華表演藝術基金會Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts, 3 Partridge Lane, Lincoln, MA 01773。

波士頓市長為使命山遊樂場重新開放剪綵

 MAYOR WU REOPENS MISSION HILL PLAYGROUND

BOSTON - Friday, August 5, 2022  - Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods today joined residents for the official reopening of Mission Hill Playground at 60 Smith Street. The playground renovation features a full basketball court so the nearby schools, Tobin Community Center, and the greater community can engage in healthy active recreation for kids of all ages.

“I’m thrilled to be celebrating the reopening of Mission Hill playground in community,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “Having safe and accessible outdoor spaces where children, families and residents can gather and have fun is important in building an inclusive city.”

“Our community outreach process allows us to tailor our park and playground revitalization projects to the needs of each neighborhood,” noted Boston Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods. “The Parks team worked with the Tobin K-8 School, the Mission Grammar School, the Tobin Community Center, and residents of all ages to understand priorities for the playground. The results include features that make the park a more welcoming communal gathering place, students and neighborhood kids have a new full basketball court, and the playground is more accessible thanks to pedestrian pathway improvements.”

The community’s priorities included expanding opportunities for social gatherings and performances, while maintaining artistic elements from the prior renovation. There was a robust community discussion evaluating the need for full-court basketball, which was supported by various members of the neighborhood, and was eventually included in the project. The water spray area now has in-ground features, allowing the space to serve both purposes, framed by the art elements, against the backdrop of Boston’s skyline.

“Planning during the pandemic required us, as community members, to get creative about getting everyone’s opinion about the park,” said Mary Ann Nelson, Director of the Mission Hill Health Movement, who worked with the project team to help get the word out about the improvements. “We spoke with a lot of park users on site, from neighborhood families to the resident domino players. The playground just reopened, and already everyone is visiting to use the new play equipment, to eat lunch, or just sit under a tree.”

The scope includes all new play equipment and safety surfaces, irrigation and renovation of the ball field, drinking fountains, bench seating and picnic tables, trees, renovation of the large retaining wall, and additional lighting. The highly-used pedestrian path connecting Smith and Tremont Street is now entirely ADA compliant.

"The Commonwealth's Division of Conservation Services is very pleased to play a role—working in partnership with City officials and the local community—in renovating Mission Hill Playground,” said Robert Wilber, Director of Conservation Services for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs. “This beautiful, refurbished site will provide significant health benefits to so many in the years ahead."

The total budget of $3,255,000 was provided by the Mayor’s Capital Improvement Plan including a $400,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) Program.

For more information, call 617-635-4505 or email parks@boston.gov. To stay up to date with news, events, and design and construction work in Boston Parks, sign up for our email list at bit.ly/Get-Parks-Emails and follow our social channels @bostonparksdept on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

波士頓美術博物館宣佈收藏廣島原爆攝影集

 (Boston Orange 綜合編譯) 在廣島於1965年8月6日被原子彈爆炸摧毀的20年後，波士頓美術博物館宣佈收購了川田喜久治 (Kawada Kikuji)所出版地標性攝影集「地圖 (Chizu/The Map) 」的87幅攝影作品，底片，以及一本活頁夾，內含川田喜久治的聯絡單，個人筆記，「地圖」這本書的第一版。

波士頓美術博物館Ann 及Graham館長Matthew Teitebaum表示，該館非常高興川田喜久治選擇了波士頓美術館作為他這和社會議題相關，當下時代相關鉅著的主要藏所。有了這些非凡的日本藝術及攝影收藏，波士頓美術博物館在講述日本攝影師的故事上，將佔有獨特地位。他為該館跨部門努力導致這開創性收藏，感到驕傲。

川田喜久治被認為是當代最著名的日本攝影家。他也是1959年在東京成立的著名且具影響力的「VIVO攝影收藏」的創辦人之一。

            川田喜久治第一次到訪廣島是在1958年，接著的幾年，他又去了好幾次，拍下一系列照片敘述了廣島原子彈爆炸的景象及其後果。

            「地圖」中的照片顯示的不只是原子爆殘餘物蹤跡，也展現了持續著的心理影響。這一系列圖片讓人看見已成為戰爭對人類傷害的國際象徵的那些旋轉、蹂躪在(廣島縣產業振興館) 原子圓頂殘骸上的痕跡，一面皺褶，滿是汙泥的日本棋，棄置的美國可口可樂罐，幸運牌香菸包。

            藉由隱喻，川田喜久治的照片提出的問題不只是日本在第二次世界大戰及之後的身分及角色，還包括了美國佔領日本所造成無孔不入的文化破壞。這些圖像在語氣和效果上都令人毛骨悚然，讓看的人思考核子戰爭的代價。

MFA Boston Acquires Groundbreaking “Chizu” / “The Map” Photographs by Kawada Kikuji

BOSTON (August 4, 2022)—On August 6, 1965, exactly 20 years after the destruction of Hiroshima, Kawada Kikuji (born 1933) published his landmark photobook Chizu / The Map, a searing humanitarian statement about the profound effects of the nuclear bombings in Japan. Today, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has announced the important acquisition of the book’s 87 photographic images as well as their negatives, Kawada’s binders containing contact sheets and personal notes, and a rare first-edition copy of the photobook itself.

“We are pleased that Kawada Kikuji has chosen the MFA as the primary home for this monumental work, which so directly relates to the social issues that are relevant to our current times,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Director. “With extraordinary collections of both Japanese art and photography, the MFA is in a unique position to tell the story of Japanese photographers, and I am proud of the cross-departmental efforts that led to this groundbreaking acquisition.”

Kawada is considered to be one of the most notable Japanese photographers of our time. He was one of the founders of the renowned and influential VIVO photography collective, established in Tokyo in 1959. Kawada first visited Hiroshima in 1958 and returned to the devastated city repeatedly over the next several years to create the series of photographs about the complex narrative of the atomic bombing and its aftermath. The photographs in Chizu / The Map explore not only the residual physical traces, but also the persistence of psychological effects. Among the images in the series are views of the swirled and ravaged stains on the skeletal remains of the Atomic Dome (the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall), which became an international symbol of the war’s toll on humanity; a crumpled, mud-stained Japanese flag; and discarded American Coca-Cola bottles and Lucky Strike cigarette packages. Through a mastery of metaphor, Kawada’s photographs raise questions not only about the identity and role of Japan through the course of World War II and afterward, but also the pervasive cultural disruption that was caused by the American Occupation of Japan. The images are eerily apocalyptic in tone and effect, asking viewers to contemplate the toll of nuclear war.

“My very early work, Chizu / The Map, had traveled down a winding path for nearly a half-century, when, in 2011, the Great Eastern Earthquake struck. A tsunami of an unprecedented magnitude marked a complex twist to a long catastrophe. In an ensuing exhibition at the MFA, entitled In the Wake, an incisive and intellectually luminous analysis of the incident was offered by curators Anne Nishimura Morse and Anne E. Havinga. In it, I detected a subtle voice that shepherded my Chizu / The Map into a new direction. I have ever since envisioned the MFA as the place where the images and history of Chizu / The Map may be retained and regenerated today and in the future,” said Kawada. “I am ever indebted and grateful to the MFA, its curators, and to everyone involved in this extraordinary endeavor.”

A key aspect of Japanese photography has long been the preeminence of the photography book format, commonly known as the “photobook.” In the 1960s, the photobook was the dominant format for Japanese photographers to introduce their work—with few galleries and collectors of unique photographic works in Japan, it offered artists the opportunity to show their images in large numbers and to circulate them widely.

In the making of the photobook Chizu / The Map, Kawada collaborated with the pioneering graphic designer Sugiura Kohei (born 1932), whose exquisite multilayered sequencing of the images forces the viewer to contemplate the bombing through stages, dwelling first on the atomic explosion and then on its long legacy. The cover of the box announces the goals of the volume not only with the title, but also with a line: “We are arrived in an age where we drift without courage, ambitions, deeds, nor even beautiful memories. Ask! Where is our map today, our vision, our radiant order?”

On the cover itself, Kawada’s individual verbal responses to the bombing appear in English and Japanese: keloid, rocket, energy, machine, secret, Enola Gay. The main text of the book was written by the Nobel Prize-winning author Oe Kenzaburo (born 1935). Inside, printed on a separate sheet, is a bilingual prose poem explaining the publication’s title. The first stanza reads: 

…I saw a map close to my wounded eyes.
while it was nothing but a little piece of ground
stained with heavy oil, it really appeared
to me like a map of the world
full of violence in which I was to live thenceforth.

As a photobook, and as a collaboration among a photographer, writer and designer, Chizu / The Map has been cited by scholars as one of the most extraordinary and evocative of all time.

The newly acquired works join four others by Kawada already in the MFA’s collection, including a pair of folding screens made in 2017 that incorporated several of the Chizu / The Map images—showcasing the photographer’s ongoing practice of reinterpreting his earlier work. Photographs by Kawada were also featured in the MFA’s 2015 exhibition In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11.

第22屆福音節音樂會訂8月7日下午5點在法蘭克林公園舉行

MAYOR WU ANNOUNCES 22ND ANNUAL GOSPELFEST CONCERT GospelFest is New England’s largest Gospel music celebration and is free and open to all.

BOSTON - Friday, August 5, 2022  - Mayor Michelle Wu today announced that the City of Boston’s annual GospelFest concert will take place on Sunday, August 7 at 5:00 p.m. at Playstead Field at Franklin Park. Now in its 22nd year, GospelFest showcases both national and local gospel talent. Blending contemporary and traditional gospel melodies, this annual event is produced by the Mayor’s Office of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment in partnership with the Faith Collective. This event is free and open to the public. “I’m thrilled to announce Boston’s 22nd annual GospelFest concert!” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “GospelFest celebrates Boston’s communities and supports local and national gospel artists. I am grateful to all of our partners and encourage everyone to stop by Franklin Park this Sunday.” Travis Greene will headline the concert, and Angela Elizabeth, Chris Bender, Kymberli Joye, and the Mayor’s Community Gospel Choir will also perform. This event will be hosted by the Bishop Bobby Perry, founder and pastor at Kingdom Builders' Worship Center in Dorchester. “Annually our team partners with hundreds of events globally. GospelFest is easily one of my favorites simply because of its community impact in my hometown,” said Faith Collective owner John Bernier. “I’m thrilled that Mayor Wu's office is carrying on this legacy and providing a positive impact on our community!” Attendees are welcome to bring a chair or blanket to the concert venue, Playstead Field at Franklin Park. Suya Joint food truck will have food and drinks available for purchase at the event. The Boston Water and Sewer Commission water truck will also be on site for attendees.