Cambridge

On a recent Friday morning, a classroom of teenagers at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School broke up into small groups and spent an hour not answering questions about Albert Camus's "The Plague. " It wasn't that the students were shy, or bored, or that they hadn't done the reading. They were following instructions: Ask as many questions as they could, and answer none of them. The kids wrote in rapid fire on sheets of butcher paper. "Why is everyone acting normal when people are dropping dead?"

A Boston real estate investor is buying a large office park in West Cambridge, adding to a flurry of activity in an area that's emerging as a lower priced alternative to Kendall and Central squares. The Davis Cos. said Tuesday that it will buy the Fresh Pond Technology Park, a 10-acre swath near the Alewife MBTA Station. The company hopes to eventually redevelop part of the park to attract additional science and technology firms. Under new zoning rules, the property can host more than 1 million square feet of residential and commercial development.

HOTEL BALLROOM Hotels offer soup-to-nuts service, with in-house planning help, a staff that really knows the drill, and affiliated vendors at the ready to take care of every detail. Jessica and Dwayne Barnes of Sturbridge (pictured at far left) married at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in 2008. "They made it very easy," she says of the planning staff and the hotel's reliable, knowledgeable vendors. Lauren and Vaios Theodorakos, who live in Weston, celebrated their wedding in the hotel's Grand Ballroom in 2007.

A panel discussion that kicked off a series of events celebrating late Cambridge politician Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill included, from left to right, family members Thomas O'Neill Jr., Susan O'Neill, Thomas O'Neill III, Rosemary O'Neill, and MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews. Photo by Bob Coe. By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews visited Cambridge Tuesday to lead a discussion about the late Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Matthews moderated a discussion with several members of O'Neill's family in the Cambridge...

As a child, Steve Thompson displayed outsized reactions to ordinary events and intense mood swings. By age 12, doctors diagnosed him with bipolar disorder. The idea that he had a chronic mental illness - one typically marked in adulthood by manic periods followed by depression - frightened him. "It's something you think you'll have your entire life," said Thompson, a 23-year-old student at Massasoit Community College in Brockton. But over the past year, with the help of his longtime psychiatrist, he has weaned himself off mood-altering medication.

Danielle Dreilinger photos 328 Summer St.: The Ways and Means Committee, four guys in sunglasses sitting on their steps with a bust of Michael Jackson. By Danielle Dreilinger, Globe Correspondent May 19 was Somerville's second annual Porchfest: a decentralized music festival with over 100 acts performing on porches, front stoops, yards, and driveways. Here are a few of the afternoon's stories: 1. 21 Summit Ave. features Little Rose and the Boston All-Stars . But more importantly, it's the best police assignment of the week.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of former House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill's birth and the city of Cambridge is kicking off a year of celebrations this week. The celebrations start Tuesday when a panel moderated by MSNBC's Chris Matthews will be discussing the life and legacy of O'Neill, who died in 1994. The panel included some of O'Neill's children and even one grandchild. Matthews is host of MSNBC's "Hardball," and longtime aide to O'Neill. The discussion will explore Speaker O'Neill's Cambridge roots and his lasting...

THEATER MEDEA Under the direction of David R. Gammons, Jennie Israel delivers a harrowing performance in a production of Euripides's tragedy that emphasizes not just the monstrousness of Medea's deeds, but also the universality of her plight in a world where men make (and remake) the rules to suit themselves. When Israel's Medea challenges the established order in an unthinkable act of murder, it is also an act, spiritually speaking, of self-slaughter. Through March 4. Presented by Actors' Shakespeare Project.

CAMBRIDGE - At 16, Kavita Shukla was an inventor, and a socially conscious one at that. Her story begins when she was visiting her grandmother in New Delhi and accidentally drank some tap water. Her grandmother mixed up a home remedy using extracts from the plant fenugreek and other botanicals to prevent Shukla from getting an upset stomach. It worked so well that when Shukla returned home to Maryland, she reproduced the mixture and tested it around the house. She found it inhibited the growth of bacteria.

Legendary singer Judy Collins visited Porter Square Books yesterday afternoon to promote "When You Wish Upon a Star," her latest book collaboration with illustrator Eric Puybaret .

By Bob Holmes, Globe Staff Latin Academy earned the No. 5 seed in the North and will host 12th-seeded Greater Lowell Thursday at 6 p.m. when the MIAA volleyball tournament opens play. Tournament pairings were announced Tuesday. The Dragons finished the season 15-4 and were seeded behind No. 1 Haverhill (18-0), No. 2 Lawrence (17-3), No. 3 St. John's Prep (17-3) and No. 4 Cambridge (16-3). Greater Lowell, from the Commonwealth Conference, finished the spring 10-10. Should LA advance to the quarterfinals it would play the winner of the Cambridge vs. Lowell Catholic...

Police in Portland, Maine, are investigating the disappearance of a 31-year-old Harvard Business School student who was last seen in the city's Old Port section early Sunday morning. Nathan G. Bihlmaier of Cambridge was scheduled to graduate Thursday and was celebrating the end of school with friends at a waterfront bar called Ri Ra. His friends reported him missing when he failed to return to his hotel room, police said in a prepared statement. Divers recovered an article of Bihlmaier's clothing, but the police did not describe the clothing in...

This year marks the 100th anniversary of former House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill's birth and the city of Cambridge is kicking off a year of celebrations this week. The celebrations start Tuesday when a panel moderated by MSNBC's Chris Matthews will be discussing the life and legacy of O'Neill, who died in 1994. The panel included some of O'Neill's children and even one grandchild. Matthews is host of MSNBC's "Hardball," and longtime aide to O'Neill. The discussion will explore Speaker O'Neill's Cambridge roots and his lasting commitment to the community.

Danielle Dreilinger photos 328 Summer St.: The Ways and Means Committee, four guys in sunglasses sitting on their steps with a bust of Michael Jackson. By Danielle Dreilinger, Globe Correspondent May 19 was Somerville's second annual Porchfest: a decentralized music festival with over 100 acts performing on porches, front stoops, yards, and driveways. Here are a few of the afternoon's stories: 1. 21 Summit Ave. features Little Rose and the Boston All-Stars . But more importantly, it's the best police assignment of the week.

The city of Cambridge paid nearly $4 million to settle a workplace discrimination case with two former city employees, according to documents released by the city. The settlement agreement, signed in October, shows that Mary Wong, formerly executive director of the Cambridge Kids' Council, and Linda Stamper, a former lawyer for the city, agreed to accept $3.85 million from the city to resolve the discrimination suit brought by the women. Neither the city nor the employees should claim victory or vindication in the case, the agreement...

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews will moderate a panel discussion in Cambridge next week about the late Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill Jr.'s life in the city and what he did for the community. The free event on Tuesday, May 22, at 7 p.m. in Cambridge's Main Public Library will kick off a year of events in Cambridge to commemorate the centennial of O'Neill's birth in Cambridge in 1912. Known for saying "all politics is local," O'Neill died in January of 1994 at the age of 81 after 50 years of public service, including...

CAMBRIDGE - In the famously liberal city of Cambridge, there has been but one place for the past several years to legally buy a gun or a rifle, while also picking through wading boots or canoes, all under the gaze of a giant moose head peering down from the wall. But now change has come to Porter Square, and Roach's Sporting Goods is about to close its doors after 108 years in business. The family-owned shop at 1957 Massachusetts Ave. is the last store to sell firearms in Cambridge.

Call it a literary census of sorts. After compiling its sales data, Amazon.com has issued a list of the Most Well-Read Cities in America, and Cambridge ranks number two, based on its insatiable appetite for devouring books in the business and investing category. Alexandria, Va., topped the list. Folks there seem to be so fascinated with books about romance that this suburb of Washington, D.C., is America's best-read community, according to Amazon.com. Hard to believe, but Boston did not make Amazon.com's top 20. Reading, it seems, is far more popular in cities...

Cambridge officials presented 50 students with $2,500 scholarships Monday. Photo courtesy of the City of Cambridge. By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent Cambridge officials presented 50 students with $2,500 scholarships in a special ceremony at City Hall Monday. Mayor Henrietta Davis and other city and school officials attended the annual City Scholarship event and commended the 2012 recipients for their hard work, according to press release announcing the awards.