#watertown

On the Charles - The new footbridge is now getting old in the place where we haven't lived for awhile.

Watertown School Board’s song ban sparks rally, composer to travel to Wisconsin

Last week, the Watertown School Board voted to remove the instrumental piece "A Mother of a Revolution," which celebrates Marsha P. Johnson, a trans woman credited with leading the Stonewall uprising of 1969.

Rose Skrobek, a recent Watertown graduate, was disappointed over the decision.

"As a trans person, it's really disappointing to me to have (such a) target for the LGBT+ community," Skrobek said.

Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church announced that Omar Thomas, the composer of "A Mother of a Revolution," will conduct a free community performance of the song Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. at 209 N Ninth Street.

Banned song to be performed at Watertown church

Ellie Gihring, 15, a freshman at West High School in Madison, was protesting with her mother, Jennifer Gihring, of Madison, and grandmother, Patti Gossett, who lives in Watertown.

"These kids put in so much hard work, and one of my first thoughts was just how unfair it was that they couldn't play the song," said Ellie, who plays trumpet in the band at West. "They worked for months practicing this song. I know how it feels to put in that much work, and the fact that they can't play is just crazy to me."

Jennifer Gihring said it's frustrating that the school board claims to be all about parents' rights and parents had the opportunity to opt their kids out of the song back in October.

Across town, Kelly Larson, 57, stood outside the school board, which was also meeting Monday, holding a homemade sign that read, "Censorship is not education! Yes, to recall, no to hate."

"I normally don’t protest, so this is new to me," the Watertown resident said. "I couldn’t sit at home and do nothing."

16" Barbette Carriage

Record Group 338: Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter)Series: Photographs Related to the Watertown ArsenalFile Unit: [Box 3] 

"When you reach Suzhou, you will find every house rests upon a river. Old palaces leave little empty land — only canals, and bridge after bridge." — Du Xunhe, Tang Dynasty

He wrote that about Suzhou. But step into Tongli and it fits perfectly.

Canals thread through the town in every direction. Stone bridges arch over the water. Ming and Qing dynasty residences line the banks: 38 preserved garden estates, and hundreds of ancestral mansions and historic homes beyond that. No Instagram filter required. No crowd management wristbands. Just a town that has been quietly sitting by the water for a very long time, waiting.

THE THREE BRIDGES Locals call them the Three Bridges: Taiping (Peace), Jili (Luck), and Changqing (Celebration). They stand close together, two flat stone bridges and one arched, each with a different personality, all reflected in the same canal. The tradition is to walk across all three in one loop: peace, luck, and celebration, in that order. Do it.

TUISI GARDEN The garden's name means "retire and reflect," built by an official who was dismissed from court and came home to think things over. Walk through the gate and look down: the cobblestone courtyard is laid in a pattern. A longevity character sits at the center. Five bats spread outward (the Chinese word for "bat" sounds like "fortune"), and a ring of coin motifs circles the edge. Walk the full circuit twice for good luck. It takes about ninety seconds and feels completely worth it.

LIIZE GIRLS' SCHOOL Right next door to Tuisi Garden sits something easy to overlook: a school founded in 1906, the first school for girls in the entire Wujiang region. Its motto was sincerity, diligence, simplicity, and love. In 1938 Japanese forces occupied the buildings and the memorial stele was buried underground to protect it. It wasn't unearthed until 1982. Part of the school still functions as a primary school today. Part of it has become a small cultural exhibition space, open to visitors. Both the garden and the school were listed as national heritage sites in 2013.

THE RIVER ROUTE

Price ¥150 per boat, up to 6 people

I can barely find images of this town online. Just this historic long truss and this random neighborhood. The Internet is so tainted with AI that I don't know which other images to trust. Even the word "Ohio" has been reduced to meaningless TikTok brainrot. We live in hell world.