Writer

Ben Y. Cammarata

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Needle Stabbing Rat

To embalm the rat, workshop participants stabbing their specimen all over its body, pumping it full of fluid, which eventually mixes with that's rat's blood and guts and leaches out.


Rat Embalming Workshop Table

The workshop is set up with six tables of four, toolkits laid out in front of each seat. Fluorescent lights beat down from the ceiling. It’s just like a high school classroom on lab day.


Kwapis Picture

Mickey Alice Kwapis, the taxidermist who led the rat embalming workshop, says her work is a labor of love. “You wouldn't spend your days elbows-deep in a dead animal if you didn't really love the work that you were doing and really want to honor those specimens,” she says.


In Photos: The Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian

Every year, the residents of East Cambridge gather at the intersection of Porter and Warren streets to celebrate the Feast of Saint Cosmas and Damian, a festival brought by Italian immigrants from the town of Gaeta in 1926. The 98th annual celebration took place the weekend of September 8-10, and we sent a team of photographers to cover it.