Zebbler lives -- and thrives -- despite a burst of media attention after his arrest last winter. Zebbler, the name Peter Berdovsky uses, and fellow artist Sean Stevens, both formerly of Arlington, sent Boston into spasms of fear in late January after police interpreted "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED screens they placed as potential bombs.

At first smirking and unrepentant, the pair in May presented a more compliant public image, and, after protracted negiotiations, charges they had placed hoax devices were dropped. YouTube video >> But this story is not about possibly unwarranted post-9/11 fear; it is a broader snapshot of who Peter is.

At the unveiling of Berdovsky's work at Spaulding Rehabilitation Center are the artist with Oswald Mondejar, vice president of human resources.

Art at Spaulding 

The signature dreadlocks remain -- they were never cut for the sake of appearances, as some think -- and the artistic sensibility that never went away provides Peter with clearer public focus. YourArlington requested an interview at the time of the controversy, and Berdovsky has responded in his own time, nine months later.

"First of all -- hello from Zebbler himself," Berdovsky wrote in a recent e-mail exchange. "Long time no see. But I haven't been idle in all this time.

"I have just finished a mural . . . that I started as a part of my community service (a punishment for my Aqua Teen Hunger Force adventure in Boston). It was a pleasure to contribute it to Spaulding Rehabilitation," one of the largest rehabilitation hospital networks in the United States.

"I did not mind volunteering for several months more after my community service was officially over."

Oswald Mondejar, vice president of human resources at Spaulding, has been asked to comment on Peter's community service.

Peter explains what he is aiming for in the art work at Spaulding: "The painting was designed to inspire physically impaired children to embrace assistive technology.

"I populated it with images of child superheroes using assistive technology to plant trees and flowers. Which should also serve as a gentle reminder that it's possible for humans, nature and technology to coexist in harmony" (see below):

So poets and painters long have hoped. It's a hope nurtured, in part, in Arlington, where Peter lived for nine years, beginning in 1996.