ACOUSTIC SINGER/SONGWRITER LAURA SIERSEMA

Touring for her second CD, “Love Flows Like the Blood of a River,” acoustic artist Laura Siersema will bring her unusual, textured keyboard style and airy soprano to the Newton Free Library for an intimate performance of traditional and original songs, linked with spoken prose poems. The concert will take place on Sunday, January 4, at 2:00PM.
An ASCAP award winning singer-songwriter, pianist and poet, Siersema has performed at the Syracuse Arts Festival, Arts Festival of Boston, All Children’s Arts Festival in Florida, First Night, Worcester and previously at the Library. She has been the opening act for John Gorka, Connie Kaldor, Lori McKenna and Cheryl Wheeler. Her poetry has been published in journals around the U.S. Both this CD and her earlier one, “When I Left Loss,” may be heard on college and public radio stations. Further information on the singer may be found at www.laurasiersema.com.

JAZZ DUO OF PAUL SPEIDEL AND STEVE SKOP

The jazz duo of guitarist Paul Speidel and bassist Steve Skop will return to the Newton Free Library for a concert of jazz standards from the Great American Songbook on Sunday, January 11, 2:00PM. Seating is limited.
A Newton resident, Speidel teaches blues and jazz at Newton Community Education as well as privately. He has appeared with Patti Page, Jay Geils, Duke Robillard, James Montgomery, Shirley Lewis, Les Arbuckle and other musicians at local and national venues. For several years he hosted a highly regarded Blues Showcase Series at Yerardi’s Restaurant.
Skop’s jazz performing is a culmination of his experiences in mainstream jazz, fusion, experimental jazz, classical, Haitian, African, Afro-Cuban, reggae, blues and rock styles. His recordings include: “No, What” with Michael Kelley & the Hot Blue Q and “Live on Cape Cod” with jazz/gospel vocalist Ptah Brown. He teaches jazz clinics, ensembles and individuals.

AUTHOR FRED PLEMENOS TO SPEAK ON
“INVESTING DESPITE WALL STREET, INC.”

Author Fred Plemenos will speak on Investing Despite Wall Street, Inc. at the Newton Free Library on Tuesday, January 13, 7:15PM.
During the late 1990s, the Wall Street financial community ignored time-tested investment principals, hyping stocks and causing many ill-prepared investors to lose large sums of money. Plemenos’ book shows investors how to protect their portfolios from unscrupulous professionals by making sound financial decisions based on knowledge and insight.
His book provides individuals with an understanding of the forces that have influenced the stock market under a wide range of market environments. The book also gives a simple, concise review of the basics of investing and how to apply them to the reality of the contemporary stock market. The author stresses independent research, analysis and disciplined decision-making, based on instructive investment principles and guidelines.
With more than 30 years in the financial field, Plemenos developed the Data-Outlook financial publication, was institutional research director of a small brokerage firm and joined Data Resources to create the DRI Industry Financial Service, that served money management and corporate clients.

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LESLIE EPSTEIN TO SPEAK ON
“SAN REMO DRIVE: A NOVEL FROM MEMORY”

Best-selling author Leslie Epstein will speak on San Remo Drive: A Novel from Memory at the Newton Free Library on Tuesday, January 20, 7:30PM, followed by a booksigning with books from New England Mobile Book Fair.
Based on the author’s own childhood in Hollywood, this fast-paced story of five linked vignettes is set in the 1950s and then in 2000, narrated by the painter Richard Jacobi at the summit of his career. The novel traces the trajectory of Richard’s self awareness as he comes to terms with the death of his principled father (a famous film writer and director) and its lasting effects on his mother, brother and himself.
We see Richard on his living room floor watching the broadcast of his father testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, at the beach in Malibu sizing up a French poseur in pursuit of his mother and her money, and on a trip with his brother and friends to a bar and brothel in Mexico. Through his sensitive discernment, the novel’s stories build until one moment crystallizes all that has come before.
As the son of the Academy Award-winning screenwriter for “Casablanca,” Epstein grew up with a first-hand view of Hollywood. Like an American Proust, he shows how memory shapes the crucial events of a life.
The author has published eight works of fiction, including the classic novel King of the Jews, one of the standard bearers of Holocaust literature, as well as Pinto and Sons, Pandaemonium and Goldkorn Tales. A Rhodes scholar and Director of the Creative Writing Department at Boston University, he regularly publishes in Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Partisan Review, Tikkun and The Nation. His father and uncle, Philip G. and Julius J. Epstein, wrote "Arsenic and Old Lace", "Casablanca", “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and many other film classics.

In the last thirty years, poetry has explored and transformed our complicated relationships with our mothers and fathers. But rarely does one read poems by the mothers and fathers of grown children. To fill this significant gap, publisher and editor Sondra Zeidenstein has brought together 65 contemporary American poems on this theme by Maxine Kumin, Raymond Carver, Grace Paley and many others. The subjects range from “the perils and joys of connection” to “pain for terrible misfortune…. Fear for what might happen. Acknowledgement of our own imperfections and helplessness. The rare achievement of non-attachment,” as the editor states in her insightful introduction.
Zeidenstein and several local contributors to the volume - Betty Buchsbaum, Deborah DeNicola, Kinereth Gensler, Nancy Kassell, Myrna Patterson and Judith Steinbergh – will read from and speak about this new book Family Reunion: Poems about Parenting Grown Children on Tuesday, January 27, 7:00PM at the Newton Free Library.
Zeidenstein didn’t begin writing poetry till she was in her 50s. She founded Chicory Blue Press in 1987 which focuses on works by women past the age of 60 as, she feels, these writers have a much broader perspective on life. From a rift with her own grown daughter (now healed) she noticed the lack of published voices on mature subjects, such as the pain of separating from grown children. Family Reunion arose from that need.
Zeidenstein is author of the poetry collection A Detail in That Story and editor of A Wider Giving: Women Writing After a Long Silence, The Crimson Edge: Older Women Writing and Heart of the Flower: Poems for the Sensuous Gardener, all published by Chicory Blue Press. She lives in Connecticut.

The Green Decade Coalition/Newton will present a film screening and talk by Heather Tausig, Director of Conservation at the New England Aquarium: “In Hot Water” on Monday, January 26, 7:00PM at the Newton Free Library.
Tausig will screen and discuss "In Hot Water," a World of Water educational film which she produced. The film examines the issue of global climate change, its impact on the oceans and sealife, and actions individuals can take to make a change.
Light refreshments will be served at the program. Please bring your own mug.

COMPUTER CLASSES

Start off the new year by fulfilling one of your resolutions - learning a new computer skill! Our Reference librarians teach one-session classes in PC Basics, learning to use the Internet, Search Engines and more. Drop by a Reference Desk for information on the schedule and to sign up or call 617-796-1308.

Exploring Options for Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is taking on new meaning, as a generation with definite ideas about continuing education prepares to retire. Whether enrollingin a new graduate program of study, auditing undergraduate classes at auniversity, traveling abroad as part of an ElderHostel program, joining one of the many Institutes for Learning in Retirement, or engaging in a peer-learning project to gain a new skill, this is a generation accustomed
to using education to realize a variety of personal goals. The next Library Forum sponsored by Discovering What’s Next: ReVitalizing Retirement will be held on Thursday, January 22 at 7:00PM. "Exploring Options for Lifelong Learning" will feature Bill Berkeley, the retired founding president of ElderHostel, who has been involved in the development of model programs for lifelong learners formore than 20 years. Also in this program, a panel of community members will relate their own experiences in a variety of continuing education settings. Resources and opportunities for participation beyond this forum will be available at the event.

The Library's long-running Children's Writers Group will host a panel discussion on "Inspiring Women" at the Library, Saturday, January 17, at 1:00PM in Druker Auditorium. Panelists will discuss the achievements of both their group member Sophia Okun Tracy, author of A Woman Ahead of her Time: Christine de Pizan and the subject herself, a 14/15th century feminist.
Newton resident Tracy, 93, was orphaned and self-educated yet rose to a career in publicity, school administration and scholarship. Admitted to college at the age of 64, she earned a B.A. degree and wrote articles, stories and essays published in the New York Times, Highlights for children and other publications as well as the recent historical book for young adults.
De Pizan was widowed early and supported her children and her mother by writing, a remarkable achievement for the time. Works include poems, biographies, autobiographical information and City of Ladies, considered by many to be the earliest feminist writing recorded.

Gilbert and Sullivan Cartoons - Coming in February!

The New England Gilbert & Sullivan Society will host another entertaining afternoon at the Library on Sunday, February 1, at 1:30PM. The program of Gilbert & Sullivan cartoons will feature:
- A one-hour version of "Ruddigore," with the voices of former D’Oyly Carte regulars, including Donald Adams, Kenneth Sandford, John Reed and Peggy Ann Jones.
- Two short pieces of patter songs: “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from "Pirates of Penzance" and “When I Went to the Bar” from "Iolanthe," both with the voice of John Reed. - “Gentlemen of Titipu” - a very liberal, short adaptation of "The Mikado," featuring classical-music comedienne Anna Russell as Katisha.
- “Gilbert and Sullivan - the Very Models” - a clay-animation short telling the story of Gilbert & Sullivan’s partnership and featuring music from all of the operettas.

Please be considerate of the performer today as well as your fellow audience members and refrain from leaving the auditorium during a piece of music. If you have small children with you, please sit in the back rows. If you leave the auditorium between pieces, please close the door quietly behind you and wait to re-enter after a musical piece. Also, if you have a cellphone, please shut if off. Thank you.

PLEASE DON'T SAVE SEATS!

When attending a Sunday after-noon concert, please do not save more than one seat as this deprives others of attending the concert. The rule is first come, first served.

Friends' News

The Friends' Annual Meeting in October featured a talk by Library Director Kathy Glick-Weil, a gift presentation of $7000 for Children's programs and the re-election of this year's officers and directors. President is Dixie Lee Borus, Vice President is Beverly Spencer, Secretary is Nancy Grissom and Treasurer is Lora Martino.
New members are welcome; come to a Friends board meeting on January 14, 7:30PM in Meeting Room A.

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