Meetings are held at 7:30PM on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Nonantum branch. Group coordinator: Amy Oppenheimer: amy.oppenh@verizon.net, www.newtoncameraclub.org. May 8: Banquet and Scavenger Hunt at another location. May 22: Members discussion/showing on “Photojournalism” at the branch.

This workshop provides an atmosphere of expert support to polish short fiction. It is geared for published writers as well as those who are actively pursuing publication. Leader is Michael Kaufman. Pre-registration is required: call 617-332-3347. The group meets the first Tuesday of the month, 7:00PM, in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: May 2.

“Martha Mitchell in Mostly her Own Words,” a lively one-women show by Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, starring Geralyn Horton, will be performed at the Library, Sunday, May 14, at 2:00PM. Music is written by Jean Ives Ducornet, Marie Buigues, and Joan Faber, director is June Lewin, pianist is Joan Faber.

The [Edinburgh] Scotsman raved about the premiere of the play at the Edinburgh Festival: “Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro pulls no punches in her frighteningly revelatory script of an era in US history that must go down as one of the most corrupt and shocking. No less shocking was the ruination of a principled woman. Ms. Horton lovingly, painfully and vehemently pays her a just and moving homage.”

In 1973, a year after the Watergate break-in, Mitchell tells her side of the Watergate story. She traces her life from the blissful early days of marriage to John Mitchell, Nixon’s Attorney General, to her colorful glory days as “Martha the Mouth,” to her downfall as the much maligned “Cassandra of Watergate.” Nixon later said, “Without Martha Mitchell, there never would have been a Watergate.”

After the break-in, Congress passed a law that checked the executive abuse of power and required that the President obtain a court order before spying on American citizens. Today many see echoes of that time in the acts of the current White House administration.

“Martha Mitchell” has been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Playwrights Platform and Theatre Lobby in Boston, West End Theatre in Gloucester, Theatre Center Philadelphia and Mosaic Theater in Philadelphia, and other places.

Horton is a playwright, director and actor. Highlights of her acting career include the American premieres of “Bold Girls,” “Portia Coughlan” and “Perfect Days,” all at the Sugan Theatre. “Martha Mitchell” was written specifically for her with its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Alfaro's plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles and other places, and include “Matters of Life and Death,” “Behind Enemy Lines” and “Amsterdam” and “It Doesn’t Take a Tornado” (both presented at La MaMa in New York). Her short plays have appeared in the Boston Woman on Top Festival, the Boston Theater Marathon and the Playwrights Platform Festival. She was co-producer and writer of the PBS documentary, “Asian American Women: A Sense of Place.”

Learn about “Science on TV and Beyond” at a talk by Paula Apsell, Senior Executive Producer of WGBH TV’s NOVA, as she discusses the important role television plays in bringing science to the public on Wednesday, May 10, at 7:30PM at the Library.   See clips of memorable NOVA moments and discover how its ground-breaking science programming is produced. Learn also about the global debate brewing over whether the U.S. is still competitive in the sciences and how this affects the way the media portrays science.

Newton resident Apsell began her broadcasting career at WGBH TV and then radio. She joined the WGBH-produced national series NOVA in 1975, when it was only in its second season of presenting something completely new on American television: entertaining, in-depth science documentaries. This perfectly suited Apsell’s love for making complicated stories interesting and understandable. She became executive producer in 1984.

Under Apsell’s leadership, NOVA has won every major broadcasting award, and she has been recognized with numerous individual awards for her outstanding record of achievement.

Apsell has also overseen the production of many award-winning WGBH Science Unit specials. She was executive in charge of NOVA’s large format film unit, whose work included the first IMAX film ever nominated for an Academy Award. Recently, she introduced NOVA scienceNOW, a magazine-format series covering the latest developments in science and technology.

Author Alan Hirshfeld will speak on The Electric Life of Michael Faraday at the Library on Monday, May 15, at 7:30PM, followed by a booksigning. This stirring tale is of a 19th-century dreamer who surmounted circumstance and daunting societal obstacles to become one of the greatest experimental scientists of all time.

Faraday’s life reads like a fairy tale: born into poverty in 1791 and trained as a bookbinder, he miraculously rose through the ranks of the scientific elite and laid the groundwork of our technological society, inventing the electric generator and electric motor, among many other developments. A friend of Charles Dickens and an inspiration to Thomas Edison, the deeply religious Faraday sought no financial gain from his many discoveries. Throughout his life, Faraday never abandoned his childlike sense of wonder about nature, a spirit that comes alive in his luminous writings.

“[Faraday’s] up-by-the-bootstraps story tugs at the heartstrings, while his adherence to the experimental method engages the intellect. A vibrant portrayal that emphasizes Faraday’s qualities of wonder, acuity, and diligence, which propelled him to greatness.” – Booklist

Newton resident Hirshfeld is professor of physics at UMass-Dartmouth and an associate of the Harvard College Observatory. Author of the widely praised book Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos (on which he spoke previously at the Library), he won a major prize for his essay on Faraday in the John Templeton Foundation’s Power of Purpose essay competition.

Brigham & Women’s Hospital is presenting a talk on “Screening and Risk Factors for Colon Cancer” Tuesday, May 16, at 7:00PM at the Library. Colorectal cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer when detected early. Colonoscopy, a non-surgical procedure, is the most definitive way to detect colorectal cancer and pre-cancerous polyps. Learn everything you need to know about this often life-saving procedure from one of Brigham and Women’s expert gastroenterologists.

The Auburndale branch will host a discussion of Marx for Beginners, a groundbreaking “cartoon” book about the seminal social thinker, on Tuesday, May 16, at 7:30PM.

Branch librarian Chris Wangler, who will lead the discussion, will be happy to request copies of the book from the library network. For more information, please call 617-552-7158 when the branch is open: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 1- 6PM.

Light refreshments will be served, and all are welcome.

Explore the fascinating nature of our relationships and identities as they evolve throughout our lives. Narratives that explore the human experience are a bridge between abstract generalizations and concrete insights. In this forum we will use stories from real life experience and passages from great literature to frame and understand the important dimensions and complexity of our changing relationships as we transition through retirement.

Discovering What’s Next: ReVitalizing Retirement (DWN), provides information, direction and connection for those making the journey to or transition through retirement. DWN is a non-profit organization working in collaboration with Newton Community Education, Newton Community Service Center, Newton Free Library, the City of Newton’s Office of Volunteer Services and S.O.A.R.

For more information on DWN, call: 617-796-1419 or look online at www.whatsnext.eboard.com.

Barbra Batshalom, Executive Director of the Green Roundtable, will speak on "Is Your Home Healthy and Energy Efficient?" at the next session of the Green Decade Coalition's Environmental Speaker Series at the Library on Monday, May 22, at 7:00PM.

* How healthy is your home?
* How can you save energy/ conserve water?
* What is green building and how can you benefit from it?
Batshalom will present this informational session about renovation and new construction, green
building strategies, resources available for home and landscaping, and how to speak to architects, contractors and realtors about green issues.
For more information about Green Decade Coalition/Newton, visit: www.greendecade.org.

Author Megan Marshall will speak on "Romantics in the Classroom: Mary Peabody Mann and Horace Mann in Newton" on Thursday, June 1, at 7:00PM at the Library. The talk concludes this year's Newton History Series theme: "Schooling Newton," presented by the Library and the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead.

Peabody was a determined and passionate reformer who found her soulmate in the great educator Horace Mann. Mann moved Massachusetts’ first normal school (teacher training college) to West Newton in 1844, and later established an associated model school, run as a partnership between the state and the town of Newton. The Manns built a home on West Newton Hill, where they lived until Mann was elected to Congress and they left for Washington, D.C. in 1848.

Marshall has published numerous articles on women’s history and New England history and is the author of the widely reviewed and critically acclaimed biography, The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing by the author following the lecture.

Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" will once again make a special appearance at the Library to speak on his new book, published just in time for Father's Day: Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons. The talk will take place on Sunday, June 4, at 5:00PM as a Library fundraiser and will be introduced by best-selling author William Novak who worked closely with Russert on the book.

Admission is $75 which includes a signed copy of the book. Please make checks payable to the Newton Free Library and mail to the Newton Library Development Office, 330 Homer Street, Newton, MA 02459. Please arrive at 4:30PM to pick up tickets and books. For more information, call 617-796-1400. Reserve early as seating is limited.

After the publication of the New York Times bestselling memoir about his father, Big Russ & Me, Russert received close to 60,000 letters from people who wanted to tell him about their own fathers. This collection of letters from across the country addresses the uniqueness of fatherhood, and helps answer the question: What does it mean to be a good father?