Newton Camera Club Annual Print Show
Main Hall, March 2-30
Opening Reception Wednesday, March 5 at 7:00 pm

African Literatures Discussion Group, led by Anne Serafin, explores the rich variety of writings from Africa. The group usually meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm in Room A. Info call: 617-527-1072. Next meeting: Wednesday, March 19 to discuss The Lion and the Jewel, a play by Wole Soyinka of Nigeria.

Children’s Book Writer’s Groups are for writers who have work in progress. Pre-registration required. Maria Gianferrari (781-891-0153) leads the group that meets on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Monday, March 3. Karen Day (617-244-4830) leads the group that meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Wednesday, March 26.

Commonwealth Book Club focuses on books from the U. K. and former colonies. Info contact: Chris Wangler at cwangler@minlib.net or 781-588-0149. Next meeting: Tuesday, March 18, at 7:30 pm in Room B to discuss A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark.

Contemporary Books Discussion Group

Contemporary Books Discussion Group holds meetings on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 in Room A. Info call: Marilyn Miller 617-332-4225. Next meeting: Wednesday, March 5 to discuss The Gathering by Anne Enright.

Contemporary Books 2007 - 2008 Reading List

Great Books Discussion Group meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:15 pm in Room A. Members read and discuss books or selected excerpts, some published by the Great Books Foundation. Some are available at the library. Info call: Ruth Greene at 617-527-4143.
Next meeting: Tuesday, March 11 to discuss American Political Tradition (chapters on Andrew Jackson and John Calhoun) by Hofstadter.

Newton Camera Club meets on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 7:30 pm at the Nonantum Branch (September through May) to share and discuss photography. The programs include a range of highly-regarded outside speakers, club member presentations, and competitions. For more information, visit www.newtoncameraclub.org. Next meetings: March 10 and 24.

Sequences: Women Tell Our Stories, a supportive, creative group, meets in a congenial atmosphere to read fiction, essays or poetry and discuss and write responses to the material. Led by Robin Mayer Stein, poet and journalist, the group meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 10:00 am in room A. Next meeting: Wednesday, March 12.

Short Fiction Writing Group is a workshop geared for published writers and those actively pursuing publication. Pre-registration is required, call 617-332-3347. The group meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Tuesday, March 4.

Short Story Discussion Group usually holds its meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:30 pm in Room A. Group co-leaders are Mary Lanigan (617-527-1505) and Barbara McGinley. Next meeting: Monday, March 10. They will discuss Yiyum Li’s After A Life from The Best American Short Stories of 2006 and Lorrie Moore’s You’re Ugly Too from The Best American Short Stories of 1990 and The Best American Short Stories of the Century. (The group is reading the stories that were selected for the February meeting as that meeting was cancelled due to snow.)

Singing Group is for singers of all levels who enjoy singing classical and popular music. It meets monthly on Saturday afternoons, Noon – 1:30 pm in the Druker Auditorium. Info call: Miriam Simen at 617-244-6705. Next Meeting: Saturday, March 15.

Women in Career Transition. Led by career counselor Joyce Picard, this group provides sharing and information for women in career transition. The group regularly meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Tuesday, March 18.

Pianist Minna Han and violinist Joo-in Lee will perform on Sunday, March 2 at 2:00 pm. The concert program will include classical sonatas for violin and piano No.1 in D minor by Camille Saint-saens, Grand Duo Concertant in F sharp minor, Op.21, and Polonaise Brillante, Op.4 by Wieniawski.

Joo-in Lee began her violin studies at the age of eight. She was the concert master of Catholic University Orchestra of Seoul and a winner of their concerto competition. Ms. Lee's musical talents were recognized by one of the most significant classical composers of Korea, Yung-chul Kim and he has dedicated his work, Violin Sonata to her. Ms. Lee won the Homor Urlich Memorial Competition at the University of Maryland, where she is currently a doctoral candidate with a full scholarship.

Pianist, Minna Sung-min Han began her piano studies at the age of six and won many local piano competitions in Korea. She received her Doctor of Musical Art from the University of Maryland, Phi Kappa Phi and has received merit scholarships from the Korean American Scholarship Foundation and also from the Korean Embassy of the United States in Washington, DC. She performs throughout the
U. S. and Canada.

Mana Washio, flute and Fumito Nunoya, marimba have been actively performing together in the USA and Japan since 2003. Join them on Sunday, March 9 at 2:00 pm for a concert of wind and rhythm for flute and marimba. Their wide repertoire encompasses the film music of Ennio Morricone as well as the tango music of Astor Piazzolla.

Principal flutist of the New England Philharmonic, Mana Washio also performs with various Boston-area ensembles. She is on the faculty at the All Newton Music School in West Newton and the Allegro Music School in Natick. Fumito Nunoya, an internationally acclaimed marimbist and multi-prize winner, has been performing worldwide. The concert is co-sponsored by the All Newton Music School and the library.

A Evening of Jazz

Join jazz duo, Sandy Prager, classical 12 string guitar and Phil Scarff, soprano and alto saxophones for an eclectic jazz performance on Thursday, March 13 at 7:00 pm. They will be playing pieces from their newly released CD Beyond Borders.

Born in Brooklyn, composer and guitarist Sandy Prager has been playing guitar since the age of 12. Prager studied at the University of Miami and with jazz giant Ira Sullivan and at the Berklee College of Music. In addition to performing his own works, Prager has written for television. He is well known in the Boston area for his teaching approach, which is as unique as his performing style.

Saxophonist and composer Phil Scarff leads the acclaimed world-jazz ensemble Natraj and has appeared in major international festivals in India, West Africa, the US, and Canada. His playing melds the improvisational nuances of jazz and Indian classical music with the polyrhythm’s of West African music.

 

A versatile pianist, Roberto Poli began his musical studies at age twelve. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and Honors in Piano Performance and Chamber Music from the Venice Conservatory in 1993 and earned a Masters Degree with Distinction and Academic Honors at the New England Conservatory of Music. Poli will give a concert of the late works of Chopin on Sunday, March 16 at 2:00 pm.

Italian born Poli has been internationally acclaimed as a soloist, chamber musician, harpsichordist and conductor at major venues worldwide. He has performed at notable venues including Jordan Hall and the Gardner Museum in Boston, Teatro La Fenice in Venice and many others. He has been heard on major radio stations in the US and beyond. He is on the faculty at the New England Conservatory's Preparatory School and the Rivers School Conservatory where he is also the Artist-in-Residence.

Join the Boston Children’s Chorus for an exciting concert on Sunday, March 30 at 2:00 pm. The program will include a varied repertoire of traditional, spiritual and folk songs.

The Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) is a multi-racial, multi-cultural arts education organization that uses music as a powerful tool for social change by uniting a diverse group of children to sing, perform and serve as ambassadors of harmony for the city of Boston. The program is comprised of over 275 singers ages 7-18 in nine choirs representing more than 50 of Boston’s urban and suburban neighborhoods. Since its inception, the children’s voices have been heard by millions, both live and on television.

Artistic Director, Anthony Trecek-King joined the Boston Children’s Chorus in the fall of 2006. He earned his Master of Music degree in conducting from Florida State University. He was the Artistic Director of the Nebraska Choral Arts Society, the largest choral organization in Nebraska. To learn more about the Boston Children’s Chorus, please visit www.bostonchildrenschorus.org or call 617-778-2242.

The AARP® Tax-Aide™ Foundation will have trained volunteers on hand on Saturdays from 1:30-3:30 pm each week in Rooms A & B through April 12. The volunteers, who are trained by the IRS, will be ready to answer questions and fill out basic (non-business) tax returns.

 

Join author Stephanie Schorow on Thursday March 6 at 7:00 pm for a talk on, The Crime of the Century, the first book on the Brink’s robbery in thirty years. The narrative sets straight many inaccuracies found in the 1978 Hollywood film The Brink’s Job and answers the question, “How did a ragtag group of petty criminals—Irish, Italian, and one Jew—somehow pull off a nearly perfect crime?” The talk will be followed by a book signing with books provided by the New England Mobile Book Fair.

On January 17, 1950, seven robbers in weird masks crept into the vault room of the Brink’s armored car garage on Prince Street in Boston’s North End and walked out with more than $2.5 million in cash, checks, and securities. For six years, the culprits eluded prosecution until one of them finally turned states evidence and the Brink's caper was cracked. The crime has been the subject of two major Hollywood movies and numerous books but even so, many mysteries linger about the fabulous Brink's job, including what really happened to all that loot?

Stephanie Schorow is a Boston-based freelance writer focusing on topics of regional and national interest. A former reporter for The Boston Herald and the Associated Press, she is the author of Boston on Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston and The Cocoanut Grove Fire. Her articles appear regularly in The Boston Globe and other New England publications.

 

The library’s poetry series continues on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 pm. The series is directed by Doug Holder founder of Ibbetson St. Press of Somerville, MA. Poets poets Sue Owen, Moira Linehan and Barbara Helfgott Hyett will give readings. The readings will be followed by an open mic with a limit of one poem a person.

Sue Owen taught as the poet-in-residence at Louisiana State University and received the Professional Artist of the Year Award from the Louisiana State Arts Council.

Moira Linehan holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College and has had residencies at the Millay Colony for the Arts, The Poetry Center of Chicago, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Barbara Helfgott Hyett has been a poet-in-the-schools, an editor, and a professor at MIT and at Boston University, where she received the Sproat Award for Excellence in Teaching English.

 

Imagine that your friends, families, and neighbors were being taken away and killed because of their beliefs. If you had the power to save as many as you possibly could—but not all—would you use that power? This is exactly the decision Rezso Kasztner, a prominent Hungarian lawyer in the 1940’s, had to make as the Nazi’s invaded Hungary with the goal in mind to eradicate the entire Hungarian Jewish population. By ingratiating himself into Nazi culture and with sheer courage and smarts he negotiated a deal that resulted in Kasztner’s Train—the train ride that transported 1,684 Hungarian Jews out of Nazi-controlled Hungary to freedom in Switzerland.

Hungarian-born author Anna Porter tells the fascinating story behind Kasztner—what drove him to make the risky rescue and the controversy that followed his rescue mission and polarized his legacy in Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust. Porter will give an author talk on Wednesday, March 12 at 7:00 pm. The talk will be followed by a book signing with books provided by the New England Mobile Book Fair.

Anna Porter personally experienced the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. A celebrated former publisher in Toronto, she is the author of several books, including The Storyteller, a memoir of her family through seven centuries of Hungarian history.

The most popular American house styles today are still capes, bungalows, victorians and colonials. For owners of older homes the perennial struggle is how to best live in them with our changing needs for more space. The likely solution, add on; the challenge, how to do it right.

Award winning architect Frank Shirley’s new book, New Rooms for Old Houses: Beautiful Additions for the Traditional Home, published in conjunction with The National Trust for Historic Preservation, shows through words and pictures, how to enlarge an historical home without sacrificing the charm and character of the original structure.

Join Shirley for an author talk on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:30 pm. The talk will be followed by a book signing with books provided by New England Mobile Book Fair.

Shirley is the recipient of the Boston Society of Architects’ award for Excellence in Architecture and is their appointed member to the Cambridge Historical Commission. He was the project architect for two homes featured on the PBS television series, This Old House and is a featured guest on the March edition of Books and Beyond, the library's NewTV cable access show. The show airs on the Red Channel, Comcast Ch.9, RCN Ch.13 and Verizon Ch. 33, Mon-Sun 2:30 pm, Wed-Fri 8:00 pm and Sat and Sun 8:00 am.

 

Newton's pure water originates in the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts, yet the area around Quabbin is unfamiliar to most residents. Allen Young, land protection advocate and author of North of Quabbin Revisited: A Guide to Nine Towns North of the Quabbin Reservoir will be the featured speaker for the Newton Conservators Spring Lecture on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 pm. He will talk about the unique nine-town area known as the North Quabbin as well as the Quabbin Reservoir itself, and about exciting and sometimes difficult land protection and recreational opportunities there. It has relevance for the people of Newton who may appreciate the concept of saving the rural parts of the Commonwealth that are under so much development pressure.

Do you need to probate a will? Are you concerned with guardianship of a loved one? Are you planning an adoption or getting divorced? On Wednesday, March 19 at 3:30 pm the library Legal Series will continue with John Buonomo, Register of Probate, Middlesex County and John J. Twomey, Deputy Register and General Counsel to Register Buonomo. They will be here to answer your questions and speak about The Middlesex Probate and Family Court; the busiest court in New England. Mr. Buonomo is in his second elected term as Register, holds a Masters Degree in Public Aministration from Northeastern University, and resides in Newton.

Join Marsha Hurst, Lara Birk and Laurie Rosenblatt as they read and discuss their experiences as contributors to Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies on Thursday, March 20 at 7:00 pm.

Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies echoes with personal accounts of illness, diagnosis, and treatment in which women tell their stories in many voices and genres. The narratives acknowledge that women’s illness experiences are more than their diseases, that they encompass their entire lives including their experiences of sexuality and reproduction, and their roles as professionals and family caregivers. Most importantly, the book connects women’s suffering and advocacy for their lives.

Marsha Hurst, co-editor, is a research scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University, where she also works with the Narrative Medicine Program. As senior advisor at the Medicare Rights Center, her work focuses on health education and advocacy for older adults.

Lara Birk, contributor, is an academic counselor, writer, and photographer living in the greater Boston area. She is currently working on an interdisciplinary theory of chronic pain and invisible disabilities in her graduate studies at Tufts University, and is a program director there.

Laurie Rosenblatt, contributor is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has published book chapters on grief and psychosocial and spiritual issues at the end of life, as well as articles on narrative and medicine in numerous publications. She is a published poet.

 

Do you know how your food is produced and brought to your table, how land use, oil consumption, air and water quality, nutrition and food safety are all affected in the process, not only in our country but worldwide? Come hear Frances Moore Lappé describe not only the damage done by our global food industrial complex but also what we as citizens can do to help bring about a more rational food supply system in our communities and in the wider world. Her talk, Getting a Grip: Our Food and Our Small Planet will be held on Monday, March 24 at 7:00 pm as part of the Green Decade Coalition’s 2008 Environmental Speaker Series.

Frances Moore Lappé’s ground-breaking 1971 book, Diet for a Small Planet awakened a whole generation to the human-made causes of hunger and the human potential for eliminating it. Lappé has joined with others to build organizations for increasing and diffusing knowledge of how our food is produced and for supporting innovative efforts to create socially and nutritionally better alternatives.

 

Do you want to protect your children, your pets and your health? Learn everything you need to know about growing a beautiful, low maintenance, environmentally safe, lush green lawn in a program sponsored by the Newton Department of Public Works to be held on Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00 pm. The Ultimate Green Lawns workshop will teach you about an organic lawn care program that features a new deep root ecological grass called ECO-LAWN that requires no watering and no fertilizer or regular cutting. A question and answer session will follow the speaker’s presentation. Free Starbucks Coffee and Whole Foods Dessert will be served at 7:00 pm.

The program presenter, Jackson Madnick, is an environmental expert and recipient of the 2007 Regional Environmental Hero Award.

 

EEC’s will be provided. Questions, inquiries about EEC’s or to register: 617-796-1370.

The Mother Goose on the Loose programs are federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

 

This year’s Spring Fling, the library's major fund raising event, will take place on Saturday, March 29 at 7:00 pm. Celebrate the contributions of Jody Adams with co-author Ken Rivard (In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant), Joseph Finder (Power Play), Rebecca Goldstein (Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity), Nathaniel Philbrick (Mayflower), Rishi Reddi (Karma and Other Stories), and David Allen Sibley (The Sibley Guide to Birds). Enjoy opening remarks by NPR’s Tom Ashbrook, Honorary Chair, and author introductions and comments by author, William Novak.

Eat, drink and mingle with the authors. Bring your credit card and check book to participate in our literary themed silent action. Bid on extraordinary baskets which include items such as Red Sox tickets, weekend get-aways, sumptuous dinners, theatre tickets and more. Purchase our authors’ books and have them autographed.

Proceeds will go towards upgrading the library’s computer network for faster access to the internet and to the library catalogues. Tickets are $100 each and will be available via the library website in mid-February. Or, checks (made out to the Trustees of the Newton Free Library) can be mailed to Spring Fling, Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton, MA 02459. Info: Contact Devra Kiel Simon, Director of Development, 617-796-1407 or
dsimon@minlib.net.

 

Join us for a Teen Open Mic on Saturday, April 5 from 2:00-4:00 pm. Sing a song, play an acoustic musical piece, read a poem, present a dramatic interpretation, or speak your mind on current issues. Time limit, five minutes, and all presentations must be suitable for a family audience. Participants, 7th graders and up, must preregister between March 3 and 31 with Jean Holmblad at jholmblad@minlib.net or 617-796-1370. Participants will receive a T-shirt designed by a Library Teen Advisory Board member.

 

Do you daydream about the “what if’s” in your life and long for the chance to explore roads not taken? Perhaps you had a successful career, but now are looking for new challenges that fit more with your current life stage and give you the opportunity to explore your passions and interests. Brian Kurth, founder of VocationVacations and author of Test-Drive Your Dream Job, Roberta Taylor, professional Life Coach and founder of Pathmaking for Life, along with several “vocationers” over age-50 will help you get where you want to go at a Discovering What’s Next’s® Forum Monday, April 7 at 7:00 pm in the Druker Auditorium. A book signing will follow the forum. Info: http://www.discoveringwhatsnext.com/