December 2008 Lectures & Events

A Network of Greenways for Boston
	The city of Newton is fortunate to have a beautiful greenway extension along the Charles River on which cyclists can ride to points in Boston or Cambridge. While Boston has some lovely greenways along rivers, sea and rail corridors, they are not connected. Many people would like to bicycle more to work and for pleasure, but are hindered by the lack of safe, traffic-free routes along which to ride. With the addition of some key links, Boston’s greenways will form a network connecting six times as many origin-destination pairs as the current set of greenways, multiplying the potential for utilitarian cycling and making Boston a world-class hub for recreational cycling. Studies performed by engineering students at Northeastern University have demonstrated the feasibility of supplying these missing links.
Join Peter Furth, Ph.D., Bike Newton and the Bicycle Pedestrian Task Force on Monday, December 1 at 7:00 pm for a program called, A Network of Greenways for Boston. The program will highlight potential greenway connections including “HarborRide” linking the Charlestown Bridge to Fort Point Channel, several missing links along the Emerald Necklace including paths along the Arborway, the Route 9 crossing, the Landmark Center interchange and Charlesgate, and cross-town links between the Fens and the South Boston and Dorchester beaches. Peter G. Furth, Ph.D., is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University, where he is responsible for their program in Transportation Engineering. He is a teacher and award-winning author of technical publications in transit operations, traffic engineering, transportation planning and bicycle facility design. He has spoken at forums across the globe and has been a consultant for more than 30 U.S. transit agencies. Dr. Furth is a member of the Brookline Transportation Board and its Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Spiritual Needs at the End of Life: A Multi-faith Panel Presentation

Join the Circle of Caring at Hospice of the Good Shepherd for a program entitled Spiritual Needs at the End of Life: A Multi-faith Panel Presentation. The program will be held on Wednesday, December 3 at 7:00 pm and will feature a moderated panel of speakers with extensive experience in health care chaplaincy. Representing the Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Catholic perspectives, panelists will address the spiritual needs, religious end-of-life issues, ritual/liturgical needs and psycho-spiritual needs of people within their respective communities. They will provide guidance in recognizing and responding to common spiritual needs and/or behaviors which relate to grave illness, death and burial. Participants will come to recognize differences among various faith groups in the ways they may respond to grave illness, death and burial, and the sources of and reasons for varying end-of-life needs in different faith-based communities. The program is free and open to the public. Nurses and Social Workers who are interested in earning CEU’s must register in advance with the Circle of Caring at Hospice of the Good Shepherd; email jsax@hospicegoodshepherd.org.

Moderator, Rabbi Carol Glass is the Spiritual Care Coordinator at Circle of Caring at Hospice of the Good Shepherd. With over 20 years experience as a Rabbi, spiritual leader, counselor, supervisor, teacher and hospital/hospice chaplain in Jewish and interfaith settings, Rabbi Glass has a strong commitment to quality patient/family care with attention to enhancing opportunities for spiritual growth and maintenance of dignity.

Panelist Chaplain Mary Lahaj is a prominent member of the Muslim community and holds a MA in religious studies with a concentration in Islam and Christian/Muslim Relations. A committed interfaith educator, Mary has worked tirelessly as a pioneer to promote peace and understanding and is currently a resident chaplain in a selective program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Panelist Kathleen A. Gallivan, S.N.D, Ph.D., is a Roman Catholic Sister and member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She is the Director of the Chaplaincy Services Department at both Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals and is certified by ACPE and NACC as a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor. She is a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, a licensed psychologist, supervises Clinical Pastoral Education students and serves on several hospital committees.

Panelist Reverend Dr. Frances Bogle is, among other things, a clinically trained chaplain and program director with experience in hospital, educational and church settings. With a commitment to creating justice centered healing relationships that enable others to experience the sacred in their lives, he is a Just Peace Coordinator for the Metropolitan Boston Association, UCC, is the Director of Protestant Chaplaincy Services at Newton Wellesley Hospital and is a Field Education Supervisor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge.

Panelist Karen Landy studied at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia where she specialized
in Geriatric Chaplaincy. In her work at Jewish Family and Children's Service she provided rabbinic support to a number of area hospices and those with mental and physical illnesses. She currently works with Hebrew Senior Life, provides rabbinic leadership to Havurat Shalom in Andover, MA and Temple Shir Hadash of Westford and serves on the faculty of Hebrew College's Rabbinic School.

Join us For Tea With Mary Cassatt

photo by Ruth Carr

Join us for Tea With Mary Cassatt, a One-woman Show, on Monday, December 8 at 7:30 pm. Written, directed and starring Laura R. Duggan, the program celebrates the life of artist Mary Cassatt, the woman who was world famous for her pictures of mothers and babies. Mary Cassatt first studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later with some of the great masters in Europe. She joined the Impressionists in Paris and was the only American artist invited to exhibit with them. She worked very closely with Edgar Degas; their relationship has long been a matter of conjecture. Don’t miss this chance to spend an evening inside the life and art of this American original. The play will be followed by a question and answer session with Miss Cassatt.

Laura R. Duggan received her Master of Arts in Theater Education from Emerson College. Mrs. Duggan is a Massachusetts certified Secondary History teacher with over ten years experience working with "at risk" students in Boston. She wrote the musical, Give Thanks, which tells the story of the Wampanoag and Pilgrims at Plymouth.

Mrs. Duggan is the featured guest on the December edition of Books and Beyond, the library’s monthly cable access TV show produced in conjunction with NewTV. For Newton residents the show can be viewed on NewTV's Red channel on Comcast channel 9, RCN channel 13 and Verizon channel 33; seven days a week at 5:00 pm.

This program is funded in part by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Poisoned Profits by Phillip and Alice Shabecoff

Join journalists Alice and Phillip Shabecoff, authors of, Poisoned Profits, for a shocking look at how their landmark investigation has linked industrial toxins to the current rise in childhood disease and death. They will speak on Thursday, December 11 at 7:30 pm. Their eye-opening findings and indisputable data show how our country values profits over children’s health and reveal that baby boomers’ children, the first to be raised in a “toxified” world, have higher rates of birth defects, asthma, cancer, autism and other serious illnesses than previous generations.

The Shabecoffs cite case histories such as Port Neches, Texas, where so many graduates of a high school near synthetic rubber and chemical plants contracted cancer that the school was nicknamed “Leukemia High.” Their evidence also shows how our homes are infested with countless dangerous and harmful toxins such as flame retardants in crib mattresses, harmful plastics in teething rings and antibiotics and arsenic in chicken; additives that are absorbed by vulnerable children, pregnant women and others. The problems are compounded by investigations that are sabotaged by chemical corporations and the government’s refusal to police them. The book also contains hopeful information on grassroots parents’ groups that are pressuring politicians, “green chemistry” that is being practiced in labs and includes helpful tips on reducing risks to children through their diets, play and how concerned parents can reduce toxins in their homes.

Philip Shabecoff was the chief environmental correspondent for The New York Times for fourteen years. He founded and published Greenwire, an online daily digest of environmental news. He has appeared on, among others, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, CNN News, NPR and the BBC. He was selected as one of the “Global 500” by the United Nations’ Environmental Program for his environmental writing.

Alice Shabecoff is a freelance journalist focusing on family and consumer topics. Her work has appeared in, among other publications, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune. She was executive director of the National Consumers League, the country’s oldest consumer organization.

Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia

Thomas B. Graboys, MD, who was part of the “The Cardiology Dream Team” summoned to treat Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis after he collapsed on the basketball court in 1993, will give an author talk along with Peter Zheutlin on Tuesday, December 16 at 7:00 pm. In his poignant and unflinching memoir, Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia, Graboys tells the story of his journey from the pinnacle of his career when he was a renowned cardiologist noted for his attention to the hearts and souls of his patients, who was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the staff of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, through the acceptance of his diagnosis with both Parkinson’s and Lewy Body disease, and the daily journey he has been on with his family as he battles his particularly aggressive diseases.

While Dr. Graboys can no longer see patients or give rounds, is stooped, and shuffles when he walks, and faces daily physical, mental and emotional battles, his story is a testament to the fact that he is still a healer. The book, a means for him to continue his life-long mission of caring for the world one human being at a time, provides comfort, inspiration and validation for others in their own struggles.

Thomas B. Graboys, MD is President Emeritus of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation in Brookline, MA. During his 30-year career, he has been widely regarded as one of Boston’s leading cardiologists and has been published extensively in scientific literature. In 1985, Dr. Graboys was part of the team of doctors who won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Parkinson’s disease and dementia forced his premature retirement from active clinical practice in 2006.

Peter Zheutlin is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, AARP The Magazine, and dozens of other newspapers and magazines in the United States and abroad. He is the author of Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride.

Computer Classes

Stop by the library and sign up for a free one-session computer class in Internet, PC Basics or other topics. Info: 617-796-1380.

Booklists Available

Looking for a good book to read or conducting research in a particular area? The Reference Department has compiled many booklists in a variety of subjects: African Americans in American Life, College Admissions, Books for Modern Parents, Buddhism, Day Trips, Gardening Guides, Rise and Fall of Saddam Hussein, Retirement and much more. Ask a Reference librarian at the YA Desk on the second floor for help in locating a list, or click here.

Computer Classes

Stop by the library and sign up for a free one-session computer class in Internet, PC Basics or other topics. For more information call 617-796-1380 or see class schedule.

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