Facing a growing gap between revenues and expenses, as well as cuts in state funding, Newton stands at a crossroads. Should the city continue to trim each department’s budget, or should some services be cut altogether? Are there ways of consolidating, outsourcing or otherwise working smarter to reduce costs? Can the city increase revenue without an override? Do we need to increase spending on infrastructure or save for retiree health care obligations?

Over the last eight months, fourteen highly qualified volunteers from the city’s Citizen Advisory Group have been examining school and city departments and comparing our services to those of similar municipalities. This winter and spring they issued five reports. In an attempt to educate as many Newton residents as possible about the group’s findings and to invite citizens to play an active role in the decision making process, the League of Women Voters, Newton has organized a series of discussions featuring each report and its authors.

In our technologically driven culture where a world of information is available at the click of a mouse, and we connect with others via e-mail and Blackberry, there is an essential element that is missing; attention. The loss of attention compromises our ability to connect, reflect, and relax; secrets to coping with a multitasking world, and the implications for the health of our society are stark. Maggie Jackson’s new book, Distracted, vividly shows how day by day, our cyber-centric, interrupted lives erode our capacity for deep focus and awareness. She will give an author talk on Tuesday, May 5 at 7:30 pm. The talk will be followed by a book signing with books provided by New England Mobile Book Fair. Now in the third printing, Distracted has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, BusinessWeek, London Sunday Times and media worldwide.

Distracted makes it clear that if we squander our powers of attention, the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress, our technological age could ultimately slip into cultural decline. On a hopeful note Jackson’s book points out that we are capable of igniting a renaissance of attention by strengthening our skills of focus and perception, the keys to judgment, memory, morality and happiness.

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist who writes the Balancing Acts column for the Boston Globe. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and in other national publications.

Here’s your chance to find out more about Newton Open Studios (NOS), an annual, city-wide event during which Newton artists and craftspeople invite the public into their homes and studios in an informal setting to browse and shop from an array of paintings, jewelry, pottery, sculpture, photography and more.

Stop by the library on Tuesday, May 12 at 7:00 pm for a wine and dessert reception sponsored by NOS where you will meet dozens of artists, enjoy delicious treats and see a delightful array of the art and craft that will be exhibited at Open Studio locations throughout the city on the weekend of May 16-17. Printed guides for the May 16-17 event will be available.

The library’s May art exhibitors are among the 160 artists who will participate in NOS. Other exhibitors range from well established artists with work in many collections, to emerging artists. For information visit
www.newtonopenstudios.com.

Have you always wanted to be an author? Has everyone told you, “Hey, you should write a book?” Ric Wasley, whose third novel was released in December of last year, started out six years ago like so many would-be authors, with an idea for a story and a need to tell it. His experience taught him that writing a book might actually have been the easiest part of the process; it was having the tenacity and above all learning the marketing and communications skills it takes to find a way to get someone to listen to your ideas that was hard. Join him for an interactive discussion on how to get major publishers to sit up and take notice of you. The program will be held on Thursday, May 14 at 7:00 pm.

This talk will go beyond the intricacies of structuring a plot and characters and will examine what an author needs to do to gain the attention of bookstores, libraries, agents and publishers. The program will also address current ‘hot button’ issues such as how to get a publishing deal in tough economic times and how the new wave of E-Publishing is completely changing the rules of the game.

Newton’s trees have been under attack. Have you noticed the defoliation caused by the invasion of Winter Moths over the past few years? Are you wondering if the dreaded Asian Long Horned Beetle that is wreaking such havoc in Worcester could show up in Newton?

In an attempt to address these important questions, the Newton Conservators will present a program called, Tree Pests and Tree Health: Woody Plant Pests and Diseases. The program will be held on Monday, May 18 at 7:00 pm. Julie Coop, Manager of Plant Health at Boston’s Arnold Arboretum, will address these tree health issues and give insight into what we should be doing about them.

Julie Coop is a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture and the Massachusetts Arborist Association. She is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist.

This event is part of the Newton Conservators Lecture Series and has been organized by the Newton Tree Conservancy; a new non-profit working to raise public awareness of the importance of Newton's urban forest. The event is cosponsored by the Newton Conservators, the Newton Tree Conservancy, the Arnold Arboretum and the Newton Free Library.

In a lively program entitled, Hollywood, History and Conspiracy Theory, author Gordon B. Arnold will trace six decades of conspiracy themes in recent American history and reveal how they relate to the media. Beginning with the Cold War and reaching into the post 9/11 era, the discussion, based on Arnold’s book, Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics, will show how Hollywood taps into real-world fears and anxieties with a barrage of movies and television series that capture the American imagination. The talk will be held on Thursday, May 21 at 7:30 pm and will be followed by a book signing.

Tracing the historic events that led to such films as I Was a Communist Spy for the FBI, The Manchurian Candidate and All the President’s Men, Arnold’s book suggests that the importance of conspiracy theory ideas extend beyond theaters and living rooms. His concluding chapter suggests that Americans’ exposure to conspiracy theories have impacted us in big ways, even affecting how some interpreted the devastating events of the 9/11 attacks which prompted new and controversial conspiracy theories.

Gordon B. Arnold is Professor of Liberal Arts at Montserrat College of Art, where he has taught courses in film history and politics for many years. In addition to Conspiracy Theory, he wrote The Afterlife of America’s War in Vietnam (2006).

In what he describes as a “late-life credo,” science writer Chet Raymo traces his personal journey from traditional faith-based Catholicism to scientific agnosticism in his new book, When God is Gone, Everything is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist. Raymo will give an author talk on Tuesday, May 26 at 7:30 pm. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

Raymo has assembled a stunning array of scientists, philosophers, mystics and poets such as Richard Dawkins, Owen Gingerich and Gerard Manley Hopkins who help him articulate his unique perspective as a religious naturalist. Delving into the fray between science and religion, and carving out his space between militant atheism and the faith-based scientific approach, Raymo traces his half-century journey from his early faith-based Catholicism to his personal brand of scientific agnosticism which holds reverence for the unknown.

Chet Raymo is the best-selling author of sixteen books. His long-time Boston Globe column, Science Musings continues to be published on line at www.sciencemusings.com.

The next generation of environmental activists are living right here in Newton! As part of their Environmental Speaker Series the Green Decade/Newton's May program will feature Newton students from elementary, middle and high schools, showcasing their environmental projects which have been school and community focused. Join us for this delightful look at an outdoor classroom in the woods, the student-coordinated Business Recycling Project for three Newton villages, and other ways that our next generation is learning -- and teaching us -- to make a greener Newton and improve the environment for us all. The program will be held on Thursday, May 28 at 7:00 pm. For more information on Green Decade/Newton visit www.greendecade.org.

The library will be holding a free monthly class called, Applying for a Job Online. What are scannable resumes, job banks, keywords and guerilla job search tactics? This class will help job seekers as they navigate the online job search environment. In addition to learning about online job search vocabulary, participants will learn about the wealth of online and print resources available to guide them through the job search process. Stop by the reference desk or call 617-796-1380 for the schedule or to sign-up for the class. Registration is required.