Piccolo’s Restaurant   110 Elm Street       413 572-1433

Join the Mystery Dinner Theatre Players and experience
a full evening of entertainment as you unravel the murder mystery!

Sunday Februry 22nd 6:00 pm

 FOR RESERVATION  413 – 572-1433

First Congregational Church
18 Broad Street

The Young Singers of Greater Westfield will be staging their Spring Concert this year on Saturday, April 4th at 4:00 PM. This FREE event is open to the public and will be held at the First Church. For more info on the Young Singers, go to  http://www.ysgw.org/  or contact  Janet St. Jean at 563-5156.

2009 Spring Lecture Series

Lectures take place on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. in the Lang Auditorium, 6 Elm Street, unless otherwise noted.

• Educate Malawi, Inc. with Karen Hardy, Teacher. February 25, 2009

• The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England. (illustrated presentation and book signing) with Diane Rapaport, Author. March 11, 2009

• 400 Miles of the Connecticut River with Michael Tougias, Author. March 25, 2009

• Stories Carved In Stone: Westfield, Massachusetts with Bob Clark, Author. April 8, 2009

• Watercolor Demonstration: The Westfield Athenaeum Building with Susan T. Pecora, Artist. April 15, 2009

• Poetry Night in Celebration of National Poetry Month with Lori Desrosiers, Poet. April 22, 2009

• Rock and Alpine Gardening with Pernell Gerver, Horiculturalist. April 29, 2009

• The Historical Journal of MassachusettsL Celebrating 37 Years of Publishing Local History with L. Mara Dodge, Editor. May 13, 2009

• EastWest Institute with John Mroz, President, Founder and CEO. May 20, 2009

• Jazz with Too Human, Jazz Duo featuring Ellen Schwartz and Roger Bruno. June 3, 2009

For more information about the Athenaeum’s free Lecture Series, call Reference and Information Services, at 413-568-0716 or go to our website www.westath.org

~The Lecture Series is funded in part by the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum~

Westfield on Weekends, Inc. (WOW) Third Annual Meeting  on February 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lang Auditorium at the Westfield Athenaeum.

President Bob Plasse noted that the agenda will include a slide presentation highlighting major WOW-sponsored events from this past year and an overview of plans for the coming year, including WinterGreen Days, which will run from March 1 through early May. The Westfield State College Jazz Trio will entertain guests at this year’s annual meeting. A new slate of officers and directors on the board of Westfield on Weekends will be presented. President Plasse will also present volunteer appreciation awards to those who have provided outstanding support to the non-profit organization this past year.
A reception will follow. Catering will be provided by Lydia’s Gathering Place.

Westfield on Weekends, Inc. is a 501© (3) organization whose mission is to enhance the quality of the community life in Westfield. The four major themes Westfield on Weekends sponsors each season throughout the year include Harvest Days, Dickens Days, WinterGreen Days and The Good Old Summertimes.
For more information, call 413-562-2277 or visit their website www.westfieldonweekends.org  

KATRINA BROWNE

KATRINA BROWNE Scanlon Banquet Hall Westfield State Campus Monday, February 9, 2009 7:00pm

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North When: Monday, February 9, 2009 Where: Scanlon Banquet Hall Time: 7pmIn “Traces of the Trade,” Producer/Director Katrina Browne tells the story of her forefathers, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Given the myth that the South is solely responsible for slavery, viewers will be surprised to learn that Browne?s ancestors were Northerners. The film follows Browne and nine fellow family members on a remarkable journey which brings them face-to-face with the history and legacy of New England?s hidden enterprise. Katrina Browne is the seventh generation descendant of Mark Anthony DeWolf, the family’s first slave trader. Before launching this film and family process in 1999, Ms. Browne served as Outreach Planning Coordinator for the film adaptation of Anna Deavere Smith’s critically acclaimed play about the LA riots, Twilight: Los Angeles. She consulted with race relations and media experts to plan a national outreach campaign to use the PBS broadcast and video distribution as the basis for community dialogue on race, ethnicity and equity. She came to that work and filmmaking from writing a Masters thesis comparing the role that Greek tragedies played in civic life in ancient Greece to the untapped potential of film to catalyze civic dialogue today. She wrote this thesis while earning a Masters in Theology at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked as a senior staff person at Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program now operating in 15 cities that she co-founded in 1991 in Washington, DC to recruit more young people and people of color into nonprofit careers. She held responsibilities in national start-up, site program development, evaluation and fundraising. She has a B.A. from Princeton University, where she studied cultural anthropology with a focus on oral history, and wrote a senior thesis on France?s role in the Holocaust. More information and press photos are available at http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/.

IMAGinING TOBIA

IMAGinING TOBIA The show runs February 3 – March 7.  More details…

IMAGinING TOBIA Professor Salem Mekuria, Tryptyich Video Installation, New England Premier Ethiopia Whispers Sofia KifleShow runs: February 3 – March 7 Artist reception:  February 12, 5:30 – 8:00 Professor Salem Mekuria will speak February 12 at 6:00 at the WSC Downtown Art Gallery 105 Elm Street Westfield, MA Daniel Tesfalidet will give the Gallery Talk February 5 at 1:00 at the WSC Downtown Art Gallery Gallery Reception featuring Ethiopian music of Debo Trio, refreshments Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:30 - 8:00 pm Westfield State College Downtown Art Gallery, Rinnova Building, 105 Elm Street, WestfieldDr. Salem Mekuria, IMAGinING TOBIA, Video Installation and Presentation Salem writes, I offer IMAGinING TOBIA as a mirror on which to reflect issues confronting the nation, and as a space in which to meditate on the disjunction between our ‘real’ and imagined knowledge of Ethiopia and its multi-faceted history. As an Ethiopian-American I examine my own gaze on my native land as I take in impressions of the variety and diversity of the landscape and its people. In this way, TOBIA (a vernacular pronunciation for Ethiopia) represents a travelogue recorded by a hybridized explorer’s camera, then layered and juxtaposed in infinite ways to create a multitude of meanings and associations. The triptych is a reference to Ethiopia’s traditional religious art.  Salem Mekuria, originally from Ethiopia, is now a Professor of Art at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She has worked with NOVA/Public Television and with numerous film productions focusing on issues of African women and development. Salem is the recipient of numerous awards, production grants, and fellowships. Her films have been broadcast internationally and have screened at venues around the world. Sofia Kifle, Ethiopia Whispers Drawing from her life growing up in Ethopia through simple colorful patterns and symbols Sofia Kifle’s paintings express the movements, journeys, and crossroads of her life experiences. “My paintings incorporate the fusion of experiences, observation, influences and contemplation spanning my entire life. Growing up in my native Ethiopia, my childhood imagination was always moved by the ragged lines, the warm colors, the expressive eyes, and the stories told by ancient religious paintings in the churches. I am a gypsy who tries to tell eyeful stories by means of color, brush strokes, movements, shapes and characters. These stories visualize and portray my story, the stories of the Africans, the stories of the Americans and the stories of the world.” Ethiopian Musicians of Debo Trio Debo Trio is comprised of three members of the Boston-based group, Debo Band, an eight-piece Ethio-groove project.  The trio performs chamber-like renditions of the funk and dance music for which Debo Band is known, while focusing on the more traditional elements of Ethiopian music, including the music of the *azmari*.Ethiopian Musicians of Debo Trio Debo Trio is comprised of three members of the Boston-based group, Debo Band, an eight-piece Ethio-groove project.  The trio performs chamber-like renditions of the funk and dance music for which Debo Band is known, while focusing on the more traditional elements of Ethiopian music, including the music of the *azmari*.

The Amelia Park Children’s Museum is proud to present the 5th Annual Penguin Plunge on the Westfield town Green. This years’s event is scheduled to kick off at 1:00 PM on Saturday, February 7th.

Pre-registration begins at 11:00 AM or the day before from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM at the APCM. For more information, call the APCM at 413-572-4014 or go to http://www.ameliaparkmuseum.org/.

Woodward Center, WSC   6:00pm Reception   7:00pm Program

All are welcome to attend!
Honored by Time magazine as “One of the 100 Most Influential Americans of the Twentieth Century,” and recently as “One of the 100 Most Influential Figures in American History,” by The Atlantic, consumer advocate and presidential candidate for the Green Party, Ralph Nader, has devoted his life to giving ordinary people the tools they need to defend themselves against corporate negligence and government indifference.

With a tireless, selfless dedication, he continues to expose and remedy the dangers that threaten a free and safe society. Nader was featured recently as the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary, “An Unreasonable Man.”  He has also written his introspective book, The Seventeen Traditions about the earliest days of his own life, where he revisits seventeen key traditions he absorbed from his parents, his siblings, and the people in his community, and draws from them inspiring lessons for today’s society.

Nader’s foray into public life began in 1965 when he took on the Goliath of the auto industry with his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, a shocking exposé of the disregard carmakers held for the safety of their customers. The Senate hearing into Nader’s accusations and the resulting life-saving motor vehicle safety laws catapulted Nader into the public sphere.

Believing that Republicans and Democrats are so ideologically close he calls them “tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.” Nader organized the Green Party’s first presidential campaign in 1996 to challenge the “duopoly” of the two-party system. He received 700,000 votes on a limited campaign budget of $5000 and he ran again in 2000, receiving 2.8 million votes. His goal is to build the foundation of a third political party and a robust progressive political movement that rally around issues rather than empty slogans and figureheads.

Both citizens and corporate audiences listen intently to what Nader has to say. Years after they graduate, college students tell him how his lectures changed their lives. His message is simple and compelling: “To go through life as a non-citizen would be to feel that there’s nothing you can do, that nobody’s listening, that you don’t matter. But to be a citizen is to enjoy the deep satisfaction of seeing the prevention of pain, misery and injustice.”