We got great news this week, our mom is going to get a Covid vaccine this month! Jeez is this just… a hell of a time to be in the US. We hope you’re all doing alright out there. We’re really looking forward to seeing our dear mom, she’s very nice!
Are you in need of help of any sort? Speak with Mass Support! They’re here to help, and they’re doing a lot of stuff virtually this year. You can also just get in touch via MASSSUPPORT@RIVERSIDECC.ORG or 888-215-4920.
Miss the movies? Watch Images Cinema online! Or watch Amherst Cinema online!
You can order Tony DiTerlizzi signed books here from Odyssey Bookshop!
Buy comics from amazing local retailers Comics N’ More! They’re great!
You can join up with the Westfield Athenaeum Monthly Reading Challenge:
Sign up at https://westath.beanstack.org/ to join our Monthly Reading Challenges, running from September 2020 to June 2021. Each month, read a book for a new challenge and then join one or more of our Reader’s Chats to discuss the book you’ve read with other readers on the fourth Tuesdays of every month. Not sure what to read? Check our Facebook page for a themed #shelfiesunday video and Beanstack for book lists for applicable challenges. The challenge and book clubs are for all ages.
Every day next week from 9AM – 5PM teens can do some take + make CD suncatchers at Palmer Public Library! Register here!
Hang your suncatcher in a sunny spot! Watch for rainbows, and maybe you will find a pot of gold at the end! Made of upcycled discs, this easy spring craft will light up your month! Kit include instructions, school glue, gems, ribbon, and CDs. Open to all ages, kits distributed via curbside service! Registration Required.
Monday from 12:30PM – 1:30PM you can attend the Westfield Athenaeum Facebook Live Lunchtime Librarian!
Are you ready to talk about books? Athenaeum librarians will be live on our Facebook page for an hour to help you find your next great read live on air. Please drop reading requests into the comments. Already reading a good book? Put that in the comments, too! There are never too many books. The Westfield Athenaeum will be offering live chats every Monday at 12:30 PM. Please see our Facebook page and schedule of events for more.
Monday at 6PM you can join Odyssey Books on Crowdcast on Monday March 1 at 6 PM for a conversation with Chang-rae Lee, author of My Year Abroad and Wesley Yu Associate Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College. To register click here!
Monday from 8PM – 10PM you can check out the Virtual Far Out Film Discussion via Zoom!
Far Out Film Discussion will have a zoom meeting to talk about Sabine Kleist, Age 7 by German director Helmut Dziuba. It can be found online at kanopy – http://forbes.kanopy.com/product/sabine-kleist-age-7. To virtually attend this discussion, click the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87523942049
Monday from 7PM – 8:30PM you can join folks at the Smith College Museum of Art for a discussion of the recently released Black Futures with the authors Jenna Wortham and Amanda Williams. Register here. Black Futures book is available for purchase in the SCMA Shop. Download the Black Futures poster. Poster by Max Aguilar.
Monday from 7PM – 8:30PM you can attend the Virtual Paradise City Readers group, this month they’re talking about the book Educated! Get a copy from the library by placing a hold here: https://northamptn.cwmars.org/eg/opac/record/4121421?locg=247. Join the Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/94099293382?pwd=VXRCeFFpMjExZlBKbEg0eFNVZkdQQT09. Meeting ID: 940 9929 3382. Passcode: 570748.
Respectful, queer/LGBT-friendly, easy-going bunch who want an excuse to get out more and talk about books. And have some snacks. Meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. We also have a google group, where people post info about the books and sometimes social events. You can find us at http://groups.google.com/group/westernmassbookgroup or write to westernmassbookgroup@googlegroups.com Copies of the discussion books are available to check out at the main desk most months, unless the title is in too high demand.
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Tuesday from 4PM – 5PM kids can get book recommendations via Book Snacks!
Reader’s Advisory is here for children! Grab a snack and munch as we share a variety of Juvenile Fiction and Graphic Novels. Don’t know what you want to read? Let us know in the comments and we will find a book for you. Or share your favorites with us. The Westfield Athenaeum will be offering Books Snacks at 4pm on the first Tuesday of the month on Facebook Live.
Tuesday from 6PM – 6:45PM kids in grades 1-2 can register for Bookworms! Register here!
Join us each week to read a book together and do an activity. Bookworms will help build reading skills for emerging readers. This week’s book is… Diary of a Pug: Pug’s Snow Day by Kyla May
Tuesday from 6PM – 9PM you can check out the Northampton Webdive! It’s a regular get-together of folks who do web-ish stuff. It’s fun! Just register here!
Tuesday at 7PM you can attend a book talk with Gregory Brown, author of The Lowering Days. To register, click here!
Wednesday from 7PM – 8PM you can attend the Virtual Science Fiction and Fantasy Discussion, this month they’re talking about The Windup Girl! Join the Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86534561695?pwd=UHBydXRPVDVYelZLL2QrbGErREV2dz09. Meeting ID: 865 3456 1695. Passcode: 918897.
Anyone interested in Science Fiction or Fantasy is welcome. Although we focus on this month’s selection, we will discuss any topics related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, books or movies.
Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko. Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.
What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism’s genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution?
Wednesday from 7:30PM – 8:30PM you can join the Westfield Athenaeum as Librarians Discuss What Makes a Good Book Club?
Join us on Facebook Live on the first and third Wednesdays of each month for a group of Westfield Athenaeum librarians to discuss a variety of book and life-related topics. You can either join live and be part of the discussion or watch the episode later on our Facebook page. Are book clubs really all about the wine? What makes a good book club or a book club pick? What books have we read because of clubs that we totally had our minds changed by? Come for discussion and many awesome book recommendations that might help you with YOUR next book club!
Wednesday from 9:30AM – 12:30PM you can attend the Virtual Writing Room at Forbes Library!
Here’s all you need to join the Writing Room via Videoconference:To connect by smartphone, tablet, ipad, computer or laptop simply click on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82300075906?pwd=clVPNGhrbVJYQnQvM2V4bVlRYXdxUT09. Meeting ID: 823 0007 5906. Passcode: 528575. I will come online 15 minutes before our starting time (at 9:15) to answer any questions you might have. You will have the option to have your camera off or on, so you can join however you feel most comfortable. The sessions will NOT be recorded, and you have the option to be visible or not, so your privacy will be preserved just as it would if we were meeting at the library.
Wednesday from 4PM – 6PM teens can join Virtual D&D at Jones Library! The program is currently full but email teens@joneslibrary.org for more information or to ask about the wait list.
Wednesday from 7PM – 11PM you can hang with the lovely folks from Start Playing Online! They gather at the Discord channel: https://discord.gg/fAM8yJw. Most games are played on Board Game Arena if you want to check it out ahead of time. It’s fun and everyone’s nice!
Thursday from 3:30PM – 4:30PM teens can join the Westfield Athenaeum’s Teen Writing Group!
Do you like writing fantasy? Science fiction? Realistic fiction? All kinds are welcome at our Teen Writing Group. Each meeting tackles a new topic – suggested and voted on by group participants – with fun activities and writing prompts. In this class, you help pick what we learn and work on your creative writing skills! This group is for students in grades 5-12. Participents are not made to read their work unless they desire to do so. This class will take place on Zoom on the first and third Thursdays of every month.
Thursday from 3:30PM – 4:30PM teens can attend Teen Book Club at Forbes Library, to discuss Skyhunter by Marie Lu!
Join us for a chat and pick next month’s read! This meeting will take place on Zoom; please email mbishop@forbeslibrary.org for the link. This month, we will be discussing Skyhunter by Marie Lu. From the publisher: “Talin is a Striker, a member of an elite fighting force that stands as the last defense for the only free nation in the world: Mara. A refugee, Talin knows firsthand the horrors of the Federation, a world-dominating war machine responsible for destroying nation after nation with its terrifying army of mutant beasts known only as Ghosts. But when a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front to Mara’s capital, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? What secrets is he hiding? Only one thing is clear: Talin is ready to fight to the death alongside her fellow Strikers for the only homeland she has left . . . with or without the boy who might just be the weapon to save―or destroy―them all.”
Thursday from 5PM – 6PM you can attend the Miller Lecture by Asma Naeem, which will cover her book The Ethics of Canon Correction: Creating New Narratives in Art History.
Dr. Asma Naeem shares her work at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the National Portrait Gallery to correct the art historical canon and tell a broader, more inclusive narrative of a shared history based on the values of equity, diversity and justice.
Thursday at 7PM you can join the Yiddish Book Center for “TALK | Geographies of the Soul: Marjorie Agosín and Ruth Behar in Conversation on Memory, Identity, and Storytelling” Register here!
Two award-winning, Jewish, Latina writers, Marjorie Agosín and Ruth Behar, come together to discuss their creative writing as poets, memoirists, fiction writers, and, most recently, authors of, respectively, the young adult novels The Maps of Memory and Letters from Cuba. Join us for a lively conversation about Agosín’s and Behar’s spiritual and literary ties to their homelands—Agosín was raised in Chile and Behar was born in Cuba—and how their thinking about memory, identity, and storytelling has allowed them to address difficult topics such as loss, trauma, violence, social justice, immigration, and the search for home.
Thursday from 7PM – 8:30PM you can join the Greenfield Public Library for Thursday Night Trivia!
Looking for something fun? Join Jeremiah, Crista and Dave for a GPL night of virtual trivia on Zoom! Participants can play individually or in a team of up to five players. The night will include three rounds of questions, with each successive round getting harder until one person/team is victorious! The winner will receive a gift certificate to a locally owned business. The event is family friendly, but parents should plan on playing along. Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfl7JHI40bg3piWfZOG7TZ9cxM3oaJgler-G58ku0Fu6XIzMQ/viewform.This program, sponsored by the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library, is free and open to the public.
Thursday 7PM – 9PM the Black Art Matters festival will be going on at Amherst College. Register here!
In partnership with the Black Student Union, Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center and Arts at Amherst Initiative, the Mead Art Museum is proud to support the fourth installment of the Black Art Matters Festival. In 2017, Zoe Akoto ’21 noticed a lack of art by Black students on campus and started the Black Art Matters Festival as an affirmation and celebration of Black student artists and creators in the Five Colleges. This year, the festival will take place online via Zoom and feature performances and visual art by Black students at Amherst College. This program is free and open to all, but registration is required. Please use the link below to register for access to the Zoom link. If you have accessibility concerns, please contact Danielle Amodeo by email at damodeo13(at)amherst.edu or by phone at (413) 542-5651.
Thursday from 7:30PM – 9:30PM you can attend a virtual poetry discussion talking about Donika Kelly!
This weekly poetry discussion group is open to everyone including regulars and drop-ins. All voices are honored: first-time poetry readers and life-long devotees. Each week, the group convenes to discuss the work of a particular poet, usually contemporary, and sometimes one reading in the area. No prior reading or preparation required. Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/92356592326?pwd=OVNHM3JFQW5uVGw2dDNtN0JUeElMQT09. Meeting ID: 923 5659 2326. Passcode: 475928.
Friday from 1PM – 2PM you can attend a Poetry Discussion Group at Westfield Athenaeum! Register here!
Join a librarian-led discussion of contemporary poetry on a monthly theme. Bring a poem to share related to the theme (1-2 pages long) written by you or someone else. In March, we’ll discuss poems about animals. This group meets on Zoom, typically on the first Friday of every month. Register ahead of time to receive the Zoom link and a selection of poems by email.
Friday from 1PM – 2PM at the Westfield Athenaeum you can join a Poetry Discussion Group! Register here!
Join a librarian-led discussion of contemporary poetry on a monthly theme. Bring a poem to share related to the theme (1-2 pages long) written by you or someone else. In March, we’ll discuss poems about animals. This group meets on Zoom, typically on the first Friday of every month. Register ahead of time to receive the Zoom link and a selection of poems by email.
Friday from 1PM – 2PM you can check out a virtual Book/Movie/Podcast chat online with Forbes Library!
You are cordially invited to the Forbes Library Book Chat on Fridays at 1 pm! Participants may share what they’re reading, watching, and listening to, or just hang out to hear from others! All are welcome. Join the meeting: https://meet.jit.si/ForbesLibraryBookChat.
Friday from 11AM – 1PM find your next great book to read at Your Next Great Read Live!
On the first Friday of each month, on the library’s Twitter and Facebook, we provide YOUR NEXT GREAT READ LIVE!!! Post a title you’ve enjoyed on our Facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/Forbes.Library/) or on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ForbesLibrary), and we will respond with suggestions for other books (or movies, or music) we think you’ll like!
Friday from 3PM – 4PM teens can see what’s up in the Teen Lounge Discord with folks at Jones Library!
Have you heard? Teen Lounge has gone virtual! We’ve joined up with the teen departments at Chicopee and Forbes libraries to offer a virtual teen lounge for area teens ages 13-18 on our shared Discord server. You can participate in the server via text, voice, and/or video. This is a place to hang out and chat with friends and meet some new folks from around the Valley. Every Friday from 3-4pm we’ll have some sort of trivia, gaming, watch party, crafting, etc. so let us know what type of games and activities you want to see there! To get an invite to the teen-only server, please fill out this short form at least one hour before the program starts: tinyurl.com/joneslibteensdiscord. Send any comments or questions to teens@joneslibrary.org
Saturday at 11AM you can attend the Bravely Book and Journal Launch at Odyssey Bookshop! Register here!
Increasingly women’s stories are being shared, but their own distinct voices remain missing or difficult to access. Desiree Smelcer, South Hadley Public Library Adult Services Librarian, will host a lively Zoom conversation with Pauline Weger and Alicia Williamson, PhD, co-authors of BRAVELY, a curated collection of stories and sourced quotations from trailblazing American women representing history through today.
Saturday at either 2PM or 7:30PM you can attend The (Little) Big Broadcast thanks to the folks at Odyssey Bookshop! You can register here!
“The (Little) Big Broadcast!” is the annual salute to the 1940’s by the Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke, this year taking place virtually on the MHC Zoom platform. The show, conceived and directed by Mark Gionfriddo, has been slimmed and trimmed down for pandemic times- and for the first time ever, it’s free of charge! Hosted by Brian Lapis, who appears in his 14th year as emcee “Fred Kelley”, the event features music by Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Johnny Mercer and others.
Don’t miss this annual trip down memory lane!
Sunday at 6PM you can check out a presentation at Book Moon Books: CitySpace Presents: The Writer’s Imagination. Register here!
Some of us look at a piece of paper and it is blank; others of us look at the landscape of a blank page and are inspired to create. For close to a year, our individual and collective imaginations have been fed by solitude, by injustice, and by the recognition that our communities of neighbors and friends are both vulnerable and resilient. How do we make sense of it? How do those who are inspired become inspired and use the power of imagination to connect us with ideas, with each other, and with the community to effect change?
“The Writer’s Imagination” features current Poet Laureate of Easthampton, poet/translator María José Giménez, former Poet Laureate of Northampton, poet/author Lesléa Newman, and award-winning author and co-owner of Book Moon, Kelly Link, in conversation with poet/translator Michael Favala Goldman.
Join this conversation about identifying sources of personal inspiration, and how these authors have found ways to transform that inspiration into works that don’t just move us but resonate.
The prelude to the main event will be a fun 15 minutes of bingo hosted by Comics N’ More. Look for giveaways and prizes throughout the event. Get your tickets early to receive your CitySpace special thank you in your postbox!
We finally got around to playing The Outer Wilds and wow, boy howdy! That’s great! Good job everyone! It’s fun pootling around and landing on planets and finding a bunch of fun weird stuff! And the mystery at the center is really cool.
THE VALLEY NERD WATCH 