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! We’ve heard amazing things about Minari, so maybe take a look at that!
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 6PM – 7PM kids ages 10 – 12 can join Hour of Code Python! Contact tboulrice@westath.org to register!
Learn how to code with Python 3 during our virtual Hour of Code. In each session we will go over a different concept of Python 3 and see what we can create using the concept. A computer and email address will be required.
Monday from 6:30PM – 8:30PM you can attend the VIRTUAL: Second Monday Book Discussion: Silence of the Girls. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91486186242. Meeting ID: 914 8618 6242. Passcode: 939659.
Queen Briseis has been stolen from her conquered homeland and given as a concubine to a foreign warrior. The warrior is Achilles: famed hero, loathed enemy, ruthless butcher, darkly troubled spirit. Briseis’s fate is now indivisibly entwined with his.
No one knows it yet, but there are just ten weeks to go until the Fall of Troy, the end of this long and bitter war. This is the start of The Iliad: the most famous war story ever told. The next ten weeks will be a story of male power, male ego, male violence. But what of the women? The thousands of female slaves in the soldiers’ camp – in the laundry, at the loom, laying out the dead? Briseis is one of their number – and she will be our witness to history.
Monday from 8PM – 10PM you can attend VIRTUAL : Far Out Film Discussion via Zoom : I Am Not a Witch.
Far Out Film Discussion will have a zoom meeting to talk about the 2017 film I Am Not a Witch written and directed by Rungano Nyoni. View the trailer here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag7TDwj-kEI. It can be found online at kanopy – https://forbes.kanopy.com/product/i-am-not-witch. To virtually attend this discussion, click the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87523942049
Tuesday from 7PM – 8:30PM Jones Library has a historical presentation: I Now Pronounce You Lucy Stone™ – ONLINE!
In this presentation of I Now Pronounce You Lucy Stone, History At Play™, LLC Founder and Artistic Director Judith Kalaora is Lucy Stone, the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree, a fierce abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. Challenging discrimination is not easy, but Lucy Stone is never one to take the easy road. Even Susan B. Anthony credited Lucy Stone for her involvement in the tumultuous women’s rights movement. The fight for suffrage is ferocious, so come along for the ride!
Register in advance for this event: This event is free and open to public, but reservations are required at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88440532391?pwd=aHZUeHJ6cjErWElVWm1LbEROQVBVdz09 Patrons will receive a link to view the teleconference upon registration. Smartphone users may find this link redirects them to the Zoom meeting. You may access the March 9 program via this link, or email info@HistoryAtPlay.com to receive the direct link and password, if unable to register via this link.
Wednesday from 6:30PM – 7:30PM why not play some All Ages BINGO? Contact bblackburn@westath.org to join!
B-I-N-G-O! When is the last time you played a rousing game of Bingo? Well here is your chance! Everyone in the family can join Game Night on zoom. Register to receive copies of your bingo cards and online access for the game. DVD prize packs will be awarded! See you there!
Wednesday at 7PM you can join co-hosts Alexandra Manglis, Yvette Ndlovu & Nadia Saleh of the Strange Light Reading Series (originally planned to take place at Book Moon): featuring Alaya Dawn Johnson (Reconstruction: Stories, Trouble the Saints) and C. L. Polk (Soulstar, The Midnight Bargain). *Register here*
Wednesday from 7PM – 9PM join the Forbes Library Zine Club – Virtual!
Zoom with Zine Club! Come to a show and tell of zines you’ve been reading or zines you’ve been making! Let’s share ideas, hang out and make art zoom-style! zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88448156224?pwd=eTkxUlM1YS91UCsxNi96cGVOd0lsdz09. password – 614664
Wednesday from 7PM – 8PM attend the VIRTUAL: Nature and Environment Book Club: The Songs of the Trees. Contact hcethatsme@gmail.com for more meeting info!
This month’s book is The Songs of the Trees by David George Haskell. David Haskell has won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, he brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees, exploring connections with people, microbes, fungi, and other plants and animals. He takes us to trees in cities (from Manhattan to Jerusalem), forests (Amazonian, North American, and boreal) and areas on the front lines of environmental change (eroding coastlines, burned mountainsides, and war zones.) In each place he shows how human history, ecology, and well-being are intimately intertwined with the lives of trees.
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 7PM – 8PM you can join the Genre-Flecting Book Club at Greenfield Public Library!
Join us at the GPL for our virtual genre-flecting book club held on the 2nd Thursday of each month. We will read and discuss a benchmark title in a specific genre, along with another title to compare appeal factors. We will be exploring Historical Fiction through March; this month’s benchmark selection is Her Last Flight by Beatriz Wiliams. Copies of the book are available at the Library. To register for the Zoom link (and request a copy) email: librarian@greenfieldpubliclibrary.org.
Thursday at 7PM you can join Odyssey Books on Crowdcast for a book talk with Julia Cooke, author of Come Fly the World! Questions about joining an online event? Email events@odysseybks.com for more info.
Thursday at 7PM you can check out a MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION | “In eynem”: Fashioning Yiddishland in the 21st Century Classroom. Join the zoom here!
Join us for an inside look at “In eynem”, the Yiddish Book Center’s new Yiddish textbook for beginners, which has been called a “revolution in Yiddish language pedagogy.” Asya Vaisman Schulman, director of the Center’s Yiddish Language Institute and lead author of “In eynem”, will talk with the Center’s academic director, Mindl Cohen, about how the textbook combines multimedia resources, full-color illustrations, and cutting-edge pedagogical techniques to create a living, vibrant Yiddishland in the classroom. Co-authors Jordan Brown and Mikhl Yashinsky will join the conversation to talk about how the book threads together authentic Yiddish cultural texts from all aspects in the language’s rich history, along with dialogues and exercises featuring a cast of characters from every corner of the contemporary Yiddish-speaking world. And special guest Lorin Sklamberg will bring to life some of the book’s most engaging and singable resources.v
Thursday from 7:30PM – 9:30PM there’s also the VIRTUAL: Poetry Discussion: Kazim Ali!
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. **Now on Zoom!** https://us02web.zoom.us/j/92356592326. Meeting ID: 923 5659 2326. Passcode: 475928.
Friday from 1PM – 1:30PM why not take a look at Good Book Hunting?
Introducing Good Book Hunting, a new pre-recorded series where four Athenaeum librarians show you how to use a variety of book resources to find readalikes for the top requested titles by you, our patrons. We will provide you with a list of books you might want to pick up while you wait – and show you how to replicate what we do to do the same for your own favorite books! These videos will be available to watch on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/westath. You do not need a Facebook account to view, just click on the “Videos” tab and look for the Good Book Hunting playlist.
Friday from 1PM – 2PM why not head to the Virtual Book/Movie/Podcast Chat?
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 3PM – 4PM local teens can hop on the Virtual Teen Lounge on Discord (ages 13-18) ONLINE!
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
Sunday at 2PM celebrate the new book The Passover Guest at the Carle! Register on Eventbrite.
(Ages 5 and up) Join Susan Kusel (author), Sean Rubin (illustrator), and Neal Porter (editor) as they share their recent book, The Passover Guest. Co-hosted by PJ Library and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
-Storytime with author Susan Kusel,
-Drawing Activity with illustrator Sean Rubin,
-Q&A with the creative team
Desperados 3 is a really fun game! It’s a weird combo of sort of an … RTS almost? But it’s also a puzzle game. Whatever it is, it’s like playing a beautiful murder diorama.
THE VALLEY NERD WATCH 