Events for: Pollard Library

Paula Koppel, a geriatric nurse for more than 25 years, will discuss what is currently known about the biology of aging, including the impact of genetics. The discussion will include how specific lifestyle habits can biologically slow down the aging process and prevent disability.

Justin Locke takes an amusing look at the amazing power of "dumb luck," "fool's courage," and the surprising discovery that doing things completely counter to the standard conventional wisdom can be the most effective way of achieving astonishing results. The less you know the more you learn. Who knew?

Mish Michaels is an Emmy Award winning broadcast meteorologist and environmental reporter. When Mish was in kindergarten, an F2 tornado ripped through her apartment complex just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. It is her earliest childhood memory, and she's been searching the skies ever since. Mish has been affiliated with the Meteorology Department at UMass Lowell for over a decade, where she has taught a course called "Meteorological Communications." Rescheduled from last year.

Chaim M. Rosenberg is the author of “The Life and Times of Francis Cabot Lowell: 1775 – 1817.” He has combed the archives to tell the story of this great man who helped bring about the American Industrial Revolution. The city of Lowell Massachusetts is named in his honor.

Who had more effect on the English language than William Shakespeare? He created over 1700 common words that before him were either used in a new manner or didn't exist at all.  Stephen Collins makes Shakespeare's words come alive. Shakespeare's tragedies, comedies, histories, and Sonnets are all represented in this exciting show.

Explore the history of the Apocalypse, mankind’s second oldest story, along with what the Mayan calendars are and how they work. R.P. Hale is of Aztec heritage, an astronomer, musician, calligrapher, and chemist. In 1999, the Smithsonian Institution recognized R.P. Hale as one of the top musical instrument makers in the United States.

Come along for an animated explanation of the classic six steps to find your ancestral Irish home.   Tom Toohey’s parents were great storytellers. When they passed away he published their stories in a two-volume book entitled Images of Other Lives. In the 1990’s Tom began to study genealogy in a more serious way. He became interested in learning about the lives of his grandfathers who came from Ireland. Let Tom get you started down this fascinating road of discovery.

Michael Charney a local publisher and author located in Bedford, New Hampshire has recently published a book of narrative non-fiction that chronicles an attempt to uncover why political conversation suffers such polarization and, in particular, why the loudest voices--regardless of content--so easily see their messages amplified endlessly through Twitter and other social media.   Chasing Glenn Beck is a fascinating discussion on today's political climate. With discussions about politics, schools, national security, bullying, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Flag Code--and the Senate's Candy Desk--Charney cuts a wide swath through the issues facing our country, a country he claims has a serious case of "Electile Dysfunction."

This presentation melds historical fact together with legend and myth to produce an interesting and fascinating new look at events that really happened and the stories of haunting that followed them. The topics addressed in the lecture will be Mercy Brown "The Vampire" of Exeter Rhode Island, The Cursed Freetown State Forest, The Haunted Hoosac Tunnel in Western Massachusetts, The Ghosts of the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River Massachusetts, The Ghosts of King Philip's War: Nine Men's Misery, the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire, Giles Corey and the Curse of Salem, Burial Hill in Plymouth Massachusetts and at the John Alden House in Duxbury Massachusetts.

The year 2012 is the Woody Guthrie Centennial. He was born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912. While primarily known for his involvement in the American labor movement in the pre-World War II years, and as the author/composer of This Land is Your Land, Guthrie also had a very eclectic and Universalist oriented religious and spiritual side to his life. He wrote a number of songs in this genre which he never set to music, but which have been given a musical score and sung by other artists. Rev. Steve Edington's book Bring Your Own God: The Spirituality of Woody Guthrie explores this aspect of Woody's life and work, and contains much of his writing from the Woody Guthrie Archives that has never heretofore been published. Rev. Steve Edington is a Unitarian Universalist minister residing in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he served the UU Church of Nashua for 24 years before retiring. He is currently serving as the Interim Minister of the UU Church of Manchester, NH. He is a long-time member, and a former President, of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Committee.

“To do all the things that women never do”. In this presentation you will hear about her adventures climbing on skyscrapers, leaning out of airplanes, going into war zones. She photographed Stalin, Churchill, Patton and Gandhi. She had an indomitable spirit and a craving for attention and the lead story and cover for the inaugural issue of Life magazine in November, 1936. Her thousands of photographs continue to hold our attention as they reveal her courage and compassion. Sally Matson will bring to life Margaret Bourke-White through the use of letters, diaries photographs and other primary resources.

After winning over $750,000 on a slot machine, Deborah Greenslit thought she had it made. Today she will tell you differently.” When casinos come to Massachusetts, Greenslit sees her story as a warning to others. Greenslit is a therapist and wellness expert who has helped other people deal with healing our addictions thru living with a loving heart towards ourselves. Today she is working on her memoir with the working title “Pennies from Heaven, Lessons from Hell”.

The wreck of the Nottingham Galley, December 11, 1710, is one of the most important episodes in our local maritime history for a number of reasons. No shipwreck castaways were ever less prepared for the subfreezing temperature they were forced to endure for twenty-four days. They had no food and were compelled to lie for weeks at a time huddled together on solid rock. Find out what happened to these grim survivors.

Since the 1990’s, Stephen’s performances have captured the attention of the press. It is not just the stunning resemblance to Walt Whitman himself, but the portrayal of the character and the essence that he brings within arm’s reach to the audience that makes the poet come to life. Through poetry and readings of actual letters, we experience Whitman's movement from selfishness and selflessness and his growth into a mature artist who is at peace about "himself, God and death."

Greg Flemming will discuss his new book, At the Point of a Cutlass, which tells the incredible true story of a Massachusetts fisherman who was captured by pirates in 1722 and then escaped and lived as a castaway on an uninhabited Caribbean island for nearly two years. Robinson Crusoe meets Tom Hanks.

Ted Reinstein is best known around New England as a longtime correspondent for "Chronicle," the equally longtime and celebrated nightly newsmagazine which airs on Boston's ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV Ted joined the show in 1995 as a reporter and producer. In 2013, Globe Pequot Press published his first book, "A New England Notebook: Six States, One Reporter, Uncommon Stories." The book, in an unusual encyclopedic style, recounts many of Ted's favorite people and stories from his many travels around New England."

Thatcher Freund, a journalist and memoir writer, will talk about the importance of stories in our lives both to ourselves and to the culture we live in, and why it matters so much that we preserve them.  Thatcher is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in History, and the Columbia School of Journalism, and has lived in New England off and on for the last twenty years. Our stories matter, and people a thousand years from now will use the stories of people living today to help them better understand themselves. Civilization owes its existence to our ability to tell stories and pass them down.

What does Yemen's collapse mean for Americans, al-Qaeda, and stability in the Middle East? Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting, the talk will be about the current political, economic, and cultural realities in Yemen. I hope to flesh out recent headlines—do the Saudi airstrikes have any chance of restoring stability in Sana’a? Is Yemen becoming the latest proxy war for Saudi Arabian and Iran?—while simultaneously raising deeper questions about Americans’ obligation to that small, war-torn country. In light of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, should the U.S. continue its on-going drone campaign on Yemeni soil? And what can, or should, the United States do to help Yemenis themselves?

Author Russell Steven Powell will read from his book Apples of New England about our region’s rich tradition of apple growing, and the “fathers” of American apples, Massachusetts natives John Chapman (“Johnny Appleseed”) and Henry David Thoreau. Powell will also discuss the current apple crop, and he will bring a number of rare heirlooms and newly discovered apples for sampling.

Music has profound power to shape and cue memory, returning us to vivid images and mental states normally left far behind us in the past.  This talk explores the ways in which the popular songs of an era can serve as vehicles for traveling to and exploring a time and place--in this case, the South Side of Chicago in the 1970s. Professor Rotella is Director of the American Studies Program and Director of the Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College.

Frozen in Time is a true story of survival, bravery, and honor in the vast Arctic wilderness during World War II. A B-17 assigned to the search and rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on the B-17 survived. With the weather worsening, the U.S. military launched a daring rescue mission, sending a Grumman Duck amphibious plane to find them. After picking up one member of the B-17 crew, the Duck flew into a severe storm, and the plane and the three men aboard vanished. In this thrilling, true-life adventure, Mitchell Zuckoff offers a spellbinding account of these harrowing crashes and the fate of the survivors and would-be saviors.

From sports to politics, food to finance, to bitter disputes over simple boundaries themselves, New England’s feuds have peppered the region’s life for centuries. Ted Reinstein has been a reporter for “Chronicle,” WCVB-TV/Boston’s award winning nightly news magazine since 1997. In this talk he will share some fascinating stories that have shaped the area itself.

For over three hundred years America’s lighthouses have kept countless ships from wrecking, save untold lives, and contributed to the growth and prosperity of our nation. Eric Jay Dolin will give us a guided tour of America’s lighthouses. He will cover all aspects of the evolution of our lighthouse system and the people who kept them running and the families that lived at them. It is a riveting tale of nasty political battles, technological innovations, natural disasters and war. The story of America thru the prism of its beloved coastal sentinels.

Join wildlife rehabilitator Tom Ricardi for his ever popular presentation on birds of prey. This program is designed for all ages. Tom will share the natural history of these magnificent birds, demonstrate some of their unique behaviors and inspire children of all ages to appreciate, respect and conserve these important members of our wild kingdom. Tom Ricardi is a licensed rehabilitator and wildlife biologist. He runs Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, MA, and is now retired after 40 years of service as a Massachusetts Environmental Conservation police officer.

Jeffrey R. Wilson, is a Preceptor in Expository Writing at Harvard University, will discuss the election of Donald Trump, its impact on the intellectual climate, and some of the ways in which Shakespeare was used in the coverage of the US election.

The Lowells of Massachusetts were a remarkable family. They were settlers in the New World in the 1600s, revolutionaries creating a new nation in the 1700s, merchants and manufacturers building prosperity in the 1800s, and scientists and artists flourishing in the 1900s. The Wall Street Journal calls this “[A] stirring saga…; Vivid and intimate”, Ms. Sankovitch’s account entertains us with Puritans and preachers, Tories and rebels, abolitionists and industrialists, lecturers and poets. Ms. Sankovitch has made a compelling contribution to Massachusetts and American History.”

John Gfroerer explores the power of television as a communication medium and the ethical implications of manipulating the viewer by means of the choices made behind the camera through the final editing process. By examining the artistic techniques used to persuade, induce, and entice us, Gfroerer considers the extent to which television teaches or simply tantalizes us. Are ethical boundaries crossed by the use of these techniques, and to what extent as media consumers should we care?

Butterfly is about James McNeil Whistler (1834-1903), the volatile American artist who battled (mostly in Victorian England) for personal expression in the arts; Butterfly presents Whistler at two phases in his life: as a bankrupt artist in his 40’s on commission in Venice and as an established, yet lonely, legend in his 60’s. Stephen Collins currently performs nine one-man shows and has been met with rave reviews for over a decade. Mr. Collins’ performances deliver not just the poetry and plays, but he also brings the poets and playwrights to life on the stage. The shows convey an understanding of the impact and the reactions of the characters to their respective times, giving the audience not just a performance, but an experience.

Their founder was Joseph Smith. In the 1820s, Smith began to “translate,” from tablets he kept wrapped in a tablecloth, a series of visions that became the Book of Mormon, a turgid sci-fi novel that nonetheless managed to sway a nucleus of converts. Smith also managed to be so provocative that he and his followers found themselves hounded, in a series of increasingly dramatic upheavals, from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois. Alex Beam’s “American Crucifixion” recounts the journey of these outcasts. Before they finally evacuated to the Great Salt Lake Valley, which was then part of Mexico, they thought they had found a safe haven in Nauvoo, Ill., the most elaborate of Smith’s foundations. Thence, from all over the United States, Canada and the British Isles, the Mormons flocked. At one point, the city’s population may have surpassed Chicago’s. But Smith’s gift for outrageousness prevailed, and in June 1844 a mob lynched him and his brother. Smith was 38 years old.

In 2002, Lewiston, Maine garnered national attention when more than 2,500 Somali migrants chose to make the city their home. The unexpected migration changed the city forever, and the lives of many local residents, including Cheryl Hamilton. As the manager of the resettlement program at the time, Hamilton offers a unique perspective of her hometown in the months following 9/11. During this lively discussion, discover how the Lewiston community responded and the lessons Hamilton learned about fostering community and responding to bias and prejudice. Hamilton's presentation is part of the 2018 Lowell Reads series honoring Amy Bass' acclaimed non-fiction, One Goal.

Our Good Name is the story of Stefano and his young bride Celestina, both Italian immigrants who leave behind the back-breaking field labor in their beloved Northern Italy to find their place in a strange new country. Inspired by true events, this is a historical novel that surprises with a fresh and honest perspective about the hard realities of immigrant life in the United States and the courage required to make a home of one’s own in the “New World.” Catherine was born and raised in Milford, Massachusetts. She is an active member of the vibrant literary community of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She divides her time between Mexico and Cape Cod.

The life of Mary Wygodski is a first person account of a woman who lost her entire immediate family in the Holocaust. She survived three concentration camps, made her way to Israel where she took part in the War of Independence, and eventually settled in America where she has been a passionate spokesperson about the Truth of the Holocaust. Tom will touch on the heroic but ultimately frustrated efforts of Edith Nourse Rogers to bring orphaned Jewish children to America.

Tom Toohey is a modern day Irish storyteller who has traveled to Ireland 20 times and collected hundreds of stories. Every week more facts become available on the internet about our ancestors. These facts are like the skeletons of our predecessors. Family stories about these antecedents can add flesh to their bones and give life to their existence. In many families only one or two remember these stories. When they pass away the stories are lost. This presentation offers a method for collecting and recording family stories for future generations. It has music, animation and humor and is entertaining as well as informative.

John Kozik’s obsession with collecting and researching Ouija began when he inherited his grandmother’s board in the late 1990’s. He was surprised to discover that Ouija was simply one specific brand of Talking Board, and that they date much further back than the Ouija of Parker Brothers fame. Through years of dedication John is now one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject. In 2013 he became a founding member of the Talking Board Historical Society, a group that researches and preserves the history of Talking Boards. Fast forward to 2019 - John opened the doors of The Salem Witch Board Museum to the public. It is the only museum dedicated to the history and lore of the Talking Board, boasting the largest collection of boards, obscure memorabilia, and ephemera under one roof. Whether you believe it’s the tool of the Devil or just an innocent kid’s game, a visit to the museum will allow you to learn more about this fascinating and iconic piece of Americana.

Andrew Krivak is the author of four novels: “The Bear” a coming of age fable about the last person on Earth, which begins: “The last two were a girl and her father who lived along the old eastern range on the side of a mountain that stands alone.” His freestanding novels of the Dardan Trilogy, which include “The Sojourn”, “The Signal Flame” and his newest, “Like the Appearance of Horses.”  Krivak revisits the Vinich family, whose travails he has portrayed in two earlier novels for a bleak and stirring work that revolves around a pair of soldiers fighting separate wars. Andrew lives with his wife and three children in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.