Space is still available, sign up for these programs!
West Africa - Slave Trade and Cultural Arts
In person, Tuesday, June 7th at 1:30 PM
West Africa is testimony to the human need for creative expression. While other regions of Africa are famous for their dramatic natural landscapes and abundant wildlife, the beauty of West Africa is in its man-made expression - from masks to music and dance, from fetishes against evil spirits to applied arts like weaving. Due to its geographic location, with the easiest coastal access to Europe and the Americas, West Africa was also the region of the continent’s largest export industry - slavery. This program will describe the overall history of the region and distinctive cultural elements of its individual countries. From his many different trips to the region, the lecturer came to know the strength, grace and endurance of its people. The program will be accompanied by his photography.
GROUP: Poetry of the Romantic Period Discussion,
In Person, Wednesday, June 8th 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Who doesn’t love the poets of the Romantic period? Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keats and all the others? They produced some of the most glorious works in the English language – exhilarating to read, profoundly moving to discuss. This highly interactive discussion group will read from and talk about the poets, their poems, their lives, their loves. The discussion resource is the Dover Thrift Edition, English Romantic Poetry – An Anthology, available online or at Wellesley Books. The May and June meetings will focus on the poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Author Talk: A Furious Sky/America’s Hurricanes
Evening Lecture Online,
Wednesday, June 8th at 7:00 PM
From the moment European colonists laid violent claim to this land, hurricanes have had a profound and visceral impact on American history. In this author talk, Eric Jay Dolin presents the five-hundredyear story of American hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus’ New World voyages, to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the escalation of hurricane season as a result of global warming. Populating his narrative with unlikely heroes such as Benito Viñes, the nineteenth-century Jesuit priest whose revelatory methods for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives, and journalist Dan Rather, whose coverage of a 1961 hurricane would change broadcasting history. The environmental and cultural history detailed in A Furious Sky will change the way we understand the storms on the horizon of America’s future. This evening lecture is made possible by a generous grant from The Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club.
Cotton Town: New England’s Economic Connections to Slavery, Online, Thursday, June 9th at 2:00 PM
Maritime Museum and Bowdoin College’s Africana Studies Department embarked on a collaboration that investigated the complexities inherent in an underrepresented aspect of Maine maritime history: the Atlantic slave trade. An educator at the Maine Maritime Museum will lead us through the project’s culmination, an exhibit investigating Maine’s contribution to the trafficking of enslaved people through the 19th-century shipbuilding industry and the lives of Black mariners working and living within and after this chapter of US history.
GROUP: Men in Retirement – monthly discussion
In Person, Thursday, June 9th 2:00 PM
Retirement is a major life change that can often bring up challenges such as feeling a loss of identity or a desire to reinvent oneself. After spending many decades dedicated to a career, the retirement process can also lead to increased feelings of boredom and loneliness for some men. This group will discuss various strategies to combat negative feelings, identify meaningful activities, and will offer participants an opportunity to meet other local retirees looking to discuss the same topic. The goal will be to gain a new sense of purpose and make social connections as you navigate retirement. Group will be facilitated by COA Social Worker, Kate Burnham.
Red Sox Game Day Lunch and Watch Party
Thursday, June 16th lunch at 12:00 PM & game at 1:10 PM
We will gather together to cheer on the Boston Red Sox as they welcome the Oakland Athletics at Fenway. The excitement begins with lunch at noon and the game shown on the big screen at 1:10 p.m. We will watch the game, enjoy our favorite ballpark snacks and cheer them on! Let’s get in the baseball spirit and Go Red Sox! Special thanks goes to the Friends of Wellesley Council on Aging for generously sponsoring this event. Wellesley Residents Only, Max: 30 for lunch and open to all at the start of the game.
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