Free Film Screening: Follow the Drinking Gourd, October 28, 2024

Please join us for the first film of the 2024-25 season of The Elements: An Annual Environmental Film Series! We will be showing Follow the Drinking Gourd in collaboration with Cultivating Justice on Monday, October 28, 2024 at 7pm. The film is a feature documentary about the black food justice movement, connecting food, climate and racial justice, and links the legacy of slavery, land loss, and climate change to our fight for food security. You can watch the film trailer here. A discussion will follow the film.

The screening will be held at the Wesleyan Goldsmith Family Cinema, 301 Washington Terrace, Middletown, CT.  As always, the film is open to the public and free of charge. Directions and parking information can be found here.

Please preregister at http://rockfallfoundation.org/event/follow-the-drinking-gourd/

 

We hope to see you there!

The Elements: An Annual Environmental Film Series was begun in 2015. The 2024-2025 series is co-sponsored by the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District, Middletown Garden Club, Russell Library, The Rockfall Foundation, and Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts, College of the Environment, and College of Film and the Moving Image. 

ZOOM Genealogy Club - Saturday, October 26, 2024

 

image source:  Library of Congress

Host:  Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, CT

Time:  1:30 p.m.

On Saturday, October 26, Pam Vestal will present Part II of "Deciphering Old Handwriting."

We've received rave reviews on Pam's Part I of Deciphering Difficult Handwriting last month.  Now join us for Part II of her presentation/workshop on deciphering early handwritten documents. 

The Zoom presentation will take place at 1:30 pm (ET).  Please register by 4:00 PM Friday, October 25.  The invite will be sent out on that Friday.

Godfrey Premium members can register for free at the following email: zoomregistration@godfrey.org

If you are not a Godfrey Premium member and want to attend the presentation, you can pay $10 via PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/us/home) with the payment sent to Godfrey Memorial Library.  Then register using the above email.

An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America. Foreword by Quincy Jones.

Martin Luther King, Andrew Young, & their work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 
by Andrew Young, Foreword by Quincy Jones 

     Andrew Young is one of the most important figures of the U.S. civil rights movement and one of America's best-known African American leaders. Working closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he endured beatings and arrests while participating in seminal civil rights campaigns. 

     In 1964, Rev. Young became Executive Director of the SCLC, serving with Dr. King during a time of great accomplishment and turmoil. In describing his life through his election to Congress in 1972, this memoir provides revelatory, riveting reading. 

     Young's analysis of the connection between racism, poverty, and a militarized economy will resonate with particular relevance 

for readers today.

Amazon link:  An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement &
the Transformation of America

Wondering what to do on your Monday holiday?

 

    is  Almost too good to be true!___________

The targeted exercises described below can bring almost immediate relief for some hip and leg pain. The exercises are tested & designed to work -- and they do! 

The source of these exercises is Silver Sneakers, a widely known, fitness program for seniors that's included with many Medicare Advantage insurance plans and includes FREE membership to countless gyms & fitness centers across the country.   

  Dozens of SilverSneakers targeted exercise routines, like those presented below, are available FREE on YouTube with no login. Give them a try!

Do you have Pain & Stiffness
from Sitting Too Much?

Try these targeted exercises to
Revitalize your Legs & Hips

It only takes a few minutes a day to feel better. 

  Here are FIVE FREE Silver Sneakers exercise routines in one link, video demos are included, no login required. You may have seen these when they were shown on The Middletown Eye in 2021. 

https://www.silversneakers.com/blog/pain-from-sitting-too-much-here's-how-to-fix-it/ 

  SilverSneakers.com online has hundreds of on-demand video demos. Many are targeted so that you can easily identify the type of routine you need. Many Silver Sneakers routines are available on youtube, no login required. It only takes a few minutes a day to feel better. 

"SilverSneakers programs are helping millions of people on Medicare defy the odds, shatter stereotypes and answer every challenge with, 'I can do this!'”  [That attitude is contagious and the exercises are very effective!]

  "SilverSneakers includes access to every participating gyms and fitness centers in the network. [That’s means a possible free membership at more than 15,000 locations.] We also offer fitness classes for all abilities led by our SilverSneakers trained instructors at gyms and other locations." 

Check to see if SilverSneakers membership is free with your Medicare Advantage plan. If it is, you plan will likely include (free) access to every participating gym and fitness center in the SilverSneakers' network. 

Imagine Connecticut with Fewer Cars and More Public Transport

From today's New York Times, "The Hunt," a weekly feature telling short-story versions of people looking for new homes.

Selene Plastiras, an in-house lawyer for an engineering firm, arrived in New York from California in April 2022 to fill in for a colleague on maternity leave. Her company put her up in corporate housing in TriBeCa for a few months. Within a week, she knew she wanted to stay.

“New York was such a good fit,” she said. “It was the energy I was missing. The people are really friendly because a lot of people are transplants and no one is sitting in their cars.”

It was easy enough for Ms. Plastiras, a Bay Area native, to transfer to the city permanently. After the TriBeCa place, she rented a one-bedroom in a fifth-floor walk-up on the Upper West Side for herself and her dog, Hula, paying just under $4,000 a month. ...

Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/03/realestate/brooklyn-apartment-search.html

_____________
What's not to like?