Author Archives: caroline-w

Newton Family Singers presents its Fall Concert: We Got the Beat!

Amid the synthetic drums, the parachute pants, the Sony Walkmans, the MTV videos and the aliens phoning home, a number of beautiful songs were written that stand the test of time. Now the Newton Family Singers will rock the house with music that Gen Xers (and those who love them) will remember well — hits from The Talking Heads, The Go-Go’s, Journey, R.E.M. and more.

Come along and enjoy songs of love, existentialism, environmentalism and just plain fun. With new choral arrangements by our music director, Chris Eastburn, NFS remakes the familiar for old and new fans alike. Bring your family and sing along! Tickets are available online at www.newtonfamilysingers.org. For questions please email ne**************@***il.com.

The Newton Family Singers are an intergenerational ensemble celebrating family, community, and American folk music (usually!).

November 17th, 4:00 pm
Newton Highlands Congregational Church
54 Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands

Newton Cradles to Crayons Drive

To ensure that 500 local children in-need have the essentials to be safe and warm this winter, Mayor Setti Warren invites Newton community members to join in the Newton Community-wide Collection effort in support of Cradles to Crayons. Something as simple as cleaning out your closets can have an enormous impact. The coat that your daughter has outgrown or the pants that are now too short for your son can bring warmth to the life of a child.

From November 2nd – 17th, you can make a difference by dropping off new and like-new children’s items – clothing, winter coats, shoes, books, toys, and baby gear – in the 24-hour access collection unit brightly marked by Cradles to Crayons banners in the Newton City Hall parking lot across from the Public Library.

At this time of year, non-profit Cradles to Crayons receives hundreds of requests each week for essential items like clothing, shoes and boots, hats and gloves, and coats. The power of working together as a community will enable Cradles to Crayons to fulfill the requests from thousands of children across the Commonwealth who would otherwise be forced to go without these critical winter items.

For more information go to http://www.cradlestocrayons.org/boston .

Mayoral Debate at the Newton Free Library

Join League of Women Voters members for an interesting and informative evening with the two candidates for Mayor of Newton, Mayor Setti Warren and Alderman Ted Hess-Mahan.

Send your questions in advance to in**@*******on.org or bring them with you and write them on index cards for the question sorters who will try to get to as many questions and topics as possible.

October 22nd, 7:00 pm
Druker Auditorium, Newton Free Library
330 Homer Street, Newton

Sponsored by the Newton Free Library, moderated by Jo-Ann Berry of the League of Women Voters of Action.

Community Forum

The Newton school community is hosting a forum at 7:00 pm, Monday, October 21st, in the Newton South High School Auditorium in the wake of two recent teen suicides in Newton.  The Riverside Trauma Center has been a terrific resource for us during difficult times.  Dr. Larry Berkowitz and Joanna Bridger will share important information about how to talk with your child/children about a sudden death and how to support your child/children and yourself following tragic events.  The Mayor and other city and school leaders will join David Fleishman, parents, and other care givers at this forum.

Free Chamber Choir and Orchestra Concert

On Tuesday October 22nd at 7:30, the Channing School (UK) Chamber Choir and Orchestra will present a free concert. The Channing School from North London is well-known for its music program, and their advanced ensembles of girls ages 14-18 will be performing music of Benjamin Britten (in honor of the centenary of his birth), Bach, and others.

October 22nd, 7:30-8:30 pm
First Unitarian Society in Newton
1326 Washington St. West Newton

NewTV’s House of Haunts, Oct. 25

This fall, for one night only, NewTV will be transforming its media center into its first-ever haunted house! Join Newton’s nonprofit media center on Friday, October 25, for an evening filled with family-friendly frights, including some ghoulish games, trick or treats, and haunted tours through our facility.

Where: NewTV Studio at 23 Needham Street (next to National Lumber)
When: 4-9pm on Friday, October 25, 2013

While You’re Here You Can:
— Take a Haunted Tour
— Play Ghoulish Games
— Decorate Pumpkins
— Create your own Trick-or-Treat Bag

Sign ups for students interested in snow shoveling

Each year the City of Newton assembles a list of pay-to-shovel and volunteer shovellers for Newton residents.

PAY TO SHOVEL: the student provides contact info and area they are available to shovel, the list provided to the resident includes first names only, phone numbers and people available in their area. NO e-mails are given out. The list is a referral list. The resident and student decide on the price.

VOLUNTEER LIST: the student provides contact info and area they are available to shovel, the student’s info is given to a Senior Center Staff person who matches up residents in need of a volunteer with available students.

Students can sign up on-line:

To be paid to shovel (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/987HSMK)

To Volunteer (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/98QDJF3)

WCT presents “Macbeth”

Watertown Children’s Theatre’s Black Box series presents Macbeth  in the Black Box Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown. Performers will bring to life all of the “Double, double toil and trouble” set forth in this unique adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Witches, a ghost, secrets, murder and lies push Macbeth towards the throne of Scotland. Will he succeed or will greed and guilt overcome him?

A cast of 6th-9th graders, including Newton’s own Liam Walsh explore the themes and words of Shakespeare in this adapted production.  Come and experience the results of Macbeth’s gradual, insatiable descent into blind ambition.  This production contains recorded gunfire, stage combat, and spooky imagery, and is not recommended for audience members under age 10.

General admission tickets are $10 and are now available on WCT’s website at www.watertownchildrenstheatre.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006.  For more information, visit WCT’s website or call 617-926-ARTS.

October 25th at 7:00 pm, October 26th at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm, and October 27th at 1:00 pm

Public Hearing on Myrtle Village Affordable Housing Proposal November 4th

The Newton CPC and Planning & Development Board will hold a joint public hearing on the Myrtle Village proposal for affordable housing (Curve Street, West Newton). Check the program website at www.newtonma.gov/cpa for the full agenda under “Committees & Meetings – Current CPC Meetings,” and the full text of the proposal under “Proposals & Projects – Pending.” Contact Alice Ingerson at 617-796-1144 or ai*******@******ma.gov for details.

November 4th, 7:30 pm
Newton Senior Center
345 Walnut St, Newtonville

Learning Programs for Elementary Students

This winter, The Chyten Center in Newton is offering a wide variety of experiential learning programs on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. In the Saturday morning “Imagination Authors” program, Chyten students design a fantasy world with imaginative characters, plot, settings, conflict and resolution. Working together, they then actually write and publish their own book!

Also on Saturdays, students in the “Career Time” class play the role of doctor, lawyer, architect, journalist, scientist and mayor.

On Sundays, students are young entrepreneurs as they start with the germ of an idea for a business and take it through the entire entrepreneurial process in the Shark Tank Jr. program. On Sunday afternoon, students create and manage their own fictional baseball team. In doing so, they learn invaluable math lessons that include fractions, decimals, operations, pre-algebra, geometry and more!

For more information, go to TheChytenCenter.com/ESTEEM or call 617-559-9931 and ask for Education Director Matt Bowling.