Luigi Boccia hails from Italy, where he studied Musicology at the University of Pavia before coming to the U.S. to begin his performing career with lead roles in Don Giovanni, Gianni Snicchi, The Merry Widow, The Barber of Seville, and others.  Among other awards, Boccia was winner in the 2008 and 2009 Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition and won First Prize in the 2008 Gerda Lissner Competition in New York.  In 2010, he debuted at Carnegie Hall as tenor soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass and in Catania (Sicily) as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata.  He is currently a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. 

Arthur McManus has collaborated with numerous singers in the New York metropolitan area for over 20 years, serving as pianist for master classes conducted by such illustrious singers as Licia Albanese, Robert Merrill, and Martina Arroyo.  He has been a collaborative pianist in the music department of Brandeis University, and currently is organist and music director at St. Joan of Arc Church in Orleans. 

All Little Theater concerts are free and open to all; this one is made possible in part by a grant from the Wayland Cultural Council. 

Many concert-goers will be visiting the new High School for the first time. The final configuration of parking and pedestrian access will not be in place until the end of this summer, when demolition and landscaping will have been completed. For the remainder of this season, concert-goers can park in the High School’s student lot, the first lot they will encounter after entering the High School property. They will walk toward the new buildings, keeping the construction fence on their right. The Main Stage is in the new North building, which will be on the right.   (Click on the HS image at the left for a larger view)

For more information, visit www.waylandconcerts.org or call 508-358-2667.

The League of Women Voters of Wayland presents: SUSTAINING WAYLAND’S DRINKING WATER
January 26, 2012, Town Building, 7:30 pm

Wayland has always been proud of its drinking water.  But in recent years our water has been criticized by many residents.  What happened?  Is it getting better or worse?  What can we do to insure an adequate supply of safe, good-tasting, and clean water?  We’ll hear from three distinguished speakers with international, regional and local expertise in water matters as we learn about water supply sustainability for Wayland:  

Janot Mendler de Suarez, who is Co-chair of the Global Oceans Forum working group on Oceans & Climate, and has been a Research consultant with Oxfam America on Volatility: the New Normal?, will speak on global water concerns as the context for Wayland’s own issues of growth and development causing stress and risk to our water supply. 

Alison Field-Juma, Executive Director of OARS, the watershed organization for the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers, will talk about our own watershed, its management and our role in using and protecting its water.  Alison has been using science-based advocacy to lead efforts to ensure the effective use of local, state and federal laws and policies to restore the health of the three rivers. Working with OARS' staff, board, and volunteers Alison has supported partnerships and innovation in the watershed to tackle complex river issues.

Protecting Wayland’s water supply will be addressed directly by Tom Sciacca, an MIT trained Electrical Engineer, who served as a senior manager in a Fortune 500 company before co-founding an alternative energy startup to fight climate change in 1990. The new company was the subject of a front page Wall Street Journal article and its new product won the Popular Science Product of the Year Award for Environmental Technology. As a volunteer Tom was a Conservation Commissioner in the 1970's and 80's and more recently a member of the Wellhead Protection Committee. 

Questions from those attending the forum will be welcomed during and after the panelists’ presentations. 

The Claypit Hill and Happy Hollow/Loker PTOs invite you to a presentation by The Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts, Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7:00 at Loker School

 Please join us to learn more about the new concussion law in Massachusetts and what you can do to protect your elementary-aged child.  The presentation by the Brain Injury Association will cover the law, its implementation, the role of parents, coaches and teachers, and the effects of brain injuries on children.  An expert will be available to answer questions. 

We hope you will join us in gathering more information about this important topic.  Please contact president@claypithillpto.org with any questions.

On Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m., Jeff Clements, a Concord attorney and author of a new book, “Corporations Are Not People” (with a foreward by Bill Moyers), will discuss the history of campaign finance reform, the impact of “Citizens United,” and ways people can work to change the influence of money on elections and legislation.
The presentation, “For Sale: Money and Elections after ‘Citizens United,’” will be at Ephraim Curtis Middle School, 22 Pratts Mill Road, Sudbury. The League of Women Voters of Sudbury is sponsoring the presentation.

This post was submitted by Yogareachesout.

Dr. Kerry Emanuel Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT to Speak in Wayland: “A Sober Look – At the Global Warming Problem”

Join us for a discussion with Dr. Kerry Emanuel, as he addresses the Walden Forum at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 19, 2012. The Walden Forum is held at the First Parish Meeting House, at the intersection of Routes 20 and 27 in Wayland, Mass. 

Dr. Emanuel will discuss his book “What We Know about Climate Change.” What are the risks and possible benefits of climate change? How much of it is man-made and how much is natural? Will we be in for more intense hurricanes? How will society cope with increased incidence of drought and floods, and will there be a problem with climate refugees? Has the American public been misinformed by a media obsessed with sensational debate? 

Dr. Emanuel has not been particularly outspoken on the climate change issue but has from time to time participated in debates and forums that have provided him with an opportunity to offer his opinion, especially after Huricane Katrina. Dr. Emanuel writes: “Contemporary discussions of the phenomenon of global warming are now so heated that one wonders whether they are contributing to the phenomenon itself. With all the interest in alleged misdeeds of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hacked email exchanges among climate scientists, it is easy to lose track of the compelling strands of scientific evidence that have led almost all climate scientists to conclude that mankind is altering climate in potentially dangerous ways. Recent suggestions by politicians that the scientific community is split on this issue have unfortunately added fuel to this largely manufactured debate.” 

“There is much ripe fruit to hurl in the increasingly heated climate wars of our generation,” says Dr. Emanuel. This is all too evident as the all-encompassing climate deal trying to be reached in Durban South Africa, which “may be beyond our reach for now,” says  U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon. It seems China and India delivered a setback to the European plan to negotiate a new treaty that would bind all participating countries to their pledges on greenhouse gas emissions. 

But when the dust settles, Dr. Emanuel says, what we are left with is the evidence. And, in spite of all the scientific studies, complexity and uncertainties, we should not lose track of the simple fact that theory, actual observations of the planet, and complex models – however imperfect each is in isolation – all point to ongoing, potentially dangerous human alteration of climate.

Kerry Emanuel, Ph.D. is the Cecil and Ida Green professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been on the faculty since 1981, after spending three years on the faculty of UCLA. Professor Emanuel’s research interests focus on tropical meteorology and climate, with a specialty in hurricane physics. His interests also include cumulus convection, and advanced methods of sampling the atmosphere in aid of numerical weather prediction. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and two books, including Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes, recently released by Oxford University Press and aimed at a general audience, and What We Know about Climate Change, published by the MIT Press. He earned a Ph.D. in Meteorology and an S.B. in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is now Professor and Director of the Program for Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About the Walden Forum

The Walden Forum is a free public series that brings people together to talk, listen and learn from one another in a civil environment. It fosters discussion about important ethical, religious, political, scientific, social and other topics in a live-forum setting. Dynamic speakers challenge and expand our views about the world around us and offer the opportunity for an open discussion of these issues in a convenient, local setting. Featuring world-class speakers on great topics throughout the year, the Walden Forum is a non-religious community program supported by First Parish in Wayland and others, and held at the historic 1815 First Parish Meetinghouse at the intersection of Routes 20 and 27 in Wayland Center. For more information go to www.waldenforum.org or write to info@waldenforum.org.

December 21, 2011 marks the end of a little more than a half-century of memorable learning experiences in the current facility.  On January 3rd, we shall begin making new memories in a markedly improved, state of the art facility – one that every student who attends Wayland High School deserves.  While we’re eager to move in, settle in, and start maximizing use of the many bells and whistles, we are particularly mindful of  this unique opportunity to reflect on who we are as a school community.  Who are we and what are the ties that bind us together?  This is a big question to which there are many fitting answers.  However, there is a particular strand we want to highlight as we prepare for this momentous move: respect and empathy.   There many wonderful aspects of the Wayland High School culture, yet respect and empathy are foundation pieces of who we are.  Now is the perfect time to strengthen our foundation. 

The strongest of school cultures are those shaped and nurtured by educators and students in a collaborative fashion.  Accordingly, we intend to proceed with strengthening our foundation with a partnered approach.  BATHE (Being A Teenager is Hard Enough) is a student action group whose focus is to promote respect and understanding among the student body.  BATHE has morphed from a club to a course offering peopled by nearly 40 students representing the diversity of Wayland High School.  Last year, the group spent considerable time focusing on the anti-bullying effort.  This year, the group’s primary focus is to take full advantage of the grand opportunity the move to the new facility presents.  BATHE has been hard at work planning for major event on January 5th.  The event is titled Rachel’s Challenge.   

Rachel Scott was among the student fatalities in the Columbine incident in 1999. Her parents later discovered her sincere intentions to have a positive impact on the world through the contents of six diaries she left behind.  Rachel’s intentions have become the foundation of one of the most profound school culture programs in the country.

The mission of Rachel’s Challenge is “to inspire, equip and empower every person to create a permanent positive culture change in their school, business and community by starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion.”  They carry the mission and the message forth via an hour-long presentation to the entire student body.  Sustaining the message of respect and empathy beyond the presentation is key.  Accordingly, immediately following the formal presentation, there will be a training session involving close to 100 students and members of the faculty.  The training equips attendees with the tools and the know how to sustain the momentum created by the assembly.  As Rachel’s Challenge puts it, “The assembly creates the ‘want to’ or desire for positive change. The training session teaches the ‘how to’ and ensures that the positive impact will continue.”  

So many of the values of the school and aspects of its culture are reinforced in homes and in the broader community.  Accordingly, Rachel’s Challenge will lead an evening presentation for parents and community leaders on the same day (7pm start time).   Much of the presentation highlights that which student will experience in the morning presentation.  The facilitators will go a step further in making recommendations on how parents and members of the community can reinforce the message. Kindly mark your calendars now.

Sincerely,

McKenna Kiefer, Grade 11
Jen Mast, Guidance Counselor
Patrick Tutwiler, Principal

Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids.  Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.

Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens. A discussion lead by Jessica Rubinstein will follow the movie. 

While we are showing the movie as a public service, we ask that you please register by emailing Deena Bloomstone at eddirector@shirtikva.org.

Berklee College of Music, David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
Tickets: $100 per person

The evening will feature performances by songstress Eve Fleishman and jazz great Jimmy Cobb.  Mr. Cobb was the drummer on Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, which is generally regarded as the greatest jazz album of all time and Davis's masterpiece.  Wayland residents Leslie Price Cutitta,  David D'Orlando, Linda Smith and Neil Aresty will be co-hosting the event, and artist Joanne Tarlin's artwork will be featured in the auction.  Proceeds from this benefit go directly towards sustaining PeaceTones and its programs to economically empower musicians and their communities in the developing world.  About PeaceTones- PeaceTones empowers musicians in developing countries through its workshops and continued mentorship programs to teach the legal, digital marketing, and social justice aspects of being musicians in the twenty first century. 

For more information and to reserve your seat, visit peacetones.org/jazz

This post was submitted by wcpamarketing.

This is a benefit for the  Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund (www.laurendunneastleymemorialfund.org).  The Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund is a non-profit charitable organization founded to honor the life of Lauren Dunne Astley, an 18-year old graduate of Wayland High School who planned to head to Elon University in the fall.  Lauren was passionate about the arts and community service.  The fund's mission is to promote dynamic educational programs, particularly those in the areas of the development of healthy teen relationships, the arts, and community service. 

Cash donations at the door welcome.   Come early space is limited!