Welcome to the second newsletter of November! May you have a happy Thanksgiving, with all of your favorite people and all of your favorite food.
In addition to our usual programming over the next few weeks, author Jan Brogan will be joining us on November 30th to talk about her book, "The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston's Struggle for Justice." Don't miss it!
Don't forget that we have a new calendar, you can see it here. Read more about Jan Brogan, and all the rest of our fall events below. See you at the Library!
Story Time
Wednesday mornings
10:00 am
There will be no story time on November 23. Happy Thanksgiving!
We will be back on November 30th and December 7th. Join us to sing songs and listen to stories! This story time will be held outside on the Lynnfield Town Common if the weather is nice. You are welcome to bring a blanket or chair to sit on. In case of bad weather, story time will be held inside the library!
Recommended for children ages 5 and younger.
Knitting Club
Monday, November 21 at 2:30 pm
Love knitting, crocheting, or other handicrafts? Join us for a monthly Knitting Club! We'll be meeting on the Mezzanine to work on our own projects and chat. Registration is not required, but recommended.
Adults
Paper Plate Scarecrow Puppet
Tuesday, November 22nd
3:00 PM
This cute Scarecrow is fun and easy to make - and he can be a puppet or a fall decoration! Come and join us in the Children's Room! Please register online
Ages 4 and up
Bill Sano
Wednesday, November 23
9:30-11:30
Join us in the Lynnfield Meeting House for the final installment of a three morning lecture series with Bill Sano: Two significant 20th century composers. How were they similar? How did they differ? Both were brought up in the Jewish quarters of New York City. Both composed for Broadway in their time. Gershwin died at 38. Berlin died at 101!
This program was generously funded by the Friends of the Lynnfield Library.
Adults
Fall Crayon Relief Watercolors
Monday, November 28
3:30—4:15 PM
Come learn a cool watercolor technique as we make fall themed paintings! Join us in the children's room! Please register online.
Ages 6 and up
The Last Tuesday Book Club
Tuesday, November 29
6:00-7:30 PM
Join us in the mezzanine for The Last Tuesday Book Club, the Lynnfield Library's fiction book group! Our November book is The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Copies will be available for pick up at the Library's Circulation Desk. Registration is recommended but not required.
Adults
Author Jan Brogam
Wednesday, November 30
6:30 PM
Join us in the library mezzanine for a special author talk with Jan Brogan, author of The Combat Zone: Murder, Race and Boston’s Struggle for Justice, about the most publicized murder of the 1970s. The victim, Harvard football star Andrew Puopolo, an Italian-American star athlete, had grown up in the city’s North End, then the local headquarters for the mob. Three Black men were charged with the murder in the crime-ridden Combat Zone, the four blocks of downtown Boston designated for adult entertainment. Whispers of Mafia revenge after the murder grew so loud that many in the media didn’t think there would ever be a trial.
There were two. The suspects were tried during the height of the city’s busing violence. Verdicts swung radically in two and a half volatile years. The jury decisions may have said more about the city than about the facts of the case, and left the victim’s family to struggle with the very definition of justice.
While many in Boston and around Harvard remember the murder, few know about the lasting impact the trials had on criminal justice, changing the way juries in Massachusetts and eventually, the nation, are selected by ending the once common practice of striking potential jurors based on race or ethnicity. Registration Required
This program was generously funded by Friends of the Lynnfield Library.
Adults
Virtual Yoga with Tammy Syrigos Irrera
Thursdays at
12 noon
Join us for a 60-minute yoga flow! Instructor Tammy Syrigos Irrera will lead us through yoga poses over Zoom. Register with a valid email to receive the link to join the class. You will receive an email with login information a half hour before the class begins.
Dec 1 - Yoga Flow and Sculpt
This program was generously funded by the Friends of the Lynnfield Library.
Adults and Teens
The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. The United States of America, with Author Eric Cervini
Wednesday, December 7
7:00 PM
Join us for a Zoom discussion with award-winning author and historian Eric Cervini on his painstakingly researched and engagingly written book, The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America. A New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, The Deviant's War uncovers the secret history of the fight for gay rights that began a generation before Stonewall, told through the life and unprecedented legal efforts of astronomer Franklin Edward Kameny. This discussion will be moderated by Jasmine Allen of PBS NH. Register Here
About the author: Eric Cervini is an award-winning historian of LGBTQ+ culture and politics. He graduated summa *** laude from Harvard College and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar. The Deviant’s War is his first book.
About the book: In 1957, Frank Kameny, a rising astronomer working for the U.S. Defense Department in Hawaii, received a summons to report immediately to Washington, D.C. The Pentagon had reason to believe he was a homosexual, and after a series of humiliating interviews, Kameny, like countless gay men and women before him, was promptly dismissed from his government job. Unlike many others, though, Kameny fought back.
Based on firsthand accounts, recently declassified FBI records, and forty thousand personal documents, Eric Cervini's The Deviant's War unfolds over the course of the 1960s, as the Mattachine Society of Washington, the group Kameny founded, became the first organization to protest the systematic persecution of gay federal employees. It traces the forgotten ties that bound gay rights to the Black Freedom Movement, the New Left, lesbian activism, and trans resistance. Above all, it is a story of America (and Washington) at a cultural and sexual crossroads; of shocking, byzantine public battles with Congress; of FBI informants; murder; betrayal; sex; love; and ultimately victory.
Adults
Coloring Bookmarks
Wednesday, December 7
11:00 AM- 1:00 PM
Take a break and get creative! Color your own bookmark. We'll be meeting in the Young Adult Area.
Teens
Read to a Dog
Wednesday, December 7
3:30-4:30 PM
Mitzi, a trained therapy dog, will be visiting the LYnnfield LIbrary hopint to hear some great stories! Sign up for a 10-minutes session and choose a book to read to Mitzi. Mitzi loves listening to beginning and reluctant readers in grades K-4. Space is limited to 6 children. Register to reserve a time.
Children grades K-4
Latest Book Lists & Blog Posts
