News acorns

Screening of “Reconstruction” Thursday

The First Parish in Lincoln’s Racial Justice Journey group will screen episode 4 of “Reconstruction After the Civil War” by Henry Louis Gates via Zoom on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. Click here to join the Zoom meeting (passcode: 853751). The documentary segment looks at things that still have an impact today, including the establishment of the “Lost Cause,” the placements of Confederate monuments, regulations concerning what could and could not be taught to school children, Jim Crow and blackface, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, the movie “Birth of A Nation” and music. Half an hour will be allotted for discussion at the end. Click here to watch the entire series on Kanopy, courtesy of the Lincoln Public Library.

Town Clerk Fox wins recognition

Lincoln Town Clerk Valerie Fox recently qualified for the Massachusetts Town Clerks’ Association’s (MTCA) prestigious CMMC (Certified Massachusetts Municipal Clerk) designation and received her certificate and commemorative pin at the MTCA Fall Conference in Springfield in September. Currently, only 119 of the Commonwealth’s 301 active town clerks hold this designation, and Fox is one of only 30 Master Municipal Clerks in the Commonwealth, a designation awarded by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC).

The CMMC designation is achieved by attending MTCA-sponsored continuous education and professional development courses, and by passing an extensive examination measuring a municipal clerk’s knowledge of Massachusetts General Laws in categories such as elections and election procedures, vital records, campaign and political finance, town meetings, Chapter 40A (planning), Chapter 41 (zoning), ethics, and public records.

Fox serves on the Executive Board of the MTCA and as chair of the MTCA’s Education Committee. She is also on the Executive Board of the New England Association of City and Town Clerks and the Advisory Committee of the Northeast Document Conservation Center as well as being a member of the MTCA and the IIMC.

Click here for a May 2021 profile of Fox and her work by Elena Christenfeld, a Barnard College student from Lincoln who worked as an assistant town clerk.

Christmas Mass schedule at St. Julia’s

St. Julia Parish of Weston and Lincoln will hold Christmas Masses at St. Julia’s Church in Weston  on Friday, Dec. 24 at 2:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., and on Saturday, Dec. 25 at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. (there will be no Masses on Saturday evening).