The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

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Winter clothing drive

The First Parish in Lincoln is collecting winter clothing through Tuesday, Dec. 7 to benefit Solutions at Work, which serves people facing poverty an homelessness in Cambridge and Dorchester. Items needed include pants, sweatshirts, sweatpants, shirts, sweaters, jackets, parkas, overcoats, underwear, thermal underwear, socks, sneakers, boots, hats, mittens, scarves, etc. — all sizes, infant to adult. Larger adult sizes are especially welcome. Drop off bagged items on the Parish House right portico (stone church). Donations will be delivered to Cambridge on December 8. Questions? Contact Mary at 978-505-7132 or mgaylord@fas.harvard.edu.

Concerts this week and next

The L-S Choral Concert on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. will  feature the high school’s a cappella groups, the L-S Chambers Singers, and Treble and Concert Choirs, as well as a performance by the Ephraim Curtis Middle School Select Chorus. There will be piano, guitar, drums, strings and wind accompaniment and songs in English, Hebrew, Zulu, German, and Italian. This concert is free and open to the public. Masks are required for audience members and performers. Families may also watch the concert at home via the Sudbury Cable TV website or on Comcast Channel 9 or Verizon Channel 32.

The Instrumental Winter Concert will take place on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. with performances by the orchestra, concert and symphonic bands. To learn more about the LSRHS Music Program, visit L-S Friends of Music at www.lsfom.org.

Session on racial justice and municipal governance

On Tuesday, Dec. 7 from 9–11 a.m., the regional group MAGIC the (Minuteman Advisory Group on Interlocal Coordination) will host the second part of a two-part series on racial justice and municipal governance. This event is open to the public. Register in advance for this meeting using this link. The workshop for MAGIC communities with Dr. Raul Fernandez focuses on examining municipal policies related to housing, transportation, governance, and finance through a racial justice lens. Participants will learn how racial justice intersects with these issues and will develop a firm understanding of their responsibility as municipal leaders to center communities of color in their policymaking.

“On Belonging in Outdoor Spaces” session is Dec. 8

“Navigating White Supremacy Culture in the Outdoors and Institutions” will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. via Zoom when Mardi Fuller will take us on a journey through her life of adventures as a Black outdoorswoman who has grown in her liberation-focused identity. She’ll discuss barriers marginalized people face in accessing the outdoors and how exclusion, a form of oppression, is detrimental to all people. Her writing and accomplishments have appeared in Outside magazine, the BBC, Melanin Basecamp, and NRDC.org.

This event is the next in the fall “On Belonging in Outdoor Spaces” speaker series sponsored by the Walden Woods Project, Mass Audubon, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Farrington Nature Linc, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, and The Food Project. Learn more and register at www.onbelongingoutdoors.org.

Futsal games organized by Lincoln Youth Soccer

Futsal indoor five-a-side soccer was developed to be played on a basketball-sized court. The special feature of the game is the unique properties of the ball, which has a low rebound. The game develops close individual ball skills as the court is small and players are forced into limited space and option scenarios.

Games for kids in grades K-8 will be held inside the gym and will run for nine weeks. Sessions will consist primarily of games with a brief warm-up and development session at the beginning led by the coaches. Sessions will be mixed boys/girls in four age groups and are open to players of any skill level from beginner up. There is no registration fee for skills, however space is limited and you must register at lincolnsoccer.com. Masks must be worn inside. Sessions take place on nine Sundays from December 12 through March 6, 2022. Grades K-1 and grades 2-3 will play from 4–5 p.m., and grades 4-5 and grades 6-8 will play from 5–6 p.m.

Wreath-making for kids

Come learn how to make a festive holiday wreath using felt and a coat hanger at the Lincoln Public Library on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. All materials will be provided, but space is limited so please register by emailing sfeather@minlib.net. Best for ages 10 and up.

“Greening the Holidays”

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the amount of trash produced in the U.S. increases by an estimated 25%, according to the EPA. That’s about one million extra tons of garbage each week. Join MetroWest Climate Solutions on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. for a Zoom event on “Greening the Holidays.” Lauren Fernandez, Zero Waste Policy Analyst at the Conservation Law Foundation, and Janice Paré, Environmental Analyst at the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection, will discuss ways to trim the trimmings while preserving the festive spirit of the holiday season. David O’Leary, Magic 106.7 Morning Magic host and voiceover talent, will serve as emcee. To register, visit tinyurl.com/greeningholidays.

MCS is a local partnership of organizations and congregations including First Parish in Lincoln, First Parish in Wayland, First Parish Church in Weston,  the Congregational Church of Weston, Sustainable Weston Action Group (SWAG) and a growing list of communities and individuals.

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$10 at Donelan’s helps provide a family meal

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Donelan’s is running a promotion to give food to the Lincoln Food Pantry. At the checkout counter you can donate $10 that will provide the Lincoln Food Pantry with boxes of the following items to feed our many families: Peanut butter, grape jelly, instant mashed potatoes, green beans, turkey stuffing and gravy, and toasted oats cereal. The promotions runs through Saturday, Nov. 27. Thanks to Donelan’s and everyone who supports the food pantry!

Author talk with David Baldacci

David Baldacci

The Lincoln Public Library presents best-selling author David Baldacci via Zoom on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. He will be discussing his latest novel Mercy, the fourth installment in the Atlee Pine thriller series. Baldacci’s books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide and have been adapted for film and television. He is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America.

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library in collaboration with the Tewksbury Public Library, public libraries across Massachusetts, and Wellesley Books. Free and open to all, but registration is required; click here to register.

Holiday open house at Bemis

On Friday, Dec. 10 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., the Council on Aging & Human Services will host an open house for everyone at Bemis Hall featuring Ken Hurd playing the Bemis piano, cookies and refreshments, and surprise crafts. Also on hand will be Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Select Board Member Jennifer Glass, Town Nurse Trish McGean, and the COA&HS staff.

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Covid-19 vaccination clinic for kids

There are still spots available at the Covid-19 vaccination clinic for kids aged 5-11 on Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Reed gym. Click here to register for an appointment  (select “Nov. 20” only). The clinic will be well staffed to ensure the process goes smoothly and our young children feel safe and well cared for from start to finish. Additional clinics are being planned for first and second doses — information coming soon.

Register for adult classes at Minuteman Voc-Tech

Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI), part of Minuteman Regional Vocation Technical High School in Lincoln and Lexington,  is now accepting student applications for adult workforce development programs that begin in January for the programs in Metal Fabrication and Joining, CNC Machine Operation, Carpentry Pre-Apprentice, and Plumbing Code. In addition, MTI will accept applications beginning in January for 10-month programs that start in August 2022 for the 2022-23 school year. MTI will hold 10-month programs in Automotive Technology, Cosmetology, and Electricity. For more information, visit minutemanti.org. Classes are held on weekday evenings.

MTI’s January programs are tuition-free for qualified applicants as part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Career Technical Initiative. Students who complete the programs will receive industry-recognized credentials and hours toward licensure in their respective fields. The programs are held in collaboration with Commonwealth Corp., MassHire Career Centers, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Prospective students must meet eligibility requirements to access these tuition-free opportunities.

Join the Reading for Racial and Social Justice group

The Lincoln Public Library’s Reading for Racial Justice program is now Reading for Racial and Social Justice. While continuing to read books focused on racism and racial justice, they will also be incorporating fiction and nonfiction titles related to other social justice issues. All sessions will be conducted via Zoom. To receive a Zoom invitation or to obtain more information, email rrapoport@minlib.net. Copies of the books in various formats are available. The upcoming schedule:

Lincolnite plies her art in music, film, and now a book

By Maureen Belt

Ruth Mendelson in front of the Lincoln Public Library with her new book, “The Water Tree Way.”

Composer, humanitarian, and children’s author Ruth Mendelson has come to believe that when something unfortunate happens to you, it’s not a bad thing — it’s just the universe’s way of getting you on the right track. 

For example, as a bass guitar student at Berklee College of Music in the 1980s, she suffered what she thought was a dream-crushing wrist injury. “I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to play an instrument again,” recalled Mendelson, an Illinois native who now calls Lincoln home.

Unable to consider a life that did not include musical creation, Mendelson scrambled for options that didn’t require two fully functioning wrists. She didn’t have to look far — she discovered that Berklee had a degree program for film scoring, a profession she had never considered and knew nearly nothing about. She took a chance and changed majors. 

“The sky opened up and I came across this universe of spheres that I had never explored before,” Mendelson recalled during a recent interview with the Lincoln Squirrel.

Mendelson enrolled and excelled, and after graduating, she became the first woman in Berklee’s history to teach in the Film Scoring department. More than 20 years later, she’s still at it. This unplanned trajectory took her around the world scoring award-winning films for HBO, Discovery, Disney, Animal Planet, the Smithsonian, and PBS, among others. Her list of accomplishments is long and includes an Emmy nomination and being named a New York Times Critics’ Pick.

Meanwhile, Mendelson’s wrist healed just fine and she’s been playing five-string bass for the One Human Family gospel choir for decades… which led to another unexpected opportunity brought on by so-called “unfortunate” events. She traveled with the choir to Geneva to perform for the opening of the United Nations’ International Peace Summit in 2002 — but her excitement about the prospect of performing on the world stage was replaced with shock when she realized that her bass had been left behind in London, “and I was playing the next day.”

She stayed at the airport for hours filling out paperwork, then caught a later shuttle to her hotel. It was aboard this ride that she chatted with her seat mate, an assistant to world-renowned primatologist Dame Jane Goodall who was speaking at the summit. Mendelson later said she didn’t realize her delayed bass arrival was simply the universe working its magic.

Her bass arrived the next day, but the electricity went out during sound check. But the show went on — power was restored as Mendelson’s group performed. Having skipped the sound check, she played with her eyes shut. Somehow her amplifier got turned around and rolled in front of her. Mendelson tried to nonchalantly kick it back into position. Watching this sideshow, Goodall smiled and asked her assistant the name of the musician who was awkwardly dancing with her amplifier. 

Later that day, Mendelson saw Goodall descending a flight of stairs and introduced herself. Goodall asked Mendelson to carry her purse. The connection was immediate, and the two proceeded to walk arm-in-arm to a workshop Goodall was hosting. “In that moment she went from the iconic Dr. Jane Goodall to a dear old friend,” she said, adding it was like the two had known each other forever. 

Since that fateful event, the duo has been collaborating on a variety of humanitarian projects such as the nonprofit Eagle Vision Initiative they founded to empower people (especially children) through the arts. Mendelson also updated the audio on the audiobook version of Goodall’s groundbreaking work, My Life with the Chimpanzees.

Most recently Goodall volunteered to write the foreword to Mendelson’s debut novel, The Water Tree Way (ThoughtOVac Press, 2020). Though classified by Amazon.com as children’s literature, the book has received rave reviews from readers as old as 92, and it’s a hit with 30-year-olds in France — which she knows because readers are sharing their feedback.

The story follows 10-year-old Jai (pronounced Jay) on a fantastical and often humorous adventure in a land of anthropomorphic trees, insects, birds, and celestial bodies, with notes of John Bunyan, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and Joseph Campbell. Mendelson describes her work as “a gift from the universe that I was asked to steward.”

Like many of the works by the aforementioned authors, The Water Tree Way shares timeless life lessons. Jai, who is based largely on Mendelson herself, learns about risk taking, love, loss, helping others, forgiveness, acceptance, the perils of revenge, failure, and finding strength after a fall. She doesn’t shy away from heavy topics but brilliantly reshapes them with positive, child-friendly imagery. For example, Jai encounters rainbow-colored skies and flowers in the chapter on war and destruction. Much of this section is based on a previous project where Mendelson interviewed children before the second Iraq War. 

“I was shocked by how they were affected by even the talk of violence,” she said. 

Children will experience horrible events, but Mendelson’s work provides the tools to work through them. 

“We have to be equipped to deal with hardships,” she said. “If you’re going to succeed, you have to understand it requires failure. We have this glam version of success, but it’s completely false.”

The last few paragraphs of The Water Tree Way leave open the possibility of a sequel, but Mendelson isn’t sure yet if one is forthcoming. However, a Hollywood executive producer has already expressed interest in creating a film version.

While flattered, Mendelson will proceed carefully. “I have to be very discerning with this, because with this book, the most important part of it is its heart and soul and spirit and that has to be 100 percent retained,” she said.

Lincoln resident Ruth Mendelson’s debut novel The Water Tree Way is classified as a children’s work, but all ages can benefit from its life lessons. Here are a few inspiring lines drawn from the book (compiled by Maureen Belt):

  • Everyone has a song inside of them. A song that is magnificent and unique.
  • To react in anger only makes things worse.
  • To lose a good idea is one thing, but to lose sight of who you truly are is far worse.
  • You are beautiful and necessary and the world would never be the same without you.
  • Never return a mistake with a mistake.
  • We all fall sometimes. And sometimes, we simply need a jump start to get back up.
  • It never occurred to her that a present could be something you can’t see or touch.
  • The entire day went by with no victory in sight but she refused to give in to disappointment. 
  • All things move by a power greater than themselves — even humans who don’t think so. 
  • You must first accept that some of your thinking has been wrong before you can change it.
  • You always have what you need. Don’t worry.
  • Really, how horribly dull — to try a couple of puny times and just give up.
  • The drum is calling you.
  • You can’t expect to understand everything all at once. 
  • They would often say that courage is one of the greatest things to celebrate.
  • The main thing to remember is that it’s very important to ask for help when you need it. Don’t think that you have to figure it all out alone. 
  • All things that are free do things spontaneously, without explanation and without warning. And, being free, they bring beauty wherever they go. 

New book probes the past and present at Mt. Misery

The front and back covers of Ron McAdow’s “Imagining the Past at Mount Misery.”

How did Mount Misery get its name? Who built the 350-year-old sawmill? What forces shaped this  strange, eventful, terrain? These are some of the questions answered in Imagining the Past at Mount Misery, a new booklet by Lincoln resident Ron McAdow.

The book offers a trail guide to the Mount Misery conservation land with color photos, maps, and diagrams explaining the history and geology along a two-mile walk on the property. McAdow lives near the trails and walks then frequently, “and I discovered this land had an unexpectedly fascinating history,” he said. That part of Lincoln was originally in Concord, and in the century before Lincoln was incorporated in 1754, the Billings family, and their sawmill and farms, were part of Concord’s history. After doing research at the Concord and Lincoln libraries and online, “I invited friends for a walk, and told them what I’d learned. They found it interesting and encouraged me to write it down.”

McAdow was executive director of Sudbury Valley Trustees from 2003 to 2013. Before that, wrote guides for paddling local rivers, with one book on the Concord, Sudbury, and Assabet Rivers and its follow-up, Charles River: Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe. For the Appalachian Mountain Club, he also co-authored a book called Into the Mountains; the Stories of New England’s Most Celebrated Peaks. More recently, he’s been writing fiction, and he’s also editor in chief at Personal History Press, where he formats and ghost-writes family memoirs for clients.

“I began [the latest book title]with the word ‘imagining’ because if you use your imagination on this walk, at some points you’re on an island overlooking a huge frigid lake, while at other times you’re walking along the bottom of a what was a lobe of ice, looking up at sand and gravel deposited by meltwater streams as the last ice sheet melted,” McAdow said. “If you go back only 350 years, you can help an English immigrant and his sons try to figure out how to scratch a living from the sand the glacier left behind. It grows pine trees well enough; how are they to be converted to lumber, and how are those boards to be transported to market? We don’t have precise information about these topics — but we can fill in, provisionally, by imagining the needs of the people who lived here. When we stand on the top of Mount Misery we know for sure what Henry Thoreau’s impressions were, when he had climbed that hill, because he recorded them in his journal.”

Ron McAdow

In writing this kind of guide, “recreation meets education. It can’t be a tome, but it needs enough of the right details to be interesting,” he said. “The challenges start with locating information, then sorting what’s plausible from what seems to be mistaken and verifying or correcting conclusions with people who know more about local history than I do. I appreciate the assistance of the Lincoln Historical Society! The next challenge is to figure out a format that will suit the purpose. I had just completed a square color book about a family farm for a client of my Personal History Press. I thought it was attractive and flexible format, so I used it for the guide. Balancing space given to different subjects and choosing visual materials is fun but not easy.”

McAdow will give an online slide talk about the project at the monthly Conservation Coffee hosted by Lincoln Land Conservation Trust and Rural Land Foundation on Thursday, Dec. 2; call 781-259-9251 or email llct@lincolnconservation.org for details. Imagining the Past at Mount Misery is available at Something Special in Lincoln and Verrill Farm in Concord; his other two books are available at the Mass Audubon Shop at Drumlin Farm and Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Wolbach Farm.

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See “The Addams Family!” at L-S

Tickets are now on sale for the LSB Players’ production of “The Addams Family!” — a hilarious and irreverent musical about a loving yet macabre family set in their ghoulish ways, as they face the prospect of their daughter/sister, Wednesday, marrying someone far too normal for their taste. Performances are in the Kirshner Auditorium at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Wednesday through Saturday, Nov. 17–20 (all shows at 7:30 p.m.). Masks are required.

Directed and choreographed by Carly Evans, music directed by Michael Bunting, and conducted by Tom Grandprey. Reserve tickets by sending an email to LSBTickets@gmail.com. Please indicate the date of the performance you wish to see and the number of student/senior ($8) and or adult ($15) tickets you would like to reserve. Reserved tickets will be held at the will-call table on the night of each performance, or you may pick them up the downstairs theater lobby entrance on Sunday, Nov. 14 from 12:30–2 p.m.

Holiday drives for families affected by abuse

Each year, the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable sponsors a family for the holidays and invites local communities to become involved in making the holidays brighter for families affected by domestic violence. Families in shelter for the holidays face a sad and difficult time as they are separated from family and friends and are hiding from their abusers.

Sponsoring a family or organizing a collection with colleagues, friends, or group is a great way to help. The following organizations all conduct holiday drives:

Holiday drives start early so that agencies have time to process donations. In some cases, gift cards are being collected so families can shop and wrap their presents.

LNS offers session on pre-K/K program

Join Lincoln Nursery School teachers and parents in a virtual discussion about the school’s preK/K program on Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. The Studio Red program is a mix of older 4-year-olds to 6-year-olds. The children have either just missed the cutoff date to turn 5 for kindergarten, or in many cases, are  kindergarten-eligible based on their age and chose to have their kindergarten year at LNS. After a year in Studio Red, families can choose for their child to move to kindergarten or first grade. Click here to register for the discussion.

Update your information for the Lincoln Directory

Watch for a large yellow card in your mail this week from the Friends of the Lincoln Library (FOLL), since it’s time to update the Lincoln Directory, which hasn’t been published since 2019 due to the pandemic. The directory is a helpful guide to all things Lincoln — people (white pages), town offices and organizations (green pages), service providers, and trusted businesses (yellow pages) — and is mailed to every residence in Lincoln. For residents, it’s an easy way to contact neighbors and find service information, and for advertisers, it’s a guarantee that Lincolnites can learn about them and know that they support the Lincoln Public Library.

If your information hasn’t changed since the 2019 edition, you’re all set. If you want to make changes to your existing white pages listing or add cellphone information, we need to hear from you. Note that FOLL never sells any of the directory information. To make updates, send an email to lincolnphonebook@gmail.com, fill out the card when you receive it and mail it back to the FOLL, or drop the card with your new information at the library. The deadline to have your information included in the Spring 2022 directory is January 7, 2022. Many thanks to The Commons for their generous support in helping to fund the mailing.

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Marc Day (center).

Donate to Marc Day Scholarship Fund

Friends and family of the late Marc Day invite donations to a scholarship fund established in the name of Marc, a Lincoln resident and graduate of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School who died on September 8.

Organizers are hoping to raise $25,000 to help one college-bound L-S track runner each year. Marc, a student at Curry College, was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 19. “Some of his many loves were flowers, sushi, hot sauce, clothes and friends. Always his friends,” his mother Mary Day wrote.

To donate, click here. Under ” Dedicate this gift,” please type in “Marc Day” or “Marc Day Memorial Scholarship.” Donation may also be made by check payable to “L-S Scholarship Fund.” Write “Marc Day Scholarship” on the memo line and mail it to LSSF, P.O. Box 693, Sudbury, MA 01776.

Substitute teachers needed

Apply to become a substitute teacher in the Lincoln Public Schools for students in grades preK-8. Morning, afternoon or all-day shifts are available on the Lincoln and Hanscom campuses. Work with younger or older students based on your preference. Rates start at $60 (half-day) and $100 (full day). Click here to learn more and apply on line. Questions? Contact Kerry Parrella at kparrella@lincnet.org or 508-958-6872.

Minute Man NHP unveils art exhibit

A new public art exhibition has been installed in the Minute Man National Historical Park in collaboration with the Umbrella Arts Center in Concord. Curated by Monkeyhouse, “Go Out Doors – Minute Man National Historical Park” brings unique, park-inspired artistic perspectives to the Umbrella’s “Go Out Doors – Neighbors” regional exhibition of artfully upcycled, painted doors, installed in towns throughout Battle Road, MetroWest and beyond.

The doors feature designs inspired by and creatively interpreting themes from three major sites in the park selected in consultation with Park interpretive staff led by Visitor Service Manager Jennifer Pierce and 2021 intern Luis Berrizbeitia. Click here to learn more.

The project is the park’s second major collaboration with Umbrella, following 2019’s “Earth Press Project: Witness,” a large-scale sculptural installation by MMNHP’s first artist in residence, Nancy Winship Milliken. It is supported in part by The Foundation for Metrowest. Originally inspired by the door exhibit on NYC’s High Line, “Go Out Doors” has expanded from the Umbrella’s original summer 2020 exhibition in West Concord into a wide collaborative public art campaign with thematically similar installations cropping up along trails, open spaces, business districts and cultural attractions in many area towns.

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Series of author talks coming up

The Lincoln Public Library will host several virtual programs with book authors in coming weeks:

A panel discussion with all five 2021 Agatha Award nominees for best first novel
Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.
Meet the country’s best new mystery writers in this all-star panel discussion featuring all five nominees for this year’s Agatha Award for Best First Novel: Esme Addison (A Spell For Trouble), Tina deBellegarde (Winter Witness), Mary Keliikoa (Derailed), Erica Ruth Neubauer (Murder at the Mena House), and Laura Jensen Walker (Murder Most Sweet). Award-winning author Catriona McPherson will serve as moderator. Click here to register.

“Is Rape a Crime? A Memoir, an Investigation and a Manifesto”
Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
Award-winning writer Michelle Bowdler (Executive Director of Health & Wellness at Tufts University) will discuss her memoir, which indicts how sexual violence has been addressed for decades in our society, asking whether rape is a crime given that it is the least reported major felony. Click here to register.

Barry Van Dusen: Finding Sanctuary: An Artist Explorers the Nature of Mass Audubon
Monday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
Over the course of four and a half years, nature artist Barry Van Dusen visited all 61 of Mass Audubon’s public wildlife sanctuaries, nature centers, and museums, producing drawings and paintings at each location. Follow his travels and share in his adventures from the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket to the mountain peaks of the Berkshires. Click here to register.

Lynne Reeves: Dangers of An Ordinary Night with fellow author Lisa Genova
Monday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.
The Dangers of an Ordinary Night is an exploration of the explosive family secrets that are often hidden in plain sight. Reeves is an internationally recognized family counselor, public speaker, teacher and writer of fiction and nonfiction. Genova is the bestselling author of numerous novels including Still Alice. Click here to register.

Ornament sales benefit needy pet owners

Phinney’s, a Lincoln nonprofit celebrating 25 years of helping low-income people keep their pets, will launch its holiday activities at the Lincoln Arts Show on Friday to Sunday, Nov. 5-7 from noon–5 p.m. at the Pierce House. The blue spruce Phinney’s Angels Tree will also be lit up and decorated with hand-painted ornaments of 15 pets in need, welcoming more ornaments that donors purchase as the holiday season progresses. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors can purchase watercolor ornaments to take home, give to others, or hang on the tree outside. The stories and pictures of the pets featured on the Angels Tree are posted at phinneys.org.

Discussion on healthy teen relationships

“It’s Not ‘THE Talk,’ It’s an Ongoing Conversation: Talking with Youth about Friendships and Relationships” is the title of an online conversation with Molly Pistrang-Gomes from the REACH Beyond Domestic Violence’s prevention team hosted by the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. She will talk about how to engage youth in age-appropriate discussions about relationships as young people interact with friends, family members, teachers, classmates, teammates, dating partners, coworkers, people online, etc. She’ll explore the importance of discussing and modeling boundaries, holding each other accountable with compassion, combatting gender norms and stereotypes, and practicing healthy communication. To get the link, go to the Roundtable’s website at www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org to register for the program. Email infodvrt@gmail.com with questions.

Donate to families grappling with homelessness

The eighth annual holiday drive for Heading Home, a Charlestown organization dedicated to ending homelessness, is now being organized by Lincoln resident Kim Jalet, who is responsible for gathering items for about 80 families. Email her at jaletk@gmail.com if you’d like to buy a full or partial kit for one or more families, or choose bedding, towels, gift cards, and/or children’s books to buy. Kits contain a $25 Stop & Shop gift card, a bed-in-a-bag for the parent, towels and gifts valued at $25–$50 for each child in a family. Once she hears from you, she will send you the appropriate donor directions an signup sheet where you can choose your family or families. Gifts are due by Friday, Dec. 3.

Film: “Day for Night”

The Lincoln Film Society will screen “Day For Night” in the Tarbell Room on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. The film directed by Francois Truffaut (in French with English subtitles) won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1973 and stars Jacqueline Bisset as a leading lady in a movie shoot peppered with problems.