Greenfield Public Library

April 3rd – April 9th

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a lovely start of spring.

Remember to come out to Nerd Nite NoHo next Monday! It’s going to be a very nice time where two excellent people will present about two excellent topics. We’ll have nature guide Kery Emma Ellis discussing the scourge of “Greenwashing” by people attempting to pretend their products and services are “good for nature” despite being “basically just lying and using green and teal on the packaging a lot”! That’s going to be followed up with Greg Dennis, Research Director for Voter Choice Massachusetts, talking about ranked choice voting!

We’d also like to specifically point out the 2017 Pioneer Valley Zine Fest! Zines are fun and neat and there are a ton of folks who are going to be there with really cool artwork so you should go see them and say “Wow, nice job! Here is the amount of money you’ve indicated this zine or other piece of artwork costs!”

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Tuesday, April 4th
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 7:45
Slate Press Poetry Reading
Anna M. Warrock and Cindy Snow will present readings from their new works! Anna M. Warrock has had a poem installed permanently in the Boston subway which means she’s going to probably eventually inspire some kind of post-apocalyptic cult eventually. Cindy Snow has been featured in a bunch of poetry reviews and she does peer tutoring at Greenfield Community College. Both of them have chapbooks out for your reading pleasure!
Wednesday, April 5th
Mead Art Museum [41 Quadrangle Dr, Amherst, MA 01002] at 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Kota Ezawa: Gardner Museum Revisited
Converse with artist Kota Ezawa as he discusses his installation! It’s currently on display and by chatting with the artist you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the art presented!
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
The 13th Annual Palmer Public Library Poetry Pageant
The theme this year is friendship! Donate $25 to the library and bring a poem about friendship to share! Listen to your friends talk about friends!
Thursday, April 6th
Emily Dickinson Museum [280 Main St, Amherst, MA 01002] at 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Amherst Arts Night Plus: Poetry Night and Art Exhibition
Drop into the museum for an open mic, poetry reading, and one-night art exchange in the museum! Open mic begins at 6pm and the featured readers follow: Jenna Baillargeon is a second year at Hampshire, and is the featured Open Mic reader, and students of The Literacy Project will be reading original memoirs and poems afterward, accompanied by Judith Willams on the keyboard.
Saturday, April 8th
Flywheel Arts Collective [43 Main St., Easthampton, MA 01027]
2017 Pioneer Valley Zine Fest
Zines! Zines for miles! Join zine creators and fans from around New England! It’s a great chance to see amazing artwork and give the people who produce it a few bucks! Zines are keen!

Board Games:

Wednesday, April 5th
Brass Cat [65 Cottage St #101, Easthampton, MA 01027] at 7:00 PM to 11:30 PM
Brass Cat Wednesday Game Night
Games! Beautiful board games! Have a great time playing games and enjoying a friendly community! Have a drink at a nice bar and hang out with people who are nice also. This wee, Forbidden Island and Innovation are the featured games!
Saturday, April 8th
Off The Wall Game Shop [41 Russell St., Hadley, MA 01035] at 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Malifaux Tournament
See http://www.the131.com/forum for details! This tournament will test your ability to command the forces of weird grossness in the game Malifaux, which is distinct from other tabletop games in a manner we are not qualified to comment upon. Mostly we notice that there are a lot of Frankenstein monster looking things.
Burger King Community Room [344 King St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 12:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Tabletop Gaming Day
Game! At a table! With tops! Play with tops, is what we’re saying. Play with the bet game of all: tabletops. The game of kings! Beyblade we just realized our joke game is also Beyblade. But for actual this meetup usually goes for Euro-games like Settlers/Carcassone etc, but they’re open to whatever you’re interested in!

Books:

Wednesday, April 5th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Ellen Meeropol, Kinship of Clover
How do you stay true to the folks you care about while trying to change the world? That’s what botany major Jeremy has to struggle with when he gets wrapped up with a group of eco-terrorists trying to save the plants he loves, and is inextricably bound to.
Friday, April 7th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire with Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear
The Odyssey Bookshop is hosting a big ol’ sci-fi hootenanny! John Scalzi will talk about his latest book, and he’ll be joined by fellow wonderful authors Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear! The book’s about a far future where humanity finds a sort of hyperspace river that allows FTL travel, but then finds that it’s slowly moving around and soon the quick travel that maintains an interstellar empire will no longer be where it needs to be! It sounds neat!
Saturday, April 8th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
YA Panel Featuring Kim Savage, Kady Cross, and Eva Darrows
Three excellent YA authors on a panel talking about their three recent books that are all about tragic circumstances and young women dealing with difficult issues.
Hooker Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Lindy West, Shrill: Notes From A Loud Woman
Lindy West will speak and read from her memoir! Hilarious tales of how to handle just generally the unfortunate bits of being alive. Lindy West is a prolific writer and generally regarded as “wicked good at writing and also wicked funny”.

Community:

Thursday, April 6th
Sacred Heart Church [395 Chestnut St., Springfield, MA] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
End Mass Incarceration in Massachusetts
Pioneer Valley Project invites you to join them in the fight to end mass incarceration in Massachusetts! If you’re into the idea of repealing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses, changing some felony thresholds, increasing funding for re-entry programs and education during incarceration then you should help them fight for these reforms!

Computers:

Tuesday, April 4th
The Foundry [24 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Northampton Webdive – After Work
A regular meetup of coders and web developers that heads to the Foundry and hangs out and just generally chats and has a good time. You can join them to have a nice time as well!

Entertainment:

Monday, April 3rd
Historic Northampton [46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060-2406] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Staged Reading of Getting Out
A staged read by the Holyoke Community College theater department of the play Getting Out, a play by the Pulitzer-winning author of ‘Night Mother. The play is the story of Arlene, a woman struggling to survive on the outside after being incarcerated for eight years in a Kentucky Prison.
Tuesday, April 4th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
The Wonderful World of Model Railroading
Have you ever wanted to make a tiny world that’s entirely comprised of people frozen in time save for the trains? Are the trains the masters of this world, or do they merely exist in some other state of being? Well two railroad enthusiasts, George Reneris and Harry Ruddock, will help answer questions about how you can put together a sweet model railroad!
Wednesday, April 5th
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
First Wednesday Speaker Series: Clutter Control 101
Figure out how to get your stuff to stop being a gigantic terrible pile of nonsense that you don’t need or want! Dave Downs will offer some upbeat tips for getting all your various junk into a place where it can no loner bother you!
Friday, April 7th
UMass Center at Springfield [1500 Main St., Springfield, MA 01115] at 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Less Medicine, More Health
Dr. Gilbery Welch, author of “Less Medicine, More Health: 7 Assumptions that Drive Too Much Medical Care” will present in a free public forum! He’s a general internist with an interest in the issues created by overzealous efforts to detect early disease, mostly over-screening for cancer. It’s worth taking a look, maybe you’ll be less inclined to freak out over your own health!
Saturday, April 8th
Historic Northampton [46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060-2406] at 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Community Building as Resistance: The Northampton Association at 175 years.
Commemorate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Northampton Association of Education and Industry! First you’ll get a walking tour of the Northampton Association Lands, and then you’ll see two lectures and a panel, about Abolition and Community in Northampton in the 1840s and construction of the progressive industrial village of Florence. And finally, a panel about the meaning of the Northampton Association Experiment!

History:

Smith College Museum of Art [20 Elm St, Northampton, MA 01063] at 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Free Community Day
This is a huge day! There’s a bunch to learn about ancient Rome! Inspired by the exhibition of the Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii that’s currently ongoing at the museum, there are a ton of things going on! Make your own fresco! Tour with a docent! Watch seventh-graders perform skits about ancient Rome! Stroll through a recreated Roman Garden!

Kids:

Monday, April 3rd
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Mucho Gusto Spanish Free Sample Classes
A free bilingual Spanish/English story hour with Laurie Davidson of Mucho Gusto Spanish! It’s for children ages 0-5 and their caregivers!
Saturday, April 8th
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Explore Music and Sound! Presented by UMass Music Educators
Students ages 9-12 are invited to try instruments and see demos performed by students from the UMass School of Education. Thinking about learning to play? Give it a shot today!

Movies:

Tuesday, April 4th
Yiddish Book Center [1021 West St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Finding Babel
Finding Babel chronicles a grandson’s search for the legacy of the greatest prose writer of the Russian Jewish community, and whose subversive work led t his tragic end. Isaac Babel is best known for his short story collections Odessa Stories and Red Cavalry, he challenged the ideology of the early Soviet Union and that challenging writing resulted in his execution in 1940 by the Soviet Regime. This movie tracks his grandson’s journeys through Ukraine, France, and Russian to confront the relevance of his ancestor’s work.
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
GPL Teen Pizza and Movie Night
Pizza and a movie: the ultimate chance to have pizza and also watch a movie. Teens, don’t let this slip by! This is your chance to have pizza and watch a film! It’s a hoot to do so with pals!

RPGs:

Sunday, April 9th
Camp Timber Trails [1266 East Otis Road, Tolland, MA] at 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM
Magestry LARP Spring Game #1
Magestry is looking for anyone interested in being an orc, a monster, a brigand, a barbarian, a general-purpose rough customer! They need a lot of NPCs to take care of an increasing number of PCs! You can play for free and even get food! You don’t even need to stay the whole weekend, a couple of hours would be a big help! Find out more by contacting NPC@Magestry.com or checking out the meetup at https://www.meetup.com/larping/events/238838016/

March 27th – April 2nd

The Valley Nerd Watch!

So despite the fact that we repeatedly forget to mention it because we’re not on Facebook all THAT often we’re huge fans of Brass Cat Game Night! The Brass Cat is a nice as heck bar, particularly when it’s got that patio area open in the summer, and more importantly Justin Dowd puts on a very friendly game night.

Justin knows the rules, he’s an extra player if you need one, and he’s really good at figuring out a good selection of games so people all get a chance to have a good time. Plus all the folks who attend are quite friendly. It’s really delightful! Have you been? Fill out this survey! Have you never been? Still fill out the survey, to provide useful data about how to make it the best event it can be!

Also! If you notice that a local business or event either has a website that’s no longer functional or notice that they’re not popping up on Google or only post on FB whatnot, let us know! We’re trying to get a list together of people we miss because like they’ve only got a Facebook page or the site has changed. But more eyes on the problem is always a big help!

Oh also since there’s a bunch of prison policy related stuff in this issue, why not take the opportunity to donate to the Prison Policy Initiative?

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Monday, March 27th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Drop In Sit and Knit Group
Sit! Knit! Hang out with people who like to knit. Ask them for advice, chat with them, generally get along with other human beings in a pleasant environment and at the end of it have a little bit of progress in a creative project. Dang, we gotta knit more.
Tuesday, March 28th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Short Story Series
Dramatic readings by professional actors bring short stories to life! Linda Tardif will be reading “Sorry Fugu” by T.C. Boyle, and Troy David Mercier will be reading “Taste” by Roald Dahl! It’s like an audiobook but free and you can thank it afterward.
Mead Art Museum [41 Quadrangle Dr, Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM
The Mead’s Feejee Mermaid: An Interdisciplinary Re-Appraisal
See the Mead’s strange example of some faux-mythical weirdness! Then, assistant museum educator Keely Sarr will reconstruct for you the cultural context of what the heck made people decide to stick together a fish and a monkey for some danged reason in a post-colonial lens. All are welcome!
Friday, March 31st
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Reception for Whitney C. Robbins “Akin II”
Beautiful artwork displaying the bond between humankind and other animals, reminding us that it’s a good idea to generally be decent to living things. Also, it’s real pretty! This is a reception so usually that means some cheese and tea or something, if you’re lucky!
Saturday, April 1st
Mead Art Museum [41 Quadrangle Dr, Amherst, MA 01002] at 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Community Day: Fool Mead Once
Animation! Cartooning! Make some artwork, attend some talks. All activites inspired by Kota Ezawa’s animated films and the lightboxes on display on in the museum! Stretch your cartooning muscles! Have fun!
Sunday, April 2nd
Historic Northampton [46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060-2406] at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
The Final Flourish, the Rhetoric of the Hat – by Margaret Bruzelius
What do hats mean? Why are hats worn? How do they indicate what a person is societally and mentally and why? Beginning with 30’s screwball comedies, Margaret Bruzelius will discuss the patterns and the meanings of hats in film! It sounds like a top hat of a presentation alright that one fell apart the same moment we said it wait hats off to Margaret for a wonderful presentation!
Yiddish Book Center [1021 West St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Talk – “The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland” with Marisa Scheinfeld
The Catskills, famously popular for a long time with Jewish vacationers, used to be home to hundreds of hotels, bungalows, and clubs where top performers played for huge crods. Many of them have spent the years since their heyday slowly decaying. Marisa Scheinfeld documented the fate of these onetime vacation paradises, and will talk about the experience and sign her book after the talk!

At:

Friday, March 31st
Emily Dickinson Museum [280 Main St, Amherst, MA 01002] at 8:30 AM to 9:30 PM
Morgan Library Bus Trip
A big day for Dickinson fans! A big bus trip to visit the Morgan Library in NYC to see “I’m Nobody! Who are you? The Life and Poetry of Emily Dickinson” Ride in a nice coach with fellow Dickinson-heads, screen a biography of the poet, and eat some gingerbread from her own recipe! It’s a long day, but it sounds delightful. Seats are limited so head to the site and buy a ticket soon! https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/morganbus

Books:

Tuesday, March 28th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Harriet Scott Chessman, The Lost Sketchbook of Edgar Degas
A companion novel to Chessman’s other acclaimed work Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper, it’s a lyrical work about what art can reveal. It presents a nuanced picture of what familial, racial, and financial forces might have influenced Edgar Degas’s work presented through the lens of his cousin Tell finding a lost sketchbook of his work.
Thursday, March 30th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Mindy Fried, Caring for Red: A Daughter’s Memoir
Fried provides a moving account of caring for her ninety-seven year-old father Manny. Manny was an actor, a writer, a labor organizer, and survived political persecution in the McCarthy Era. The memoir chronicles her and her sister dealing with issues that, if we’re lucky, we’ll all face caring for our elderly loved ones. It seems like it has some worthwhile lessons to impart and also just that Red’s neatand it’s probably fun to read about him.
Saturday, April 1st
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Q.M. Zhang, Accomplice to Memory
Local author Q.M. Zhang discovers secrets surrounding her father’s exodus from China during the decades of civil and world war leading up to the revolution of 1949. She weaves togther history, nonfiction, memoir, and novel to explore an immigrant parent and the difficulty the second generation has understanding the first.

Community:

Monday, March 27th
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Animal Friend Loss Support Group
If you’ve lost an animal you loved, this is a place to talk about it! We definitely remember our poor little hearts breaking when our childhood doggie died, and we think it’s probably a good idea to talk to people when you’re feeling that low down.
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Collateral Consequences
Panel conversation with four Massachusetts residents who’ve had personal experience with incarceration. They will give you a human perspective of the effects of being impacted by the carceral state.
Tuesday, March 28th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Diabetes: Our Journey to Improve Our Health
In this final discussion you’ll learn about the connections between diabetes and exercise! Get yourself ready to be as healthy as you can be!
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Diabetes: Our Journey to Improve Our Health
Learn more about diabetes, a disease that’s worth knowing about! This last meetup is about how important it is to exercise if you want to deal with diabetses effectively.
Wednesday, March 29th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Real Madness: Warehousing People with Mental Illness in Prisons – Presented by Robert Fleischner
Find out more about the horrificly torturous system of American prisons! We incarcerate more people that any other nation, and it’s not because we’re good at it! Robert Fleischner will discuss why so many people with mental illness wind up in prison instead of being helped, and what we can do about it.
Saturday, April 1st
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
League of Women Voters – Health Care Committee
Find out how to combat the latest terrifying thing to happen to healthcare! Band together with fellow citizens to ensure that Massachusetts remains a pretty decent place to be sick in.

Entertainment:

Wednesday, March 29th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
The Kerry Boys: Irish Music Performance
Connecticut’s finest Irish Balladeers! Vocal harmony, instrumental vibrancy, danged good fun in the classic Celtic spirit.
Thursday, March 30th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Anime Club
Watch anime! It doesn’t have to be good, even! Sometimes it’s fun just to watch a cartoon that’s exciting and a bit silly. It’s also possible to watch good anime but we’re just saying, don’t feel like that’s a requirement. Probably talk to other folks at this event about what everyone’s feeling into this particular night!
Saturday, April 1st
Chapin Auditorium, Mount Holyoke at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Staceyann Chin: Keynote Speaker, The 2017 Women of Color Trailblazers Leadership Conference
The keynote is open to the public, free for all MHC students, faculty, and staff, and $5 for Five-College and non-conference attendees! Staceyann Chin is a fulltime artist, resident of NYC, and a Jamaican National. She’s been an “out poet and political activist” since 1998. For more information about the conference check out https://www.mtholyoke.edu/diversity/women-color-trailblazers-leadership-conference
Kittredge Center at Holyoke Community College at 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
PodCamp 2017
PodCamp! It’s an event for well… for basically people like us? Hang out with the sort of people who want to talk about things and know that others are hearing them or write about things and know that others are reading them! It’s like $40 is the thing, but it does seem cool. Podcasts in particular will have a lot to learn, but they welcome all those of us who do things online and try to get people to pay attention! Find out more here: http://www.podcampwm.org/about/

Kids:

Monday, March 27th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Mucho Gusto Spanish Free Sample Classes
A free bilingual Spanish/English story hour with Laurie Davidson of Mucho Gusto Spanish! It’s for children ages 0-5 and their caregivers!
Thursday, March 30th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
LEGO Club
LEGO Club! Build things and play with them around other kids! Ages 5 and up!

Movies:

Monday, March 27th
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Pathway to Change: The Jail Labyrinth Project
Watch a documentary filmed at the Hampshire County Jail, about the Labyrinth program started by Cathy Rigali and Sister Lorry Villemaire. The film shows the development of their curriculum, as well as the construction and dedication of the labyrinth!
Wednesday, March 29th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Far Out Film Discussion
This week: El Topo! Watch the film at home, then come to this meetup to discus it! It’s written by, directed by, and stars Alejandro Jodorowsky so you know it’s very odd and compelling. Give it a watch, then discuss with smart people!
Friday, March 31st
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Tuck Everlasting
Watch the film of the book you probably read around 8th grade maybe by Natalie Babbitt! It’s probably not the world’s best film but the underlying premise and themes are useful to think about plus it’s free so hey who’s complaining.

RPGs:

Thursday, March 30th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
RPG Club
Play an RPG! Play Noirlandia, it lets you be a detective in a weird wonderland with rules you create yourself, plus you get to make an Evidence Board!

Science:

Monday, March 27th
Nacul Center [592 Main St., Amherst, MA] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
SciTech Cafe: A Quantum Mechanic’s Approach to Next-Generation Electronics
What’s magnetism? How do we make useful quantum devices? How can you harness the power of the QUANTUM with a pencil and scotch tape? How are computers created? All these questions and more will be answered by Joseph Checkelsky, an assistant professor of physics at MIT!

January 30th – February 5th

The Valley Nerd Watch!

We feel like it’s an important time to remind you that monthly sustaining contributions to charitable organizations go a long way toward helping them accomplish their goals. Several that do extremely useful work: the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Immigration Law Center, and the International Rescue Committee.

The most pertinent thing locally we can think of to remind you about is that this is one of your last possible days to submit a talk/workshop topic to the upcoming NERDSummit conference on web development and related technological stuff. It seems like it’ll be fun and full disclosure we’re involved with doing some marketing stuff with them but for real it’s the sort of thing you probably can tell whether or not you’re excited about so mostly that’s just been us informing you about it.

Anyway! Check out NERDSummit.org to submit a topic! Then go to the actual event March 18th – 19th!

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Board Games:

Saturday, February 4th
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Chess Club
Chess, the game of dukes as they say! Hone your skills at a board game that’s really been waiting on a sequel forever! Get some games under your belt so that you’ll be able to follow the plot in the upcoming Chess: The Movie!

Books:

Wednesday, February 1st
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
YA Book Club
A new book club! Look, we know the book clubs page is updating kind of infrequently, but you have to understand that these things pop up and disappear at a rate of about one a day. That said, here’s your chance to step in to say hi and see what the next book on the docket is going to be!
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Wicked Wednesday Book Club
Which isn’t to say we DON’T update the book club listings, we just did! We super appreciate it when they have a list planned out like 6 months ahead of time, that’s so much easier to keep up with. Anyway, this is your chance to be wicked on Wednesday by doing the most sinister thing of all: reading a novel!
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Mike Flynn, Beyond Answers: Exploring Mathematical Practices with Young Children
Mike Flynn wrote a book helping teachers in K-2 classrooms teach mathematical principles! He focuses on what it takes to get kids to really understand rather than just “do” math. Sounds helpful if you’re a teacher, parent, or otherwise responsible for making sure kids learn things!
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM
Literature and Poetry of Brazil
Bigger than the continental US, the 9th largest economy in the world, Brazil remains pretty well unknown by a lot of the north. This event will explore poetry and writing from the country that houses a heck of a lot of diverse biomes and citizens.
Friday, February 3rd
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Adelia Saunders, Indelible
In her debut novel, Adelia Saunders paints a picture of a protagonist who can see information about all people written on their skin like ink. Some of it is banal, some of it is intense. When she meets someone with her name on their cheek, she’s intrigued. Then there’s a heck of a lot about other characters as well. Seems like a real web of a book, and we like that simple but magical premise.
Saturday, February 4th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Jeannine Atkins, Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis
Edmonia Lewis was a successful sculptor of historical figures who lived and worked for a long time in Italy in the 1800’s. She was also one of the first black women admitted to study at Oberlin, before she lost her place there after being accused of crimes for which she was acquitted. There’s not much known about her, so Jeannine Atkins has stiched facts and verse together to offer a picture of what might have been the life of an extremely interesting historical figure!

Card Games:

Sunday, February 5th
Worlds Apart Games [48 North Pleasant St #B2, Amhersts, MA 01002] at 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Standard PPTQ – Pro Tour Kyoto – Hour of Devastation
Worlds Apart is hosting a PPTQ, and the winner will qualify for the Regional Pro Tour Qualifier and get a chance to play in Kyoto! It’s going to be Standard Constructed, with decklists required. It will cost you $30 to get in and there’s a cash pay-out based on attendance to the top competitors. It’s capped out at 32 players, so register soon!

Community:

Friday, February 3rd
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 9:30 AM to 8:00 PM
Friends Basket Raffle
Get some friends! They’re trapped in a basket, but if you get the right raffle number you can pull them out! If you’re very lucky you’ll find a BFF!
Smith College at 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Can You Hear Us Now Day 1
So we don’t see a ton of information on their site but this is a presentation of Smith College’s Black Students Alliance, a conference focusing on the importance of music in black culture. This day’s registration, open mic, and an overview of the conference!
Saturday, February 4th
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM
Friends Basket Raffle
Last day of the Friends Basket Raffle! Don’t let any friends stay in the basket or they’ll be trapped there until next year!
Smith College at 8:00 AM to 2:00 AM
Can You Hear Us Now Day 2
Jeez, packed day. Lots of panels, conferences, networking, a keynote, parties, and also food!
Sunday, February 5th
Smith College at 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Can You Hear Us Now Day 3
This is the debrief! Talk about the conference with folks.

Entertainment:

Wednesday, February 1st
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
First Wednesday Speaker Series
Hear someone speak! Who? We’re not sure. About what? We are also not sure. Look, what we could find is literally the title, so we can tell you that there’s a speaker, they’re going to be there the first Wednesday of the month, and there will be more in the future OR there were more in the past. From here, we’re relying on you!
Thursday, February 2nd
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Anime Club
Watch anime, the entertainment media that is the best according to several very persistent sources we have.

Kids:

Wednesday, February 1st
North Amherst Library [8 Montague Rd, Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Story & Craft Time @ North Amherst Library
Listen to a story, make a cute little craft! Perfect for any kids that like both of those things which we’re pretty sure is a ton of kids!
Thursday, February 2nd
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM
Preschool Storytime
Listen to stories for a while, and then probably fall alseep or run around yelling? We can’t completely recall what our day planners looked like in preschool but we’re pretty sure that covers a lot of what we did.
Saturday, February 4th
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Saturday Stories, Songs, and Crafts (Ages 0-5)
Listen to stories, then sing some songs, then make a craft! A full day’s worth of being a kid in just an hour, that’s efficiency.
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Take Your Child to the Library Day
Drop in and make a hand-crafted book to celebrate doing the good thing that is going to the library! Kids should go to the library all the time, because it’s great!
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art [125 West Bay Rd., Amherst, MA 01002] at 10:30 AM to 4:15 PM
First Book Friendiversary
A huge day of excitement, books, films, and general delight for children of all ages! The Carle and their friends from First Book are observing their annual celebration of friendship and reading alongside Elephant and Piggie as well as other museum friends. There’s also a free book in it for every child that attends, which is a hell of a grift.

Movies:

Monday, January 30th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Far-out Film Club
This is a sort of film book club! Watch the film at home, discuss it at the meeting. The first pick is Rene Laloux’s The Fantastic Planet! You can pick up a copy in the Reference Room. It’s a kind of really really weird old stop-motion sci-fi film that features gigantic blue people.

RPGs:

Thursday, February 2nd
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
RPG Club
Play a game where you pretend to be a different person for a while! That’s basically all it takes to be an RPG, the stats and cruft are all gravy so long as you’re pretending hard enough.

January 1st – January 7th

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Happy New Year!

Hopefully you’re starting off properly! That means a nice slow morning where you ideally do not need to do much of anything because this is that post holiday sort of thing where no matter what you feel like you’re not getting quite as much time off as you needed.

Hey here’s something to start your year off right: some of our own local luminaries, UMass undergrad Kevin Harrington and UMass Astronomy Professor Min Yun have discovered Outrageously Luminous Galaxies! Which is neat as heck!

It’s basically what it sounds like honestly! They found galaxies that are so gigantically amazingly bright that they outshine every other thing we’ve ever found in the entire universe by orders of magnitude!

In fact, it’s a good indicator that maybe we gotta pull back on our naming conventions. Like they already have Ultra-Luminous and Hyper-Luminous objects, so now these have to be called something that puts into perspective just how much brighter they are. We don’t have much space to move if we find brighter objects! They’ve been calling them Outrageously Luminous and we like that so let’s go with that!

It’s pretty awesome that this groundbreaking work was done at our own UMass Amherst!

We hope you started off the year right, and we are here for all your local events and local creator news in 2017. You’re an excellent audience and we think each and every person who reads this newsletter deserves a fun time all the time.

Happy New Year!

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Board Games:

Saturday, January 7th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Board Game Night
Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out!

Books:

Saturday, January 7th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
David Austin, MD Author Reading
Local author David Austin will discuss Therese’s Dream – Maine to Darfur: a Doctor’s Story. The book chronicles his time working with Doctor’s Without Borders.
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA 01375] at 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
David Austin, MD Author Reading
Local author David Austin will discuss Therese’s Dream – Maine to Darfur: a Doctor’s Story. The book chronicles his time working with Doctor’s Without Borders.

Card Games:

Friday, January 6th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM
Friday Night Magic: Casual/101
Learn one of the most popular games of existence with some of the most wonderful staff in existence! The folks at Modern Myths will help ease you into the game, help you test new decks, and explain strategy! No experience necessary! A $5 day pass is required to attend, returned as store credit immediately. You also get a special foil promo card!

Community:

Thursday, January 5th
Cultivate and Nest [2 Bay Rd., Suite 100, Hadley, MA] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Hack for Western Mass
It’s time to update! We’ll talk about the organizations we’ve contacted, and projects that we can all get set to do! Teams are going to solidify and projects are going to launch! It’s a great time to get involved!

Computers:

Tuesday, January 3rd
The Foundry [24 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Northampton Webdive – After Work
A night of nice conversation with people who do development work. It’s a place to gripe about your work, talk about your plans, and just talk about whatever you feel like with some nice people!

Entertainment:

Wednesday, January 4th
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
First Wednesday Speaker Series
A mystery speaker! But hey, it’s probably someone neat, right? For all we know they got the Queen! That would be cool, yeah?
Thursday, January 5th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Anime Club
Watch some neat anime! Evangelion maybe? Hamtaro? Fruits Basket? We have nothing to go on for these but the titles we’re really bad anime fans in that we haven’t heard about much anime. Stein’s Gate? We’re pretty sure we heard that was a neat time-travel story, watch that!

Kids:

Tuesday, January 3rd
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Kids’ Craft Club
Children ages 5-12 will have a great time reading a story and then making a fun craft item! We do recommend that you caution your children to not put more than about a third of their unearthly power into whatever item they do create. It’s important not to leave any obvious weak points for adventurers! Never more than 50% of your eldritch energy should be item-locked!
Thursday, January 5th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
LEGO Club
Play with the best toy ever! There’s no question this is a great time for all kids.
Friday, January 6th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:15 PM to 4:15 PM
Sensory Storytime
A special sensory storytime involving singing, dancing, reading, and other fun activities for young kids and their caretakers! If your kid has trouble sitting still, this is the program for you! This is designed to accomodate kids with special challenges, but it’s open to every kid!

RPGs:

Thursday, January 5th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
RPG Club
Play a game with friendly people where you pretend to be other people! You can pretend to be a bunch of beet farmers in an agrarian society. Or you can pretned to be a bunch of adventurers! Or a shadowy gang of criminals in the future! It’s all up to you, except you CAN’T pretend to be Mario. Nintendo’s lawyers are really strict.
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Dungeons and Dragons
Play Dungeons and Dragons with a bunch of nice folks. Generally this is a sort of encounters-based game when it’s at the shop so don’t worry too much about whether or not they’ll have a spot for you. Also for real play a Bard, nothing is ever more fun than playing a Bard!

October 3rd – October 9th

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Happy Halloween Month! Indulge your cosplay desires in this, the month we all agree it’s acceptable for everyone to dress in a neat costume all hours of every day including the work day because we as a society understand how to make life a bit more decent and are capable of having some fun OR JUST ON HALLOWEEN IF EVERYONE’S GOING TO INSIST.

We’re equally capable of performing our work duties dressed as Doctor Doom, you know.

This week we want to point you all toward a neat Kickstarter from local tabletop game developers Fat Elf Games! It’s called Broker, and the idea is basically that it is a simple and fast paced card game with an explicit rule that you are supposed to cheat as much as possible.

So for instance, if it says “everyone draw 1 card” and you happen to just subtly draw 3, that’s cool! The idea is that you can slowly cheat your way to victory or win the whole game in one intense cheat if you’ve got the gumption! All the while, your friendly competition is both cheating and looking to call you out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1827708455/broker-a-game-about-cheating/widget/video.html

Sounds like a good time, has a very reasonable-looking goal, and we’ve heard from playtesters that it’s a pretty fun experience. Although as always with Kickstarters, only put in the amount of money you can comfortably stuff into a trash bag and set on fire.

Also continue to ramp up your excitement for Nerd Nite next Monday, October 10th! It’s the third anniversary of Nerd Nite NoHo, and the first anniversary of the new hosts who we hear are just the best folks and everyone thinks so.

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Wednesday, October 5th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA, 01375] at 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Pumpkin Decorating for Teens
WARNING! This will not be an ordinary pumpkin painting program. It’s going to be about … painting different images and characters on pumpkins? This press release seems to be describing what we’d call an ordinary pumpkin painting program. Hm. Welp, best pumpkin gets a prize! Go make a fun pumpkin, folks!
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Pumpkin Carving
Show those pumpkins what-for! We won’t be intimidated by them this year or any other! We’re going to prove it by carving funny faces into them and then putting them on the doorstep as a warning to any other pumpkins that might try to mess with us. For real though why the heck did we start doing this? We’ve looked it up just now and apparently literally just because people in Scotland and Ireland wanted to make lanterns out of turnips with weird faces on them to creep each other out. You do you, Scotland and Ireland.
Thursday, October 6th
Mead Art Museum [41 Quadrangle Dr, Amherst, MA 01002] at 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Gallery Talk by Rico Gaston
Rico Gaston will talk about his works on view at the Mead including a new mural to be painted with Amherst College students. A bold move, using students instead of brushes, we’ll see how it pays off.
Emily Dickinson Museum [280 Main St, Amherst, MA 01002] at 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Amherst Art Walk and Poetry Night
All night long there will be art in the homestead, at 6pm there’s a poetry open mic, and then some featured readers from the Florence Poets Society including Eileen Kennedy, Howie Faerstein, Tommy “Twilite” Clark, Gerald Yelle, and Marian Kent!

Board Games:

Saturday, October 8th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Dungeon Busters Demo
Dungeon Busters is a recently Kickstarted “filler” card game for 3-5 players that’s supposed to last about 20 minutes. It sounds like maybe something you can bust out when you’re all waiting on someone to arrive and you don’t want to sit down for yet another filler Diplomacy game. Learn more and get a chance to play at the demo this weekend!

Books:

Tuesday, October 4th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Becky Wai-Ling Packard, author of Successful STEM Mentoring Initiatives for Underrepresented Students
Professor Becky Wai-Ling Packard will discuss her new book, a research-based guide for faculty and adminstrators teaching them how to recruit and retain students from underrepresented groups using effective mentoring. The book goes through both real and perceived barriers that face underrepresented students and shows how you can mitigate them via effective mentoring programs.
Wednesday, October 5th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Archer Mayor, author of Presumption of Guilt
A forty-year-old skeleton is found encased in a concrete slap at a recently decomissioned nuclear energy site. It becomes a case for the Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) and its leader, Joe Gunther. Delightful! VBI! This couldn’t be more New Englandy if it was trying. See Archer Mayor talk about a cold case mystery in the Green Mountain State!
Thursday, October 6th
Odyssey Bookshop [9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Editor Cathi Hanauer and Contributor Julianna Baggott
Talking about “The Bitch is Back”, Cathi Hanauer and Juliann Baggot will discuss a new batch of passionate and funny pieces about the spirit of feminism, offering unique views from a diverse group of women!
Saturday, October 8th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Indie Author Day Gathering
Are you an independent or self-published writer? Maybe you’d like to be! Join a bunch of other folks at the library for a mixer, and share your experience while you learn more about self-publishing! The only rule we know is: if you’re paying someone else to publish you, that is likely not a great idea.

Comic Books:

Sunday, October 9th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Comic Creator’s Jam
Do you make comic books? Do you make a webcomic? Have you thought about a webcomic? Have you considered that lines can be put to paper using certain methods in order to create the impression in the viewer that those lines form a physical object? You should hang out here! Basically you chat with nice people about how to draw nice or make good comic-making business decisions or whatnot and also play drawing games to loosen up the old creativity. Lots of fun!

Community:

Tuesday, October 4th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Down on Main Street: Planning Palmer’s Future
Chart the future of Palmer! Guide the ages with your own hands, and wreak your terrible visions upon the world. Well, upon Palmer. Well, and you will probably have to work with other people whose visions are not necessarily as terrible or awe-inspiring as your own. Still if you live in Palmer this is the place to be.
Saturday, October 8th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA, 01375] at 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Questions about FAFSA
Basically everyone finds planning college finances terrifying. If you’ve got any questions about the process, this is an opportunity to ask them! We aren’t really experts but we’re very comfortable saying that you should as early as possible jump through every hoop available that will reduce your student debt, because that death follows you to death and beyond. The literally dig up your skeleton and force it to work in the mines.
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Free Sign Language Workshop
Join Signing Basics at Forbes for an hour of learning the basics of ASL. Learn greetings, spell your name, and play a fun game that’s common in the Deaf Community. No experience necessary, and open to all ages!

Computers:

Tuesday, October 4th
The Foundry [24 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Northampton Webdive – After Work
Hang out with local coders and web developers, and web DEVELOP a relationship with folks who have similar interests and skillsets to your own! It’s a good opportunity to put down the computer for a bit and focus on talking to other people, which is called “networking” if you want to make it sound less fun.

Entertainment:

Wednesday, October 5th
Springfield Public Forum [34 Court St., Springfield, MA] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Nancy Lublin: How Tech and Big Data Can Save Lives
Tech and Big Data are of course our friendly neighborhood super-team. Tech may look a bit scrawny, but their command of gadgetry more than makes up for their size in a fight! And Big Data, of course, possesses the Cerulean Gem of Knowledge, giving her a complete understanding of any object within her gaze as well as tremendous physical strength! Wait oh goodness wow no this one is actually a talk by Nancy Lublin about how it’s possible to use technology and large-scale data collection to save lives via a service that gathers up texts to a crisis hotline and suggests alterations in regional and local policy to address trends in that data.
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM
Mystery, Horror, and the Northampton State Hospital
The Northampton State Hospital stood on Hospital Hill from 1856 until its demolition in 2006. At this event you’ll hear three authors read from their mystery and horror novels inspired by Northampton’s historic institution. Dave Stern will read from Shadows in the Asylum, Emily Arsenault will read from The Evening Spider, and Katherine Anderson will read from Hospital Hill!
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
First Wednesday Speaker Series: Patrick Barron with Defining the Machine
Patrick Barron, a person who ran for Congress as an Independent and did not win in 2010, wrote a book about how our political system is broken and how to fix it and we’re just going to go out on a limb and say that the fixed system would totally have elected him. But for real, get an inside look at what it’s like to attempt to work through problems via getting elected to office and what might make our kind of weird and awful system of elected positions better.
Saturday, October 8th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Forbes Library Doctor Who Club
Who? What? Why? The Doctor? No we don’t know any Doctors. We did meet a procession of aroun a dozen men of varying levels of personal ridiculousness, is that what you’re talking about? Anyway watch a classic TV show with a friendly bunch of local folks at the Library!

History:

Thursday, October 6th
Historic Northampton [46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060-2406] at 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
The History of Market Street: 1730s to the End of the Civil War with Lu Stone
Historian and author Lu Stone will lead a walking tour based on her research of the Market Street Neightborhood. You’ve got to pre-register and there’s a suggested donation of $5 for members, $10 for non-members. Find more info and pre-register here: http://www.historicnorthampton.org/market-street.html!
First Church of Deerfield [71 Old Main Street, Deerfield, MA 01342] at 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Lecture: “The Future of Historic Preservation: Saving the Places that Matter”
David J Brown, Chief Preservation Officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will present a free lecture about how we preserve our past. Deerfield is a place with immense volumes of human history, a Native homeland for 12,000 years and a community of colonizers since the 1600s. Why are places like Deerfield important to America? Why should we prioritize their preservation? Find out at this talk!
Saturday, October 8th
Historic Northampton [46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060-2406] at 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Saturday Walking Tour led by Steve Strimer
Walk the African American Heritage Trail, leaving from the Sojourner Truth Statue at the corner of Park Street and Pine Street in Florence, this time with Steve Strimer of the David Ruggles Center Committee and the Sojourner Truth Statue Committee!

Movies:

Tuesday, October 4th
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Scary Movies for Teens
They are all PG and PG-13 so it’s less likely “scary” and more likely “funny” but it’ll still be an excellent time!
Sunday, October 9th
Yiddish Book Center [1021 West St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Talk: Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing with Mike Silver
Boxing Historian Mike Silver talks about the all-but-forgotten history of Jewish boxers from the 1890s to the 1950s including their domination of the sport in the ’20s and ’30s and the ways boxing helped Jewish people assimilate to life in the US, there will be a chance to get the book signed after the talk!

RPGs:

Friday, October 7th
Chesterfield Scout Reservation [22 Sugar Hill Rd., Chesterfield, MA] at 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM
Magestry LARP Autumn 2016 Game 3
Magestry needs NPCs to challenge the increasing population of PCs! Get out there for FREE and get FOOD! Also, get to be a barbarian or an orc or whatnot! It seems like a ton of fun, and they’d love to have you whether you can be there the whole weekend or just a few hours! You’ve got to join the Meetup to see the contact email, and if this sounds like fun you definitely should check it out! 

September 26th – October 2nd

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Welcome to the Valley Nerd Watch, upending all your expectations for narrative for another week!

We’re excited to present to you yet another cool Kickstarter, for a locally-developed educational deck-building card game! It sounds really neat, and you can play it at Modern Myths this week if you want to get a feel for it before you actually contribute to the Kickstarter. But also it’s a card-game where the goal is to get enough fat layers to take a long nap and that’s worth supporting sight unseen in our opinion. Not nearly enough games officially end with naps.

Also it’s coming up in a couple weeks still but everyone get excited for the next Nerd Nite! It’s going to be a special Third Anniversary Show with three presenters! Such excitement and wonder you would expect to cost an arm and a leg but no it’s only $5!

Also we’re really excited to hear ourselves on The Chairmen of the Boards, a lovely local podcast! We talk about our work here and with Nerd Nite and it’s a good conversation we think you’ll like it. It should be up in a bit over a week!

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Wednesday, September 28th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Zine-Making 101 Workshop
Create a simple multi-page booklet that’s easy to copy and distribute and is most importantly very very cool! Ages 11-16, register here because space is limited!
Thursday, September 29th
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Makerspace Event for Teens at the Library
Learn how to use 3D design software, use a 3D printer, use an engraver, and more things in order to create cool stuff! A neat trick is to 3D print a 3D printer so you can keep working at home.
Saturday, October 1st
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art [125 West Bay Rd., Amherst, MA 01002] at 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Sculpting Stories: The Public Art of Nancy Schon
Nancy Schön is famous for excellent sculpture works inspired by children’s literature like the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in the Boston Public Garden! Meet Nancy and learn about public art projects and her work on a skate park! Radical.

Board Games:

Sunday, October 2nd
Comics n’ More [31 Union Street, Easthampton MA 01027] at 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Sunday Heroclix!
Heroes! Clix! Put them together and what do you get? Clicky heroes, that’s right. This week try out a team of only people who can turn into animals. That’s Beast Boy, Snowbird, I guess we can count Animal Man too!

Books:

Monday, September 26th
Cleveland Hall, Auditorium L2, Mount Holyoke College at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Caitlin Shetterly, Modified: GMOs and the Threat to Our Food, Our Land, Our Future
Modified is about GMOs, which is an issue that bears a lot of reading about on account of how the way that US public policy feels about food determines what life is like for a lot of people around the world, and this is a great opportunity to learn from a journalist who did a lot of work finding out about GMOs! BUT ALSO this is just great copy so we’re just going to quote it “Modified is a rare breed of book that will at once make you weep at the majestic beauty of our Great Plains and force you to harvest deep seeds of doubt about the invisible monsters currently infiltrating our food and our land and threatening our future.” It will make your dog mow the lawn! It will make your house unfold into nth-dimensional space! It will active the X-Gene lying dormant within you!
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
The Other Couch: Discovering Women’s Wisdom in Therapy
This book explores the lives of 36 inspiring women who struggle to overcome their mental health and relationship challenges. It was written as a tribute and gift to women everywhere. Helene DeMontreux Houston, MS, APRN, one of the co-authors, will discuss how the book came to be and how these stories were chosen.
Tuesday, September 27th
Odyssey Bookshop [Mount Holyoke College, 9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Jeannine Atkins, Ellen Wittlinger, and Jo Knowles
An exciting panel from the authors of Finding Wonders, Local Girl Swept Away, and Still a Work In Progress! They’ll read and talk about their works! One’s about groundbreaking female scientists, one’s about a mysterious death in Provincetown, and a younger sibling trying to maintain while his older sister is having a crisis.
Friday, September 30th
Odyssey Bookshop [Mount Holyoke College, 9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Some Pets Launch Party with Angela DiTerlizzi and Brenden Wenzel
A party for a book about pets of course features giveaways and fun surprises, but also a chance to bring in donations of pet food, toys, bedding, etc for the Dakin Humane Society! You get a poster if you do, which is nice, but you also just made puppies and kittens more comfortable which is the best gift of all.
Saturday, October 1st
MYSTERY LOCATION at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Potluck + Kin-dza-dza! Soviet Anti-Utopian Comedy!
Two hapless Russians accidentally teleport to the telepathic planet Pluke! Hijinks ensue, as they are wont to. Bring something to eat or drink! Join the meetup to see where to go, or just bring food and drink to some general location and lay it there as a respectful tribute to this meetup.
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
God is a Dog Author Reading and Signing
Fiction and nonfiction celebrating the relationships between women and their dogs. Dogs are great. Author Michelle A. Gabow is a playwright honored to be be named the Roxbury Repertory Theatre’s playwright laureate in 2011!

Card Games:

Saturday, October 1st
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Hibernation Demo
Local creator and Modern Myther Jesse Daniels is publishing a new card game called Hibernation, which is about being a bear! It’s kind of very cute. It’s a deck-building game where you try to make sure you’ve got enough food to develop layers of fat. First to five fat layers gets to take a long nap! It’s educational and also a game where the winner takes a nap which needs to happen more often. Support it on Kickstarter here. You can learn to play the game at this event with the creator!

Entertainment:

Monday, September 26th
Union Station [125 Pleasant St A, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Benford’s Law: Why the IRS Cares About Algebra and Number Theory (And Why You Should Too!)
What’s Benford’s law? Does 1 appear more often than 7 in everyday life? Can math detect tax fraud? What do the statistics of numerals inform us about corporate sales? WELL? THE TEST IS NEXT WEEK AND YOU STILL DON’T KNOW? Better attend this SciTech cafe with Steven J. Miller, associate professor of Mathematics at Williams College. He researches number theory and he’ll help explain things to you.
Tuesday, September 27th
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA] at 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Family Legacy: Preserving our Memories and Stories
Keep track of the epic history of your family line in order to get straight exactly which sword glows with power when you wield it and what thrones of which nations are your right by birth! Theresa Chamberland and Jan Sadler will present on how to gather, choose, and organize the material we want to preserve!
Wednesday, September 28th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
The Election of 1912 with Donald Blais
The election of 1912. Based on our very good American history understanding and entirely without using the internet we know it was between… Grover Cleveland and … another? WELP nope it’s the one that was between three people who all were or became President at some point we’re awful. Woodrow Wilson, William Taft, and Teddy “The Internet’s Favorite Tough Prez” Roosevelt! Learn more about this complicated three-way race!
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art [125 West Bay Rd., Amherst, MA 01002] at 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
The Carle Honors Annual Benefit Gala
The 11th annual gala and art auction honoring artist Allen Say, angel Lee and Low books, bridge Steven Heller and mentor Regina Hayes. Awards presented by author Gregory Maguire! Get some real cool artwork and support the Carle!
Friday, September 30th
Goodwin Memorial Library [50 Middle St, Hadley, MA 01035] at 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM
A Beer Tasting Event to Benefit the Hadley Library Fund
Put your drinking to work helping the library! That’s efficient use of your time. Music by Mark Ricker and Jimmy Burgoff! Tickets are $20 each and available at the library!

Kids:

Wednesday, September 28th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Star Wars Drop-In Craft
Drop-in to craft a Star Wars thing before seeing the movie in Pulaski Park! Maybe craft a drop-ship to keep with the theme!
Saturday, October 1st
Sunderland Public Library [20 School St., Sunderland, MA] at 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Farmy, Fresh & Fun Fair
There’s a bunch of fun stuff at this! A children’s farmer’s market where kids can have fun at the bounce house, getting their face painted, playing the distressingly-named “Cow Plop Bingo”, going to the bake sale, and just generally food and fun!
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Maker Space Workshop
Make things! Use a 3D printer, a CNC router, and lots of materials! Also, they’ll demonstrate balloon sculptures, the 3D printers of the circus world. Ages 8-12 welcome!

Movies:

Wednesday, September 28th
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Nerve
Nerve tells of the global fight against the incineration of chemical weapons and other hazardous substances, due to the fact that it can be an unsafe disposal method. The film in particular highlights the Chemical Weapons Working Group’s important work to illustrate how grassroots activism can change everything!
Pulaski Park [240 Main St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
It was a pretty fun movie, right? See it in a park! See it in a park with other friendly people, it’ll be great!

Science:

Sunday, October 2nd
Emily Dickinson Museum [280 Main St, Amherst, MA 01002] at 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Archaeology at the Emily Dickinson Museum
Come view Emily Dickinson’s landscape through the lens of an archaeologist during this presentation and walking tour at the Museum. Faculty and members of the University of Massachusetts Amherst archaeological field school will present the findings from their work on the grounds of the Emily Dickinson Museum in the spring of 2016. See the mask that Emily wore when she fought the Wayward Face! See the ray gun she stole back from Barsoom! It’s all exciting stuff.

September 19th – September 25th

The Valley Nerd Watch!

We unfortunately missed the 14th Anniversary Party for Modern Myths recently but we hope everyone had a very nice time!

This week the big deal seems to be yet another release of Magic the Gathering material that reminds us that we should probably have ever played that in middle school instead of just compulsively buying card packs for several months and then leaving them in a drawer.

You should take a look at the brand-new weekly webcomic Teacher! by local artist Alex Chautin. So far it is theoretically weekly but if it updates by the end of today it is officially weekly!

Speaking of webcomic artists, check out Legends of Fomora by Pat Nietupski! He’s doing a Patreon as well, you should support him if you like the comic! It is definitively updating at the moment, three days a week!

Go check out the Valley Creators page! As always, be sure to check out our Patreon and the Weekly Events page! There are a lot of fun things happening this and every week! And don’t forget to check out the updated Book Clubs List!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Friday, September 23rd
Mead Art Museum [41 Quadrangle Dr, Amherst, MA 01002] at 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Conversation with artist Amanda Valdez
Lunch is provided! Delightful. Amanda Valdez’s multimedia paintings are on view in the current exhibition. Seattle-born artist Amanda Valdez is now based out of New York (we assume the city? but then again it is an entire state so there’s always the possibility that she’s in Troy or something) and is a good artist whose artwork is neat to look at. Talk to her about whatever floats your boat! Probably art-related topics make the most sense though. Lunch is provided!
Saturday, September 24th
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Scent-sational Aromatherapy Crafts
GET IT?
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Scent-sational Aromatherapy Crafts
It’s a pun! It’s a pun on the fact that these are scented crafts. Make some scented crafts and then use them to feel real calm and collected.

Board Games:

Tuesday, September 20th
Palmer Public Library [1455 N Main St, Palmer, MA 01069] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Palmer Library Game Night
Play board games with the folks at Palmer! They’ve got classics like Ticket to Ride and such but you’re encouraged to bring your own!

Books:

Tuesday, September 20th
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Children’s Book Writers Group
Do you write or illustrate books for children? This is the group for you! It’s a chance to talk about the art and business of writing for children, share success stories and tips, and generally commiserate with people who are in the same situation as you!
Wednesday, September 21st
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Dr. Oliver Akamnonu, Big Apple to Bay State
Dr. Akamnonu narrates the joys of life in the congestion and buzz of New York City and the sharp contrasts for the principal character, Dege, as he and his wife of 35 years relocate to Western Massachusetts! It sounds pretty delightful. Speak to the author and hear excerpts from the novel!
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Straw Dog Author Showcase 2016
Short readings from newly-published books by the members of the Straw Dog Writers Guild, Jeannine Atkins, Portia Cornell, Michael Goldman, Ellen Hopman, Jane Schneeloch, Molly Scott, Jacqueline Sheehan, Jim Spencer, and Gail Thomas
Thursday, September 22nd
MYSTERY LOCATION at 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Book Discussion: NK Jemisin’s The Fifth Season
The Western Mass Sci-Fi Meetup is going to talk about the 2016 Hugo Award Best Novel winner The Fifth Season, in some location yet to be announced!
Saturday, September 24th
Odyssey Bookshop [Mount Holyoke College, 9 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075] at 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Adam Shaughnessy, Over the Underworld; and Tania Unsworth, Brightwood
In Over the Underworld, the sequel to the fantastic Trickster’s Tale, the Norse Gods have returned to Middleton GET IT? and they’ve brought bad news: Loki has killed Baldur the god that’s so pretty everyone likes him. Now Ragnarok’s coming. ABE and Pru have got to find and imprison Loki before the war can get underway! In Brightwood a young woman named Daisy fights to protect her mysterious home from an invading stranger! Both authors will be on hand to let you know more about these fantastic works and read selections!
Greenfield Public Library [402 Main St, Greenfield, MA 01301] at 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM
Friends of Greenfield Public Library Book Sale
Buy books to support your local library and librarians! It’s a great chance to get things for 90% off and keep a vital service well-funded.

Card Games:

Friday, September 23rd
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 11:59 PM to 4:00 AM
Kaladesh Midnight Pre-Release
A 3-round sealed deck tournament, so familiarity with the basics of Magic is required but you don’t need to be an expert. All attendees get at least one extra Kaladesh pack along with other promotional swag! There are limited seats so stop by the store or call to prepay for a discount and a guaranteed seat, it’s $30 pre-pay and $35 at the door! At this event the winds of Kaladesh will howl as the gate unfurls and strands you in this strange land with naught but your knowledge of the Systems of Magic to provide protection. You will make a new life in Kaladesh. Bring snacks.
Saturday, September 24th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Kaladesh Midnight Pre-Release
The same thing as the midnight release except you’re going to be a lot more well-rested for that inevitable trip to the lands of Kaladesh where you will fight in the arena for your freedom, bring your own chainmail!
Worlds Apart Games [48 North Pleasant St., #B2, Amherst, MA 01002] at 12:00 AM to 11:55 PM
Kaladesh Midnight Pre-Release
Free Pizza! Frankly you don’t need to say much more to get us interested but there IS more. World’s Apart has 5 events scheduled starting at midnight! The prize payout will be based on record, 4-0 will get 9 packs plus a bonus of $50 store credit! Pre-register to guarantee your spot and your food! Also at this event all of the Magic cards will be replaced by 1990’s era Upper Deck Fanimation cards due to a manufacturing mix-up.

Comic Books:

Monday, September 19th
Modern Myths [34 Bridge Street #4, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Queers in Comics & Games
Talk to a bunch of nice people about topics relating to queer representation in comics and gaming! Led by the wonderful Modern Myths Manager Melissa, these are always a lovely experience.

Community:

Tuesday, September 20th
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Job Seeking Workshop: How to Nail the Interview
Learn how to interview well in order to increase the odds that you’ll get work doing what you’d like to do. It’s always helpful to know what to expect from a potentially stressful situation!
Friday, September 23rd
Holyoke Public Library [250 Chestnut St, Holyoke, MA 01040] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Annual Celebration of El Grito de Lares, Guest Speaker Charles R. Venator Santiago PhD
The “Grito de Lares” commemorates Puerto Rico’s cry for independence from Spain on September 23rd, 1868. Though ultimately unsuccessful due to a combination of internal tensions and external apathy, it remains an important moment in the history of an island that has long dealt with exploitation and a turning point in Puerto Rican history. Professor Santiago will speak about the current relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.

Computers:

Thursday, September 22nd
Last Call Media [136 West St., Suite 01, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
September 2016 Western Mass Drupal Users Group Meeting
After a brief summer hiatus, Drupal Group meetings are starting back up! This one will include Last Call Media’s own Kelly Albrecht presenting “A Re-imagined Rainforest Alliance on Drupal 8 in Six Sprints” as well as other Drupal 8 topics!

Entertainment:

Tuesday, September 20th
Springfield Public Forum [34 Court St., Springfield, MA] at 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Gov. Bill Richardson, The Future of Immigration
Having been a US Congressperson, an ambassador to the UN, Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton, and Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson now wants to talk to you all about immigration! Specifically the future of immigration.
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Pumpkin Spice Tasting Event for Teens
Pumpkin Spice is either still a thing or has passed beyond the veil of irony into being a thing that’s not really a thing anymore but we pretend it is in order to have fun at the expense of an imagined Other BUT the point is if you’re into this highly culturally charged collection of spices and are a teen you can taste a bunch of delicious spiced items at the library!
Saturday, September 24th
Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band
The East Haddam Stage Company performs their production of a live-action radio-drama based on William Gillette’s original 1930 radio script! It’s got sound effects, audience participation, and 4 actors portraying 7 different characters (one of these characters is Sherlock Holmes who in turn portrays 2 actors playing 3 characters). Producing Artistic Director Kandie Carle will introduce the show with a retrospective on the Victorian superstar Actor William Gillette and how he created the quintessential Sherlock Holmes.

Movies:

Tuesday, September 20th
ASH Auditorium [Hampshire College, 893 West St, Amherst, MA 01002] at 8:00 PM to 9:45 PM
Defying the Nazis – Screening + Discussion Event
Ken Burns’ latest documentary premiers today, and you can join folks at Hampshire for a live broadcast and discussion event with Hampshire student Cray Novick, who worked as an editor on the film. This documentary tells the story of an American couple that left the comfort of Massachusetts to go on a series of covert operations in Nazi Occupied Europe. Their efforts saved hundreds of lives, and the film explores what it means to stand up in our communities and beyond for the people who need it most. All are welcome!
Wednesday, September 21st
Forbes Library [20 West St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Everybody Wants Some!
A group of college baseball players in the 80’s hang out, drink, listen to music, and smoke pot while having aimless conversations only inexplicably most of the people we rely on for movie reviews say it’s a ton of fun and really charming instead of being completely insufferable.