General Meetings

GENERAL MEETINGS 

Open to members and their guests


Place:     Green’s Farms Church, 71 Hillandale Road, Westport

10:45 am    Coffee and Conversation

11:30 am    Meeting and Speaker


NOTE: Extra parking is available in front of the large lot on the grass and across the street in front of the Minister’s house.



March 11 – John Cilio: Spymistresses – The Story of Allied Women Spies of WWII

 

Spies belong to a special group of people with flexible identities, elastic morals, and what has been referred to by some as situational ethics. Many take dangerous risks, complete their missions, and live to tell the tale; others don’t. During World War II, several women risked their lives to work within enemy territory to uncover secrets. Some were professionally trained; others were simply masters of intrigue and deception. They covertly served the Allies and made significant contributions to the war. 


Learn about how some of these women spies made a difference in the European and Pacific theaters of WWII by John Cilio, a historical storyteller, author, and researcher who has brought historical stories back to life for more than 15 years. After a career in corporate marketing, he joined the Organization of American Historians and the Association for the Study of Connecticut History. He has published numerous articles in national media and eight historical books ranging from women in WWII and their impact on today's business world to vintage helicopters.


 

March 25 – Gail Howard: Marrying Across the Color Line in Sixties Chicago


Did you come of age in the 1960s? Have you experienced hate coming at you? You may recognize some of these experiences and feelings, which Gail Howard discusses in her memoir White Wife/Blue Baby. The memoir examines how she at least partially “unlearned” racism by marrying across the 1968 Chicago color line and caring for her gorgeous, vivid, fragile baby girl. With an MFA from UMass/Amherst, Gail managed student support programs and taught writing at area colleges. After retiring, she offered private memoir writing workshops and (finally) wrote her own memoir, which was published last fall by All Things That Matter Press. She blogs at www.whitewifechicago1968.blog.

Local Happenings

A brand new satellite group, initially being called Local Happenings, will provide an opportunity for members to meet each other for a variety of local activities. Did you ever read about a local event and wish there were others to share the activity with you? If so, consider joining this group and participating together in activities of this type.


This will be an informal group that will supplement – not replace – other satellite groups such as Book Clubs, the Movie Group, Solos, and Carpool & Go, which identify a scheduled activity each month. The group already had its first adventure at the Westport Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) on February 23 – a private tour of the exhibition “Paul Camacho: El Ritmo y La Unidad.” Camacho was active in Westport’s art life in the 1960s and 1970s.


You can join this group by sending your email address to Barbara Alfinito at  barbsgetaway@aol.com. Information on future activities will be emailed to you. And feel free to send suggestions concerning local activities and events that might be of interest. We also are looking for someone to share the work involved in coordinating this group. Please email Barbara if you are interested.


Satellite Groups

(Y's Women Members Only)

NOTE: Please remember that all Y’s Women who participate in meetings held at the Westport Center for Senior Activities must be registered with the Center and check in before each meeting.



Book Group 2 will meet at the Westport Center for Senior Activities on Thursday, March 7 from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. We will be discussing Honor by Thrity Umrigar, and Alin Chelico will lead the discussion.  Please contact Nancy Bloom at 259-0071 or nancyerb@aol.com  with any questions.



Book Group 3 will meet at the Westport Center for Senior Activities on Friday, March 8 at 10:30 am to discuss Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Lori Snow will lead the discussion. For questions, please contact Doris Levinson at drjlevinson@gmail.com.  

                                               


The Movie Club will meet on Wednesday, March 20 at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. We meet informally at 2:15 pm to give members a chance to socialize, and our discussion begins at 2:30.  Our assigned room sometimes changes, so you may want to ask the front desk about our location. We ask all attendees to have been vaccinated and to wear a mask. We are limited to 25 attendees, so please confirm your attendance with Margaret Mitchell by March 17.  


We plan to discuss the movies The Pride of the Yankees and Rustin. The Pride of the Yankees is scheduled for broadcast at 9:00 pm on Saturday, March 16 on the WNET network of PBS as part of Reel 13 Classics, and a video is listed in the catalogs of the Westport and Fairfield Libraries. Rustin is available on Netflix. 


The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American sports drama starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died a year before its release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which later became known to the lay public as “Lou Gehrig's disease.” Though subtitled The Life of Lou Gehrig, the film is less a sports biography than an homage to a heroic and widely loved sports figure whose tragic and premature death touched the entire nation.


Rustin is a 2023 American biographical drama about the life of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, the film stars Colman Domingo in the title role alongside Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, Jeffrey Wright, and Audra McDonald. It is based on the true story of Rustin, who helped Martin Luther King, Jr. and others organize the 1963 March on Washington.


If you wish to be added to the email list for future events, please contact Margaret Mitchell at 255-9094 or margaret06824@yahoo.com.  



NewsTalk: Interested in national and world affairs? Join other Y’s Women for lively monthly discussions for Newstalk. We will meet on Thursday, March 28 from 10 to 11:30 am at the Westport Library in room 210 (Boardroom). For more information, contact Doris Skutch at 247-3656. 



Solos will be going to lunch at Romanacci, 250 Westport Avenue in Norwalk, on Wednesday, March 27 at 12:00 noon. We will eat in their newly expanded dining room and be able to order off the menu and have individual checks. For reservations, contact Terry Queirolo at 847-4121 or tmq44@icloud.com by Monday, March 25.



Lunch & Trivia: The Lunch & Trivia group will meet at noon on March 21 (third Thursday of the month) at the VFW Hall. The cost is $25 (cash only). Please make every effort to be there if you indicate that you will attend – the Y’s Women have to guarantee a certain number in advance, and we lose money when those who signed up do not make it to the lunch. Contact Annette Kirban at 505-1187 or lakirban@optonline.net if you plan to join us.



The Mah Jong Group meets every Thursday at 1:00 pm at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. Advanced players only. We have lost a couple of players to Florida for the winter, so if you are an advanced player and would like to join us, please contact Barbara Alfinito at barbsgetaway@aol.com or 205-533-1884.



The Memoir Writing Group will meet on Tuesday, March 19 at 2:00 pm. For more information, please email Cary Peterson at carypeterson3@gmail.com or text her at 918-6481. 



The Wisest Investment Group continues to meet monthly on the fourth Thursday of the month. We welcome members at our meetings at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. Please contact President Angela Vicenzi at vicenziae@yahoo.com if you’d like to sit in at a meeting and consider joining the group.



Discussion Group for The New Yorker: This group meets remotely on Zoom on the second Tuesday of each month from 10:00 to 11:30 am. Each group member selects one article for discussion. If you’re interested, please contact Ellen Cahill at 856-6561 or 

ellenjcahill@hotmail.com.



Tai Ji and Meditation Classes: Instructor Ruby Shih is an experienced long-time Tai Ji / Qi Gong and Meditation teacher and a founder of a Tai Ji School in Manhattan (Nanlaoshu.org). She offers two classes:


- Tai Ji (in person): Meets weekly on Wednesdays from 9:30 -10:30 am at the Saugatuck Congregational Church, 245 Post Road East, Westport, room 109. The class focuses on breath and slow movement for relaxation, grounding, and balance to enhance our physical and mental well-being. A fee of $10 per session is used to offset rental and insurance costs. 


- Meditation & Self-Care Massage (on Zoom): Meets weekly on Wednesdays at 7:30 - 8:30 pm on Zoom. It starts with a guided meditation suitable for beginners as well as advanced participants. At the end of each session, self-care massage is taught to enhance relaxation, circulation, and wellness. The fee for this class is $5 per session.


If you are interested in either class, please contact Ruby at 917-816-6661 or Rubypalace88@gmail.com.



CARPOOL & GO! 


On Friday, March 15, Carpool & Go will revisit Fairfield University Art Museum to see two fascinating shows. In the Bellarmine Hall Gallery is Helen Glazer: Walking in Antarctica, an interdisciplinary exhibition of her photos and sculpture (made from 3-D scans of ice and rock formations), inspired and informed by her experiences as a grantee of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers program. Audio tours, narrated by the artist, take the viewer on “walks” with her through the beautiful Antarctic landscapes. 


The second exhibition, Streaming: Sculpture by Christy Rupp, is on view in the Walsh Gallery at the nearby Quick Center. Christy is an early pioneer in the field of ecological art activism, and her works – intricate collages, wall installations, and free-standing sculpture made from detritus (mostly plastic) gathered from our waste stream – illustrate the tension, impact, and interconnectedness between humans and our natural surroundings. Her wit and irony make a big impression!


After our gallery tours, we will lunch at a new spot (for us) in downtown Fairfield – The Sinclair, at 1229 Post Road (middle opening of Brick Walk), 292-6800.


We will meet in the Trader Joe’s / Wells Fargo parking lot at 10:15 am for a 10:30 am  departure. Please contact Lydia Menendez at 319-1110 or lydiamnndz12@gmail.com to reserve your spot for this trip. (There is no charge for the Art Museum entrances.) Also, please indicate if you are willing to drive – drivers are always needed and appreciated. The gas reimbursement for drivers will be $2.








In Memoriam

We are sad to announce that we lost three Y’s Women during the past month:


- Elaine Littman passed away on December 31 at the age of 86. She was a member of Solos for many years and always enjoyed coming to our activities.

- Nancy Wilder, a long-time Y’s Woman, passed away on January 6. She was 95.

- Barbara G. Kidney passed away peacefully on January 10. A Y’s Woman for many years until recently, she was 95 years old. 




Mercy Learning Center Needs Help

Mercy Learning Center Grateful for Donations

With the holidays and the cold winter weather, the needs of the students and families of Mercy Learning Center are greater than ever. Please donate non-perishable food and warm weather clothing any time at the Leasing Office of 597 Westport Avenue. The office staff will be happy to help carry your grocery bags from the car. The building is immediately to the right of Pepperidge Farm Corporate Headquarters; just drive to the end of the road and the Leasing Office is on your right. 






                  

About our monthly newsletters

Printed monthly newsletters are no longer being mailed to members. Instead, they are provided as printable computer files in Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format. To print them, the Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed on your computer. If it is not already there, download it here.

In addition, the newsletter's listings of dates and places are viewable on this website at a glance.

If you are not already receiving emails, please check the Membership Roster to be sure we have your correct email address. Notify Doris Levinson of any changes or corrections: 203-227-3371 or drjlevinson@gmail.com. A member's e-mail address will only be used for the monthly newsletters and for occasional important announcements.

To prevent our emails from landing in your spam/junk folder add info@yswomen.org to your address book.


About General Meetings

General Meetings are held the second and fourth Mondays of the month, September through May, at Green's Farms Church, 71 Hillandale Road, Westport. Coffee and conversation begins at 10:45 am, and the meetings start at 11:30 and are usually over by 12:30 pm.

Meetings feature speakers on a wide range of topics - from health to the arts to local, national, and international issues. Details can be found in the monthly Y's Women newsletter at www.yswomen.org.

For more information contact Barb Stephen, President, at 203-557-3551.

About Membership

Y’s Women Membership Form

July 2023 - June 2024


                                                                                      

                                                   

                                                                                           Date ______________________


Name ______________________________________________________________________


Address ___________________________________________________________________


Telephone ______________________________    Cell __________________________


Email _____________________________________________________________________



DUES INFORMATION


Dues are $55 a year.

Make your check payable to Y’s Women.

Your dues must be paid by October 31, 2023 to be listed in the new Membership Roster.

If you join after March 31, 2024 your dues are in effect through June 2025.

Membership is free after age 90. Simply indicate that you qualify on your membership form.


To join Y’s Women or renew your membership, send this form and your $55 check to Doris Levinson, 6 Beechwood Lane, Westport, CT 06880.



FOR NEW MEMBERS


Which of these Y’s Women activities do you expect to participate in?


______ Twice-monthly meetings ______ Memoir writing group

______ Book group         ______ Movie group

______ Day trips                 ______ NewsTalk

______ Spring party         ______ New Yorker discussion group

______ Investment group ______ Solos social group

______ Lunch with Trivia games ______ Tai Ji group

______ Mah Jong group


How did you hear about Y’s Women?


_______________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________



For membership questions, contact Doris Levinson at drjlevinson@gmail.com or 227-3371.