The Y's Women

GENERAL MEETINGS
Open to members and their guests

Place: Green’s Farms Church, 71 Hillandale Road, Westport
10:45 am Coffee and Conversation
11:20 am Announcements
11:30 am 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 10 – Adele Valovich, Conducting Orchestral Music
Adele Valovich is a graduate of the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She held several middle and high school teaching positions, culminating at Staples High School, where she served as Director of Orchestral Music for more than three decades.

Her reputation for building quality into the music program is legend, raising both the level of musicianship and a following of devoted string players. Her knowledge of classical and music theater literature made her a central figure in the Westport Music Department’s reputation for excellence in performance. Her dedication to her art with students and their parents and her reputation as a Sicilian disciplinarian in music with the warmth and dedication of a Sicilian mother to her charges was well known.

In this interactive presentation, Adele will walk us through the basics of reading a full conductor’s score, using visuals of each of the critical elements, and then lead us through the conducting experience. We will conduct a selection from the Nutcracker Suite, using batons and with Adele as our mirror.

March 24 – Attorney General William Tong
William Tong took office as Connecticut Attorney General in 2019 and is currently serving his second term. He is a national leader in many of the most consequential lawsuits and investigations in our country today, including bipartisan, multi-state efforts to hold the addiction industry accountable for its role in the opioid crisis; to restore fair competition and prices in the generic drug industry; to hold social media giants accountable for the harms they may cause to kids and young people; to stop robocall scammers; and to ensure corporations safeguard our personal information from misuse and respect consumers’ rights regarding the collection and use of their information.

A graduate of Phillips Academy Andover, Brown University, and the University of Chicago Law School, AG Tong practiced for 18 years as a litigator in both state and federal courts. He served for 12 years as a State Representative in the Connecticut General Assembly, helping lead the state’s efforts against gun violence and domestic violence, among many other critical laws and initiatives.

AG Tong will discuss with us the important work he is doing through multi-state collaboration with other Attorneys General, including specific actions taken to address the opioid epidemic and the problems of social media.

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.

Interest 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

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

Let’s Meet for Lunch …

… on Wednesday, March 26 at 12:30 pm at Osteria Romana (located at 250 Westport Avenue in Norwalk, in the same shopping center as Romanacci and Bond Grill). All Y’s Women are welcome to come celebrate Spring together. We can order from the menu and will receive separate checks. If you would like to join us, contact Judy Mappa at judypala@hotmail.com by March 25.

Book Group 2 will meet at the Westport Center for Senior Activities on Thursday, March 6 from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. We will be discussing An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Linda Mandel will lead the discussion. Please contact Nancy Bloom at nancyerb@aol.com to RSVP or if you have any questions.

Book Group 3 will meet on Friday, March 14 at 10:30 am at the Westport Center for Senior Activities to discuss The Women by Kristin Hannah. Andrea Turner will lead the discussion. For questions, please contact Doris Levinson at drjlevinson@gmail.com.

The Movie Club will meet on Wednesday, March 19 at the Westport Senior Center. We meet informally at 2:00 pm to give members a chance to socialize, and our discussion begins at 2:30. Our room often changes, so be sure to ask the front desk about our location. We ask all attendees to have been vaccinated. We are limited to 25 attendees, so please confirm your attendance with Margaret Mitchell by March 15.

We plan to discuss the movies The Iron Lady and The Six Triple Eight. The Iron Lady is scheduled to be broadcast at 9:00 pm on Saturday, March 1 as part of PBS Reel 13 Classics, and it also is listed in the catalogs of the Westport and Fairfield Libraries. The Six Triple Eight is available on Netflix.

The Iron Lady is a 2011 biographical drama based on the life and career of Margaret Thatcher, a British politician who was the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the office. Thatcher is portrayed primarily by Meryl Streep and, in her formative and early political years, by Alexandra Roach.

The Six Triple Eight is a 2024 American war drama written and directed by Tyler Perry on the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-black, all-female battalion in World War II. It is based on the article “Fighting a Two-Front War” by Kevin M. Hymel. The film features an ensemble cast, including Kerry Washington, Sarah Jeffery, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Shanice Shantay, Pepi Sonuga, Gregg Sulkin, Susan Sarandon, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Kylie Jefferson, Moriah Brown, and Oprah Winfrey.

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 discussions at NewsTalk. Our next meeting is on Thursday, March 27 from 10 - 11:30 am at the Westport Library, Room 214. For information, contact Sheila Weiss at srweiss@gmail.com.

Solos will be going to Blackstones Grille, 2600 Post Road, Southport for lunch on Thursday, March 27 at 12:00 noon. We will order off the menu and have separate checks. For reservations, contact Terry Queirolo at 858-1470 or tmq44@icloud.com by Monday, March 24.

The Lunch & Trivia group will meet at noon on March 20 at the VFW Hall. The cost is $25 (cash only). If you wish to attend, please contact Annette Kirban at lakirban@optonline.net.

The Mah Jong Group meets every Thursday at 1:00 pm at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. Experienced players are welcome. For information, contact Barbara Alfinito at barbsgetaway@aol.com or 205-533-1884.

The Wisest Investment Group WILL NOT be meeting in March. For more information on this group, contact Lois Block at 984-8222.

The New Yorker Discussion Group meets on the second Tuesday of each month from 10:30 am until noon in the Westport Library, Room 213. Each participant chooses an article from one of the previous month’s issues and leads a short discussion about the article. Participants who are not able to meet personally can participate on Zoom. If you’re interested, please contact Ellen Cahill at ellenjcahill@hotmail.com for details.

Tai Ji: 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 a Tai Ji class that meets weekly on Wednesdays from 9:30 to 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 will be used to offset rental and insurance costs. If you’re interested, please contact Ruby at Rubypalace88@gmail.com or 917-816-6661.

Scrabble: On the first and third Monday of each month, Pennie More will be holding a Scrabble game at 1630 Post Road East, Unit 214 (Lansdowne) from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. Please contact Pennie at pcmore2@gmail.com to reserve a seat at the table.

CARPOOL & GO!

On Friday, March 21, Carpool & Go will be going to New Haven to explore the fabulous collection of American furniture and clocks, 17th century to the present, as well as outstanding contemporary wood art housed in the Hume American Furniture Study Center of Yale University Art Gallery at their West Campus site. The center opened in 2019 to provide ample space for this wonderful collection to be viewed and studied. We will have a guided tour starting at 10:30 am and will enjoy lunch afterward at the affiliated cafeteria across the street.

We will meet in the Trader Joe’s parking lot behind the Wells Fargo Bank at 9:30 am for a 9:45 departure. Please contact Lydia Menendez at lydiamnndz12@gmail.com to reserve your spot on this trip. There is no charge for the tour. Please bring $5 in cash for your driver – and indicate if you are willing to drive. Drivers are always needed and appreciated!

Directions to the site will be provided to drivers directly (apparently it’s best not to use GPS).

In Memoriam

Betty H. Kogen, a long-time Y’s Woman, passed away on January 15 at the age of 94. One of the founders of the Y’s Women’s Solos group, Betty was proud to have originated the weekly twilight summer picnics at Compo Beach.

Marion Suzanne (Suzy) K. Fiore passed away peacefully at her home in Westport on January 13. She was 86 years old.

Donations to Mercy Learning Center

Donations to Mercy Learning Center

Please consider bringing donations for the Mercy Learning Center to the first Y’s Women meeting of the month, beginning on March 10. You may leave your donations in the box labeled MLC in the lobby of Green’s Farms Church.

MLC is in dire need of nonperishable foods (such as bags of rice, beans, canned foods, peanut butter/jellies, and shelf-stabilized lowfat milk) as well as sanitary items (including sanitary napkins, shampoo and conditioner, disposable diapers, baby wipes, and toiletries for women and children.

Thank you for whatever you can do to help.

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 Vera DeStefano, President, at vera@dcstructural.com

About Membership

Y’s Women Membership Form

July 2024 - June 2025

Date ______________________

Name ______________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

Telephone ______________________________ Cell __________________________

Email _____________________________________________________________________

DUES INFORMATION

Dues are $65 a year.
Make your check payable to Y’s Women.
Dues must be paid by October 31, 2024 to be included in the 2025 membership roster.
If you join after March 31, 2025 your dues will be paid through June 2026.
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 $65 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 ______ News discussion group

______ Investment group ______ New Yorker discussion group

______ Let's Meet for Lunch ______ Solos social group

______ Lunch with Trivia ______ Spring party

______ Mahjong group ______ Tai Chi

How did you hear about Y’s Women?