A Vietnam War era Naval aviation pilot uniform is presently on display at the Westfield Athenaeum as part of a military display in remembrance of Veterans Day. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The Westfield Athenaeum will introduce patrons to a local author and inform them on the status of one of Earth’s most important resources.
On Saturday, November 22 at 1:45 p.m., the Athenaeum and Westfied Concerned Citizens will be hosting a free showing of “Tapped”, a documentary on water, quite possibly the most important natural component of our everyday lives.
Water’s importance in our lives was sumarized succinctly by Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon at the International Year of Water Cooperation 2013, when he referred to it as “central to the wellbeing of people and the planet.”
“We must work together to protect and carefully manage this fragile, finite resource,” added Moon.
The documentary seeks to examine how water is promoted and packaged, how some of the ways we use it can have an impact on our lives and presents a case for changing the way we think about bottled and municipal water.
A U.S. Navy WAVE uniform worn by Maryann Ochs Douglas is presently on display at the Westfield Athenaeum as part of a Veterans Day remembrance display. Douglas served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a Link Trainer instructor training pilots before being transferred to the war front. A wide variety of military uniforms are presently on display throughout the Athenaeum. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
After viewing the film, a short discussion will be facilitated that hopefully opens the way for a community dialog about how we can do our part to protect our local and global water supplies.
“It talks about water usage and how we get our water,” said Gail Bean of the Westfield Concerned Citizens this morning.
Bean said that the documentary has segments included in it on decreasing the usage of plastic water bottles and how the stigma surrounding municipal water is unwarranted.
“This video talks about how (municipal water) is good and there’s really no need to be buying water from plastic bottles,” she said. “What we’re doing is putting the spin on it as far as the water piece and how critical it is to think about what we’re doing.”
On Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m., a local author will be at the Atheanaeum to discuss his recently published novel, “General William Shepard: An American Patriot.”
Westfield native John “Jack” Leary, Jr. will bring years of research to his presentation and will enlighten the audience about Shepard, a former United States Representative from the Federalist Party who also served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary war.
A prominent figure not just in Westfield history, but American history, Joyce Peregrin, a public services librarian at the Athenaeum, said Leary has always been a frequent flyer of the Athenaeum’s history section and was curious as to why there weren’t many books on Shepard, a man whose statue stands on the green in downtown Westfield.
“He wanted to know more about this man and there wasn’t a whole lot on him in our library,” said Peregrin. “So he started doing some research into him and he created a book when he retired.”
“He really researched it and did a lot of work on it,” Peregrin said. “It should be very interesting. Local history is always a popular topic and the Westfield Atheanaeum has a wonderful geneology department, along with a Westfield room where there are all kinds of really cool information about Westfield – people who lived in Westfield, goes all the way back to when it was first settled…”
Books will be available for purchase after the program, which will be free of an admission charge.
Anyone looking for further information can contact the Athenaeum by calling 413-568-0638.
