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CLASS IS CANCELLED. PLEASE CHECK BACK AGAIN FOR FURTHER UPDATES. Join us for an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Class. This class will be taught at a beginner level. All are welcome. No registration is necessary. No testing is needed. For more information call Maria Balestrieri at 617-349-4013 or Kerri McQuown at 617-349-4015

Today's Teen Hangout has been canceled. Hangout with other teens in the Valente Branch Community Room after school: socialize, unwind, play a game, make some art - your choice! No registration required, drop-in between 3:30-5pm. The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.

Join us for an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Class. This class will be taught at an intermediate level. No testing is needed. For more information call Maria Balestrieri at 617-349-4013.

Join us for an introduction to the practice of Shinrin Yoku, also known as "forest bathing".

Medicare Open Enrollment is the one time of the year when all people with Medicare can review, compare, enroll or dis-enroll in Medicare Advantage, Original Medicare, and Part D drug plans. Medicare Open Enrollment runs from mid-October to early December. Coverage of all plans begins January 1 of the following year. Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to review health and drug plans. This is important because health needs may change from year to year; health or drug plan may change the costs, benefits, and drug coverage they offer; provider and pharmacy networks may change. By reviewing and comparing costs and benefits of the plans available for the upcoming year, there is potential to save money and ensure appropriate coverage. This class will explain how Open Enrollment works and demonstrate the tools available to help you review your options. This workshop is led by Marion Severynse, a state-certified Medicare benefits counselor in a volunteer-led program funded in part by the Executive Office of Aging and Independence. Registration required.

Movie! Pizza! Treats! Friends! No registration required. This event is for 12-18-year-olds. See you there! Movie determined by Teen Vote. The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.

We invite children and their grown-ups to join us for our monthly evening story time event. This program will run for 20-25 minutes, with songs, stories and rhymes. No registration is required. This program will be held in the Community Room of the Valente Branch Library. Please call 617-349-4015 for more information.

In January 2020, the largest and most eagerly awaited cache of new materials written by the Nobel-Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot was finally opened: the 1,131 letters he sent Emily Hale, his little-known American love, over the course of their lifetimes. Their relationship was, in their own words, an “unnatural” love affair, one that began in Cambridge in 1913, when Eliot was a graduate student at Harvard and Hale, an aspiring amateur actress, and that played out in Boston, England and California over the years. Named as one of its "Fifty Notable Non-fiction Books of 2024" by the Washington Post, Fitzgerald's biography of Hale is based on the embargoed letters and extensive research into Hale’s life and times. Hale was much more than just a muse to a literary celebrity. She overcame personal hardship to pursue a career as a professor of speech and drama at prominent American women’s colleges and schools, including Simmons and Smith Colleges and Abbot and Concord Academies. She was a talented amateur actress and director, who performed at many Boston area theaters and later guided Eliot as he tried his hand at playwriting. But in the end, Eliot disavowed her, sending a secret letter to Harvard in 1960 that claimed his love for Hale was that of “a ghost for a ghost,” and confirming that he had arranged for Hale’s side of their 27-year correspondence to be destroyed. In the words of The Washington Post reviewer, “Missing letters, a secret love affair, a famous poet, a beautiful actress—what else could you possibly want in a story?" Sara Fitzgerald is a retired journalist whose career included fifteen years as an editor and new media developer for The Washington Post. In 2020, she also published The Poet’s Girl: A Novel of Emily Hale and T. S. Eliot. Since then, her essays about Hale have appeared in multiple volumes of the Journal of the T. S. Eliot Society and the T. S. Eliot Studies Annual. She has presented at the annual meetings of the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, the International T. S. Eliot Society, and at the T. S. Eliot Summer School at Oxford. She is also the author of the biography, Elly Peterson: “Mother” of the Moderates and Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX.

Hangout with other teens in the Valente Branch Community Room after school to socialize, unwind, play a game, or make some art - your choice! No registration required, drop-in between 3:30-5pm. The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.

Come join us for an afternoon of fun watching the Boston Red Sox on our TV in the drop-in lounge. We will serve hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, ice cream and cold sodas.