Event to be held December 1 in Easthampton

EASTHAMPTON—The second annual TEDxEasthamptonWomen event will take place on Dec. 1 at The Boylston Room East in Keystone Mill from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with a reception to follow at Mill 180 Park.  

The independently organized program, licensed by TED, will feature local speakers and TEDWomen videos under the theme of Showing Up.

Launched in 2009, TEDx is a program of locally organized events that brings the community together to share a TED-like experience. Some of the best talks from TEDx events have been featured on TED.com and garnered millions of views from audiences across the globe.

TEDWomen, in its ninth year, will take place in Palm Springs, California. The conference will be streamed to thousands around the globe at nearly 150 TEDWomen events in dozens of countries.

TEDxEasthamptonWomen has filled its seating limit of 100 attendees. The program will also be streamed live and accessible via the internet and at local viewing parties. Viewing party information can be found at https://www.tedxeasthamptonwomen.com/livestream/.

“The members this year felt the need to keep the event going for the community to foster learning to the people of Easthampton and the rest of the Pioneer Valley,” said marketing coordinator Laura Heisig. “The hope is for other women to hear these stories and feel empowered by them to make some change in their own communities.

“We’re all connected in some ways, but it also can affect the larger picture of things. I think that’s what’s so powerful about this event,” Heisig added. “It’s connecting us to this larger event.”

This year’s seven speakers are:

• Jane Fleishman, a certified sexuality educator on a mission to promote the sexual well-being of older adults.
• Caitlin Kelley, a supervisor of the Mason Square Branch Library in Springfield.
• Brianna Mangano, a graduate student at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work who has over six years of experience in mental health and social services.
• Christine Monska, a program officer at the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts as well as a continuing education advisor at Bard Microcollege Holyoke.
• Elizabeth O’Gilvie, Bay Path College’s Ethics Speaker in 2017 and a member of the Mass Farm to School advisory board.
• Cinzia Pica-Smith, an associate professor in both the Department of Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies and the Education Department at Assumption College in Worcester.
• Rachel Walker, an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, an associate director for the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring, and the first nurse ever to be named an “Invention Ambassador” by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

TEDxEasthamptonWomen sponsors include: Julia Mines, Boylston Rooms, bankESB, Cider House Media, CJC Lighting & Production, Easthampton Media, Finck & Perras Insurance Agency LLC, Illuminaria, Mill 180 Park, Northeast Solar, and WBOA.

For more information about TEDxEasthamptonWomen, including how to plan or attend a viewing party, please visit TEDxEasthamptonWomen.com.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today’s leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED’s annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.

TED’s open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the TED Translators Program, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a “wish,” or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED, or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted.

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Kurt Gaertner, director of Land Policy and Planning for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to serve as Golden Spike 2018 Conference keynoter

NORTHAMPTON—The Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways will host a state-wide conference of community rail trail advocates and government policy-makers on Saturday, July 28 at Union Station.

The keynote speaker will be Kurt Gaertner, the director of Land Policy and Planning for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), who is responsible for state-wide land use and land conservation policies as well as sustainable development.

Gaertner also serves as the Massachusetts secretary of state’s designee on the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, and he represents the EEA on the Governor’s Trails Team. He is an adjunct faculty member at Boston University in their City Planning and Urban Affairs Program, where he has taught since 2009.

Gaertner will deliver the lunchtime address at the sixth Golden Spike 2018 Conference to be held over the past 16 years.

Before lunch, in two separate one-hour sessions, a series of speakers will discuss updates and news along the path of the Mass Central Rail Trail: from Boston to Northampton, and then from Northampton to New Haven. These talks will be highlighted by aerial maps via a live Google Maps feed.

The event is open to residents of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The program begins at 8 a.m. with registration, breakfast and networking. At 9:15 a.m., an update on the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail from Boston to Northampton will be offered, and Gaertner’s plenary session will begin at 12:30 p.m. The plenary costs $35 and includes lunch.

The goal of the conference is to update participants on new developments and the various uncompleted sections of the rail trail that stretches from New Haven, Connecticut, to Northampton and across Massachusetts from Northampton to Boston. 

As part of the conference, eight bicycle and walking tours of varying lengths, featuring topics from local history to flora and fauna along the rail trail, will be offered Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28 at 2:30 p.m. The cost is $15 per tour.

Gaertner holds a master’s degree in resource management and organizational administration from Antioch University New England, and a bachelor’s degree in education from Bowling Green State University.

Funding for the conference was provided by a $9,460 Recreational Trail Educational grant from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation as well as gifts from Greenfield Savings Bank and the national engineering firm VHB.

To register for the conference or a tour, visit www.gs2018.org.

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Golden Spike 2018 Conference to be held in Northampton on July 28 at Union Station

NORTHAMPTON—The Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways has been awarded a $9,460 Recreational Trail Educational grant by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The funds—combined with gifts from Greenfield Savings Bank and the national engineering firm VHB—will be used to host a state-wide conference of community rail trail advocates and government policy-makers on Saturday, July 28 at Union Station.

The goal of the conference is to update participants on new developments and the various uncompleted sections of the rail trail that stretches from New Haven, Connecticut, to Northampton and across Massachusetts from Northampton to Boston. 

As part of the event, eight local bicycle and walking tours of varying lengths, featuring a variety of rail-trail-related topics, will be offered Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28 at 2:30 p.m. The cost is $15 per tour.

Called the Golden Spike 2018 Conference, the Northampton gathering will mark the sixth in a series of Golden Spike conferences held over the past 16 years. This event will bring together participants from both Connecticut and Massachusetts at nearly the exact center point of the 190–mile corridor, Northampton’s Union Station. 

The conference is open to the public and begins at 8 a.m. with registration, breakfast and networking. At 9:15 a.m., an update on the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail from Boston to Northampton will be offered, and there will be a plenary session at 12:30 p.m. The plenary costs $35 and includes lunch.

“This event is intended to build community among rail trail advocates and raise awareness of the missing segments of the trail corridor that still need to be completed,” said George Kohout, President of the Friends of Northampton Trails and Greenways, Inc.

To register for the conference or a tour, visit www.gs2018.org.

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