FAKE NEWS!

Got your attention? Hi all. I have been out of the loop for a few weeks working on so many different projects ... life is fun but man oh man it can be fast!

Anyway, I am settling back into a routine of tempered normalcy. For some background about me for the folks new to the group and for the rest of the folks who don't know much about me, I serve as the President of the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum (that's a library!). Did you know the Athenaeum is NOT a public library? Well, it is public in access of course but it is not entirely publicly funded. The city does provide some funding but the library is not a city department ... confusing yes? An endowment provides a large chunk of the operating budget. The Friends group raises funds to support the many FREE programs and services offered by the Athenaeum. No Friends? No Museum Pass Program, no Rosetta Stone Language program, no Children's & Adult Summer Reading programs, no Adobe Creative Cloud SaaS program, no books for the Boys & Girls Reading Clubs ... you get the message. The Friends recently contributed $40,000 to the library renovation project. The group is very important to the health of the Athenaeum and I feel very strongly about the importance of libraries so ... I contribute lots of time and energy.

I am also involved in the ArtWorks of Westfield Inc. organization. We want to bring more arts and culture to the city. We are young and steadily finding our way. There is so much artistic talent in and around this city ... you are all examples of the mountains of creativity in the area. ArtWorks is a work in progress that will be a smashing success (think Easthampton City Arts) once we ramp up and gain some operational traction. Good things happening in Westfield.

I work full time as a business development analyst and manage an investment portfolio that one day will allow me to retire and focus on the fun stuff in life.

Back to FAKE NEWS! The Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum group is sponsoring a special speaking engagement called Sniffing Out Fake News! on Thursday September 28th at 6:30pm in the Lang Auditorium at the Athenaeum. Dr. Kyle Moody, Assistant Professor in Communications Media, Fitchburg State University is the featured speaker. He has been doing these talks for several months in eastern and central MA, mostly at public libraries.

Admission is FREE, thanks to The Friends, but seating is limited so registration is recommended. If I don't see you at our inaugural WhipCity Wordsmith gathering, perhaps I'll see you at Sniffing Out Fake News!