Lunch & Learn for December

Lunch & Learn

Co-sponsored by Friends of the Folsom Library

and the Rensselaer Retirees Forum

 

“Where Family and Friends Gathered in Song:  
The History of the Fox Hollow Folk Festival”

 

Presenter:  Kathryn Sheehan

From 1966 to 1980, thousands gathered in the hills of Petersburgh, New York and joined Bob, Evelyn, and Martha Beers for four days of traditional folk music.  Fox Hollow became one of the most popular folk music festivals in the country and launched the careers of performers Don McLean, Gordon Bok, Bruce "Utah" Phillips, Dan Smith and many more.  Rensselaer County and Troy City Historian Kathryn Sheehan will explore the history and traditions of this legendary music festival. 

 

                    Friday, December 19  ~  12:00 noon to 1:00 pm 

Folsom Library Fischbach Room

Free! Everyone is welcome!  

Bring your lunch or purchase one at the Library Cafe. 

Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

 

 

Link to the

Carl A. Westerdahl Forum

Evening Presentation

  

Matt Peteritis, a club member of RPI TV, generously donated his time to videotape the evening program of "Making the Connection:  Rensselaer Graduates Who Built Bridges over the Hudson" in October. Frank Griggs '56 and George Christian M.S. '76 talked about the role Rensselaer alumni had in the design and construction of bridges in the Hudson Valley and nationwide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Unfortunately, the PowerPoint presentation wasn't included in the recording, so you won't get to see the slides the speakers refer to. Here's the link:  

http://www.rpitv.org/productions/832-carl-westerdahl-forum




Left to right:  George Christian M.S. '76; Chris Letchford, Professor and Department Head,

Civil and Environmental Engineering, RPI; Frank Griggs '56

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for November

Book Review:  “Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Piketty”

              Presenter:  Dr. Paul Hohenberg

 

Retired RPI economics professor Paul Hohenberg will discuss the book that "harks back to Marx's Das Kapital not only in title, subject, and concern with income inequality, but also in being a large book that many speak of and few actually read."

 

Our speaker suggests to anyone who is not up for reading the 700-page book that he or she get the TED talk by the author.  It is on YouTube and gives a good overview in 15 minutes.  French accent is free.

 

                                          Friday, November 14 

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm 

 Folsom Library Fischbach Room

Free! Everyone is welcome! 

Bring your lunch or purchase one at the Library Cafe.  

 Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

 

The Carl A. Westerdahl Forum Inaugural Event

By now all Friends should have received an invitation to "Making the Connection:  Rensselaer Graduates Who Built Bridges over the Hudson" that the Friends is sponsoring next month.  The committee planning the event, headed by Friends Board of Directors members Rick Hartt and Meg Gallien, have put a lot of effort into this and are excited to offer not one but two presentations to all who are interested in learning about civil engineering training at the Institute in the late 1800s and the role Rensselaer alumni had in the design and construction of bridges in the Hudson Valley and nationwide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
 
We are very fortunate to have Frank Griggs '56, engineer, bridge restorer, and historian, as our featured speaker.  He'll be joined by Chris Letchford, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at RPI, and George Christian, M.S. '76, who has over 38 years of engineering and management experience in varied bridge planning, design, construction, and evaluation activities in the New York State Department of Transportation Office of Structures.
 
The Carl A. Westerdahl Forum memorializes the creative contributions made by Carl A. Westerdahl (1937-2013), former dean, director, and historian at Rensselaer, through programs that explore education, history, art, architecture, engineering, and science as they relate to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

The online invitation with information, including directions to RPI and parking instructions, and a registration form that can be sent in can be obtained at http://www.lib.rpi.edu/documents/friends/Carl.pdf /

Online registration is now available!
 
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me at bircha@rpi.edu or (518) 452-0618.

I hope to see many of you at the event.  It promises to be an excellent introduction to the annual lecture series honoring Carl who was committed to the Institute and took great pleasure in sharing its history, contributions, and success stories with others.

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for September

"Celebrating a Non-traditional Life"

 

Speaker:  Judith Barnes '71, '84

 

 Friday, September 12, 2014

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

Fischbach Room

Judith Barnes, Ph.D., is an entrepreneur, educator, speaker, and writer with a four-decade national consultancy in communication, technical communication, marketing, and advertising.   

As a result of deciding to become a consultant in 1971 – a very non-traditional choice back – she has had the pleasure of working with people in a wide range of fields including technology, fashion retailing and manufacturing, finance, automotive, business and industry, education, arts, and healthcare.  Judy was also a founding officer of a company commercializing micro fuel cells as a future power source for portable electronics, a longtime Adjunct Professor for the Executive MBA program in the Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is a frequent guest lecturer in Rensselaer’s leadership programs.

Judith Barnes

Judy has authored five books, and her essays have aired on public radio. She was a co-writer and executive producer for a short film on personal responsibility screened at over 25 film festivals. The film was also featured on a public television program and used by therapists nationwide. In addition, she is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer for educational, civic, and cultural groups. 

 

Judy has a Ph.D. and M.S. from Rensselaer. She has received numerous professional awards; has been active in leadership positions on the boards of many civic, educational, and arts organizations; and has extensive experience in institutional development and community fundraising activities.  

 

Having come into contact with people in so many different lines of work, Judy has many interesting stories to tell. Come hear about some of her exciting and perhaps unusual assignments.  I'd like to hear about the job she's now working on for Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes.

 

Everyone is invited. Bring your lunch or pick up one at the Library Café. Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Photo Display

May's Lunch & Learn presenter, William Gill B.S. '03, M.S. '11, has hung eight stunning photographs that he's taken of trains at night.  They're on our second floor "gallery wall"  and will be on display for the summer.

 

A lot of his scenes were taken along the Delaware and Hudson Railway, which is the railroad that Will's great grandfather worked on.  It was also the first freight railroad that Will was able to get an up close view of trains as they rolled on by.

Will uses strobe photography to capture his photos of trains at night.  It usually takes him an hour or more to position the lights.  He takes great care in setting them up because he gets only one chance to take the perfect picture of a traveling train.

Two of the images displayed were taken in Benson Landing and West Rutland, VT.  The others were captured in Troy, Cohoes, Fort Edward, Hadley, and Thurman, NY.  The 16" X 20" framed and matted photos can be purchased for $160 each.

 

Above is my favorite shot.  It shows a colorful string of cars rolling past Grabowski's Farm in West Rutland, VT.  The line is owned by the Clarendon and Pittsford Railway and runs from Whitehall, NY, to Rutland. The barns and cars really stand out against the black of night.

To view some photos Will's taken of trains in the dark, see ihearttrains.us or check out his postings at https://www.facebook.com/TrainsAtNight.


Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

Save the Date!

 

The Carl A. Westerdahl Forum

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

 

 

Making the Connection:

Rensselaer Graduates

Who Built Bridges over the Hudson

 

 

Join the Friends of the Folsom Library for the inaugural

Carl A. Westerdahl Forum.

Dr. Frank Griggs ’56, engineer, bridge restorer and historian, is the featured speaker. He and a panel of experts including George Christian, will highlight the role Rensselaer alumni played in the growth of bridge design locally and nationwide in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

 

Lunchtime Presentation

12 noon – 1 p.m.

"Civil Engineering Training at Rensselaer

in the Late 1800s"

Russell Sage Dining Hall

Lunch to be offered

 

 

Evening Presentation

6 – 7 p.m.

"Crossing the Hudson: Capital Region Bridges"

Reception to follow

Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Auditorium

 

 

Sponsored by the Friends of the Folsom Library

 

 

The Carl A. Westerdahl Forum memorializes the creative contributions made by Carl A. Westerdahl (1937-2013), former dean, director, and historian at Rensselaer, through programs that explore education, history, art, architecture, engineering, and science as they relate to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Program details will follow. 

 For more information, contact Adrienne Birchler,

Folsom Library, 518-276-8329.

           Please share this announcement with all individuals and organizations you think would be interested.

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for May

“Photographing Trains at Night”

 

Speaker:  William Gill  B.S. ‘03, M.S. ‘11

 

Friday, May 9, 2014

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

Folsom Library's Fischbach Room

 

 

Senior Web Producer William Gill has always preferred to photograph at night and three years ago, after becoming "completely bored with drunk people in bars," began setting up studio style lighting outdoors to capture images of trains passing through the American landscape at night.  He will cover the process of working along the tracks at night and what he hopes to achieve with this project.

 

 

 

Everyone is invited.  Bring your lunch or purchase one at the Library Café.  Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

The 73rd McKinney Writing Contest and Reading

A Vollmer Fries Lecture

by

Lydia Davis

Winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize

 

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

8:00 p.m.

Biotech Auditorium,

Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Building

RPI

Reception to follow

 

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

 

 

As we've done for several years now, Friends has again contributed $250 toward the McKinney Writing Contest, Rensselaer's annual writing competition administered by the Department of Communication and Media.  The contest offers both undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity for assessment and recognition of their creative writing talent. Work can be submitted in one or more of the following areas:  fiction/drama, poetry, essay, and electronic media. This year's awards will be presented by short story writer and translator Lydia Davis, who will first give a reading from one of her works and then answer questions from the audience.  


Lydia Davis
(Photo by David Ignaszewski)

Davis is the author of story collections Almost No Memory (1997), Samuel Johnson is Indignant (2001), Varieties of Disturbance (2007), The Collected Stories (2009), and most recently Can't and Won't (2014).  She is also a novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, and has produced several new translations of French literary classics, including Marcel Proust's Swann's Way and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary.  Davis is known for her concise short stories.  Characteristically, they usually run between three and four pages.  The New Yorker praised her "lucidity, aphoristic brevity, formal originality, sly comedy, metaphysical bleakness, philosophical pressure, and human wisdom." Davis currently is a professor of creative writing at the University at Albany.
 

  



Barbara Lewis, Chair of Friends of the Folsom Library's Board of Directors and Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media, is coordinating the event.


Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library
 

Your Laugh for the Day

I just have to share this with you all.  Friend Steven Smith '50 responded to my recent blog entry regarding Don Bell's upcoming Lunch & Learn program concerning teaching young people about money management.  Here it is.

                                        ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adrienne, I thought this story, forwarded by my niece, was so pertinent to the theme of the April 11 Lunch and Learn that I should pass it on. Hope it gives you a chuckle.

Bravo to Don Bell and all who teach young people financial savvy. Such an important subject! 

Steven 

His name was Ole. He was from South Dakota. And he needed a loan. So, he walked into a bank in New York City and asked for a loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Oslo for the All-Scandinavian Summer Festival for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so Ole handed over the keys to his new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. Ole produced the title and everything checked out.

The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest. The loan papers were signed and an employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank's private underground garage and parked it. Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at Ole from South Dakota for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan.

Two weeks later, Ole returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out on Dunn & Bradstreet and found that you are a Distinguished Alumni from South Dakota State University, a highly sophisticated investor and multimillionaire with real estate and financial interests all over the world. Your investments include a large number of oil wells around Williston, ND. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?"

Ole replied, "Vare else in New York City can I park my car for two veeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be dare vhen I return?"

His name was Ole. Keep an eye on these South Dakota boys! Just because we talk funny does not mean we just got off the lutefisk boat.

Brilliant, ja? 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for April

"Money Life$avers:  What We All Need to Know About Money"
 

Friday, April 11, 2014

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

Folsom Library Fischbach Room

 
 

Don Bell

Former RPI web learning consultant Don Bell's newly published book, Money Life$avers:  What Teens Need to Know About Money, aims to provide parents, grandparents, home school educators, teachers, tutors, and mentors with fun ways to teach teens  (or anyone!) financial literacy.  He'll talk about some of the ways to make a potentially dull subject--personal finances--engaging and fun.

 

 

According to Don, the present generation of teens and young adults are struggling to stay afloat financially and could greatly benefit from money lifesavers like his book to help them make smart money decisions and avoid common financial pitfalls.  The content is based on National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education (developed by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy) and Money As You Grow--20 Things Kids Need to Know to Live Financially Smart Lives (published by the President's Council on Financial Capability).  Don's book makes learning about money fun by using quiz questions (over 400!) and incorporating over 100 cartoons. (The ideas for the cartoons were envisioned by Don and the images were created by Randy Rumpf, who was a designer and illustrator for RPI for 15 years.) There are also plenty of noteworthy quotations, money trivia, and definitions of financial terms.  But most importantly, the book is loaded with essential money management advice that anyone can benefit from. 

 



Illustration by Randy Rumpf

 



Illustration by Randy Rumpf

Don has over 30 years of experience working   in education, media, and technology. He was employed as a special education teacher, computer trainer, and educational software marketer before joining the staff of Academic and Research Computing at the Institute.  In the early 1990s, Don started working on developing games to teach youngsters about personal finance.  In 2011 he developed a money quiz card game based on the Jump$tart Coalition's National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education.  A year later he converted the game into a book format. 


Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

 

 

Lunch & Learn for March 2014

"Case Studies in Acoustic Architecture"

Friday, March 14, 2014

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

Folsom Library Fischbach Room

Zackery Belanger will follow up on his recent EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) talk, "The Next Acoustic Architecture," with a discussion of project work, with emphasis on the challenges associated with innovation in the built environment.  This talk will include a closer look at EMPAC and smaller projects in the Capital District. 

Zackery Belanger

Zack is an acoustician, researcher, and designer whose work centers on architectural acoustics.  He holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Physics from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, along with a Master of Science degree in Architectural Sciences from RPI.  From 2002 to 2010 he worked for the acoustic consulting firm Kirkegaard Associates in consultant and research and development roles.  He is currently a Researcher-in-Residence at EMPAC, where he is working on a conceptual framework for acoustic enclosures called The Next Acoustic Architecture.   His creative work branches into furniture design and electronic music production. 

Zack is also a member of the Board of Directors at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, on which longtime Friend Paul Hohenberg also sits.  I have Paul to thank for suggesting Zack for a Lunch & Learn talk.  Paul and another Friend of the Folsom Library, Michael Halloran, head the Rensselaer Retirees Forum.  As you're probably aware, Friends and the Forum co-sponsor the Lunch & Learn program, but what your may not know is that we're always looking for presenters.  Please feel free to suggest potential speakers. We'd appreciate it. Thanks!  


Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

February 14th Lunch & Learn

We've had to CANCEL the February 14th Lunch & Learn because of the impending snowstorm.  I'm hoping Chip will be able to reschedule for April, but he said that in early April he will be in the midst of a demanding period of work on the Half Moon, so he'll let me know later if that's possible.  If not this year, then I hope he can come next year.

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

 

Lunch & Learn for February 2014

“The Replica Ship Half Moon: 

Science, Commerce and Culture in 17th Century Exploration”

                    Presenter:  William T. (Chip) Reynolds

                                 Director, New Netherland Museum

                                   Captain, Replica Ship Half Moon

 

Photo credit:  New Netherland Museum/JW Mangrum

 

With imagery, maps, and replicated artifacts, Reynolds will discuss the interaction of science, commerce and culture in the 17th century.  Analogous to circumstances today, the Dutch East India Company relied on applying the most advanced scientific concepts to world exploration and establishment of their global commercial enterprises.  Inevitably, this brought about collaboration and conflict between diverse cultures.  In the Hudson River Valley, this led to the establishment of a colony unique in North America for its tolerance of differing religious and political views, and opportunity irrespective of background.

                         ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Captain Reynolds is an authority on historical navigation and world exploration under sail.  He combines practical experience using 17th century navigational tools with historical knowledge of their use and function aboard ship.  He is a proponent of the view that 17th century exploration and commerce advanced the transition from a religious based world view to our modern scientific or empirical world view.  He applies this approach to education under sail and in the classroom, where students measure and document the world around them and discover their ability to find patterns and predictability from this data.

 

Reynolds is an engaging public speaker and has lectured at venues as varied as the Library of Congress, the New York Court of Appeals, academic institutions, and educational conferences.  He has developed educational curricula using practices aboard ship to deliver scientific concepts to elementary through high school students and has written both for popular and academic publications.

 

In 2009, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands designated Reynolds as a Dutch Knight (Order of Orange), and in 2001 he was selected as a Gold Medalist of the Holland Society for his work with the Half Moon, a full-scale operating replica of the Dutch ship that Henry Hudson sailed in 1609.  This voyage led to the founding of New Netherland, the Dutch colony that encompassed parts of modern day New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

 

Reynolds has been featured in national television broadcasts with Bill Moyers and on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and other national and regional media, and he has advised producers of feature films in the United States and abroad regarding historical sailing practices.

 

Reynolds is an Environmental Science graduate of New College of Florida, where he was a Noyes Environmental Fellow and published work on the biogeography of barrier islands in Southwest Florida.  He was a member of the State Planning Council for Radioactive Waste Management under President Jimmy Carter and served as Co-Chairman of the Transportation Working Group.  He resides in Selkirk, New York.

 

Friday, February 14

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

Folsom Library Fischbach Room

 

Free!

Everyone is welcome!  

Bring your lunch or purchase one at the Library Cafe.

Dessert will be provided.

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library