LITTLE FALLS VILLAGE ZOOM SPEAKER EVENTS
A Partnership between LFV & Little Falls Library (MCPL)
APRIL through JULY 2021
Speaker Events: 1:00 to 2:30 pm
Recommended log in time: 12:45 pm

SPEAKER EVENTS ARE FREE & OPEN TO ALL
Register by clicking on event registration link

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OTHER DEAF / HARD OF HEARING SERVICES FOR THE SPEAKER EVENTS DONE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LITTLE FALLS LIBRARY (MCPL), EMAIL INFO@LITTLEFALLSVILLAGE.ORG WITH THREE BUSINESS DAYS NOTICE
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MONDAY APRIL 5 “Constitutional Patriotism, Partisanship and the Future of American Democracy” with Congressman Jamie Raskin. Congressman Jamie Raskin is the U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.

Although this event has passed, it is possible to view the recorded event video of Congressman Jamie Raskin's presentation that will be posted on the LFV event page as soon as it is available www.littlefallsvillage.org/Raskin

THURSDAY APRIL 8 "The Supreme Court in 2021: How It Got Here and Where It’s Going" with Roman Martinez, a Lathan & Watkins partner and Supreme Court advocate, who will discuss the latest developments at the Court, including the three Trump-appointed Justices, prospects for evolution and reform in the Biden years, and key cases on the October Term 2020 docket. 
As a member of the firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice, he focuses primarily on appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals, and state appellate courts. Mr. Martinez has handled civil and criminal matters involving a wide range of constitutional, statutory, and administrative law issues, and has argued cases in the US Supreme Court and the D.C., Second, Sixth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, and the New York, California, and Tennessee appellate courts, among others. Mr. Martinez’s practice encompasses civil and criminal matters spanning virtually all areas of law. In 2016, he rejoined Latham after serving as an Assistance to the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice. In that role, he represented the United States in litigation before the Supreme Court and advised the Solicitor General on the government’s appellate litigation throughout the country.
Mr. Martinez has personally argued nine cases in the Supreme Court, including important cases in the fields of the First Amendment, patent law, criminal law, civil rights, employment, and civil procedure. Before joining Latham, Roman Martinez served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts and to then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit Court.
This event is brought to you by the Council of Former Federal Executives & Associates (COFFE).
TUESDAY APRIL 20 "What to Expect When You’re Expecting… CICADAS!!"  In the spring of 2021, the Washington, DC metro area will experience a rare and amazing natural phenomenon — the emergence of Brood X (Ten) periodical cicadas.  Over the course of a few warm evenings in May, millions and millions of strange-looking creatures will tunnel up from the soil beneath trees, crawl up a close vertical surface, and overnight undergo a dramatic change from a clumsy, shrimp-like creature to a dramatic black insect, sporting deep red eyes and delicate golden wings. For two or three weeks, these harmless and somewhat clumsy creatures are EVERYWHERE, flying, crawling, singing, scrambling, mating – and are truly unavoidable – to the delight and fascination of some, and the terror and revulsion of others. By the next month, the most visible part of the show is over, and the cicadas seem to have disappeared as quickly as they came. Meet Magicicada! For those of us lucky enough to live in an area that hosts a periodical cicada brood, we are privileged to experience this amazing natural phenomenon every 13 or 17 years. However, because they emerge so infrequently in any one location, and because so much of their life cycle takes place underground and out of sight, most people (even biologists!) don’t know much about these fascinating insects. Where did they come from, why are there so many of them, and where will they go? What do they eat? Why and how do they make such a racket? Do they bite or sting? Dr. Weiss will answer these and many other questions, so that you will be better able to appreciate remarkable phenomenon of synchronized periodical cicada emergence.
Martha Weiss is a professor of Biology at Georgetown University, where her research focuses on behavioral interactions among plants, pollinators, herbivores, and predators over ecological and evolutionary time scales. She and her students have investigated learning in butterflies, the ecology of defecation behaviors in insects, the persistence of memory across metamorphosis in Lepidoptera, and the basis of hosts shifts in temperate butterflies. Dr. Weiss grew up in San Francisco and studied Geological Sciences at Harvard University, earning her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s Botany department. Later, she studied insect behavior at the University of Arizona. Currently, she and her colleague Dr. John Lill at George Washington University are investigating the indirect ecological effects of the Brood X periodical cicada emergence on the temperate deciduous forest community. They are very excited about the return of Brood X, and are eager to share the biology of these fascinating insects with everyone
This event is independently presented by LFV.
Registration Link: www.littlefallsvillage.org/Cicadas
WEDNESDAY APRIL 28 "Hillwood: A Garden for All Seasons" with Kate Market, Executive Director of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Kate Markert has delved into the archives to describe Post’s approach to creating this enchanting environment of mansion & gardens fitting perfectly together.  As the result of strategic planning, exciting special exhibition programs, stimulating and relevant public programs and revitalized gardens, Kate has guided the organization to a more than fifty-percent increase in attendance and the tripling of membership.
Kate Markert is the author of A Garden for All Seasons: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Hillwood, the first publication devoted to these special gardens in the heart of Washington. She and Erik Kvalsvik worked for over two years to photograph the estate in every season, in many different weather conditions and at different times of the day to illustrate, in gorgeous color, the result of modern horticulturists' labors and Post’s original vision
MONDAY MAY 3 “Cabin John: Legends of an Uncommon Place” with Judith Welles. Who or what is Cabin John? The name Cabin John is steeped in mystery and legends about lost lovers, ghosts, pirates, and buried treasure. Early land records cite Captain John’s Run, now Cabin John Creek. Did Captain John Smith’s journeys along the Potomac River in 1608 take him to the area later named perhaps after him? Cabin John, a Maryland community near Georgetown in Washington, D.C., has historical significance. The Cabin John Bridge, once known as the Union Arch, is an engineering marvel. It carries the aqueduct that gave Washington, D.C., its first public water. Never before published photos show the grandeur of the Cabin John Bridge Hotel, a resort destination in the 1890s and 1900s.  
Judith Welles is a writer and former journalist who has authored local history books about the area in which she lives including Cabin John: Legends and Life of an Uncommon Place, Lilly Stone, and a new pictorial history Potomac. She also wrote a worklife e-book for Kindle, Get a Life, Try This! Judy was media relations manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM and a speechwriter for U.S. Cabinet members. She has chaired the Montgomery County, Maryland, Commission on Aging, been a Board member of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Trust for the national park and is a speaker for the Montgomery County Historical Society. Her lively talks are accompanied by PowerPoint slide shows of historic photographs.  
This event is independently presented by LFV.
THURSDAY MAY 6 (rescheduled from 3/31) "Pandemic Ethics: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges" with Dr. Mildred Solomon, President of the Hastings Center on Bioethics, an independent research institute in Garrison, NY that explores ethical issues in health, health care and the life sciences.
This event is brought to you by the Council of Former Federal Executives & Associates (COFFE). 
THURSDAY MAY 13 "The Golden Age of Music, Part II" Join Pianist/Singer/Sheet Music Expert Michael Lavine as he takes you on another tour of Tin Pan Alley, from its humble beginnings in the Lower East Side and moving on to Broadway and Movie Musicals. Michael is back with more songs you love. He will be joined by Broadway and cabaret performers, as he presents many of the world’s most beloved songs of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Feel free to sing along.
Michael Lavine has worked as a musical director, pianist, vocal coach and singer all over the world. He’s worked with composers as varied as Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim and Burton Lane and Comden and Green. He’s put out a number of CD’s and will be releasing some new ones in conjunction with this concert. A graduate of Columbia University, Michael owns one of the larger privately held collections of sheet music in the world. You can read more on Michael on his site, www.michaellavine.net 
This event will not be recorded.  
WEDNESDAY MAY 26 "Biden's Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa, Recipes for Success or Failure?" Jean AbiNader will review initial steps taken by the Biden Foreign Policy team to reshape US policy towards the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region including countering Iran and terrorism, bolstering allies, promoting human rights, and re-establishing humanitarian and economic assistance programs. He will also review Congressional responses and initiatives and how they impact Biden’s agenda. AbiNader will identify how these policies serve US interests and contribute to regional stability, security, and development, and the challenges and opportunities in the upcoming year.
Jean AbiNader consults on strategic communications and organizational change for both international and US clients; has led a graduate level seminar at Georgetown University; lectured at American University on international development and challenges in intercultural negotiations; and leads a seminar on effective negotiations at Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco. His blogs can be found on www.atfl.org and his website: www.abinaderadvisoryservices.com.
THURSDAY JUNE 10 "Your Retirement Dream: How Planning Can Make It Come True" with Harriet Edleson, author and journalist. Retirement! Have you imagined you’d be lounging on a beach in the south of France or Bethany Beach? Riding a luxury train through the White Towns of Southern Spain? Cruising the Danube on a luxury riverboat? Or, taking courses with others like yourself? Serving on a nonprofit board? Buying a vacation home in the mountains? Spending more time with the ones you love? Relocating to be near your grandchildren? 
Whether you are already retired or thinking of retiring in the next five or 10 years, planning will make the journey more enjoyable and secure! What do you really want to do? Think about all the resources you have or will have at a time when you may no longer be working. Will you have a pension or will you be relying on Social Security and savings? Whatever your situation, the best way forward is knowledge. Learn about the optimal time for claiming your Social Security retirement benefits and how to decide whether downsizing is for you, since housing can be the largest expense in retirement.
Harriet Edleson is an expert on baby boomer retirement strategies. She has written the Retiring feature for The New York Times and the Where We Live feature for The Washington Post. A former writer/editor/producer for AARP where she specialized in Social Security, she now writes for Kiplinger's Retirement Report. Her forthcoming book, 12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future is to be published in May 2021 by Rowman & Littlefield next year.
Visit her website at https://www.howtoretireonless.com.
THURSDAY JUNE 17 "Your Retirement Dream: How Planning Can Make It Come True" with Harriet Edleson, author and journalist. Retirement! Have you imagined you’d be lounging on a beach in the south of France or Bethany Beach? Riding a luxury train through the White Towns of Southern Spain? Cruising the Danube on a luxury riverboat? Or, taking courses with others like yourself? Serving on a nonprofit board? Buying a vacation home in the mountains? Spending more time with the ones you love? Relocating to be near your grandchildren? 
Whether you are already retired or thinking of retiring in the next five or 10 years, planning will make the journey more enjoyable and secure! What do you really want to do? Think about all the resources you have or will have at a time when you may no longer be working. Will you have a pension or will you be relying on Social Security and savings? Whatever your situation, the best way forward is knowledge. Learn about the optimal time for claiming your Social Security retirement benefits and how to decide whether downsizing is for you, since housing can be the largest expense in retirement.
Harriet Edleson is an expert on baby boomer retirement strategies. She has written the Retiring feature for The New York Times and the Where We Live feature for The Washington Post. A former writer/editor/producer for AARP where she specialized in Social Security, she now writes for Kiplinger's Retirement Report. Her forthcoming book, 12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future is to be published in May 2021 by Rowman & Littlefield next year.
Visit her website at https://www.howtoretireonless.com.
This event is independently presented by LFV.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 23  "The Current State of U.S. Russian Relations" with author and journalist Gregory Feifer. Nearly every 24-hour news cycle contains a news item related to Russia. Gregory will offer insights that may help us in understanding the rationale behind the current chaos in the world order. 
A former NPR Moscow correspondent who reported from Russia for almost a decade, Gregory Feifer witnessed the coup d’état attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. During the country's resurgence under Vladimir Putin, he observed the effects of its vast new oil wealth on an increasingly nationalistic society, as well as, Moscow's rekindling of a new Cold War-style opposition to the West. As a senior correspondent at Radio Free Europe in Prague, Feifer investigated Russian influence in Europe, including the Kremlin's use of Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, as an instrument of foreign policy. 
Before joining NPR in 2005, Gregory Feifer lived in Paris and New York and has written for numerous outlets, including The New Republic, The Washington Post, and World Policy Journal. Feifer has also authored a number of books including The Great Gamble and Russians: The Power Behind the People. He serves as executive director of the Institute of Current World Affairs, which awards fellowships to young men and women allowing them to travel outside of the US and gain an in-depth understanding of chosen topic areas. 
This event is brought to you by the Council of Former Federal Executives & Associates (COFFE). 
Registration Link: www.littlefallsvillage.org/Russia 
WEDNESDAY JULY 7 "The Beauty and Science of the Magnolia Family" with Edward M. Barrows, Professor of Biology, Georgetown University.
Washington’s Cherry blossoms are in the limelight each year, while Magnolias, equally spectacular flowering trees, are somewhat in the shadows.  The aim of my talk-discussion is to tell you more about Magnolias – their evolution, diversity, and flowers – and hear what you have to say about them.  My presentation features many colorful, original photos of Magnolia specimens in the Washington, D.C., Area Ecosystem (WDCAE, DC and four surrounding counties), especially Georgetown University and the U.S. National Arboretum.  About four of the approximately 224 world Magnolia species are native to the WDCAE.  About 10 non-native species and 100 of their hybrids and cultivars are the Ecosystem’s gardens, parks, and yards.  Bring your Magnolia comments and questions and ride the Magnolia Magic Carpet with me. Registration link to follow.
More information and registration link to follow.

THURSDAY JULY 8  Joe Bonfiglio, President of E.D.F. Action, (Environmental Defense Fund) will focus on the development and execution of advocacy strategies designed to deliver environmental policy and legislative wins.
More information and registration link to follow.

WEDNESDAY JULY 28 "Advanced Care Planning Workshop" with Mary Ann Buckley, LCSW-C, C-ASWCM, Executive Director of Care Management, Corewood Care. Your wishes matter – make them yours and make them known. Five Wishes is changing the way we talk about advance care planning. It is more than just a document. Five Wishes is a complete approach to discussing & documenting your healthcare & life choices. It is connecting families, communicating with healthcare providers, and showing your community what it means to care for one another. The workshop will also discuss MOLST and Living Wills. Join our free & interactive virtual workshop to learn more!
More information and registration link to follow.
For questions, please contact the Little Falls Village Office
Call (301) 320-3267 or Email info@littlefallsvillage.org