Meet Kim Hewitt! She's the Director of the Watertown Free Public Library. In this conversation we chat about her early experiences with books and libraries, her career journey from leading oral history projects to helping people search for unique news stories from the late 1800s, some behind the scenes on how the library processes materials and thinks about larger values such as access to information, privacy, and censorship, then we finish with some updates such as what's going on with the cafe, One Book One Watertown, and the patron survey that's wrapping up at the end of January.

Take the library survey that ends in January!
Visit the library website

Come out to the next Creative Chats event on February 28th with featured guest Jamie Kallestad

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

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Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Meet Justin Hanrahan! He's the Police Chief here in Watertown. In our conversation we get into his unconventional childhood and how the Watertown community was important in getting him through it, his early experiences in policing from protecting "boothies" to a career defining moment that instilled in him that policing is much more than just catching criminals,
his rise through the ranks in Watertown and the shift in culture he's been a part of, his impact in teaching and training departments all over the state, the changes he's enacted in his time as chief and the programs and initiatives he's looking forward to in the future.

Find out more about the Watertown Police Department at watertownpd.org

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Boston Gold Kings Game
Movie Night Monday with the Chinese American Association of Watertown

Check out other news and events sources in the city:
Watertown News
Watertown Cable Access
Nicole Gardner's Newsletter
Public Arts and Culture Bulletin

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Meet Bevin Croft! She's a policy researcher and board member of World in Watertown. We chat about her early experiences working at group homes for people with mental health disabilities, what policy research is and some new alternatives it's exploring, a recent history of human rights organizing in Watertown, and the Unity Breakfast coming up on MLK Jr Day.

Learn more about the Unity Breakfast on January 20th
Learn more about World in Watertown

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Listen to hear updates from past podcast guests about things going on with them and Watertown this week.

My first in-person podcast event Creative Chats is this week! (Friday, January 17th, 830am-10am)

Too many links to fit in streaming description! See the page for the episode on the website for the full list of links mentioned in the episode.

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Meet Alyssa Cecchetelli! She's the Associate Director of Plasmid Services at Addgene, a nonprofit life science organization here in Watertown. We chat about her origins in science including spending 6 years studying a transparent worm (and making pretty pictures with calcium), she explains what plasmids, CRISPR, and viral vectors are and why they're important for scientific research, Addgene's unique position as a nonprofit that supports scientists around the world (111 countries!) and lowers barriers to scientific resources, then we finish with Addgene's role in the community and Alyssa's involvement with CoLAB and mentoring students at the Watertown High School.

Learn more about Addgene
Learn more about CoLAB

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Hi there! This is my first attempt at a Little Local Weekly episode where I give headlines, updates, and other insights from previous guests for the week ahead. Let me know what you think!

Links:
Gore Place Puppet Show
Mosesian Center for the Arts Winter Classes
Mosesian Center for the Arts Summer Programs
River of Light Lantern Parade
Resolutions Bingo: Website | Instagram | Facebook
One Book, One Watertown
Craft Supply Swap
Creative Chats!

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Meet Cameron Labrecque! He's the GM and Director of Hockey Operations for the Boston Gold Kings, a semi-professional hockey team here in Watertown. We talk about his personal hockey journey, the challenges of the semi-professional hockey world, the experience of coming to a game, and more.

Find out more about the Gold Kings (and find their schedule):
Instagram
Facebook

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Meet Sophia Suarez-Friedman! She's a clinical social worker and coordinator of the Watertown Social Services Resource Specialist Program at the Wayside Youth and Family Support Network. We talk about her early experiences with social work in DC and why the field is interesting and important to her, coming to Wayside in Watertown and how she fell in love with the community and its people, we dig into what Wayside does and its history in Watertown, the resources and ways she helps support people, housing in Watertown, being part of a group that started the community fridge, and more.

If you or someone you know needs help, reach out at 617-744-9585 or online.

Let me know you're coming to the very first (and free) Creative Chats event! January 17th, 830-10am at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. 

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.

Meet Matthew Stephens! He's the President and CEO of the Mount Auburn Cemetery here in Watertown (yes, it's mostly in Watertown!). We chat about his background in horticulture including planting 1 million trees in NYC, how Mt Auburn was the first designed public landscape in the country and for many years was the #2 tourist attraction (behind Niagara Falls), why Mt Auburn is a place just as much for the living as the dead, how the country's best mature tree collection serves as the lungs of Watertown accounting for 1/3 of all tree canopy in Watertown (2/3 of all public space), and more!

Find out more about Mount Auburn at: www.mountauburn.org

Support the show

Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. 

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Upcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.