Music of the Everly Brothers
Created by Ben Hope and Eric Anthony

Sunday, April 14, 20242:00 PM
Ivoryton Playhouse

The April meeting for the New London Branch of AAUW will feature a Sunday Matinee at the Ivoryton Playhouse featuring the music of the Everly Brothers.
One of the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Everly Brothers were pioneers of country rock, known for tight harmonies and steel string acoustic guitar with hits, “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “When Will I Be Loved,” and so many more. Created by, and starring, Ben Hope and Eric Anthony, this show pays homage to these legends, sharing over 30 songs and intimate stories with personal tales of their own influences, music making, and family.
Carpooling will be arranged.  Please also let us know if you would be willing to drive or if you prefer to ride with someone.

The Life & Times of Louisa May Alcott
Co-sponsored with the Waterford Library

Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Waterford Public Library
6:30 p.m. Refreshments
7:00 p.m. Program

Join us in March as we once again co-sponsor with Waterford Library to bring you Ruth Crocker who will present a program about Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888).
This well know author is most famous for “Little Women,” a novel that shaped the way many women since the Victorian era have defined girlhood and family. Louisa was also a Civil War nurse, an avid supporter of women’s suffrage, and, through her writing, the sole breadwinner for her family. This presentation reveals her fascinating path to fame as an author and the role of Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott and other great transcendentalists in her life.
Ruth W. Crocker is the author of The Secret Life of Louisa May Alcott, a one-act play based on the writings, diaries and journal entries of Ms Alcott.   She has a special interest in women writers of the nineteenth century. Her essays and nonfiction articles have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Grace Magazine, O-Dark-Thirty, T.A.P.S. Magazine, Bennington Review, PersimmonTree, The Saturday Evening Post, Redux and several trade magazines. Her memoir, Those Who Remain: Remembrance and Reunion After War, received the Benjamin Franklin Silver Medal for nonfiction, and her book People of Yellowstone, received the Foreword Review Book of the Year Award in 2017. She is also a featured workshop presenter each year on the art of memoir writing at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill on Cape Cod. She holds a PhD from the University of Connecticut, an MFA in Creative writing from Bennington College and an MEd from Tufts University. She lives in Mystic, Connecticut. Visit her at www.ruthwcrocker.com.

Knit So As To Turn Water: The History of New England’s Maritime Knitting
Co-sponsored with the Waterford Library

Saturday, February 17, 2024
Waterford Public Library
2:00 p.m.          Program

For February we will co-sponsor with the Waterford Library to bring you a program about the history of New England’s maritime knitting presented by Rebecca Bayreuther Donovan.  It followed the fish, the flight paths of immigrants, the sea-lanes of war: the knitted clothing of New England reflects maritime cultures the world over. Rich with origin mythology and salty with sailors’ yarns, garments like nippers, half-handers, and the infamous fisherman’s sweater each hold a romantic yet real place in our coastal history. Explore knitting a WWI submariner’s outfit with the Navy League! Imagine learning to knit with a pair of whalebone needles you carved yourself! Join Rebecca Bayreuther Donohue, historian & knitter, for an ode to wool and marvel once again at how the sea connects us all.

A PowerPoint chronology comes to life with examples of breed-specific yarns and recreated garments. Ms Donohue of Niantic has knit historical garments while aboard New Bedford whalers, Grand Banks fishing schooners, and O’Day Mariners. After more than 20 years at a major Connecticut maritime museum, she co-founded the Dirty Blue Shirts living history collective, whose participatory programs encompass everything from historic fashion & foodways to maritime culture & shipboard skills. Rebecca’s personal interest in historical hand-knitting stems from always being cold, no matter what century she’s interpreting. With all the plastic in today’s oceans, she thinks it’s time to revisit wool as the preeminent fiber of sustainability, versatility, and global community.

Killers of the Flower Moon
Movie – Book Discussion

AAUW New London Branch will meet Thursday, February 1 from 2-4 pm at the Waterford Library.  We will be discussing the film Killers of the Flower Moon as it relates to the book of the same title.  Please join us even if you have not seen the movie.