South Fork News

SOFO Plastic Discussion

The South Fork Natural History Museum (SOFO) will host “Plastics . . .What’s All This Fuss About Plastics,” a talk for adults and teenagers with Dr. Judith S. Weis, on Sunday, June 22 from 7 to 9 PM.

Dr. Weis, a Rutgers Professor Emerita of biological sciences, will talk about plastic pollution, particularly marine plastic waste and “single-use” plastics. Dr. Weis will discuss how this once-desirable material is now having hazardous effects on the environment and aquatic wildlife, as well as the various solutions to the problem, like beach cleanups and other ways to reduce plastic waste.

The event at SOFO’s museum in Bridgehampton is free to the public, but advanced registration is requested. For more information, visit www.sofo.org.

Rogers Memorial Library

The Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton will host “U.S.-China Relations: What the $&%#$& is going on?” with Tom Grunfeld, an East Asia specialist, on Thursday, June 20 at 5:30 PM.

Grunfeld, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, will focus on how the Trump administration has initiated a policy of confrontation and examine the changes in the relationship from a broad historical perspective.

The library will also offer a discussion in the “Great Decisions 2019” series, produced by the Foreign Policy Association, on nuclear negotiations, on Monday, June 24 at 11:30 AM at Cooper Hall. Martin Levinson, Ph.D., will moderate the session.

The library will offer an introductory yoga class for men with Vinyasa yoga instructor Vinny McGann on Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30 PM. The session will outline the basics of yoga, with a special focus on areas of particular challenge for the male physique. There is no charge.

The library will host Laurence Maslon, the professor, producer, author, and host of 88.3 WPPB-FM’s radio series “Broadway to Main Street,” on Wednesday, June 26 at noon. Maslon will talk about how the songs of Broadway made their way from the theater district to living rooms all across the country.

The first concert in the library’s summer series will be held on Thursday, June 27 at 6 PM. In celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centennial, a quartet led by pianist and arranger Alexander Wu with soprano Rachel Elezi, Ben Kono on woodwinds, and Rex Benincasa on percussion, will present a selection of Bernstein’s songs and instrumental works. Reservations are recommended. For more information, visit www.myrml.org.

Hampton Library

The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will host a meet-and-greet with photographer Kim Trefcer on Saturday, June 22 at 1 PM.

Trefcer, who takes photos of East End landscapes and wildlife with her smartphone, will be available to answer questions about her work and artistic process. Refreshments will be served.

The library and Hamptons Doc Fest will co-present “The Last Fix: An Addict’s Passage from Hell to Hope,” which tells the story of convicted drug offenders who opt for a tough and pioneering drug court on the East End rather than prison, on June 24 at 7 PM.

The library will also host “Summer Solstice Mommy & Me Yoga Celebration” outside on June 21 at 10 AM. The program will take place indoors in inclement weather. For more information, visit www.hamptonlibrary.org.

Westhampton Free Library

As part of the “Desserts and Discuss” series and in anticipation of the upcoming summer Art Studio Tour, the Westhampton Free Library will host discussions with the artists on Sunday, June 23 from 1 to 2:30 PM.

The summer Art Studio Tour will be held on July 20 and July 21 from 11 AM to 4 PM. Attendees will include visits to 14 studios with 25 local and professional artist studios in Manorville, Westhampton, Quogue, East Quogue, Remsenberg, and Hampton Bays. Attendees will have the opportunity to speak with artists, tour their studios, watch them in action, and purchase their artwork. Artists featured will work in a variety of styles and mediums, including sculpture, oil painting, graphic arts, and more. A map will be provided with the purchase of a $10 ticket, which went on sale June 15.

The library will also host later discussions with the artists on July 7 and July 14 from 1 to 2:30 PM. For more information and a full artist list, visit www.westhamptonlibrary.net/art-tour.

As part of the “Lunch and Learn” series, the library will host “Images of the Edge of Spacetime” with Dom Pesce on Friday, June 28 at noon.

Pesce, an alumnus of Westhampton Beach High School and former library employee, is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and is a member of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, which obtained the first image of a black hole in April. He will discuss the quest to assemble the Event Horizon Telescope, an earth-sized network of dishes with resolution several thousand times stronger than the Hubble Space Telescope,  and how it was used to take the first picture of a black hole. For more information, visit www.westhamptonlibrary.net.

SUMMERFEST Returns

SUMMERFEST, a summer adult education program, will return this summer at Sag Harbor’s Center for Jewish Life.

Classes will begin on July 7 with 13 different offerings to choose from open to both teens and adults. The series will include “The Joy of Movement” with Dianne Dassa, a former dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, an ancient Near Eastern jewelry-making class with anthropologist Rachel Kalina, a ceramics class, a floral arrangement class, Israeli folk dancing, a class on the Kabbalah, and more.

Susan Pashman, SUMMERFEST’s founder/director and author of the upcoming “Journey to a Temple in Time: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Sabbath,” will teach a class on memoir writing. For more information, visit www.sagharborsummerfest.com.

Hometown Hero Celebrated

Fred Overton, the Westhampton Free Library’s Hometown Hero for June, will be honored at the Westhampton Beach Fire House on Saturday, June 22 at 10 AM.

Overton, who grew up in Westhampton, was born in 1931 and graduated from Westhampton Beach High School in 1949. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1952.

Following basic training at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, Overton was immediately sent to South Korea where he worked with the 538th Engineer Field Maintenance Company. He returned home in January 1954 where he worked as a carpenter before becoming the manager of the La Coquille apartment complex until his retirement.

Overton has been a member of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department since 1955 and served as chief and then as chairman of the commissioners for 15 years, stepping down in 2017. He was also a president of the former Westhampton Veterans Athletic Association. He is a member of the American Legion Post 834 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5350.

Overton has two sons, Ray and Rick, with his late wife, Joyce, and three grandchildren. He has been with Marilyn Aldrich, his girlfriend, for the past eight years.

Peconic Bay Zonta Scholarship

Erika F. Flores Fuentes of East Hampton recently won a $300 scholarship from Peconic Bay Zonta, a service and advocacy group that works to improve the status of women.

Fuentes successfully completed Level 3 of Suffolk County Community College’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program to win the scholarship. Awarded biannually, the scholarship is given to a female student in the college’s ESL program who is studying to achieve an educational goal.

Fuentes came to the United States 25 years ago from Mexico. A single parent, she has raised three children, with one daughter at Stony Brook University, the other daughter planning on going to college, and a son currently in high school. Currently a housekeeper, Fuentes’s ambition is to become an interior designer.

“In America I have worked hard and dedicated my time to my kids,” Fuentes said. “Now it is time for me.”

For more information, visit www.peconicbayzonta.blogspot.com.

Golden Eagle Summer Art Classes

The Golden Eagle in East Hampton will offer summer art classes for adults.

Classes include watercolors with Janet Jennings, life drawing with Linda Capello, oil painting with Edwina Lucas, knitting with Rosemary Drysdale, and more. For more information, visit www.goldeneagleart.com.

Authors Night

Tickets are now on sale for East Hampton Library’s 15th annual Authors Night fundraiser on August 10.

The event features authors Alec Baldwin, Candace Bushnell, Robert A. Caro, Rosanne Cash, Fiona Davis, David Itzkoff, Dani Shapiro, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and many others.

Tickets are $100 for the Authors Reception only, and begin at $300 for the dinners, which include entry to the book signing reception. Ticket proceeds benefit the East Hampton Library.

For more information, visit www.authorsnight.org.

gmkotz@indyeastend.com