We’re Back!!!
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On October 14, 2022, we restarted Voices on the Green after almost two years of darkness due to the pandemic. During that time, there were many discussions about whether we should go virtual as many meetings and events had decided to do. Ultimately, we decided that our primary mission – community building rather than merely entertainment – was best served by gathering simultaneously in one place – where we can better share together the kinds of rich and challenging experiences that make communities alive and meaningful for all of us.
With plenty of Covid entrails and memories around, we were very unsure how many would crowd together in the First Parish sanctuary. It was gratifying indeed, to find a nearly full house and fabulous speakers and singers. In this show, it is best to play the clips in the order given so that you can experience the interplay of the songs and stories – there are several magical connections. A Silver Lining indeed.
Click here to see the full video of the show.
Come back soon to see the video edited so that you can select by performer.
Regie O’Hare Gibson Opens the Show
Note the Silver Lining Boots
Liz Hartmann and Liz Savir
Singers
“Silver Linings” by First Aid Kit
Cammy Thomas
Storyteller
Cammy Thomas Is a long-time member of First Parish Church who now lives in Bolton, Mass. A widely admired poet and teacher of poetry, her newest poetry collection is Tremors (2021, Four Way Books). Her first book, Cathedral of Wish, received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete her second, Inscriptions. Last spring, Far Past War, an orchestral setting of her poems composed by her sister, Augusta Read Thomas, premiered at Washington DC’s National Cathedral.
Noor Alnajafe
Storyteller
Noor Alnajafe is a junior at Lexington High School. Outside of school, she enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering at events for Mental Health, and she is a member of Sources of Strength, a program at LHS for mental health. She was born in Iraq and immigrated to America at a young age, but she spends many summers there, connecting with the culture. Noor looks forward to expanding her work with immigrant and mental health services when she’s older.
Leaders from Watch
Partner for the Show
Watch is this show’s Community Partner and the evening’s proceeds will be shared with WATCH. The mission of WATCH (the Waltham Alliance for Teaching, Community Organizing and Housing) is to build, preserve and promote affordable housing, and to enhance the economic opportunities, civic participation, and leadership skills of the Waltham area’s low- and moderate-income families. In pursuit of that mission WATCH provides adult education and support in a wide range of areas from English language instruction to first time homebuying and tenant-landlord law.
Meg Newhouse
Storyteller
Meg Newhouse is most recently an independent educator, career and life coach, and the author of Legacies of the Heart: Living a Life That Matters (2016). For 25 years she worked with people in midlife and beyond to craft fulfilling and contributing lives and legacies. She and her husband Joe delight in their two sons, DILs, and four grandchildren (6-21 years). At First Parish, Meg sings (and plays flute) with the choir and serves on the Adult Programs Committee.
Liz Savir
Singer
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Elton John
Intermission
Jamie McPhee
Storyteller
Jamie McPhee is a 10-year resident of Lexington, where he and his wife, Erika, are raising their 5 children–Aidan, Evan, Benny, Finn, and Evie, who range in age from 2 to 17. He can be spotted on the local sports fields coaching or running (slowly) around the streets of town. He loves his work as a physician, specifically caring for veterans with vascular disease. His most meaningful contributions to medical literature have been in satirical medical blogs.
Liz Hartmann and Liz Savir
Singers
“Blackbird” by Paul McCartney
Deborah Lapides
Storyteller
Kemp Harris
Storyteller
Liz Hartmann and Liz Savir
Singers
“Silver Lining” by Kacey Musgraves
