What information and documents do you need to organize your legal and medical affairs to ensure that your wishes are followed? Learn from three attorneys who specialize in estate planning, trusts, probate, and medicaid planning. What documents should everyone have in order? How can you ensure your assets transfer to those you choose, and that your medical wishes are carried out? What should you know about Medicaid? Hear answers to these questions, as well as ones you may have from our panel of three attorneys:

   • Rosemary Wilson, Documents for Advance Planning

   • Jennifer Taddeo, A brief introduction to probate, trusts,

and ways to transfer assets

   • Sarah Hartline, Margolis and Bloom, An overview of Medicaid

A question and answer session will follow the presentations.

Sign up here.

Send you questions in advance using this link.

Live online

Wednesday, May 12

12:00 pm

Join other Living Well Network members and readers for a regular socially distanced morning walk for 30 to 45 minutes. Get some exercise and connect with others. Weather permitting. Email Kathy by Friday at 10 am to join us. We'll send you directions and more information. Use this link.

Live

Near Sacramento Street

Friday, Apr 30

10:30 am

Spring has sprung!

To celebrate everything behind us, and more importantly, everything up ahead, we hope you'll join us for a special, free virtual gathering for all ages: the Rainbow Party Hour! As a sign of hope after a rainstorm, we think bright, colorful rainbows are the perfect theme for what we've got planned.

The Rainbow Party Hour is our new virtual variety show-style event to acknowledge the challenges of the past year, celebrate our community, and raise funds to support our continued reopening. It will feature both live and pre-recorded segments by some familiar faces including storytelling, hat making, singing, a scavenger hunt, gardening, a theatrical performance, and more! Since we can't gather in person, we want to create a fun interactive virtual experience that has

something for everyone.

Funds raised will help us meet our goal of closing our $250K budget deficit by June (we're so close!), support childcare for low income families, our ongoing food distribution program, community arts programs, the Living Well Network to foster an engaged, and healthy community of residents 55 and up, and aid our overall pandemic recovery. Stay tuned for more information, and save the date!

Live online

Thursday, Jun 3

7:00-8:00 pm

Yoga at home via Zoom with Living Well Network's yoga instructor Christine Palamadessi. M.A, 500 Yoga Alliance RYT Christine has been practicing yoga since the 80s and teaching since 2007. She is a Certified Fishman Method Yoga for Osteoporosis Yoga Therapist. Five classes in May. Yoga room opens 30 minutes early to allow time to visit with other members of the group. Living Well Network. $38 for five classes or $10 per class. If you’re interested in joining, email Kathy using this link.

Saturdays in May

9:30–10:45 am

As efforts mount to return to "normal," COVID-19 digital health passes, more commonly known as COVID-19 immunity passports or certification programs, have been floated as a way to safely get people back to work, school, and social activities. Israel has implemented a "green pass" that restricts access to concerts, gyms, and other leisure events to those who have been vaccinated, New York State is piloting its digital "Excelsior Pass" at professional sports arenas, and the European Union, China, and other nations are considering implementing vaccine passports at their borders.  

Programs such as these could help reboot economies and protect public health. However, novel digital health platforms may put personal privacy at risk and entrench existing inequities. Join us on April 28 for a moderated discussion on the legal, ethical, and public health complexities of COVID-19 immunity certification. Harvard Law School. Free. Register and more information here.

Live online

Wednesday, Apr 28

12:00 pm

John Grisham takes you to a different kind of court in his first basketball novel. Samuel "Sooley" Sooleymon is a raw, young talent with big hoop dreams...and even bigger challenges off the court.

In the summer of his seventeenth year, Sam­uel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basket­ball tournament. He has never been away from home, nor has he ever been on an airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come true. During the tournament, Samuel receives devastating news from home: A civil war is raging across South Sudan, and rebel troops have ransacked his village. His father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp.

JOHN GRISHAM is the author of thirty-six novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and seven novels for young readers. Porter Square Books. Free. Register and more information here.

Live online

Wednesday, Apr 28

1:00 pm

Spring has arrived and with it comes Harvard University Chefs Ernie and Dee's Salmon Fried Rice Bowl. Learn how to make this simple, yet delicious dish to add to your meal rotation at home. Harvard Food Literacy Project. Free Register and more information here.

Live online

Wednesday, Apr 28

2:00 pm

Join a Zoom demonstration of Naxos, Hoopla and Kanopy. Library staff will show you how to stream movies and music, for free, using your library card. Cambridge Public Library. Free. Register and more information here.

Live online   

Wednesday, Apr 28

3:00 pm

Consider the spider: eight legs, eight eyes and a brain the size of a poppy seed. These are some of nature’s most amazing and charismatic creatures, yet humans know so little about their worlds. Paul Shamble, a John Harvard Distinguished Science Fellow, will discuss the lives, habits plus marvelous morphologies of these animals—from sensory structures and cognition to locomotion and behavior. Understanding these creatures helps better understand evolution as well as diversity—and poses the question of what it means that even tiny animals inhabit complex lives. Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Free. Register and more information here.

Live online

Wednesday, Apr 28

6:00 pm

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. Harvard Book Store. Free but $5 contribution is requested. Register and more information here.

Live online

Wednesday, Apr 28

7:00 pm

Disjointed, nationalistic efforts have largely characterized the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The failure by governments to establish an equitable, coordinated pandemic response has exacerbated global inequities. Nowhere is this more apparent than with access to COVID-19 vaccines. Despite the rapid development of life-saving vaccines, nationalism and weak global solidarity have left the most vulnerable populations behind. Given that infectious disease outbreaks will only become more common in the future with globalization and climate changes, identifying ways to ensure equity in pandemic preparedness remains more relevant and critical than ever. Learn from the failures of the COVID-19 pandemic response to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.Harvard Global Health Institute. Register and more information here.

Live online

Thursday, Apr 29

9:00 am

What do pop-up arboretums, rooftop gardens and museum collections have in common? Find out how local public agencies are combining limited resources to make gardens and green spaces more accessible and equitable to local communities. Panelists will discuss how they are helping communities gain access to green spaces that traditionally provide solace, feelings of self-sufficiency, and improvements in physical and mental well-being. Register and more information here.

Live online

Thursday, Apr 29

12:00–1:00 pm

A presentation by cemetery historian Bill McEvoy, Jr. on the obscure Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery in Watertown.

Discover the lives of some of the 23,000 individuals buried there, the vast majority of whom were Irish, fleeing the Great Famine of the 1840s.

Learn about what it was like to be an immigrant in 19th Century Boston - where they lived, how they died, and why they were buried in Watertown in a Catholic-only cemetery. Register and more information here.

Live online

Thursday, Apr 29

12:00–1:00 pm

Interest in locally sourced food, fad diets, and the modern dining scene is not a new phenomenon—in Lincoln the Codman family relished all these pursuits a hundred years ago. In this virtual program, Camille Arbogast examines how the Codmans' approach to food connects to present culinary attitudes. What dishes did fashionable restaurants serve, and how did this food-conscious family rate them? How was food seen as medicine? What was grown and preserved on the estate? The Codman family's menus, cookbook collection, tableware, and even a cabinet of vintage home canned goods provide rich context for the Codmans' personal preferences and the palate of the times. Before the program, we suggest food and drink pairings drawn from the Codmans' recipe collection for guests to enjoy during the program. Historic New England. Free or donation of your choice. Register and more information here.

Live online

Thursday, Apr 29

5:00 pm

Buses Are a Comin’ provides a front-row view of the struggle to belong in America, as Charles Person, the youngest of the original Freedom Riders, whose social justice colleagues include: Congressman John Lewis, journalist and pacifist James Peck, and CORE field secretary Genevieve Hughes. Charles Person's story provides a roadmap from a teenager of a previous era to the young people of today on how to become agents of transformation. Register and more information here.

Live online

Thursday, Apr 29

7:00 pm

Put some pizazz in your living-zoom with Boston Lyric Opera's most entertaining “night in.” Bring on the silliness, stress release, and pure fun! Dominic is dead. Hanna has all the money, and Don Marco has a hit out on her father, a famous nightclub owner. What’s a girl to do?

Our April Tonic Hour story is loosely inspired by the opera The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár.

The Tonic Hour is a night of improv and music-making, where you create—and star in—your very own opera. Grab your drink of choice (coffee, tea, cocktail, or spritzer) and enjoy some giggle-inducing creativity. Start with a familiar story and bubbly. Boston Lyric Opera. Free. Register and more information here.

Live online

Thursday, Apr 29

8:00 pm

What comes next for climate policy both in the United States and abroad? Nat Keohane, Senior Vice President for Climate at the Environmental Defense Fund will engage in conversation focusing on future policy. The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements. Free. Register and more information here.

Live online

Friday, Apr 30

9:00 am

Maestro Zander has made the study and performance of Gustav Mahler's symphonies one of the trademarks of his career. The last time the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra performed at Symphony Hall, in April 2019, was the culmination of our 40th anniversary season. What better way to mark this milestone than with a Mahler Symphony? We are delighted to share with you a playlist of this performance of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, including Maestro Zander's Pre-Concert Talk. View it and more information here.

For online viewing

Any time

In this hour-long session, master some basic concepts that underlie most everything we do online. CCTV. Free. To register, email Ellen here.

Live online

Monday, Apr 12

1:00–2:00 pm

Review the needed now listings at the Cambridge Volunteer Clearinghouse here.