Y's Men News -- Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | | |
Table of Contents
(Scroll Down to Find the Article Behind the Headline. Articles are
in the same order as the Table of Contents)
- Bill Harmer Guest Speaker Tomorrow as Meetings Resume
- Travel Discussion Group Focuses on AI Tools Monday
- Y's Men Co-Sponsor LWV Local Candidate Debates
- T&E Lists Upcoming Outings
- Noted Consultant Eric Baron Speaks Next Week
- Andrew Wilk Leads Classical Music Society Program
- Welcome New Y's Men Members!
- StoryFest 2025 at Library Features Debut Book Launch
- Mindfulness Group Announces October Meetings
- Hoot Owls to Sample Their Repertoire Tomorrow Morning
- Y's Men Wearables Available Now
- Learn About Friends of Sherwood Island State Park
- Life Talk Group: Changing Beliefs About Yourself
- Non-Fiction Book Club Meets October 15
- Y's Men Current Events Discussion Group Meets Weekly
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Y's Men: Please Show Respect for Our Speakers
Speaker presentations on Thursday mornings are not over until the Q&A session is finished. Please remain seated until then. If you must leave during the Q&A, sit in the rear of the room so you can slip out quietly. And avoid conversations in the back of the room until the Q&As are completed.
| | Thursday Meetings Resume with Bill Harmer Tomorrow | | |
Bill Harmer
After a three week hiatus, Thursday morning meetings resume tomorrow with Bill Harmer, Executive Director of The Westport Library. Bill is a great friend of the Y's Men and the Library has done a superb job of hosting Y's Men events throughout the year.
Under Bill’s leadership, the Library has maintained its distinguished 5-Star status—the only library in Connecticut to hold this honor, which is awarded to just 85 libraries out of 5,359 nationwide. Bill has successfully led the Library through a major transformation project.
He developed Verso Studios, a state-of-the-art multimedia studio that has both supported community creativity and expanded program delivery. He also fostered StoryFest, now in its eighth year and the largest multi-day literary festival in Connecticut, and has created VersoFest, a multi-day music and media festival.
This year marks Bill’s 10th anniversary with the Library. His tremendous passion and steadfast commitment to both the Library and the community are evident in all that he has accomplished. He will give us an update on exciting Library activities coming up, and his insights on the growing relationship with the Y's Men.
Bill also will talk about the Common Ground Initiative and its vision and purpose to build capacity for constructive dialog, to equip residents with civic engagement skills, and to foster empathy, respect, and informed participation.
Y's Men Thursday morning meetings are in Hoskins Hall downstairs in the Saugatuck Congregational Church, 245 Post Road East in Westport. Coffee, donut and bagel social hour begins at 9:00 am, business meeting at 10:00 am, speaker at 10:30 am. Come early and meet your fellow members. Guests are always welcome.
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Travel Discussion Group Focuses on AI Tools for Travel Planning
The Y’s Men Travel Discussion Group will meet from 9:00 to 10:30 am on Monday, October 13, in rooms 203-204 at the Saugatuck Congregational Church
Meetings start by members talking about their recent travel experiences.
The topic of the meeting: Using AI Tools for Travel Planning
We’re going to go online and demonstrate what an AI tool like ChatGPT can do
Spouses/partners/significant others are always welcome.
For information about the Y’s Men Travel Discussion Group, or to be added to the Group’s email distribution list, please contact Art Mann at mannart03@gmail.com
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Tuesday, October 14
NYC Walk Around (Not Through) Central Park – Part 2
Spouses, Significant Others, and Guests Welcome!
https://conta.cc/4nqPX5H
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Friday, October 24
Governors Island Tour
Spouses and significant others are most welcome.
https://conta.cc/4pVvpDZ
| | Next Week: Noted Sales and Negotiating Consultant Eric Baron | | |
Eric Baron
Noted sales and negotiating consultant Eric Baron will be the featured speaker at next week's Thursday morning meeting. He has been training sales professionals and their managers for more than 35 years in a variety of programs that fall under the umbrella of sales and sales management.
Eric co-founded The Baron Group in 1981 and his company has trained tens of thousands of people at Fortune 500 companies in the fields of finance, insurance, advertising, aviation, healthcare, CPG, automotive and consumer electronics.
Eric is also an accomplished author of three sales training books as well as a teacher at Columbia Business School as an Adjunct Professor. His course,
Entrepreneurial Selling Skills, is offered to second year MBAs. In 2009, Eric received the prestigious Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award.
He will be discussing how to work together to settle difference between people in a productive way.
| | Wilk Leads Classical Music Society Through "Simple Gifts" | | |
At the Y's Men Classical Music Society meeting yesterday, Andrew Wilk (at right) takes a question about the challenges of producing a television special from a remote, rural location.
This season's second meeting of the Y's Men Classical Music Society yesterday featured Andrew Wilk, the recently retired executive producer of "Live From Lincoln Center." He presented "Simple Gifts," one of his award-winning PBS programs that featured the Lincoln Center Chamber Orchestra's performance in a Kentucky tobacco barn.
The group learned about the many difficulties of taking a show on the road to a unique venue that presented many production challenges. The discussion and screening of the program to a full house was the first in the upcoming series of special programs at the Society's monthly meetings.
November will feature Bizet's "Carmen." December will offer Handel's "Messiah," in addition to preferred seating at the Staples High School Candlelight Concert. The Society's January meeting will be a live performance by Aimee Toner, flutist accompanied by Y's Man Harold Sauer. February will highlight the Staples Jazz Band. March will feature a live performance by the Staples Chamber Orchestra. And April will include a selection of members' favorites by composers through the years.
The Classical Music Society membership is open to all Y's Men. Simply email Ed Bloch at edbloch71@gmail.com to be added to its membership list.
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StoryFest 2025 At Library Features Debut Book Launch
StoryFest, The Westport Library’s annual literary festival, is kicking off its eighth year by celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day with an exclusive book launch for "We Survived the Night," the highly anticipated debut memoir by author and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat — one day in advance of the book’s official nationwide release.
The event will take place on Monday, October 13 (Indigenous People's Day) from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.
NoiseCat will be joined by Ramin Ganeshram, executive director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture, for a keynote conversation in the Library’s Trefz Forum. He will be introduced by writer and professor Valerie Seiling Jacobs, who taught NoiseCat at Columbia University.
Tickets are $30.00 and include a copy of "We Survived the Night." It is the same price for one seat and a copy of the book or two seats and a book. Books will also be available for purchase at the event and a signing will follow the talk.
Click here for additional information and to purchase tickets.
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Mindfulness Group Announces October Meetings
The next Y's Men Mindfulness Group's Zoom Call is scheduled for Monday, October 20 from 7:30 to 8:30 pm provided a quorum of five attends. An alternative date for the Zoom Call is Monday, October 13.
Please respond at your earliest convenience to Paul Epstein at epsteinmb@aol.com or Jeff Rubin at jeffrubinwpt11@gmail.com as to your availability for either Monday, October 20, or Monday, October 13, or both dates. Paul and Jeff will select the date which works best for the most people, assuming there is a quorum for the date.
Paul also hosts meetings entitled "Just for Men" at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. These monthly in person meetings are from 3:00 to 4:00 pm on Thursdays on October 9, November 6, and December 4.
For additional information contact Jeff Rubin at jeffrubinwpt11@gmail.com
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Y's Men Hoot Owls to Perform at Tomorrow's Meeting
The Hoot Owls, the Y's Men singing group, performs at senior centers and assisted living facilities. At tomorrow's meeting, they will provide a sample of their repertoire which includes old songs that their audiences remember and appreciate.
| | Y's Men Caps will be available for $15.00 and Windbreakers for $40.00 on an ongoing basis. For additional information contact Y's Man Stephen Bentkover at sgb214@sbcglobal.net or see him at the Thursday morning meetings when the apparel is on display. | | To find out more about Sherwood Island, visit the Friends of Sherwood Island website by clicking here. | | |
Changing Beliefs: Life Talk Group Addresses the Question
The Y's Men Life Talk Group will meet Tuesday, October 14 in Room 109-110 at the Church from 2:00 to 3/3:30 pm.
Attendees will address this question: What beliefs about yourself have you had to let go of over time? What’s replaced them?
Larry Ackerman, the Group's Leader, states, "Certainly, I have had to let go of the belief that I am no longer immortal. (I was when I was 18!) I’ve had to step away from the notion that I have the ability to be whatever I want to be. (I don’t.) What has replaced these beliefs? A more sober sense of who I am and what I am capable of being and doing…How about you?"
Here are three quotes to consider as you reflect on the question at hand:
“Don’t believe everything you think.” — Joseph Nguyen, Author
“Maybe the ideal way for any of us to live is - excitedly finding we were wrong and excitedly waiting for tomorrow to come so we can start over.”
― Norman Maclean, Author
“Doubt is a killer. You just have to know who you are and what you stand for.” — Jennifer Lopez, Actor
For information about the Y’s Men Life Talk Group, or to be added to the Group’s email distribution list, please contact Larry Ackerman at: larry@larryackerman.com.
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Non-Fiction Book Club to Discuss Michael Lewis Book
The Y's Men Non-Fiction Book Club will be discussing "Who is Government" by Michael Lewis when it meets on Wednesday, October 15 at 2:00 pm in room 109 at the Saugatuck Congregational Church.
Save the dates for two Club meetings in December. The first will be on Wednesday, December 10, and the second a week later on Wednesday, December 17.
The December 10 meeting will be a discussion of "Apollo 13" by James Lovell which was previously announced for an earlier date. On December 17, the Club will discuss "American Rascal," a biography of Jay Gould by Greg Steinmetz. The meeting will be held at Lyndhurst, Jay Gould's estate in Tarrytown, NY, and author Steinmetz will attend. There may be a modest cost to attend so the Club may be asking for an intention to attend by the end of October. Stay tuned for details.
For additional information, contact Y's Man Jeff Schwartz at jandjschwartz@gmail.com or 201-787-0654.
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Y's Men Current Events Discussion Group Meets Weekly
A small group of Y's men meet weekly to discuss topics of mutual interest inspired by current events. That's the Y's Men Current Events Discussion Group.
There are two separate groups that meet on Wednesdays and Fridays at the Saugatuck Congregational Church at 10:00 am for an hour-long discussion.
The topic for discussion is selected by consensus at the previous meeting. Each of the two separate groups is limited to seven members so everyone attending can actively participate in the discussion. An additional Monday group may be added should there be sufficient demand.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Current Events Group or in joining it should contact Y's Man Tony Pranzo at tpranzo@yahoo.com.
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