Briefs

Published on October 26, 2007

Poet to read

Poet Paul Mariani will read from past work and from his most recent collection, "Deaths and Transfigurations," Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at The Ark, Five College Episcopal Center, 758 North Pleasant St. He is a former distinguished professor of English at the University of Massachusetts and current holder of the chairmanship in poetry at Boston College.

Mariani is the author of numerous books of prose including "Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius" and his forthcoming biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Mariani will explore the spiritual life as a poet and a teacher. The event is free and open to the public and includes refreshments and conversation with the poet afterward.

For information, call the Rev. Christopher Carlisle at 549-5929 or email carlisle@comcol.umass.edu.

Senior service reception on Oct. 29

An opening reception for the Senior Health Services office will be held Oct. 29 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Bangs Center. The Senior Health Service will be available from 10 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Mondays on a drop-in basis and on Thursdays by appointment.

Senior Health Service Director Lisa White will be present as will personnel from the VNA Hospice of Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Information about free health services for seniors will be distributed.

For information, call 259-3060.

Mandela talk offered

Teacher Alice Goodwin-Brown will give a talk, "Mandela's Legacy" at the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Jones Library System Nov. 8 at 7 p.m at the Jones Library.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

Goodwin-Brown spent last August in South Africa, touring the country and visiting public schools, as part of a group of teachers from this area, financed by a Fulbright Grant organized by the Five College Collaborative, according to a release. She has a continuing interest in the developments in that country that have been shaped by that exceptional statesman, Nelson Mandela. She was able to get a feel of his legacy, both in the schools and the social and political institutions that she was able to observe.

Goodwin-Brown has taught fifth-grade at Crocker Farm Elementary School for the past 20 years. She began her education at the former Amity Street School in Amherst.

Goodwin-Brown She lives in Amherst with her husband and two daughters.

For information, call 259-3090 or visit www.joneslibrary.org.

Leaf pickup begins soon

Curbside pickup of bagged leaves, using town-approved, 30-gallon biodegradable bags, begins Nov. 5. There is no curbside collection of loose leaves, which residents may bring to the transfer station, if they have a current sticker. Stickers cost $50 for residents and $90 for contractors and are available at the transfer station on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bagged leaves must be left curbside by 7 a.m. on pickup day. Leaves will be picked up in Central Amherst, Nov. 5; East and West Amherst, Nov. 6.; South Amherst, Nov. 7; and North Amherst, Nov. 8. with Nov. 9 set aside as a make-up day. A complete list of pickup days, organized by street, is posted on the Web site www.amherstma.gov.

Weather permitting a second collection following the same routes will be held Dec. 3-7.

The bags, which can be bought at the transfer station, public works office at 586 South Pleasant St., and Amherst Farmer's Supply, are $4 per pack of 10.