Sing for Hope offers Daily Events!

Sing for Hope brings you art lectures, concerts, movement classes, improv and visual arts classes led by Artists from the world's stages.  There are arts experiences every day of the week, several times a day.  So now's your chance - Explore new sounds, Immerse in culture, Engage in artmaking - It's the perfect time to recenter, refocus, challenge yourself and Enjoy! Enjoy “Swinging in the New year,” Motown, Broadway Showcase, Opera, sketching and more.
 
See the calendar of events and access all arts experiences through this link:  https://www.singforhope.org/hap/soma2towns/
 
Take the AARP Smart Driver Course Online for 25% Off!
Make a new year's resolution to become a safer, more confident driver with the Smart Driver Course.  Earn a 5% discount on your auto insurance for 3 years, and reduce up to 2 points on your license.  The course is 100% online and self-paced so you can take it at your convenience. Sign up by January 7 with code: “NEWYEAR” at  www.aarpdriversafety.org for 25% off.

SOPL Jewelry Sale
The Friends of SOPL are planning to have their first ever jewelry sale as a fundraiser this year. Community members are invited to donate their fine, costume and vintage jewelry. Jewelry can be dropped off at the Friends of the Library Collection box on the porch of 9 East Clark Place or 299 Western Dr in South Orange.  Or, for jewelry to be picked up call (973) 763-6391 or (973) 378-9212 for instructions.
 
Enjoy Maplewood’s Black Lives Matter Poetry Project:
Maplewood’s Black Lives Matter Poetry Project is a rich assemblage of poems by American Black poets currently installed throughout Maplewood’s shared spaces. Poems include those by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Ross Gay, as well as 13 local poets, including teachers and students. A creation of the Maplewood Arts Council, the poems will be displayed for several weeks.
 
Join the Alive Ventures Co-design Community!|
Connect with other like minded individuals to create products and services that enrich the experience of aging, and help older people to love, work and live better. The Alive Ventures Co-design Community is a collective of adults, aged 60 and over, who believe that later life is thrilling but feel that current products and services are poorly designed and fail to truly understand them. The community is a collective of cool, hip, fun-loving, creative, and collaborative individuals who want to see themselves in the products that are created for them. No talk of frailty or treating older adults like a problem in this group!

To learn more, go to https://www.aliveventures.co/community 

In Person Classes
Saturdays, starting January 10
Multicultural World Music-Percussion Program, The Woodland, 11:30 - 12:30

• Join this 10 session class to learn world music percussion. No experience necessary!
• $300, register at https://maplewood.recdesk.com/Community/Home

Wednesdays, starting January 20
Flamenco Dance Class for Beginners, 7pm at the Burgdorff

• Join this class beginning January 20 to learn Flamenco - bringing power, grace, strength and appreciation of the art in just a few weeks.
• $250, register at https://maplewood.recdesk.com/Community/Home

Monday, January 4
Maplewood Garden Club, online, 7:30pm

• Winter may feel cold and dark, but your garden can lessen that dreariness if you select the correct plants. Bruce Crawford, State Program Leader for Home and Public Horticulture with the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, will focus on the best choices for providing wonderful visual appeall.
• Sign up at http://maplewoodgardenclub.org/

Friday, January 8
Special Conversations with Special People, Online with SOPL, 1pm

• Guest Speaker: JoAnn Middleton, Professor Emeritus at Drew University
• Topic: Louise Penny: Why We Need Three Pines in a Pandemic
• Join at https://www.sopl.org/events/

Wednesday, January 13
Beautiful Floral Designs with JCHC, 11am

• Join this live, online class sponsored by JCHC to build a terrarium.

• Particpation is free and supplies will be delivered to you beforehand. 
• To sign up, email robertm@jchcorp.org by Monday, January 11.

Thursday, January 14
Classic & Contemporary Book Discussion Group, Maplewood Library Online, 7pm

• January title is “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan.
• Sign up at https://www.maplewoodlibrary.org/

Friday, January 15
Documentary - A Time Before Vaccines,  11am

• As we celebrate the arrival of the COVID vaccines in our area, let’s take a moment to reflect on how far we have come in a relatively short time regarding immunizations overall.  Many people remember when polio, measles and other communicable diseases were a very real threat.  Join us for this local documentary, interviewing  residents about their memories of growing up before vaccines were available.  A Q&A with our Health Departments and Generations United will follow to discuss the COVID vaccines as well as other recommend vaccines for older adults.
• Register in advance by clicking here https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81236235774?pwd=MzcvZ0dVZzBGVUh1MDRJVkx6SGd5UT09 and an email link will be sent to you.
• Or join by clicking on our event calendar on January 15 at 11am,  www.SOMATwoTownsforAllAges.org or use your Zoom app and enter Meeting ID: 812 3623 5774; Passcode: 372300

Special Conversations with Special People, Online with SOPL, 1pm

• Guest Speaker: Justin Anderson, Associate Professor of Moral Theology at Seton Hall University
• Topic: Pursuing the Honorable: Reawakening Honor in the Modern Military
• Join at https://www.sopl.org/events/

Wednesday, January 20
Read Around The World: Oman, Maplewood Library Online, 7pm

• January title is “Celestial Bodies” by Jokha Alharthi
• This novel follows three sisters and their families, as their losses and loves unspool beautifully against a backdrop of a rapidly changing Oman.
• Join at https://www.sopl.org/events/

Friday, January 22
Special Conversations with Special People, Online with SOPL, 1pm

• Guest Speaker: Michael Barnett, Professor of Strategic Management at Rutgers University
• Join at https://www.sopl.org/events/

Monday, January 25
Medicare, Maplewood Library Online, 7pm

• Medicare Coach Nancy Schwartz will cover what you need to know, whether you're new to Medicare or already enrolled, including changes for 2021.
• Sign up at https://www.maplewoodlibrary.org/

Thursday, January 28
PAINTERS ON PAINTERS: BASQUIAT, online through Maplewood Library, 7pm

• This early Black History Month program will kick off our Painters on Painters series, presentations focusing on the lives and works of artists, hosted by Gerard Amsellem and Mikel Frank, the Visual Passion Duo with special guest commentator, artist Onnie Strother.
• Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988 was an African American artist who started out as a street graffiti artist on the Lower East Side, by the early 1980s he became one of the youngest artists to achieve international success and be included in the Whitney Biennial. This talk will touch on Basquiat's childhood, his struggles with his quick rise in the art world, his drug addiction, and the impact these factors had on his work.
• Sign up at https://www.maplewoodlibrary.org/

Book Discussion Group, Online with South Orange Library, 7pm

• This month we're discussing Michelle Obama’s “Becoming”.
• Join at https://www.sopl.org/events/
• Any questions? Contact book group moderator Nancy Janow at njanow@sopl.org.

Friday, January 29
Special Conversations with Special People, Online with SOPL, 1pm

• Guest Speaker: Rosann Bar, Dean of the School of Business and Technology, Ocean County College
• Topic: A Sociologist’s View of 2021
• Join at https://www.sopl.org/events/