Local and Global Discussion Group
To Kick Off 2026-2027 Season
The Local and Global Discussion Group (LGDG) of Metrowest will hold the first meeting of its 2026-27 season from 1:15 to 3 pm on Tuesday, October 6 in the Community Room of the Weston Public Library with an exploration of this year’s State Election Ballot Questions. The moderator will be Katty Chace, President of the Weston League of Women’s Voters. All who are willing to discuss the issues in civil discourse with a wide variety of participants are warmly invited to attend.
The LGDG has been a pillar of intellectual life in Metrowest Boston for at least four decades, if not longer. After years of meeting monthly at the Weston Council on Aging, the group moved to the library last year. It began as an offshoot of the Great Decisions Program, but changed its name 20 years ago in order to be more inclusive and independent.
In recent years, it has taken up such topics as the demise of local newspapers. postwar Korea, the resurgence of nuclear power, and the effects of global warming on the Arctic’s role in international trade. This year, for the third time in a row, the group has hosted Professor Alexandra Vacroux, Director Emerita of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard for an update on the war in Ukraine. The discussion moderators are experts from all walks of life and areas of the world. Vacroux, for example, a former Weston resident Zooms in from Kviv, where she is currently living, to meet with the group.
Some of the issues to be taken up at the October meeting include the prohibition of retail sales of recreational marijuana, firearms regulation, minimum lot sizes for single family homes, and the establishment of a Nature for All Fund to help conserve natural resources.
Far from being a group exclusively for residents of the near suburbs of Boston, the LGDG groups attract many participants who are willing to travel fairly long distances or to avail themselves of Zoom to attend. Says Mary Ellen Washienko for example:”I have driven about 30 minutes each way for 10 years to attend meetings, and it’s well worth it. It’s the perfect group for discussing current events that are both local and global/international. Fascinating presentations monthly from experts on various topics.”
A little closer to home, Jane Brigham of Weston appreciates the fact that the participants are generally equally divided between men and woman, which allows for a greater range of viewpoints. ‘I leave every meeting thinking, ‘Gee, I’ve never thought of it that way!!’”
And a lot farther from home, Graham Atkins, a former Lincoln resident who now Zooms in from the Netherlands for meetings, has this to say: “The group provides interested students of foreign and local issues an opportunity to voice their thoughts and to ask questions of an educated and listening community. Discussion topics cover issues and countries far and wide. Most importantly, the respectful participants share civil discourse during question time.”
The group will continue to meet at 1:15 pm at the Weston Library on the first Tuesday of every month through next June. The November 3 meeting will focus on how the reduction in federal funding, especially to research in the STEM fields, is affecting America’s global competitiveness and what this means for the future. The presenter will be Weston resident and retired international businessman Wayne Johnson.
For fuurter information or to get on the LGDG mailing list, contact Susan Wagner at susanwgnr@gmail.com. Or just come to an upcoming meeting.
Please register in the library calendar to get the zoom link.