Westford Conservation Trust Annual Meeting – Wednesday, November 16th, 2022 at 7 pm at Parish Center for the Arts (PCA), Westford Center
Members and friends are invited to join us for our our Annual Trust Meeting. We will have a brief Trust business meeting followed by our guest speaker. Hope you can join us!
Guest Speaker – Ron McAdow – Naturalist, Author and Photographer
Readings from Emerson’s Nature with a Slide Presentation
With his first book, Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson created the founding text of American transcendentalism. Ron has recently annotated a new edition of Nature, and illustrated it with his photographs. In his presentation Ron will read highlights from Emerson’s essay accompanied by photographs of the natural world Ron has taken in locations far and wide.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s little book, Nature (1836), is a key manifesto of the Transcendentalist movement. Why did this erudite foray into philosophy, steeped in the books and learning of the Western world, make such an impact, and how can it be appreciated by students today? Ron McAdow’s annotations open up the intellectual world integral to Emerson’s text; his photographs evoke the aesthetic appeal of the New England landscape; and his generous spirit prompts a reader to sympathize with the Transcendentalist project. This edition of Nature will be by my side whenever I delve into Emerson’s landmark work. It’s a book to read before or after a walk in the woods.
– Robert A. Gross, author, The Transcendentalists and Their World
Ron moved from his native state of Illinois to Massachusetts in 1971. He is the author of Ron authored The Concord, Sudbury, and Assabet Rivers: A Guide to Canoeing, Wildlife, and History, and The Charles River: Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe and numerous other books, both fiction and nonfiction. He has worked as a teacher, instructional designer, and, for a decade, served as Executive Director of Sudbury Valley Trustees. Emerson’s Nature is his most recent project in writing and publishing.
Ron will be happy to field general questions about nature and wildlife.
Refreshments will be served. A brief Trust business meeting will precede our guest speaker who will start his talk at 7:30PM.