In 1894, fifteen Sunderland women joined the national Woman's Club Movement that had established the idea that women had a moral responsibility to transform public policy. More than 125 years have passed since the ladies got together to chat and work for change (something had to be done about those dirt roads!) and the club is still moving forward today.

Today, host Denise Schwartz sits down with the outgoing President of the Sunderland Woman's Club, Brenda Wozniakewicz, They discuss the broad history of the women's club movement in the United States, which started in the mid-19th century and continues to this day. What value might we find in continuing on the tradition of women's clubs in our communities? What is their appeal to women of different ages today in 2026? All this and more on today's episode of Backyard OASIS!

Photo credit: Sunderland Woman's Club

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Hosted by Denise Schwartz

Produced by Alex Audette

Recorded at Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

Join us for the third episode of Ms. Americana on Backyard OASIS. This week, Gloria Ratcliffe discusses Women’s Health with returning guests Professor Emerita Anne M. Wiley and Author- Professor Emerita Joanne McNeil Hayes of Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

This episode touches on how health care research in the United States excluded women and girls for years, and examines the importance of longitudinal and life-long research for women and girls specifically. Disparities in access and outcomes of health care, particularly for Black women and their children in the U.S. are highlighted, including several concrete narratives featuring Gloria, Anne, and Joanne's personal stories discussing healthcare access across generations. The group concludes by touching on how we can all get involved to change access to care for all women for the better.

Resources:

• Foster, Diana Green. 2020. The Turnaway Study: The Cost of Denying Women Access to Abortion. Scribner Publishing. see also https://turnawayproject.org/
• Our Bodies Ourselves. 2011, 35th edition Boston Women's Health Collective. Touchstone Publishing. See also https://ourbodiesourselves.org/
• Valenti, Jessica. 2024. Abortion Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win. Penguin Random House. See also https://www.jessicavalenti.com/
• Aftershock: Turning Grief into Action. a documentary film. Aug 25, 2023. ONYX and ABC Studios. Available on HULU and other streaming services. See trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoZFERlanMM

Be sure to subscribe to the Backyard Oasis Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted and Co-Produced by Gloria Ratcliffe

Produced by Alex Audette

Recorded at Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

This week on Backyard OASIS, Denise Schwartz sits down with United Way of the Franklin and Hampshire Regions' Digital Navigator Rich Vaden. Rich talks about his approach to helping our local seniors navigate a digital landscape that can feel impenetrable at best and actively hostile at worst. Have you ever wondered how to make a secure password that you can actually remember? Do you have trouble determining what is or isn't a scam while surfing the web? Has third-party anti-virus software been one of those scams all along?! Sit back and relax as Rich guides Denise through all of those questions and more (shout out to his cats, Dobby & Lily!) on this enlightening episode of Backyard OASIS!

Learn more about the United Way's Digital Navigator program here: https://uw-fh.org/digital-navigators

Access Rich's Service Location Calendar here

Photo credit: United Way of the Franklin and Hampshire Regions

Be sure to subscribe to the Backyard Oasis Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted by Denise Schwartz

Produced by Alex Audette

Recorded at Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

On this episode of Backyard Oasis, host Gloria Ratcliffe speaks with author and (retired) Greenfield Community College professor Joanne McNeil Hayes about her newest poetry collection, I am the Prairie. Joanne treats us to several excerpts from the text, as well as providing insight into her inspiration for the work. What was it like to grow up in Illinois "in the shadow of the prairie," as Joanne describes it - in the great "Prairie State" with no prairie to be found? What was it like to return later in life once efforts had been made to restore some of what had been lost? And is Taylor Swift a poet?? All that and more on this week's episode!

Purchase I am the Prairie here: I am the Prairie: Joanne McNeil Hayes: 9781965664179: Amazon.com: Books

Be sure to subscribe to the Backyard Oasis Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted by Gloria Ratcliffe

Produced by Alex Audette

Recorded at Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

Dave Hayes does weather with a personal touch and an entertaining writing style. Since August 2011, he’s been providing daily and very entertaining weather forecasts for western Massachusetts.

We discuss his passion for weather and learn a bit more about the man behind the forecast, including an original guitar solo.

Here are the ways you can access Dave Hayes’ weather reports:

Mobile App (iPhone): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-weather-nut/id6751524291

Mobile App (Android): Set for release Summer of 2026

Website: https://westernmassweather.com

Newsletter: https://westernmassweather.com/homepage/dhtwn-nutletter-signup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WesternMassWeather X/Twitter: https://x.com/DHTheWeatherNut

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davehayestheweathernut

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/dhtheweathernut.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davehayestheweathernut

Be sure to subscribe to the Backyard Oasis Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted by Henry Balzarini

Produced by Alex Audette

Recorded at Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

"A week after his release from prison, Al Kitchen is found dead beside a bicycle on a back country road. Al served 18 years in prison for beating a well-liked man to death during a botched robbery, but most everyone in this small town is unwilling to forgive him. Nobody feels Al could have changed from the reckless guy they knew although he believes he has. They prefer he died in prison, and they make sure he knows that upon his return to Holden..."

On this edition of Writers Read Us Stories They Love, Denise Schwartz sits down with mystery & thriller writer Joan Livingston to discuss the writing process for her new novel, The Unforgiving Town, as well as share some choice excerpts from the text. How did Joan conceptualize a sequel to The Sacred Dog? Why return to Holden, one of Joan's fictional Western Massachusetts towns, specifically? And of course, how does one make a character as flawed as Al Kitchen relatable to the reader? Sit back, relax, and listen on for answers to those questions and more, as well as several thrilling passages from Joan Livingston's new novel: The Unforgiving Town.

Purchase The Unforgiving Town here:

https://www.amazon.com/Unforgiving-Town-Sequel-Sacred-Dog-ebook/dp/B0GR1FWRS3

Be sure to subscribe to the Backyard Oasis Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted by Denise Schwartz

Produced by Alex Audette

Recorded at Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

Jan Maher is a local writer, creator and co-founder of LAVA, a community arts center in Greenfield MA. In this episode, we learn more about Jan, her life and art. And we explore Jan’s thoughts about creativity.

Jan’s latest play, Phoenix will be read at LAVA on June 5. On the Boards: "A Rare Sight" + "Phoenix" - The LAVA Center

She will also adapt her stepfather’s classic sci-fi story “I, Gardener” as a radio show with a live audience at LAVA on June 17.

Here’s a link to her website where you can read more about her and subscribe to get email updates: Jan Maher

Be sure to subscribe to the Greenfield Community College Backyard Oasis Podcasts and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted by Henry Balzarini

Produced by Alex Audette for Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA

Named a Publishers Weekly Editor’s Pick.

“Lost between the ancient wisdom of 13th-century China and the unraveling of his modern life, one man must solve the ultimate koan: how to live in the present...”

A haiku magically transports Zen student Stephen Maine to 13th-century China where he encounters Zen masters, experiences koans firsthand, and begins a romance with a beautiful sword maker that threatens to upend his present-day marriage and to keep him in the 13th century while sharing the body of a Japanese monk who is an important figure in the history of Zen.

Be sure to subscribe to the Greenfield Community College Backyard Oasis Podcasts and check back regularly for new episodes as well as other enriching GCC content!

Hosted by Denise Schwartz

Produced by Alex Audette for Greenfield Community College in Franklin County, MA