Talk of the Towns Invites You!

The date is set – March 23, 7 pm, at the Durham Community Center – for Talk of the Towns. Four members of the community will delight and inform you about four very different, all very interesting, topics of interest!

Schuyler Beeman has moved from Broadway animal trainer to local farmer, and it’s a fascinating (and humorous) look at his life. Dr. Alison O’Neal talks about her work on stem cell research, starting in college, through her PhD and post doctorate work, now at Wesleyan University. Peter Marteka, longtime journalist, looks at everything from his award-winning hiking series to what’s up with the printed word today. Finally, Durham Fair Entertainment Coordinator Wendy Manemeit gives the inside scoop on how each Fair’s first class entertainment line up really happens.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Join us for an evening of fun and friends, brought to you by CVEF (the Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation). Hope to see you there!

About the Speakers:

Stem Cell Research & the Study of Disease

Dr. Alison O’Neil received her BS at Binghamton University. She then joined LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda Vaccine). She received her PhD from Montana State University in 2013. As a post doctorate, O’Neil worked on modeling and understanding neurodegenerative diseases using human stem cells at Harvard University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, including projects involving Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and schizophrenia. Joining Wesleyan in 2018, her research combines her love of biochemistry and stem cell training by investigating the role of protein aggregates in the progress of neurodegeneration.

Journalism, the Printed Word and Hiking?

Peter Marteka's career began at the Regional Standard in Colchester, covering high school sports. Moving to the Middletown Press, he covered high school sports, as well as the Hartford Whalers and UConn basketball teams. He then started covering news in Durham and Middlefield before going to the Hartford Courant in 1995. At the Courant, he covered various towns and wrote his award-winning nature and hiking column for 22 years. Today, Peter is still hiking across the state in Connecticut Magazine and is editor of the East Haddam News, as well as Glastonbury Life, a monthly magazine.

From Broadway Animal Trainer to Local Farmer

Schuyler Beeman is a Guilford native. After attending Middlebury College, he worked professionally for almost 10 years in the US and Europe as a musical theatre performer and choreographer, as well as a handler with Broadway’s Animal Trainer, Bill Berloni. Nowadays, Schuyler has a farm in North Guilford and is pursuing a career in elementary education. He teaches dances classes and is an assistant swim coach at Hamden Hall. He also performs his one man show cabarets where he often sings about his sheep, relationships and what it means to move back home.

Behind the Scenes at Durham Fair’s Main Stage

Wendy Manemeit has been a member of the Durham Fair Association for 40 years, 27 as Entertainment Coordinator. A Durham native, her parents were part of the Pedersen Dairy Farm. She attended Middlesex Community College, the American Institute of Banking and Aetna Management School. Her professional career included working at Northeast Utilities, Aetna, and she recently retired from the State of Connecticut as a regulator in the Insurance Department. Wendy has a long history of volunteering in the community. She has also been the elected Durham Town Treasurer for seven terms.

The Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation was founded in March 2008 as an independent education foundation. The mission of CVEF is to promote excellence, innovation and creativity through education for the community and to encourage lifelong learning in Durham and Middlefield by awarding grants and supporting programs.

*Press release provided by Betsy White Booz/CVEF Communications Committee. Graphics provided by Maggie Peterson/CVEF Communications Committee.