WWBA is proud to announce our 2024 Series – Whitman’s Long Island: Then & Now
Our 2024 Series compares Whitman’s celebration of his native Long Island environment with current conservational commentaries two hundred years later. Sessions open with a reading of a poem or essay by ecopoet Walt Whitman followed by community conversation led by notable Long Island environmentalists. Focus is on Environmental Justice issues for Long Island communities, including access to clean water, a pollution free environment, limiting development of natural land, and a local accessible food supply. Whitman infused the beauty of Long Islands fields, forests, creeks, wetlands, bays, sound and ocean from Brooklyn to Montauk Point in his writings. This Series illuminates the agrarian and aquatic-based society in which he was born and heralded in his writings, and which is left to us to protect.
Program 1 – The Pine Barrens – Who’s Guarding our Long Island Treasure
Thursday, April 18, 7 -8:30PM
It is imperative to save the last wild forest on Long Island. The Pine Barrens contain a unique ecosystem supporting the endangered Tiger salamander and provides a sanctuary for birds, owls and hawks. It contains kettle ponds formed by receding glaciers 16,000 years ago. The Aquifers provide our drinking water and face a multitude of dangers such as loss of natural land and increasing pollution.
Join our conversation to learn to safeguard this Long Island Treasure. Tom Casey will speak about the importance of the Pine Barrens. Tom is a board member of the Pine Barrens Society, an environmental advocacy group, and the Quogue Wildlife Refuge in Suffolk County. He’s been hiking in the Pine Barren for over 40 years. WWBA Trustee Mark Nuccio will read Whitman’s ecopoetry and essays. Singer-Songwriter Linda Sussman performs a musical environmental interlude.
15 FREE 8”-18” FIR TREE LOTTERY
Donated by NY State Parks
Everyone in attendance may enter into a lottery to win one of 15 8″-18″ fir trees that were donated by New York State Parks!
This event is FREE and held in person.
Retired English teacher Tom Casey has hiked on Long Island for over forty years and considers Quogue Wildlife Refuge to be one of the crown jewels of Long Island’s protected open spaces. He has been a board member, newsletter editor, and a hike leader for the Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference for over thirty years. He also serves on the board of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, is Secretary for the New York State Trails Council, chairs the Central Pine Barrens Commission’s Protected Lands Council, and is a member of the Pine Barrens Advisory Committee and the Long Island Environmental Voters Forum.
Mark Nuccio, WWBA Trustee, Artist, Poet, and Community Activist: Primary Team Leader. Nuccio studied painting and history with post-grad studies in Product Design and Engineering. He is the founder of Design Edge Group which develops and markets toys and games. Three of his woodcut prints, including “Walt Whitman,” reside at the Library of Congress. Nuccio has written over 25 published articles on the environmental challenges of Long Island and its surrounding waters. He is the author of four chapbooks of poetry, and recently published Mary E and all that Jazz. Mark is a musician who is knowledgeable about traditional folk music, jazz, and blues, and is fluent in guitar, banjo, and harmonica. He taught art classes in the Taylor Street projects in Brooklyn, NY to inner city senior adults, made wood cuts supporting Caesar Chavez and MLK, and created paintings devoted to the culture of the Montaukette Indians and former slaves from the east end of Long Island. He is active in fishing and boating organizations.
Linda Sussman (LindaSussman.com) is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose versatile vocals and guitar style incorporate both folk and blues. Her music spans universal topics—from heartache, triumphs, social justice and others just for fun—and has ranked #1 on the Roots Music Report’s weekly Alternative Folk Album Chart. Her music is played on radio programs internationally (including here at home on WFUV, WUSB, WSHU, and WLIW), and the many stages she has played include the iconic New York City venue The Bitter End, the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in Stony Brook, the Jeanne Rimsky Theater at Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington, and smaller stages such as Radio Bean in Burlington, Vermont. Earlier this year (2024), Linda released her fifth album, titled “Win or Lose,” which she has on hand today. Linda’s music is also available on all streaming platforms, such as Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc.
This program is made possible with funds from Humanities New York, NY State Parks, Suffolk County, and Town of Huntington.
