Little Local Conversations
Discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown, MA. Visit littlelocalconversations.com to see all episodes, upcoming events, and more. Join Matt Hanna as he has conversations with various businesses owners, community leaders, creatives, and other interesting folks in Watertown to learn about what they do and get to know a bit about the people behind the work.
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Episodes
73 episodes
Episode 56: Kim Charlson (Perkins School for the Blind / Watertown Commission on Disability)
Meet Kim Charlson! She's the Executive Director of the Braille and Talking Book Library at the Perkins School for the Blind as well as the Chair of the Commission on Disability here in Watertown. In this conversation we discuss her journey into...
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Episode 56
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41:30
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Creative Chats With Guest Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (Does Art Have to Have Meaning?)
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. This conversation was with painter, printmaker, and collage artist Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. The topic revolved around meaning and identity...
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41:54
Creative Chats With Guest Cat Bennett (Finding Your Artistic Path and Discovering What Comes Next)
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. This conversation was with guest Cat Bennett, whose career spans making animated spots for children’s television, illustrations for man...
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28:59
Episode 55: Drew Rollert (Wada Hoppah)
Meet Drew Rollert! He's the founder of Wada Hoppah, an all-electric, wakeless, shallow draft water shuttle and commuter service coming soon to the Charles River (and Watertown Square!). In this conversation we dig into the history of ferries on...
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Episode 55
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42:29
Local Government Update, May 2025
This is a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories...
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33:51
Episode 54: Jen Nicholson (Commander's Mansion)
Meet Jen Nicholson! She's the sales and events coordinator at the Commander's Mansion which also includes being a part of the Watertown City Events Team. In this conversation we dig into her experience growing up in Watertown, her years of teac...
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Episode 54
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46:01
Episode 53: Steve Magoon (Assistant City Manager for Community Development and Planning)
Meet Steve Magoon! He's the Assistant City Manager for Community Development and Planning for the City of Watertown. In this conversation we dig into his career journey in planning, the role of public input in decision making, some things that ...
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Episode 53
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34:36
Creative Chats With Guest Kristen Kenny (A Discussion on Local Space for Artists and Musicians)
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. This conversation was with guest Kristen Kenny, artist, arts organizer, and Chair of the Watertown Cultural District, where the t...
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32:51
Episode 52: Ora Grodsky & Larry Raskin (Watertown Community Conversations)
Meet Ora Grodsky and Larry Raskin! They're co-founders of Watertown Community Conversations (see full bios below). In this conversation, we talk about how they got interested in the field of facilitation, the tools and techniques important to t...
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Episode 52
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40:22
Episode 51: Melissa Hresko (Russell Cooperative Preschool)
Meet Melissa Hresko! She's the Director and Teacher at the Russell Cooperative Preschool here in Watertown. In this conversation we dig into how she got into the field of early education, what a play-based and cooperative school system looks li...
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Episode 51
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40:04
Local Government Update, April 2025
I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from Watertown Cable Access to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key m...
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28:50
Local News and Information Ecosystem Panel Discussion (From Little Local Conversations One Year Anniversary Event)
Listen to an in-depth panel discussion on the local Watertown news and information ecosystem! This was part of the one year anniversary celebration for Little Local Conversations that happened over at the Mosesian Center for the Arts on March 1...
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1:02:23
Episode 50: Will Brownsberger (Massachusetts State Senator)
Meet Will Brownsberger! He's a Massachusetts State Senator for the Suffolk and Middlesex District which includes Watertown. In this conversation we talk about his career in criminal justice (and how his views evolved over the years), his politi...
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Episode 50
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34:27
Delightful Chaos: Watertown Arts & Culture Roundtable, April 2025
This is an arts and culture roundtable episode where we talk about things that have been going on in Watertown arts and culture recently, what's coming up, hidden gems, and more. The discussion was with Allie Fry (Watertown Free Public Library,...
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31:53
Episode 49: Dave Levine (Whitney Towers)
Meet Dave Levine! He's the General Manager of Whitney Towers, a family-owned apartment building here in Watertown. We talk about the history of the 41-year-old building and how his family started the business, his years in the tech startup and ...
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Episode 49
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24:23
Watertown Trivia With Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice (Fun & Games Sponsor Episode)
This is the first Fun & Games Sponsor Episode! I sit down with Doug Orifice of Arsenal Financial to test him on what he knows about his Watertown trivia related to baseball, businesses, banjo, and more. Then he talks a bit about...
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16:45
Creative Chats With Guest Jamie Kallestad (Making Art After Parenthood)
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. Listen to learn more and hear the conversation with Jamie Kallestad, singer/songwriter and Communications and Design Specialist for the...
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27:22
Episode 48: Paula Farina (Farina's)
Meet Paula Farina! She's a co-owner (with her two brothers Anthony and Mike shown in the picture) of Farina's, a bicycle and power equipment store here in Watertown. We talk about how the shop is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so we dig into...
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Episode 48
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30:09
City Update With George Proakis (Hosted by the Watertown Business Coalition)
This is a recording of a presentation from Watertown City Manager George Proakis for a City Update event held by the Watertown Business Coalition at the Hampton Inn at Arsenal Yards on March 11th, 2025. Listen to hear George's thoughts on the e...
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44:02
Local Government Update, March 2025: Moments, Success Stories, and Jingles From the Past Month
I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel, the Production, Training, and Equipment Manager at Watertown Cable Access to discuss things that have happened d...
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32:54
Episode 47: Dan Hogan (WCA-TV)
Meet Dan Hogan! He's the Director of News and Studio Operations at WCA-TV here in Watertown. In this conversation we talk about how he first got involved in video and news production (from throwing darts and Starsky and Hutch to covering sports...
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Episode 47
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42:56
Episode 46: Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders (Jenna Houjazy, Vana Stepanian, Priscilla Samakwrong)
Meet Jenna Houjazy, Vana Stepanian, and Priscilla Samakwrong! They are students at Watertown High School and members of the Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders group which is organized by Christina Lupica of Wayside Youth and Family Support ...
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Episode 46
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27:39
Episode 45: Sam Ghilardi (Housing for All Watertown / Sai Life Sciences)
Meet Sam Ghilardi! He's a senior scientist at Sai Life Sciences, a member of the steering committee for Housing for All Watertown, and a board member for CoLAB, all here in Watertown. We chat about his early experiences with science and studyin...
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Episode 45
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40:23
Episode 44: Brandon Feldhouse (Arsenal Yards)
Meet Brandon Feldhouse! He's the General Manager over at Arsenal Yards here in Watertown. For this conversation, we get into his early years in malls (including Copley Place in downtown Boston), how using history and art helped build the charac...
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Episode 44
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28:12
