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
64 episodes
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
Local Government Update, February 2025
Listen to this local government update podcast where I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel, the Director of Government and Education Media at Watertown...
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38:29
Episode 43: Swati Biswas (Artsy Way of Life)
Meet Swati Biswas! She's a scientist, dancer, and arts advocate here in Watertown. We chat about her origins with the arts, what led her to seek out supporting artists in India while bringing their skills to folks here to learn (and the challen...
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Episode 43
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35:58
Creative Chats With Guest Liz Helfer
This is a recording from a series for the podcast that just started at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. Listen to learn more and hear the conversation with Liz on the topic of where the boundary between art as lifestyle a...
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32:46
Episode 42: Kim Hewitt (Director of the Watertown Free Public Library)
Meet Kim Hewitt! She's the Director of the Watertown Free Public Library. In this conversation we chat about her early experiences with books and libraries, her career journey from leading oral history projects to helping people search for uniq...
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Episode 42
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41:08
Episode 41: Justin Hanrahan (Watertown Police Chief)
Meet Justin Hanrahan! He's the Police Chief here in Watertown. In our conversation we get into his unconventional childhood and how the Watertown community was important in getting him through it, his early experiences in policing from protecti...
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Episode 41
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48:29
Little Local Weekly? A Few Updates and a Message From Matt
Boston Gold Kings GameMovie Night Monday with the Chinese American Association of Watertown...
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4:53
Episode 40: Bevin Croft (Policy Researcher / World in Watertown)
Meet Bevin Croft! She's a policy researcher and board member of World in Watertown. We chat about her early experiences working at group homes for people with mental health disabilities, what policy research is and some new alternatives it's ex...
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Episode 40
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31:43
Little Local Weekly (January 15th - 21st, 2025)
Listen to hear updates from past podcast guests about things going on with them and Watertown this week.My first in-person podcast event Creative Chats is th...
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17:24
Episode 39: Alyssa Cecchetelli (Addgene)
Meet Alyssa Cecchetelli! She's the Associate Director of Plasmid Services at Addgene, a nonprofit life science organization here in Watertown. We chat about her origins in science including spending 6 years studying a transparent worm (and maki...
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Episode 39
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35:36
