If a quick scan of the internet is to be believed (and when has the internet ever been wrong?), 19th century writer Charles Dudley Warner once remarked “Everybody seems to complain about the weather, but nobody seems to do anything about it.” Through the years, people laugh at its absurd nature, and agree with its sentiment, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Facts are, we all have a hand in the weather, and some are doing an awful lot about it.

In August of 2023, a microburst hit Needham, straining its drainage system to its fullest, and leaving many neighborhoods to deal with intensely damaging floods. While the duration of the event was just a few hours long, the ramifications of the flooding will carry over for many years to come.

Of course, this wasn’t the first major flooding to hit Needham, and today Gloria Greis, Executive Director of the Needham History and Museum, walks us through some of the town’s most striking storms. We also will talk with two of the people who are working to make residents more resilient to weather events, through building both infrastructure and community partnerships. We sit down with Carys Lustig, Director of Public Works, and Tom Ryder, Needham’s Town Engineer.

The winter holidays are upon us and it is hard not to get caught up in the rush of family gatherings, festive parties and the joy of children opening their gifts. But there is a reason these things occur during the darkest of days, and in this episode our own Ghost of Christmas Past explores some of those less-than-savory shadows. Not so long ago, there were enough harsh punishments to be doled out to both the naughty and the nice, and it was really, really hard to figure out which was which. In some ways, you could say, everyone was Scrooged. We then touch base with two spirits who'll keep our season bright: Greg Riebman of the Charles River Regional Chamber will share the business end of the holidays in town, and the Needham Community Council's Sandra Robinson reminds us of the gift of giving.

Every town has its own troubled past. If history has revealed anything, it is that humans can be pretty horrible to one another, both on a personal and on an institutional level. And when we evolve past it, most would pretty much like to forget that the transgressions ever happened in the first place.

Such is the case with enslavement in the Northern United States. We are, rightly, proud of the abolitionist history and the role we played in ending its practice in this country, but often conveniently choose to forget that there a time before, when the practice was considered acceptable... even in Massachusetts. In this episode, we look at the footprints that were left in state and town records, and the effort to bring a buried past back to light.

We also talk with Rev. Catie Scudera of the First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist Church. The First Parish has partnered with the Needham History Center and Museum to learn the truth about enslavement in Needham, and how best to remember those whom history has tried to forget.