5 Things: Mel Simons at the Beech, Workshops for Young Writers, Noon Kid Movies

1. WBZ radio's late-night radio personality Mel Simons brings his show of music, audience participation, trivia and nostalgia to the Beech Street Center for an hour of fun. The show begins at 1:15 p.m. and is free for everyone.

2. The Belmont Public Library is presenting free Teen Writing Workshops this summer in the Young Adults section. Led by Kerri Majors, author of "This is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World" these workshops, each focusing on a different topic, will discuss participants’ writing in a celebratory way, with an eye toward building on each writer’s individual strengths. Work shops are on July 10, 17, and 24, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This week's topic is "Think Like An Editor": This one-hour workshop will help develop the keen eyes of an editor; a useful skill for any teen who writes and edits their own papers, college essays or creative writing.

3. Today is Noon Movies at the Belmont Public Library. Join the staff for these wonderful movies for children: "Trashy Town," "The Paperboy" and one of the best children's stories ever "Blueberries for Sal." 

4. The Beech Street Center is sponsoring a Belderbus trip to the National Archives in Waltham – one of only a handful across the country – for a one-hour lecture on the "Introduction to Genealogy: Everything You Need to Get Started.” Bus leaves the Center at 1:30 p.m., and returns by 3:30 p.m. The lecture is free and there is a suggested $4 Belderbus trip contribution.

5. You may have seen the unique statue on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston: the man in oilskins and cap peering down the street with binoculars in his hand: it's Samuel Eliot Morison, the great American naval historian who wrote detailed histories that were readable to the general public. He was born on this day in 1887.