Novelist Francesca Segal to speak at BU

Award-winning author Francesca Segal will speak at BU on Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in McCormick Center, room 2303.

Her talk is titled “Tea and Sympathy: On Being a British, Jewish, Woman Writer.” Earlier in the day, Segal will conduct a question-and-answer session in Warren Student Services Center, room 004, from 3:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

 Segal joined her father, Eric Segal, author of the classic “Love Story,” as an accomplished novelist in 2013 when she published her debut novel, “The Innocents.” The book’s awards include the Costa First Novel Award, National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Betty Trask Award. As a journalist, Segal’s work has appeared in Granta, Newsweek, The Guardian, The Financial Times and Vogue UK and Vogue US. Information about Segal and her novel can be found at www.francescasegal.com.

This week in music at BU

Guitar Ensemble – The Guitar Ensemble will perform tomorrow (April 14) at 7:30 p.m. in Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.

Faculty Recital – Matthew Slotkin, guitar, and Joseph Murphy, saxophone, will present a faculty recital Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium.

Percussion Ensemble – The Percussion Ensemble will perform Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.

BU Concert Choir – The BU Concert Choir’s spring concert will be presented Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 345 Market St., Bloomsburg.

University Concert Band Spring Concert – The University Concert Band’s annual spring concert will be presented Sunday, April 19, at 2:30 p.m. in Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.

Admission is free.

Orchestra to play Rachmaninoff Sunday

The Bloomsburg University-Community Orchestra will holds it's Spring concert this Sunday, April 12, at 2:30 in Haas Center.

It will be director Mark Jelinek's final public performance with the orchestra with the exception of the Symphony Ball. This will be a very special orchestra made up of standing members augmented with orchestra alumni and area musicians.

The program will consist of:

• Smetana: Dance of the Comedians 
• Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 
• Wagner: Die Meistersingers Prelude

Talking philosophy

Philosopher Collin Rice will give a talk, "The Magic of Falsehoods: Highly Idealized Models and Scientific Realism" this Thursday, April 9, at 4 pm in Bloomsburg University's Bakeless Center for the Humanties, room 202. An assistant professor in the Philosophy Department at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Rice will be a Visiting Scholar in the University of California, Irvine's Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science this June. His areas research are the philosophy of science, the philosophy of biology, and the philosophy of mind (especially cognitive science and concepts).

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Next Tuesday, April 14, philosopher Jack Call will give a talk "Thinking About Immortality" at 4 pm in BU's  Centennial Hall, room 218. The author of Dreams And Resurrection: On Immortal Selves, Psychedelics, and Christianity, Call revisits several historical arguments aimed at supporting and rejecting the notion of immortality and employs the analogy of dreaming and waking as a way of conceiving a relation between everyday life and what historically has been called an “afterlife.” A short Q&A period will follow the talk. The talk is sponsored by the Philosophy Department and the College of Liberal Arts, in support of BU’s course in Philosophy of Religion (now in progress).

Film explores environment from Mayan perspective

The film Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, which explores environmental impacts from a Mayan perspective, will be shown Wednesday, April 8, at 7 pm at the Capitol Restaurant, Main St.

The film is sponsored the Bloomsburg Green Campus Initiative and the Exchange.

"The ancient Maya believed this present world would end and a new cycle arise after 5125 years,” begins the description from the film producers. "How does the story end? Does the water change color? Do the oceans collapse? Does the sky fall as the last tree is cut?” The multiple-award-winning film is free of charge and open to the public. The producers describe the presentation as being appropriate for everyone.

In the film, six young Maya from Chiapas and Guatemala show the contrast in their world view and that of many in the Western World. They reveal "through their daily and ceremonial life… their determination to resist the destruction of their culture and environment. As corporations go to the ends of the earth to extract all value, all resources, they put forth a wholly indigenous perspective in their own words, without narration. Each story touches upon a facet of the current global crisis.”

More information at www.heart-of-sky.com

Coming up: 

On Tuesday, April 28, in Carver Hall, Green Campus in conjunction with the International Faculty Association will present Gringo Trails at 7 pm. Gringo Trails shows the environmental impacts of expanding travel into the most remote parts of the world. The stories told reveal the effects of ever-increasing, unplanned and mismanaged growth in tourism. Another award winning presentation, the film has been heralded as “Required viewing for all thoughtful travelers,” by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

Poetry and music at the Priestly Chapel

The ninth season of the First Sunday Program of Words and Music at Priestley Chapel is underway at the Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel, 380 Front Street, Northumberland (about half an hour from Bloomsburg).

Programs begin at 9:30 am and conclude at 10:10 am. Each program includes a poem from a Pulitzer winning book of poetry, music and a guest poet. Programs for the spring include:

• On Sunday, April 5, Hope W. Kopf will perform selections on the historic John Wind organ and chapel piano. Guest poet for the program is Raymond Cummings. Originally from Baltimore Raymond Cummings is the author of several books of poetry and commentary, including Crucial Sprawl, Assembling The Lord, and Class Notes; his newest book of poetry, Vigilante FLUXUS, has just been released. His writing has appeared in the Village Voice, MAGNET, and the Baltimore City Paper, among other publications. He lives and works in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and is a regular participant at the Poetry under Paintings at Faustina’s Gallery in Lewisburg.

• On Sunday, May 3 David Levengood will perform piano selections. David is a student of Professor Barry Hannigan at Bucknell University. Guest Poet is Steve Olofson. Originally from Buffalo, NY Olofson now lives in Sunbury and works as an educator and trainer in the Geisinger Medical System. Last fall he published a digital book of holiday poems, Thoughts and Observations on the Holidays.

• On Sunday, June 7, guest musicians are Bill Calhoun on piano and vocals and Erik Wynters on guitar performing original songs and songs from the repertoire of the band, “The Derivatives”, based on humorous mathematics themes, such as being “touched by a tangent”. Both Calhoun and Wynters are professors in the math department at Bloomsburg University. The program features the poetry of Sharlene Gilman. Beginning while in high school she has published poems in many journals. Currently she is a frequent reader at the Poetry Under Paintings program held in Faustina’s Gallery in Lewisburg on the second Thursday of each month. Gilman is a Professor at Bloomsburg University. 

Priestley Chapel Associates is a secular, non-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation established in 1977 to care for and manage the Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel, the beautiful memorial garden and the historic 1811 John Wind organ located in the chapel. This lovely country chapel was built in 1834 by descendants of Joseph Priestley and members of the Unitarian congregation in Northumberland. Currently, the chapel is open to the public the first Sunday of each month for a program of words and music. The chapel is also used for wedding ceremonies, memorial services, and community events. For more information call 570-473-1688 or visit: www.priestleychapel.org.

Have ten minutes? See a play, or maybe several.

The Bloomsburg University Players will perform a concert reading of 5 original 10-minute plays written and directed by students. Performances will be April 1, 2, 6, and 7 at 7:30 pm in the Theatre Lab (Located at the back of the University Bookstore Building). The plays are:

• The Compliment by Bry Kifolo – Directed Chris Creyer 
• Legacy by Titus O’Neil – Directed by Bry Kifolo 
• Pastime by Will Olsen – Directed by Kate Mochnacz 
• The Opposition by Courtney Dunn – Directed by Titus O’Neil 
• Dink by Titus O’Neil – Directed by Kate Mochnacz

More information here: www.bloomu.edu/buplayers-current and

here: buplayers.blogspot.com/

African refugee to speak at BU

Bloomsburg University will host a political refugee who was national coordinator of both Zimbabwe’s AIDS education program and its program to bring primary education to rural schoolchildren in developing countries.

Clement A. Jumbe After political strife in Zimbabwe led to threats, harassment, intimidation and separation from his family, Clement A. Jumbe fled to Canada as a refugee. He will tell his story in “My Journey to Safety… and the Help that I Received from the Scholars at Risk Networks” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium.

Jumbe has more than two decades of experience in education as a high school principal and district education officer in Zimbabwe. After starting a new career as national director for UNICEF’s HIV/AIDS Education Program and the national coordinator of the Commonwealth Education Fund, Zimbabwe was expelled from the Commonwealth of Nations for human rights abuses. The government branded the education program as a threat to national interests, leading to a lack of security for Jumbe and his family. In Canada, he was supported by the Scholars at Risk Program at Massey College of the University of Toronto, which provided him with room and board, contacts, speaking engagements and opportunities to teach again.

This event is sponsored by the International Faculty Association and the office of the provost at BU. For information, contact Amarilis Hidalgo de Jesus, International Faculty Association president and professor of Spanish at BU, at ahidalgo@bloomu.edu.

Fiction writer to give reading at Greenly Center

Crystal Wilkinson, short fiction writer and a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, will read from her work Thursday, April 2, at 6:30 p.m. on the first floor of the Greenly Center, 50 E. Main Street. The reading is free and open to the public.

 Wilkinson helped found the Affrilachian Poets Society in 1991. The society embraces a multicultural influence, a spectrum of people who consider Appalachia to be their home or identify strongly with the trials and triumphs of being of the Appalachian region.

Wilkinson has published a number of works and has received several awards for her writing. Her story, “Blackberries, Blackberries,” won the 2002 Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature and “Water Street” was a finalist for the United Kingdom’s Orange Prize for fiction and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.

In addition, Wilkinson won the Danny Plattner Award for Poetry from Appalachian Heritage Magazine and the Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women for the promotion of activism and artistic expression.

 Wilkinson’s visit marks the first event to be held in the new Greenly Center in downtown Bloomsburg. Other cultural events, including art exhibits and gallery receptions, are expected to follow. The reading is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of English. For more information, contact Jerry Wemple, professor of English, at jwemple@bloomu.edu.

Documentary highlights hunger in US

Bloomsburg University will screen A Place at the Table, a documentary film revealing hunger problems in the U.S. on Monday, March 30, at 7 p.m. in Carver Hall’s Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Fifty million U.S. citizens don’t know where their next meal is coming from, an issue caused not by food scarcity but by poverty. This poses economic, social and cultural implications for the nation.

A Place at the Table tells the stories of people, young and old, struggling with food insecurity in the U.S. Through these stories coupled with insights from experts, teachers and activists, the film proposes that healthy food can be available and affordable to all citizens.

The film screening is sponsored by BU’s Green Campus Initiative. For more information contact Tim Pelton, civic engagement coordinator, at tpelton@bloomu.edu.

Brahms on the program Feb. 6 at BU

The Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico will perform Brahms' First Symphony in C minor Friday, Feb. 6, at 8 pm at Bloomsburg University's Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.

Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children and BU students.

Performing for more than 40 years, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estada has moved audiences around the globe with classical and contemporary music from Mexico and Spain. Led by conductor Enrique Batiz, the orchestra has been recognized for having the broadest repertoire of any philharmonic in Mexico.

Their performance at BU is part of their second U.S. tour and will feature the symphonies of Brahms and include piano soloist, Irina Chistiakova, playing Manuel Ponce’s piano concerto, “Romantic.” The orchestra will also perform Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances.

Upcoming BU Celebrity Artist Series productions include:

• Tango Buenos Aires, a journey through dance and music from Argentina – Saturday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets $30. 
• “Jekyll & Hyde,” the dazzling and dark national Broadway tour – Sunday, March 29, 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets: $45. 
• Take 6, six voices combine to form the most awarded a cappella group in history – Thursday, April 2, 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets: $30. 
• Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem, American Spiritual, 150 years of American music in one event – Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m. in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. Tickets $25. 

For tickets or more information, visit www.bloomu.edu/cas or www.cas.buzz or call the box office at 570-389-4409.

BU poets to give reading Feb. 11

Two Bloomsburg University faculty members will read their poetry on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 7 pm in Monty's Assembly Room on the university's upper campus.

Jerry Wemple, assistant professor of English and creative writing, and Shanna L. Smith, English instructor, will give the reading as part of the university's Big Dog Reading Series, which is free and open to the public. 

Wemple’s work includes three poetry collections, “You Can See It From Here,” selected by Pulitzer Prize-winner Yusef Komunyakaafor the Naomi Long Madgett poetry Award; “The Civil War in Baltimore”; and “The Artemas Poems.” Wemple has received awards for both writing and teaching, including a Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Word Journal chapbook prize. His work has been included in journals and anthologies, including publications in Chile and Ireland. A Susquehanna Valley native, Wemple’s work often details the people and places of this area.

 Originally from Kentucky, Smith was featured in the 2001 documentary, “Coal Black Voices,” celebrating the Affrilachian Poets’ 10th anniversary, and performed with the group again in 2011 at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C. Her work has been published in Artists in Revolution, Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium: An Anthology of Contemporary Mid-Western Poetry and Java House Anthology. In 1999, Smith was selected to attend the Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Institute for poetry and received a grant for poetry from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

The Big Dog Reading Series is a part of the College of Liberal Arts’ Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The series will continue on Tuesday, March 24, with Domenica Ruta, author of the memoir “With or Without You.” For information, contact Wemple at jwemple@bloomu.edu.