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.