Things to Do, Oct. 9-16

Dancing from Paris

The Department of Theatre, Film and Dance will host a dance workshop and conference, "Chapters: An African-American in Paris," Oct. 14-15 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts' Class of '56 Dance Theatre.

Stephanie Batten Bland's Paris-based company, Birdlegs, will give an informal performance Oct. 14 at 5 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session.

Ayo Janine Jackson will give a solo performance Oct. 15 at 6:15 pm, followed by scholarly dance presentations by Emily Lordi (on Nina Simone), Paul Byron Suber (on Le Corbusier and Josephine Baker) and Bland (on her choreography including her work for the musical on the life of Josephine Baker).

The events are free and open to the public, and are co-sponsored by Africana studies, English, Romance studies and music.

Poetry for lunch

Alice Fulton will be the featured writer Oct. 14 in the Literary Luncheon series, hosted by Cornell President David Skorton and Professor Robin Davisson at their Cayuga Heights home.

The free luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. and is open to the first 25 people to reserve a place by e-mailing special-events@cornell.edu. Reservations are requested by Oct. 9.

Fulton, a poet and fiction writer, is the Ann S. Bowers Professor of English at Cornell. Her volumes of poetry include "Cascade Experiment: Selected Poems," "Felt" and "Sensual Math." She published "The Nightingales of Troy" in 2008, a volume of connected short stories based on the lives of women in her family over several decades.

Professor emeritus James McConkey, an essayist and fiction writer, will be featured Dec. 2. The series is sponsored by the Office of the President.

Earthy films

Cornell Cinema celebrates the activists who started the environmental movement in the '60s and '70s, and those who carry the torch today, with a series of films this fall.

The series begins with the Ithaca premiere of "Earth Days," Oct. 14 and 17. The film follows the American environmental movement from its earliest awakenings to the 1970 Earth Day celebration, political victories throughout the 1970s, and the movement's faltering in the conservative Reagan era. The second Cornell screening will coincide with Sustainable Tompkins' and Finger Lakes Bioneers' regional conference "We Make Our Future," Oct. 16-18 at Ithaca College http://www.wemakeourfuture.org; including live-via-satellite presentations of national plenary addresses from Bioneers (bioneers.org) headquarters in San Rafael, Calif.

Other films in November and early December include the Ithaca premieres of "No Impact Man" and "The Yes Men Save the World," the wildlife documentary "Ice Bears of the Beaufort," presented by guest filmmakers Jennifer and Arthur C. Smith III '75; "For All Mankind," compiling footage from the Apollo space missions that first showed us images of the Earth; and "Split Estate," about the impact of gas drilling in the Midwest, an issue also hotly debated in the Finger Lakes region.

Birthday concert

Cornell's Department of Music presents the guest ensemble Cassatt String Quartet and pianist Adrienne Kim, celebrating composer Daniel S. Godfrey's 60th birthday season with a free concert Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall Auditorium.

The concert will feature Godfrey's String Quartet No. 2, Romanza for quartet, and Ricordanza-Speranza for quartet and piano. Information: http://music.cornell.edu.

Behind Mideast peace

Israel's Consul General in New York, Asaf Shariv, will speak on "The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: A View from the Inside," Oct. 15 at 4:30 p.m. in G10 Biotechnology. Admission is free.

Sharif is the youngest person ever appointed consul general for Israel in New York. Prior to his appointment, he was director of media and public affairs to Prime Ministers Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon.

As senior adviser to Sharon's chief of staff, he sat on the prime minister's committee that discussed strategic issues with the U.S. government. He was instrumental in formalizing the memorandum of understanding between Israel and the United States regarding the Road Map for Peace, and was on a special task force on such issues as disengagement from Gaza and U.S. guarantees on Israeli bonds.

Sharif is visiting Cornell as part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series. Cosponsors include the Office of the Vice Provost for International Relations, the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Program of Jewish Studies and Cornell Hillel.

Poverty research workshop

The Institute for the Social Sciences' Persistent Poverty Team will host a public workshop, "Current Frontiers in the Study of Economic Mobility in Developing Countries," Oct. 13 from 8:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. at 423 ILR Conference Center. Free. RSVP to amt58@cornell.edu to register.

The workshop is intended to familiarize the Cornell community with state-of-the-art international poverty research methods, empirical findings and their implications for policy and future research, including the availability of, and need for, innovative data. Topics will include measures of poverty and mobility, human capital (health and education) and asset-based approaches, and multidimensional measures of poverty and mobility. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served. For the full program, see http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/0811/EconMobility.html.

Creative, sustainable solutions

The Finger Lakes Bioneers Conference, "We Make Our Future," will showcase the creative potential in designing systems with the future in mind, Oct. 16-18 at Ithaca College. The conference aims to inspire a global-local approach to environmental and social dilemmas, with national speakers and local experts exploring aspects of creating a sustainable economy and safeguarding the health and productivity of natural systems.

Cornell presenters and topics include: Bruce Monger, earth and atmospheric sciences, on protecting ocean and freshwater habitats; Antonio Bento, applied economics and management, and Susan Christopherson, city and regional planning, discussing potential elements of a sustainable regional economy; Ben Ho, economics, and Kenneth Clarke, Cornell United Religious Work, debating the underlying motivations for altruism in the marketplace; Larry Walker, biological and environmental engineering, and Peter Woodbury, crop and soil sciences, sharing the latest data on regional biofuel production; Dan Roth on Cornell's Climate Action Plan; and graduate student Scott Perez co-presenting on lessons to be learned from earlier management of regional natural resources. The Cornell Fuel Cell Institute also will display several vehicles.

The conference features satellite feeds from the inaugural Bioneers conference in California and other local presentations on energy, food, the arts, health and well-being, youth empowerment and earth stewardship.

Tickets are $35 per day, $90 for all three days. Visit http://www.WeMakeOurFuture.org.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz