Things to Do, Feb. 28-March 7

Debora Spar
Provided
Barnard College President and "Wonder Women" author Debora Spar speaks on campus March 6.

Cornell women

NBC News correspondent Kate Snow ’91 interviews civil rights expert Kimberlé Crenshaw ’81, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and Columbia Law School, March 1 at 5 p.m. in Alice Statler Auditorium.

Their discussion, “When Will Women Really See Equality, and What Will It Look Like?,” is free and open to the Cornell community. The event is part of the President’s Council of Cornell Women Annual Meeting, “Thought Leaders: Inspiring and Igniting Change for Women,” Feb. 28-March 2.

Other events include a “Women in the Big Picture” photography exhibition, highlighting the accomplishments of 250 Cornellian women past and present, in the Willard Straight Art Gallery. An opening reception is Feb. 28 from 3 to 5 p.m. The display continues through March.

Asia Night

The ninth annual Asia Night comes to the Duffield Hall atrium March 1 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. with food, performances, games, raffles and displays by student organizations. Tickets are $3, at https://campusamp.com/AsiaNight9.

Hosted by the Cornell Asian-Pacific Islander Student Union, the showcase for the Asian and Asian-American community on campus draws more than 1,200 people each year from the Cornell and greater Ithaca communities. More than 50 student groups – cultural, academic, social, athletic, community service, career and special-interest organizations – organize the event and showcase their identities, roles and histories with interactive, educational booths. Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/577871315614567/579213375480361

‘Wonder Women’ author

Barnard College President Debora Spar explains how women’s lives have – and have not – changed over the past 40 years in “Wonder Women: Sex, Power and the Quest for Perfection,” March 6, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in G01 Biotech.

The Robert L. Harris Jr. ADVANCEments in Science Lecture is free and open to the public, with a reception to follow. Presented by the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity.

Spar, a political scientist, spent most of her life avoiding feminism, presuming that after the tumult of the 1960s, the gender war was over and women could have it all: “We thought we could glide into the new era with babies, board seats and husbands in tow. We were wrong.” Armed with new research, she shows that the challenges confronting women are more complex than ever.

Since her arrival at Barnard in 2008, Spar has been an active and vocal proponent of women’s education and leadership. Her books include “Wonder Women” (2013) and “The Baby Business: How Money, Science and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception” (2006).

Poetry in nature

Professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Harry W. Greene explores curiosity in science and the “sheer poetry” of field biology in his new book “Tracks and Shadows: Field Biology as Art.” Greene gives a free Chats in the Stacks book talk March 6 at 4 p.m. in Mann Library’s Stern Seminar Room.

Published in October, Greene’s book is an autobiography and a meditation on natural history and the beauty in nature. Its themes include destruction of habitat and loss of biodiversity, how natural historians help save species from extinction and the nuts and bolts of field research and teaching.


Greene is a leading expert on snakes and author of the award-winning “Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature.” He has done fieldwork on six continents over the past 40 years.

The talk includes refreshments, and books are available for purchase and signing. Information: mannlib.cornell.edu/events-exhibits, 607-255-5406.

American umpire

Historian Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman presents “America: Empire or Umpire, and at What Cost?” March 6, 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Free and open to the public.

Cobbs Hoffman is a professor of history and the Dwight E. Stanford Chair in U.S. Foreign Relations at San Diego State University. In her new history of American foreign relations, “American Umpire,” she questions the idea that the United States is an empire, and argues instead that America has more often played the role of umpire since 1776.

Her other books include “All You Need is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s” (1998) and “Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War” (2008). Information: http://einaudi.cornell.edu/node/14275

Sponsored by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies’ Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series.

Alumni reading

Three Creative Writing Program MFA alumni poets – Jose Perez Beduya ’04, Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers ’11 and Anne Marie Rooney ’11 – will read from their work March 6 at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Free and open to the public.

Beduya is the author of “Throng,” published in 2012. Rogers is a fellow at The Kenyon Review and the author of “Chord Box,” a Miller Williams Poetry Prize finalist. Rooney is the author of “Spitshine” and a founding member of Line Assembly, a traveling community outreach poetry project.

The Spring 2014 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series is organized by the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English.s

‘Apollo at Play’

The Cornell Concert Series welcomes Philadelphia baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare for a concert March 6 at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall. General admission tickets are $25 general, $12 for students, available at http://baileytickets.com. Information: 607-255-5144, www.cornellconcertseries.com

The program, “Apollo at Play,” features theatrical music by Jean-Baptiste Lully for Molière’s play, “Le Bourgeois gentilhomme,” and the ballet, “The Sun King,” and selections highlighting Lully’s influence – “Apollon enjoué,” a suite by his student, Johann Kusser; and “Apollon enjoué,” a neo-baroque ballet by Igor Stravinsky.

Page to stage

The Department of Performing and Media Arts presents a staged reading of four Heermans-McCalmon Writing Award-winning plays and screenplays, March 7 at 4:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center’s Class of ’56 Dance Theatre. Free.

The winning screenplays are “MATE” by Annie Hayes (first place) and “Not Too Shabby, or: How to Order Coffee at a Café Where You Are Undoubtedly the Favorite Customer” by Daniel J. Barrett. The winning plays are “Eugene & Elvis” by Julia Moser (first place) and “Samsonite” by Spencer Whale.

The staged reading – directed by Rachel Lampert of Kitchen Theatre Company and featuring actors Sarah K. Chalmers, Laurence Drozd, Carolyn Goelzer, Michael Kaplan and Godfrey Simmons – will be followed by an awards presentation, panel discussion and reception.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz