Things to Do, Aug. 19-26

Dump and Run sale

The ninth annual Dump and Run sale will be held during orientation weekend, Aug. 20-21, with thousands of used items at bargain prices, ranging from furniture and appliances to school supplies, sporting goods and clothing. Sale hours are Aug. 20, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and Aug. 21, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Helen Newman Gym on North Campus. The sale is open to the Cornell community and the public.

Dump and Run, a waste recovery and recycling initiative sponsored by Campus Life, collected more than 20 tons of reusable goods from students moving out in spring 2011. Proceeds from this year's sale will benefit Cops, Kids & Toys, the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, Loaves & Fishes, Shelter Outreach Services and United Way of Tompkins County. In 2010 Dump and Run raised more than $33,500 for local charities. The initiative has contributed approximately $200,000 to local nonprofits over the last eight years. Information: http://dumpandrun.campuslife.cornell.edu.

Free film classics

From Aug. 21-25, new students with ID can sample for free the diverse offerings of Cornell Cinema, one of the top campus film exhibition programs in the country. Screenings in Willard Straight Theatre will include classic Hollywood and foreign films, from "The Godfather" and "Vertigo" to new and restored 35mm prints of "Bringing Up Baby," "Raging Bull," "Breathless," "The Conformist" and "The Battleship Potemkin," a restoration of the 1927 epic featuring the original score.

Cornell Cinema Director Mary Fessenden and Student Advisory Board President Eric Horn will present "An Orientation to Cornell Cinema," Aug. 23 at 7 p.m., with trailers for coming attractions, original student films and other shorts, free popcorn and door prizes.

The Welcome Weekend Committee also sponsors screenings of recent releases "Thor" and "Fast Five" on Aug. 25 that are free to everyone. Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu/.

Speak the world

Discover the array of language and international programs on campus and abroad at the Language and International Studies Fair, taking place Aug. 23 between noon and 3 p.m. on the Uris Hall Terrace.

The fair, organized by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Language Resource Center, will provide students with information about language courses, major and minor programs, travel opportunities, fellowships and study abroad. Information: http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/.

Traditional to modern

Single tickets for the 2011-12 Cornell Concert Series (CCS) go on sale Aug. 23 at 9:30 a.m. The series features 10 concerts and creative explorations in traditional and modern music by a wide range of classical and jazz performers.

Tickets will be available at Ticket Center Ithaca on The Commons, by calling 607-273-4497 or 800-284-8422, 
and online at http://www.CornellConcertSeries.com and http://www.BaileyTickets.com. Subscriptions and ticket packages will be available until the first concert Sept. 24 in Sage Chapel, with early music group The Rose Ensemble.

The 109th season of CCS also includes the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, Oct. 4; a duo performance by modern jazz greats Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, Oct. 16; and artists from the Pacific atolls of Kiribati, Tokelau and Tuvalu in "Water Is Rising: Music and Dance Amid Climate Change," Nov. 12, all in Bailey Hall.

Soprano Alicia Hall Moran and pianist Jason Moran perform Jan. 28 in Barnes Hall. Spring concerts in Bailey Hall include the Juilliard String Quartet, Feb. 10; tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake, March 2; "Arjuna's Profound Meditation," with Javanese shadow drama by Purbo Asmoro and live gamelan music, March 14; The Bad Plus, March 30; and the Australian Chamber Orchestra with soprano Dawn Upshaw, April 27.

Information: http://www.CornellConcertSeries.com.

Harder Lecture

Professor of English Molly Hite and garden photographer David McDonald will speak on "Literature, Life, Gardens: The Influence of Vita Sackville-West," Aug. 24 at 5:30 p.m. in Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. The event, the 15th Annual William H. and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture, is free and open to the public.

Sackville-West was a poet, novelist and memoirist who wrote a series of popular gardening columns for The Observer newspaper starting in 1946. She co-created the Sissinghurst Castle Garden in England with her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson, and inspired several works by her close friend Virginia Woolf, including "Orlando," "A Room of One's Own" and "The Waves."

A garden party in Cornell Plantations' Botanical Garden will follow the lecture. Information: http://www.cornellplantations.org.

Block party

Campus Life will host the first social event of the year for the Class of 2015 and new transfer students at the Cornell University Block Party, Aug. 21 from 5 to 8 p.m. on Donlon Circle on North Campus. The event is open to the entire Cornell community; the cost of dinner is one card swipe for those on a meal plan.

The party, organized by Campus Life, Community Centers, Cornell Dining and Residential Programs, gives new students the opportunity to socialize while enjoying music provided by WVBR-FM, which will broadcast live from the event; food including Baker's Cornell chicken, lobster, clam chowder, salt potatoes and local sweet corn; and activities and entertainment featuring a juggler, a magician and a watermelon carving contest for Cornell Dining staff. The rain location is Robert Purcell Community Center. Orientation Week information: http://newstudentprograms.cornell.edu/orientation/OrientationGuide11.pdf.

Time for Bill Nye

"Science Guy" Bill Nye '77 will return to campus during Welcome Weekend for the dedication of a new clock atop Rhodes Hall that is designed to indicate solar noon. Nye will discuss various aspects of the clock in a public lecture, Aug. 27 at 11:30 a.m. in Alice Statler Auditorium, followed by public viewing of the clock from Hoy Field.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz