Eat local, grow community

A Local Foods Fair will highlight the benefits of locally grown food for healthy nutrition and thriving communities, Nov. 19 from 2-5 p.m. in Mann Library lobby. Free.

The fair features locally grown vegetables and fruits for sale and opportunities to learn about local and heritage farming, community-supported agriculture in Tompkins County, and local and Cornell-led initiatives. There will be a special exhibit on heritage poultry and a presentation from 3-4:30 p.m. on Mann Library's Rice Poultry Collection, comprising many rare works on poultry farming.

Other presenters include Healthy Foods for All and Michael Glos of Kingbird Farm in Berkshire, N.Y. The fair is sponsored by Mann Library, the Cornell Small Farms Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. Information: 607-255-5406 or http://mannlib.cornell.edu.

Indian affair

The Minority Organization of Architecture, Art and Planning (MOAAP) will hold an India Gala fundraiser Friday, Nov. 20, 7-10 p.m. in Duffield Hall Atrium.

New Delhi Diamonds will cater authentic Indian food, including chicken tikka masala, vegan palak paneer, naan and mango lassi. Raas Club, Sitara and Teszia Belly Dance Troupe will perform music and dance. Semiformal, formal or traditional Indian attire requested. Tickets are $30 general, $20 for students, and are available at http://www.cornelltickets.com and at the Willard Straight Ticket Office.

The gala is an opportunity to experience a taste of Indian life and culture and to network with administrators and faculty while raising funds for MOAAP's upcoming three-week winter break service and learning trip to India, where 15 students will explore Indian art, urban planning and architecture from Delhi to Mumbai. The students also will volunteer on a grassroots community development and design project. Donations are being accepted for the trip; contact Fernando Montejo '10 at fm92@cornell.edu for details.

Turkey and trimmings

The Cornell community celebrates Thanksgiving with the 22nd Annual Traditional American Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday, Nov. 26, from noon-3 p.m. at Robert Purcell Marketplace in the Robert Purcell Community Center on North Campus. Seatings are at noon and 1:30 p.m. for the meal, which features turkey and all the usual trimmings, vegetarian options and dessert.

The cost is $10 for adults, $8 for children ages 6-12 and free for age 5 and younger. Tickets are available only in advance, and will be sold through Nov. 25 at the Willard Straight Hall Ticket Office, Hasbrouck and Maplewood Service Centers, the International Students and Scholars Office in Caldwell Hall, Holland International Living Center (Monday, Wednesday and Friday only) and the Big Red Barn (2-10 p.m. weekdays through Nov. 23). Tickets are limited. Information: 607-255-5243.

Sci-fi scares

Cornell Cinema celebrates the science fiction genre with screenings of new prints of two of the most enduring sci-fi films of the last 30 years: The first two films in the "Alien" series.

Ridley Scott's 1979 film, about a mining crew in deep space that encounters a monstrous creature with acid for blood, is really just a carefully plotted haunted-house movie, raised to the level of art by exceptional editing, performances and art direction. The now-iconic scene of an alien embryo bursting through the chest of unfortunate crewmate John Hurt still manages to fascinate and repel.

"Alien" was followed seven years later by James Cameron's "Aliens," which forgoes the eerie claustrophobia of the original for gung-ho action, as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the sole survivor of the first film, battles scores of aliens with the help of a squad of Marines. "Alien" screens Dec. 2, 4 and 5; "Aliens" will show on Dec. 9, 11 and 12.

Lunch with McConkey

James McConkey, the Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature Emeritus, will be featured at a Literary Luncheon on Wednesday, Dec. 2, hosted by 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.

McConkey is an acclaimed essayist and memoirist -- he prefers the term "life writing" -- in a tradition dating to St. Augustine. He is the author of "Crossroads," "The Telescope in the Parlor: Essays on Life and Literature," "Stories From My Life With the Other Animals," "Kayo," "Court of Memory," "Rowan's Progress" and "To a Distant Island," his re-creation of Anton Chekhov's 6,500-mile journey to a Siberian penal colony.

Looking back through the lens

Mann Library is hosting a photography exhibit, "Retrospective Glimpses: Photographs by J. Mayone Stycos 1955-2005," through Dec. 18.

Stycos, Cornell professor emeritus of rural sociology, packed a camera on his many trips to Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, and was continually fascinated by the variety of human faces caught by the camera's lens. The exhibit showcases the range of what he captured on film.

Stycos was founder and director of the International Population Program, first in the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and later in the Department of Development Sociology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The Mann Gallery is located on the library's second floor and is open during regular library hours. Information: http://gallery.mannlib.cornell.edu/.