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From Tiny To Mighty: The History, Uses, And Cultural Relevance Of The Strawberry

by K.C.

Tuesday, May 29 -- 7:00-8:30 PM -- Downtown Library -- Multipurpose Room

It’s strawberry time! Join Ecology by Design owner William Kirst as he kicks off Strawberry Week with an exploration of one of the world's most amazing fruits.

With his unique sense of humor and palpable love of all things botanical, William will trace the strawberry from ancient Rome, through extensive breeding over 3 continents and hundreds of years, over wild berry patches to manicured gardens, bringing us to an understanding and appreciation of the strawberry in our own lives.

Ecology By Design's mission is to promote the growth of sustainable communities through ecological education and the design and installation of beautiful, functional, and highly productive perennial landscapes. The company provides landscape design, garden creation, ecological restoration and consultation focusing on building home landscapes that support the ecology of the Ann Arbor region.

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EVENT CANCELLED - A Voyage To The Edge Of The Universe

by amy

Thursday May 24, 2012 | 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Due to unforeseen circumstances, author Terence Dickinson will be unable to attend this May event. He regretfully apologizes. The event has been cancelled for May, but will be re-scheduled for Fall 2012. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire: Call for contributors!

by OneillT

We are excited to announce the Call for Makers for the 4th Ann Arbor “Mini” Maker Faire, to be held Saturday June 2, 2012, at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Faire features exhibits and activities in robots, green tech, science, radio, rocketry, unusual tools/techniques, fixing and/or taking things apart, and other areas, all with an emphasis on “do it yourself.” Last year’s Faire drew over 1,400 people to engage in activities such as learning to solder and silk screening t-shirts, and saw exhibits such as hearing the neural activity of a cockroach leg, a giant “Simon Says” game, a DIY satellite to test an ion engine in space, pop-up books with a master of paper folding, gigantic vortex cannon, robots galore, computer vision, and much more.

Apply now to be an exhibitor! Additional information and an online application form are at http://www.a2makerfaire.com. The application deadline is May 13, 2012.

The Faire is free to exhibitors and visitors alike. It is organized by the group a2 geeks (http://www.a2geeks.org), a newly organized Ann Arbor area non-profit foundation promoting the informal technology culture in the greater Ann Arbor area. The Faire is a local, community version of the major Maker Faires in the Bay area and in New York City.

The mission of the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire is to present interesting or unique exhibits, individuals, and demonstrations in DIY science, technology, engineering, and art that excite, motivate, and educate. The emphasis is on cool things, skills, and knowledge. As a shorthand, the exhibits should be the kind of thing you’d see in Make Magazine.

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Break Your Curfew this Friday at the Power Center

by Bertha

If you haven't made plans for Friday, May 11th, or even if you have, check out Breakin' Curfew a show produced by Neutral Zone teens. Talented teens from all over southeast Michigan will be taking the stage at the Power Center. Performances by singer songwriters, string musicians, poets, fiddlers, hip hop artists, and violinists are not to be missed. Put together by creative hard-working teens all year, who have said, 'the show this year will be, unpredictable, remarkable, and unforgettable.' May 11, 8 pm, at the Power Center.

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Spend Your Summer Fighting Dragons!

by Spectacular Reference-Man

Need something to do Wednesday nights this summer? Why not try playing the fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons? Local comic and gaming shop, Vault of Midnight, sponsors a weekly game called D&D Encounters which has a new season starting May 16th.

The “Dungeon Master” and other players are always welcoming to help newcomers get into the game, and the library has everything you’ll need to create a character: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms and Heroes of the Fallen Lands have all the information needed to create your own human wizard, dwarf cleric, elf ranger, halfling thief, and many more.

Dungeons and Dragons is a cooperative game from Wizards of the Coast where a group of players take on the role of heroic adventurers and travel to distant lands and work together to battle monsters and villains to save the day. A “Dungeon Master” (or Game Master) runs the game for the players, usually telling a story along the way. The game combines the team-building and strategy of sports with creativity and imagination. Kids of all ages learn to work together and use their particular skills to help solve problems.

If you’re still unsure about joining the game, I’d encourage you to check out Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons and Dragons by Shelly Mazzanoble, or one of the graphic novels that follow the adventures of Fell's Five, starting with Dungeons & Dragons. Volume 1, Shadowplague

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Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts Celebrates 20th Anniversary

by karaelise

The Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts will be having its 20th Anniversary Benefit Gala on Saturday, May 12th at the Michigan Theater. There are two events to which the public may purchase tickets. The first is the gala, which will begin at 2:00 p.m. and will have music, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets for this event also include admission to the concert that will take place after the gala at 3:30 p.m. The concert will feature performances by the Junior String Orchestra, the Sterling String Orchestra, and the Youth Symphony Orchestra. The concert will feature classical works by such composers as Vivaldi, Haydn, and Holst, as well a selection from The Dark Knight among other selections.

Date: Saturday, May 12th
Time: 2:00 p.m. –VIP Reception
3:30 p.m.—Concert
Place: The Michigan Theater
Tickets: Gala and concert--$125.00
Concert only-- $10.00 for adults
$5.00 for students and children

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Fun Friday Night at the U-M Museum of Natural History

by amy

The U-M Museum of Natural History is having their Fun Friday Night tomorrow, May 4, 2012. They'll be staying open until 9:00 p.m. to offer dinosaur tours and other activities, including several discounted ($3) planetarium shows - at 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30 - that focus on what you can see in the night sky. If you're waiting to check out one of our new circulating telescopes and aren't familiar with the constellations and stargazing in general, this is a great first step toward getting the most out of your telescope when it comes in! The Museum also holds regularly scheduled weekend planetarium shows throughout the year.

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Purple Rose Theatre Presents A Concert Reading Of Jeff Daniels' New Play "The Meaning of Almost Everything"

by hillary dorwart

Tuesday May 1, 2012: 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Join Purple Rose Theatre Company for a concert reading of Jeff Daniels' new play, "The Meaning of Almost Everything," which is scheduled for its World Premiere at the Purple Rose Theatre for the 2012-2013 season. Artistic Director Guy Sanville will lead an audience feedback session after the reading. Purple Rose wants to know what YOU have to say about this new play.

Two men exist in nothingness. One wants to remain. The other is isn't so sure. Jeff Daniels' newest play explores the questions, the fear and the joy of being alive in a thought-provoking and theatrical way.

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Celebrate National Poetry Month with Poet Laureate Billy Collins

by articia

In celebration of National Poetry Month and National Library Week, the Ypsilanti District Library is proud to present Poet Billy Collins on Thursday, April 12 at 7 pm at Washtenaw Community College’s Towsley Auditorium in the Morris Lawrence Building. Teens and adults are welcome to attend this special event which is free and open to the public.
Dubbed “the most popular poet in America” by Bruce Weber in The New York Times, Billy Collins is famous for conversational, witty poems that welcome readers with humor but often slip into quirky, tender or profound observations on the everyday, reading and writing, and poetry itself. He served two terms as the U.S. Poet Laureate, from 2001-2003, was New York State Poet Laureate from 2004-2006, and is a regular guest on National Public Radio. He has taught at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence, and Lehman College, City University of New York where he is a distinguished professor.
Collins was born in 1941 in New York City. He earned a BA from the College of the Holy Cross, and both an MA and PhD from the University of California-Riverside. Though Collins published throughout the 1980s, it was his fourth book, Questions about Angels (1991) that propelled him into the literary spotlight. Subsequent works garnered comments noting that Collins’s skillful, smooth style and inventive subject matter “helps us feel the mystery of being alive” and “Rarely has anyone written poems that appear so transparent on the surface yet become so ambiguous, thought-provoking, or simply wise once the reader has peered into the depths.”
A few of his major works include: Nine Horses: Poems (2002), The Trouble with Poetry (2005), Ballistics (2008) and Horoscopes for the Dead (2011). Collins has described himself as “reader conscious”—“I have one reader in mind, someone who is in the room with me, and who I’m talking to, and I want to make sure I don’t talk too fast, or too glibly. Usually I try to create a hospitable tone at the beginning of a poem. Stepping from the title to the first lines is like stepping into a canoe. A lot of things can go wrong.”
The site of the reading will be at Washtenaw Community College’s Towsley Auditorium located at 4800 East Huron River Drive, Ann Arbor, MI.

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Notable Author and Beat Poetry Enthusiast Anne Waldman to Visit Ann Arbor

by prlhw

Internationally acclaimed poet Anne Waldman, co-founded with Allen Ginsberg, the celebrated Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado and is the author of more than 40 books. On April 13th and 14th, Waldman will be visiting Ann Arbor on behalf of the One Pause Poetry Series. The events will take place at METAL, at 220 Felch Street in downtown Ann Arbor.

Waldman, active in the Beat Poetry, New York School, and Black Mountain movements, is an integral member of the "Outrider" experimental poetry community, a culture she has helped create and nurture for over four decades as writer, editor, teacher, performer, magpie scholar, and cultural/political activist. Her work is energetic, passionate, panoramic, and fierce at times. Publishers Weekly recently referred to Waldman as "a counter-cultural giant." Waldman will be reading from The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment (Coffee House Press, 2011), a 25-year project in the making.

The schedule for the events is as follows:
April 13, 7-9pm: Reading with Anne Waldman. Reception and book-signing to follow.
April 14, 10:30am-noon: Conversations with Poets: Anne Waldman. One Pause Director Sarah Messer interviews Anne Waldman on her approach to poetry. This interview will be recorded and archived as a part of the One Pause Archive Project.

All readings and conversations are free and open to the public.

One Pause Poetry is part of the nonprofit arts organization Copper Colored Mountain Arts, which serves Southeastern Michigan and is sponsored by the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.