Vote First, Then Make Plans to Attend Area Events

The title of this post is about as political as I get but it's worth noting how many people ignore their right to vote. I'd like to believe most if not all of you care about this community and that there is someone running who you share views with (whether that person is running for the Board of Education, the Common Council, Board of Education or Mayor.)

Alright, remove my feet from the stirrups, off my high horse and on to the arts.

Tuesday November 3:
Reward yourself for doing your civic duty and head down to Broad Street Books tonight at 7 p.m. for a reading featuring poet Rennie McQuilken. McQuilken, founder of Antrim House Poetry books and longtime organizer of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, is a fine poet and excellent reader whose work has been published in numerous publications. He's also issued 5 books of poetry including his latest "The Weathering." If you want a taste of what the poet will read, he'll be on WESU-88.1FM at 6:15 p.m. Either way, Rennie McQuilken is worth taking your time to discover. For more information, call the Book Store at 685-7323 or go to www.antrimhousebooks.com.

Here's one of his poems, courtesy of Antrim House Books:

THE LIGHTERS

for my mother

In her eighty-ninth year she’s reducing
her inventory—china to the children, mementos
to the trash—but in her boudoir
keeps half a dozen square-shouldered Zippos,

on one her husband’s initials,
the best man’s on another, the rest anyone’s guess.
Dry-chambered, their rusted spark wheels stalled,
they are lined up gravely on a jewelry chest

full of antique gap-toothed keys with elaborate
scrollwork on their hilts, fit to open
high-backed steamer trunks, perhaps the door
to a sunken garden

where every night the dry-bones come
in mothballed flannels and hand-knit sweaters
to roll their own, light up
like fireflies and, sotto voce, remember her.

Wednesday November 4:
The Middle Eastern Studies Program at Wesleyan presents a new Film Series and its inaugural presentation is "The Band's Visit" ("Bikur Ha-Tizmoret"), a 2007 Israeli film that has won nummerous awards. Director and screenwriter Eran Kolirin tells the story of an Egyptian musical ensemble, the fictitious Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, who go to play a concert in an Arab Cultural Center in a small town in the Negev Desert and end up stranded without a place to spend the night. Without overtly discussing Arab-Israeli relations, the movie brilliantly shows how people interact and survive in the midst of conflict. The screening takes place in Wesleyan's Hansel Lecture Hall or PAC 001 - the event is free and open to the public. No contact information has been posted but the movie is well worth seeing.

The Distinguished Writers Program at Wesleyan presents poet and photographer Thomas Sayers Ellis for an 8 p.m. reading in The Russell House 350 High Street. Ellis, a native of Washington D.C. and author of "The Maverick Room" (published in 2005 by Graywolf Press), is an Assistant Professor of Writing at Sarah Lawrence College and is on the faculty of The Lesley University Low Residency M.F.A. program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Read an excerpt from "The Maverick Room" by clicking here.) The reading is free and open to the public. For more information, call 685-3448.


Thursday November 5:
"Common Ground: The Middletown International Film Festival" presents its 6th and final film at 7 p.m. in the Powell Family Cinema (Room 190) in the Center for Film Studies at Wesleyan, 301 Washington Terrace. "Everything is Illuminated", the 2005 screen adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's 2002 book, tells the fictional story of Jonathan Foer's trip to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather during the Holocaust. His guides are a ambitious young man who loves everything American (especially "pop culture"), his crazy border collie and his anti-Semitic grandfather. The movie, directed by Liev Schreiber (who also wrote the screenplay), stars Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz. The event, hosted by David Laub of the Center for Film Studies, is free and open to the public.

In the same building but in the Goldsmith Family Cinema, the Elia Kazan Centennial Celebration continues with an 8 p.m. screening of the 1955 classic, "East of Eden." Loosely based on John Steinbeck's 1952 novel, the movie features James Dean in his first major role along with Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, and Jo Van Fleet. Set in the Salinas Valley of Central California during World War I, the story revolves around the dysfunctional Trask family and their efforts to make their farm profitable. There is all sorts of intrigue and Dean's performance is often mesmerizing. The movie won several awards including an Oscar for Van Fleet. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 685-2220.

The Dance Department at Wesleyan presents 3 nights of its Fall Senior Thesis Dance Concert Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Patricelli '92 Theater. Choreographer and dancers from the University work closely to create an often compelling program. If you like modern dance, you'll appreciate the work these young people and their teachers put into these presentations. For ticket information, call the Box Office at 685-3355.

FLUX Quartet, Wesleyan's String Quartet-in-residence, presents its annual concert of new works by Wesleyan graduate student composers. This is a great opportunity for the composers to have their works played by a world-class ensemble. The program, free and open to the public, takes place at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall.

I hope to post Friday through Sunday's event later tomorrow, including looks at the CT Gilbert & Sullivan Society's 3-day presentation of "The Pirates of Penzance" (Friday - Sunday) at the MHS Performing Arts Center (call 1-800-866-1606), Friday's performance of the Grass Routes Blue Grass Band at The Buttonwood Tree, Eilen Jewell & The Sacred Shakers Friday 8 p.m. at Crowell Concert Hall, Amy Crawford Saturday 8 p.m. at Crowell, the Floating Theatre Company's "Craig's List Missed Connections" 7 p.m. Saturday and the Readers Theater/Book Sale 7 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Adath Israel. And more...stay tuned.