Calendar

Apr
12
Fri
Julia Henshaw: Real Good Stories @ Bookbound
Apr 12 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Julia Henshaw celebrates the release of her memoir in essays. She lives on a small farm in Northfield Township. Light refreshments, signing to follow.

 

Apr
14
Sun
Heba Abdelaai: Arabic Songs and Stories @ AADL Pittsfield, Program Room
Apr 14 @ 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm

Where

Pittsfield Branch: Program Room

For Whom

Age 2-5 Years

Description

Come to a singing and storytelling event where Arabic teacher and storyteller Heba Abdelaal, will lead us in songs and storytelling in Arabic!

Laura Bien: Arsenical Candy and Copper Peas: Food Adulteration in 19th-Century Michigan @ AADL Traverwood, Program Room
Apr 14 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

In 1896, Michigan consumers spent an estimated $23,000,000 ($690,000,000 today) on impure food products. Vinegars, spices, jam, cheese, coffee, and condiments were among the items tainted with additives ranging from benign to deadly. Local history writer Laura Bien gives an illustrated talk on the state’s history of food fraud and the efforts to quash it.

This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy. Their mission is to promote the study of culinary history through regular programs open to members and guests, through the quarterly newsletter Repast, and through exchanges of information with other such organizations.

This event will be recorded

RC Drama: Directors Choice @ East Quad Keene Theater
Apr 14 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Student directors from RC Drama Major course RC Hums 482 present their own final projects with the students of RC Hums 281.

Apr
15
Mon
Chloe Preedy: The Bishop, the Devil, and the Playwright: Responding to Air Pollution in Early Modern England @ Angell Hall, Rm 3154
Apr 15 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

DR. CHLOE PREEDY, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Hosted by the Animal Studies & Environmental Humanities RIW. Please RSVP to lageiger@umich.edu or cvfair@umich.edu

 

Louis Masur: How the Civil War Transformed America @ Robertson Auditorium (Ross)
Apr 15 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

The Civil War began as a battle to save the union but it ended as a struggle to abolish slavery and usher in “a new birth of freedom.” No aspect of society was left unchanged by the years of war and its effects continue to resonate more than one hundred and fifty years later. Dr. Louis Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. A graduate of the University at Buffalo and Princeton University, he is a cultural historian who has written on a variety of topics. His most recent work is Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction & The Crisis of Reunion (2015), Lincoln’s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union (2012), and The Civil War: A Concise History (2011). Register online.

Emerging Writers: Open House @ AADL Westgate
Apr 15 @ 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm

Come with questions, a work in progress, or an empty notebook. All writers are welcome in this casual, supportive environment. Authors Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will be on hand to answer questions and give encouragement. Bethany and Alex will also provide private, one-on-one critiques if you choose to have them read your work. Sharing your writing with other attendees is not required and is completely voluntary.

This is an excellent opportunity to meet your fellow Ann Arbor writers as well as get feedback from published authors. This is a monthly meet-up that welcomes all writers to ask questions, connect with other writers, or simply have a dedicated time and place to work on their projects. Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the library’s new imprint, Fifth Avenue Press.

 

Apr
16
Tue
Anthony DeBenedet: Playful Intelligence @ Literati
Apr 16 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Literati is excited to welcome author and physician Anthony DeBenedet to discuss his book Playful Intelligence.

About Playful Intelligence:
As adults, we have more responsibilities than we could have ever imagined growing up. Learning the work of marriage. Navigating the bumpy terrain of parenting. Maintaining social relationships. Facing grave hardship. Finding contentment in our career.

As the years pass by, we sense how the good things in life are so often eclipsed by stress. We find ourselves doing everything we can just to endure adulthood, all the while wondering whether we are actually enjoying it. This is exactly why Dr. Anthony T. DeBenedet decided to write Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World, to show readers how playfulness helps us counterbalance the seriousness of adulthood.

“Five years ago, my life was becoming more intense and stressful,” DeBenedet says. “My relationships, clinical work as a physician, and basic interactions with the world were blurring into a frazzled mosaic. Going through the motions became my norm, and every day brought busyness and exhaustion. I thought about whether I was depressed. I didn’t think I was. Anxious? Sure, but aren’t we all anxious on some level? I also thought about the lifestyle factors that could be making me feel this way. Was I getting enough sleep? Was I exercising regularly? Was I eating healthy? Was I playing and remembering to be playful?”

Today, we live in a taxing world. The endless pressure to keep up with our responsibilities and the daily headlines swarming around us can be overwhelming. DeBenedet’s work comes at a time when stress, uncertainty, and intensity levels are high. Playful Intelligence shows adults that there is a way to live lighter–and smarter–as we navigate the seriousness of adulthood. It’s not about taking life less seriously; it’s about taking ourselves less seriously.

The book’s core chapters are devoted to exploring the effects and benefits of five playful qualities: imagination, sociability, humor, spontaneity, and wonder. By examining playfulness as a sum of its parts, readers will gain a working awareness of its power and be able to apply playful principles to their own lives, bringing the magic of childhood back into their day-to-day existence. The book also offers practical suggestions on how to make life more playful in nature.

Anthony T. DeBenedet, M.D. is a practicing physician and behavioral-science enthusiast. His interviews and writings have run in various media outlets, including the New York Times, the Today show, the Washington Post, and TIME Ideas. He also co-authored The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old-Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It (Quirk Books, 2011), a parenting book about the importance of parent-child physical play. DeBenedet has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, a Master of Science Degree in Health and Healthcare Research from the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan Health System. DeBenedet lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he enjoys spending time with his family, connecting with friends, and playing a little basketball.

The Moth Storyslam: Burned @ Greyline
Apr 16 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Open-mic storytelling competitions. Open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night’s theme. Come tell a story, or just enjoy the show!

6:30pm Doors Open | 7:30pm Stories Begin

BURNED: Prepare a five-minute story about getting burned. Blistered by love, scalded by the powers that be, scorched by karma or just over-tanned. Tell us about the things that leave you smoldering. Sunscreen anyone?

*Tickets for this event are available one week before the show, at 3pm ET.

*Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final.

Media Sponsor: Michigan Radio.

 

Apr
17
Wed
Assya Humesky: Ukrainian Literary Evening: A Life Devoted to Studying Slavic Languages and Literature @ Rackham East Conference Room
Apr 17 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Michigan cordially invite you to join us for Dr. Assya Humesky’s talk about her and her family’s contributions to Ukrainian culture through published works, art, and teaching in higher education.

Light refreshments will be served.

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