Lectures
THE ACOUSTICS OF BAROQUE BASSOONS- Music Professor Bryant Hichwa describes the physical acoustics of 250-year-old bassoons and shows that mathematical models based on examination of museum bassoons reveal interesting societal cultural differences. Mon., April 27, 4 p.m. Darwin 103. What Physicists Do Lecture Series.http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/wpd/.
ASPERGER'S SYNDROME - (left) Psychology Professor Lorna Catford explores what it means to go through life with Asperger's Syndrome. Disability Awareness Week Brown Bag Lunch Series. Mon., April 27, noon - 1 p.m. Salazar 2014. Disabled Student Services. (707) 664-2677.
OUR MOTHER'S WAR: A BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD OF THE DUTCH RESISTANCE - Christina Radisch explores her mother's life and the lives of the Dutch people under the German occupation during WWII. 26th Annual Holocaust Lecture Series. Tues., April 28, 4 - 5:40 p.m. centerh@sonoma.edu www.sonoma.edu/holocaust/center.htm.
BEING A SATURDAY SIDEKICK - Curriculum Studies and Secondary Eduation Professor Elaine McHugh and the sisters of Lambda Sigma Gamma Sorority, Inc. describe what it means to be a Saturday Sidekick, a once-a-week student volunteer program to aims to improve the lives of developmentally disabled children. Disability Awareness Week Brown Bag Lunch Series. Tues., April 28, noon - 1 p.m. Salazar 2014. Disabled Student Services. (707) 664-2677.
MCNAIR SCHOLARS RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM -The first annual McNair Research Symposium, named in honor of Ronald McNair (right) and fellow astronauts killed in the Challenger explosion, celebrates the research accomplishments of McNair Scholars who present a culmination of their research and current findings. Various disciplines are represented. Tues., April 28, 1 - 4 p.m. Cooperage. Jeff Davis. (707) 664-2698.
BIRDS, BEES, AND VENEREAL DISEASE - Julian Carter, a queer theorist and historian and currently the Chair of the Critical Studies Program at California College for the Arts, describes the ways in which modern U.S. sex education, from its early 20th-century roots, promoted cultural hetero-normativity and whiteness through claims to "development" based in ecology and zoology coupled with claims of "contagion" spread by so-called "perverse" sexualities. Gender Lecture Series. Tues., April 28, noon. Carson 68. Don Romesburg. (707) 664-2574.
MATHEMATICS, ENERGY, AND CLIMATE CHANGE - Juan Meza, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, examines the connections between mathematics, the development of new and efficient energy sources and methods for analyzing the effects of climate change. M*A*T*H* Colloquium. Wednesday, April 29, 4 p.m. Darwin 103. (707) 664-2368. http://www.sonoma.edu/math/nsf/colloquium.shtml.
AUDIOLOGY - Peter Marincovich explores what it means to be deaf or hard of hearing. Disability Awareness Week Brown Bag Lunch Series. Weds., April 29, noon - 1 p.m. Salazar 2014. Disabled Student Services. (707) 664-2677.
ON THAT DAY EVERYBODY ATE- Magaret Trost, founder and director of the What If? Foundation, speaks about her book: On That Day Everybody Ate. Partnering with Father Gerry Jean-Juste and St. Clare's Catholic Church in Port-au-Prince, Trost and the What If? Foundation help to feed and educate hundreds of impoverished children in Haiti, providing hope and opportunity for countless poor and disadvantaged individuals. Her story is an account of the creation of this partnership, and a powerful testimony of one woman's effort to make a difference. Weds., April 29, 10 - 11:30 a.m. Schulz 3001. Suzanne Toczyski. (707) 664-4177.
TURNING AWAY FROM HATE WITH T.J. LEYDEN - (left) T.J. Leyden, a Neo-Nazi white supremacist, activist and recruiter experiences a profound change of heart, turns away from hate and begins teaching tolerance. Associated Student Productions and Residential Life. Weds., April 29, 7:30 p.m. Cooperage. (707) 664-2382. www.sonoma.edu/as/asp.
UNDERSTANDING ROTATION - Jason Shankel, Maxis Software, explains how geometric rotation is a cornerstone of physics, animation, and graphics programming and examines how rotation operations are represented and utilized in 3D applications Computer Science Colloquium. Thurs., April 30, noon. Salazar 2016. (707) 664-2667. www.cs.sonoma.edu/cs_dept/events/CS_S09_Colloquium.pdf.
TRANSITION TO WORK - The Department of Rehabilitation raises awareness about the process of transition back to work for those with disabilities. Disability Awareness Week Brown Bag Lunch Series. Thurs., April 29, noon - 1 p.m. Salazar 2014. Disabled Student Services. (707) 664-2677.
THE REAL WORLD: BROOKLYN'S KATELYNN CUSANELLI - (right) On the TV series "Real World: Brooklyn," Katelynn Cusanelli's past stood out in stark contrast to those of her roommates. From her early childhood, Cusanelli struggled with gender identity in an attempt to figure out why she was born male when she clearly felt female inside. She completed her transformative surgery just three weeks before moving into the Real World house and brought the results to be seen all over the world. Cusanelli has toured the nation delivering her message to students of all backgrounds. She discusses equality for all genders and sexualities and her struggle with the inequality and prejudice in the world around her. Fri., May 1, 7 p.m. Cooperage. (707) 664-2382. www.sonoma.edu/as/asp.
HISTORY OF DISABILITY SERVICES AT SSU - Anthony Tusler describes the history of SSU's Disabled Services Department. Disability Awareness Week Brown Bag Lunch Series. Fri., May 1, noon - 1 p.m. Salazar 2014. Disabled Student Services. (707) 664-2677.
PUBLIC VIEWING NIGHT - Join amateur and professional viewers to observe the night sky, including the Whirlpool Galaxy, Saturn and the Moon. 9 - 11 p.m. Sonoma State Observatory. (707) 664-2267.
Theater
MIRACLE JUNKIE - The Miracle Junkie concerns Gus Chitnik, a middle-aged retiree living in Vallejo, California. His core focus in life is centered on a bizarre, underground religion called Crystal Moonrayism, named after a renowned clairvoyant. Gus is so entranced by Moonrayism that he neglects the needs of his rather eccentric, but highly dysfunctional family. His family includes a perpetually depressed wife named Eileen and four children, all of whom are forced to deal with individually troubling crises through the course of the play. Though it is not a musical, music and dance are integrated to offer a deeper immersion into the variety of dramatic storytelling methods of theatre arts which will bring something new to an original, contemporary American story, and give audiences something they have never seen before. This piece was inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht, Ancient Greek theatre, and German Expressionism. Fri., May 1, 7:30 p.m. Sat., May 2, 7:30 p.m. Sun., May 3, 2 p.m. Ives 76. (707) 228-0766.
SPRING DANCE PERFORMANCE- (left) Spirited dancing by the SSU Dance Ensemble and stunning choreography by critically acclaimed guest artists from the San Francisco Bay Area and resident dance faculty Kristen Daley and Nancy Lyons. $15 general, $12 faculty/alumni/staff, $8 seniors/students, Free SSU students. Fri., May 1, 7:30 p.m. Sat., May 2, 7:30 p.m. Tues., May 5., 7:30 p.m. Weds., May 6, 7:30 p.m. Thurs., May 7., 7:30 p.m. Fri., May 8, 7:30 p.m. Sat., May 9, 7:30 p.m. Person Theater. http://www.sonoma.edu/performingarts/perf.
O PRIMAVERA - The SSU Chorus celebrates spring time with a variety of choral works, featuring Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, as well as selections by Monteverdi, Bach and Brahms. Music director is Jenny Brent. $12 general, $10 faculty/alumni/staff, $8 seniors/students, Free to SSU students. Fri., May 1, 8 p.m. Sat., May 2, 8 p.m. (707) 664-2353. www.sonomachoral.org.
Films
THE GREAT RAID - Based on the inspirational true story of the most triumphant rescue mission in U.S. military history, the liberation of the Cabanatuan prison camp on the Philippine island of Luzon during WWII. Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Mon., April 27, 7 p.m. Student Union Multipurpose Room. (707) 664-2382. www.sonoma.edu/s/asp.
LEON, THE PROFESSIONAL - (1994) (French Gangsters in New York City) Two years after it was first released, Luc Besson came out with this extended version of his international hit Leon (released as The Professional in the U.S. 24 minutes of footage was added to this stylish tale of a hit-man (Jean Reno) who becomes an unlikely friend to a 12 year-old girl (Natalie Portman) as he shoots it out with the police and a maniacal gangster, played in a typically unrestrained fashion by Gary Oldman. (132 minutes). Thurs., April 30, 7 p.m. Darwin 103. (707) 664-4332. http://www.sonoma.edu/sfi/.
TWO EARLY DOCUMENTARIES BY MIRA NAIR - India Cabaret- By focusing on a group of female strippers who work in a nightclub in the suburbs of Bombay, India Cabaret explores the "respectable" and "corrupt" stereotypes which typify women in contemporary Indian society. It shows us the ordinary lives the dancers lead during the day, and follows them into the dressing room where they transform themselves into "queens of the night" (1985, 60 min.). So Far From India- A documentary examining two worlds: that of an Indian subway newsstand worker in Manhattan and the traditional world of his new bride awaiting him in his ancestral home in India (1982, 52 min.). Sonoma Film Institute. Fri., May 1, 7 p.m. Sun., May 3, 4 p.m. Warren Auditorium, Ives 101. (707) 664-4332. http://www.sonoma.edu/sfi/.
BURN AFTER READING - (2008) Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), a Balkan expert is fired at the CIA, so he begins a memoir. His wife wants a divorce and expects her lover, Harry, a philandering State Department marshal, to leave his wife. A diskette of Osbourne's musings falls out of a gym bag at a Georgetown fitness center. Two employees there try to turn it into cash. Scene It Movie Night. Sat., May 2, 9 p.m. Cooperage. (707) 664 2815. www.sonoma.edu/as/asp.
Galleries
ANNUAL BFA EXHIBITION 20009 - The BFA Exhibition 2009 features the work of six students in the Art Department graduating this Spring with their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), an advanced degree requiring an additional year of focused study in their chosen medium---Lily Cain (painting and printmaking), Abelardo Cruz-Santiago (mixed media printmaking), Itzul Gutierrez (sculpture/print installation), Johnny King (printmaking), Logan Stocksdale (ceramic sculpture), and Emily Wiseman (painting). Open Thurs., April 30 - Sat., May 23. Tues. - Fri., 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sat. & Sun., noon - 4 p.m. Carla Stone. (707) 664-2295.
