Goings on about town. Week of November 11

Sunday, November 11th:

• 12:00-5:00pm, University Mall -- YMCA Crafts Fair.
• 2:30pm, Graduate Life Center Brush Mountain A -- Nuclear Power Play (workshop performance with interactive discussion) sponsored by TWISTS.
• 7:00pm, Blacksburg Public Library- Burning Book meeting.

Monday, November 12th:

• 7:00pm, McBryde 100- Presentation by Allyson Gibson of the Chesapeake Bay foundation.

Tuesday, November 13th:

• 2:00pm, Graduate Life Center -- Greenwashing & Lies, or Energy and the Environment Speaker Series. Stephen A. Walz, Virginia's senior adviser for energy policy and chair of Governor Kaine's Energy Policy Advisory Council, will speak on the Virginia Energy Plan and future directions for energy research. The Virgnia Energy Plan was largely written by the fossil fuel industry and promotes heavy reliance on oil, nuclear, coal and mointaintop removal. Bring your hard-hitting questions on energy policy and challenge out state politicians to do more.
• 5:00-7:00pm, Gilles -- Community dinner with author Larry Lohman.
• 7:00-9:00pm, Torgerson 1016 -- Larry Lohmann speaks about climate change, privatization and power, brought by Mountain Justice at Virginia Tech.
• 8:00-11:00pm, Gillies -- Old Time Jam.
  
• 7:00-8:00pm Saving the Planet and Animals One Meal at a Time." Presentation by Erica Meier of Compassion Over Killing. Squires Student Center, room 238.

Wednesday, Novermber 14th:

• 7:00-9:00pm, Squires 238 -- Mountain Justice at Virginia Tech meeting.
• 7:00pm, Pearisburg Municipal Building -- Given that our politicians chronically lack the courage to enact strong environmental legislation at the state/national level, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) focuses on (and has had great success) enacting such reforms at the local level. The presentation will be given to the Concerned Citizens of Giles County to assist in their opposition to the proposed AEP fly ash dump in Narrows, but should be of interest to anyone working for change at the local, state or national level.
• 7:00pm, Blacksburg Public Library -- Natural Healthcare Series: Dr. Lauren Scott Jones will share the “five essentials” for health and happiness and discuss what Chiropractic has to offer that other healthcare approaches don’t.
• 7:15-10:00pm, Whittemore 300 -- A Gift for the Village. In June of this year fifteen individuals traveled 13,000 miles from Blacksburg, Virginia, to the remote west of Nepal to deliver a gift: an enormous sacred painting for thte village of Jomsom. Sample sights, sounds and stories from the first festival ever held to celebrate a bond between Tibetan and Nepali communities and the people of southwest Virginia.
• 7:30. Squires Studio. EURYDICE. The Virginia Tech Department of Theatre Arts presents their second main stage production of the year, Eurydice, directed by Virginia Tech graduate student Megan Carney.
  

  This contemporary revision of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus is told through Eurydice’s eyes. It follows her journey through love and loss and the power of memory in a magical underworld filled with visual allure and surprising characters.

  The story of Orpheus and his love for Eurydice is considered one of the greatest love stories of all time and has been retold through history in poetry, songs, and films. Orpheus, we are told, is a great musician. He and Eurydice fall in love. On the day of their wedding, Eurydice dies. Orpheus is so overwhelmed with grief that he plays the most beautiful and sad music opening the gates of hell. In the underworld, Hades makes a deal with Orpheus: He can have Eurydice back if he can lead her out of the underworld without speaking to her or looking at her. If he looks back at her, she’ll be lost to him forever.

  Playwright Sarah Ruhl has altered the story with some surprises including a stranger in a high-rise apartment, a trip to the underworld in a raining elevator, and a reunion between Eurydice and her dead father. The play explores the ways that our memories of love and loss shape our lives and inform our choices.

  Sarah Ruhl’s plays include The Clean House which won the Susan Smith Blackburn award in 2004, Melancholy Play, Eurydice, Late: a cowboy song, Orlando and Passion Play. Originally from Chicago, Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University. In 2003, she was the recipient of the Helen Merrill Award and the Whiting Writers’ Award and in 2006 she was named a MacArthur Fellow. Eurydice premiered at Yale Repertory in 2006 and has just completed a successful Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre in New York.

Thursday, November 15th:

• 11:00-12:00pm, Virginia Bioinformatics Auditorium -- Can Rice Research Break the Cycle of Poverty for Rice Farmers in Asia? Presentation by proponenets of the controversial Green Revolution often associated with globalization, social injustice and environmental degredation.
• 3 PM Lyric Theatre, 135 University Blvd. Completed just before Hurricane Katrina, DESIRE offers a poignant
  perspective on the complicated dynamics of gender, class and race in New
  Orleans. Collaborating with filmmaker Julie Gustafson for five years-two
  girls from the 'Desire' public housing project, a working-class single
  mother and two girls from a prestigious private high school-make
  intimate videos about their changing lives. Masterfully weaving these
  short films into a larger narrative, Gustafson creates a landmark
  portrait of young women whose desires and choices are profoundly shaped
  by their family, social, and economic backgrounds. DESIRE has been
  featured in numerous national film festivals and received the 2005 New
  Orleans Film Festival awards for Best Documentary, Best Louisiana Film,
  and the Grand Jury Prize. Additionally, DESIRE was awarded Al Gore's
  'Reel Current Award' at the 2006 Nashville Film Festival.