Rich Gilligan

Author Colum McCann reads from his fiction Oct. 24 in Uris Auditorium.

Fundraising on ice

The Big Red women’s ice hockey team will support Cornell’s United Way campaign at the team’s opening game against Northeastern University, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. at Lynah Rink.

Friends of the United Way of Tompkins County will give $1 to the United Way for every person who attends the game, and raffles for prize drawings at the game will also aid the campaign. Before the face-off, Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 will declare Oct. 19 Cornell Women’s Hockey Day in the City of Ithaca, to honor the four-time defending ECAC and Ivy League champions.

Tickets are $4-$6; free for children through preschool age. Cornell student tickets are free with a Big Red Sports Pass. Information, tickets: http://cornellbigredtickets.universitytickets.com/

Also, Skate Night at Lynah Rink features music and public skating Friday, Oct. 18, from 8-10 p.m.

Music for ensembles

The Solisti Ensemble will perform the music of Tchaikovsky, Rossini, Markov, Shostakovich, Brahms and Grieg, as well as Vaughan Williams’ Five Variants of “Dives and Lazarus,” Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Free and open to the public.

The guest ensemble, directed by Byung-Kook Kwak, will perform with string players from the Cornell and Ithaca High School orchestras and the Tompkins County Youth Orchestra.

The concert is supported in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts. Information: http://www.solistiensemble.org/

Give blood

Beginning Monday, Oct. 21, several campus organizations will sponsor blood drives with the American Red Cross.

On Oct. 21, Cornell’s Phi Delta Epsilon chapter sponsors a drive from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Hans Bethe House, and Hands on Health sponsors a drive from noon-5 p.m. in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room. Community Impact (a student organization at Johnson) will sponsor a drive Oct. 30 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in Sage Hall.

Other drives will be scheduled through November. Donors also can sign up at www.redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Sonic waves

Cornell Cinema welcomes two visiting documentary filmmakers this week for screenings of “Wavemakers,” Oct. 22, and “Our Nixon,” Oct. 24.

Caroline Martel presents “Wavemakers,” an exploration of the ondes Martenot – an electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 with a sound similar to a theremin – and its place in 20th-century technology and culture. The 2013 documentary and a live demonstration by ondist Geneviève Grenier showcase the Martenot’s sonic capabilities. Classical and film composers and conductors who have used the instrument include Olivier Messiaen, Leopold Stokowski, Pierre Boulez, Elmer Bernstein, Dominic Frontiere, Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead and Maurice Jarre.

Director Penny Lane will introduce “Our Nixon,” showing a never-before-seen side of Richard Nixon in a new documentary portrait compiled from Super 8 home movies by White House aides H.R. Haldeman, Dwight Chapin and John Ehrlichman.

Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu

Defending the planet

Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), will lecture and answer questions on “Climate Change and Natural Gas: Protecting Our People and Planet,” Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. in Milstein Hall Auditorium. Free and open to the public.

Krupp will describe EDF’s strategy for dealing with the environmental impacts of the shale gas boom, including protecting public health, local communities and ecosystems from unacceptable outcomes, and accelerating the transition to clean renewable energy.

His talk, presented by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future’s Outside Voice Speaker Series, can be viewed live at on CornellCast. Questions can be submitted via Twitter at #ACSF_EDF.

All about insects

Angela Douglas will discuss how insects can help us to understand the natural world in a book talk on “The Insects: Structure and Function,” Oct. 24 at 4 p.m. in 160 Mann Library.

“The Insects,” a detailed look at anatomy and physiology and how they relate to behavior, has been the standard textbook in the field since it was published more than 40 years ago. As co-editor of the book’s fifth edition, Douglas worked with a team of insect physiologists to revise, expand and build on the strengths of the original text by Reginald Chapman.

Douglas is the Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor of Insect Physiology and Toxicology at Cornell, and a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and the Entomological Society of America.

Refreshments and a book signing will follow. The Chats in the Stacks Book Talk is free and open to the public.

Also, the Department of Entomology’s annual Insectapalooza offers a variety of exhibits and live insect displays Saturday, Oct. 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Comstock Hall. Admission is $2, free for children under age 3. Information: http://entomology.cals.cornell.edu/news-events/insectapalooza

Colum McCann reading

National Book Award winner Colum McCann will give the Eamon McEneaney Memorial Reading, Oct. 24 at 4:30 p.m. in Uris Auditorium. Free and open to the public.

Known as a poetic realist, McCann is the author of two story collections and six novels and has been published in more than 35 languages. He teaches creative writing at Hunter College in New York City.

His novel “Let The Great World Spin,” a best-seller on four continents, won several awards including the 2009 National Book Award. McCann also received the American Academy of Arts and Letters literary award in 2011, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010 and a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government in 2009. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Paris Review, Granta and The Atlantic Monthly.

The reading is sponsored by the Department of English Creative Writing Program. Information: creativewriting@cornell.edu or 607-255-7847.