Provided

Local farms participate in Ag Day, April 25 on the Ag Quad, a celebration of agriculture at Cornell and in the greater Ithaca community.

SpringFest/Ag Day

SpringFest, Cornell’s annual sustainability celebration, is April 25, noon-4 p.m. on the Ag Quad. Food is available, and punch cards are redeemable for prizes with 10 punches, for using a reusable mug, cup or bag at Cornell Dining or SpringFest, or visiting tables at the event.

Campus groups participating include the Cornell Sustainability Hub, Engineers without Borders, Farmers Market @ Cornell, Big Red Bikes, Cornell University Sustainable Design, AguaClara, Take Back the Tap and CU Compost.

SpringFest is held in conjunction with the semiannual Ag Day celebration, April 25 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Organized by Alpha Zeta, the coed agricultural fraternity, Ag Day features house plants and vegetables to buy; cows, goats, horses and sheep; and booths representing local dairies, orchards, vegetable and fiber farms; Cornell Plantations and the Department of Crop and Soil Science.

sAlso, the last day for Farmer’s Market @ Cornell on the Ag Quad this semester is Thursday, May 1.

Pedal for Pets

The Pedal for Pets 2014 fundraiser Saturday, April 26, will support the Patient Assistance Fund at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals.

Registration is at 9 a.m. in the hospital’s Centennial Room, and the ride starts at 10 a.m. from B Lot. Participation is open to anyone 18 or older, and there will be a celebration at the end of the ride.

Riders can choose to cycle 11, 20 or 50 miles; and sponsors can support the riders and the fund via an online form. More information is available at the link above or here.

The Patient Assistance Fund benefits community members and their animals by providing financial resources to pet owners who cannot otherwise afford medical care for their animals.

Pedal for Pets is hosted and organized by the Cornell student chapter of the American Veterinary Association.

Pop culture and comics

CornellCon, a pop culture, media and comics event, is April 27 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. in Robert Purcell Community Center. Free and open to the public.

CornellCon features video games, anime, comics, prizes, food, free laser tag, and performances by Professor ShyGuy, Sammus, String Theory, <3 A Cappella and Ring of Steel. Guests are encouraged to come in costume, and enter a cosplay contest to win gift cards. Raffle entries are free for all.

Special guests include comic artist Steve Ellis, and graduate students Molly Katz and Seth Soulstein will present on the current role of fans in popular culture and real-world activism. Katz teaches the English course “Cultural Studies: Fanfiction,” and Soulstein is the instructor of “Fans, Cult Audiences and Camp” in the Department of Performing and Media Arts.

Sponsored by Community Center Programs, North Campus Programming Council and the Cornell Japanese Animation Society.

Video symposium

The History of Art Majors’ Society (HAMS) will present “Screens of Dissent: Framing the Political in Video Art,” April 29 from 5-7 p.m. in the A.D. White House. Free and open to the Cornell community.

The screening and discussion of video art from the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art features works by Peter Campus, Julio Soto and Nina Yuen, and brief presentations by Madeleine Casad, associate curator of the Goldsen Archive; professor of art Renate Ferro; and professor of performing and media arts Sabine Haenni.

The video symposium is presented in conjunction with the HAMS exhibition “enticing the eye/exploring the frame,” at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art through July 6. Supported by the Cornell Council for the Arts, the exhibition examines framing through abstraction, identity and the medium itself.

The student organization co-curates a themed exhibition at the museum each year, using artworks from the Johnson’s permanent collection. This is the first time video art from the Goldsen Archive has been shown as part of a public exhibition, HAMS President Margaret Merrell ’14 said.

Engaged anthropology

Challenged to become more actively engaged with and play a larger role in democratizing society, universities are partnering with people to reduce inequities and provide greater access to knowledge gained from anthropological research. This engaged stance moves the application of theory, methods and practice toward action and activism, and reduces disparities in underserved communities.

Sam Beck will discuss his book “Toward Engaged Anthropology” in a Chats in the Stacks book talk, April 30 at 4 p.m. in 160 Mann Library.

Beck is a senior lecturer in the College of Human Ecology and director of Cornell’s Urban Semester Program.

The book, published in July 2013 and co-edited by Beck and Carl A. Maida, offers essays by seven experts on a new form of engaged, public anthropology that is taking hold in the field for its promise to address social and economic disparities found in many communities and social groups.

Books will be available for purchase and signing. Information: mannlib.cornell.edu/events-exhibits

Local color

Ithaca writer-director Becky Lane will show her short films “Hens and Chicks,” “Poker Face,” “Happy Hour” and “The Chanticleer” at Cornell Cinema Wednesday, April 30, at 7 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

A sociologist and filmmaker, Lane’s projects explore cultural complexities, including LGBT issues and history, while entertaining with warmth and humor. Lane, a lecturer in media arts at Ithaca College, and members of her creative team will introduce the films and conduct a Q-and-A with the audience.

The screening will benefit production of “The Chanticleer” as a feature film, set in 1955 and inspired by lesbian pulp fiction novels of the mid 20th-century.