Park parking

Cornell takes part in PARK(ing) Day Sept. 15, an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens turn metered parking spots into temporary public parks.

Student groups will transform three locations on campus this year: at the information booth near Cornell Dairy on Tower Road, the parking area between Malott Hall and the Big Red Barn, and the metered parking lot at 626 Thurston Avenue. Stop by, enjoy the temporary miniparks and learn about sustainability and design from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Practices of love

Philosophy scholar Kyle David Bennett gives a public lecture, “Loving Your Neighbor Through the Itty-Bitty Things We Do Every Day,” Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Africana Studies and Research Center, 310 Triphammer Road. It is sponsored by Cornell United Religious Work, Chesterton House and New Life Presbyterian Church.

Prior to the lecture, he presents “The Renewing of Your Mind” from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Willard Straight Hall Art Gallery, a Claritas Conversation sponsored by Chesterton House.

Bennett is an assistant professor of philosophy at Caldwell University and program director of its Spirituality and Leadership Institute. In his new book “Practices of Love: Spiritual Disciplines for the Life of the World,” Bennett argues that Christian spiritual traditions not only deepen one’s relationship with God but were designed to impact our relationships with neighbors, strangers, enemies, friends, family, animals and the earth.

A Claritas Conversation on “Race & Rhetoric” with Michael Chen is Sept. 22 from 5 to 6 p.m. in the WSH Music Room, 411 Willard Straight Hall.

A day with the birds

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s annual Migration Celebration, Sept. 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., welcomes the public to explore the facility at 159 Sapsucker Woods Road with interactive exhibits, crafts and games, workshops, trail walks, live birds and other activities. Admission is free.

Visitors can learn about bird migration and conservation, build a birdhouse, watch scientists band wild birds and see live owls, hawks and other birds of prey with volunteers from the Cornell Raptor Program. Free workshop tickets will be available at the event’s welcome table.

The celebration also features food from The Good Truck, ice cream from Cayuga Lake Creamery and a beatbox performance with bird and animal sounds by DJ Ecotone at 3 p.m.

And the lab presents Bird Cams Appreciation Night, Sept. 16, 6-8:30 p.m. in the auditorium in B25 Warren Hall. The event includes video highlights and insights gained from watching live nesting birds, a Q&A and refreshments. Free; RSVP required. The event will be livestreamed starting at 7 p.m.

Trevor Noah live

South African comedian and host of “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah performs Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. in Barton Hall. Tickets are $25 reserved and $23 general admission for Cornell students, $30 reserved and $28 general admission for all others, available from Universitytickets.com.

The show is presented by the Cornell University Program Board and the Multicultural Concert Funding Advisory Board. A sign-language interpreter will be present. People with disabilities requiring assistance at the event can contact Denice Cassaro at dac11@cornell.edu or 607-255-8824.

A Bronx tale

Cornell Cinema shows the Ithaca premiere of “Bronx Gothic,” a portrait of writer-performer Okwui Okpokwasili and her one-woman show, Sept. 20 at 7:15 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

The film explores Okpokwasili’s creative process, engagement with audiences and the social issues and childhood memories that inspired “Bronx Gothic.” The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, she fuses dance, song, drama and comedy to tell the story of two 12-year-old black girls in the 1980s. Director Andrew Rossi’s films also include “Page One: Inside the New York Times” and “The First Monday in May.”

Writing for killer clowns

Screenwriter and director Chase Palmer visits for a discussion and Q&A with students Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center’s Film Forum. It is free and open to the public and presented by the Department of Performing and Media Arts’ Professional Directions Series.

Based in Brooklyn, Palmer is a co-screenwriter of “It,” adapted from Stephen King’s 1986 novel and now in theaters. His current projects in development include the series “Biopunk,” as creator and writer; adapting the New York Times series “The Outlaw Ocean” for Netflix; and writing and directing the psychological horror film “Black Lung” and the thriller “Number Thirteen,” about Alfred Hitchcock’s abandoned first film.

Good and evil

Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” a World War II-era parable about good and evil, will be staged by the Department of Performing and Media Arts Sept. 21-23 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Performances in the Kiplinger Theatre are Sept. 21, 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15; $8 for all students, senior citizens and the Cornell community, available at schwartztickets.com or the Schwartz Center box office, open Monday through Saturday, 1-8 p.m.

Brecht fled Germany in 1933 during Hitler’s rise to power and wrote the tale of murder, romance and compassion in 1944 while living in the United States. Director Beth F. Milles, associate professor of performing and media arts, worked with the cast of 12 to make the story relevant to a modern audience in light of recent violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The cast will perform original music by stage and screen composer Lewis Flinn. The production is supported by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.