'Spoglia' from stage to screen

Cornell Cinema will present live music by Mary Brett Lorson and Jennie Lowe Stearns with films inspired by Italian cinema in "Spoglia Redux," Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre.

The innovative set of short films by Byron Suber, a lecturer in Theatre, Film and Dance, originally was created for "Spoglia," a live multimedia performance in March 2008 at the Schwartz Center, directed and choreographed by Suber with subsequent performances in New Orleans, New York, Dublin, Paris and Rome. Lorson and Stearns performed in and collaborated on the original production in Ithaca.

The films share a preoccupation with Rome as a film location and contrasting feelings of home and exile. Shot entirely in Ithaca, the shorts re-create scenes from Italian neorealist and postwar classics including Roberto Rossellini's "Rome, Open City," Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Accatone" and "Mamma Roma," Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" and Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'ecclise (The Eclipse)."

Advance tickets are $8, $6 for students and senior citizens, at http://CornellCinemaTickets.com.

Birds and beans

Learn how coffee drinking habits can help conserve bird habitat at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird-Friendly Coffee Expo, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at 159 Sapsucker Woods Road.

Displays and videos in the lab's observatory will show how birds are affected by coffee plantations and the science behind bird-friendly, shade-grown coffee. Bring a mug to taste a variety of bird-friendly brands. Visitors can also take a guided bird walk at 8 a.m. that day. Information: http://www.birds.cornell.edu.

Improvisational spirit

Pianist Gabriela Montero will open the 2009-10 Cornell Concert Series season with a recital Sunday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall.

Born in Venezuela, Montero performed in the John Williams quartet at President Barack Obama's inauguration and has appeared on NPR's "Performance Today" and CBS's "60 Minutes." She will play solo piano works by Brahms and Ginastera, followed by live improvisations on themes and melodies suggested by audience members.

"I connect to my audience in a completely unique way, and they connect with me," she says.

Reserved seating tickets are $22, $28 and $32 for the general public, $16 for students in all sections. The Cornell discount rate is available online only with valid netID, at http://www.cornellconcertseries.com or http://www.baileytickets.com. Also available at Ticket Center Ithaca, in Center Ithaca on the Commons; or by phone: 607-273-4497 or 800-284-8422.

Judy's Day

Celebrate plant traditions from around the world at Judy's Day, a free family learning festival with exhibits, stories, music, food, crafts and activities, Sept. 20 from 1 to 5 p.m. at Cornell Plantations' F.R. Newman Arboretum. The event features more than 70 booths and 20 tents full of activities including "Native Peoples, Native Plants," "Rice Is Life," "Chocolate -- Food of the Gods," and booths highlighting plant uses in herbal remedies, holiday traditions, musical instruments and more.

The annual festival, started in 1997, is held in memory of Judy Abrams (1940-96), an Ithaca teacher and community volunteer. Parking is free at Cornell's B Lot, off Route 366. A shuttle bus will make regular runs to the arboretum. Information: http://plantations.cornell.edu/node/1689.

Darwish memorial

The Institute for Comparative Modernities (ICM) will host a Mahmoud Darwish Memorial Forum Sept. 24, 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the A.D. White House, followed by a public reception. The Palestinian poet (1941-2008) is known throughout the Arab world and internationally, with more than 30 poetry and prose collections translated into 35 languages.

The ICM will remember Darwish's work and its significance with a keynote address by Iraqi writer/translator Sinan Antoon; readings of his poetry by Cornell faculty members Salah Hassan, Deborah Starr, Reem Fadda and others; excerpts from recordings of Darwish; and the Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Ensemble performing Marcel Khalife's musical settings of Darwish's poems.

Co-sponsored by the Society for the Humanities and the Department of Near Eastern Studies. http://www.icm.arts.cornell.edu.

Iran and politics

The Cornell International Affairs Review will sponsor a panel discussion, "Tehran Divided: Iran's Presidential Election and Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy," Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. in B45 Warren Hall.

Cornell faculty panelists are Iago Gocheleishvili and Ziad Fahmy, Near Eastern studies; and David Patel, government. Information: http://www.rso.cornell.edu/ciar.

Cancer and environment forum

Cornell's Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) will hold a Regional Cancer and Environment Forum, open to the public, Sept. 22, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Weill Hall.

Topics and presenters include: "Evidence-Based Practice for Preventive Health," Donald Tobias, policy analysis and management; "Lipstick to Laundry Detergents: Avoiding Environmental Estrogens in Everyday Products," Suzanne Snedeker '78, BCERF associate director of translational research; "Water Resources and Natural Gas Production From the Marcellus Shale," William Kappel, U.S. Geological Survey; ecologist Sandra Steingraber, a BCERF visiting professor, will present new evidence linking water and air pollution to breast cancer; and there will be a panel discussion on Marcellus Shale natural gas production.

Registration is required; contact Lyn Park at 607-254-2893 or lcn4@cornell.edu. Space is limited.

Religion and equality

A community dialogue on "Discrimination: Free Speech and Religious Liberty vs. Equality and Respect?" will be held Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m. in Sage Chapel.

Speakers include Steven H. Shiffrin, professor of law at Cornell Law School and author of "The Religious Left and Church-State Relations" (2009); Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center and an expert on religious liberty and religion in American public life; and opening remarks by Matt Carcella, director of the LGBT Resource Office.

Sponsored by Cornell United Religious Work and the Office of the Dean of Students.

Future of Islam

John Esposito of Georgetown University speaks on "The Future of Islam and Muslim-West Relations in the 21st Century" Sept. 24 at 4:30 p.m. in Bache Auditorium, Malott Hall.

Esposito is a professor of religion and international affairs and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service. The lecture is open to the public and is presented by the Islamic Alliance for Justice, the Cornell International Affairs Review and Americans for Informed Democracy.

Welfare states conference

The Cornell Institute for European Studies and Cornell's Center for the Study of Inequality will host the conference "Making Welfare States Work: Citizens, Workers and Welfare States in Comparative Perspective," Sept. 25-26 in B06 Sage Hall.

Sociologists and political scientists from Europe, the United States and Australia will examine the links between welfare state policies and people's preferences, skills, needs and behaviors in European and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Information, registration: 255-7592 or jkg52@cornell.edu.

'Science Friday' tickets

NPR's "Science Friday," with host Ira Flatow, will broadcast live from Cornell's Bailey Hall Friday, Oct. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. The event is presented by WEOS-FM.

Free tickets, limited to two per person, are available at the Willard Straight Hall Ticket Desk and Ticket Center Ithaca on the Commons; printable online tickets will be available starting Sept. 21 at http://BaileyTickets.com.

Note that there is limited parking on campus; carpooling or taking the bus is encouraged. Campus parking permits are $10. For special parking needs, call 255-4600.

Information: http://www.weos.org/sciencefriday.