Arts Quad concerts

The summer Friday night outdoor concert series on the Arts Quad begins on July 2, 7 p.m., with Diana Leigh and Crazy Rhythm playing sweet and sassy swing standards.

Paso Fino takes the stage July 9, featuring Diana Andersen and Shane Lamphier, joined by Bill King, Harry Aceto, Dave Davies and special guest Uniit Carruyo. This local "electrified acoustic rhythm and roots" band has been a longtime favorite at the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival.

On July 16, Jorge Cuevas with the Caribe Jazz All-Stars will play Latin jazz styles and songs.

All concerts start at 7 p.m. Lightning or heavy rain will move these concerts to Uris Hall auditorium. Information: http://www.sce.cornell.edu/ss/about/events/ or call 607-255-4987, e-mail cusce@cornell.edu.

Two family films

Cornell Cinema presents "How to Train Your Dragon," the story of an independent Viking teenager who saves rather than slays dragons, July 2 and 3 7:30-9:15 p.m., July 4 at 7 p.m., Willard Straight Theatre. "Alice in Wonderland" plays July 2 and 3, 9:45-11:45 p.m. Tickets for each: $4 students & children, $5.50 seniors, $7 general. Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu.

Biodiversity by day, hikes by night

The Museum of the Earth celebrates the International Year of Biodiversity with hands-on "Biodiversity Rocks!" activities every Saturday, 11 a.m.-noon, July and August. Admission. Information: http://museumoftheearth.org.

One-hour night hikes will be held at the Cayuga Nature Center every Friday in July and August at 8 p.m. Meet at the Museum of the Earth. Admission. Information: http://www.cayuganaturecenter.org.

Bound for Glory concerts

Bound for Glory presents honky-tonk Billy Eli, July 4, and Jeremiah McLane and David Surette, July 11. Both are free, open to all and run 8-11 p.m. live in the Anabel Taylor Café and broadcast on WVBR. Information: http://wvbr.com/.

Religious and academic freedom, sex and final solutions

Five upcoming public lectures sponsored by the School of Criticism and Theory are: "Politics of Religious Freedom: Sovereignty, Minority Rights, and Gender," July 5, by Saba Mahmood, University of California-Berkeley; "Sex and Secularity," July 6, by Michael Warner, Yale University; "Longing for the Future in the Age of New Media," July 12, by Timothy Murray, Cornell University; "Academic Freedom: How Odd is That?" July 13, by Stanley Fish, Florida International University; and "Historical and Literary Approaches to the 'Final Solution': Saul Friedlander and Jonathan Littell," July 14, by Dominick LaCapra, Cornell. All take place at 4 p.m., Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Information: http://sct.arts.cornell.edu.

Free Schwartz Center concerts

Violinist Victor Romanul and pianist Miri Yampolsky will perform Brahms' complete sonatas for violin and piano July 6, 7:30 p.m., at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Romanul has performed throughout the world as a solo and chamber artist and has taught at such schools as the Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Israeli pianist Miri Yampolsky made her orchestral debut at age 16 as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and maestro Zubin Mehta. An avid and active chamber musician, she is on the faculty of Cornell's Music Department and is co-artistic director of Mayfest, an international chamber music festival held annually at Cornell.

Accordionist Jeremiah McLane and guitarist David Surette will present "Northern Tunes and Songs," July 13 at 7:30 p.m., also at the Schwartz Center, with dance tunes from New England, Quebec and the British Isles. McLane, who teaches at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, performs regularly with Nightingale, Le Bon Vent, and the Clayfoot Strutters. Surette, folk music coordinator at the Concord (NH) Community Music School, is nationally known as a top player of Celtic finger-style guitar.

Information: http://www.sce.cornell.edu/ss/about/events/.

Paddling on Beebe Lake

Every Tuesday in July and August at 5:30 p.m., the Cornell Outing Club meets to improve paddling skills, including how to roll in a kayak, at Beebe Lake. Meet at Japes Lodge, Thurston Bridge end of Beebe Lake. Weekly meetings follow at 7:30 p.m. to prepare for upcoming trips. Membership per semester: $7, undergraduate students; $10, community members; includes gear needed for official club trips. Information: http://www.cornelloutingclub.org/twiki/bin/view.

Travel writer, sleep expert speak

Cornell's free summer lecture series opens with tales from travel writer Rachel Dickinson, July 7, 7:30 p.m., at the Statler Auditorium.

Dickinson will present an illustrated talk about her life as a travel writer -- from climbing to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, to photographing walruses in the Bering Sea. Her most recent book is "Falconer on the Edge: A Man, His Birds, and the Vanishing Landscape of the American West" (2009), and her travel pieces have appeared in such publications as The Atlantic, National Geographic Traveler and Audubon.

Also in the Statler, on July 14 at 7:30 p.m., sleep expert James Maas, Cornell professor and past chairman of the psychology department, will discuss how sufficient sleep helps maximize performance, concentration and productivity.

Information: http://www.sce.cornell.edu/ss/about/events/ or e-mail cusce@cornell.edu.

Bloomin' Wednesdays

Minns gardeners Addy Smith-Reiman and Pat MacRae invite Cornell gardening enthusiasts to spend Wednesday lunch hours checking out what's blooming on the Ag Quad. Venues include deeply shaded corners, sun-drenched rooftop garden terraces, lush "hidden" gardens and budding new green spaces. Meet at noon in front of Mann Library; bring garden gloves. Two special events: a garden tour of the Minns Garden, July 7, and an introduction to the Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot garden, Aug. 4. Information: http://blogs.cornell.edu/hort/2010/06/03/ or e-mail ars265@cornell.edu.

Scissorhands under the stars

"Edward Scissorhands" will show at the Willard Straight Terrace, July 7, 8:30 p.m. This venue includes cash bar and complimentary snacks. Tickets are $12/$10 students and seniors. Advance tickets go on sale July 6 from ars265@cornell.edu, the Cinema office in 104 Willard Straight Hall, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Willard Straight box office, 7:25-8:05 p.m. Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu or 607-255-3522. Rain location: Willard Straight Theatre.

Art for Lunch

Educator Hannah Dunn Ryan will discuss issues of gender, sexuality and identity in works on view throughout the Johnson Museum, July 8, noon-1 p.m. Free and open to the public. Information: http://museum.cornell.edu/.

Restored prints at the Cinema

Films from the UCLA Film and Television Archive -- the second-largest moving image archive in the United States -- have been touring across the country, with a final stop at Cornell.

Showing at Willard Straight Theatre are: "Song O' My Heart" (1930, directed by Frank Borzage), July 5, 7 p.m.; "Young America" (1932, directed by Borzage), July 5, 8:45 p.m.; "Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives" (1977, directed by Peter Adair, Nancy Adair, Veronica Selver, Andrew Brown, Robert Epstein and Lucy Massie Phenix), July 8, 7:45 p.m.; "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974, directed by John Cassavetes), July 8, noon; "Ruthless" (1948, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer), July 9, 7:30 p.m.; "In the Land of the Head Hunters" with live piano by Philip Carli (1914, directed by Edward S. Curtis) July 12, 7:45 p.m. Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu.

Two more films

Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, "The White Ribbon" presents the brutality of a small town in pre-WWI Germany. Showing July 8, 7:15 p.m., Willard Straight Theatre. Subtitled.

Directed by Roman Polanski, the "Ghost Writer" shows July 9, 9:45 p.m., Willard Straight Theatre, featuring a ghost writer who takes a job revamping the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister.

Effect of Gulf oil spill on marine ecosystems

Paula Mikkelsen, associate director for science at the Paleontological Research Institution, will present a noon lecture July 10 at the Museum of the Earth on "The Other 15,000: Marine Biodiversity at Risk in the Gulf of Mexico." She will explore how every habitat -- intertidal oyster bars, mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs and deepwater sand plains -- and thousands of species of invertebrates (coral, barnacles, snails, clams, starfish, sea urchins, sponges and others) may soon be impacted by the deep-water oil plume looping through the Gulf of Mexico. Specimens of shells and coral will be on display. Information: http://www.museumoftheearth.org or call 607-273-6623, ext. 33.

Macbeth in the arboretum

The Ithaca Shakespeare Company presents Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's most exciting plays, a feast of swordfights, soliloquies and the supernatural, July 16, 6-8 p.m., F.R. Newman Arboretum at Cornell Plantations (near the ponds and sculpture garden). Bring chairs, blankets and picnics. Suggested donation: $10. Additional showings July 17, 18, 22-25, 29-30, Aug. 1. Information: http://ithacashakespeare.org/.