Programs & Special EventsHere are some of the great programs to look forward to at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center the week of March 7th:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Seaborg Learning Consortium Is Fully Launched!The Seaborg Learning Consortium is in high gear with programming already scheduled out for the next 6 months. See below for programs coming up in the next few weeks. For a list of all the events we have currently scheduled, click here. Glenn Seaborg Learning ConsortiumLawrence Hall of ScienceFour Tuesdays, March 2, 9, 16 & 23 | Arts & Science Discovery Center
You and your child will meet friendly animals from the LHS Animal Discovery Room… one very soft, one with spots, one that flies, and one that swims. We’ll pet them, feed them, and even see one of them take a bath! Children will make an animal project to take home each week. Register Securely online Chabot Space & Science Center Tuesday, March 9 | Arts & Science Discovery Center
Chabot will host a program at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center/Glenn Seaborg Learning Consortium on March 9. Learn about different types of seismic waves & what it takes for structures to remain standing, then "be the quake" and see what happens! California Shakespeare Theatre Saturday, March 13 | 12:00 - 3:00 PM | Community Hall
From Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet, the great stage fights of Shakespeare are always thrilling. Led by Cal Shakes Teaching Artist and Dueling Arts San Francisco lead fight director Carla Pantoja, students will explore and develop the essential skills necessary for performing safe, effective stage combat in armed and unarmed fight disciplines. Oakland Museum of California Wednesday, March 17 | 7:30 - 9:00 pm | Community Hall
Most people recognize the Arts and Crafts Movement as a style of furniture and decorative arts, but few may realize that it was much more than just that. The Arts and Crafts Movement was a philosophy that pushed the ideas of reform through industrialized Europe and America in the late 19th to early 20th century. Focusing her discussion on California art and architecture, Julie Muñiz, Curator of Craft and Decorative Arts at the Oakland Museum of California, will discuss the Movement and why it preached that the secret to happiness “lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” The Commonwealth Club of CaliforniaThursday, March 18 | 6:30 pm | Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall
Location: Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette For tickets, visit commonwealthclub.org or call (415) 597-6705. California Shakespeare TheatreSunday, March 28 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM | Community Hall
Will you play the hero or the villain? Listen to and then act out stories from two of Shakespeare’s most famous plays with Cal Shakes Teaching Artist and Director of Artistic Learning Trish Tillman. Learn all about the power-hungry Macbeths and evil magic of medieval Scotland, and the delightful wit and quarrels of Beatrice, Benedick, and Dogberry. They are all here and waiting for you to pull them from the pages of Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing! Oakland Museum of California Thursday, April 1 | 7:00 - 9:00 pm | Community Hall
Between Mexican independence in 1821, and the start of the Mexican-American war in 1846, about fifteen percent of Californian women married Euro-American and European men. Over the years since then, the famous wedding of Alfred Robinson and Anita de la Guerra in Santa Barbara has come for many to represent all such marriages, and a potent symbol of bloodless conquest. But my study of the de la Guerra family suggests that while it makes a great romance, the story of a backward and self-sufficient pastoral society betrayed by dashing blue-eyed businessmen from America does not accurately describe California in the early nineteenth century. Seen from the perspective of California's elites, their wedding signaled not a defeat, but victory. California Shakespeare TheatreMonday–Friday, April 5-9 | 9:00 AM–12:00 Noon | Community Hall
In this class, middle-school-age students delve more deeply into Shakespeare’s comedy and language, developing acting, voice, movement, and text skills as they prepare to perform scenes from Much Ado About Nothing. Designed for young actors with some familiarity with Shakespeare, students will have fun and be challenged as they continue to discover Shakespeare's characters through the original text, culminating in a performance for friends and family. Taught by Cal Shakes Director of Artistic Learning Trish Tillman. Oakland Zoo Wednesday, April 7 | 10:00-11:30 AM | Arts & Science Discovery Center
Learn about the habits, habitats and survival challenges of rescued and exotic California Shakespeare TheatreSunday, April 11 | 11:00 AM–2:00 PM | Community Hall
Have you ever wondered how a Cal Shakes actor prepares for a role? Or what happens when a prop is missing? This three-hour session explores the work of an actor and offers students the chance to try out their acting skills! Hear about the preparation an actor goes through and then try it yourself by performing a short scene. Taught by a Cal Shakes Associate Artist. Lawrence Hall of ScienceFour Mondays, April 12, 19, 26, & May 3 | 3:30-5:00 PM | Arts & Science Discovery Center
See what you can design and build when you engage your creativity and what you can discover looking at the inner workings of machines, devices and structures that we use everyday. Working in a team to design unique creations and solve challenges, you will practice your skills as an architect and engineer and be amazed at what you can make…and take apart! Projects include scribbling machines, bridge design and construction, cardboard contraptions and recycled electronics creations. Register Securely online Institute of Governmental Studies, UC BerkeleyTuesday, April 13 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
Author and Time political analyst Mark Halperin reveals stories that emerged from his unrivaled access "behind the curtain" during the 2008 presidential campaign. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character-driven and dialogue-rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, it’s an intimate portrait of some of the most powerful and fascinating figures in American life—the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime. Not to be missed!! Oakland Zoo Wednesday, April 14 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
Many animals around the world are facing extinction. Deforestation, illegal pet trade, over hunting and other factors are leading to a decline in many animal species. Hear how the Zoo collaborates internationally to educate and preserve species and their natural habitats. California Shakespeare Theater Tuesday, April 20 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
John Steinbeck was one of only a very few writers to be awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature. In his 40 year career, he wrote more than 30 books, the majority of them set in his native California. The Pastures of Heaven, his second book, is considered the one in which Steinbeck "found" the subject matter, the people of the Salinas valley, on which he would elaborate for the rest of his life. Experience a lesser known but important Steinbeck work through lecture, demonstrations and community activity. The Commonwealth Club of CaliforniaThursday, April 22 | 6:30 pm | Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall
For all those times you’ve wondered “Why?,” Louann Brizendine has the answers. A neurobiologist, Dr. Brizendine has studied exactly why our brain leads us to act and react the way we do. Founder of the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic, Brizendine first focused on the female brain, studying the neurology behind the emotions and actions of women, and coming to conclusions that helped answer many of those “why” questions that females kept asking her. Now she has answers for the other half. Brizendine explores the male brain, showing how, through every phase of life, the "male reality" is fundamentally different from the female one. Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program For tickets, visit commonwealthclub.org or call (415) 597-6705. California Shakespeare Theater Tuesday, April 27 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
Mrs Warren's Profession was written by George Bernard Shaw in 1893. The story centers on the relationship between Mrs Warren, a prostitute, described by Shaw as "on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman," and her "prudish" daughter, Vivie. Shaw said he wrote the play "to draw attention to the truth that prostitution is caused, not by female depravity and male licentiousness, but simply by underpaying, undervaluing, and overworking women so shamefully that the poorest of them are forced to resort to prostitution to keep body and soul together." California Shakespeare Theater Tuesday, May 4 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
The Tragedy of Macbeth, commonly called "The Scottish Play" by actors to avert the bad luck associated with its name, is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, but arguably his most well known. Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy is about ambition and guilt as the prophecies of the three witches in the play's opening scene inexorably come true despite Macbeth's every effort to overcome them. The play's most memorable character, Lady Macbeth, lets her ambition for power lead her into figuratively transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. Greenbelt Alliance Tuesday, May 11 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
Smart growth envisions land use planning that concentrates growth in the center of a city to avoid sprawl. Smart growth envisions compact, transit-oriented neighborhoods that are walkable, bicycle-friendly with nearby schools, jobs, and shops and a range of housing choices for people of all income levels. Our Grow Smart Bay Area vision imagines prosperous and livable communities, providing better housing and transportation opportunities while protecting farmland, open space, and the environment. California Shakespeare Theater Tuesday, May 18 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Community Hall
Young lovers Hero and Claudio are to be married in one week. To pass the time, they conspire with Don Pedro to set a "lover's trap" for Benedick, an arrogant confirmed bachelor, and Beatrice, his favorite sparring partner. Meanwhile, the evil Don Jon conspires to break up the wedding by accusing Hero of infidelity. In the end, though, it all turns out to be "much ado about nothing." The provocative treatment of gender issues is central to Much Ado. Assumptions that women are by nature prone to inconstancy are shown in the repeated jokes on cuckoldry and partly explain Claudio's readiness to believe the slur against Hero. However, this stereotype is turned on its head in Balthasar's song, which shows men to be the deceitful and inconstant sex. The Commonwealth Club of CaliforniaThursday, May 20 | 6:30-8:00 PM | Community Hall
Sure, you can't live forever, but renowned doctor and aging expert Bortz contends that we can live far longer - and happier - than most people can even dream of. Recognized as one of America's most distinguished scientific experts on aging and longevity, Bortz is past co-chairman of the American Medical Association's Task Force on Aging, former president of The American Geriatric Society and is currently chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation and a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He will talk about the breakthrough science that is being done on aging and give you his road map to living a long, healthy and happy life. Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program For tickets, visit commonwealthclub.org or call (415) 597-6705. Friends of the Lafayette LibraryThursday, March 11 | 7:30 pm | Lafayette Library and Learning Center
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tails and Whiskers
EARTHQUAKES: BUILD IT, SHAKE IT... BREAK IT?!
Stage Combat Workshop
Living the Good Life: The Arts and Crafts Movement
Steve Poizner: 
Kids’ Interactive Shakespeare
The de la Guerra Wedding: Intermarriage and the Family Economy of Mexican California
ZooMobile
Shakespeare from the Actor’s Perspective
Ingenuity in Action
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
Challenges & Triumphs of Global Wildlife Conservation
Why “Y” Matters
Roadmap To 100: The Breakthrough Science of Living a Long and Healthy Life 
, Christine Carter, the Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and a mother of young children, explains how psychology, sociology and neuroscience show us that happiness is a skill that can be built and maintained.
The Gold Coast Chamber Players celebrate their 10th Anniversary Concert Season with three performances at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center in 2010!
We invite you to join us in the new Lafayette Library’s Community Hall for three concerts with some of the Bay Area’s finest musicians. Don’t miss a note! 