In a Bates College visit, award-winning poet, scholar and novelist Meena Alexander reads from her work at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Sponsored by the English department and the Learning Associates Program, which enables faculty in the humanities and social sciences to bring outside scholars and experts to campus, the event is open to the public at no charge. For more information, please call 207-786-8294.

Alexander previously visited Bates in 2005. During this week’s visit, she will meet informally with students in courses on lyric poetry and on Asian American women writers, filmmakers and critics. Bringing her to campus is English professor Lavina Dhingra, who has published scholarly essays about, and an interview with, Alexander.

In her latest book, Poetics of Dislocation (2009), part of the award-winning Poets on Poetry series from the University of Michigan Press, Alexander looks at the creative process in herself and other writers. She discusses what it means to come to America as an adult to write poetry, and her place (and the places of others) in the collection of cultures in this country.

Alexander was born in Allahabad, India, and grew up in India and Sudan. She moved to England to study at age 18, and now lives in New York, where she is University Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.

Along the way, she studied and did research at universities ranging from the University of Khartoum to the Sorbonne, from Brown to Columbia, from Kerala University to the National University of Singapore. Much of her work is concerned with migration and its impact on the writer’s subjectivity, and with the sometimes-violent events that compel people to cross borders.

She has published six volumes of poetry, including Illiterate Heart (2002), which won the PEN Open Book Award; Raw Silk (2004); and Quickly Changing River (2008; all published by Northwestern University Press). Her memoir “Fault Lines” (Feminist Press, 2003) was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books. Her prose also includes two novels, Nampally Road (Mercury House, 1991) and Manhattan Music (Mercury House, 1997).

Alexander has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, the Arts Council of England, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. She received the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award in Literature from the South Asian Literary Association, an organization allied to the Modern Language Association, for her contributions to American literature.

Hello from Bates! Here is a preview of public events at the college in October 2010. Except as noted, these events are open to the public at no charge. (Where there is an admission fee, the cost for the general public appears first, followed by the cost for students and seniors.)

For a printable version: If you’re viewing this in the e-mail update, please click the headline above to go to the Events Schedule website. At the website, go to the bottom of the page and click “print”  (as in “print this page”) for the printable format.

For up-to-date events information throughout the month, see our Upcoming Events page. Questions or comments? Contact events editor Doug Hubley at this calendar@bates.edu.

Friday, Oct. 1

4:15pm

Q&A with playwright-songwriter Ethan Lipton: Lipton, who performs with his band in an evening show today, offers a question-and-answer session expected to range through myriad aspects of living a creative life, from the specifics of crafting lyrics vs. spoken lines to the business of creativity.

Olin Arts Center, Room 104

6pm

Volleyball vs. Amherst.
Alumni Gymnasium

7:30pm

Concert: Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra. Likened to “a peek into a curio shop from a hundred years ago” by The Village Voice, songwriter-playwright Lipton offers musically spare, conversationally scripted songs about bicycles, life, death, guilt and pets. Tickets are $10 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, Bates’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international series presents Gods (Peru, 2008, 91 min.). Sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 2

Time TBA

Women’s golf: Bates Scramble.
Martindale Country Club, Auburn

1:30pm

Volleyball vs. Middlebury.
Alumni Gymnasium

Sunday, Oct. 3

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service, emphasizing gospel music led by the gospel choir. The Rev. William Bill Blaine-Wallace, multifaith chaplain, leads the service with faculty, staff and students participating. All are welcome. FMI: 207-786-8272.
Bates College Chapel

7:30pm

Concert: Naomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens. This acclaimed Brooklyn-based band brings a soulful blend of gospel and R&B to Bates. The Bates Gospelaires, a student ensemble, opens. Learn more. Tickets are $16/$8 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Monday, Oct. 4

6pm

Global Lens film: Gods (see Oct. 1).
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

7pm

Lecture: In Evolution of Morality, economist Herbert Gintis proposes that human morality results from a dynamic interplay of culture and genes. Hosted by the mathematics department and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program, which makes distinguished scholars available to colleges and universities with Phi Beta Kappa chapters. FMI: 207-786-6146.
Pettengill Hall, Keck Classroom (G52)

7:30pm

Lecture: Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber, who wrote the first published work correlating data on toxic releases with data from cancer registries. The annual Otis Lecture is made possible by the Philip J. Otis Endowment at Bates. Free admission, but tickets required. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Tuesday, Oct. 5

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Performer TBA. FMI: Contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

4pm

Men’s soccer vs. Southern Maine.
Russell Street Field

Wednesday, Oct. 6

6–9pm

Figure drawing sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art. Artists, bring drawing board and supplies! Easels provided. Admission: $7 (free for Bates students).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

7:30pm

Concert: Ensemble 415. Violinist Chiara Banchini leads this award-winning European early-music ensemble in chamber works and concerti by Albinoni, Muffat, Albicastro and J.S Bach. Tickets are $10/$4 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Thursday, Oct. 7

4:15pm

Lecture: Episodic Memory in Primates by Bennett Schwartz, a specialist in memory and a psychology professor at Florida International University. Episodic memory means our ability to recollect individual events from our personal past. Often considered the sole domain of human beings, recent research suggests that other animals are capable of remembering episodically as well. Sponsored by the psychology department.
Pettengill Hall, Room G52

Friday–Sunday Oct. 8–10

Parents and Family Weekend: See the full weekend schedule.

Friday, Oct. 8

8pm

Contradance: Traditional New England folk dancing to the band Bustopher Jones. No experience needed; all dances taught and called. Beginners’ workshop at 7:30. Admission $5. Sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society.
Chase Hall Lounge

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, Bates’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international film series presents Masquerades (Algeria, 2008, 92 min.). Sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 9

9am

Men’s tennis: Wallach Invitational
Wallach Tennis Center

11am

Men’s soccer vs. Williams.
Russell Street Field

Noon

Dance performance: The Bates College Modern Dance Company features work by students, faculty members Rachel Boggia and Debi Irons, and guest choreographer Monica Bill Barnes. Free; no reservations. The show will last just under an hour.
Schaeffer Theatre

Field hockey vs. Williams.
Campus Avenue Field

1pm

Football vs. Williams, in the first official game on the newly renovated Garcelon Field, featuring a state-of-the-art FieldTurf playing surface and a new scoreboard and grandstand.
Garcelon Field

2pm

Spiritual gathering: A celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri with Kirtan chanting led by Unitarian Universalist minister Ben Fowler. Details are tentative; contact the Multifaith Chaplaincy for more information at 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
Bates College Chapel

Women’s soccer vs. Williams.
Russell Street Field

3:30pm

Exhibition opening: Les Femmes du Maroc: An Exhibition by Lalla Essaydi. Nick Capasso, senior curator at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, offers a gallery talk on Essaydi and the exhibition (described under Bates College Museum of Art below). Reception follows. Sponsored by the museum, the Davis Family Foundation and the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. FMI: 207-786-6158 or this museum@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center, Bates College Museum of Art

7:30pm

Concert: The Rest Is Music, a program of new work by the Bates Composers Society, a campus-wide community of composers and musicians. Free, but tickets required. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Sunday, Oct. 10

Time TBA

Men’s golf: Bates Invitational.
Martindale Country Club, Auburn

9am

Men’s tennis: Wallach Invitational.
Wallach Tennis Center

Noon

Dance performance: Modern Dance Company (see Oct. 9).
Schaeffer Theatre

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
Bates College Chapel

Monday, Oct. 11

4:30pm

Lecture: Helping People and Orangutans Through Video, a presentation of Phillips Fellowship-supported work by Robert Little ’12. Sponsored by the dean of the faculty’s office. FMI: 207-753-6952.
Chase Hall Lounge

6pm

Global Lens film: Masquerades (see Oct. 8).
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

7:30pm

Reading: Novelist Debra Spark, author of The Ghost of Bridgetown and Good for the Jews. The Language Arts Live series is sponsored by the English department, the Learning Associates Program, the Bates Humanities Fund, the programs in African American studies and American cultural studies, and the John Tagliabue Poetry fund. FMI: 207-786-6326 or 207-786-6256, or this rfarnsworth@bates.edu or this eosucha@bates.edu.
Chase Hall, Skelton Lounge

Tuesday, Oct. 12

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Music’s Quill. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

4pm

Men’s soccer vs. Amherst.
Russell Street Field

Wednesday, Oct. 13

3:30pm

Women’s soccer vs. Maine-Farmington.
Russell Street Field

4:30pm

Lecture: Unite for Sight by Emily Howe ’11 and Beyond the Culture of War by Theodore Sutherland ’11 are presentations of Phillips Fellowship-supported work. Sponsored by the dean of the faculty’s office. FMI: 207-753-6952.
Chase Hall Lounge

5pm

Field hockey vs. Southern Maine
Campus Avenue Field

6pm

Lecture: Artist Wally Reinhardt discusses his work in the exhibition Metamorphoses: A Collaboration with Ovid (described under Bates College Museum of Art below). Sponsored by the museum, the programs in classical and medieval studies and interdisciplinary studies, and the Division of Humanities. FMI: 207-786-6158 or this museum@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center, Room 104

6–9pm

Figure drawing sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art (see Oct. 6).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

7:30pm

Panel discussion: Wrestling with School Reform in Maine: National Strategies, Local Realities. Panelists include Glenn Cummings of the U.S. Department of Education; Norm Fruchter of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Brown University; and representatives from Maine school systems. Part of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships’ Civic Forum series. FMI: 207-786-6202.
Edmund S. Muskie Archives

Thursday, Oct. 14

7:30pm

Concert: Two beloved chamber works — Dvorák’s “American” Quartet and Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet — are performed by two prominent names in Maine music, the DaPonte String Quartet and pianist Chiharu Naruse of Bates’ applied music faculty. Admission is free, but tickets required. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Friday, Oct. 15

4pm

Poster session: Celebrating the development of an undergraduate public health concentration at Bates, the poster presentation Health, Public Health and Medicine precedes the African Refugee Health conference (see next item).
Pettengill Hall, Perry Atrium

6:30pm

Conference: Keynote lectures by prominent experts in refugee healthcare begin the three-day conference African Refugee Health: Best Practices: A Clinical and Public Health Perspective. Speakers are: Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, and Patricia Walker, medical director of the Center for International Health in Minnesota. Sponsored by Bates; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Central Maine Medical Family; and St. Mary’s Health System. Space is limited and reservations required. Contact 786-6400 or this bpelleti@bates.com, or visit the website.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

7:30pm

Theater: Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire. For an independent study, Michelle Schloss ’12 directs this story of an amnesiac who awakens each morning as a blank slate on which her husband and teenage son must re-imprint the facts of her life. Free; no reservations. FMI: 207-786-6161.
Black Box Theater

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, Bates’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international film series presents Leo’s Room (Uruguay, 2009, 92 min.). Sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 16

11am

Men’s soccer vs. Wesleyan.
Russell Street Field

Noon

Field hockey vs. Wesleyan.
Campus Avenue Field

1pm

Football vs. Wesleyan.
Garcelon Field

2pm

Spiritual gathering: A celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri with yoga and Kirtan chanting. Details are tentative; contact the Multifaith Chaplaincy for more information at 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
Benjamin Mays Center

Women’s soccer vs. Wesleyan.
Russell Street Field

7pm

Performance: Performers from Africa appear in conjunction with the weekend African Refugee Health conference. Featured are spoken word poetry by IBe, readings by Somali poet/playwright Omar Ahmed and Somali rap by Jamal and Friends. Space is limited and reservations required. Contact 786-6400 or this bpelleti@bates.com, or visit the website.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

7:30pm

Performance: Fuddy Meers (see Oct. 15).
Black Box Theater

Sunday, Oct. 17

11am

Lecture: Dr. Richard Mollica, director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, offers a keynote address on a topic TBA to conclude the conference African Refugee Health: Best Practices (see Oct. 15). Space is limited and reservations required. Contact 786-6400 or this bpelleti@bates.com, or visit the website.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

2pm

Performance: Fuddy Meers (see Oct. 15).
Black Box Theater

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
Bates College Chapel

6pm

Spiritual gathering: A celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri with traditional prayers, dance and food. Details are tentative; contact the Multifaith Chaplaincy for more information at 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
Benjamin Mays Center

7:30pm

Concert: After an amazing performance at Bates in 2008, Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen returns with his highly personal Aurora project, reflecting Israel as a crossroads of many cultures. Tickets are $12/6 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Monday, Oct. 18

Time TBA

Poetry reading: Meena Alexander, author of six highly regarded volumes of poetry and diverse other works, is tentatively scheduled to read from her writings. Please visit the Events and Calendars page for further information, or call 207-786-8294.
Benjamin Mays Center

6pm

Global Lens film: Leo’s Room (see Oct. 15).
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

7:30pm

Lecture: Taiwan’s Health Reforms: Lessons for the U.S. and Maine by William Hsiao, a professor of economics at the Harvard School of Public Health and architect of Taiwan’s universal health care system. Part of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships’ Civic Forum series. FMI: 207-786-6202.
Edmund S. Muskie Archives

Tuesday, Oct. 19

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Performer TBA. FMI: Contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

3:30pm

Women’s soccer vs. St. Joseph’s.
Russell Street Field

5pm

Field hockey vs. New England College.
Campus Avenue Field

Wednesday, Oct. 20

6–9pm

Figure drawing sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art (see Oct. 6).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

Wednesday–Friday, Oct. 20–22

Fall Recess: No classes, but administrative offices remain open.

Sunday, Oct. 24

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
Bates College Chapel

Monday, Oct. 25

4pm

Lecture: Kiado Cruz, community organizer for a food-sovereignty network in Mexico, speaks on sustainable agriculture, community organizing and effects of U.S. trade policies and increasing privatization. Organized by the Latin American studies concentration faculty with support from a Mellon Innovation Grant, the environmental studies program and the anthropology department. FMI: 207-786-8295.
Pettengill Hall, Room G21

Tuesday, Oct. 26

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Jazz by two members of the faculty, guitarist John Smedley of the physics department and pianist Tom Snow, director of the Bates Jazz Band. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Wednesday, Oct. 27

6–9pm

Figure drawing sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art (see Oct. 6).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

Thursday, Oct. 28

7:30pm

Reading: One of Maine’s best-known poets and poetry advocates, Wesley McNair has written eight collections of poetry including this year’s Lovers of the Lost. For more about the Language Arts Live series, see Oct. 11.
Chase Hall, Skelton Lounge

Friday, Oct. 29

3pm

Field hockey vs. Colby.
Campus Avenue Field

4pm

Men’s soccer vs. Colby.
Russell Street Field

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, Bates’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international film series presents My Tehran for Sale (Iran, 2009, 97 min.). Sponsored by the Bates College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: Contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 30

TBA

Men’s and women’s tennis: Alumni Match.
Wallach Tennis Center

1pm

Football vs. Colby.
Garcelon Field

Sunday, Oct. 31

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
Bates College Chapel

Exhibition

Oct. 8–17

In celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri, images and statues of Hindu goddesses are displayed. FMI: 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
Bates College Chapel

Bates College Museum of Art

Museum hours: 10am-5pm Tuesday-Saturday. FMI: 207-786-6158 or this museum@bates.edu.

Oct. 8–Dec. 18
Les Femmes du Maroc: An Exhibition by Lalla Essaydi: The images in Essaydi’s most recent body of work present Moroccan women in staged narratives. These women inhabit a place that is literally and entirely circumscribed by text, written by the artist herself directly on their bodies, apparel and surroundings. The photographs, based on 19th-century Orientalist paintings, critique contemporary social structures, but simultaneously confront historical attitudes that have helped construct representations of Arab women. Made possible by the Lois and Richard England Family Foundation and the Davis Family Foundation.

Metamorphoses: A Collaboration with Ovid by Wally Reinhardt: Reinhardt since the 1980s has focused his work solely on interpreting Ovid’s Metamorphoses. His gouaches vividly bring to life many of the favorite characters of classical mythology. Reinhardt’s exhibition is offered in co-sponsorship with the programs in classical and medieval studies and in interdisciplinary studies, and by the Division of Humanities.

Meena Alexander, an award-winning poet, novelist and memoirist, will read from her poetry at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave., Bates College. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College and the Graduate Centre, City University of New York, Alexander is the author of works including the poetry volumes Raw Silk (Triquarterly, 2004) and Illiterate Heart (Triquarterly, 2002); The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial Experience (South End Press, 1996); and the novels Manhattan Music (Mercury House, 1996) and Nampally Road (Mercury House), a 1991 Voice Literary Supplement Editor’s Choice. Illiterate Heart won the 2002 PEN Open Book Award, while Publisher’s Weekly Choice included her memoir Fault Lines (Feminist Press, 1993) among its best books of the year.

The editor of the anthology Indian Love Poems (Knopf, 2005), Alexander is currently at work on two projects: a volume of poems and a book of essays and notes titled Unquiet Borders: The Poetry of Migration.

Born in India and educated there and in North Africa and Britain, Alexander’s work has been widely anthologized and translated into several languages, including Malayalam, Hindi, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Macedonian, German and Swedish. Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The New York Times, the Harvard and  Kenyon reviews and Grand Street.

Alexander has received awards and residencies from, among others, the Fulbright, Rockefeller and Lila Wallace foundations, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Council for Research on Women.

Alexander’s Bates reading is cosponsored by the English department, the Asian studies and women and gender studies programs, and by the Multicultural Center, the chaplain’s office and the student organization Women of Color.