UMass Libraries to honor founder of Black Feminist Archive

AMHERST — The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries will celebrate Irma McClaurin, the founder of the university’s Black Feminist Archive (BFA), at its annual reception on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

The evening will feature Black feminist speaker McClaurin, who in 2016 founded the BFA, housed in the Rob S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center at the W. E. B. Du Bois Library. The event will also include a special performance by renowned jazz artist Connie Fredericks-Malone, an exhibit showcasing highlights from the BFA, and the opportunity to bid on historic images of Black luminaries photographed by McClaurin and rendered on glass.

McClaurin is a three-time UMass graduate and award-winning poet and author, past president of Shaw University and leader in higher education. She is founder and senior consultant of Irma McClaurin Solutions, a firm specializing in leadership and organizational development.

Registration for the event is $100 per person for alumni and friends, including a $50 tax-deductible donation to the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive Endowment, and $15 for students. More information is available online at umassalumni.com/BFA.

Pickleball for
a good cause

The Friends of Jones Libraries will hold their first-ever pickleball tournament at Hampshire College’s Bay Road Multi-Sport Center on Sunday, Oct. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The tournament, created to raise money for programs at Jones Libraries in Amherst, is a round robin tournament with up to 32 players, each of whom will play at least seven rounds.

The first-place prize is a pickleball racquet from Carrington Tennis Academy; the second-place prize is a $50 gift certificate for pickleball equipment.

For more information, visit joneslibrary.org/pickleball.

 

Auditions for “On Golden Pond”

The volunteer theater group Easthampton Theater Company is looking for actors to audition for “On Golden Pond,” a play about family and aging.

The show features roles for three adult men, two adult women, and one teen boy. Auditions will be by appointment on Tuesday, Nov. 12, and Wednesday, Nov. 13. Callbacks will be on Wednesday, Nov. 20. To schedule your audition or learn more about the show and characters, visit easthamptontheater.com/current-auditions.

Rehearsals will start on Sunday, Dec. 15, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, minus a holiday break. Tech week will start on Sunday, March 9, and the show itself will run the weekends of March 14 and 21.

 

Halloween ‘paw-ty’

Seasonally spooky dogs and their owners can take part in a costume contest at the Amherst Dog Park on Sunday, Oct. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Dogs can win in the following categories: Best Multiple Dogs, Best Owner/Dog Combo, Best Dog as Food, Funniest, Scariest, and Best Celebrity/Character.

The event will also have raffle prizes, plus food and drinks for sale.

Event officials are currently seeking volunteers as well; if you’re interested, sign up at amherstdogpark.org.

 

Learn about history of cider

The Amherst Historical Society will present an informational lecture and slideshow about the history and traditions of cider-making in New England on Sunday, Oct. 20, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Jones Library in Amherst.

The lecture, called “A Drink When We Want It and a Cup for the Thirsty Traveler,” will discuss the differences between what we now think of as cider (which, in the, 18th and 19th centuries, was called “sweet cider”) and what we now think of as “hard cider” (which, back then, was just called “cider” and was a regular mealtime drink).

 

Perugia PressPrize winner

Perugia Press, a Florence-based feminist poetry micro press, recently announced that the book “Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms” by Joan Kwon Glass is the winner of their Perugia Press Prize, which honors poetry books written by women.

The book features poems about family, racism, grief, and shame, among other themes.

Perugia Press will host a free poetry reading at Click Workspace in Northampton on Friday, Oct. 18, from 7 to 8:30 p.m, featuring Glass and local poets YasothaSriharan and Kirun Kapur.

 

They’re creepy and they’re kooky

Later this month, Mount Holyoke College’s Department of Film Media Theater will present “The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy,” their first show of the season — and their first musical in five years.

The show runs from Thursday, Oct. 24, to Sunday, Nov. 3. Tickets are $15 for students and seniors and $20 for everyone else.

This musical follows the famously spooky family in their attempt to make Wednesday’s new (and “normal”) boyfriend and his parents feel welcome at a dinner.

Director and department chair Noah Ilya-Alexis Tuleja said in a statement, “We are proud to welcome you to our first musical back at Mount Holyoke College in five years.”

Tickets can be purchased at events.mtholyoke.edu/event/the-addams-family-musical.