Youth today worry about academics, sports, college. When is it too much? The Darien Special Education Parents Advisory Committee and Darien Library invite you to a presentation Jan. 8 on “Social Anxiety & Generalized Anxiety Disorder” by national expert Jerry Bubrick, PhD. — an announcement from Darien SEPAC
The presentation takes place from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan.
The life of Leonardo Da Vinci is being celebrated around the world on the 500th anniversary of his death in 1519. Columbia University adjust professor, Page Knox, will discuss Da Vinci’s most-known works at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9 at Darien Library on Thursday. — an announcement from Darien Library
In this hour-long presentation, Page will explore Da Vinci’s unique and creative mind of one of the most renowned geniuses of all time and guide you through the highlights of Paris’ Louvre exhibit, Leonardo at the Louvre. Informed by the major themes of the show, the lecture will place Leonardo’s paintings and drawings in context and explore how his continual investigation of the natural world brought life to his exceptional body of work.
Persian music and poetry will be featured at an evening concert-talk, “Gifts From the Magi: Music and Poetry of the Near East,” by Amir Vahab and Ensemble at 6 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11 at St. Luke’s Darien. — an announcement from St. Luke’s Parish
Vahab is one of New York’s most celebrated composer/vocalists of Sufi and Near Eastern music.
What is it about Italy? Cultural Superpower yet merely a mountainous Mediterranean peninsula, Italy has exerted an outsized force on the world, Western civilization and the popular imagination over the course of millennia. Carla Gambescia, an author and lecturer on all things Italian, will speak Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the Darien Men’s Association’s morning meeting. — an announcement from the Darien Men’s Association
Explore the special alchemy of Italy and the “cultural DNA” that has made Italy not only so influential, but also so beloved.
Steve Mandel, recent Teach for America board chair, on Wednesday will give a talk discussing the organization’s unique approach to educating children from urban and rural low income communities. Mandel will speak at a meeting of the Darien Men’s Association from about 10:45 a.m. to 12 noon at the Darien Community Association. — an announcement from the Darien Men’s Association
Teach for America
Teach For America is a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to “enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.”
The organization aims to accomplish this by recruiting and selecting college graduates from top universities around the United States to serve as teachers. The selected members, known as “corps members,” commit to teaching for at least two years in a public or public charter K–12 school in one of the 52 low-income communities that the organization serves. TFA was founded by Wendy Kopp based on her 1989 Princeton University undergraduate thesis.
A Darien Community Association Women’s Luncheon on Nov. 5 will feature a representative from Sotheby’s auction house talking about colored gems— rubies, emeralds and sapphires — their qualities and origins, and how to determine which are the finest. The presentation will be given by Alexander Eblen, a Sotheby’s senior specialist and vice president. Audience participation will be encouraged. Founded in 1744, Sotheby’s is the oldest and largest internationally recognized firm of fine art auctioneers in the world.
All art is in dialogue with other art, says Wall Street Journal art critic Lance Esplund, who continues his lecture series on modern art on Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Darien Community Association. — an announcement from the Darien Community Association
Esplund, author of The Art of Looking: How to Read Modern and Contemporary Art will start his lecture, “Navigating Contemporary Art” at 11 a.m.
“Artists might explore an ancient myth, the experience of a kiss, the disasters of war, unrequited love, or the tensions between two rectangles — but no matter what their subjects, they are all speaking with the same vocabulary and the same elements of art,” Esplund says. What can be the conundrum of contemporary art is deconstructed under the framework that artists, whether working abstractly, representationally or conceptually—are in a constant process of revitalizing and extending the language and vocabulary of art to tell their story, and lived experience in the world. Influenced by their intuitive absorption and direct engagement with the cultural moment in time that they live in, they create new stories for the rest of us to use as bridges to meaning and understanding in the maelstrom of confusion that can surround us.
On Thursday, Oct. 17, Lance Esplund will give a lecture on “Abstraction” at the Darien Community Association (DCA) as part of their DCA Art Lecture Series this fall on “The Art of Looking” based on the author’s recently published book. — an announcement from the Darien Community Association
As the author and educator tells us, “Abstraction is often considered a Modern invention—and certainly, abstraction was reborn in the early twentieth century—and yet abstract art existed alongside representational art in Paleolithic caves.”
In his discussion he contrasts the two ways of making art, both of which are intuitive reflections from artists of the contemporary society that they live in — whether that be ancient Greece and the Renaissance and art that re-creates the look, and three-dimensional space of our world or, during periods of political and domestic tumult, a shift toward artworks that “suppress the outside world’s look and space: {and reflect} our inner unrest and sense of alienation.”
Esplund breaks down the gallery walls to help us understand that the New Now (!) artists at the Venice Biennale share their interpretive explorations of humans living in the year 2019 with the 15th century Italian artist Leonardo, who was the first artist to explore the interiority of a human being — in a face. All lectures will be followed by a luncheon specially designed by Diane Browne Catering. The DCA’s 2019 Art Lecture Series Sponsor is DRBank, formerly Laurel Road Bank.
In 1990, two young boys playing in a Connecticut quarry made a startling discovery, which led to an even more frightening revelation — evidence of a vampire scare in early New England. Hear the chilling true story, Vampires in New England, with Dr. Nick Bellantoni, Connecticut’s archaeologist emeritus, during the Darien Historical Society’s Historical Halloween on Sunday, October 27 at 3 p.m.
— an announcement from the Darien Historical Society
Vampire folklore was rampant in New England from 1780 to the 1890s, and a combination of disciplines helps archaeologists to discover more about this period in New England history, said Bellantoni, who has been dubbed Connecticut’s “Indiana Jones.”
“As it turns out, a real public health issue was to blame,” he said. The case was launched in 1990 when two young boys discovered skulls at a quarry in eastern Connecticut. Bellantoni and a team of forensic scientists were called to the scene and soon discovered the site was a long forgotten colonial cemetery. “One grave, in particular, caught our attention,” Bellantoni said.
Practical strategies to help your children build executive functioning (EF) skills and improve focus, organization and self-regulation is the subject of a presentation Thursday at Darien Library by a psychologist who specializes in the subject. — an announcement from Darien SEPAC and Darien Library
Mary Murphy, Ph.D., will offer resources for mindfulness practice, stress management, and biofeedback, as well as explain the psychological assessment process for students with suspected ADHD/executive functioning symptoms.
Dr. Murphy is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in counseling, executive functioning/academic coaching, biofeedback, and psychological testing. Her clinical practice focuses on helping children and adults with ADHD, concussion, depression, anxiety, and trauma. Her testing practice focuses on educational assessments and 504/IEP planning. If You’re Going …
Professor Susan Sorenson of the University of Pennsylvania, an expert in domestic violence will discuss with Meredith Gold, YWCA Greenwich director of domestic abuse services, how domestic violence has evolved from a private family matter to a human rights issue. — an announcement from YWCA Greenwich
They will also discuss whether and how violence is tolerated, impacts on the community and the role of firearms.
The discussion will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. (or 8:30, according to another YWCA announcement), Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the YWCA Greenwich, 259 East Putnam Ave. The event is free and open to the public. REGISTER HERE.
All Darien seniors are invited to attend At Home in Darien’s Annual Luncheon on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at The Darien Community Association, where an expert on managing and preventing heart disease will speak. The lunch is free but seats are limited and must be reserved by Oct. 11. — an announcement from At Home In Darien
Dr. Mina Owlia, an expert in the management of complex coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular disease and preventative cardiology.
The Darien Community Association (DCA) Women’s Luncheons start their season featuring “The History and Health Benefits of Tea” presented by Bigelow Tea, a family-owned business for 75 years and three generations, for their luncheon on Tuesday, October 1 at 12:15pm at the DCA. Tea is the second most popularly consumed beverage worldwide behind water. It has a long and storied history tied to each culture, society and time period that it touched. Tea continues to be enjoyed today and is not only tasty but also a positive addition to a balanced diet. Join Bigelow Tea, a local family company operating for the past 75 years, for a discussion of the history of this amazing plant as we travel through the most important milestones in tea history.
You can take a Mental Health First Aid course in Darien on Friday, Sept. 27 at Darien EMS. The course is designed for the general public, as well as those involved in any of the healthcare and first responder fields. But if you decide to register, do it early — seating is limited to the first 30 who sign up. (See the end of this article for more details.)
— information in this article is from state Rep. Terrie Wood’s newsletter and an online description of the course. What Mental Health First Aid Training Is
This Mental Health First Aid course is an interactive experience that will give you key skills to help anyone developing a mental health problem, or experiencing a mental health crisis.
Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis will be the featured speaker at an event from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the Ferguson Library in downtown Stamford in the latest of a series of “Civility in America” talks. — an announcement from Ferguson Library
“Incivility has become socially acceptable and commonplace,” said Robert L. Dilenschneider of Darien, founder and president of The Dilenschneider Group, and who conceived the idea for the series. “The lack of civility in every segment of society, from politics to academia, from the media to the blogosphere, from talk radio to the pulpit, has become a crippling epidemic that threatens the future of our country,” he said. “Something must be done.”
