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out and about continued
and Civil Liberties” by the ACLU’s
surveillance and cybersecurity counsel
Jennifer Granick on March 18.
Registration required. Go to ncf.
edu/new-topics or call the New College
events hotline at 941-487-4888.
• The Venice Area Women’s College
Club invites you to a noon lunch on
February 9 at the Plantation Golf &
Country Club, 500 Rockley Blvd, Venice.
The program will be the Venice
Area Toastmasters Club presented by
Bernard Doogue, Distinguished Toastmaster.
The College Club is seeking
new members and meets the second
Tuesday of months Oct - May. Call 941-
202-4034 for membership information
and/or lunch ($22) reservations.
• Programs at The Paradise Center
Mondays:
• Hula Dance—Hula dancing has
many health benefits, such as weight
loss and increased energy. With its
slow and relaxing nature, hula is a
low-to-medium impact exercise, easing
the strain on the joints. It is also
good for your abs, back and hips and
helps tone and strengthen your legs.
Debbie White, originally from Honolulu,
shares her Hawaiian hula dance
skills in this class that is guaranteed
fun for all fitness levels. Held outdoors
with social distancing. Walk-Ins Welcome.
$10/person. Offered 1-3 p.m.
• Thinking Out Loud: Timely Topics
Discussion Group—Mike Karp moderates
this lively group discussion each
week. The topics vary (announced
ahead of time) and may include world
affairs, U.S. current events, popular
culture and topics relevant to seniors.
Bring your questions, your convictions,
and your open mind! (Held outdoors
with social distancing or indoors
with social distancing and face masks
required.) RSVP: DonnaSharpBlaney@
TheParadiseCenter.org or call 941-
383-6493. $10.
More offerings at https://theparadisecenter.org.
Choral Artists
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Their Marching to Freedom Concert
is on February 3 at 7 p.m. and
is available on demand February 14
- March 14. Performances are at the
PointMarie Selby Botanical Gardens’
Historic Spanish Point Campus, 337
N. Tamiami Trail, Osprey
From slavery to the Civil War, Reconstruction
to the Civil Rights Era of
the 60s and even in our own time, the
road to freedom for African Americans
has been long and arduous. Gospel
and spiritual pieces and art songs
composed by Black Americans paint a
picture of the struggle for freedom.
Includes Choral Artists Chamber
Chorus; Michael Stewart, piano; Joseph
Holt, piano and conductor.
Program includes: Walk Together
Children, Bound for the Promised
Land, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve
Seen, Balm in Gilead, Ain’t-a that Good
News, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless
Child, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed
and Burning, All My Trials, Tate Soon
Ah Will Be Done, Every Time I Feel the
Spirit
Deep River, There’s Room
for Many-a More, Dreams, Shine a Little
Light, Free at Last and When the Saints
Go Marching In.
Tickets for the LIVE performance
are available on the Marie Selby
Botanical Gardens website, selby.
org. For virtual concert replay: February
14 – March 14, visit https://
choralartistssarasota.org/schedule/
marching-to-freedom-2/. For information
and tickets,
visit www.ChoralArtistsSarasota.
org or call 941-387-
4900.
At Book
store1
Sarasota
Upcoming Virtual
Events at Bookstore1Sarasota.
All
events presented via
Zoom, registration is
required.
They are open
for browsing with
masks and payment
by credit card only.
Side-door pick is
also available.
• Try Your Hand at Poetry a Writing
Workshop led by Doug Knowlton.
Four Zoom sessions: Tuesdays at 6
pm: Feb. 16, Feb. 23, March 2, March
9. Have you always wanted to write
poetry, but thought the genre was just
too difficult? This is your chance to
give it a try using Mary Oliver’s A Poetry
Handbook as a guide.
With passion, wit, and good common
sense, the celebrated poet Mary Oliver
tells of the basic ways a poem is built-
-meter and rhyme, form and diction,
sound, and sense. She talks of iambs
and trochees, couplets, and sonnets,
and how and why this should matter to
anyone writing or reading poetry.
Doug’s been writing poems and
lyrics since the 1960s. He emceed the
open mic at Java N’Jive Coffee House
in Palmetto, 2002-2003. He was a regular
at the Fogartyville Café Open Mic
(Bradenton) 2002-2005 and hosted the
Village Bookshop Poets and Writers
from 2006-2011. Doug finds it especially
fulfilling to encounter readers
and listeners who are awakening to
poetry’s vast potential.
A fee of $21 is required for participation.
This includes a copy of A Poetry
Handbook and all four sessions.
The book can be picked up curbside or
at the store.
More event info and registration
at https://www.sarasotabooks.com/
events or 941-365-7900.
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Lifelong Learning
Institute
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
at Ringling College (OLLI) has its
winter semester through March 5; its
spring semester is March 8 to April
30. Each semester features dozens of
classes and programs covering a wide
variety of topics.
Classes will be offered using a hybrid
model: in person on the Ringling
College Museum Campus and via
Zoom. Classes cover multiple topics,
including art and music appreciation,
health and well-being, global issues,
philosophy, religion, culture and travel,
and science.
In-person classes are at 1001 S.
Tamiami Tr., Sarasota; masks and
physical distancing will be required.
To register, visit OLLIatRinglingCollege.org
or call 941-309-5111.
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• Highlights of the winter semester:
• The winter Einstein’s Circle presentation
is “Attacks on Monuments —
Protest or vandalism?” with Andre
Krauss. His talk will explore how,
throughout the history of art iconoclasm,
the destruction of images was
Major League Baseball is back. The Orioles will report to Sarasota on Feb.
16 with a first full-squad workout set for Feb. 22.
at times overtly political, while at
other times it was fueled by religious
zeal. Andre Krauss will examine
where political protest intersects with
aesthetic considerations. This online
presentation takes place Feb. 17 from
3 to 4:30 p.m.
• OLLI at Ringling College’s documentary
film series, CONNECTIONS: Exploring
Today’s Global Issues, is an
opportunity for students to connect to
many of today’s pressing global issues
via the penetrating perspectives of
contemporary documentary films.
The moderator of the series is Julie
Cotton, a member of the Advisory
Council’s Strategic Program Committee,
executive coach and aficionado of
documentary films.
he winter term features two films
that will be screened via Zoom. Following
the screening, participants
can engage in a Zoom discussion
with the moderator and one another
about the film’s content and impact,
as well as raise questions for further
exploration. The last film is on Feb. 16
(“Jim Allison: Breakthrough”) from
2:30-4:30 p.m.
At the Libraries
February 18 —Virtual Betty J.
Johnson North Sarasota Book Club:
“Becoming” (Live) 6-7 p.m.
Registration is open to February 18.
They’ll be discussing “Becoming”
by Michelle Obama in this virtual
edition of the Betty J. Johnson North
Sarasota Public Library’s book club.
Copies of the book will be available
for pickup at the Library. This virtual
program will be hosted in Zoom.
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• February 25—Virtual Shannon
Staub Book Club (Live) 6-7 p.m. This
month we will be reading and discussing
“Between the World and Me” by
Ta-Nehisi Coates.In a profound work
that pivots from the biggest questions
about American history and ideals to
the most intimate concerns of a father
for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a
powerful new framework for understanding
our nation’s history and current
crisis.
Americans have built an empire on
the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages
us all but falls most heavily on the
bodies of black women and men—bodies
exploited through slavery and segregation,
and, today, threatened, locked
up, and murdered out of all proportion.
What is it like to inhabit a black body
and find a way to live within it? And
how can we all honestly reckon with
this fraught history and free ourselves
from its burden?.This virtual program
will be hosted in Zoom.
• The Genealogical
Society of Sarasota
will continue
to host its programs
in an online environment
until they
can safely return
to the Geldbart
Auditorium. Participants
can expect
expert information
on a variety of genealogy
subjects.
visit https://gssfl.
com/index.php to
find links to the
webinars.
Next meetings:
• Saturday, February
13, TBA
• Saturday,
March 13, Maureen
Taylor: Google
Images & Beyond - Learn Basic
Search Techniques
• Saturday, April 10, TBA.
Art Exhibits
Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling
College is open including the new
Bistro, the Shop, and the Grounds.
• On exhibit: Harmony Hammond,
Material Witness, Five Decades of
Art, Color. Theory. & (b/w), Vita in
Motu, Worker by Barbara Banks and
Vik Muniz.
They offer a variety of online exhibits.
Visit www.sarasotaartmuseum.
org. Sarasota Art Museum, Ringling
College Museum Campus, 1001 South
Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
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Dabbert Gallery has Inspired to
Imagineer through February 28.
Fine Art engages our imagination to
dream or see beyond our current reality,
to be inspired. Dabbert Gallery, 46
South Palm Avenue, Sarasota.
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Ringling College has Regan
Dunnick: Plum Bobs Ulysses pt.
1 through February 12. Featuring
original paintings and drawings by
renowned illustrator and long-time
Ringling College Faculty member,
Regan Dunnick (Class of 1976) in The
Patricia Thompson Gallery.
Dunnick is an internationally
known illustrator. He has won numerous
awards and his works are in the
permanent collection of the Library
of Congress. He has been selected to
such major exhibitions as the United
Nations Environmental Show, The New
Pop Show which toured Europe and
chronicled innovators, American Illustration,
and The Hiroshima Memorial
Design Show (Hiroshima, Japan).
This exhibition is open by appointment
only. Email galleries@ringling.
edu to request an appointment.
The Keating Center is at 2621
Bradenton Rd, Sarasota.
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The Photoville FENCE returns to
Sarasota-Bradenton’s Nathan Benderson
Park. View some of the world’s
best photography in a unique outdoor
exhibit through February. The show
is open to the public from 6 a.m.-6
p.m. every day. As an outdoor exhibition,
social distancing is a distinct
built-in feature of the show.
Consistently attracting exceptional
work by a diverse pool of photographers,
the Photoville FENCE spotlights
a wide range of photographic
and lens-based stories. By exploring
the universal themes of people,
streets, play, creatures, home, food,
and nature, the exhibition elevates
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our understanding of the world-atlarge
and issues close to home.
The local show also includes a
showcase of seven Florida photographers,
judged separately from the
international show. The exhibition
is free to the public. The Photoville
Fence will appear on the upper finish
tower parking lot, on both sides of
a chain-link fence between the two
bridges onto the park’s Regatta Island.
Learn more at nathanbendersonpark.org/about-us/sanca-mission.
Theatre
FST in Conversation. FST invites
you to join in for online conversations
with some of the country’s top
playwrights creating art today. From
issues of heritage and history to complexities
around human technology
to race in American theatre, we’ll unpack
some of the issues behind these
artists’ exciting new plays in development
and why they’re relevant today.
Hear directly from these artists about
their processes and what it takes to get
a play on its feet.
All forums are free to attend,
though registration is required.
• February 11, 11 a.m. Life vs. Technology.
Featuring Playwrights Thomas
Gibbons and Jacqueline Goldfinger.
Moderated by Jason Cannon.
This is just a partial list. We’ll
publish more in the months ahead.
FST Forums will be held exclusively
online. After registering, you will
receive an email the day before the
event from Florida Studio Theatre
containing information about joining
the online event. This will be a separate
email from your confirmation
email. Questions, call the FST Box
Office at 941-366-9000.
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Urbanite Theatre is back. Here’s
what they have in February.
• Sam & Lizzie by Emily Kaczmerak.
Directed by Summer Dawn Wallace.
February 13 at 5pm and 7:30pm
at Hermitage Artist Retreat and February
14 at 6pm: Marie Selby Botanical
Gardens, Downtown Campus
Classmates Sam and Lizzie have
their first playdate on 9/11, co-creating
an imaginary, fanciful queendom
in order to make sense of the day.
Over the next twenty years, the game
recurs at startling intervals as the two
women navigate their fierce, fraught,
electric friendship. In collaboration
with the Hermitage Artist Retreat.
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Gabrielle Lennon, author of
“Touch Me Real and Other Stories”
and “After Midnight: A Book of Poetry.,”
has Touch Me Real, Via Zoom
for those who miss live theater. After
the play, there will be talk back with
writer/actor Gabrielle Lennon. This
one-woman show is a coming-ofage
story of best friends. This is not a
reading — it’s a fully-produced show.
Info: www.lennonbooks.com or www.
gabriellelennon.com. Tickets: https://
buytickets.at/movingrealproductions.
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Manatee Performing Arts Center
has a special Valentine’s weekend
lineup. See some of your favorite performers
as they set the mood for this
romantic holiday with renditions of
some of Hollywood and Broadway’s
favorite love songs paired with a spectacular
multimedia presentation.
In-person performances in Stone
Hall are $15; outdoor cinema is $25
per car. Dates: Friday, February 12 in
Stone Hall at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday,
February 14 also in Stone Hall at 2
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8 WEST COAST WOMAN FEBRUARY 2021