The Culture Club
The Osborn invites the wider community to share world-class cultural programs close to home through its WellSpring Series. On Saturday, November 18 at 1, they welcome the Purchase Dance Company, which will perform classical ballet and contemporary works from their fall repertory in The Osborn Auditorium.
After the performance, guests are invited to stay and meet the dancers.
Purchase College is recognized as having one of the nation’s most highly regarded dance conservatories, whose students embody professionalism, versatility, and virtuosity.
The WellSpring program engages “seven dimensions that enrich lives: intellectual, social, physical, environmental, occupational, emotional, and spiritual.” At The Osborn, residents can stay fit through exercise classes, swimming in the indoor pool, or walking on the glorious arboretum grounds. They can paint in the art studio, browse in three libraries, watch films, and listen to live music, and enjoy an array of other fitness, cultural, and social activities.
To reserve seats, email RSVP@theosborn.org.
One on Donne
Join Mark Schenker for a discussion of the poems of John Donne at the Rye Free Reading Room on Sunday, November 19 at 12:30.
One scholar has described the work of the preeminent metaphysical poet of his time (1572-1631) as “a curious mix of contradictions. At once spiritual and metaphysical, it is also deeply embedded in the physicality of bodies: love as a physical, corporeal experience as well as a spiritual high. His style can often be startlingly plain (‘For God’s sake hold your tongue’, one of the poems begins), yet his imagery is frequently complex, his use of extended metaphors requiring some careful unpacking.”
Poetry is Yale Dean Mark Schenker’s favorite genre, and his discussions reflect his enthusiasm and knowledge, noted Fred Cummings, a longtime participant in this enlightened literary program.
Those planning to attend the event in-person or virtually are encouraged to read, perhaps read aloud, the following poems: “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” “The Flea,” “The Bait,” “The Passionate Shephard to His Love,” “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness,” “Death, Be Not Proud,” and “Batter My Heart.”
For more information, call the library at 914-967-0280.
A Really Big Weekend
Westchester Children’s Museum celebrates the season with a STEAM-filled Fall Fest Weekend on November 18 and 19 from 9-5. Among the playful learning activities are:
• Seed Sorting – Think like a squirrel and categorize plant seeds by physical characteristics including size, count, and texture.
• Pumpkin Batteries – Use zinc and copper plates, alligator clamp wires, bulbs, and a pumpkin to power an LED light.
• Leaf Raking – Experience the joy of autumn by raking leaves (paper and felt) and jumping into piles – indoors!
• DIY Corn Maze – Create a custom maze using engineering design techniques.
• Leaf Litter MicroBiomes – Explore the hidden world under your feet with magnifying glasses and scientific collection tools to unearth miniature creatures and ecosystems in leaf litter.
• Tasty Dough Sculptures – Mix applesauce and cinnamon to make scented playdough and then craft it into art.
Big Weekend Events are free for museum members and included in the cost of daily admission. For information on Fall Fest Weekend and all Westchester Children’s Museum programs, visit www.discoverwcm.org or call 914-421-5050. The entrance to the Museum is on the Playland Boardwalk.