Events

LEXINGTON, Ky.— A spoken word and musical performance featuring Affrilachian poets Frank X Walker, Ricardo Nazario y Colón, Jeremy Paden and Bianca Spriggs, and musical guest, The Sisters of the Sacred Drum, will be Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. in Transylvania University’s Carrick Theater. Affrilachian poetry offers glimpses into life in the American Black South and the Appalachian region, dispelling the notion of an all-white Appalachian region and culture. The poetry draws on traditions such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and the experiences of the African Diaspora.  Affrilachian poetry celebrates African heritage and rural roots while encompassing themes of racism and Black identity. In this performance, the theme of ancestry is explored through the poets’ original work. Frank X Walker is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets and is the author of four poetry collections. He co-produced the documentary “Coal Black Voices: the History of the Affrilachian Poets.” He currently serves as associate professor in the department of English at the University of Kentucky and is the editor and publisher of “PLUCK!, the new journal of Affrilachian Art and Culture.” In 2002 Transylvania University awarded Walker an honorary Doctor of Letters Degree. Nazario y Colón, co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, was featured in the PBS documentary “Coal Black Voices” in 200. His work has been featured on the Bob Edwards show and the Kentucky NPR Affiliates WFPL and WUKY, as well as in the program

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Rabbi Michael Cook, the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati campus, will speak at Transylvania University on Sunday, Feb. 17. His talk, “‘Gospel Dynamics’: When the Jewish Jesus Isn’t Enough,” is at 7 p.m. in Carrick Theater in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center and is free and open to the public. Cook is possibly the only rabbi in North America with a full-professorial chair in New Testament. In 2003, he was one of seven scholars internationally selected by the Catholic Bishops to assess the accuracy of the advance script of Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ.” His best-selling book, “Modern Jews Engage the New Testament: Enhancing Jewish Well-Being in a Christian Environment,” is in its third printing. He has also written about the evolving Jewish views of Jesus and Paul, studies on the various Gospels and on a wide spectrum of specialized subjects including the trial of Jesus, images of Judaism in Christian Art, the history of anti-Semitism, and the role of Passover in modern Christianity. He serves on many advisory boards in Jewish-Christian relations and has received an Excellence in Teaching Award, sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities. He travels widely, speaking to Jewish and Christian audiences, including congregations as well as university academicians, clergy and seminarians throughout North America and Europe. Cook’s lecture is part of the Franklin B. Moosnick Lectureship in Judaic

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s vocal ensembles will present “An Evening at the Cabaret: Disney,” Friday, Feb. 1, and Saturday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. Both shows are free and open to the public. “An Evening at the Cabaret,” featuring the Transylvania Choir, the Transylvania Singers, the Pioneer Voices, a capella groups TBA and Grace Notes and several soloists, will include a variety of songs from Disney movies “The Lion King,” “Newsies,” “Tarzan,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Toy Story 2” and many more. For more information, contact the fine arts office at (859) 233-8141.

Peter Bergen LEXINGTON, Ky.—Peter Bergen, journalist, bestselling author and director of the national security studies program at the New America Foundation, will give Transylvania University’s winter term Kenan Lecture, “The Awakening: How Revolutionaries, Barack Obama and Ordinary Muslims Are Remaking the Middle East,” on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. Bergen will also sign his most recent book, “Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for bin Laden, From 9/11 to Abbotabad.” The book is a New York Times bestseller and is being adapted into a documentary by HBO. Bergen has been a producer and analyst for CNN. In 1997 he produced Osama bin Laden’s first television interview, during which bin Laden declared war against the United States. He has reported on al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, Pakistan, counterterrorism, homeland security and the Middle East for several publications, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, TIME and The Atlantic. He has been nominated for an Emmy and a National Magazine Award, and in 1994 he won the Overseas Press Club Edward R. Murrow award for best foreign affairs documentary. He is the author of two other books, “The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader” and “Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of bin Laden.” He is a fellow at Fordham University’s Center on National

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Renowned artist and activist Robert Shetterly, a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow with the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), will conduct classes and deliver a public lecture during an intensive week-long visit to Transylvania University, January 28-February 1. Shetterly’s lecture, “Truth, Courage, and the Spirit of Democracy,” is on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Coleman Recital Hall in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. It is free and open to the public. Shetterly taught himself drawing, printmaking and painting after attending Harvard University. For 12 years he illustrated the editorial page drawings for the Maine Times, the National Audubon Society’s children’s newspaper Audubon Adventures and more than 30 books. Now, his paintings and prints are in collections all over the U.S. and Europe. His painting tended toward the narrative and the surreal until 2002 when he began painting the series of portraits, numbering now over 120, called “Americans Who Tell the Truth.” The show has been exhibited in venues across more than 20 states, including university museums, grade school libraries, sandwich shops and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. A book of portraits by the same name was published in 2005 and in 2006 won the top award of the International Reading Association for Intermediate Non-fiction. The portraits have given Shetterly an opportunity to speak with children and adults all over this country about sustainability, U.S. history, the necessity of dissent in a democracy

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