As the semester gets up to full speed now that holidays and snow days are past for now, it opens up a plethora of events and opportunities for enjoyment and learning, including music, reading deals, celebrity curators, Italian puppets, participatory singing and more.
All of these 10 activities and events for you to take advantage of during February are free.
1. Enjoy a bowl before the Bowl.
On Sunday, Feb. 4, you can enjoy two bowls: The Bach Bowl as well as the Super Bowl. The Bach Bowl begins at 4 p.m. in Emerson Concert Hall of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Emory University Organist Timothy Albrecht, an expert interpreter of the Baroque master, performs with Emory music colleagues in this one-hour recital that is free and open to the public. You can be home in time to make the cheese dip and see the game.
2. Make time to de-stress midweek.
Take some time for yourself through reflection, music and silence for 30 minutes. Breathe: Stillness in the Busy-ness is held weekly on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. in Cannon Chapel, sponsored by the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life as an opportunity to gather as a community of compassion.
3. Take advantage of a deal for Atlanta libraries.
Get a free library card for use in the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library (AFPL) system. Go to Level 2 of the Woodruff Library on Wednesday, Feb. 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. when the AFPL will be giving out free library cards to all current Emory students, staff and faculty at A Pop-Up Public Library Card Drive.
4. Learn how to share your work through digital publishing.
You want to get your thoughts, words, accomplishments, recipes or humor out to a wider public. Learn how at a free digital publishing workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 2 p.m. in Room 303E of the Woodruff Library. The Emory Center for Digital Scholarship will introduce you to methods and platforms currently used in digital publishing and will explain issues surrounding rights, access and accessibility so you’ll be ready to publish.
5. Experience a night of music, fables and puppets.
On the evening of Thursday, Feb. 8, don’t miss a performance of “Gruzzolino.” The Italian Studies Program presents Jeff Domke of the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts and the Millennium Flute Ensemble for this Italian puppetry presentation. It is free and open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. in Room 208 of White Hall. For more information, contact Simona Muratore.
6. Share in the annual Sacred Harp Sing.
Exercise your lungs at the annual Emory Sacred Harp Sing on Saturday, Feb. 10. Singing at this free event begins at 10 a.m. in Cannon Chapel and wraps up at 3 p.m. At noon, there will be a potluck dinner in Brooks Commons, adjacent to the Chapel. No experience is necessary and hymnals will be provided. Come for part or all of the day. For more information, contact Rebekah Bedard.
7. Bring family and friends to cheer on the Emory Eagles.
There’s a wide choice of athletics events this month as a variety of Emory sports start their seasons with several home games. On Saturday, Feb. 10, the baseball team plays Covenant College at Chappell Park at noon, which will have just been renovated. The softball team plays William Peace University at noon at the Emory Softball Field also on Feb. 10; then, at 2 p.m., they take on Birmingham Southern. At 2 p.m., the men’s tennis team plays Georgia Gwinnett.
The next day, Sunday, Feb. 11, the softball team has a second match against William Peace University, starting at 10 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. against Birmingham Southern. The women’s tennis team plays Coastal Carolina at 10 a.m. Feb. 11. Later in the month, on Feb. 13, the baseball team takes on Oglethorpe University at 2 p.m. at Chappell Park. On Feb. 14 and 15, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams participate in the UAA Championships right here at Emory.
See the athletics website for all contests and times. Unless otherwise noted, all games take place at the Woodruff P.E. Center and all are free.
8. Learn all about “Divine Felines.”
Cats and lions were big in ancient Egypt. Learn about their various roles in Egyptian mythology, kingship and everyday life on Sunday, Feb. 11, at 4 p.m. in Ackerman Hall of the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Brooklyn Museum curator Yekaterina Barbash visits to present “The Divine Felines of Ancient Egypt” in conjunction with the museum’s major exhibition “Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt” opening Feb. 10. Barbash is the curator of this exhibition whose objects are drawn from collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Carlos Museum, showcasing more than 90 objects exploring wild and domestic cats and dogs, feline and canine deities, animal burial practices, and luxury items decorated with feline and canine features.
9. Revel in poetry with the U.S. poet laureate.
Choose from two poetry readings in February. On Saturday, Feb. 17, U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith will give a reading of her poems at 4 p.m. at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Then on Tuesday, Feb. 27, poets Michael Marberry and Cassie Gonzalez will give a joint reading at the Jones Room of the Woodruff Library at 6:30 p.m. Marberry is from rural Tennessee and the coordinator of the nonprofit Poets-in-Print Reading Series. Gonzalez, from Tucson, Arizona, is a published poet and playwright whose work has been performed internationally. Both readings are free.
10. Be entertained by a show about death.
Tired of feel-good theater and performance? Take in this universal subject by attending “A bunch of different ways I'd like to die: A monologue by Tim McDonough” on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Theater Lab of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. McDonough’s reading of his work-in-progress about death is the first in a series of dead serious fantasies and comic meditations. The performance, like the phenomenon itself, is free and open to the public.