The new year is off and running, spring semester is about to start, and Emory’s campuses and calendars are filling up with a wide variety of events.
Check out these 10 free things to do in January:
1. Meditate in the mornings — or the evenings.
You may know about the weekly guided meditation sessions held at 6 p.m. each Thursday in Cannon Chapel. For January only, the Emory Buddhist Club is hosting new morning meditation sessions from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Depending on participant interest, guided or silent meditation, chanting or discussion will be offered. All are welcome to these free sessions also held in Cannon Chapel, Room 106. Also, don’t forget that on Wednesday afternoons, compassion meditation is offered from 5 to 6 p.m. in Room 106 of Cannon Chapel. It’s free and open to all.
2. Enjoy the wonderful world of movie color.
Emory Cinematheque’s spring semester film series presents "Glorious Color!" beginning Jan. 16 and running each Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in White Hall. First up is the restored version of Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (1920) and the Georges Méliès short “A Trip to the Moon” (1902). All screenings are free and open to the public and will be shown in the theatrical projection formats 35mm or DCP.
3. Cheer on the Eagles at Emory and Oxford home basketball games.
Opportunities for basketball are numerous in January. On Friday, Jan. 18, Emory women’s and men’s team will play Case Western Reserve, the women at 6 p.m. and the men at 8 p.m. in Woodruff P.E. Center. On Sunday, Jan. 20, Emory men’s team plays Carnegie Mellon at 12 p.m. and the women’s team takes on Carnegie Mellon at 2 p.m. The Dennis Spruell Classic tournament is that same weekend at Oxford College when the Oxford men play Georgia Northwestern Tech at 8 p.m. Jan 18 and on Jan. 19, it’s Oxford versus MacDill Air Force Base at 4 p.m.
Brandeis is the competition for Emory women’s and men’s team on Friday, Jan. 25. The women’s team plays at 6 p.m. and the men’s team at 8 p.m. On Saturday, Jan. 26, the Oxford men’s team plays West Georgia Tech College at 5 p.m. at Oxford. Emory men’s basketball takes on New York University at noon on Sunday, Jan. 27, and the women’s team will play at 2 p.m. The last basketball excitement of January is on Jan. 29 when the Oxford men’s team plays Southern Wesleyan Junior Varsity at 8 p.m. at Oxford.
4. Consider the legacy of political activism at the intersection of art.
Join Amanda Hellman, curator of African art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, for a talk and tour of the exhibition “DO or DIE: Affect, Ritual, Resistance.” The works, by Emory PhD alumnus Fahamu Pecou, have their antecedents in the Orisha tradition of the Yoruba of southwest Nigeria. This event is Sunday, Jan. 19, at 2 p.m. It’s free but space is limited with reservations required by calling 404-727-6118.
5. Experience Indian classical music.
Prema Bhat, South India classical singer, will give a carnatic vocal concert on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m. She will give her free performance in Cannon Chapel.
6. View a film that brings to life the stories of three refugee families.
“The Burning: The Untold Story of Africa's Migrant and Refugee Crisis” is a film about the journeys of three families from their home countries of Mali, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Isabella Alexander, visiting assistant professor in the departments of anthropology and film and media studies, will provide background and perspective. See this film on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Candler School of Theology’s Rita Anne Rollins Building, room 252. The event is free.
7. Observe the Martin Luther King Junior Holiday.
Leonard Pitts is the MLK Holiday Observance Keynote Speaker. Pitts is an author and newspaper columnist. He has also been a college professor, a radio producer and a lecturer. He will speak on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 4 p.m. in Cox Hall Ballroom. Learn more about Emory’s King Week activities.
8. Start walking again.
Boost your New Year’s resolutions by joining group walks with Meet Me at the Tunnel, which starts back Wednesday, Jan. 23, and goes through Feb. 27. Walk every week or just the Wednesdays you can; meet colleagues at the entrance to Emory University Hospital tunnel. This is a free activity with a fitness payoff.
9. Take advantage of two opportunities to hear exciting piano performances.
On Friday, Jan. 25, international performer and teacher James Giles will give a piano concert at noon in Ackerman Hall of the Carlos Museum as part of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta series. The next evening, Saturday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., you can hear some of the most talented pre-college pianists from around the nation perform at the Emory’s Young Artist Piano Competition Final Concert to be held in Emerson Concert Hall of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Both concerts are free.
10. Learn about how the purchase of a mummy transformed the Carlos Museum.
AntiquiTEA, the monthly talk with tea and scones, features Gay Robins, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor Emerita of Art History and the museum’s first faculty curator of Egyptian art, discussing the mummy purchased in Egypt in 1921 by then Candler School of Theology professor William Arthur Shelton and how Shelton’s purchase transformed Emory’s museum. The talk, which is free, is Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 4 p.m. in the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s Ackerman Hall.