Schedule Of Events

7:00pm : Chimney Swift Conservation in Michigan

Many people may be familiar with the silhouette of a chimney swift cutout placed on windows, but what do we really know about these birds? For example, chimney swifts are now a “tipping point species,” and its populations are in steep decline. This presentation by Michigan Audubon Conservation Manager Chad Machinski will discuss identification of chimney swifts, their history, why people are integral to these birds’ survival, and what we can do to help them. While Chad’s first love is botany, he doesn’t deny the intertwining nature of birds, plants, insects, and all other organisms we share the world with. As Michigan Audubon’s Conservation Manager, Chad is responsible for the management and care for all twenty of the Michigan Audubon Sanctuaries around the state, as well as bird-specific programs such as chimney swift and purple martin conservation.

7:00pm : "Wit" - A Play by Margaret Edson

In this extraordinary play, Margaret Edson has created a work that is as intellectually challenging as it is emotionally immediate. At the start of Wit, Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English who has spent years studying and teaching the brilliantly difficult Holy Sonnets of the metaphysical poet John Donne, has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her approach to her illness is not unlike her approach to the study of Donne: aggressively probing and intensely rational. But during the course of her illness – and her stint as a prize patient in an experimental chemotherapy program at a major teaching hospital – Vivian comes to reassess her life and her work with a profundity and humor that are transformative both for her and for the audience. Wit explores not only the physical effects of aggressive treatment for terminal illnesses, but also the need for those involved in the care of their patients to remember and honor human dignity. It can be easy for those in the medical field to see their patients as only a collection of numbers and data, of test results and laboratory findings, while forgetting that human compassion is ultimately what can bring their patients the most comfort. This script has tremendous educational value for those who are currently in healthcare, or who are studying to enter the field of health care.

Click Here For More Information