M usic, family and television history are remembered, while destructive and constructive futures are imagined.
Monday, March 22
“Radiant Blossom,” the next Music à la Carte program from the Kallos Chamber Music Series, happens at 7:30 tonight. Featuring “acclaimed violinist Geneva Lewis, cellist Joshua Halpern, and pianist Min Young Kang,” organizers invite listeners to “experience Mozart’s ebullient Piano Trio K. 548, Jean Françaix’s vibrant and witty Piano Trio (1986), and Schumann’s turbulent and passionate Piano Trio No. 1.” Tickets for the virtual performance start at $5, with additional options for those who feel inspired to give more.
Wednesday, March 24
Jill Marie Snyder, author of Dear Mary, Dear Luther, a book that pieces together her own family history, leads “Telling Your Family’s Story: A Beginner’s Workshop” at 6 p.m. Organized by the New Haven Museum, “the free workshop offers a step-by-step guide to genealogical research and the documentation of past generations using insights Snyder developed while researching her own complex family tree.” Registration required.
An hour later, at 7 p.m., Madison-based indie bookstore RJ Julia hosts a virtual conversation between Admiral James Stavridis, a “decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO… who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America’s most tenacious adversaries,” and Justin Muzinich, who was deputy secretary of the US Treasury under Donald Trump. The subject, co-authored by Stavridis and the soldier-turned-acclaimed novelist Elliot Ackerman, is 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (2021), “an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors’ years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security.” Free; registration required.
Thursday, March 25
At 6 p.m., the Afro-American Cultural Center and Schwarzman Center at Yale present a “watch party”—followed by a discussion with the director—of Mr. Soul! (2018), an award-winning documentary about the groundbreaking talk and variety show Soul!, which aired on public television from 1968 to 1973 and was “among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement.” Free; registration required.
Friday, March 26
“Alternative Voting Systems: Approval, or Ranked-Choice?” is the topic of a 3:30 p.m. debate organized by grad students at Yale’s Jackson Institute, co-sponsored by Yale Effective Altruism and moderated by Lisa D. T. Rice. As organizers have it, the problems with our current voting conventions are numerous: “Experts believe America’s predominant voting method—called ‘plurality’ voting or first-past-the-post—is among the worst. It’s highly susceptible to vote splitting and the spoiler effect, which motivates tactical voting that fails capture voters’ sincere preferences. It’s conducive to negative campaigns, polarization and hyper-partisanship. It suppresses voter turnout, deters independent or third-party candidates, and produces winners that aren’t particularly popular.” As for potential replacement systems, panelist Aaron Hamlin will advocate for approval voting—in which voters pick as many candidates as they like, with the win going to the person who earns the most total votes—while Lee Drutman will advocate for a ranked-choice approach, in which voters rank candidates and, if nobody wins more than 50% of first-choice votes, the lowest-earning candidate’s votes are redistributed to their voters’ second-choice picks (and so on, if necessary) until a winner emerges. Following the debate, “the participants will lay out practical ways ahead for reform efforts, and accept audience questions as time allows.” Free; registration required.
Written by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
