JUNE 3
The Kansas City Public Library hosts Margi Conrads and Catherine Futter for a discussion called “Drawing the Curtain Back: Reinstalling the American Galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art” at 6:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Public Library Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.
Museum curators Conrads and Futter will explain connections between art and political history, from the earliest days of the nation and onward. The discussion will focus on six key dates – 1776, 1826, 1850, 1886, 1913 and 1939. Those dates tie the expanded American art collection to the wider events of American history, which is the ongoing principle of the galleries. The pair also will discuss the rewards and challenges of reinstalling the collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
Literacy Kansas City is conducting orientations for new volunteers from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Literacy Kansas City office, 210 W. Armour Blvd., third floor.
Literacy Kansas City has adopted a new focus on the need for preventing high school and college dropouts. Two pilot projects are beginning this summer – one collaborating with Westport High School; the other with Penn Valley Community College. An estimated 70 volunteers are needed for ongoing one-on-one sessions with selected students.
Tutor training workshops will be offered starting June 13 and again beginning Aug. 5. The volunteer commitment required is one years, four or five hours per week.
For information, call 333-9332 or e-mail
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JUNE 4
Nick Haines, executive producer of news and public affairs programming at KCPT, moderates a panel discussion about the future of local news at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
The panel discussion will look at the struggle of newspapers, how blogs are filling some voids and if blogs will ever replace newspapers. The event is the second in the library’s “Figuring Out the Future of Print Media” series.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
To celebrate the exhibit “Dichos: Words to Live, Love and Laugh By in Latin America,” the Kansas City Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., welcomes historian Olga Olivares for a presentation titled “Dichos and Other Mexican Traditions” at 6:30 p.m.
Olivares was born in Texas and raised in Nebraska in a bilingual family rich in Mexican-American cultural tradition. She has served as a community outreach worker as well as a consultant to both the Nebraska Historical Society and the Mexican-American Commission for the state of Nebraska.
Olavares will share dichos and talk about their meaning and significance in Mexican culture.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
Leawood Arts Council will provide “Grinnin’ & Groovin’” entertainment for the entire family each Thursday in June. The series kicks off with a concert by Dino O’Dell from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the amphitheater in Ironwoods Park, 147th Street and Mission Road. Kevin Dolan as Dino O’Dell sings in a celebration of cultures – Jamaican, English, German and American rock ’n’ roll, rap and country music – encouraging children to sing and dance. In case of rain, the event will be held in the Lodge at Ironwoods Park. Lawn chairs and blankets are recommended, picnics are welcome, and dogs must be on a leash. Admission is free. For more information, call 339-6700, ext. 157, or visit www.leawood.org.
JUNE 5
The Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 4801 Main St., will feature a high-energy performance from the Sugar Free Allstars.
The two-piece band consisting of Chris Wiser and Rob “Dr. Rock” Martin is popular with children and parents, featuring an interactive show that encourages participation at all levels. The band plays songs from its children’s album “Dos Ninos” about bath time, petting zoos, banana pudding and cats.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
To raise awareness and funds to support research for a cure for advanced prostate cancer, the Faith - Love - Hope - Win Foundation will hold “Friday Night in the Greenhouse” from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Suburban Lawn and Garden greenhouse, 4 W. 135th St., Kansas City, Mo. Suburban will donate 10 percent of all sales to the foundation. The event will feature a jazz ensemble, complementary beverages and light hors d’oeuvres. For more information, visit www.flhw.org.
LaMar’s Donuts will give visitors to its stores today a free Ray’s Original Glazed doughnut. The complimentary treats are in celebration of National Donut Day, an observance the Chicago Salvation Army started in 1938 to honor the “lassies” of World War I – women volunteers who served doughnuts to soldiers behind the front lines in France.
JUNE 6
Author Richard Jennings will present his book “Ghost Town” at 11 a.m. at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 4801 Main St.
The presentation also serves as a workshop for aspiring young writers.
Jennings has authored of more than 50 essays, short stories and articles and has gained acclaim for the 1980 book “The Tragic Tale of the Dog Who Killed Himself.”
In “Ghost Town,” Spencer Honesty, his mom, and his imaginary friend, Chief Leopard Frog, are the last people left in Paisley, Kan. When Chief Leopard Frog’s carved rabbit talisman tells Spence to take his photo, Spence digs up his late father’s camera and shoots photographs of his ghost town.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
Saint Luke’s South, 12300 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park, hosts a Family Health Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free annual festival is targeted to the entire family, featuring health screenings and information for adults, and entertainment for children. Hospital departments and community organizations will provide health screenings including heel bone density, hearing, vision, blood glucose, cholesterol (while supplies last), blood pressure and body fat. Children can enjoy a moonwalk, giant slide, LifeFlight air ambulance available for tours from noon to 1 p.m., face-painting, a mini-hospital and a special kids’ craft. Car seat safety checks will be provided and lunch and snacks will be available for purchase. For information, visit www.saintlukeshealthsystem.org.
JUNE 7
The Kansas City Public Library and Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre present their Script-In-Hand series of stage performances with “Antigone” at 2 p.m. at the Kansas City Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
In the Sophocles classic, when Antigone makes the decision to defy King Creon’s wishes not to bury her brother who was thought to be a traitor, she is sentenced to death. Creon eventually overturns his order, but by then it is too late and Antigone commits suicide. Her suicide causes two others close to Creon to do the same, including his son, Harmon, who was to marry Antigone.
For more information, call 701-3406 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City celebrates its 50th anniversary from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo. The event features guest speaker Edgar M. Bronfman, former CEO of the Seagram Co. and renowned philanthropist, Jewish leader and author. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served. For more information, call 327-82-45 or visit www.jcfkc.org.
JUNE 8
Nancy Powell discusses the work of Nelle Elizabeth Peters at a 2 p.m. presentation at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 4801 Main St. The presentation is part of the “They Built Kansas City” series examining the work of architects responsible for some of the city’s most recognizable structures.
Peters completed nearly 1,000 buildings during her 60-year career. In 1913, she formed a partnership with the Philips Building Company owned by Charles E. Philips. During this period she designed dozens of apartments for Philips, including the literary group – the Robert Louis Stevenson, Eugene Field, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Thomas Carlyle, James Russell Lowell and Robert Browning buildings, all located on the Country Club Plaza.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival presents “The Merry Wives of Windsor: The Earliest Sitcom” at 1:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 4801 Main St.
The series of programs celebrates Shakespeare’s rollicking comedy and coincides with the festival’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” which runs in Southmoreland Park from June 16 through July 5.
The program also features events June 15, 22 and 29. The June 8 show features the topic of Playing the Play, which delves into planning, casting and developing the show.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
Author Diane Wei Liang discusses her memoir “Lake With No Name: A True Story of Love and Conflict in Modern China” at 6:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
“Lake With No Name” begins at Beijing University in 1986. The Communists were in power, but the Harvard of China was a hotbed of intellectual and cultural activity. Nineteen-year-old Wei had known the oppressive days of the Cultural Revolution. Now, as a student, she was allowed to immerse herself in study and spend her free hours writing poetry beside the Lake with No Name at the center of campus.
Diane Wei Liang has a Ph.D. in business administration from Carnegie Mellon University was a professor of business in the United States and the United Kingdom for more than 10 years. She is the author of two previous mystery novels, “Paper Butterfly” and “The Eye of Jade.”
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
JUNE 9
The Meet the Past series at the Kansas City Public Library continues with Pete Hansen portraying Arthur Stilwell at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
The series features the characters are interviewed by Library Director Crosby Kemper III.
Stilwell is the visionary whose crowning achievement was the railroad that became Kansas City Southern. When Stilwell arrived in Kansas City in 1886, he found a city much like himself: ambitious, brimming with optimism and possessed a sense of destiny. From all accounts, he had a rare ability to inspire people to believe in him and to share his hopes. He persuaded a generation Kansas City business leaders to invest in his visions, and many a fortune was founded on them.
Hansen is a nationally-known historian, lecturer and writer, specializing in the railroad industry and its impact on American life. He is a correspondent for Trains magazine and editor of Railroad History, a scholarly journal.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
The Kansas City Public Library welcomes Michael Perry for a presentation based on his book “Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting” at 7 p.m. at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 4801 Main St.
Perry is a bestselling author of humorous memoirs with his off-kilter take on life in the country with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a pregnant wife who is due any minute.
Perry’s other works include “Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time” and “Truck: A Love Story.”
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
“Mapping Missouri/Kansas Communities Workshop: An Introduction to GIS and Community Analysis” takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 9 and 10 at ExecuTrain of Kansas City, 6900 College Blvd., Suite 800, Overland Park. The program is meant for anyone interested in mapping their community. Participants will learn to create thematic maps, display spatial trends in information, geocoding, map addresses of clients, download and map census and American Community Survey Data, conduct spatial queries, download free shapefiles, and create well-designed maps. Intermediate Excel skills required. These are one-day workshops; participants choose which day to attend. For more information or to register, visit www.nur-online.com/.
JUNE 10
Author and historian David O. Stewart discusses his new book “Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy” at 6:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
Impeached traces the trial of President Andrew Johnson to its roots in the social and political revolutions that rocked the South with the end of slavery and the Civil War. As president after Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, not only failed to heal the nation’s wounds but rather rubbed them raw, ignoring widespread violence against the freed slaves and encouraging former rebels to resume political control of the southern states.
The book challenges traditional thinking, which portrays Johnson as pursuing Lincoln’s legacy by showing leniency to the former rebels.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
JUNE 11
To make the grand opening of the H&R Block Business and Career Center at the Kansas City Central Library, there will be a public conversation with Henry Bloch, co-founder and chairman emeritus of H&R Block, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library at 14 W. 10th St.
The conversation will be conducted by Crosby Kemper III, Kansas City Public Library director.
Bloch will discuss how the entrepreneurial start-up he and his brother Richard founded in Kansas City in 1955 grew to become the world’s largest tax services company, a publicly-traded corporation that in 2008 served 23.5 million clients at more than 13,000 U.S. retail offices and through its digital tax solutions.
During the conversation, Bloch will touch on the highs and lows of his career as one of Kansas City’s most successful entrepreneurs. Among these include the early struggling days of his predecessor firm in the late 1940s called United Business Company that offered bookkeeping and other services to small businesses; the unanticipated effect of an advertisement in the Kansas City Star in January 1955 that uncovered the overwhelming need for tax preparation services; the decision to rename the company H&R Block; the unlikely birth of the H&R Block franchise network in New York Henry Bloch’s role as a television spokesman that made the company one of the most recognized brands in American business; and how the company faced the challenged brought on by Richard’s terminal lung cancer diagnosis.
For more information, call 701-3407 or visit www.kclibrary.org.
Annual Wine and Brew Ha-Ha at 5 p.m. at Hale Arena on the American Royal Grounds, 1701 American Royal Court
Admission includes free and unlimited samplings at all wine and beer booths, and a commemorative glass for the tasting. The event takes place inside the arena and attendees must be 21. Proceeds benefit the American Royal and Youth Education. More than 35 wineries or breweries are participating in the event. Tickets can be purchased at www.americanroyal.com.
To submit an event, contact Kurt Kloeblen at (913) 385-6087 or
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