Events

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Wear your favorite baseball jersey and join the Transylvania University community for a night of concession refreshments and baseball history as filmmaker Byron Motley discusses his documentary, “The Negro Baseball League: An American Legacy,” which is scheduled to air on PBS in February 2014. The presentation, Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m., in the William T. Young Campus Center is free and open to the public. It offers an insightful, educational and entertaining look at the histories and memories of the Negro Leagues. Motley is a singer, songwriter, filmmaker, lecturer, author and photographer. In 2007, he co-authored his father’s memoir, “Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants, and Stars: Umpiring in the Negro Leagues and Beyond.” His father, Bob Motley, is the only living umpire from the Negro Leagues. The talk is sponsored by the Transylvania University Athletics Department, the Creative Intelligence Lecture Series, and the offices of diversity and inclusion and student life. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Opening Monday, Feb. 25, and running through Friday, March 22, at Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery is “Divine Hybrids: Syncretic Visions of Sexuality and the Sacred.” The four-week exhibition features contemporary mixed-media art that contemplates life within a sexualized realm of the sacred, where figuration emerges in mixed imagery, taking after syncretic religions and mythologies born from historically decisive multicultural encounters. From emblematic figures of mestizaje, the idea of mixing races in Latin American cultures, to deities that embody combinations of Haitian voodoo with Hindu, Mayan, Catholic and other traditions, “Divine Hybrids” features the works of Mexican artist Claudia Dominguez, now based in North Carolina; Columbian artist Gabriela Jiménez; Jamaican-born artist Ebony G. Patterson and Lexington artists Diane Kahlo and Robert Morgan. Fernanda Negrete is the guest curator. Born in Mexico City, Negrete works on aesthetics and contemporary literature and art. She curated a series of exhibitions with artists from Colombia, Haiti, Mexico and the United States as the 2010-11 Art Fellow at the Big Red Barn Graduate and Professional Student Center at Cornell University, where she received her Ph.D. in romance studies in January 2012. Currently, she is a visiting assistant professor of French at Miami University of Ohio. Special events, all free and open to the public: Opening reception Thursday, Feb. 28 5-8 p.m. Morlan Gallery Art Talk: The Curator’s Perspective Monday, March 4 4:30-5:30 p.m. Morlan Gallery Fernanda Negrete will discuss the themes of “Divine Hybirds” and

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—American legal history and constitutional law expert Paul Finkelman will give the winter 2013 John Marshall Harlan Lecture at Transylvania University on March 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the William T. Young Campus Center. The lecture, “‘But I need Kentucky’: Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Importance of the Bluegrass State,” is free and open to the public. The campus center is located on the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. Finkelman is the President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Government Center at Albany Law School in New York. He is the author of more than 150 scholarly articles and more than 30 books. His op-eds and shorter pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and on the Huffington Post. He was recently named the ninth most cited legal historian in Brian Leieter’s Law School Rankings. Finkelman is an expert in constitutional history and constitutional law, freedom of religion, the law of slavery, civil liberties, the American Civil War and legal issues surrounding baseball. He has written extensively on Thomas Jefferson and on Abraham Lincoln. He was the chief expert witness in the Alabama Ten Commandments monument case, and his scholarship on religious monuments in public spaces was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Perry (2005). His scholarship on the Second Amendment has also been cited by the Supreme Court. In 2002

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The Lexington community is invited to stop by Transylvania University’s second annual Local Food Fair Friday, Feb. 15, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Clive M. Beck Athletic Center, at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. Farmers from Elmwood Stock, Triple J, Gaffney, Stone Hedge, Acres of Harvest, McMaine’s Riverhaven and Greeley Farms will be available to talk about how their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs work. Visitors will learn how they can buy seasonal produce directly from local farmers. The farmers will also have items for sale. CSA customers pledge to support a farm by purchasing a “share” of harvested products, usually early in the year. Then, throughout the growing season, customers receive a box or basket of seasonal produce or other products from the farm. CSA programs typically offer produce, but they may occasionally offer eggs, meat or dairy products. Marksbury Farm, Seedleaf Farm, the Good Foods Co-op, the Bluegrass Farmer’s Market, the Lexington Farmer’s Market and Food Chain will also be present at the event, which is sponsored by Transylvania’s Office of Sustainability, is free and open to the public. Lunch will be available for purchase. Free parking is available. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120 or Angela Dossett at (859) 608-9218.

LEXINGTON, Ky.— A spoken word and musical performance featuring Affrilachian poets Frank X Walker, Ricardo Nazario y Colón, Jeremy Paden and Bianca Spriggs, and musical guest, The Sisters of the Sacred Drum, will be Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. in Transylvania University’s Carrick Theater. Affrilachian poetry offers glimpses into life in the American Black South and the Appalachian region, dispelling the notion of an all-white Appalachian region and culture. The poetry draws on traditions such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and the experiences of the African Diaspora.  Affrilachian poetry celebrates African heritage and rural roots while encompassing themes of racism and Black identity. In this performance, the theme of ancestry is explored through the poets’ original work. Frank X Walker is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets and is the author of four poetry collections. He co-produced the documentary “Coal Black Voices: the History of the Affrilachian Poets.” He currently serves as associate professor in the department of English at the University of Kentucky and is the editor and publisher of “PLUCK!, the new journal of Affrilachian Art and Culture.” In 2002 Transylvania University awarded Walker an honorary Doctor of Letters Degree. Nazario y Colón, co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, was featured in the PBS documentary “Coal Black Voices” in 200. His work has been featured on the Bob Edwards show and the Kentucky NPR Affiliates WFPL and WUKY, as well as in the program

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