The 9th annual French Film Festival features 25 screenings of twelve acclaimed French language films at the Cable Car Cinema, located at 204 South Main St. in Providence. Tickets are required and can be purchased at the Cable Car Cinema on the day of the screening beginning at 11 a.m. For more information, contact Susan McNeil at (401) 863-3535. For a complete schedule and descriptions of the films, visit the Web.
www.provfrenchfilm.com

Twenty years ago, the late Helen Oolalak of Igloolik, in Canada’s Nunavut Province, asked Jonathan F.C. King of the British Museum, “Why do you want to collect smelly old boots (kamiks)?” King knew that for Inuit hunters, poor sewing, imperfect skin preparation, and damage to skin surfaces could result in frostbite and, so, hunger. To ensure survival, men’s kamiks had to be maintained to perfection, and old boots, created with care and abandoned the moment they became imperfect, were easy to collect yet revealed much about Inuit culture and its gendered interdependencies. This talk addresses the questions: Why do people part with objects they produced with great care? Why do collectors want to acquire them? The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, located in Manning Hall on The College Green.
www.brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/calendar/?month=3&year=2006#

On stage March 9-12 and March 16-19, HAIR puts rock music and the culture that went with it on stage. Musical numbers include Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine, I Believe in Love, Hair, I Got Life, What a Piece of Work Is Man and Hippie Life. Performances begin at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Stuart Theater, located in Faunce House on the Brown University campus. Regular admission is $15. Discounted tickets for students, senior citizens, and Brown employees. For more information and box office hours, call 401-863-2838.
www.brown.edu/Facilities/Theatre/hair.htm

Rachel Meeropol, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City, will deliver a lecture titled, “Detainment, Torture, and ‘Domestic Surveillance’: Resisting the Bush Administration in the Courts.” Meeropol is heading a lawsuit with the ACLU against President Bush, John Ashcroft, and many other officials over post-9/11 civil liberty issues. The event begins at 8 p.m. in Smith-Buonanno 106. For more information, contact Kelly Nichols at Kelly_Nichols@brown.edu.

Dr. Raymond Orbach, Director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, will address the Brown community beginning at 2 p.m. in MacMillan Hall, Room 117, located at 324 Brook St. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. For more information call Susan Thompson at (401) 863-7408.

A jam session/workshop with acclaimed drummer John Vidacovich of New Orleans’ premiere jazz ensemble “Astral Project” will begin at 10:30 p.m. in Fulton Rehearsal Hall, located behind the Orwig Music Building on the corner of Hope Street and Young Orchard Avenue. The session follows the 8th annual “Milano” Concert of Jazz, featuring the Brown University Jazz Band and special guest John Vidacovich, in Grant Recital Hall at 8 p.m.
www.astralproject.com/musicians/john.html

Rachel Blau DePlessis, feminist critic, scholar, essayist, and poet, will give a lecture titled “Blue Studio: Gender Arcades” at 4 p.m., followed by a reading at 8 p.m. Both events take placein McCormack Family Theater, located at 70 Brown St.

Abbot Thomas Keating, OCSO, one of the founders of the Centering Prayer Movement and Contemplative Outreach, will present the Second Annual Mary Interlandi ’05 Lecture on Contemplative Studies, “Prayer in Secret,” at 8 p.m. in List Art Center Room 120, located at 64 College St. For more information about the lecture, call the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life at (401) 863.2344. The event is handicap accessible.
www.brown.edu/Administration/Chaplains/

Sarah Weddington, the attorney who argued and won the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade in 1973, will speak at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. The lecture, titled “The Future of Choice in America,” will focus on current challenges facing the future of reproductive rights in the United States. Tickets will be distributed at the door, beginning at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Craig Auster at (845) 612-3266.

World-renowned designer and respected entrepreneur Diane von Furstenberg will lecture on “Turning a Passion for Life into a Penchant for Business: The Second Time Around” at 5 p.m. in List Art Center, Room 120. Von Furstenberg’s free-spirited independence and straightforward style have earned her iconic status among designers and fashion-conscious women of every generation. For more information, contact the Office of University Events at (401) 863-2474.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine will address “Fighting Genocide in Darfur” beginning at 7:15 p.m. in Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. As a U.S. senator, Corzine co-sponsored the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, calling for sanctions against the Sudan and the establishment of a special presidential envoy to the region. The lecture is part of the Brown Hillel Foundation’s 3rd Annual Conference on the Holocaust. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. No backpacks allowed.
www.brownhillel.org/students/events/event.2006-02-24.9528231793

Join a screening and panel discussion of “Wit” – a screen adaptation of the Margaret Edson play about an English professor who has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. The event is part of Brown Medical School’s innovative lecture series, “Bearing Witness to Cancer,” sponsored by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. The screening begins at 7 p.m. in Room 202 of the Biomedical Center, located on the corner of Brown and Meeting streets. For more information call (401) 863-3681.
bms.brown.edu/news/bearing_witness.html

The David Winton Bell Gallery will present Another View of Joseph Beuys: Multiples from New England Collections through March 8, 2006. More than 100 multiples by the world-renowned German artist are showcased, including prints, sculptural objects, postcards, posters, audiotapes, and album covers. The showing also commemorates the 20th anniversary of Beuys’ death. The David Winton Bell Gallery, located on the first floor of List Art Center, 64 College St., is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (401) 863-2932.
www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2005-06/05-058.html

Bathroom graffiti, or “latrinalia,” from around Brown’s campus have been vocalized and recorded, played back, and re-contextualized in a spatialized sound environment to expose prevalent social and gender issues as well as some striking humor and vulgarity. Come to experience this sound-art installation and leave your own words and drawings on the walls. The installation is open 9 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday in room 221 of List Art Center, located at 64 College St. For more information, call (401) 863-2423, 2932.

“Soap Fat,” a show of work by artist Lori Larusso, opens in the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center Gallery, located at 26 Benevolent St. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of John Russell Bartlett’s death, the John Carter Brown Library is hosting an exhibition on the life of this once-prominent figure in the Rhode Island community. The Autobiography of John Russell Bartlett (1805-1886): Bookman, Ethnologist, Artist, Politician details Bartlett’s childhood in Canada, his life in Providence, and his entry into Rhode Island politics. The John Carter Brown Library, located on the corner of Brown and George streets, is open to the public 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon.
www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/index.html