The most recent session is listed first.
Flour in Her Veins: Holiday Baking
Saturday, October 23, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Cheryl Harrington says she learned early that she had flour in her veins. She worked in her parents’ homestyle bakery in Massachusetts before going to college, and she never lost her love of baking. Even during her career with the Prince George’s County Council, Cheryl made wedding cakes, birthday cakes, and other goodies for friends. After years being encouraged to start her own bakery, she opened Shortcake Bakery in 2011 where she creates baked sweet baked goods, savory meat pies, quiches, brunches and more. Cheryl will get us ready for the holiday season with ideas about cookies, pies, and her famous Nantucket Cranberry Pie.
A Virtual Tour of the College Park Aviation Museum
Thursday, September 23, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Join us for an online tour of Route 1’s aviation history hosted by Tom Wilson from the College Park Aviation Museum. The museum collection contains artifacts, photographs, newspaper articles, and other records documenting the history of College Park Airport, the oldest airport in continuous operation in the world, and local aviation. We will also see the current exhibition “Tails of Flight,” featuring famous aviators and the pets that flew with them.
Scattered Clouds: Finding Poetry in Washington, D.C.
Saturday, August 28, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Join Reuben Jackson for a reading from his latest collection of poems, Scattered Clouds, and a discussion of how growing up in Washington, D.C., continues to influence his writing. A Hyattsville resident, Jackson curated the Smithsonian’s Duke Ellington Collection and is an archivist at the University of the District of Columbia’s Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives as well as co-host of “The Sound of Surprise” on WPFW 89.3 FM. His music reviews appear in numerous media outlets and his poetry has been widely anthologized.
Pluto: Planet or Not?
Saturday, July 24, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Learn about Pluto’s five moons and the 2015 New Horizons flyby from University of Maryland professor Douglas Hamilton. Discovered as the ninth planet in 1930, Pluto was re-classified as a dwarf planet in 2006. The largest of the dwarf planets, the Horizon flyby taught us a lot about our distant neighbor and its moons, four of which were discovered between 2005 and 2012.
Art Works. It really does.
Saturday, June 26, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Explore the power of art and mindfulness connected drawing. Join artist, educator, and nonprofit leader Barbara Johnson of Hyattsville-based ArtWorks Now on an exploration of the many ways art works to support our well-being. From experiencing art created by others to engaging in the creation of your own artwork, art really does make our lives richer, happier, and even healthier. Come prepared with some blank paper and whatever drawing instrument you have around the house (pencil, pen, marker, paintbrush, and/or paint) to participate in some short experiential artmaking.
The Great Caterpillar Factory & Backyard Birds
Saturday, May 22, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
It’s May and the great caterpillar factories of eastern North America are in full production. You’ll hear their engines humming as they munch away in woodlots or mature trees. For songbirds, this is a sign the bounty that fuels the mating, nest-building and parenting is going on right now in our backyards. Join science writer and College Park resident Rick Borchelt for a look at some of the common birds that depend on these caterpillar factories in suburban landscapes.
The Bard in April: Shakespeare’s Magic Macbeth
Saturday, April 24, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with a look at a magic-filled Macbeth. Join Hyattsvillian Janet Griffin, newly retired artistic producer for the Folger Theatre, and actors Kate Eastwood Norris (Lady Macbeth) and Cody Nickell (Macduff) as they revisit the theater’s exciting 2008 production of Macbeth, co-directed by the famous magician Teller and Aaron Posner. The sold-out production was later filmed with a live audience. Watch this astonishing Macbeth, available for you to view free through the Folger website, and experience how the staging, faithful to the 400-year-old text, was riveting and remains vividly alive to the team that developed it.
Understanding the Power of Stories in Our Lives
Wednesday, March 31, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Join nationally recognized author, educator, and former neighbor Carol S. Pearson, Ph.D., to learn about how the power of myths and ancient stories apply to our lives today, and how they can inspire and influence us. Dr. Pearson has developed tools to help us recognize these stories. Discover how your story, once recognized, can help you better understand your life and chart a path through difficult decisions.
Black Lives Matter … North Brentwood: 1887 To Today
Thursday, February 25, 2021 — 2–3:30 p.m. — Click Here to Watch This Presentation
Join us for a discussion of the history of our Route 1 neighbor, North Brentwood. We’ll learn about the history of North Brentwood, the first African-American incorporated town in Prince George’s County. From its connections to the 19th Infantry Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops in the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement to today, North Brentwood holds a unique place in Route 1’s Black history. Learn about the early days of North Brentwood, its varied relationships with its surrounding communities, its growth through self-sufficiency, and its development today. Chanel Compton, board chair and former executive director of the Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center and executive director of the Banneker–Douglas Museum, Maryland’s official state museum of African American History and Culture, will lead the session, which also includes North Brentwood Mayor Petrella Robinson, a lifelong resident of the town.