Buildings and blocks

Since the early 19th century, building blocks and their basic grammar of shapes and forms have encouraged children and others at play to build, dismantle and build again.

“Every 4-year-old is an architect, some move on and others, architects, linger,” author Norman Brosterman wrote in “Inventing Kindergarten,” insinuating that architects are those who stay attuned to the practices, values and virtues of play. Likewise, architecture students’ design curriculum is based on a studio culture that reinforces education through play and experimentation.

The exhibition “Homo Ludens: The Architecture of Play,” ending Sept. 16 with a reception at 5 p.m. in Milstein Hall’s Bibliowicz Family Gallery, explores the relationship between architecture, education and serious play. From childhood play with traditional building blocks and LEGOs to some of the most conspicuous and influential modern architecture, the exhibit notes the ways in which mature professional projects’ origins in play are still discernible.

The exhibition was co-curated by David LaRocca, visiting scholar in the Department of English, and Mark Morris, associate professor of practice and director of exhibitions in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning; and made possible with the support of the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Movies on the Arts Quad

Cornell Class Councils will host Movies on the Arts Quad with two free films, screening outdoors Saturday, Sept. 17, from 7:30 p.m. to midnight.

Open to the Cornell community, the third annual event begins with “Finding Dory,” followed by “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” at 9:45 p.m.

The event also features free popcorn and blankets. In the event of rain, the films will be shown in Klarman Hall.

Farm-fresh and local

Foodies and locavores can visit the Farmers Market at Cornell on the Ag Quad every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through mid-October.

Matthew Hayes/College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Jordan Greissman ’18, left, works the Cornell Bread Club stand at the weekly Farmers Market at Cornell, held Thursdays on the Ag Quad through mid-October.

Launched in 2010, the student-run market “focuses on bringing a diverse selection of vendors – student farms and entrepreneurs as well as local producers and cooks – to the Ag Quad” for five to seven weeks each spring and fall, said market co-manager Hanna Reichel ’17. “September and October see the best for markets, with an abundance of local goods, from green beans and tomatoes to eggplant and tomatillos.”

This semester the market has featured bread and pastries made by the Cornell Bread Club; fresh produce and CSA shares from the Dilmun Hill student organic farm, Finger Lakes Fresh food hub, Nook and Cranny Farm, and Family Farm; local honey from HoneyRock Farm; Cornell Orchards apples; Whalecat Donuts, with locally sourced ingredients; teas, herbs, jams and fudge from Cross Creek Farm; and lunch options including paleo plates from Groks Kitchen in Dryden and South Indian cuisine by Sadya Snacks.

Even amid ongoing Ag Quad renovations, “the market creates a sanctuary from all the dust and noise” in its usual location outside Roberts Hall, Reichel said. “We also rely on volunteers to make everything run smoothly; there’s a link to volunteer. Even half an hour is appreciated,” she said.

‘Lemonade’ and Beyoncé

Cornell Cinema hosts a screening and faculty panel discussion of Beyoncé’s one-hour visual album, “Lemonade,” Sept. 22 at 7:15 p.m. Advance tickets are required and available free from the Willard Straight Resource Center ticket desk, starting Monday, Sept. 19, at 10 a.m.

The panel, “The Aesthetics and Style of Race, Gender and Politics: Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade,’” features Oneka LaBennett, Noliwe Rooks, Samantha Sheppard and Dehanza Rogers. The event is co-sponsored with Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, the Africana Studies and Research Center and the American Studies Program.

Cornell Cinema/Provided

Cornell Cinema hosts a screening and faculty panel discussion of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” Sept. 22.

Featuring the work of seven directors including the star, “Lemonade” is a “rapturous tour-de-force of the personal and the political,” according to Cornell Cinema. It has drawn comparisons to Julie Dash’s 1991 “Daughters of the Dust” (screening at Cornell in the spring) and artist Pipilotti Rist’s installation “Ever Is Over All,” among other works.

Also at Cornell Cinema: “Time To Choose,” Sept. 20 at 7 p.m., a documentary by Charles Ferguson about the challenges and solutions of climate change from Appalachia to China with a post-screening panel discussion, and the series “Dispatches from the Korean Peninsula” begins with “The Wailing” Sept. 15 and 17 and “Under the Sea” Sept. 19.

Two kinds of cells

Faculty book talks this week will explain the spread of mass incarceration in America and the promises inherent in the microbiome.

Peter K. Enns discusses his new book, “Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World,” Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m. in 107 Olin Library.

Enns, associate professor of government and executive director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell, uses 60 years of data analysis to detail factors contributing to the rapid rise in mass incarceration. Asserting that media coverage of rising crime rates helped fuel the public’s “tough-on-crime” outlook, Enns shows how and why policy has moved in a more punitive direction.

Rodney Dietert presents a new paradigm for human biology in his new book, “The Human Superorganism,” and discusses it Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. in 160 Mann Library.

An award-winning researcher on the microbiome and professor of immunotoxicology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Dietert identifies foods that best serve us (the superorganism), details protective measures against unsafe chemicals and drugs, and offers an empowering self-care guide and a blueprint for a revolution in public health.

Chats in the Stacks book talks are free and open to the public, with refreshments served. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

‘The Virgin Vote’

Historian and author Jon Grinspan examines what can be learned from politically engaged young people in American history to reanimate youth politics in this season of Trump, Clinton and Sanders, in “The Virgin Vote,” Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by the Departments of Government, History and American Studies.

Young people were once the most passionate participants in American democracy, Grinspan argues. Between 1840 and 1900, politicians recruited young activists and “virgin voters” to win popular elections. What drove so many young men and women to become “violent little partisans” in the 19th century, and why did many lose interest in the 20th?

Grinspan is curator of political history at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, author of “The Virgin Vote” and a frequent contributor to The New York Times.