Do you enjoy learning about the natural world?  If so, consider becoming a Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteer!

Carleton College and the Cannon River Watershed Partnership in Northfield are hosting a Minnesota Master Naturalist Volunteer Training beginning April 1 and running through May 15, 2013. Registration is now open and the class is expected to fill up quickly.

Carleton College will present a special public screening of the acclaimed Emmy Award-winning documentary film, “Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time,” on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema. The screening is sponsored by Carleton’s Cowling Arboretum and the Cannon River Watershed Partnership, a Northfield-based volunteer organization that works toward “protecting and improving the water quality and natural systems of the Cannon River watershed.” This event is free and open to the public.

“Green Fire” is the first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold. Influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement for wilderness conservation, the film explores Leopold’s life in the early part of the twentieth century and the many ways his ‘land ethic’ continues to be applied all over the world today.

This weekend only the Northfield Arts Guild Theater will be offering two-for-one tickets for An Evening of One-Acts.  Buy one regular priced ticket and get one free.  Performances are Friday and Saturday, February 15-16 at 7:30pm and Sunday, February 17 at 2pm. So bring a friend and check out Yiddish Cowboys and Cabin 12.  You won’t want to miss these great shows!

On Thursday, February 21 at 6:00 p.m. at the Northfield Historical Society, writer and church historian The Venerable Canon Benjamin Scott will speak on the role Bishop Henry Whipple played in the 1882 U. S. Dakota War. This event is part of the Northfield Historical Society’s seven-month observation of the 1862 war which includes an exhibit depicting the roles local Rice County residents played in this episode of our state’s history.

Whipple was Minnesota’s first Episcopal Bishop.  He came to this state in 1859 with his wife Cornelia and six children.  When the fighting broke out in August of 1862 Whipple returned home from Northern Minnesota as fast as possible.  He had seen the conflict coming since the signing of the Treaty Traverse des Sioux when many promises were broken.  He went to St. Peter were many injured were taken and he served as nurse and chaplain.

The Northfield Historical Society presents “Hops, Grapes & History,” a benefit event on Saturday, March 2 at the Grand Event Center in Northfield.

The evening includes a beer and wine tasting from 6 to 8 p.m., featuring a hand-selected variety of Minnesota craft beers and wines; hors d’oeuvres; and a silent auction with a chance to bid on numerous goods and services from local businesses. Then from 9 to 11:30 p.m., the event concludes with a not-to-be-missed performance of “Guaranteed Cash,” a tribute to the songs and sounds of Johnny Cash, performed by legendary guitarist Bob Wootten (lead guitarist for Johnny Cash’s band for over thirty years) and country rockers, Six Mile Grove.

The Northfield Public Library, in partnership with Buckham Memorial Library in Faribault and the Lonsdale Public Library, is pleased to announce the availability of Zinio, an online resource for digital magazines.  Download new popular magazines, page for page, including full color pictures and some with interactive elements such as audio and video.  It’s easy to do and free with your Northfield Library card. The collection includes over 200 magazines and includes titles such as:

Arts and Culture Commissioner Philip Spensley says, “f you haven’t finished that poem you’ve been thinking about, better get to it.  This year’s Sidewalk Poetry Competition deadline is coming up fast. “

The deadline for submission of poems is Saturday, February, 16 at 5 pm.  Winning poems will be announced later in February and will begin to be installed in City sidewalks in April, national poetry month. All Northfield residents and students of any age enrolled in Northfield schools may submit up to two short poems.  There is no charge for submission.  The following are criteria for submission.

• Each person may submit up to two poems. Text and subject matter must be appropriate for the general public. Poems that are explicitly religious, political, graphically violent or overtly sexual will not be considered.

Bridging the gap between an artist’s childhood dream and the retelling of this story years later is a new video storybook by author and illustrator Tom Frank titled, “It Happened One Night on the Milky Way Trail.”

An exhibit revealing the electronic talking storybook and the process of making it will be held at the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault, February 26 through April 16. A family-friendly artist’s reception with kids’ activities and live acoustics by the ebook’s musicians will be held March 1, from 5-7 p.m. Visitors to the exhibit will be able to view Tom Frank’s creative process - from hand drawing characters, to developing a storyboard, to writing copy and adding colorized scenes to the finished product.

Brenda Brenner, a violinist and pioneering music educator who is currently an assistant professor of music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, will deliver Carleton’s convocation address on Friday, Feb. 15. Brenner’s talk, entitled “Finding Our Shared Humanity: Cross-Cultural Connections in Music,” will discuss her influential work with underprivileged and underachieving elementary school students in Bloomington, Ind. Convocation is held from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, and it is free and open to the public. Convocations are also streamed live and can be viewed online at http://apps.carleton.edu/events/convocations/.

Brenner has been widely recognized for her work in music education; she has attempted to perfect methods of teaching music to children and to tie music education to overall improvement. Brenner has led a program (funded by anonymous donors) that brings string instruments to Fairview Elementary School, which serves low-income sections of Bloomington. Brenner and other instructors, including Brenner’s own students from IU, teach first-grade classes at Fairview several times per week as part of the program. Brenner’s research explores whether music education can have a positive impact on children’s lives and on truancy rates. Brenner has said that she hopes to create a model for other schools in Indiana, where musical education in public schools generally does not start until fifth or sixth grade.

The scheduled trial date is approaching for Xavier Walker, one of the criminals charged with first degree murder in the death of Shea Stremcha.  Jury selection is expected to begin on Tuesday, March 5, with the trial itself likely to begin on Monday, March 11. Shea was killed during an invasion of his home located in the otherwise quiet Longfellow area of south Minneapolis on July 20, 2011. Walker has pleaded not guilty of the crime.

WINGS (Women in Northfield Giving Support) invites Northfield area nonprofit organizations to apply for a 2013 WINGS grant. These grants are given in support of projects benefitting women and children in the Northfield area. WINGS gives grants to qualified nonprofit organizations, public schools and government organizations for the purpose of general community support. Projects funded must benefit residents of the Northfield School District. 

For the first time in 2013, WINGS has identified entrepreneurship as a focus for the annual granting process. WINGS also continues to fund grants in the following areas of focus: housing stability, food stability, economic stability, safe environments for victims of domestic violence, early learning, out-of-school programs, adult education, healthcare, and healthy behaviors. WINGS grants must be used in the year they are awarded. Every grant candidate is considered anew in each grant cycle.

The Carleton Players have announced the premiere of their winter production, Martin Crimp’s groundbreaking play “Attempts on Her Life.” Performances will be held in the College’s Weitz Center for Creativity Theater nightly on Thursdays Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays, Feb. 15, 16, 22 and 23 at 7:00 p.m. and again at 9:00 p.m. All performances are free and open to the public, but reservations are encouraged and can be made at http://carleton.tixato.com/buy. Audiences should note that this production contains mature subject matter.

The Northfield Area Family YMCA will have its sixth annual Daddy Daughter Dance from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Northfield Armory, 519 Division St.

This event is for girls ages 3 to 12 years old and their special adult male, whether that be their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, stepfathers, big brothers or others.

The evening will include dancing, refreshments, crafts, photos of each couple, and plenty of quality time with the girls dressed like princesses. 

Admission for YMCA members is $20 per couple, with a $5 charge for each additional child. Non-members pay $26 per couple and $8 for each additional child.

Males are encouraged to wear shirt/tie, sport court or suit.

Northfield’s Daddy Daughter Dance is patterned after a dance that has been a huge success for many years in Wausau, WI, where the YMCA draws more than 1,000 dads and daughters for an evening of dancing and fun.

Thursday, Feb. 7 from 8:30 to 11 pm: Perennial favorite Mark Mraz, aka “Mr. Piano Man,” performs all the popular hits from the last fifty years – get set to tap your toes and perhaps even sing along to classics from Billy Joel, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, James Taylor, Neil Diamond and many many more. It’s always a good time for all when Mark’s in the house! www.mrazbrothers.com.

Friday, Feb. 8 from 8 to 11:30 pm: Don’t miss the first stop on Jack Klatt’s latest solo tour! In authentic troubadour tradition, Jack Klatt has traveled far and wide through the highways and bi-ways of America, Europe and Canada with his guitar always near by. Klatt has sang in countless barrooms, cafes, living rooms, theaters and street corners all over the world, entertaining folks with his boisterous finger-picking style and whiskey worn voice, continuing in the tradition of folks like Utah Phillips, Blind Willie MacTell and Towns Van Zandt. In 2011, with his band "The Cat Swingers," Klatt released a critically acclaimed collaborative album with a number of veteran Minnesota legends including Spider John Koerner, Dakota Dave Hull, Cornbread Harris and Charlie Parr. "Mississippi Roll" has since garnered praise all the way from California to the UK and has been featured on the BBC’s Radio Norfolk, Minnesota Public Radio's "Heartland Radio" and 89.3 The Current (as well as locally on KYMN Radio's "All-Wheel Drive"). Klatt's latest solo record, "Love Me Lonely," has just been released and he comes to Northfield as he heads south on a solo tour from Minneapolis to New Orleans.  www.jackklatt.com.