Events

Make sure your plans for Valentine's Day include a class on The Chemistry of Chocolate.  Jerry Mohrig, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Carleton and an avid chocolate fan, is again presenting his popular class on this popular confection.
Learn the secrets of chocolate and get information on the composition, manufacturing, health issues, and how to evaluate chocolates by taste, with just a little history mixed in. After a lively lecture on all aspects of chocolate, participants will get to do some taste testing using their new evaluation skills.  Come prepared for plenty sampling in this engaging class.

Class held in the Just Food Community Room Tuesday, February 14, 7-8:30 p.m.  Registration is required.  Go to our website at www.justfood.coop to register or stop by the store.  Cost: $13/$11 owners.

The latest issue of Intersections, Carleton’s email newsletter for the Northfield community, is out now. You can read the issue online or subscribe to the newsletter via the College's Community Connections website.

Stories in the February 2012 issue:

• Chronicle of Higher Education: "In an Old School Building, Carleton College and Its Community Enjoy New Lessons"
• Carleton Joins St. Olaf, NDDC in College-Community Collaborative Plan
• Getting to Know: Sameena Ahmed '12, ACT Volunteer
• Video Feature: Tour of Perlman Teaching Museum, Sneak Preview of Winter Term Exhibits
• Carleton Announces Formation of Center for Community and Civic Engagement
• Carleton, St. Olaf Make Annual Donation to City of Northfield

Read the full newsletter online.

The Northfield Fine Arts Booster Club is seeking donations of new or used band and orchestra instruments for its new “Instruments for All” program.  The instrument drive is set for Saturday, Feb. 11 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Northfield Middle School cafeteria.  Drop off instruments, supplies and gently used lesson books and receive a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.  A matching grant from the Northfield Area Foundation will double the value of the donations.  The booster club also is accepting cash donations to repair donated instruments.

Next Saturday February 11 there will be an interfaith dialogue at 7pm at First United Church of Christ on the topic of marriage equality featuring Javen Swanson, M. Div. and faith organizer with OutFront MN; Phil Duran, founding member of Lavender Bar Association-MN; and 2 students from Carleton and St. Olaf.  

The forum is sponsored by an interfaith collaborative of local churches and colleges, and will be followed by a dessert reception and showcase of local denominations’ work on equal rights and discrimination. Proceeds will benefit ‘Minnesotans United For All Families’ for its educational work on ending LGBT discrimination.

The One Acts Plays at the high school continue this weekend with performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm.

Also on Friday, the Cow is having a Winter Dance Party at 7pm, and Ben Aaron is playing the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm.

A Chess Tournament is taking place in the middle school media center on Saturday 9am-12pm. The Cow is hosting Jon Larson's Neil Diamond Tribute 8-11pm, and Lonesome Dan Kase is playing the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm.

Head to Froggy Bottoms on Sunday for special deals during Super Bowl Sunday at the Frog!

Professor Myron Orfield, Executive Director of the Institute on Race & Poverty at the University of Minnesota, will present “Segregation in Schools and Housing in the Twin Cities” on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 4:30 p.m. in the Carleton College Gould Library Athenaeum. This event is free and open to the public.

Orfield is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and an affiliate faculty member at the U of M’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Orfield teaches and writes in the fields of civil rights, state and local government, state and local finance, land use, questions of regional governance, and the legislative process.

Michelle Alexander, a civil rights lawyer and scholar currently in residence at Ohio State University, will deliver Carleton College’s convocation address on Friday, February 10. Alexander is the author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” (New Press, 2010), which will be the subject of her address, focusing on the continued legacy of discrimination against African Americans, particularly through the mass incarceration of black men. Convocation is held from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, and it is free and open to the public. A booksigning will follow Alexander’s presentation and copies of “The New Jim Crow” will be available for purchase at the event.

Dan Ariely, psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller “Predictably Irrational,” will speak at Carleton College on Thursday, Feb. 9. Entitled “Free Beer: The Honest Truth about Dishonesty, How We Lie To Everyone—Especially Ourselves,” Ariely’s presentation will take place in Olin Hall, Room 141, and is free and open to the public. Copies of Ariely’s popular books will be available for purchase at the event, and in advance at the Carleton Bookstore, at a 15% discount.

Marion, Susan and David Hvistendahl, three long-time supporters of Northfield Historical Society, will be the honorary chairs at the society’s annual meeting Saturday evening, March 17, at Carleton College’s Great Hall.

Marion retired to Northfield in 1990 with her husband, Jake, following rich and varied college teaching careers. She volunteered in the Museum Store and brought local historical figure Ann North to life as part of her Women in History presentations. Marion has also teamed with Brad Ness to present Ole and Lena Night, an NHS benefit.

Rice County Habitat for Humanity is holding a fundraising breakfast at the American Legion in Faribault (112 NE 5th Street) on Sunday, February 19 from 8:30 a.m – 12:30 p.m.  This is an omelet breakfast.  Tickets are $8/adults; $4/ages 3-10; free for ages 2 and under.  Tickets can be purchased at the door or by calling 507-744-2933.  Brought to you by the Sons of the American Legion.  All proceeds go to Rice County Habitat for Humanity.

It truly was a grand event – celebrating 20 years of Northfield Citizens Online. The organization, run by a committed crew of volunteers (typical of our town), gathered on Jan. 20th for the shindig. The celebration was of “All Things Northfield” noting the efforts of many - most importantly the public - in building a successful online community in town covering events and a collection of unique stories throughout the years.

What sparked the interest of the crowd right away was tech guru Adam Gurno’s presentation of a “Flashback on Northfield’s Past 20 Years” which included video clips such as a high voltage electrical wire fire that apparently topped the charts in the number of online views, along with the flood, the hail storm, the stand up jet ski river jump … need we say more.

The intensity climbed as the trivia questions played out.

Civil War enthusiast and amateur historian Jim Stark will discuss the origins of the American Civil War in his presentation, “Why the Civil War was Fought: The Antebellum Period,”Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m. at the newly renovated Northfield Historical Society. The event, sponsored by KYMN Radio and the Northfield News, is the first of a series of discussions about the Civil War during the war’s ongoing sesquicentennial.

Shelton Johnson, a ranger with the National Park Service for 25 years and author of the fictional memoir Gloryland (Sierra Club Books, 2009), will deliver Carleton College’s convocation address on Friday, February 3. Johnson’s presentation, entitled “Gloryland: Using History and Literature as Tools for Social Change,” will look at his book, a portrait of a fictional African-American “buffalo soldier” in the 19th-century U.S. cavalry. A booksigning will follow the presenation, with copies of Gloryland available for purchase at a 15% discount. Convocation is held from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, and is free and open to the public.

The high school's One Act Plays are finishing up this weekend, with performances on Friday and Saturday 7-10pm in the Northfield High School Auditorium.

Also on Friday, Kinda Kinky is playing the Contented Cow 8pm-12am while Mike Pattinson plays the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm and Whiskey Trick begins their set at Froggy Bottoms at 9:30pm.

The Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault is holding January Thaw on Saturday, an evening of music and dancing that begins at 7pm. The Cow's music includes The RCAs 8-11pm followed by Fristad Jazz Combo 11:30pm-1am, and Jeff Ray is playing the Tavern lounge 8-11:30pm.

Have you ever had a dream you wanted to chase but couldn't quite make it happen? Nichole Porath, Northfielder and marathoner, made it to the Olympic Trials and placed 69th, a dream come true that surprised even her. Hear about how she did it and how you can use her brand of positive thinking to achieve your dreams. Learn how even small changes can take you closer to your goal, and what to do when you really just want to sit home and eat Twinkies instead of having carrots and running another 15 miles.

Tuesday, January 31, 7-8 p.m. at Just Food Co-op.  Class is FREE, but registration is required.  Register online or stop by the store.