Events

Natasha Tretheway - Monmouth University Summer Music & Arts Festival
2021-07-01 19:00 - 2021-07-31 17:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
A special reading by former United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Tretheway, as part of the 2021 Monmouth University Summer Music & Arts Festival.

For more information on the festival visit: https://www.monmouth.edu/mca/festival/.

Monmouth University Music & Arts Festival 2021
2021-07-01 19:00 - 2021-07-31 23:59 | Virtual
Entering its 2nd year on the virtual stage, this year’s Monmouth University Music & Arts Festival will feature members of the Garden State Philharmonic performing music from Civil War era Marches through Ragtime, Dixieland, and Jazz featuring music by composers George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, C.W. Handy, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. The festival will also highlight selections and solos from The Monmouth University Chamber Choir, a performance by the Blue Hawk House Band and a special reading by former United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Tretheway. The festival will premiere at 7:00 PM on July 1st and be available to view through July 31st. To receive the streaming link for the festival you will need to register.
The Monmouth University Music & Arts Festival is designed to provide Monmouth County communities and beyond, along with the students, faculty, and staff at Monmouth University, with the opportunity to enjoy a top-flight music and arts event each summer.
In 2022, we are looking forward to presenting a robust program of offerings as the festival will host its inaugural in-person event. Our university is the year-round home for working musicians and artists, not to mention scores of students honing their talents as instrumental and theatrical performers, visual artists, and arts administrators. With the Music and Arts Festival becoming a yearly tradition, we hope to attract nationally and internationally acclaimed musicians and other fine artists to our campus. Not only will they supplement our students’ arts education, they will be on site each summer to provide visitors with opportunities to experience premiere concerts and exhibitions right here on the Shore.
PROGRAM:
The Garden State Philharmonic – Brass Quintet and Percussion
STRIKE UP THE BAND!

Strike up the Band – George Gershwin, arr. Holcombe

Signal March – G.W.E. Friederich

The Entertainer – Scott Joplin arr. Arthur Frackenpohl

High Society – Cole Porter, arr. Luther Henderson
Beale Street Blues – C.W Handy, arr. Luther Henderson
Sweet Georgia Brown – Ben Bernie & Maceo Pinkard, arr. Luther Henderson
It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing – Duke Ellington, arr. David Kosmyna
Sousa Stars and Stripes – John Philip Sousa – Holcombe
The Monmouth University Chamber Choir
Steal Away – American Spiritual, arr. Gwyneth Walker
A Gershwin Jazz Trio – Words and music by Ira and George Gershwin, arr. Jay Althouse

“Nice Work if you Can Get it.”
“Someone to Watch Over Me.”
“I Got Rhythm.”

Seasons of Love – Words and music Jonathan Larson, arr. Steve Zegree
Soloists: Brynn Coy, Jordan Dilone, Tyler Oden, Kailey Rouse, David Wilderotter
Vocal Solos by Members of the Monmouth University Chamber and Concert Choirs
Shenandoah – American Folk Song, arr. Jay Althouse
Brynn Coy – soprano
Desperado – Eagles –
Samantha Jordan, mezzo soprano
She Used to Be Mine – from the Broadway musical “Waitress,” Sarah Barellies
Rachel Wilson, soprano
Wayfaring Stranger – American Spiritual, arr. Nick Garrett
Nick Garrett, guitar and voice
Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday
Jenae Louis-Jacques, mezzo soprano
Run Away with Me – Words and music Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk
David Wilderotter, baritone
Cry Me a River – Arthur Hamilton
Georgette Abinader, mezzo soprano
Who I’d Be – from “Shrek the Musical,” Words and music David Lindsay- Abaire and Jeanine Tesori
Mitchell Hendricks, baritone, Mia Heim, mezzo soprano Jordan Dilone, tenor
Summertime – from the Opera “Porgy and Bess,” George Gershwin
Jenae Louis-Jacques, mezzo soprano
Somewhere Over a Rainbow – Words and music by Edgar Harburg and Harold Arlen, arr. Murray Cutter.
Kristen Wilczewski, soprano
Blue Hawk House Band
Cover version of “Freedom,” composed by John Lomax, Jonny Coffer, Alan Lomax, Frank Tirado, Dean McIntosh, Kendrick Lamar, Carla Marie & Beyoncé
Performance Groups:

Garden State Philharmonic – Brass Quintet and Percussion:
Diane Wittry – Music Director and Conductor
Michael Baker (Trumpet 1), Olivia Pidi (Trumpet 2), Karl Kramer-Johansen (Horn), Roger Verdi (Trombone), Wes Krygsman (Tuba), Gregory Landes (Percussion), Michael Avagliano (Score Reader)
For more information on the program and performers click here
Monmouth University Chamber Choir:
Dr. David Tripold, director, Maggie Tripold, accompanist
Georgette Abinader; Kendall Brighton; Brynn Coy; Jordan Dilone; Mia Heim; Mitchell Hendricks; Arina Martin; Erin McGinniss; Tyler Oden; Lindsay Ploskonka; Delaney Rivera; Kailey Rouse; Nicholas Sewell; David Wilderotter; Rachel Wilson
Blue Hawk House Band
George Wurzbach, Director
Mani Kissling (vocals), Mark Rodriguez (Guitars/Keyboards,) Dee DiMeola (Drums), Max Adolf (Guitar), Michael Rabbits (Rap) Dillon Schindler (Keyboards) Sara Wojciehowski (Bass/producer), B. J. Biedebach (engineer)

Virtual Tuesday Night Record Club: The Who, Who’s Next
2021-07-06 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
We have decided to continue with Record Club in virtual format using the ZOOM app. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation. CLICK HERE for more information on how to use ZOOM.
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature The Who, Who’s Next.

Virtual Tuesday Night Book Club: Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
2021-07-13 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack and Michael Thomas, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises.
Originally published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises is Ernest Hemingway’s first novel and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style.​
A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. In his first great literary masterpiece, Hemingway portrays an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.
“The ideal companion for troubled times: equal parts Continental escape and serious grappling with the question of what it means to be, and feel, lost.” —The Wall Street Journal
When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation. GET MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO USE ZOOM

Virtual Tuesday Night Record Club: James Taylor, Sweet Baby James
2021-08-03 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
We have decided to continue with Record Club in virtual format using the ZOOM app. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation. CLICK HERE for more information on how to use ZOOM.
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature James Taylor, Sweet Baby James.

Virtual Tuesday Night Book Club: Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
2021-08-10 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack and Michael Thomas, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an ageing former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa.
A Visit from the Goon Squad is a book about the interplay of time and music, about survival, about the stirrings and transformations set inexorably in motion by even the most passing conjunction of our fates. In a breathtaking array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to satire to PowerPoint, Egan captures the undertow of self-destruction that we all must either master or succumb to; the basic human hunger for redemption; and the universal tendency to reach for both—and escape the merciless progress of time—in the transporting realms of art and music. Sly, startling, exhilarating work from one of our boldest writers.
When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation. GET MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO USE ZOOM

Seasons in the Soil (Lecture In The Garden Series)
2021-08-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Virginia A. Cory Community Garden at Monmouth University, 2 Brookwillow Ave, West Long Branch, NJ, United States
Rich Mohr is a graduate of FIT (Florida Institute of Technology) where he holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology and a Master of Science in Secondary Science Education. He currently works at Sickle’s Market in Little Silver within the agricultural department. Rich has taught courses at Georgian Court University that were focused on environmental sustainability, creating an understanding of the roles people and societies play in sustaining the earth’s resources for future generations. He put stewardship theories into practice by creating, promoting and managing the university’s first community vegetable garden, the Mercy Garden. Rich was instrumental in establishing an experimental improved rain garden design on campus, specifically targeting nitrogen removal from storm water runoff. In the past he’s developed and conducted extension programs with Rutgers Cooperative Extension in Ocean County and developed community garden workshops at Long Branch Covenant Church.

Special Edition Tuesday Night Record Club: Bruce Springsteen's The Rising
2021-09-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
During this special Thursday-night edition of Tuesday Night Record Club, host Ken Womack and guest Bob Santelli, GRAMMY Museum Founding Executive Director, and Monmouth ’73, mark the twentieth-anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that inspired one of Bruce’s most moving albums.
When you register you will be provided the ZOOM meeting link to join the conversation. Click here for more information on how to use zoom

History of Philadelphia Soul
2021-09-09 19:30 - 2021-09-23 21:00 | Virtual
Class Schedule: Thursdays – Sept. 9, Sept. 16 and Sept. 23 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
This three-session virtual course taught by Kit O’Toole, traces the history of Philadelphia or “Philly” Soul, which greatly impacted not only the sound of 70s soul but the development of disco. Its lush string arrangements, horns, seductive vocals, and varied lyrical content added an element of sophistication to funk and soul, paving the way for disco and the 1990s neo-soul movement.
The class will begin with influences such as Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” production, Motown’s pop/soul gloss, and James Brown’s “on the one” funk. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, the chief architects of the Philly Soul sound, will be explored in depth, as their compositions and productions resulted in classics by the O’Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and Billy Paul. The duo would also form the Philadelphia International label, whose legendary house band MFSB helped craft the sound. Along the way, the sound helped create disco and influenced acts as diverse as David Bowie, Hall and Oates, and Jill Scott. In addition to multimedia presentations, group discussions will further enhance understanding of this greatly influential genre.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.

Tuesday Night Record Club: Joe Jackson, Look Sharp!
2021-09-14 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature Joe Jackson, Look Sharp!
We are still waiting for more information about whether we will be able to hold this event in-person. However, we are also committed to continuing offering access virtually to Tuesday Night Record Club for all our new audiences! You can register now for Zoom access to the event. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
Please stay tuned for more details about an in-person location for this event when more information becomes available.

The Courage to Love - Cultivating Joy and Peace in a Turbulent World
2021-09-21 18:00 | Virginia A. Cory Community Garden at Monmouth University, 2 Brookwillow Ave, West Long Branch, NJ, United States
In honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s presentation to the Monmouth University community, the School of Social Work is pleased to host this presentation and meditation in the Virginia A. Cory Community Garden.

Tuesday Night Book Club: Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown
2021-09-21 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack and Michael Thomas, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown.
Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: He’s merely Generic Asian man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but he is always relegated to a prop. Yet every day he leaves his tiny room and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. At least that’s what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.
Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.
We are still waiting for more information about whether we will be able to hold this event in person. However, we are also committed to continuing offering access virtually to Tuesday Night Book Club for all our new audiences! You can register now for Zoom access to the event. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
Please stay tuned for more details about an in-person location for this event when more information becomes available.

The XIV Dalai Lama - Livestream Event
2021-09-21 23:30 | Shadow Lawn / Virtual
The XIV Dalai Lama will join Monmouth University and guests on Tuesday, September 21, at 11:30p.m. EDT for a livestream session to engage in conversation with our students and colleagues and offer his message of happiness, health, well-being, and the future of this earth, our only home.

Writing Memoir
2021-09-30 19:30 - 21:00, 2021-10-07 19:30 - 21:00, 2021-10-14 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Class Schedule: Thursdays – Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and Oct. 14 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
This three-session virtual course, taught by Mike Farragher, provides attendees with an introduction to basic modes for telling the stories of their lives. Working in a supportive workshop setting, students will enjoy engaging, wide-ranging discussion about the joys and challenges of bringing their memories to life.
Instructor: Mike Farragher, Monmouth University alumnus and author of numerous works of fiction and memoir.
Whether you have dreams of being a bestselling author or you’re committed to creating your life story as an heirloom for future generations of your family, memoir writing can be a rewarding endeavor to help make sense of your life journey.If you’ve ever said aloud, “I should write a book someday,” but didn’t know where to begin, this course will get you on the road to fulfilling that creative dream.
This course will explore how to get started, tools to overcome lack of confidence and overwhelm, provide creative writing prompts, and instill a disciplined process essential for success that has produced proven results for unknown and known authors alike.
Zoom link will be provided upon registration.

Homecoming Weekend 2021
2021-10-01 - 2021-10-03
Come to Shadow Lawn for our Tailgate Party on October 2! We’ll also be featuring plenty of on-campus and remote activities all weekend long.

Climate Crisis Teach-In 2021
2021-10-04 - 2021-10-09 | Virtual

Tuesday Night Record Club: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live, 1975-85
2021-10-05 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live, 1975-85
We are still waiting for more information about whether we will be able to hold this event in person. However, we are also committed to continuing offering access virtually to Tuesday Night Record Club for all our new audiences! You can register now for Zoom access to the event. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
Please stay tuned for more details about an in-person location for this event when more information becomes available.

Sin Nombre – Virtual Panel Discussion
2021-10-06 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for a World Cinema Series zoom discussion illuminating the theme “Living on the Edge: Displacement, Identity, and Resilience” by analyzing the message and impact of the 2009 film, Sin Nombre.
Sin nombre (English: “Nameless”) is a Mexican-American adventure thriller film written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, about a Honduran girl trying to immigrate to the United States, and a boy caught up in the violence of gang life.
The discussion of the film will be led by Dr. Manuel Chavez, Lecturer and Director of Philosophy program; Dr. Priscilla Gac-Artigas, Professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature; and Chilean-American writer, playwright, actor, theater director and editor Gustavo Gac-Artigas.
The film is available for streaming on a number of platforms including Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies and TV, or iTunes (for rent or purchase).
When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
This event is part of Hispanic American Heritage Month

Tuesday Night Book Club: Liz Moore, Long Bright River
2021-10-12 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack and Michael Thomas, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is Liz Moore’s Long Bright River. In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don’t speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.
Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey’s district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit—and her sister—before it’s too late.
Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters’ childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.
“[Moore’s] careful balance of the hard-bitten with the heartfelt is what elevates Long Bright River from entertaining page-turner to a book that makes you want to call someone you love.” – The New York Times Book Review

We are still waiting for more information about whether we will be able to hold this event in person. However, we are also committed to continuing offering access virtually to Tuesday Night Book Club for all our new audiences! You can register now for Zoom access to the event. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
Please stay tuned for more details about an in-person location for this event when more information becomes available.

Are Politics and Spiritual Values Compatible? A Conversation with Cory Booker
2021-10-13 11:40 | Virtual
Join U.S. Senator Cory Booker in a discussion with Monmouth University students on the importance and challenges of putting principles into practice in politics. The conversation will be moderated by Patrick Murray of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Senator Cory Booker started his political career at age 29 when he was elected to the Newark City Council. He served as the Newark mayor from 2006 to 2013 and in 2013 he was elected to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.
Patrick Murray was named the Monmouth University Polling Institute’s founding director in 2005. He frequently appears as a commentator on polling and politics for regional and national outlets. During federal election years, Murray also serves as an exit poll analyst for the NBC News Decision Desk.
This is part of a series of campus events around the virtual visit of
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama at Monmouth on September 21.
This free event is open to the public, but you must register.
Register
Oops! We could not locate your form.

Emma Copley Eisenberg
2021-10-13 16:30 - 18:00 | Shadow Lawn
The Visiting Writer’s series is thrilled to return for the 2021-22 season! The first event of the year will feature Monmouth University Adjunct Professor and Writer-In-Residence, Emma Copley Eisenberg.
Emma Copley Eisenberg’s fiction and nonfiction has appeared in McSweeney’s, Granta, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Tin House, Guernica, The Washington Post Magazine, and others. Her first book of nonfiction is The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia which was a NYTimes notable book of 2020 and nominated for an Edgar and Lambda Literary Award. Raised in New York City, she lives in Philadelphia, where she co-directs Blue Stoop, a hub for the literary arts. Her next two books, a novel and a collection of short stories, are forthcoming from Hogarth (Penguin Random House).
Eisenberg will be reading from her book, The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia and copies will be available for purchase through the University bookstore at the event.

CANCELLED - Tuesday Night WORLD Record Club: Gilberto Gil's Quanta Live
2021-10-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will featuring Gilberto Gil’s Quanta Live will be hosted by Monmouth University Professor Meghan Hynson and is cosponsored by the Institute for Global Understanding.

Podcasting for Beginners
2021-10-21 19:30 - 21:00, 2021-10-28 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Class Schedule: Thursdays – Oct. 21, Oct. 28, and Nov. 4 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
In this three-session virtual course taught by Robert Rodriguez, students will learn how to produce a podcast from the planning stage to the final upload. From developing a concept to basic recording technology, post-production and finally launching onto Apple and Spotify the course will provide step-by-step instruction to producing your own podcast! No previous podcasting experience is required.

Robert Rodriguez, host of the podcast Something About the Beatles podcast, is an award-winning author; penning or contributing to a dozen books. He’s written extensively about The Beatles: five books so far, including the latest Solo in the 70s and 2012’s acclaimed Revolver: How The Beatles Reimagined Rock ‘N’ Roll. He’s also contributed numerous articles to Beatlefan magazine, and has been a regular interviewee on radio and TV about the group.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.

JCPenney Suit Up Event
2021-10-24 15:00 - 18:00 | Monmouth Mall Eatontown
Join us at the Monmouth Mall Eatontown for the JCPenney Suit Up event!
Get tips on how to dress and prepare for job interviews … big discounts available!
MU Career Development is partnering with JCPenney to bring you discounts on professional attire and accessories for your interviews, internships and full-time jobs!
Please RSVP to careerdevelopment@monmouth.edu if you plan to attend.

Internship & Career Fair
2021-10-27 12:30 - 16:00 | Virtual
Mark your calendars for the Fall 2021 Internship & Career Fair! 50+ employers will be waiting to meet you with internship and full-time career opportunities, including Colgate-Palmolive, NY Football Giants, Meredith Corporation, OceanFirst Bank, Enterprise, Gaming Laboratories International, CDW, MJH Life Sciences, Target Corporation, and many more! Don’t miss Monmouth’s largest career fair of the semester.

Sam Cusumano
2021-11-01 15:00 - 16:00 | Virtual
Join us for a virtual Arts-Engineering talk/performance/workshop with Sam Cusumano. Cusumano is an Engineer for the Arts living in Philadelphia working with students, artists, musicians, and curators to create educational interactive electronic devices and installations. As part of his creative practice, he has connected plants and fungi with synthesizers to make music. Biodata Sonification is the process of representing invisible changes in plants to create music. By detecting microcurrent fluctuations across the surface of a plant’s leaf, these changes are used to generate MIDI notes which can be played through a synthesizer or computer to create sound. In this virtual presentation Sam Cusumano will explain methods used to tap into the secret life of plants, showing how to translate data for making music, and discuss the implications of interpreting biodata. Audio examples of Biodata Sonification will be performed live using analog synthesizers, digital audio workstations, and synth apps along with a Snake Plant, large Monstera, and various Cacti.
When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
This event is being recorded for educational and archival purposes and it may be posted on our website. By participating in this presentation, you give permission for Monmouth University to record the presentation for University purposes. You understand that your name, likeness, voice and statements may be recorded. If you do not wish to be recorded, a recording of this presentation will later be available upon request, and you can contact Amanda Stojanov, Assistant Professor of Digital Media (astojano@monmouth.edu) with any questions you may have regarding the presentation.

Tuesday Night Book Club: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower
2021-11-02 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack and Michael Thomas, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
This acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from an award-winning author “pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale” and includes a foreword by N. K. Jemisin (John Green, New York Times).
When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions.
Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.
We are still waiting for more information about whether we will be able to hold this event in person. However, we are also committed to continuing offering access virtually to Tuesday Night Book Club for all our new audiences! You can register now for Zoom access to the event. When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation.
Please stay tuned for more details about an in-person location for this event when more information becomes available.
