Diversity theme semester events at the University of Michigan for March (all are free and open to the public):

Brenda Flanagan, playwright and award-winning author of “You Alone are Dancing,” will discuss a collection of her short stories, “In Praise of Older Women and Other Crimes,” read selections from her work in progress, talk about her odyssey from Trinidad to her current professorship at Davidson College in North Carolina and share her experiences as an artist. Flanagan is an alumna of the University who received three Hopwood awards.

Contact Sheryl Manning at [email protected] for more information.

bell hooks [lower case correct] will speak at the invitation of the Housing Diversity Committee. She is an author whose works include “Teaching to Transgress: Education As the Practice of Freedom,” “Black Looks, Race and Representation,” and “Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism.” There will also be a public reception for her, and a book signing.

Contact Ann Pham for more information at [email protected].

Elvia Alvarado is a peasant leader and political activist from Honduras, and author of the best-selling book “Don’t Be Afraid Gringo,” will speak about her experiences.

For more details, contact Lucy Arellano at [email protected].

“Race in Black and White: Different Perspectives from Recent Research,” a panel discussion featuring authors Abigail Thernstrom (“America in Black and White“), Tamar Jacoby (“Someone Else’s House“) and James Jackson (“New Directions in Thinking About Race in America: African Americans in a Diversifying Nation”). The panelists will present their views and take questions from the audience.

Sponsored by Dialogues on Diversity (www.dialogues.umich.edu).

Tohono O’odham (Pima) Native American music will be presented by Esther and Jake Escalante as part of the course, Popular Culture and Multicultural Practices. Escalante works for the Dallas/Fort Worth school district in multicultural education and her brother is Chief of the O’odham in Arizona. They will demonstrate the music, waila, and discuss its role as dance music and the use of borderland instrumentation.

For more information, contact James Standifer at [email protected].

Sones de Mexico, a folk musical ensemble from Chicago, specializing in Mexican traditional music. Sponsored by Alianza Latino/a.

For more information, contact Veronica Sanchez ([email protected]) or Diana Derige ([email protected]).

“Coloring Outside the Lines: Third Annual Conference on the Mixed Experience” is sponsored by the Minority Marrow Donor Coalition and by the Mixed Initiative, an interest group for students who identify as bi/multiracial, multi-ethnic, and/or transracially adopted. There will be a keynote speaker and sessions on a variety of topics. The MMDC will make a presentation and draw blood for the national registry.

For more information, contact Summer Del Prete at [email protected].

Christopher Paul Curtis, winner of the Hopwood and Newberry awards, and author of “The Watsons Go to Birmingham,” will talk about his writing.

Co-sponsored by the Isenberg Fund, the Hopwood Room and the Residential College.

“Before the Bleach Gets Us All: Our National Retreat from Affirmative Action–What Are Our Responsibilities?” A lecture by Michelle Fine, professor of psychology at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. Her recent books include “The Unknown City” (with Lois Weis, 1998), “Becoming Gentlemen” (with Lani Guinier, 1997), “Off-White Readings on Society, Race and Culture” (with Linda Powell, Lois Weis and Mun Wong, 1996) and “Beyond Silenced Voices: Class, Race and Gender in American Schools” (with Lois Weis, 1992). Fine has provided courtroom expert testimony in numerous cases involving equity in education. In addition, she works nationally as a consultant to parents’ groups, community groups and teacher unions on issues of school reform.

Sponsored by Dialogues on Diversity and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

The diversity theme semester Web site is at www.umich.edu/~theme.

[email protected]Auditoriumbell hooks[email protected]Kuenzel Room