Community Calendar

Beena Kamlani is a Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer. Her first novel, "The English Problem," is set against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement, with appearances by historical figures such as Virginia and Leonard Woolf and Mahatma Gandhi. Books on the Common will have copies for sale and signing.This event is co-sponsored with Ekta Community Center, a secular nonprofit organization based in Ridgefield with a mission to nurture and promote public interest in Indian and Indo American culture and affairs. Visit the Events Calendar at ridgefieldlibrary.org for more information and to register.

A young Indian man is tapped to help his country’s fight for freedom—but his heart engages him in a different war. Set against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement, this is the first novel from Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer Kamlani. This program is co-sponsored with Ekta Community Center. Books on the Common will have copies available for sale and signing. Visit the Events Calendar at ridgefieldlibrary.org for more information and to register.

Course description:

College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education.

The 2026 DeVane Lecture series will be led by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College and Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature

The class is free and open to the public and will run on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m., from September 2 to December 9, 2026.

Course description:

College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education.

The 2026 DeVane Lecture series will be led by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College and Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature

The class is free and open to the public and will run on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m., from September 2 to December 9, 2026.

Course description:

College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education.

The 2026 DeVane Lecture series will be led by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College and Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature

The class is free and open to the public and will run on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m., from September 2 to December 9, 2026.

Course description:

College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education.

The 2026 DeVane Lecture series will be led by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College and Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature

The class is free and open to the public and will run on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m., from September 2 to December 9, 2026.

Three-time Pulitzer Prize–winning NYT writer Mike McIntire delivers the definitive story of the forces that shape gun culture and the American way of violence. In Ricochet, Mike McIntire provides a bold new road map for understanding our fraught relationship with guns and violence in America. A work of deep, revelatory investigative reporting, powerful storytelling, and incisive analysis, Ricochet is in essence a story about America, an excavation of the cultural and political dynamics that are at the root of our contemporary crises. The Library's partner, Books on the Common, will have copies for sale and signing. Visit the Events Calendar at ridgefieldlibrary.org for more information and to register.

Three-time Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist Mike McIntire delivers the definitive story of the forces that shape gun culture and the American way of violence. A work of deep, revelatory investigative reporting, powerful storytelling and incisive analysis. Books on the Common will have copies available for sale and signing. Visit the Events Calendar at ridgefieldlibrary.org for more information and to register.

Join artist and historian Randall DiGiuseppe as he gives a tour down New York City’s Museum Mile, home to the world’s largest concentration of artworks ranging from the prehistoric to modern masters. He will be discussing all eight museums that comprise Museum Mile. In this lecture, he will include a brief description of each museum's location, primary collection signature highlights and present exhibitions. Broken down into Four Categories (Heritage, History, Design & Art) this lecture will include:

Heritage: El Museo del Barrio; The Jewish Museum; and The Africa Center
History: The Museum of the City of New York
Design: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Art: Neue Gallerie; Guggenheim Museum; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Honorable Mention: The Frick Collection

This light and informative walk through the world’s most dense cultural corridor will also provide information on each museum’s operating hours, admission prices, parking (or lack thereof), and tips to make your visit more enjoyable. All are welcome to attend this lecture.

Randall DiGiuseppe is an American artist whose works have been shown in galleries, museums and throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. His formal art training began in 1983 at the High School of Art & Design in NYC. His true passion has always been in fine art and teaching classical art technique, leading him to pursue further study at the Art Students League of New York, Pratt Institute, Long Island Academy of Fine Art and the New York Academy of Art where he earned his MFA in 2012. The Atelier is fortunate to offer his expertise as a lecturer and art instructor.

Seating will be provided and refreshments will be available during an intermission. To register for this FREE lecture in our newly renovated gallery, go to https://theatelieratflowerfield.org/lectures or call 631-250-9009 for more information.

Course description:

College is a crucial institution in which our society works through its expectations for young people. This course explores the purposes of college education through the first great book on the philosophy of education, Plato’s Republic. We read The Republic in conversation with other thinkers including Aristotle, Confucius, John Stuart Mill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. For the 325th anniversary of Yale’s founding, we also explore the changing conception of college education at Yale over the centuries and read some of the college’s and the university’s key founding documents. Themes include the development of personal character, participation in a community, preparation for citizenship, and conversation with others on intellectual matters. We also explore some of the social and economic functions of college education.

The 2026 DeVane Lecture series will be led by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College and Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature

The class is free and open to the public and will run on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 p.m., from September 2 to December 9, 2026.