Looking for Something to Do? Free Events March 21 to 27

Here are free events scheduled Saturday, March 21, to Friday, March 27.

All events are free, so take a look -- and don't you dare say there's nothing to do in Pasadena!  

Hope Demetriades will be on hand at the opening reception for her exhibition The North Stars: Canonizing the American Abolitionists Saturday, March 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley.

The Crown City Symphony will perform Mozart's Overture to "Don Giovanni," Weber's Preciosa Overture and Gounod's Ballet Music from "Faust" and will be joined by soprano Sunjoo Yeo who will sing arias by Puccini, Bellini and Gounod Sunday, March 22, at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Pasadena, 75 N. Marengo Ave. 

In celebration of the Persian New Year, Norooz Pasadena will feature an authentic Persian tea house, traditional Haft Seen table, live entertainment, children's activities and more Sunday, March 22, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Pasadena Church of the Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. 

March is One City, One Story month -- our community reading celebration! Have you read this year's selection The Book of Unknown Americans yet?  

• A community book discussion is scheduled Monday, March 23, at 11 a.m. at Lamanda Park Branch Library.
• A community book discussion is scheduled Monday, March 23, at 3 p.m. at Fuller Theological Seminary. This discussion will be presented by Dr. Juan Martinez, the seminary's vice provost and director of international programs.
• "The Visitor" (2007, PG-13) starring Richard Jenkins and Haaz Sleiman will be shown Wednesday, March 25, at 1 p.m. on the big screen in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library.  An economics professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young immigrant couple living in his apartment.
• A Spanish-language book discussion is scheduled Wednesday, March 25, at 6:30 p.m. at Mothers' Club Family Learning Center. This discussion will be presented by Latino Heritage Association and Pasadena Latino Coalition.
• A community book discussion is scheduled Thursday, March 26, at 4:30 p.m. at San Rafael Branch Library.
• A special presentation titled "To Make the Unknown Known: Stories of Struggle and Hope from the Immigrant Journey in California" Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m. in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Central Library will feature personal testimony from four notables in the Hispanic and Asian communities.
• See a full list of One City, One Story events here. 

Veteran Los Angeles Times reporter David Pierson, who headed up the former Pasadena bureau before reporting from Beijing, will share his four-year experience as an Asian American L.A. Times journalist in China Tuesday, March 24, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Pasadena City College's Harbeson Hall (HH on this map). The photo of David and me above was shot in Beijing in 2010.

Tenor Mark Goodrich will perform Wednesday, March 25, from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. for the popular Music at Noon recital series. Feel free to bring a sack lunch.

Children 7 and older will learn about Piet Mondrian and make a craft inspired by this famous modern artist Wednesday, March 25, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Children's Story Room at Central Library. Sign up at the Children's Desk or call 626-744-4027. 

Steve Scauzillo, environmental reporter for the Pasadena Star-News, will moderate a panel discussion, hosted by the Sierra Club Forest Committee, on the future of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at Eaton Canyon Nature Center.  

 

Larry Wilson, public editor of the Pasadena Star-News and artistic director of LitFest Pasadena, will discuss the dialect in literature and its effect on the societies and cultures we create Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in the Makineni Library at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Teens are invited to discover their creativity through writing by observing with their senses Thursdays, March 26 to April 23, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. at Hastings Branch Library. RSVP to 626-744-7262.

The Pasadena Community Orchestra will perform Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Beethoven's Prometheus Overture Friday, March 27, at 8 p.m. at First Church of the Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd.

Photo credits: YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley, Crown City Symphony, Norooz Pasadena, Pasadena Public Library, Orange County Register, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Huffington Post, Pasadena Community Orchestra