Bruce Eric Kaplan, the renowned New Yorker cartoonist, visits AADL to discuss his critically praised illustrated memoir I Was a Child. This event, cosponsored by AADL and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor as part of the 2015 Jewish Book Festival, will include a book signing and books will be for sale.

Bruce Eric Kaplan, also known as BEK, is one of the most celebrated and admired cartoonists in America. I Was a Child is the story of his childhood in suburban New Jersey, detailing the small moments we all experience: going to school, playing with friends, family dinners, watching TV on a hot summer night, and so on. It would seem like a conventional childhood, although Kaplan’s anecdotes are accompanied by his signature drawings of family outings and life at home-road trips, milk crates, hamsters, ashtrays, a toupee, a platypus, and much more. Kaplan’s cartoons, although simple, are never straightforward; they encompass an easy irony and dark humor that often cuts straight to the truth of experience. Brilliantly relatable and genuinely moving, I Was a Child is about our attempts to understand the mysteries that are our parents, our families, and ourselves.

Bruce Eric Kaplan is an American artist whose single-panel cartoons frequently appear in The New Yorker. He also has a whole other life as a television writer and producer, currently for HBO’s Girls.

The Jewish Book Festival runs November 4–15. For more information about the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor or the Jewish Book Festival, visit jccannarbor.org.

Learn how to begin and sustain your own rain garden, including design ideas, the best plants to use, and care and keeping of the garden. Rain gardens prevent rainwater from causing erosion and reaching the sewer system to become wastewater and instead capture it to be kept within the ecosystem.

Jesse Tack, of Abundant Michigan, Permaculture Ypsilanti and Whole Culture Repair, is a co-founder of a permaculture group in Ypsilanti that combines members’ efforts to create more sustainable yards, gardens and farms in the area.

Let’s cook up some training fun with your puppy!

Meet Kathleen Goodman, author of Puppy Possibilities, and learn her “Recipe for Success” in raising the canine companion of your dreams.

Loaded with 200 color photographs, Puppy Possibilities is a one-of-a-kind, illustrated guide, that will teach you everything you need to know before, during, and after you begin your puppy adventure. Kathy’s recipe gives you the ingredients you need to think like a puppy, and teach like a seasoned trainer.

Visit puppytrek.com to see what Kathy’s been up to, and read a review. Kathy will be demonstrating her puppy training techniques with a real puppy! So, leave your apron at home, but bring your puppy questions, and enjoy some time with Kathy, the original puppy whisperer!

This event includes a book signing and books will be for sale after the presentation.

This informational panel discussion will focus on resources for veterans and their families in Washtenaw County. Particular focus will be on housing, community re-integration, employment opportunities, and supportive services.

Speakers include:
• Rebecca Rowland, M.S.W, Michigan Ability Partners.
- Rebecca is the Vocational Team Leader for MAP, and Co-Chair of the Hire MI Vet community initiative.

• Heather Popkey, B.S.W, Michigan Ability Partners.
-Heather is a Veterans Services Case Manager, and administers the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program in Washtenaw County.

• Sterling Meeuwen, Eastern Michigan University Student
-Sterling was stationed at Fort Benning, GA as an infantryman of the United States Army from 1999-2003,

• Derrick Miller, Deputy Director for Community Action Network.
- A 6-year Veteran of the Marine Corps, he has extensive experience with low-income clients and area service providers

• Peter C. Clark, former federal prosecutor and US Army JAG attorney.
- Peter works with clients to cover a wide variety of estate planning needs

• Martina Wells, LCSW, LCAS- Transition & Care Management (TCM) Team Program Manager, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
- Martina oversees the TCM program which is committed to helping Post 9/11 and OEF/OIF/OND Veterans transition to civilian life

This event is held in conjunction with the Downtown Library February exhibit Always Lost: A Meditation on War.

Learn why the most misunderstood nutrient on the planet is so important to your health and how it can improve your life, energy, and vitality.

Learn the differences in bottled water, water purification processes, and the mystique of alkaline water.

Ron Shook has over 40 years of experience in the water filtration and purification industry and over 30 years nutrition, personal training, and coaching experience. This event is co-sponsored by the People's Food Co-Op.

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, prepare to be amazed, awestruck, and astounded! The Detroit Circus is coming to town! The performers will dazzle you with daring feats of strength, mind bending illusion, agility, and balance. This event includes show stopping acts guaranteed to make your jaw drop.

The Detroit Circus will also perform at 1 p.m. Please choose only one performance to attend.

The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s Instrument Petting Zoo will provide hands-on fun with musical instruments!

Kids will have the chance to get up close and personal with real orchestral instruments they might see onstage!

The United States is moving toward being a majority-minority country where less than half of our population will be classified as white. Already four states and the District of Columbia have more than 50% non-white populations, and, as of 2015, Nevada was evenly split white and non-white. A central question for our multiracial and multicultural United States is how to achieve both unity and appreciation for racial and ethnic diversity. The key is talking and collaborating across differences.

In this presentation, Dr. Patricia Gurin will describe the challenges we face in talking and collaborating with people whose racial/ethnic backgrounds and experiences differ from our own, and offer the example of intergroup dialogue as an effective practice for accomplishing it.

Patricia Gurin is the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. She is a Faculty Associate of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research and of the Center for African and Afro-American Studies, and she directs the research program of the Program on Intergroup Relations, a curricular program co-sponsored by the College of LS&A and the Division of Student Affairs. A social psychologist, Dr. Gurin’s work has focused on social identity, the role of social identity in political attitudes and behavior, motivation and cognition in achievement settings, and the role of social structure in intergroup relations.

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Department of Psychology.

Experiencing sadness, anxiety, and moodiness during adolescence is common if not the norm. This is expected given that adolescence is often a highly stressful period that involves multiple biological and psycho-social changes. However, while most teens “survive” their adolescence unscathed, over 10% of teens develop clinical depression or severe anxiety disorders, which can be chronic and highly impairing.

How do we know if a teen is simply going through a “moody” phase or is instead displaying signs of a more concerning mental health problem? Why do some teens seem to be resilient to the stress of adolescence while others struggle?

Dr. Nestor Lopez-Duran, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan, and a leading researcher in adolescent stress and depression, will discuss factors that increase the risk for depression during adolescence, how to identify early signs of teen depression, and what to do if you suspect that your teen may be depressed.

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Department of Psychology.

The mainstream media has emerged as a prominent force in the sexual education of American youth, with teens consuming nearly 7.5 hours of media a day.

Yet relying on media models of sex and courtship can be problematic because portrayals are often narrow, unrealistic, and gender stereotypical. In addition, mainstream media often feature a hyper sexualized ideal for women that may encourage young women to value themselves mainly for their beauty and sexual appeal.

This lecture will discuss several studies that investigate how regular exposure to mainstream media affects young peoples’ sexual attitudes, expectations, and experiences.

L. Monique Ward is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research examines how media use and parental messages contribute to gender and sexual socialization.

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Department of Psychology.