UKIAH, Calif. – From Feb. 11 through March 20, Mendocino College will host an exciting series of events that will explore the Native peoples of the Arctic: the Eskimo and Inuit.

These events will include an exhibit of Eskimo and Inuit art in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, and several free events that will undoubtedly stimulate thoughts and questions related to these cultural groups and the extreme environments in which they have lived and continue to live.

“I have been studying and traveling to many arctic regions for quite some time, and as a professor of Native American Art have become fascinated with these extraordinary cultural groups who have lived in North America’s harshest environments for thousands of years,” said Leslie Saxon West, exhibit curator and coordinator of this event. “I was eager to expose our college students and the community to the art that has been produced, past and present, by Native inhabitants of these regions, but in order to really understand their art, one needs to understand the people, their history, beliefs, traditions, and environment.”

She added, “When I was thinking about what to call this project, I imagined the many arctic communities I have visited and the landscape, which at first glance is stark. But within the starkness is extraordinary abundance, abundance of beauty and abundance of life. 'Stark Abundance: Through the Eyes of Arctic First Peoples' examines this abundance as it relates to plants, animals, geology, ecology, as well as spiritual beliefs, and human ingenuity and creativity.”

The first event to unfold is an exhibit, which opens on Feb. 11, 4 to 6 p.m. in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, that focuses on art produced by Eskimo and Inuit peoples of the United States and Canada, art that speaks to and mirrors what they see as crucially important – family, land and sea, animals, the spiritual world, and how they are all interconnected.

Those coming to the exhibit will see a variety of pieces including objects made of stone, bone, antler, and baleen as well as Inuit prints, drawings, and tapestries, Eskimo dance masks and regalia, and utilitarian objects made of fish skin, animal organs, and animal hides.

Since Arctic communities are very cold and mostly made up of rock and ice, Arctic people have always survived on sea and land animals alone.

Native peoples of the Arctic have an intimate and spiritual relationship with animals. Animals are not taken for granted and the native peoples feel that they are honoring the animal that has given itself by utilizing every part of its body.

Bones, muscles, ligaments, teeth, internal organs, hides and even whiskers, were traditionally utilized for food, clothing, tools, heat and to construct dwellings. People of the Arctic have always lived sustainably, taking only what they need to survive.

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, Yup’ik artist Drew Michael, from Anchorage, Alaska, will give a presentation on Yup’ik mask and dance traditions and will talk about his own journey as a Native Alaskan in today’s world, and how his art is helping him connect with his heritage.

On Saturday, Feb. 20, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mendocino College Little Theatre, art, science and history come together as Mendocino College educators Steve Cardimona, professor of Earth sciences; Alan West, professor of biology and marine sciences; Rebecca Montes, professor of history; and Leslie Saxon West, professor of Native American art and dance, team up to discuss arctic ecology and how it has changed over the last century, the historical events affecting Arctic first peoples, and how these events are mirrored in the art that is produced in these areas.

Government politics and history, as it relates to Arctic first peoples will be explored on Friday, March 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Center for Visual and Performing Arts room 5310, when a series of documentary films will be presented.

These films will address the displacement of Inuit and Eskimo families by the US and Canadian governments, the loss of the nomadic lifestyles perpetuated by the slaughter of sled dogs and other poignant topics.

Finally, on Saturday, March 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 5310, Leslie Saxon West presents “Sustainability, Survival, and the Sacred: Through the Eyes of Arctic First Peoples,” a multimedia exploration of the integration of art and a subsistence-based life in the Arctic.

This exhibit and project were made possible with the generous support of the Mendocino College Foundation, Khoury Dentistry, Phyllis Curtis, Daniel Saxon and Channing Chase.

All events are free and open to the public.

The Mendocino College Art Gallery is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. or by appointment, and school and group tours may be arranged by calling Leslie Saxon West at 707-468-3079.

For additional information go to www.mendocino.edu/the-arts/art/art-gallery .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Just in time for Valentine’s Day is Woody Allen’s 1977 opus, “Annie Hall,” which screens at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Tuesday, Feb. 9, with show times at 1 and 6 p.m.

Billed as “a nervous romance” and starring Allen and Diane Keaton, the film is ranked No. 1 on the Writers Guild of America’s list of 101 Funniest Screenplays.

The sophisticated, yet sentimental film also won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Oscars were awarded to Keaton for Best Actress and Allen for Best Director and Screenwriter.

The movie is sponsored by H&R Block, Lakeport, and Hospice Services of Lake County. It is rated PG, with run time of 1 hour 33 minutes. Entry to the film is by donation.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum welcomes back the Old Time Fiddlers Association for the monthly First Sunday Fiddlers’ Jam on Sunday, Feb. 7.

Fiddlers, as well as other musicians, will meet in the Ely barn to perform their wonderful Americana music. Donations benefit both the Ely Stage Stop, helping to fund the blacksmith shop, and the Old Time Fiddlers Association, helping to fund their scholarship programs.

The fun begins at the museum at 11 a.m. Come and enjoy the main house displays, learn the history of the building and its relocation to the present site, and get the latest information on up-coming events as spring is just around the corner.

Musicians will play from noon through 2 p.m. (allowing plenty of time to get home and set for the Super Bowl). There will be the regular monthly raffle with a Valentine theme near the end of the day.

This is a free, family friendly event for all to enjoy, so bring young and old alike. Enjoy the music with hot beverages and tasty treats. Bring your own wine and sip it in Ely Stage Stop wine glasses that will be available for purchase. Don’t miss the chance to clap your hands, tap your toes and maybe get up and dance.

Lake County Historical Society’s Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum is located at 9921 State Highway 281 (Soda Bay Road) in Kelseyville, near Clearlake Riviera, just north of Highway 29-Kit's Corner.

Current hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday. Fiddlers’ Jams occur the first Sunday of every month. Living History events are held on the fourth Saturday of each month, again, from noon until 2 p.m.

Come join the fun and become a volunteer at Ely. Applications will be available.

Visit www.elystagestop.org or www.lakecountyhistory.org , check out the stage stop on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elystagestop or call the museum at 707-533-9990.

This column is more than 10 years old and I've finally gotten around to trying a little origami!

Here's a poem about that, and about a good deal more than that, by Vanessa Stauffer, who teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Lessons

To crease a sheet of paper is to change
its memory, says the origami
master: what was a field of snow
folded into flake. A crane, erect,
structured from surface. A tree
emerges from a leaf—each form undone

reveals the seams, pressed
with ruler's edge. Some figures take
hundreds to be shaped, crossed
& doubled over, the sheet bound
to its making—a web of scars
that maps a body out of space,

how I fashion memory: idling
at an intersection next to Jack Yates High,
an hour past the bell, I saw a girl
fold herself in half to slip beneath
the busted chain-link, books thrust
ahead, splayed on asphalt broiling

in Houston sun. What memory
will she retain? Her cindered palms,
the scraped shin? Braids brushing
the dirt? The white kite of her homework
taking flight? Finding herself
locked out, or being made

to break herself in.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2015 by Vanessa Stauffer, “Lessons,” from third coast (Winter, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Vanessa Stauffer and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

Sidelined by lower back pain, this reviewer has been unable to attend recent theatrical screenings. As such, I missed out on the compelling action story of “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” to say nothing about the good times of “Ride Along 2.”

I would venture to guess that most of us are by now more familiar with the name of the second largest Libyan city than we are able to name the capital cities of most European nations. France? That’s Paris, an easy one. Bulgaria? Have to look that one up.

For shut-ins and those housebound for medical issues, it’s a good thing that the television season is heating up again, what with new series on cable channels and the networks starting to roll out new product.

Courtesy of FX Network in early February, you’ll soon get the 10-part limited drama series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” I am not yet sold on the idea of reliving that bit of history.

Taking another tack that looks to be a lot more fun is the TBS Network’s launch of ten episodes of the oddly-named police procedural spoof “Angie Tribeca,” a show that is bound to delight fans of a cop spoof genre that includes comedy classics like “Sledge Hammer!” and the short-lived “Police Squad!”

Leslie Nielsen parlayed his role of Lt. Frank Drebin in “Police Squad!” to the successful run of “The Naked Gun” film franchise, which much like the TV series derived its absurdist humor with endless sight gags and non-sequiturs.

In “Angie Tribeca,” the titular character is played by Rashida Jones, who thrives in the role of straight man, which is appropriate because one of the running gags is that her fellow police officers appear to be oblivious to the fact that she’s actually a woman.

There could be a reason for that misconception. For one thing, LAPD detective Angie Tribeca is a strong, committed loner who’s already had more than two hundred workplace partners.

Her morning ritual consists of punching and kicking her refrigerator, destroying the living room furniture and doing pull-ups in the shower.

In the first episode, Tribeca, much to her chagrin, is teamed up with new partner Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur), partner number 237 to be exact. There’s a melancholy flashback to losing her partner Sgt. Pepper (James Franco, one of many celebrity cameos).

Geils is more soulful and willing to let Tribeca take the lead, even in the precinct gym where his new partner’s aggressive boxing style turns his face into a puffy pulp as if he had gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.

Deon Cole’s Danny Tanner, another detective in the same precinct, is partnered with a Belgian Malinois named Hoffman (Jagger the dog), a canine so talented that he even drives an unmarked squad car.

Overseeing the madcap adventures at the police station is Lt. Chet Atkins (Jere Burns), the prototypical tough, no-nonsense boss who spends most of his time yelling at Tribeca and Geils to get into his office.

In the episode “Tribeca’s Day Off,” the high-strung detective is ordered to use one of her many unused vacation days, and the Lieutenant says to her: “I want your badge and your gun,” to which, Tribeca replies: “Don’t you have your own badge and gun?”

On a visit to the grocery store, while off-duty, Tribeca runs into Bill Murray’s stock boy who persuades her to buy products made for loners, such as the “Flying Solo” TV dinner that is billed as “Airplane Style Food for One” and “Very Single” slices of American cheese.

The quirky medical examiner Dr. Scholls (Andree Vermeulen) performs an autopsy on a ventriloquist’s dummy after its master was horribly murdered, while being assisted by the eccentric Dr. Edelweiss (Alfred Molina), who appears each time with a new physical deformity.

Tribeca and Geils, backed up a SWAT team, bust into a house with a drug lab and counterfeiting operation and proceed to ignore these flagrant crimes as they are single-mindedly determined to arrest the owner for illegal possession of a ferret, a crime with a 50-year sentence.

Much of the humor derives from observations during the process of interrogations, such as when detective Geils questions a suspect by asking “Are you aware that someone was murdered on that flight and now he’s dead?”

The episode investigating murders in-flight, entitled “Murder in the First Class,” recalls the silliness of gags and one-liners from “Airplane!” There’s a pattern in these old shows having an exclamation point in the title, but “Angie Tribeca” stands on its own.

“Angie Tribeca,” created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy, is often hysterically funny with goofy bad puns and deadpan one-liners that should brighten the day for anyone in the mood for laughs and very silly good fun.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1951 adventure romance, “The African Queen,” screens at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Tuesday, Jan. 26, with show times at 1 and 6 p.m.

In this adaptation of C.S. Forester’s novel, it is all about the characters, who are wonderfully written and perfectly played by Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, each bringing a tangible sense of warmth and affection to the screen as their feelings grow for each other. 

Bogart won his only Best Actor Oscar for this film. The film was directed by John Huston and filmed on location in what was then the Belgian Congo in Central Africa.

The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans and is not rated, with run time of 2 hours 31 minutes. 

Entry to the film is by donation.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .