Pandemic Pivots, Friday, March 5, noon: There's going to be so much pivoting, you're going to be sick and tired of pivoting...to borrow a phrase. The pivot, as we've learned, is the point where desperation meets creativity. And while the pivot is perhaps not what anyone had in mind initially, good things can come from it. In a panel discussion from Dane Arts, Jennie Bastian (Communication), Jolynne Roorda (Arts + Literature Laboratory), and Margaret LeMay (Integrated Arts Group) discuss how artists can build their businesses and the arts can continue in a robust fashion in our current pandemic times. Register here for the free workshop.

Black Bodies Swinging: An American Postmortem, Thursday, March 4, 12:30 pm: The title of this series of lectures by UCLA professor of history and author Robin D. G. Kelley is shared with a forthcoming book examining the roots of the Black Spring protests of 2020; as described by Kelley, it will be a "historical autopsy" of racial capitalism. The series is presented on Zoom by the Havens Wright Center; for a link to Thursday's lecture completing the series, "Where do We Go From Here? Abolition or Fascism,” register here.

The Fight for Free Speech, Thursday, March 4, 1 pm: As with seemingly every topic in our nation's political discourse, the issue of free speech grows increasingly fraught with each passing year. Who decides what is considered "speech," and what are the boundaries? And are the rules changing? Discussing the topic during a Wisconsin Alumni Association livestream are the authors of recent books on the subject: media attorney Ian Rosenberg (The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases That Define Our First Amendment Freedoms, NYU Press, 2021) and UW-Madison emeritus professor Donald Downs (Free Speech and Liberal Education, Cato Institute, 2020). Along with moderator Kathleen Bartzen Culver, an associate professor of journalism at UW, the authors will discuss how recent Supreme Court cases could affect free speech questions. Register here for the talk.

Eddie R. Cole, Thursday, March 4, 4 pm: UCLA associate professor Eddie R. Cole studies the history of higher education, and recently his research has delved into how college presidents have attempted to shape attitudes on race, both in academia and off campus. His findings are detailed in The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom (Princeton University Press, 2020). Cole will talk about the book and his research, including UW-Madison history, during a livestream discussion with Public History Project Director Kacie Lucchini Butcher. The Friends of UW Madison Libraries event is free and open to all; find it on YouTube.

J. Elle, Thursday, March 4, 6 pm: The debut novel from J. Elle introduces a new heroine to the young adult fantasy universe: Rue, a Black teenager from Houston, who learns a surprising fact about her ancestry after her mother is killed. And Rue may be the only one who can save two worlds from destruction. Elle will discuss Wings of Ebony with Sabaa Tahir (author of An Ember in the Ashes and sequels) during a free Instagram Live presentation hosted by Barnes & Noble.

Suzanne Caporael, through Sept. 12, Chazen Museum of Art: American artist Suzanne Caporael was a Guggenheim Fellowship awardee in 2020. A new exhibit at the Chazen, "The Nature of Things," features paintings and related prints (published by Tandem Press) from three decades of Caporael's work drawn from the museum’s permanent collection. The museum is currently open Tuesdays-Fridays, and reservations are recommended.

Watershed Poetry Reading, Friday, March 5, 1 pm: The March Watershed reading is a collaboration between Arts + Lit Lab and the Equity Project of Madison College's Yahara Journal. Poets Dujie Tahat, Adrian Matejka and Victoria C. Flanagan will read, followed by a brief Q&A with the poets. Tahat is a Filipino-Jordanian immigrant living in Washington state. Matejka was born in Nuremberg, Germany, grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was the poet laureate of Indiana for 2018-19. Flanagan is from North Carolina and is the 2020-21 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Verse will be as wide-ranging as the poets' backgrounds. This event will be streamed live on the ALL YouTube channel and Facebook page.

International Festival, through Friday, March 5: This free celebration of cultures usually brings throngs to the Overture Center, but for 2021 International Festival is an online extravaganza. Cheers to us all for going down that road to continue to make these performances available, but we'll still miss the buzz of activity in the theaters and common spaces of the O.C. (not to mention the food court). Performers include the MLK Community Choir, UW Russian Folk Orchestra, Roots of Brazil Capoeira, Beni Daiko, Mad Craic Irish Dance, Yid Vicious, and many more. Find the livestream on the Overture website through March 5; registration is appreciated but not required.

Madison Makes, Saturday, March 6, 10 am: While staying at home, people have turned to self-entertainment, as evidenced by last year's craze for baking sourdough. But creativity has spilled out in every direction, and this new virtual program from Monona Terrace highlights what our neighbors have been doing while left to their own devices. Madison Makes is showcasing a dad who built a home hockey rink, others who worked with stop-motion animation and textiles, and still other creatives who turned to stargazing and yes, cooking. There's also a how-to and demonstration segment for those who want to DIY. Free; register here.

Madison Reads Leopold, Saturday, March 6, 1 pm: Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac is one of the great works of American nature writing and a wake-up call about land use. Madison's annual read-aloud of Leopold's 1949 classic is smaller this year. But for two hours, community readers will recite excerpts from Sand County and other of Leopold's writings calling attention to the human relationship to the environment, Just in time for spring. Free; register here.

Freeze for Food, Saturday-Sunday, March 6-7: Help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Peace Corps by participating in this annual Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison fundraiser walk run. It always takes place no matter what weather winter serves up (though, this year's forecast is looking relatively spring-like), and the pandemic won't stop it, either. The 5K or 10K can be completed anytime over the weekend at the location of your choosing. The registration fee ($30, or $75 for a "pod") benefits Open Doors for Refugees. Register here.

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Virtual March Birthday Bash, Saturday, March 6, 7 pm: If you celebrate a birthday in March, you share the month with two ever-busy Madison musicians: Beth Kille and Erik Kjelland. Kille plays with Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets and her eponymous band, is music director of Girls and Ladies Rock Camp Madison, and works as an audio engineer; Kjelland leads The Mascot Theory and runs independent label Stone After Stone Records (behind the Wisconsin Vinyl Collective compilations). The duo also plays together in Kerosene Kites and coordinates the annual Flannel Fest benefit...and that's just the start of their resumes. Visit Facebook for a program featuring new songs by Kerosene Kites and The Mascot Theory, a collaboration by Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets and Tyler Durdin, and a reunion by Fallen Roadies.

...or Does it Explode? Saturday, March 6, 8 pm: Dedicated music scene observers may now be thinking, "Wait...a new band formed during the pandemic?" Not quite. This livestream from local virtual venue The Spaceship hosts the debut of a rebuilt version of eclectic hard rock outfit Our Friends the Savages, now called ...or Does it Explode? For a preview, check out the demo on Bandcamp. Tickets here.

¡ACTIVISTA! Sunday, March 7, 4 pm: ¡ACTIVISTA! is a new event this year, created to celebrate International Women's Day. With music, poetry, and spoken word performances, ¡ACTIVISTA! will shed light on issues including climate change, immigration, access to healthcare, economic mobility and more. Featured performers come from across the globe: composer and multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid (who has two new albums announced for April); vocalist Natu Camara; international group Colectivo de Mujeres Kinewen; poet and musician Lyla June; poet Brandy Nālani McDougall; writer Irma Pineda; musician Farah Siraj; and composer and multi-instrumentalist Yu Kyung-hwa. The livestream is free although registration via Eventbrite is requested and donations are encouraged; find streaming info here.

Wednesday Nite at the Lab, Wednesday, March 10, 7 pm: If there is ever a time we in Wisconsin can consider the possibility of a "friendly mosquito," it is wintertime. At the next Wednesday Nite at the Lab webcast, UW Department of Bacteriology assistant professor Kerri Coon presents the lecture "Why Mosquitoes Love YOU (and Other Things You Never Knew about Skeeters & Their Microbiome" (rescheduled from January). Learn how what researchers are finding in a mosquito's gut can help develop strategies to contain the pests, and also teach us about the effect of microbes on other common insects. RSVP here for the Zoom link if you haven't joined a previous WNTL this school year; lectures are also posted after taking place on YouTube.

The "Infamous Chicago Seven Trial" and William Kunstler, Thursday, March 11, 7 pm: The acclaimed 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7 features writer-director Aaron Sorkin's take on the story of the federal conspiracy charges against organizers of protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. During this livestream talk hosted by Gail Borden Public Library, the film (which can be viewed on Netflix) will be discussed by David Langum, the biographer of Chicago Seven attorney William Kunstler. Register here.

We hope it's handy for you to find the Picks in a single weekly post. The individual Picks can still be found in the usual places online: collected here, and sprinkled throughout all the events.