Cuban American journalist Achy Obejas will speak at IU Bloomington Sept. 30 during National Hispanic Heritage Month. Her lecture, titled "Navigating Multiple Identities," will take place from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center (730 E. Third St.) and will address the issue of the interwoven facets of identity -- race, culture, sexual orientation, gender and religion -- that make us who we are.

Jewish Women in Global Perspective, a student-produced documentary film festival at Indiana University on Oct. 11-13, offers free showings of 10 films from around the world and discussions with two award-winning filmmakers. The festival will feature films that explore Jewish women's identity and authority across cultures, with documentaries set in Israel, Western Europe, South Africa, Pakistan, India and Ecuador, as well as in the United States.

This year's Middle Eastern Arts Festival again will feature a vivid array of music and dance from the region, as well as exhibits, museum events and presentations by artists and scholars. Most festival events, which run from Feb. 4 through April 20, require no admission fee. All are open to the public.

In this edition of Lecture Notes, celebrate the study of Alzheimer's, explore the artwork of Kalidou Sy and find out if you are fit to breed.

This year's Middle Eastern Arts Festival will again feature a vivid array of music and dance from the region, as well as exhibits and lectures by artists, scholars and foods.

Two words in Hebrew -- "Hoo" and "Shir" -- come together to phonetically sound like Indiana University's and the state's treasured nickname, "Hoosier." Appropriately, for a group of IU students who will sing later this month at the White House, the words also mean, "it is a song."

This edition of "Lecture Notes" features information about lectures and speakers on the Indiana University Bloomington campus from Nov. 6-20, including "Lunch with a Curator," a former chief of the CIA European Division and interesting discoveries from the Stone Age Institute.

Featuring lectures and speakers on the Bloomington campus, including NPR's Michele Norris, recognizing the dangers of Facebook and "Confessions of a Cha Cha Feminist."

Indiana University Bloomington and the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program will host a landmark conference, "The Writer Uprooted: Contemporary Jewish Exile Literature," March 22-24, featuring presentations by 11 immigrant authors and scholars now living and writing in the United States. It is believed to be the first sizable gathering of such writers ever held in the nation. Renowned Romanian author Norman Manea will deliver the keynote address on March 22 and join his fellow writers as they reflect on the ties between exile and creativity.

The annual Middle Eastern festival at IU Bloomington will feature Middle Eastern films, food tastings, exhibits of Islamic art and instruments, presentations of Arabic folktales and poetry, and lectures on Jewish culture among its many offerings Feb. 7-10.

Indiana University has reinstated a summer overseas study program in Israel that was suspended three years ago after the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for that country.

Ambassador Dennis Ross, the nation's chief negotiator in the Middle East peace process from 1988 to 2000, will discuss the dramatic and secretive nature of that process during a lecture on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. in Willkie Auditorium at Indiana University Bloomington.

How do architecture, memory and historical catastrophe interconnect? Daniel Libeskind, master planner for rebuilding the World Trade Center site in New York City and internationally renowned designer of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, will address that question when he speaks at Indiana University Bloomington on March 1.

As the clock ticks down on the U.S. deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave his country, the world is bracing for war. Indiana University faculty experts can provide insights on various aspects of the situation including politics, Near Eastern cultures, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, law and medicine.

Alberto Mizrahi, the world-renowned "Pavarotti of Jewish music," will perform an evening of cantorial music and Jewish song on Feb. 6 at the Indiana University School of Music's Auer Hall.

Michael L. Walzer, one of America's leading intellectuals and a professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., will speak at IU on Wednesday (Dec. 4) on "The Triumph of Just War Theory."