Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

Heather Thormahlen-Molik will present “Nature’s Bounty for Home and Business: Using Natural Vegetation for Wreaths, Garlands and Table Decorations.”

Thormahlen-Molik is a professional horticulturist based in Houston. She graduated with honors from SFA and holds a degree in horticulture with a minor in forestry. Her love of nature and the outdoors stemmed from her parents and grandparents, and she knew her career would be based in science from an early age.

Thormahlen-Molik has worked at various botanic gardens, rewholesale nurseries, a plant and bulb brokerage, as well as large and small nurseries supplying to the industry. Her job responsibilities have included propagation, greenhouse management, nursery management, education, design, rewholesale sales, purchasing and working with the public. Currently, she’s employed as a territory sales manager for TreeTown USA, a nursery that provides plant material to industry businesses from coast to coast. Her love and extensive knowledge of plant material are instrumental as she assists the public in choosing the right plant for the right place.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs will host the second annual Something to Chew On discussion series this month in partnership with the Lumberjack Cultural Association.

“The purpose of the event is to have open dialogue that focuses on topics of concern to the SFA community,” said Veronica Beavers, OMA director and interim director of student rights and responsibilities. “In addition to local issues, we also highlight issues that affect society worldwide.”

Participation has significantly grown since the series launched in fall 2018, Beavers added. The first event focused on equality while the subsequent spring 2019 event centered on the effects of generational trauma.

The theme of this fall’s series is SFA cultural climate.

“We chose this topic because some SFA students may feel uncomfortable around peers with different backgrounds and appearances,” said Elda Echeverry, LCA president. “We think it is important to lean into the discomfort and have open discussions to break stereotypes and typecasting based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and more.”

LCA is extending an open invitation to all members of the SFA campus community to stimulate dialogue by sharing their own experiences.

“In order for this event to be successful, we need students, staff and faculty who are willing to share their experiences and listen to the experiences of others,” Echeverry added.

The fall 2019 Something to Chew On will begin at noon Sept. 25 in the Baker Pattillo Student Center, Room 3102. Snacks and door prizes will be provided.

For more information, contact the OMA at (936) 468-1073 or oma@sfasu.edu.

By Christine Broussard, marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of the documentary “The Great Alone” at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Written and directed by Greg Kohs, “The Great Alone” is an award-winning feature-length documentary film that captures the inspiring comeback story of champion sled dog racer Lance Mackey.

Billed as “The Last Great Race on Earth,” the Iditarod Trail is the toughest dog sled race in the world. Snaking through more than 1,000 miles of the Arctic’s harshest wilderness, the race is one of Alaska’s proudest traditions, and Mackey is its greatest champion, according to the film description at imdb.com. He’s a man with dog sled racing hard wired into his family, across generations. He’s battled homelessness, addiction and cancer, but he always returns to the sled.

The film won best feature at the 2016 Big Water Film Festival, and Kohs won the grand jury prize as director at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2015. The film runs 80 minutes.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal and Richard Orton.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.