Natural history writer David B. Williams reads from his new book, Stories in Stone: Travels through Urban Geology, at the Burke Museum.

When Williams looks at the stone masonry, façades, and ornamentations of buildings, he sees a range of rocks equal to any assembled by plate tectonics.  In Stories in Stone, he introduces us to a three-and-a-half-billion-year-old rock called Morton gneiss that is the color of swirled pink-and-black taffy; a 1935 gas station made of petrified wood; and a fort in St. Augustine, Florida, that has withstood three hundred years of attacks and hurricanes, despite being made of a stone (coquina) that has the consistency of a granola bar. Stories in Stone will inspire readers to realize that, even in the modern metropolis, evidence of our planet's natural wonders can be found all around us in building stones that are far less ordinary than we might think at first glance.

Admission to this event is free.

Photographer Ben Marra and his wife, Linda, spent twenty years traveling to powwows across North America documenting the powwow dancers and the brilliant colors, incredible craftsmanship, and personal significance of their regalia.  Heritage, family, tribe, and culture are woven into the dancing dress as inextricably as any thread.  In Faces from the Land each dancer recounts his or her own journey to the drum circle, and one thing becomes clear; a new generation of Native Americans is determined and honor-bound to keep the dancing tradition alive. The talk features a 7-minute visual presentation set to powwow music.

Jerry White Jr., of the Working Snake River Project, will present 70 historic photos of the lower Snake River prior to its inundation by four federal dams between 1961 and 1975. The photographs reveal islands, bars, and canyons now flooded by reservoirs. The presentation will include a discussion of the geography, culture, and landscape of the lower Snake River. Presented by the Working Snake River Project and Save Our Wild Salmon.