New York Thought: Smart Things to Do in NYC This Weekend

Tibetan mantra healing, Incan music, and a cephalopod movie night highlight our picks for the best smart things to do in NYC this weekend.

Friday, June 21

Stay late at the NYPL as their Library After Hours series celebrates Pride through talks, readings, films, games, a literary drag show, and more. New York Public Library—Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

A singer and practitioner of Tibetan medicine specializing in mantra healing, Drukmo Gyal brings together ancient tradition and emerging science. Join her as she shares Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras and explains how they can be employed for healing in a combined lecture-performance at the Rubin Museum of Art. (She returns Saturday morning for an intensive mantra workshop.)

Science Friday and Atlas Obscura host Cephalopod Movie Night at Caveat. In addition to four original short films from Science Friday, hear from local experts Dr. Tessa Montague, who studies cuttlefish camouflage, and New York Aquarium’s Connor Gibbons, who gives a sneak peek into the aquarium’s new exhibit, “Spineless,” opening soon.

Saturday, June 22

Needle your way into this class on Zhen Xian Bao, or Needle Thread Pockets, a small Chinese book-like accessory made up of a series of square and rectangular containers. The Center for Book Arts.

Celebrate the solstice at the National Museum of the American Indian on Saturday as New Inca Son brings Andean folklore in an afternoon performance.

Sunday, June 23

Repeat a phrase on your way to Chant UP, a monthly celebration of mantra music. United Palace.

James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal are just two of the bold-faced names sharing readings and reflections at this Housing Works fundraiser. HBO-supplied prizes will be raffled off. (Wait list tickets for general admission are released starting at noon on Friday.) Housing Works Bookstore Cafe.

Think Olio takes on Taming of the Shrew and its pop culture offspring, and why the notion of taming empowered women persists. Looking at commonalities between Taming and #MeToo, a brunch session will explore anxieties around female power, how female desire is dismissed or erased, and the realness of sexual violence. Threes Brewing, Greenpoint.

Anthony Crider/Wikimedia Commons

Anti-fascist activists since 2017’s deadly Charlottesville confrontation have revealed the many current military members who helped plan the rally and participated in the violence. A Sunday Platform delves into the return of American fascism and the military’s failures around white supremacy. New York Society for Ethical Culture.

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