"The Universe in Verse" is going West! (April 18, California)

The Universe in Verse: Western Horizon (April 18, CA)
A charitable celebration of science and nature through poetry.

“We, this people on this mote of matter,” Maya Angelou wrote in her stunning poem “A Brave and Startling Truth” that flew to space aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft — a poem inspired by Carl Sagan, a poem in which she traces our traversal of space, “past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns,” to invite the elemental question: What are we, “this people,” and what is life itself, by measures both human and cosmic?

The fourth annual Universe in Verse — a charitable celebration of science through poetry — explores this very question from a cosmic kaleidoscope of vantage points. This year, I have joined forces with astrophysicist and two-time Universe in Verse alumna Natalie Batalha, who led the search for habitable worlds with NASA’s Kepler mission and its triumphant discovery of 4,000 potential cradles for life beyond Earth, and who has since founded an inspired astrobiology initiative at UC Santa Cruz to explore what it means for us humans to be good interplanetary stewards as our understanding of life evolves and our search for it beyond our home planet continues. In a majestic 3,000-person outdoor amphitheater in the redwoods, we will celebrate the marvel and mystery of life with poems spanning centuries of human thought and feeling, performed by a cast of extraordinary humans: playwright and activist Eve Ensler, Nobel-winning physicist Kip Thorne, author Rebecca Solnit, artists Debbie Millman and Dustin Yellin, poets Donika Kelly and Marie Howe, radio pioneers Krista Tippett and Jad Abumrad, musicians Zoë Keating and Morley, and writer, producer, Cosmos co-creator and re-creator Ann Druyan, the love of Carl Sagan’s life. We will be honoring SETI co-founders and search-for-life pioneers Jill Tarter and Frank Drake, who are both joining us with poems. As usual, there will be music, storytelling, telescopic observation, and some thrilling surprises. 

Proudly presented in partnership with Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works, cradle of The Universe in Verse, the 2020 show splits all proceeds in half between the endeavor to build New York City’s first-ever public observatory at Pioneer Works and La Noche de las Estrellas — a lovely initiative by Lick Observatory, providing free astronomical observation and science education, in Spanish, to Hispanic youth from the local community, one of the largest migrant farm worker communities in America.

UC Santa Cruz
Quarry Amphitheater
1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Doors: 6:00PM
Show: 7:30–10ish PM
Rain or shine, news-hyped virus panic or sanity. Dress warmly for outdoor springtime, wash your hands with soap, hot water, and critical thinking.

 

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You can see highlights from the previous years here.