A number of musicians will perform, including guitarist John Smedley, associate professor of physics at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½; the Deansmen, a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ a capella ensemble; saxophonist Linda Williams, assistant professor of music at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½; the Yankee Jazz Ensemble; and Cheyn Band.

College sponsors of the concert include the Multi-Faith Council, Solidaridad Latina and the International Club.

For further information, contact Lieber at 207-777-7633.

The Havana-based MEZCLA has played for audiences worldwide, fusing Cuba’s diverse African, Spanish and Carribean origins. The ensemble’s sound features a hybrid of Afro-Cuban rhythms mixed with jazz and reggae.

The performance is presented by Solidaridad Latina at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College.

Aurora Levins Morales will speak on Walking the Talk, Dancing to the Music: Art, Politics and the Activist Life in an exploration of living a sustainable life as a political activist.

Levins Morales’ fiction explores the people of rural Puerto Rico and the cultural crossfire of immigrant identity. Her work Getting Home Alive, co- authored with her mother Rosario Morales, is widely used as a college text.

Levins was born in Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother and a father of Eastern European Jewish descent. Her parents met as political activists in New York.

As someone who is both Puerto Rican and Jewish, Levins Morales understands the pain experienced by each group. “I think one of the pitfalls that oppressed groups fall into is trying to say to one another that my pain is as important as your pain,” Levins Morales said. “There’s no virtue in stuggling over who got hurt worse. What we need to do is listen. The only way to build the trust so that we can hammer out the issues is to treat each other’s history of pain with respect and compassion and with a willingness to learn,” she said.

Levins Morales is a contributor to This Bridge Called My Back: Writing by Radical Women of Color. Her visit to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is co-sponsored by the Multicultural Center, Women of Color, the Jewish Cultural Community and Solidaridad Latina.