OLAF FUB SEZ: According to French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac, born on this date in 1799, “It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.”
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BIG STICK – One of history’s mightiest men of action, President Theodore Roosevelt, is the focus of the free IMAGINE series at noon Tuesday in the Central Library on Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo.
It begins at noon with a Great Courses Video on Roosevelt as a conservationist, followed at 12:30 with a talk by Stanton H. Hudson Jr., executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site, whose topic is “Teleporting into History with TR VR.”
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SNEAK PREVIEW – Canadian playwright Steven Elliott Jackson, whose play, “The Seat Next to the King,” opens next month in the New Phoenix Theatre, visits Talking Leaves Books, 951 Elmwood Ave., at 7 p.m. Tuesday for conversation with actors in the play, a dramatic reading and a book signing.
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PERFECT PLAN – Tom Yots of Preservation Studios will talk about Echota, a model community for 19th century power plant construction workers in Niagara Falls designed by legendary architect Stanford White, at a program sponsored by the Tonawanda-Kenmore Historical Society at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday in the museum at 100 Knoche Road, Town of Tonawanda. Some of the Echota homes near Buffalo Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard are still standing.
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MARK THE DATE – Reservations are due today for the Northtowns Christian Women’s Connection Jewelry Treasure Box Event Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in Classics V, 2425 Niagara Falls Blvd., Amherst. Necklaces, rings and other items will be available. Following a full-course lunch, former TV news anchor Carol LeBeau will give a talk on “A Roller Coaster Life.” Cost is $22. Call 837-0873 or 835-1061.
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WEB WIZARD – Jeff Surdej, owner of the website design and development company Surdej Web Solutions, will offer tips on search engine optimization at a free lunchtime program at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday in the West Seneca Community Center and Library, 1300 Union Road. It’s free, but reservations are required. Call 674-4900 or email director@westseneca.org. The program is sponsored by the West Seneca Chamber of Commerce and the Geico office in West Seneca.
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DIGGING IN – It’s a busy week for Hamburg House and Garden Club members. They’ll do spring clean-up and planting in Hamburg’s Memorial Park at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and in Hamburg’s Centennial Gardens at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY – Diana Notaro, Don Boswell, Dawn Bender, Virginia Armknecht, Sister Mary Albertine Stachowski, Sister Denise Marie Jaworski, Sister Mercy Assurukudiyil, Sandra Yund, Bill Finnegan, Shannon Schmelzer, Mary Ann Varecka, Michael Evans, Marilyn Melnyk, Chrissy Bain, Logan Hedges, Cameron Schlegel, Julia Grizanti, Sara Lesswing, Richard Kelly, Sydney Hart, Brant Hodgson, David Adam Quagliana, Edward Joseph Olejniczak, Andrew Sulski, Angie Pollo Muscato, Tom Wills Jr. and Patti Guadagna.
To submit birthdays and other items of interest to Reporters’ Notebook, please email olaffub@buffnews.com or send a letter to Reporters’ Notebook, Buffalo News, Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240.