Story last updated at 12:05 PM EST on May 1, 2008

TALK OF THE TOWN

Artist Todd Marsee will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Downriver Arts & Crafts Guild.

Marsee, who holds a master of fine arts degree from Eastern Michigan University, is influenced by his love of the outdoors and exhibits his art throughout Michigan and Ohio.

He is a member of the Michigan Watercolor Society and the International Society of Experimental Artists.

The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Southgate Veterans Memorial Library, 14680 Dix-Toledo Road.

Call Maureen Cassidy Keast with questions at 1-734-777-6109.

James Rogers, director of the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas and editor of the New Hibernia Review, will talk about "Irish America in the 1950s" at noon Tuesday at the Gaelic League, 2068 Michigan Ave., Detroit.

Rogers will focus on the ways that literature, movies and the resurgence of traditional Irish music show that Irish-American culture was alive and well during the 1950s.

A $12 cost for the event includes lunch. A cash bar also will be available.

Call 1-248-540-6687 for more information.