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The SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare will hold a workshop titled Furry Friends, Fun and Foster: How You Can Help Local Animals in Need at 1 p.m. today at Aiken Senior Life Services, 1310 E. Pine Log Road. The program will be a field trip to the Albrecht Center. For more information or to register, call 803-648-5447 ext. 0 or visit aikensenior.org/programming.

The SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare will hold its annual Playing for Paws Golf Tournament today at Woodside Country Club, 1000 Woodside Drive. The 18-hole, four-person scramble tournament will begin with a shotgun start at noon. Registration opens at 10:30 a.m. The cost is $125 per player or $500 for groups of four. Registration is open through Monday, March 4. For more information, call 910-367-6145 or email maryann@letlovelive.org.

Let's Go Bingo will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays at the Aiken Senior Life Services, 1310 E. Pine Log Road. There is a $5 cover charge. Game cards are $1 each or $15 to $25. For more information, visit facebook.com/letsgobingoaiken.

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It is so hard on them. Pets surrendered to the Aiken County Animal Shelter by their owners desperately struggle to understand their situation. Suddenly finding themselves in a strange place with strangers and other scared and confused animals is a shock to their system. One minute they are s…

FOTAS will hold a Change Their Luck adoption event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 333 Wire Road. Dog adoption fees have been paid by sponsors and cats and kittens are $10. For more information, call 803-642-1537 ext. 3 or visit fotasaiken.org.

Imagine a plucky heroine named Ava, who has just reached her 13th year on an island off the coast of Florida. Now imagine that said island is the home of the family’s alligator-wrestling theme park, a business that now faces bankruptcy due to the death of the star attraction, Ava’s mother Hi…

The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism will hold its 16th annual Breakfast at the Gallops at 8 a.m. today at the Aiken Training Track, 724 Two Notch Road. Retired jockey Robbie Davis will be the guest speaker. Tickets are $20 in advance or $30 at the gate. For more information or to purchase tickets, email halloffame@cityofaikensc. gov.

A new Hulu documentary takes a look at the legendary street party Freaknik held in Atlanta during the 80s and 90s. Stories abound about nudity, highway debauchery and gridlock traffic. But “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” looks to deliver a fuller story. The documentary will touch on how the event started as a simple Atlanta Black college cookout during spring break but grew to draw thousands from across the United States. The documentary premiered Tuesday at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and will begin streaming March 21 on Hulu.

A Pickleball for Beginners class will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, March 15 and 22 at Aiken Senior Life Services, 1310 E. Pine Log Road. Mo Garcia, a pickleball pro, will lead the two-part series. The March 15 session will cover history, rules, gear and fundamentals. The March 22 session will be at the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center and attendees will participate in practice matches on a regulation court. The cost is $8 per session. For more information or to register, visit aikensenior.org.

The Derina Harvey Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Amentum Center for the Performing Arts, 126 Newberry St. S.W. The performance is part of the Aiken Performing Arts series. Tickets are $50. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit apagonline.org.

When Tessa Hulls sets out to tell her family’s story, she’s feeding their ghosts in the best way she’s learned how: by pulling them into the light. Hulls’ graphic memoir “Feeding Ghosts” covers three generations of women, starting with her grandmother, Sun Yi, whose path wades through a treacherous Chinese history. Hulls retraces their escape from China to her life in California through simply depicted cartoons rich with metaphor. Donna Edwards of The Associated Press says “Feeding Ghosts” is courageously and heartbreakingly bare, and Hulls’ attempt to present it subjectively only heightens the memoir’s emotional impact. “Feeding Ghosts” is released from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Libraries across the U.S. are struggling to cover the cost of e-books, which have grown in popularity. Digital copies of books often cost libraries four or more times the price consumers pay. And unlike paper books, an e-book doesn't last. The libraries are only leasing their copies from digital publishing platforms. After a year or two, the e-books expire. Librarians in some states are pushing for legislation that would help lower their costs. Publishers are fighting these proposals, saying they undermine intellectual property rights.

Trey Reddy, a teenage girl in a remote Irish village, blames her neighbors for the unsolved murder of her brother. She also despises her father for abandoning her. When he suddenly returns, touting a scheme to defraud the villagers, she hatches a plot to destroy them all. Her friend Cal, an outsider building a new life for himself, knows Trey is endangering both her life and his. He also knows he can’t talk her out of it. Associated Press reviewer Bruce DeSilva says the mood is dark and the tension thick in Tana French’s “The Hunter,” a lyrical tale of revenge, friendship and loyalty in collision.

Vinson Cunningham’s day job is writing theater reviews for the New Yorker magazine. Now he has published his first novel, “Great Expectations.” He borrowed the title from Charles Dickens to tell the coming-of-age story of a young Black man who goes to work for the presidential campaign of an unnamed U.S. senator running to be the nation’s first African American chief executive. Sound familiar? Associated Press book reviewer Ann Levin says the novel will take you back to the heady days of the campaign slogan “Change we can believe in” and the chant “Yes we can!” Published by Hogarth, “Great Expectations” will be released on Tuesday.

The Aiken Concert Band will perform its spring concert at 7:30 p.m. today at the Etherredge Center on the campus of USC Aiken, 471 University Parkway. Tickets are $20. For more information, call the box office at 803-641-3305 or visit aikenconcertband.org.

“Oppenheimer,” a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowed best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan. The most closely watched contest of the Academy Awards went to Emma Stone, who won best best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy have won their first Oscars. Robert Downey Jr. won best supporting actor at the Academy Awards, notching his first Oscar and handing the 58-year-old actor a crowning moment in an up-and-down career. Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza snarled traffic around the Academy Awards on Sunday, slowing stars’ arrival at the red carpet and turning the Oscar spotlight toward the ongoing conflict.

The Aiken Artists Guild will meet at 6:30 p.m. today at the Aiken Center for the Arts, 122 Laurens St. S.W. Sean White will be the guest speaker. He will lead a screening of the short film, "Why Beauty Matters. The film explores the importance of art. An open discussion will be held following the meeting. Refreshments will be served. 

The Aiken-Augusta Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Julian Smith Casino, 2200 Broad St., Augusta. Daily admission is $4 per adult or $6 for a weekend pass, cash only. Children 12 and younger are free with an adult.

On Saturday, Feb. 24, my son and I were allowed to borrow a dog from the Aiken County Animal Shelter for a couple of hours. It’s a program called Doggie Day Out. We have enough pets at home that we were not looking to adopt, but wanted to give a shelter dog a great experience (who doesn’t li…

Over the years, I have observed the federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a variety of ways. Sometimes I have helped organize activities, such as the years I served as chair of the USCA English Department and organized an annual essay contest in Dr. King’s memory. Other …

Lorenzo Piccone will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Gaston Livery Stable, 1315 Richland Ave. E. Tickets are $50 and proceeds will go toward paying off the mortgage of the stable. The concert is part of Gaston Unplugged. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit aikenmusicfest.com.

Boot Scootin' For Our Kids will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at the Big Red Barn, 187 Chime Bell Church Road. The event will feature live music by Anybody's Guess and a dinner catered by Silver Palm Catering. Tickets are $75 per person or $550 per table of eight. Proceeds benefit the Child Advocacy Center of Aiken County. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit cacofaiken.org.

The Sons of the American Revolution Henry Laurens Chapter of Aiken County will meet at noon today at Bobby's BBQ in Graniteville. The luncheon will be followed by a presentation titled "History of Colonial Virginia, Part 1" by the Rev. Douglas A. Puckett. For more information, call Neel Flannagan at 803-439-4033.

The Aiken Soil and Water Conservation District will hold Pop-Up Free Seed event from 1-3 p.m. today at the Aiken County Public Library, 314 Chesterfield St. S.W. District representatives will distribute flower, herb and vegetable seeds. Packets are limited to two per person. For more information, visit abbe-lib.org.

Story Time in the Gardens will be held at 4 p.m. beginning today on the lawn of the Rye Patch, 100 Berrie Road. Storytime is free and will meet on Tuesdays through May. Participants should bring a lawn chair or blanket. Snacks are welcome. In case of inclement weather, Storytime will be held inside the Rye Patch. For more information, call 803-642-7631. For weather information, call 803-643-4661.

Story Time, a reading program that promotes literacy in Aiken area youth, begins its spring season on Tuesday, March 5. The program will meet every Tuesday at 4 p.m. through May.

— A family history workshop will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, in the first floor meeting room of the library. The workshop will demonstrate how Ancestry: Library Edition works and discuss other resources available online and at the library for family history research. 

The SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare will hold its annual Playing for Paws Golf Tournament on Monday, March 18, at Woodside Country Club, 1000 Woodside Drive. The 18-hole, four-person scramble tournament will begin with a shotgun start at noon. Registration opens at 10:30 a.m. The cost is $125 per player or $500 for groups of four. Registration ends today. For more information, call 910-367-6145 or email maryann@letlovelive.org.

Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) will hold virtual services on Sunday. Meeting is open to all and visitors are warmly welcomed. Worship in silence begins at 10 a.m. followed by fellowship at 11 a.m. For more information and the Zoom link, contact Brenda at bgconway@gmail.com or 803-648-6020.

When cutie-pie Boogie arrived at the Aiken County Animal Shelter as a hungry stray, it didn’t take him long to win the hearts of the FOTAS volunteers and shelter staff. The white, 2-year-old, 40-pound mixed breed made everyone smile with his goofy grin and outgoing personality. A true social…

“Everything starts with a dot,” Russian expressionist Wassily Kandinsky once wrote, referring, of course, to the fact that the painter must first touch the canvas with his brush. What happens next is the product of design or intuition or perhaps a little of both.

This column began with a rub of the wrist. Every time I press a key, I’m in pain thanks to a wrist injury I apparently sustained yesterday. I don’t know if it was the rapid movements required to see me through long sets of rapids or the emptying of a kayak full of water that did it. Likely, …

The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism will hold a Take A Hike event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in Hitchcock Woods. The guided group hike will offer tips and tricks on hiking and information on places to hike in Aiken. Registration is required. The event is free and open to all ages. Children younger than 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Participants will receives light refreshments and a snack. For more information or to register, visit the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center, 1700 Whiskey Road, or the Lessie B. Price Aiken Senior and Youth Center, 841 Edgefield Ave. N.W., or call 803-643-2181. The registration deadline was Feb. 28.

The Women of Woodside will hold its Trash & Treasure Sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Knights of Columbus, 103 Spaulding Drive. Proceeds will benefit the Cumbee Center.

Noel Fielding trades pastry for pistols in the new mouthful of a series “The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin,” a swashbuckling romp that’s miles from the genteel tent of “The Great British Bake Off.” The English writer, comedian and TV host is a highway robber in 1735 in the zany Apple TV+ series, playing a gentle soul in the harsh world of forest-based stick ups, witches and curses. Fielding, a writer and producer as well as star, says the humor he drew on includes “The Princess Bride,” ”Blackadder,” “Time Bandits,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Blazing Saddles.”

A presentation by photojournalist Cecil Williams and award-winning journalist Claudia Smith Brinson will be held at 6 p.m. today at the Center African American History, Art and Culture, 120 York St. N.E. The presentation will focus on the new book "Injustice in Focus: The Civil Rights Photography of Cecil Williams." The book features photographs by Williams and interviews by Brinson. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit caahac.org.

You have checked the maple blooms to see that they are developing, so the next project is to locate an American Holly and look down into its leaves for that small white dot. The small white dot will turn into a small white fragrant flower; however, a sharp decline will turn it black as they …

The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism will hold a Take A Hike event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in Hitchcock Woods. The guided group hike will offer tips and tricks on hiking and information on places to hike in Aiken. Registration is required. The event is free and open to all ages. Children younger than 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Participants will receive light refreshments and a snack. For more information or to register, visit the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center, 1700 Whiskey Road, or the Lessie B. Price Aiken Senior and Youth Center, 841 Edgefield Ave. N.W., or call 803-643-2181. Registration ends today.

The Vienna Boys Choir will perform at 7:30 p.m. today at the Etherredge Center on the campus of USC Aiken, 471 University Parkway. The performance is part of the Etherredge Center Cultural Series. Tickets are $75 for adults, $70 for seniors, members of the military and USCA faculty and staff, and $5 for children and students. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at 803-641-3305 or visit etherredgecenter.universitytickets.com.

A Healing Arts Yoga Class will be held from 8:15-9:15 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays at Stable View. The class meets in the upstairs of the pavilion and integrates different styles with a heavy emphasis on alignment, safety, and body awareness. Elena Bradford leads the class.

Free in-person tax preparation services will be available by appointment at the Aiken County Public Library. Appointments will be available Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays through April 5. Services are provided by the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide and are open to anyone of any age. For information or to make an appointment, call 803-761-7117.

Every dog has a story, and for most of my pals here at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, those stories are sad. Take me — Whitney. My last humans dumped me. I thought we were going for a ride (I’m a sucker for car rides), but then they stopped and opened the door. I thought, “Oh boy, a car ri…

The Moms League of Aiken will hold an overdose prevention and Narcan training event from 2-3 p.m. Saturday at the Aiken County Public Library. DHEC will lead the training, which will include information on how to recognize an overdose and steps to take to save a life.

When they first formalized linear perspective as an artistic technique, the 16th-century Italian masters could never have anticipated David Yaghjian’s twist on the subject. In essence, the painters of the Renaissance came to view the canvas as an “open window” through which they could create…

An After-Hours Movie event will be held at 5:30 p.m. today at the Aiken County Public Library. The movie will be "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."