When mother’s respiratory illness was interrupted by her own diagnosis with a rare blood disorder, Joanne Jacobson found her perspective profoundly altered. Every Last Breath follows the two chronic illnesses as they grow unexpectedly intertwined.

     Jacobson is professor emerita of English and a former associate dean for academic affairs at Yeshiva College.

     Why do Catholics venerate relics of saints? Is the practice superstitious, Biblical, or something else?

     A new exhibit explores the role sacred relics have played in faith over the centuries. It examines their use in the early church, delves into how the Catholic Church authenticates them today, and presents over twenty first-class relics from the collection of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for veneration.

     Free. Tuesdays through Sundays at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Hudson Heights at 701 Fort Washington Avenue, near Cabrini Circle. Through June 30.

     Soul-soothing music and the chace for a bit of peace.

     Come for an hour of quiet live music in a candlelit space. No words, screens, agendas. Just a change to bring your heart and soul to a quieter place in the city’s shrine to the patron saint of immigrants

     A donation basket for the musicians will be provided.

     Free. Wednesday evening at 6 at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at 190th Street.

     Join a talk about jazz and dance in Harlem through Jazz Power Initiative, a non-profit that promotes youth development and builds more creative and inclusive communities through jazz music, theater and dance education and performance.

     Eli Yamin, managing and artistic director at Jazz Power Initiative, and Shireen Dickson, a dance instructor at Jazz Power Initiative.

     The fifth presentation of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum’s series, Talking About Race Matters, is open to everyone. Register here.

     Free. Wednesday evening at 6 online.

     The artists Gwendolyn Black, Sheila Prevost (in photo), and Rachel Sydlowski share their reactions to the untold and important stories of the people who were enslaved on the Dyckman Farm. 

     The museum’s executive director says, “it is imperative that we continue to expand upon the narrative that we tell at the museum.”

    Schedule a visit slot here.

    $6 for one to five visitors. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10 to 2 at the museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.

     The Inwood Film Festival was postponed from the winter until the late summer and then canceled. The screenings have gone virtual instead.

     Watch a local filmmaker’s efforts in short film premiering weekly. Each film will also feature a small business that is open and needs your support.

     March 5 The Brothers Molina, directed by Jamie Canobbio

     March 12 Guy in a Crosswalk Seeks Nirvana, directed by Matt Lewis

     March 19 Freeze Frame, directed by Dylan O'Reilly

     March 26 Adam Adamson: Licensed Realtor, directed by Adriano Valentini 

     Free. Friday nights at 7 through the festival’s web page.

     Get ready for a summer outdoors by getting in shape this spring (and winter).

     Daniel Gwirtzman, the Hudson Heights dancer of national acclaim (and half the imaginary duo of Bernie and Daniel), leads an intermediate, advanced class that introductes the style and repertory of his company's choreography.

     You’ll challenge your brain just as much as your body with Daniel’s unexpected weight shifts, changes of direction, and use of the full spectrum of speed. Intellectual explorations match the physical, synthesizing complex coordination and rewiring the body.

     The class blends modern dance, theater dance, and folk dance, cultivating the physicality and the expressivity of the artist, blending virtuosity with pedestrianism, casualness with precision.

     Register here.

     $4 per class. Friday mornings at 9:30 to 11 online. Through March.

    The Inwood greenmarket is a year-round neighborhood favorite.
    People of all ages, backgrounds, and tastes gather each Saturday to meet and greet their friends and neighbors and do their weekly shopping. Even on the coldest, darkest winter Saturdays, loyal Inwood shoppers come out because they know they can’t get products like this anywhere else.
     A core group of 15 farmers attends every week of the year, and during the peak of the season, five more join to round out the offerings with the summer’s bounty.

     The collection of food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling is on hiatus during the pandemic.
     Saturdays from 8 to 3 on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street. Open year-round.

     Do you have some old computer hardware clogging your desk? Or getting dusty in your storage cage?

     You risk a fine if you put it in the trash, so here’s a better option. Take it to an electronics recycling event and hand it over for free.

     Hosted by the Lower East Side Ecology Center, the e-waste recycle day accepts:

• computers         • printers & scanners

• monitors         • keyboards            • mice                • cables                 • VCR and DVD players

• TV sets             • phones                 • PDA’s             • cell phones        • audio/visual equipment

     Free. Saturday from 10 to 4, rain or shine, in Inwood Hill Park at Seaman Avenue and Isham Street.

     Famous and up-and-coming artists perform at Eliot’s weekly sessions and her free concerts are legendary among jazz aficionados.

     Before the pandemic, Eliot welcomed aficianados to her Inwood apartment to listen live. Now she streams her performances.

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 3:30 online.

     Like hunting for ghosts, you have to know where to search to find this event listing — even the host hides it.

     The Morris-Jumel Mansion is perceived by many as a paranormal site and has attracted academics and investigators.

     Now you can learn the basics of ghost hunting while possibly communicating with some of the mansion’s former residents. The evening begins with a discussion on paranormal theory and the history of Manhattan's oldest remaining house.

     Register here.

     $50. Sunday evening at 6 at on Jumel Terrace.

     The WaHi Chamber Orchestra’s associate voncertmaster Ashley Windle joins pianist Taisiya Pushkar to play works by Beethoven, Mozart, Jessie Montgomery, and Joel Engel.

     The performance series is funded by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

     Free. Sunday night at 8:30 online.

      Among the things WaHi is famous for is the noise. Lots of it!

      But does it seem eerily quiet now? You may not miss the auditory assaults, but the sounds of people mingling and waiters serving are becoming memories.

      Refresh yours with the New York Public Library’s new online album: Missing Sounds of New York. It probably won’t win any Grammys, but each track uses a combination of sounds to create familiar canvases on which mini stories are placed: a glass breaking in a bar, a dance performance on the subway, an overly enthusiastic baseball fan.

      It’s free and it’s available from the library. (No need for a library card!)

     If you’re staying in, you can still enjoy the city’s green spaces from home. Here’s a selection of video tours, meditation, fitness classes, and activities for kids.

     Getting out in one can help you relax and excercise at the same time. Just be sure to follow these common-sense guidelines:

• Go out in small groups no bigger than three, making sure that everyone remains at least 6 feet from each other at all times. 
• If you go out after dark, stay near the street and go with a friend — maintaining that distance of at least 6 feet. 
• Bike or stroll on the Greenway along the Hudson or Harlem Rivers. 
• Do not engage in team sports or other group games. 
• Use playgrounds at your own risk. Although playground bathrooms remain open and are disinfected daily, the playground equipment is not disinfected. Avoid using playground equipment, but you do, take wipes to sanitize anything you or your child may touch and play on equipment only if you can remain at least 6 feet apart from anyone not in your household.
   

     Commuters are seeing changes in Fort George over the next year.

     Tthere is no 1 service at 181 Street Station in 2021. The MTA is completely replacing the elevators (they're over 80 years old!) that provide access to the station.

     The work is scheduled to last until December. A variety of shuttles will be available and there’s the A Train and its new elevators at 11st Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

     The High Bridge—New York City’s oldest standing bridge—is a landmark that connects walkers and cyclists with Manhattan and the Bronx.
     The High Bridge is a path from the neighborhoods of Washington Heights to Highbridge across the river, and is accessible from both boroughs.
     Free. Daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Enter from Highbridge Park, in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue in the 170s.

     Operating with the perspective that each day is a gift, Daniel Gwirtzman infuses his stretch and strengthing class with an infectious energy and his trademark optimism.

     Gwirtzman, the Hudson Heights dancer of national acclaim, takes a brea/ from his troupe to lead an hour-long class and welcomes all ability levels to explore the full range of what our bodies can do. He shares exercises to increase endurance, coordination, strength, flexibility, and healthy habits.

     A motivating coach, Daniel tailors each movement for the students in the Zoom room from his Hudson Heights studio.

     Register here.

     $4 per class. Wednesday evenings at 5:30 in March.

     The generations of enslaved people who worked for the Dyckman family experienced ever-changing legal codes that restricted their movement, behaviors, and well-being.

     From the Dutch “half-freedom” of Jan Dyckman’s New Amsterdam to the “negotiated manumission” of New York State, the family and their slaves were at the center of unfolding chapters of American history. Their close proximity to New York City and the agricultural Hudson Valley estates would have made the Dyckman slaves cosmopolitan in the truest sense, with the ability to navigate the rural and urban landscapes of the region.

     The final presentation of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum’s series, Talking About Race Matters, is open to everyone. Register here.

     Free. Wednesday evening, March 10, at 6 online.

     Bubbie’s Kitchen is a place where universal Jewish values are shared, holidays are experienced, foods are tasted, and we learn how mitzvot (good deeds) make our world a better place.

     The kitchen is a welcoming place, and there's room for all at Bubbie’s table for children and their families.

     Traditionally, older generations transmit a cultural narrative to younger ones. Children today, however, are less likely to live with, or near, extended relatives. The program replicates a Jewish grandmother’s kitchen where language, recipes, music, stories, and activities can be preserved and passed on to the next generation.

     Register to bake here, where you can also get your ingredients ready from the list of recipes.

     Thursday night, March 11, at 7 on Zoom. Monthly on the second Thursday through June except in April, when it’s on Tuesday the sixth.

     Wait, what time is it?

     Daylight saving begins early in the morning, and since we spring forward, we’re losing an hour of sleep.

     Even if you don’t have a grandfather clock like this one at the Dyckman Farmhouse, set yours ahead one hour before going to bed so you aren’t an hour behind when you wake up.

     Standard time ends on Sunday morning, March 14, at 2.

     New York is home to an amazing abundance of wildlife. The Urban Park Rangers will guide you to the best spot in Inwood Hill Park to watch raptors.

     The program is appropriate for all skill levels and beginners are welcome. To enhance your experience, take your own binoculars.

     The Rangers are offering outdoor programs so you can have a safe and enjoyable time in parks. Based on New York State guidance for sports and recreation during COVID-19, here are the protocols to follow:

• Stay home if you’re sick
• Maintain six feet of physical distance between households
• Wear a face covering
• Wash your hands

     Free. Sunday morning, March 14, at 11. Meet at Isham Street and Seaman Avenue.

     Mark Passover with a rosh chodesh sprout salad as you take part in the Shamayim challenge.

     As you celebrate the holiday, explore vegan — plant-based — cooking with delicious recipes and discuss compassion for animals from a Jewish perspective. The session will also consider plant-based alternatives to avoid food allergies.

     Register here, where you can also find your list of ingredients. Sponsored by the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood.

    Sunday evening, March 14, at 5 online. Also on April 11, May 11, and June 11.

     Take part in the Shamayim challenge!

     As you celebrate Jewish holidays and traditions, explore vegan — plant-based — cooking with delicious recipes and discuss compassion for animals from a Jewish perspective. These sessions will also consider plant-based alternatives to avoid food allergies.

     Mark Purim with a sweet and tasty hamantaschen.

     Register here, where you can also find your list of ingredients. Sponsored by the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood.

    Sunday night, March 14, at 7 online. Also on April 11, May 11, and June 11.

     The Catalyst Quartet presents an all Florence Price concert featuring the premiere of a newly uncovered quartet, “Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint.”

     The performance series is funded by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

     Free. Sunday night, March 14, and 8:30 online.

     Join Israeli emissary Shani Aslan for a fun and delicious cooking series. She will bring traditional and modern  cuisine into your home as you cook along.

     Register here, where you can also find your list of ingredients. Sponsored by the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood.

    Tuesday night, March 16, at 7 online. On the third Tuesday of the month.

     The spring 2020 production from Up Theater, postponed until now, is A Barn Play, by Lizzie Donahue. A cast of farm animals performs a darkly comic fable for our time.

     Durng some performances, the show wll be translated as the lines of the dark comedy are being spoken through headsets that audience members can wear.

      Rescheduled for 2021 from last year, on dates yet to be announced at Good Shepherd School in Inwood on Cooper Street between 207th and Isham Streets.

     In honor of Women's History Month, please join Morris-Jumel Mansion and Leigh Hallingby for a virtual walk through Harlem.

     You’ll stop at the places where accomplished women, ranging from the iconic to not so familiar, are honored. Visits include named buildings, murals and mosaics, plaques on the sidewalk, and commemorative street corners.

     Learn more about the lives and legacies of A’Lelia Walker, Nicholasa Mohr, Zora Neale Hurston and more trailblazing women in the neighborhoods surrounding Morris-Jumel Mansion.

     The tour lasts about 45 minutes with slides and live commentary, followed by Q&A. Register here.

     Free. Wednesday night, March 17, at 7 online.

     The reading series Bloom presents a variety of authors and genres.

     Bloom’s literary readings and discussions will get you to shake off your assumptions and think hard about everything.

      More information at www.bloomreadings.org.

      Free. We’re trying to find out if Bloom is going ahead this month but Bloom isn’t answering emails, so check back before you go. Sunday evening, March 21, at 5 online. Monthly on the third Sunday (usually), September through May but not December.

     From late spring through the late autumn, the Fort Washington Greenmarket in Lower WaHi offers Mexican herbs, peppers, and greens, honey, cheese, juice pressed from ripe orchard fruit, produce grown in the rich soil of Orange County’s “Black Dirt” region, pastries and fresh bread.

     The collection of food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling is on hiatus during the pandemic.

     Tuesdays from 8 to 4 on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street. Opening in the spring; through November.

     A New York farmers’ market offers fresh fruit and vegetables from the Hudson Valley, the Garden State and beyond.

     The Lower WaHi market is open Thursdays on 175th Street between Wadsworth Avenue and Broadway.
     Opening in the spring; through November.

     The WaHi Chamber Orchestra’s principal cellist Valeriya Scholokova shares works by Ligeti, Dall’Abaco, Britten, and Bach.

     The performance series is funded by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

     Free. Sunday night, March 25, and 8:30 online.

     Uptown’s private garden opens to visitors in the spring.

     You won’t need a key to enjoy the flowers, koi pond, and butterflies, such as the monarch resting on swamp mlkweed in the photo. They’re all at the Riverside Inwood Neighborhood Garden. Join as a member and you’ll get special access, including a key, so you may visit whenever you like.

     The garden hosts special events in the summer and autumn, and holiday lights in the winter.

     Opens April 1. At the confluence of Riverside Drive, Dyckman Street and Broadway in Inwood.

     The WaHi Chamber Orchestra’s concertmaster, Mark Chien,performs music by Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Jessie Montgomery and more.

     The performance series is funded by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

     Free. Sunday night, April 11, and 8:30 online.

     Maintain the Russian language within your family and share your memories, family customs and traditions with your children and while also creating new ones with Sohnechniy Krug.

     By continuing the exploration of our established Little Avant-Gardes curriculum, the group introduces new names of contemporary Jewish artists. This month explores the theme of remembrance.

     Contact Yevgeniya Lopatnyk for more information at ylopatnyk@ywashhts.org.

     Saturday, April 17, at the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood in Fort George at 54 Nagle Avenue.

      If you like outdoor geometry, get on the street for sunrise and sunset when the shadows line up with the streets.

      The “Manhattanhenge” effect works Uptown on days different from the rest of the island’s.

      To see the sun line up with the streets in Hudson Heights (on 181st Street in the photo), where the street grid is aligned differently from most of the borough, get out on April 18; it’s also on August 26 in Hudson Heights Henge. Fort George Henge is on the same dates as Manhattan, and Inwood Henge is on January 23 — the grid there is so katy-wompus that the sun aligns when it is due “south.”

     The effect works below 174th and above 174th if you go east of Broadway (for sunrise: sunset views may be blocked by buildings to the west). So if you want to see Manhattanhenge, as it’s dubbed, hope for clear skies on May 30 and June 12.

     Hudson Heights Henge: Sunday, April 18, at dawn and dusk.

     You can look for the dates in all the city’s neighborhoods on this map from Carto.

     Friends of WaHi Chamber Orchestra led by bassoonist Joshua Hodges present a concert of new and old, featuring composers Leanne Primiani, Damian Montano, Gordon Jacob, and Jean Françaix.

     The performance series is funded by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

     Free. Sunday night, April 18, and 8:30 online.

     The Latin pop band Camila shares its romantic rthythms with Uptown audiences.

     $86.76 to $229.90. Saturday night, April 24, at 8 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

    With stops in London, Cape Town, Sydney and WaHi, the Colour Conference is a global women’s gathering that places value on everyday women of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures.

     As a movement, the Colour Sisterhood has inspired women around the world to rise up, champion womanhood and partner in advocating for justice and social change.

     The Colour experience also has a strong humanitarian mandate toward the issues that women face around the world.

     The event, originally planned for April 2020, will be rescheduled in 2021 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 165th Street.

     Only in New York ...
     One day late in most springs, The Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx comes together to claim the neighborhood of Marble Hill which, the group suggests, belongs to the only borough on the mainland on the basis that it was annexed by Bronx Borough President James Lyons in the 1930s.
     Care to fight back? Everyone is welcome, even hecklers.
     Free. A Saturday in early May beginning with pre-invasion cocktails at Mr. McGoo’s Pub in Kingsbridge on Broadway; the battle of Marble Hill commences once the tab is settled.

     Hector “El Torito” Acosta and Jorge Caledón arrive Uptown to share Bachenato 2020 — delayed a bit by the pandemic. They promise the best of bachata and vallenato in concert.

     $74.10 to $162.18 (includes your mandatory donation to charity). Friday night, June 11, at 8 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Maintain the Russian language within your family and share your memories, family customs and traditions with your children and while also creating new ones with Sohnechniy Krug.

     Mark the end of spring and the beginning of summer with a family picnic.

     Contact Yevgeniya Lopatnyk for more information at ylopatnyk@ywashhts.org.

     Saturday, June 12, at a location to be announced.

     The mayoral primary election will narrow the field.

     Get out and vote!

     Tuesday, June 22, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

     The Higher Ground Festival hold its sixth outdoor exhibition of Uptown performing artists sharing their work with everyone.

     Artists from Upper Manhattan use the festival to build a multi-disciplinary art repertory company in WaHi and Inwood to help  promote their art. 

     Over a long weekend in August on dates and at a location yet to be named.

     An evening of Euro Dance Music Entertainment featuring Thomas Anders & Sandra, both with live bands.

     Featuring The Gentleman Of Music: Thomas Anders accompanied by the Modern Talking Band. Sandra accompanied by her own band to perform her hits from the 80s such as Maria Magdalena, In the Heat of the Night, Everlasting Love.

     $74.50 to $178. Saturday night, August 14, at 7:30 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi.

     Fonseca & Andres Cepeda make an Uptown stop on their Comrades Tour.

     $62.80 to $330.96. Sunday night, August 22, at 7:30 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.    

     The Panamanian singer, rapper and songwriter Sech comes to WhHi for an otherworldly show.

     He’s been on the scene since 2018 with his Rich Music World debut single “Little Miss Lonely" and hasn't looked back.

     Tickets may be available here (Ticketmaster’s site is a bit buggy). Friday night, August 27, at 8:30 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Regarded as the most romantic of Spanish singers, Dyango has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. He was born José Gómez Romero and is nicknamed The Voice of Love.

     $53 to $163.83. Saturday night, October 16, at 8 at the United Palace Theater in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     One way or another, the Fourth Annual Washington Heights Jazz Festival shares the enerhusiasm of Uptowgyn musicians.

     Sponsored by Jazz WaHi.

     Thursday, November 4, throuh Sunday, November 7, either in Husdon Heights on online.

     A yearly gathering on Thanksgiving will remind you of the Lenape people and the blessings of their land we now call home.

     A short ceremony honors our duty to Mother Earth and our responsibility to the forest, the river, and each other.

     Free. Thanksgiving morning at 9 at Shorakkopoch Rock in Inwood Hill Park. From the intersection of 214th Street and Indian Road, follow the path that runs along the water; the boulder is on the far side of a large open field.