Self-improvement activities help people learn skills, improve health habits, defeat negative thoughts, and meet similar-minded friends. Plus, they can be really, really fun.
Speaking of “really, really fun,” Queens hosts a slew of self-improvement opportunities over the next few days.
Professional guide Adrienne Onofri leads a Walking Tour of Jamaica on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 11 am. She’ll focus on the area’s history and demographics with a healthy dose of Hip Hop.
Onofri has been taking groups on explorations for more than 10 years. The long-time Elmhurst resident also wrote Walking Queens: 30 Tours for Discovering the Diverse Communities, Historic Places, and Natural Treasures of New York City’s Largest Borough in 2014.
Meet at Jamaica Performing Arts Center, 153-10 Jamaica Ave. Buy tickets online for $12.51.
For a double dose of history, head to Flushing’s Kingsland Homestead, where Lawrence R. Samuel will give a presentation on his book Making Long Island on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3 pm.
Samuel is a former Smithsonian Institution Fellow who has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. He’s also written several books on cultural history. On this afternoon, he’ll dive into Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties) between 1920 and 1980, when the area went from rural farms to suburbs where the middle class achieved the American dream.
Admission is $5. Kingsland Homestead, which is located at 143-35 37th Ave., is a landmarked property that also serves as Queens Historical Society’s headquarters.
The enrichment continues on Wednesday, Nov. 8, when Eric Weil leads Civilian Combat Photography in World War II at Bayside Historical Society at 7:30 pm.
Going beyond the familiar, official photos from the Army Signal Corps, Weil will share work by civilians — many of them women — whose photographs were overlooked. He’ll also talk about the cameras that were used in the 1940s.
Editor’s note: The photography event has been postponed until Nov. 29 at 7:30 pm.
General admission is $10. Bayside Historical Society is located at the Castle, a Gothic Revival style mansion at 208 Totten Ave. inside Fort Totten. Completed in 1887, the building once served as a mess hall and club for the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Top image: Bayside Historical Society; bottom image: Queens Historical Society