NOT JUST PRETTY PICTURES: Birmingham photographer Beth Maynor Young will offer a free presentation next week based on Headwaters: A Journey on Alabama Rivers, a book of photographs and text she created in 2009 with John C. Hall. Young will appear Thursday, October 21, at 7 p.m., at the Lester Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 105 Fourth Ave.

Memphis-born singer-songwriter Clare Burson, whose new concept CD on Rounder Records is called Silver and Ash, will appear Wednesday, October 13, at 8 p.m., at WorkPlay. Burson will appear on a bill w

Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation.

TAKE THE GREEN WAY: The non-profit Freshwater Land Trust (FLT) is developing a greenway master plan for Jefferson County. According to the FLT web site, the Our One Mile project is part of an effort to lower the county’s obesity rate, which is over 30 percent. The FLT seeks to identify a network of over 100 miles of trails, greenways and blueways in the Birmingham area.

The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking,.

According to band co-founder Josh Lambert, the group hasn’t wasted all that time spent traveling from gig to gig in their 15-passenger Chevy Express van. Rather they’ve used it as an opportunity to find creative inspiration. They listen to a lot of music, with minimalist composers Terry Riley and Steve Reich high in the rotation.

COMMISSION FOR THE COAST: Alabama Governor Bob Riley on Monday signed an executive order creating a Coastal Recovery Commission that will examine the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and recommend ways to protect Alabama’s coast.

Birmingham has never been thought of as a particularly hospitable place for people with alternative lifestyles, especially gay lifestyles, so it’s perhaps worthy of celebration that SHOUT Gay Lesbian Film Festival has now called the Magic City home for half a decade.

THE HITS KEEP COMING: It hasn’t been a great year for British Petroleum (BP). There’s been some good news, of course. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government’s point man on the Gulf oil spill, said over the weekend that a permanent cement plug had finally sealed BP’s broken well.

Jeff Canja, an authority on pulp magazines, explains the essential difference between literature and most popular story telling.