See our calendar in The Guide for happenings in and around Davidson.

A Davidson College speech by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Thomas Friedman, Tuesday’s 2009 local elections and a public forum on health care are among a variety of newsy items on the calendar this week, in Davidson. Meanwhile, the arts calendar includes an interdisciplinary panel discussion tonight about the 1982 Ridely Scott film “Blade Runner” and two theater openings - “Pirates of Penzance” at the college and “‘night Mother” at Warehouse Performing Arts Center. There’s a big collegiate bass fishing tournament on Lake Norman this weekend – the FLW College Fishing Northern Regional Championship - with weigh-ins and tournament headquarters on the Village Green.  And don’t miss the return of the smartest dogs around, at the 15th annual Rural Hill Sheep Dog Trials at Rural Hill Farm in Huntersville this weekend.

See those events and more in our This Week calendar, in The Guide.