WHAT: “Tour of the Night Sky,” Prof. James Kaler
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 28 @ 7 p.m.
WHERE: 253 Mechanical Engineering Bldg.
Professor Emeritus James Kaler, great popularizer of astronomy and teacher of generations of students, will give his annual slide talk about the beauty of the universe and our place in it.
WHAT: “Ahora Venezuela es de todos! Grassroots political participation in Bolivarian Venezuela,” Cristobal Valencia, Ph. D. Candidate Anthropology
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 30 @ 12 noon
WHERE: 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign
Ahora, indeed!
WHAT: “How the Islamic Past Figures in Spain’s Modern National Identity,” D Fairchild Ruggles, Professor, Dept. of Landscape Architecture
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 1 @ 12 noon
WHERE: 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign
WHAT: “Trouble the Water One Book One Campus Film Screening”
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 30 @ 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Illini Union Pine Lounge
From the event announcement: “TROUBLE THE WATER takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. It’s a redemptive tale of two self-described street hustlers who become heroes-two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning. The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall. Twenty-four year old aspiring rap artist Kimberly Rivers Roberts is turning her new video camera on herself and her 9th Ward neighbors trapped in the city. “It’s going to be a day to remember,” Kim declares. With no means to leave the city and equipped with just a few supplies and her hi 8 camera, she and her husband Scott tape their harrowing ordeal as the storm rages, the nearby levee breaches, and floodwaters fill their home and their community. Shortly after the levees fail, their battery dies. Seamlessly weaving 15 minutes of this home movie footage shot the day before and the morning of the storm with archival news segments and verite footage shot over the next two years, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal tell a story of remarkable people surviving not only failed levees, bungling bureaucrats and armed soldiers, but also their own past. Seating limited to the first 50 attendees.”
You live near a major university and a community college. There are smart people that come here every week to talk to the general public about interesting topics. Perhaps you were not aware of this fact, or were overwhelmed by the sheer number of opportunities for possible enlightenment. If that’s the case, Smile Politely understands and is here to help. Here are several events going on in town this week. Check out one or more of them if you have time. Get your learn on, as they say, and join the cognoscenti. It’s free, you know. Plus, sometimes there’s free food, too!
If you have a community event, speaker, or film event that you’d like to see featured on Listen Up!, send the event information to joelgillespie [at] smilepolitely [dot] com by Friday the week prior to the event. Listen Up! runs on Mondays.