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.
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.
WHAT: “Author’s Roundtable with Darieck Scott“, Assistant Professor, African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
WHEN: Monday, September 28 @ 8 p.m.
WHERE: Music Room, Levis Faculty Center, 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Scott, the author of Extravagant Abjection: Blackness, Power, and Sexuality in the African American Literary Imagination, as well as several other books and essays on the intersection of racial and queer issues, will speak tonight as part of an author’s roundtable.
WHAT: “Hunger Symposium“, presented by Eastern Illinois Food Bank
WHEN: Monday, September 28 @ 7 p.m.
WHERE: Robeson Pavilion Room A & B, Main Branch, Champaign Public Library
Panelists include: Steve Anderson, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Donna Camp, Director, Wesley Evening Food Pantry; Senator Mike Frerichs, Ill. General Assembly, District 52 (Champaign and Vermilion Counties); Jennifer Hrycyna, Skadden Fellow and Staff Attorney, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; Lyn Jones, CEO, United Way of Champaign County; Kate Maehr, President of the Board, Feeding Illinois and Executive Director, Greater Chicago Food Depository; Amy Terpstra, Senior Research Analyst, Social IMPACT Research Center (formerly Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty)
WHAT: Allen Hall Guest-in-Residence Brian Tokar
WHEN: Monday, Sept. 28 through Thursday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. each evening
WHERE: Allen Hall, 1005 W. Gregory, Urbana
Tokar, “a passionate advocate of grassroots action for global justice and an ecological future,” started his residence last night, but there are still four installments to go:
Monday: From Climate Awareness to Climate Justice;
Tuesday: Global Warming: False Promises and Real Solutions;
Wednesday: Who Controls Your Food?;
Thursday: Social Ecology: A Vision for a Sustainable Society
WHAT: Carr Reading Series presents Lucie Brock-Broido
WHEN: Tuesday, September 29 @ 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: Authors Corner, Illini Union Bookstore
Caleb already mentioned Brock-Broido’s event last week, so this is just meant to serve as a reminder. From his preview: “The second reader in the Creative Writing program’s Carr Reading Series, Brock-Broido is by far the most esoteric. To paraphrase Steve Davenport, she’s one of the few poets in the world today who can actually do more with more. For many of us, her reading is the literary event of the year. A real once in a lifetime experience.”