WHAT: “Pakistan: A Continuing Crisis, An Uncertain Future,” Dr. Stephen P. Cohen, The Brookings Institution.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 18 @ 3 p.m.
WHERE: 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign
WHAT: “Deconstructing Consensus: Child Marriage in Early Islamic Law,” Dr. Carolyn Baugh
WHEN: Friday, January 20 @ 4 p.m.
WHERE: Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Languages Building, 707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana
Baugh is the author of The View from the Garden City, pictured at right, a 2008 novel described as “the moving story of a young American student living in the Garden City district of Cairo. Having come to study Arabic, she learns far more from the Egyptian women, young and old, she meets within the swirl and tumult of Garden City. Living, loving, and flourishing amid the fierce inflexibility of tradition, these women reveal a fascinating world of arranged marriages, secret romances, and the often turbulent bonds between four generations of Arab mothers and daughters.”
WHAT: “Poetry After Kerch: The Holocaust in the Soviet Union,” Harriet Murav, University of Illinois
WHEN: Monday, January 23 @ 7 p.m.
WHERE: Music Room, Levis Faculty Center; 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Because Kerch, you see, is a city of 150,000 people in Ukraine, and was occupied by the Germans during World War II. You probably knew that already, but I had to look it up.
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 Tuesdays when classes are in session.