WHAT: “Connected Histories: Whiteness, Misery, and Management in the U.S.,” David Roediger
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 17 @ 4 p.m.
WHERE: The Levis Faculty Center, 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
From the event announcement: “This history of race, immigration, and management in the U.S. takes critical race studies into areas of history, including history of engineering, where it has little presence. From settlement and slavery forward, the fostering of racial competition has marked labor management practices. These have undergirded the phenomenal success of U.S. transnational mine engineering; and, coexisted with “rational” scientific management in shaping — and in meatpacking and other industries in Illinois and beyond, continuing to shape — industrial management.
WHAT: “The Oil Market and the Escalating Conflict between Iran and the West,” Hadi Salehi Esfahani, Director, CSAMES and Professor, Dept. of Economics
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 16 @ 12 noon
WHERE: Lucy Ellis Lounge: room 1080, Foreign Languages Building
Oil! Iran! What could be a better way to spend your lunch hour today?
WHAT: The Carr Reading Series featuring Cathy Day and Angela Woodward
WHEN: Tuesday, November 16 @ 4:30pm
WHERE: Authors Corner, Illini Union Bookstore
From the announcement: Cathy Day was born and raised in Peru, Indiana, which is best known as a circus town, but is also the birthplace of Cole Porter and the Spanish hot dog. She is the author of two books: Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love (Free Press, 2008), part memoir about life as a single woman and part sports story about the Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl season; and The Circus in Winter (Harcourt, 2004), a fictional history of her hometown.
Angela Woodward is the author of The Human Mind (Ravenna Press 2007), and The End of the Fire Cult(forthcoming, Ravenna Press 2010)
WHAT: “Agriculture and Higher Education in Argentina,” Dr. Eduardo Pagano. Vice-dean, School of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 19 @ 12 noon
WHERE: 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign
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.