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Speakers in C-U, Mar. 8 – 14

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.


WHAT: "Slow Violence and the Drama Deficit of Climate Change," Robert Nixon (Rachel Carson Professor of English, University of Wisconsin, Madison).

WHEN: Tuesday, March 9 @ 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:  Levis Faculty Center, Third Floor

This lecture is part of the series "Climate Change and the Humanities." "Drama deficit" seems like a good way to describe the climate change issue, currently. I'd be interested to hear what Prof. Nixon has to say.

WHAT: "The Rationalizing Voter: Empirical Tests of a Theory of Motivated Political Reasoning," Professor Charles Tabor

WHEN: Wednesday, March 10 @ 12 noon

WHERE: 165 Everitt Lab

I don't know much about this one beyond the title, but it piqued my interest for some reason.

 

WHAT: "Seeing the Twin Koreas Geopolitically," Myongsob Kim (Visiting Scholar, Yonsei University, South Korea)

WHEN: Thursday, March 11 @ 12 noon

WHERE: Room 356 Armory Building, 505 East Armory, Champaign

From the event description: "Could Northeast Asia in the 21st Century be a late-20th Europe-like postmodern paradise or an early-20th Europe-like battlefield? While the answer is still uncertain, the twin Koreas, North Korea the nuke- and famine-maker and South Korea the Samsung-LG-Hyundai-maker, have become the faultline for the tectonic plates of a metastable Northeast Asia. What went wrong in North Korea and what went right in South Korea?"

 

WHAT: "Ugly Stories of the Peruvian Agrarian Reform," Enrique Mayer, Professor of Anthropology. Yale University

WHEN: Thursday, March 11 @ 12 noon

WHERE: 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign

I personally think agrarian reform is an awesome idea and continue to be disappointed when real life intervenes and real people screw up the idealized picture in my head. From Enrique Mayer's web page: "Professor Mayer specializes in Andean agricultural systems and Latin American peasantries. His work has shown that regions characterized by diversity (such as mountainous environments, small islands, and "marginal" lands), not suitable for agribusiness, are exploited by peasants in strikingly similar ways. Worldwide, peasant forms of production predominate and persist in these environments. These agricultural systems are important to those concerned about world genetic resources, or about environmental conservation, and to scholars who seek an understanding of ancient and yet also very contemporary Non Western rural life-ways."

 

WHAT: "Climate Change as a Security Risk: Water, Food and Health as Conflict Constellations in India," Hans G. Bohle, Geography, Bonn University

WHEN: Friday, March 12 @ 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: 5602 Beckman Institute

"Professor Bohle's teaching is focused on concepts in development geography, rural development in South Asia, famine and food systems, conflict research , and the political ecology of food, water and violence."


Most Recent Culture Comments

Michael Feltes avatar

The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!

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@Jason: You’re right about that. I get groceries at Schnucks (they carry what I buy, which I can’t say of any other single grocery store in town), and if they have a beer I’m in the market for it’s usually a quarter or two cheaper per 6-…

JPSherrill avatar

Best Neighborhood Bar (& Grill) : Urbana - My ‘hood-  the ‘Boom! http://www.boomerangbarandgrill.com Go on a Wing Wednesday or Fish Friday, or see a band play some night.  Local blue-collar Urbana terroir galore.  My only beer snobbish gripe is lack of a pale hopped ale, but you…

Jason Brown avatar

The one thing that’s bothered me for a while about the Friar is that, for most commonly purchased adult beverages, you can actually walk down the strip mall to Schnucks and get them cheaper. It makes no sense, but there it is. I suspect it’s because Schnucks…

Rob McColley avatar

Maybe I complained enough in person. One time I even explained to the (wholly uninterested) clerk how to navigate the Illinois Statutes web page, and Savoy’s Municipal Code database I wouldn’t know because I only go there when I want to pay 30% more for anything, which is never.

{username}

@Rob: You seem to have the weirdest experiences. I’m in Friar Tuck every other week (don’t tell my mom that I’m a lush). They never fail to ask for my birth date but never my age, they never card afterwards, and they often allow me to use…

Rob McColley avatar

This column affords me a long-awaited opportunity. I’ve wanted to write my own column called Fuck You Friar Tuck Liquors. but I always thought it’d be too pithy. Here, I can say Fuck You Friar Tuck Liquors and not feel bothered to stretch it out to 750…

Tracy Nectoux avatar

Ha! Exactly. You, sir, are welcome at the bar in My House.

Rob McColley avatar

Why wait ‘til 3 pm?

Beth Dillman avatar

I’m excited to go tonight- should be very fun!

Most Recent Comments

Michael Feltes avatar

The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!

{username}

Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.

isaac arms avatar

represent, Matt.

{username}

Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.

{username}

Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…

{username}

Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…

Rob McColley avatar

I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.

Annie Weisner avatar

This makes me so sad.  (Happy to live in Urbana, though!)  Crave Truck has been a GREAT addition to the food choices in C-U, and it’d be a travesty to chase them away.  This town should be supporting small businesses.  I’m glad to hear that they’ll still…

{username}

*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…

isaac arms avatar

Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet.  John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…

isaac arms avatar

What?  Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?

Mike Ingram avatar

This weekend will mark the first appearance of Kayla Brown’s Fire Doll Candle booth at the Market.  Check it:  http://www.facebook.com/firedollcandles

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And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?

isaac arms avatar

hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.

{username}

Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.

isaac arms avatar

Excellent.  I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.

{username}

Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.

isaac arms avatar

funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.

Jason Brown avatar

@Dan - Wow. Unfortunately, I have to refrain from further comment due to a previous employment relationship. But with that brief context you might be able to imagine possible comments or responses I could have.

Dan Schreiber avatar

Oh, by the way, the “Champaign County YMCA” no longer exists. The official name is now the “Stephens Family YMCA” (the website has not been updated, but check out the latest program guide).  And no, it’s not just the name of the building. It’s the name of the organization.

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