Events | Illinois Humanities Council

Events

« March 27, 2009 - April 03, 2009 »

03 / 27 (event) Between Fences Start: 10:00 am End: 6:00 pm We live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our lives and in our history. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. We use them to enclose our houses and neighborhoods. more info (event) Where’s the Beef? Animal Rights and Vegetarian Living Start: 5:00 pm End: 6:00 pm Many notable figures throughout history have been vegetarians. From Plato and Benjamin Franklin to Mahatma Gandhi and Charlotte Bronte, veggie-love has a historical track record. Even civil rights icons Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King adhered to strict vegetarian diets and were also vegetarian activists. Many continue to embrace vegetarianism, rejecting what they deem the horrific treatment of soon-to-be slaughtered animals. In the popular pamphlet 101 Reasons Why I'm Vegetarian, Pamela Rice writes: "Nearly all of the some 10 billion animals slaughtered for food in the U.S. every year are the end result of a behemoth-sized swift-moving assembly line system, incorporating dangerous, unprecedented, and unsustainable methods of production." As vegetarianism and veganism (a diet that contains no meat or diary) has grown in popularity many are beginning to marvel at the benefits a veggie diet has not only for animal rights, but the positive effects it has on the body. more info (event) Four Boxes Start: 7:30 pm Bahram Beyzaie's Four Boxes (Chahaar sanduq, 1979), directed by Farrokh Asadi is a play about how a society manufactures its own dictators. Art by painter, sculptor and actor, Ario Mashayekhi, will be displayed in the theatre lobby. more info
03 / 28 (event) Between Fences Start: 9:00 am End: 2:00 pm We live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our lives and in our history. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. We use them to enclose our houses and neighborhoods. more info (event) My Name is Inanna Start: 4:30 pm Film (runtime: 1 hour) by Ezzat Goushegir about a modern Middle Eastern woman who flees her country in search of identity, justice and freedom. After receiving political asylum in the U.S., she faces new forms of sexism, racism and false-democratic slogans. After September 11, she is arrested for her opposition to war in the Middle Eastern region. Handcuffed alone in a holding area, she speaks for 55 minutes, reliving her experiences of politics and incarceration in her native country, as well as those of her newly adopted country. more info (event) Live Persian Traditional Music Start: 5:30 pm Performer and composer, Kiu Haghighi performs Persian traditional music. (Runtime: 1 hour) more info (event) Four Boxes and Art Exhibit Start: 7:30 pm Bahram Beyzaie's Four Boxes (Chahaar sanduq, 1979), directed by Farrokh Asadi is a play about how a society manufactures its own dictators. Art by painter, sculptor and actor, Ario Mashayekhi, will be displayed in the theatre lobby. more info
03 / 29 (event) Four Boxes and Art Exhibit Start: 4:00 pm Bahram Beyzaie's "Four Boxes" (Chahaar sanduq, 1979), directed by Farrokh Asadi is a play about how a society manufactures its own dictators. Art by painter, sculptor and actor, Ario Mashayekhi, will be displayed in the theatre lobby. more info
03 / 30 (event) Between Fences Start: 10:00 am End: 9:00 pm We live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our lives and in our history. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. We use them to enclose our houses and neighborhoods. more info (event) Literature & Medicine: ''The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' Start: 6:00 pm Discussion of "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," by Jean-Dominique Bauby *Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare* is a discussion-based program that brings hospital staff together monthly to reflect on the larger mission of medicine through facilitated conversations about literature. more info (event) The incredible shrinking newspaper business Start: 7:30 pm End: 8:30 pm In the last few months, every day brings news of another newspaper's demise or the announcement of drastic cost-cutting measures. Some of the latest: more info
03 / 31 (event) The Odyssey Project: Northside Basic Course Start: 6:00 pm End: 8:00 pm *This is a year-long course beginning in September, open only to selected applicants. Applications for next year's class will be available on this website beginning in June 2009.* *The Odyssey Project* is a college-level course in philosophy, literature, art history, and history for men and women living below 150% of the poverty level. Its anchor program is the first-year course, which is offered in partnership with Bard College and for which students may receive six units of college credit. Faculty members are largely from first-rate universities such as University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute, and DePaul University. Tuition is free, and the Illinois Humanities Council provides free childcare, free books, and transportation. The six units of credit are fully transferable to other colleges and universities. This course meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Admission is by application only. Refer to syllabus for changes in course schedule. more info (event) Abraham Lincoln and the Eighth Judicial Circuit Start: 6:30 pm *A Road Scholar Program by Guy Fraker* Lincoln's formative years as an attorney were spent riding "the Circuit" through central Illinois. Each of these towns has its own unique story regarding Lincoln's contribution to their towns and their citizens and, of course, their contributions to Lincoln. One cannot fully understand Lincoln and his development without understanding this period. This presentation includes Lincoln's role in each town, the cases he handled, the associations he made, and the related history of these counties. more info
04 / 1 (event) The incredible shrinking newspaper business Start: 12:30 pm End: 1:30 pm In the last few months, every day brings news of another newspaper's demise or the announcement of drastic cost-cutting measures. Some of the latest: more info (event) Reflections on Peace and Justice with Dr. Dahlia Wasfi Start: 5:00 pm End: 6:00 pm "I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my mother's side-Ashkenazi Jews who fled their homeland of Austria during Hitler's Anschluss. It is for them that we say 'Never again.' I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my father's side who are not living, but dying, under the occupation of this administration's deadly foray in Iraq." - Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, testimony at the Congressional Forum on Iraq, April 27, 2006 Six years after the occupation of Iraq, join us for this intimate conversation with Dr. Dahlia Wasfi who will share her reflections on peace and justice in Iraq and the Middle East. This program is free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended and can be made online, by email at events@prairie.org, or by calling 312.422.5580. more info (event) Encounter Point: Film Screening and Discussion Start: 6:30 pm Join us for a screening and discussion of Encounter Point, a poignant documentary about a former Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother, and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their lives and public standing to promote a nonviolent end to the conflict. Their journeys lead them to the unlikeliest places to confront hatred within their communities. The film explores what drives them and thousands of other like-minded civilians to overcome anger and grief to work for grassroots solutions in the face of government inaction. It is a film about the everyday leaders in our midst. A post-screening discussion will explore a future of coexistence and Arab-Jewish relations in Israel/Palestine as well as here in the U.S. This discussion will feature: more info
04 / 2 (event) The Camera and Abraham Lincoln Start: 1:00 pm *A Road Scholar Program by Mark Pohlad* This presentation describes the photographs of Abraham Lincoln as they appear in the history of photography. Lincoln was the first extensively photographed President, and the first for whom the media helped sway an election. The sixteenth President once described his most frequent photographer, Mathew Brady (1823-96), as "the man who put me in the White House." Through vivid, large-scale projected images, art historian Mark Pohlad - a specialist in photo history - will trace the images of Lincoln and his circle while describing the nature and challenges of photography in the mid-nineteenth century. more info (event) The Environment in the City Start: 6:00 pm End: 8:00 pm Join us for a special workshop to explore what the environment means in an urban setting, and how we can work together to create environmentally-friendly communities. This workshop, facilitated by The Field Museum and the University of Chicago's Civic Knowledge Project, will use short film clips and other interactive materials to help us think about how the "environment" plays a role in our everyday lives. Special Note: Open to public. All NWA writers will receive public transit cards. more info (event) The Odyssey Project: Northside Basic Course Start: 6:00 pm End: 8:00 pm *This is a year-long course beginning in September, open only to selected applicants. Applications for next year's class will be available on this website beginning in June 2009.* *The Odyssey Project* is a college-level course in philosophy, literature, art history, and history for men and women living below 150% of the poverty level. Its anchor program is the first-year course, which is offered in partnership with Bard College and for which students may receive six units of college credit. Faculty members are largely from first-rate universities such as University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute, and DePaul University. Tuition is free, and the Illinois Humanities Council provides free childcare, free books, and transportation. The six units of credit are fully transferable to other colleges and universities. This course meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Admission is by application only. Refer to syllabus for changes in course schedule. more info (event) Folksongs of Illinois Start: 6:30 pm *A Road Scholar Program by Bucky Halker* Illinois has rich and diverse folk music traditions that are little known outside a small circle of scholars. From the beginning of the 19th century through the folk revival of the 1950s, the many peoples who made Illinois their home produced a huge body of folk music, including historical ballads, labor anthems, early country songs, and dance tunes as well as a large body of music from ethnic communities in the state. Bucky Halker recently produced the Illinois Humanities Council's Folksongs of Illinois CD series. In this program, Bucky shares his knowledge of prairie-state folk music through performance and commentary, as well as a sampling from recordings he located while doing research for the CD series. more info (event) The incredible shrinking newspaper business Start: 7:00 pm End: 8:00 pm In the last few months, every day brings news of another newspaper's demise or the announcement of drastic cost-cutting measures. Some of the latest: more info (event) The incredible shrinking newspaper business Start: 7:00 pm End: 8:00 pm In the last few months, every day brings news of another newspaper's demise or the announcement of drastic cost-cutting measures. Some of the latest: more info (event) Beyond Fences: A Conversation about Disability, Inclusion, and Empowerment Start: 7:00 pm Rich Foss, CEO of Evergreen Leaders and pastoral elder of the Plow Creek Fellowship, will lead a panel discussion on community awareness of disability issues and support for empowering individuals with disabilities to full participation in the larger society. more info
04 / 3 (event) Lincoln Tales Tall and True Start: 10:00 am *A Road Scholar Program by Brian (Fox) Ellis* Tracing his rise from Prairie State rail-splitter to America's favorite president this blend of history and humor will attempt to disentangle the man from the myth. Told from the perspective of Austin Gollaher, a childhood friend of Lincoln who once saved his life, Brian "Fox" Ellis steps into character to allow audiences to step back in time and meet Lincoln during many facets of life, including his childhood, his career as a lawyer, and his presidency. more info (event) The Meaning of Service: 'What I Learned from my Mother and The Lamb and the Pinecone' Start: 12:00 pm Public Allies Chicago AmeriCorps volunteers will discuss 'What I Learned from my Mother and The Lamb and the Pinecone' by Julia Kasdorf and Pablo Neruda *The Meaning of Service (MoS)* is a reading and discussion program for Americorps volunteers featuring discussions that use short philosophical and literary texts on the nature of justice, service, and related themes. *Meaning of Service* presents participants with the opportunity to examine, refine, and regenerate the beliefs underlying their work. more info (event) The incredible shrinking newspaper business Start: 5:00 pm In the last few months, every day brings news of another newspaper's demise or the announcement of drastic cost-cutting measures. Some of the latest: more info (event) Four Boxes and Art Exhibit Start: 7:30 pm Bahram Beyzaie's Four Boxes (Chahaar sanduq, 1979), directed by Farrokh Asadi is a play about how a society manufactures its own dictators. Art by painter, sculptor and actor, Ario Mashayekhi, will be displayed in the theatre lobby. more info

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