An Evening with Alice Kaplan

Many thanks to author Alice Kaplan for her presentation “Dreaming in French”. Her talk painted the portrait of youthful American women, even today, encountering Paris for the first time. The encounter always had the same effect – a more mature, slightly more sophisticated, more thoughtful woman returned to the states. That’s certainly what happened for the three women in Kaplan’s book Dreaming in French – Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis. Kaplan described the Paris of the three consecutive decades in which these women came to know post-war Paris.

Today, Kaplan noted, is such a different time when friends can meet over the Internet or stay in touch through Skype. She wondered how will the “shrinking” of the world continue to affect these visits, these encounters in the future. Perhaps our differences won’t be so great or our conversations not so strained. She will continue to listen to the stories of her young college students as they return from their study-abroad time for those small signs of change.

 

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• Jackie Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis walk into a brasserie . . . (chicagoreader.com)

Dreaming in French

An Evening with Alice Kaplan

Wednesday
May 22, 2013
6:00 pm

Blackstone Branch Library
4904 S. Lake Park Ave.
In the Auditorium

Dreaming in French highlights the formative power of life in Paris in the lives of three American icons – Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis. Their brief but powerful encounters with French intellectual life in their early years served to shape their later callings in life – politically, culturally, and intellectually.  Join author Alice Kaplan to explore this French influence on American history.

Alice Kaplan is the John M. Musser Professor of French at Yale University. An award-winning author, her works include French Lessons, The Interpreter, and The Collaborator which won the LA Times Book Award.

Juvenile Justice – Restoring the Balance

Great evening with the Mansfield Institute at Blackstone Library last night. Beginning with an overview of restorative justice and its practices, Nancy Michaels, Associate Director at the Institute, described the variety of places restorative justice practices are used including the work place, the criminal justice system, and schools. We formed our own circle (you missed passing the frog if you weren’t there!) and experienced how the circle precipitates open dialogue as well as concentrated “listening” moments. And we learned about how their involvement in one public school is improving its  school climate.

For more information about the Institute or restorative justice, check out the links under Juvenile Justice on the right hand side of our blog.

Restorative Justice at Work: Reducing Violence at Chicago's Fenger High School

Reblogged from The Socially Responsible Practitioner:

"The Fenger case shows that restorative justice practices can be real, tangible vehicles for making city schools better by offering a pathway to peace for students willing to learn. It's our job to remember there are students all over urban America waiting for their chance to play a bigger role in their surroundings."

Clinical/community psychologist Elena Quintana, Ph.D., Executive Director of the…

Read more… 447 more words

 

Juvenile Justice -
Restoring the Balance

 
 March 27, 2013 • Wednesday • 6 pm

School suspensions and expulsions are at an all-time high. But do they really make schools any safer? And these measures disproportionately impact students of color, students with disabilities, and other historically disenfranchised youth.

The Mansfield Institute of Social Justice is studying restorative justice practices as an alternative. They are working in two Chicago Public Schools to create a climate that is healthy, restorative, and empowering. Join us for a look at restorative justice methods and experience the power of the peace circle.

Co-sponsored by the Mansfield Institute of Social Justice and Transformation at Roosevelt University

Designing Community -
Washington Park: Garden City

featuring
architect and urban planner Marshall Brown

February 27, 2013 • Wednesday • 6 pm

Where most people see vacant land in the Washington Park neighborhood, architect and urban planner Marshall Brown sees open spaces ready for the enjoyment of its residents. Join us for a conversation with this visionary about new possibilities in this historic space.

Brown, an Assistant Professor at IIT and graduate of Harvard University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, has lectured as part of “The City of the Future” at the Chicago Humanities Festival and “Visionary Cities: Urban and Architectural Futures” at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Co-sponsored by Civic Knowledge Project, University of Chicago

You Were Never in Chicago

 Wednesday
January 23, 2013
 6:00 pm
 Blackstone Branch Library
4904 S. Lake Park Ave.

Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg is no stranger to controversy. But he remains fascinated by the stir caused by A.J. Liebling’s dubbing of Chicago as “the Second City” in 1952. In this new release, You Were Never in Chicago, Steinberg examines his own encounters with the city, first as a young student at Northwestern’s School of Journalism and later as an established writer.

Join us as we view the city through the eyes of the movers and shakers that shape this city we call home.

 

57^th Street Books will have books onsite for sale