WHAT: “Jewish Studies Workshop — Ritual Murder in a Russian Border Town,” Eugene Avrutin, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Illinois
WHEN: Tuesday, August 30 @ 4 p.m.
WHERE: 109 English Building (608 S. Wright St., Urbana)
This promises to be bizarre and haunting. Read the text of Prof. Avrutin’s presentation here (word doc), excerpted below:
After receiving alms, Kharitina gossiped with her neighbor in his courtyard for nearly two hours until Avdotia had come to look for her. To Kharitina’s surprise, Avdotia was without her cousin. “Where is Fedor?” Kharitina inquired immediately. Avdot’ia replied that she had left Fedor standing alone on the bridge and had not seen him since. Wasting little time, Kharitina took Avdot’ia to look for the little boy, but try as they did, the search proved unsuccessful. That afternoon, Emel’ian and Agaf’ia searched the town for their son, but they too were unable to locate him.
WHAT: SPEAK Cafe
WHEN: Thursday, September 1 @ 7 p.m.
WHERE: Palette Cafe (within Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody, Champaign)
The spoken-word series returns. This sessions theme is: Race, Roots and Resistance: Revisiting the Black Power Movement.
WHAT: “The Characterization and Preservation of Waterlogged Wood in Historical Shipwrecks,” Ms. Sarah Dowd, UIUC
WHEN: Friday, September 2 @ 4 p.m.
WHERE: 116 Roger Adams Laboratory (600 S. Mathews, Urbana)
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.