Dennis Lehane

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Bookworm

worldgonebyThe Lowell Humanities Series and Gerson Family Lecture Fund present an evening with Boston native and award-winning author Dennis Lehane on March 11 beginning at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Lehane is the author of several international best sellers, three of which (Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River and Shutter Island) have been made into major motion pictures. His other books include A Drink Before the War, The Given Day and his newest publication, World Gone By (Harper Collins, 2015). Lehane was a staff writer for HBO’s “The Wire,” and a writer/producer for HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” He recently was interviewed by the Boston Globe.

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Praying our stories

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Bookworm

elizabetheiland2-150x150Alumna Elizabeth Eiland Figueroa, a clinical social worker, has written a post for dotMagis, the blog of IgnatianSpirituality.com. In her post, “Praying Our Stories,” she recalls a course she took her senior at BC which explored God’s presence in the everyday experiences of life and required her to write a spiritual autobiography. After graduation, Figueroa served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest at a community mental health agency. Read all her posts for the dotMagis blog.

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Malone’s trip

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Bookworm

ATripDownRealityLaneAlumnus Ian Thomas Malone is the author of a new book, A Trip Down Reality Lane (Limitless Publishing, 2015). It is about three college friends in Boston who step outside of reality and discover what matters most to them — including that life is not so much about answers as it is about the exploration of the questions. Malone also is the author of Five College Dialogues.

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James Najarian honored

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Bookworm

najarianAssociate Professor of English James Najarian has been honored by the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers with its Stephen J. Meringoff Writing Award in Poetry. A specialist in Romantic and Victorian poetry, Najarian won the award for his poems “Kleptomania,” “From the Armenian Quarter,” and “The Frat Boys.” He will have his poems published in either the association’s journal Literary Imagination or its Literary Matters newsletter. Najarian directs the English Department’s PhD program and edits the scholarly journal Religion and the Arts.  Read more in the Boston College Chronicle. 

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Wikipedia made better

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Bookworm

MariePellissier1Thanks to Boston College senior Marie Pellissier, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia has an informative, well-researched entry on a pioneering woman of the American West, Susan LaFlesche Picotte (1865-1915). For an assignment in Professor of History Marilynn Johnson’s course History of the American West, Pellissier introduced “Wiki” to Picotte, widely considered to be the first Native American woman to become a physician.  Pellissier hopes readers of the article “come away with a sense of just how extraordinary this woman was. I think one of the most interesting things about Picotte is the way she was able to have an impact on, and earn the respect of, both the Omaha nation and the community of whites living around their reservation in Walthill, Nebraska.” Added Johnson: “I’m delighted that Marie’s research has resulted in such a tangible and accessible contribution to historical knowledge on the web. Wikipedia is here to stay, so why not improve it? There are tons of entries on male explorers and military figures in the American West, but not nearly as many on women and Native Americans. Marie’s article gives us both.” Read more at Wiki Education Foundation.

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From the West Wing to the Winston Center

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Bookworm

karenhughes bookCommunication strategist Karen Hughes, worldwide vice chair of Burson-Marsteller, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and former advisor to President George W. Bush, will speak at a Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics event on Feb. 25. She will present “The CEOs of Leadership: Clarity, Example and Optimism,” at 4 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Hughes, who has more than 30 years of public policy, communications and political experience, joined the global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller in 2008. Prior to that she served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs where she led the U.S. State Department’s effort to communicate America’s values abroad. Hughes is author of the memoir Ten Minutes from Normal (Viking).

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Shrayer in new anthology, Tablet

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Bookworm

newdiasporaThe title story of Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies Maxim D. Shrayer’s acclaimed 2009 collection, Yom Kippur in Amsterdam, has been published in a major anthology of Jewish American fiction. The New Diaspora: The Changing Landscape of American Jewish Fiction (Wayne State University Press, 2015) features 36 stories by some of the leading names in contemporary fiction, including Edith Pearlman, Francine Prose, Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander. According to the publisher, the anthology “celebrates the continuing vitality and fresh visions of contemporary Jewish writing, even as it highlights its debt to history and embrace of collective memory.” Shrayer’s story follows Jake Glaz, a young Jewish man baffled by the prospect of intermarriage to a Catholic woman. After realizing neither he nor she will convert, Jake leaves the United States to spend Yom Kippur in Amsterdam, a “beautiful place for a Jew to atone.”  Read more in the Boston College Chronicle | Shrayer also has written a piece for Tablet Magazine, titled “Ahlabustin, or Russians in Punta Cana.”

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Wolfe: reviewed and reviewer

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Bookworm

exileBoston College Professor of Political Science Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, has written a book review for Commonweal magazine. Wolfe’s book, At Home in Exile: Why Diaspora is Good for the Jews (Beacon Press, 2014), is also the subject of a book review in the same issue. Wolfe reviews Herzl’s Vision: Theodor Herzl and the Founding of the Jewish State by Shlomo Avineri.

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Festschrift in honor of Frs. Clifford and Harrington

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Bookworm

festschriftSchool of Theology and Ministry colleagues Fr. Thomas Stegman, SJ, Christopher R. Matthews and Christopher Frechette have edited Biblical Essays in Honor of Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, and Richard J. Clifford, SJ (Paulist Press), a Festschrift  in honor of the late STM Professor of New Testament Daniel Harrington, SJ and STM Founding Dean Richard J. Clifford, SJ, a professor of Old Testament. According to the editors, Biblical Essays not only honors the Jesuit scholars, but also illustrates an important interpretive phenomenon: the use and reuse of Scripture. The volume features essays from 18 scholars with personal and professional connections to the honorees, including the editors and Boston College Theology Professor Pheme Perkins. The book was unveiled at a special event held last month.

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Event postponed

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Bookworm

The talk by Boston College theologian Stephen J. Pope on“A Place for Everyone: Pastoral Challenges to the Family” scheduled for February 16 at 5:30 p.m in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons has been postponed. For more information, contact the Church in the 21st Century Center.

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