For love of the game

sportbookIn his new book, Sport: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2014), Boston College-Ireland Academic Director Mike Cronin charts the history of sport, from its traditional origins in folk football and cock fighting to its position as a global phenomenon today. Looking at a variety of sports from team games such as rugby and football to games for individuals such as golf and skiing, he considers how these first emerged and captivated the interest of ordinary people, and how sport has been transformed within our daily lives. He also recently wrote a blog post on the issue of sexual violence in sport.

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Having a Heart for God

having a heartBoston College alumna Tracy Baumer Fox, a certified life coach, is the author of a new devotional for busy Christians seeking to be inspired by God’s word while also learning about the Bible. Fox is the founder of Having a Heart for God, a company to dedicated to educating people about Biblical principles and strategies that can be used to live a successful, happy, productive and meaningful life. She created the One Minute Bible Study — an emailed devotional containing a Scripture reading, explanation/application, reflection question, and a relevant quote from a prominent source. She has compiled the best of these offerings in her new book, Having a Heart for God Devotional: 365 Days of the One Minute Bible Study.

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Wide Awake and Dreaming

wideawakeBoston College Law School alumna and author Julie Flygare was  diagnosed at age 24 with narcolepsy with cataplexy, a serious neurological disorder of the sleep/wake cycle that is often misunderstood and underdiagnosed. She has gone on to create Project Sleep, a non-profit raising awareness about sleep health & sleep disorders, and serve as a leading narcolepsy spokesperson and advocate. She recently blogged for Huffington Post about her experience and the need for more attention for sleep disorders. Her memoir, Wide Awake and Dreaming, was honored at the San Francisco Book Festival with a first place award in the category of autobiography/biography.  Video

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Book prize for Levenson

adiosCongratulations to Professor of History Deborah Levenson who was awarded the New England Council of Latin American Studies’ Marysa Navarro Best Book Prize for her publication Adiós Niño: The Gangs of Guatemala City and the Politics of Death (Duke University Press, 2013). The citation reads, in part: “Without shirking from addressing the truly horrible crimes committed by the gangs, [Deborah Levenson] shows the economic, political, and social conditions that fomented them and continue to incubate future gang members. Using interviews, conversations, and oral histories, she provides an empathic portrait of gang members, their families, and friends to present a nuanced understanding of Guatemala City life inside and outside of gang life. What makes Levenson’s book so convincing and her so successful at describing gang members and their lives is the way she sews them together with her own personal experiences.”

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Conflict Bodies

conflict bodiesRégine Michelle Jean-Charles, an assistant professor in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department who also teaches in the African and African Diaspora Studies Program, will talk about her new book Conflict Bodies: The Politics of Rape Representation in the Francophone Imaginary (The Ohio State University Press, 2014) on Nov. 20. Her talk, which will be held at 4:30 p.m. in Devlin Hall 101, will focus on the visual texts–documentary film and photography–in her book as examples of how cultural production plays a role in rape representation. Jean-Charles talks about her book in this video from BC Libraries. Sponsor: African and African Diaspora Studies.

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Journalism—The First Draft of History?

horganJohn Horgan, the Burns Library Visiting Scholar, will give a public lecture Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. on “Journalism—The First Draft of History?” Typically treated by historians as a secondary source—and not necessarily a reliable one—journalism is now being studied in its own right as an essential component of social and cultural history in the widest sense. A former writer and editor for the Irish Times, Horgan is the author of a number of acclaimed political biographies, including studies of Mary Robinson, Sean Lemass and Noel Browne. He was elected to the Irish Senate and later to the Dáil and European Parliament. He was a professor of journalism at Dublin City University from 1983 to 2006. The following year he was appointed Ireland’s first Press Ombudsman. He is teaching a course at Boston College on the politics of constitutional change in Ireland from 1922-2013. His lecture will be held in the Thompson Room of the Burns Library. A Q&A with Horgan was recently published in the Boston College Chronicle.

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The Birth of Korean Cool

korean coolAuthor Euny Hong will speak about her new book, The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture (Picador, 2014)on November 17 at 7:15 p.m. in Stokes S461. A journalist who grew up in Chicago and Seoul, Hong delves into the world of contemporary Korean music, TV dramas, film, and video games.  Through interviews and research she explores the Korean government’s carefully orchestrated plan to become the world’s #1 exporter of popular culture. A book signing will take place after her talk.  New York Times book review | Sponsor: Asian Studies Program

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The Colorization of America

whowebeJeff Chang, author of the book Who We Be: The Colorization of America (St. Martin’s Press, 2014), will speak at Boston College on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 101. In Who We Be, Chang examines the cultural transformation of the U.S. over the last three decades.  He is also the author of the award-winning book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop. Chang was editor of Total Chaos, an anthology examining the influence of hip-hop culture into other art forms.  He has written for The Nation, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, VIBE, and The L.A. Review of Books. He recently was interviewed by Huffington Post about his new book. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series

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Book on Baden photography

two bodiesFine Arts Assistant Professor of the Practice Karl Baden has published Work from Two Bodies, a book of photography that reproduces 43 images from two of his projects: Cliché-Verre and Shadow Pictures, 1983-84, and Sex, Death and the History of Photography, 1988-89. Both these series were produced before the age of Photoshop, when Baden’s working methods involved photo-manipulation and montage. Utilizing ‘wet darkroom’ multiple printing techniques and drawing on the negative itself, Cliché-Verre and Shadow Pictures explores photographic space, semiotics and the visual doppelgänger, or double. Sex, Death and the History of Photography references clichés in the history of the medium through conflict and gender-based stereotypes. Work from Two Bodies also includes a wide-ranging interview with Baden, concerning the contextual, technical and psychological aspects of his imagery.

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Economist Julianne Malveaux

julianneBoston College alumna and Bennett College President Emerita Julianne Malveaux, an economist, columnist, and commentator, will present “Economics and Race: Perspectives on Our Nation’s Future” on Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. in the Heights Room of Corcoran CommonsMalveaux’s talk will touch upon the social and financial underpinnings shaping America in the 21st century. She is the co-author of Unfinished Business: The 10 Most Important Issues Women Face Today and the author of Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic HistoryShe has been published in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence, and the Progressive. Her syndicated column appeared for more than a decade in newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Observer, New Orleans Tribune, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Examiner. She has appeared as a commentator on CNN, BET, PBS, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and C-SPAN, among others. Her essays have been collected and published in the books, Wall Street, Main Street and the Side Street: A Mad Economist Takes a Stroll and Sex Lies and Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist. Sponsor: Student Affairs Division

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