Communication Associate Professor of the Practice Michael C. Keith has published the short story collection Slow Transit (Cervena Barva Press, 2017). Keith is the author of the memoir The Next Better Place, as well as the novel Life is Falling Sideways and several short story collections. His fiction has been nominated for several awards, among them the Pen/O. Henry Award, the Pushcart Prize, the National Indie Excellence Award, and the International Book Award. Keith is also the author/coauthor of 30 book volumes and dozens of articles on the subject of radio and broadcast studies.
How to truly love yourself
Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, an internationally noted speaker and writer on Catholic spirituality, will present “How to Truly Love Yourself” on March 15 at 5:30 p.m. in McGuinn Auditorium. Fr. Rolheiser writes a regular column syndicated in nearly 100 newspapers worldwide. He is the author of numerous books, including Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity (Catholic Book Award Book of the Year, 2015); Prayer: Our Deepest Longing; The Passion and the Cross, and The Holy Longing. Fr. Rolheiser is president of Oblate School of Theology in Texas. Sponsors: The Church in the 21st Century Center and the Division of Student Affairs.
Alumnus honored by Writers Guild
Alumnus Brian Retchless (Class of 2007) recently won a 2017 Writers Guild Award, which honors outstanding achievement in writing for film, television, new media, video games, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation. Retchless was honored in the category of On-Air Promotion (Television, New Media or Radio) for the CBS on-air promotion “CBS On-Air Reel.” Watch his acceptance speech.
A Life in Court
A revised edition of BC Law Professor Mark Brodin’s book William P. Homans Jr.: A Life In Court (Vandeplas Press) has been released with a new foreword by Harvard Law Emeritus Professor Alan Dershowitz. Brodin’s book recounts the remarkable legal career and troubled personal life of the iconic Boston criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer. Brodin is Professor of Law, Michael and Helen Lee Distinguished Scholar, and former associate dean for academic affairs at Boston College Law School. More from BC Law.
Psalmody
“Psalmody,” a poem by Associate Professor of Theology Emeritus Father Robert P. Imbelli, has been published in the magazine Commonweal.
Sanctuary and asylum
Author Linda Rabben will present a talk based on her book Sanctuary & Asylum: A Social and Political History on Mar. 2 at noon in Devlin 026. Rabben, an anthropologist, offers a long history of the practice of sanctuary―giving refuge to the threatened, vulnerable stranger. In her book, she analyzes modern asylum policies in North America, Europe, and elsewhere, contrasting them with the role that individuals and organizations have played in offering refuge to survivors of torture, persecution, and discrimination. She gives close attention to the mid-2010s refugee crisis in Europe and to Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States. RSVP required. Sponsor: Center for Human Rights and International Justice.
International adoptions in America
Although international adoption has become a commonplace practice in the United States, many Americans know very little about how or why it began. On Mar. 1 at noon at the Boisi Center, Associate Professor of History Arissa Oh, author of the book, To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption, will examine the rise of international adoption, which began systematically in the aftermath of the Korean War. In her talk, titled “Save the Children: Religion, Politics, and International Adoptions in America,” Oh will discuss the role of religion in U.S. international adoption, both past and present. RSVP required. Sponsor: Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.
The Moor’s Account
Laila Lalami, author of the award-winning book, The Moor’s Account, will speak about her book on Mar. 1 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. The Moor’s Account won the American Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. It was on the Man Booker Prize longlist and was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Lalami also is the author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and Secret Son, which was on the Orange Prize longlist. Her essays and opinion pieces have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Guardian, and The New York Times. She is a professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside. Her visit to BC is made possible by the Gerson Family Lecture Fund, established by John A. and Jean N. Gerson, P’14. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series.
A one percenter takes on inequality
Can we suspend class war long enough to consider a new way forward? Chuck Collins, author of the book Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good, will give a talk on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in McGuinn Auditorium. Born into the “one percent,” Collins gave away his inheritance at 26 and spent the next three decades mobilizing against inequality. In this book, he uses his perspective from both sides of the traditional class warfare divide to look for new, transcendent ways forward. He invites the wealthy to come back home, investing themselves and their wealth in struggling communities. And he asks the non-wealthy to build alliances with the one percent and others at the top of the wealth ladder. A senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, Collins is also co-author of Wealth and Our Commonwealth and The Moral Measure of the Economy, among others. Sponsor: Center for Human Rights and International Justice. RSVP requested.
Post-war Britain
The 2017 Adele Dalsimer Memorial Lecture will be presented by Clair Wills, a leading scholar of 20th-century British and Irish literature and society, on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. in Devlin Hall, Room 101. Her lecture, titled “Digs and Lodging Houses: Literature, Ruins and Survival in Post-War Britain,” will explore the world of post-war British culture and draw in part on the work of Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. Wills is the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Chair of Irish Letters at Princeton University. Included among her most recent publications are: That Neutral Island: A History of Ireland during the Second World War, Dublin 1916: The Siege of the GPO, and The Best Are Leaving: Emigration and Post-War Irish Culture. She is currently writing a cultural history of post-war Britain, told from the perspective of European and Commonwealth immigrants. Her lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Sponsor: Center for Irish Programs.