1 NOVEMBER  |  5 PM
Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth
KRISTIN HENNING is the author of Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth; the Blume Professor of Law; and director, Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative, Georgetown Law. This discussion is moderated by Daniel Harawa, associate professor and director at the Appellate Clinic of WashULaw. Washington University School of Law Public Interest Law & Policy Speaker Series.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

2 NOVEMBER  |  8 AM
Kusimama Collaboratives: A Community-Based Approach to Development
Joining directly from Kampala, Uganda, Alaso Olivia, Lubega Wendy and Kelsey Nielsen will discuss No White Saviors, an advocacy campaign working toward anti-racist and more equitable development and aid work. They will also present on the Kusimama Collaborative as an example of local, community-run development work happening in Uganda. Department of Global Studies.
VIRTUAL

2 NOVEMBER  |  4 PM
The Gastronomic Revolution and Other Stories of Race and Coloniality in Peru
MARÍA ELENA GARCÍA is associate professor in the Comparative History of Ideas at the University of Washington in Seattle. A Peruvian woman of Quechua ancestry, García earned her PhD in anthropology at Brown University and has been a Mellon Fellow at Wesleyan University and Tufts University. Her first book, Making Indigenous Citizens: Identities, Development, and Multicultural Activism in Peru, examined Indigenous and intercultural politics in Peru in the immediate aftermath of the war between Sendero Luminoso and the state. Her second book, Gastropolitics and the Specter of Race: Stories of Capital, Culture, and Coloniality in Peru, examines the intersections of race, species and capital in contemporary Peru. Department of Anthropology.
IN PERSON: Washington University, McMillan Hall, G052
VIRTUAL - RSVP

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2 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
In Conversation: Colonizing the Past: Constructing Race in Ancient Greece and Rome
KATHRYN WILSON, senior lecturer in the Department of Classics; and Claudia Swan, the Mark Steinberg Weil Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History & Archaeology; will be in conversation with Margo Hendricks, professor emerita in the Department of Literature at University of California, Santa Cruz. This panel explores critical issues raised by the fall 2021 Teaching Gallery exhibition, Colonizing the Past: Constructing Race in Ancient Greece and Rome. How have modern ideas on race influenced the interpretation and representation of racialized identities across different cultures, geographies and religions in classical antiquity? How do narratives of whiteness influence contemporary understandings of ancient Greece and Rome? Kemper Art Museum.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Kemper Art Museum, Steinberg Auditorium

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3 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
David Schuman & JoAnna Novak Reading & Signing
DAVID SCHUMAN’S prose chapbook Best Men simmers with questions about why people act the way they do at weddings. Over the course of five stories, Schuman introduces a diverse cast of unconventional “best men” who find themselves swept up in events beyond their control. At once surprising and suspenseful, Best Men upends popular notions of wedding ceremonies, while also demonstrating the packed power of shorter stories. Schuman, senior lecturer in the Department of English, directs the writing program at Washington University. JoAnna Novak’s short story collection, Meaningful Work, won the 2020 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest. Her third book of poetry, New Life, was published in October. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, New York Times, Washington Post and The Atlantic. She is a co-founder of the literary journal and chapbook publisher, Tammy.
IN PERSON: Subterranean Books, 6271 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 63130

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4 NOVEMBER  |  12:30 PM
Advocacy & Allyship: Establishing a Racial Equity Framework that Goes Beyond HR
RACHEL DELCAU, MSW ’12 is the chief community impact officer at Heart of Missouri United Way, and La Toya Stevens is the marketing & communications director at Heart of Missouri United Way. Everyone in an organization contributes to its culture, which makes equity and inclusion everyone’s responsibility. This conversation will focus on steps to establish a racial equity framework in your organization, how to identify inequities within your organization and empowering colleagues to constructively advocate for people with marginalized identities. While we will center the experience of Black people in the workplace, the ideas shared will also apply to other groups and to an intersectional understanding of equity. Open Classroom, Brown School.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

4 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
From Imperial Envoys to Legation Ministers: Diplomatic Communications in the Late Qing
JENNY HUANGFU DAY, associate professor of history at Skidmore College, traces the evolution in diplomatic communications from the late Qing to the early Republic and unpacks how new views of the foreign were shaped by new genres, new media and new bureaucratic structures. In the Qing, the diary-form for intelligence gathering was perfected by the Manchu official Tulisen, whose travelogue to Central Asia allowed the Kangxi emperor’s “imperial eyes” to assume vicarious witness to that heroic journey. Prior to China’s stationing of resident ministers abroad in 1876, envoy journals similar to Tulisen’s were commonly used for information gathering. In the next three decades, the genre of envoy communication became a fertile field for trials and experimentations, as Qing diplomats adapted their methods of communication to the changing needs of the state and new media and information technology. When the Qing dynasty established China’s first bureau of foreign affairs (waiwubu) in 1901, the modern-style “foreign office” required radically new genres for diplomatic communication, which prioritized systemization, standardization, and the elimination of subjective experience. Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

5–20 NOVEMBER
The Divided City Film Series, St. Louis International Film Festival
The Divided City program focuses on the racial divide in St. Louis and other U.S. cities, and offers an international perspective by highlighting racial and ethnic divides in cities elsewhere. The program of 10 films is supported by The Divided City: An Urban Humanities Initiative, an initiative of Washington University’s Center for the Humanities that addresses one of the most persistent and vexing issues in urban studies: segregation. See website for full list of events. Cinema St. Louis and the Divided City Initiative, Center for the Humanities.
Fri., Nov. 5, 7:30 pm: Target: St. Louis Vol. 1 screening and discussion with director Damien D. Smith and subjects
Sat., Nov., 6, 2 pm: The Kinloch Doc screening and discussion with director Alana Marie
Sat., Nov. 6, 4:30 pm: Ferguson Rises screening and discussion with director Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, producer Tanayi Seabrook and subject Michael Brown Sr.
IN PERSON & VIRTUAL: See website

5 NOVEMBER  |  3 PM
Sports & Society Reading Group: Collegiate Athletic Labor
The Sports & Society Reading Group is pleased to welcome esteemed sports scholars Roger Noll and Victoria Jackson for a discussion of collegiate athletic labor, amateurism, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights, and the future of the NCAA. Noll is professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow and member of the Advisory Board at the American Antitrust Institute. Jackson is a sports historian and clinical assistant professor of history at Arizona State University. American Culture Studies.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

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8 NOVEMBER  |  6:30 PM
The Band’s Visit Screening & Discussion
EYAL TAMIR, lecturer of Hebrew studies in the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies, Washington University, will lead a discussion of the film. In this delightfully offbeat story, set in a town way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. Even the briefest visit can stay with you forever. With a score that seduces your soul and sweeps you off your feet, and featuring Tony-winning performances and thrillingly talented onstage musicians, The Band’s Visit rejoices in the way music makes us laugh, makes us cry and, ultimately, brings us together. Fall 2021 Middle East-North Africa Film Series Film Series, Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Hillman Hall, Room 60

 

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8 NOVEMBER  |  12 PM
Geometry problems: Future military interventions in the undivided African city
DANNY HOFFMAN is the Bartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. An anthropologist and photojournalist by training, he is the author of two books on conflict and its aftermath in West Africa. What is an African city to a soldier? The answer to this deceptively simple question will profoundly impact the lives of millions of people in the coming decades. For much of the global military establishment, Africa’s urban spaces are becoming a problem at precisely the moment that security discourse is shifting from counterinsurgency to climate change and conventional peer-to-peer warfare. What might recent events signal about the future direction of both foreign and domestic military engagements in African cities – and the consequences for those who live there? Extreme forms of segregation were the heart of colonial and postcolonial security measures in African cities. Is a different spatial order emerging for the continent’s urban battlespaces? City Seminar 2021. The Divided City, Center for the Humanities.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Umrath Lounge

9 NOVEMBER  |  5:30 PM
A Chinese Confucianist’s Philosophy: Interpreting the Ink Rubbings of the Wu Liang Shrine Stone Engravings
YUTONG MA, a master’s student in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, will explore ink rubbings of original stone engravings from the Wu Family Ancestral Shrine in Shandong province, China. The ink rubbings, an ancient technique to reproduce and study carved stone surfaces, present a narrative of Chinese history until the second century CE and provide insight into Wu Liang’s philosophy as a Confucianist scholar. The talk will situate scenes depicted in five ink rubbings from the Kemper Art Museum’s collection within the architectural space of the Wu Liang Shrine and the sociopolitical context of China during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). Kemper Art Museum.
VIRTUAL

9 NOVEMBER  |  8 PM
Craft Lecture with Visiting Hurst Professor Jerald Walker
Along with the memoirs Street Shadows and The World in Flames, Jerald Walker is the author of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Nonfiction. His work has appeared in publications such as The Harvard Review, Creative Nonfiction, The Iowa Review and Mother Jones, and it has been widely anthologized, including five times in The Best American Essays series. A recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and winner of the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award for Nonfiction, Walker is a professor of creative writing and African American literature at Emerson College.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

10 NOVEMBER  |  5 PM
Jewish Physicians and Their Patients: Rescue Strategies in Nazi Occupied Poland
The relationships between Jewish physicians, non-Jewish medical professionals and patients offer a window into rescue efforts in Nazi-occupied Poland. Jewish testimonies, diaries, memoirs and witness statements in postwar trials tell a story of how communities came together to organize hiding places and aid for Jewish doctors who were threatened by violence and murder. In this lecture, Natalia Aleksiun, professor of Modern Jewish History at Touro College and the incoming Harry Rich Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida-Gainesville, will discuss how pre-existing professional relationships, a sense of gratitude for medical services rendered in the past and an ongoing need for Jewish physicians’ expertise laid the foundation for a network of support that allowed Jewish physicians to continue to work in the face of the Holocaust and — in the case of some — survive. Washington University Holocaust Memorial Lecture 2021.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

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10 NOVEMBER  |  7:30 PM
Matvei Yankelevich
MATVEI YANKELEVICH — poet, translator and co-founder of the publishing collective Ugly Duckling Presse — will discuss his new chapbook, From a Winter Notebook, and his recent translations of the poetry of Osip Mandelstam. Yankelevich will be joined in discussion with Anca Roncea, a PhD student in comparative literature in the track for international writers. International Writers Series, University Libraries.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

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11 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
The Counterfactual Chorus: Euripides’ Andromache 274-308
SARAH OLSEN is assistant professor of classics at Williams College, Massachusetts. The second choral ode of Euripides’ Andromache poses a provocative question: What if the Trojan War had never happened? Drawing from work on queer temporality and counterfactual form, Olsen will explore how this ode revisits and revises the epic past in order to imagine an alternative future. She will suggest that the performative role of the dramatic chorus makes it particularly well-suited to the articulation of possibilities and paths foreclosed by the dominant narratives of tragedy.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Umrath Hall, Room 140

11 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Gods and Things in Four Asian Places
LAUREL KENDALL is the curator of Asian Ethnographic Collections at the American Museum of Natural History and senior research scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. In many popular religious traditions, gods/spirits/energies become visible through their material realization in the corporeal bodies of shamans and spirit mediums and via ensouled statues, paintings and masks. In Hindu and Buddhist worlds, such objects are produced in commercial workshops where knowing craftsmanship entangles (what we commonly call) technique with what we might (more cautiously) call magic to produce an efficacious or agentive image. In Korean shaman practice and among spirit mediums in Vietnam, Myanmar and Bali, these statues, masks and paintings are intended to facilitate the presence of otherwise unseen entities in ritual settings. This presentation describes a comparative project that became Kendall’s recently published book, Mediums and Magical Things. It considers the fabrication and use of empowered images among shamans in Korea and spirit mediums Vietnam, Myanmar and Bali. As a work of comparison, the discussion reveals how questions derived from ethnographic encounters in one place may yield surprising answers in another. Fifth Annual Robert Morrell Memorial Lecture in Asian Religions, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

11 NOVEMBER  |  8 PM
Reading by Visiting Hurst Professor Jerald Walker
Along with the memoirs Street Shadows and The World in Flames, Jerald Walker is the author of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Nonfiction. His work has appeared in publications such as The Harvard Review, Creative Nonfiction, The Iowa Review and Mother Jones, and it has been widely anthologized, including five times in The Best American Essays series. A recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and winner of the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award for Nonfiction, Walker is a professor of creative writing and African American literature at Emerson College.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

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12 NOVEMBER  |  1 PM
‘Going Viral’ at the End of the Anthropocene
JULIA A. WALKER, associate professor of English, Department of English, Washington University. This talk draws from the epilogue to Walker’s new book, Performance and Modernity: Enacting Change on the Globalizing Stage (Cambridge University Press, 2021). In it, she extends the implications of the book’s historical argument to our own moment, using its core methodology to consider digital performance in the 21st century. As the book demonstrates, performance is more than just a medium through which other art forms find expression. Rather, it is a medium in its own right, giving shape to new ideas that assume an embodied gestalt before entering into consciousness and language. Where the book’s previous five chapters map historical styles of stage performance against the economic, industrial, political, social and psychological changes of modernity, the epilogue examines the current shift from human to animatronic performers in film and networked media with the introduction of the computer. Concluding with a meditation on the contemporary ambition to “go viral,” it suggests that in the pixelated form of computer-generated imaging is an emerging concept of self for the 21st century. Inscribed in this new performance form, she suggests, is yet more evidence for the ways we seek to comprehend and adapt to changes in our ever-modernizing world.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Hurst Lounge

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12 NOVEMBER  |  4 PM
Overload: Switchboard Automation and the Disability History of 0s and 1s
MARA MILLS is an associate professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University. This talk considers the early history of digital labor and automation through a focus on the telephone switchboard. Labor historians suggest that operator management issues as much as technical innovation drove switchboard automation after 1913, when the Bell Telephone System consolidated its power as a legally sanctioned monopoly. Thinking alongside Frantz Fanon’s mid-century insights about telephone operators, surveillance capitalism and overwork, this talk will highlight workers’ compensation for “disability” in New York and in the Bell System as an overlooked cost and management factor in early automation. Performing Arts Department.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Umrath Hall, Room 140

12 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Informal Cities Workshop Kickoff Lecture: Chelina Odbert
CHELINA ODBERT is the co-founder and executive director of the community development and design nonprofit Kounkuey Design Initiative. The annual Informal Cities Workshop provides students with an intensive, hands-on opportunity to grapple with frictions and interconnections that exist between the informal and the formal aspects of the city. It consists of a keynote lecture, which is free and open to the public, followed by a one-credit, weekend-long design charrette. The Divided City Initiative, Center for the Humanities.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Steinberg Hall, Auditorium

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15–18 NOVEMBER 2021
Humanities Lecture Series
The 2021 Humanities Lecture Series will feature three talks by Ian Bogost, the noted media studies scholar, game designer, and WashU faculty member. These talks will explore the theory and concepts of play and games and discuss “How to Live Playfully.”
Mon., Nov. 15, 4 pm: “A Theory of Play”
Wed., Nov. 17, 4 pm: “Think Inside the Box”
Thurs., Nov. 8, 5:45 pm: “How to Live Playfully” (reception begins at 5 pm)
Bogost is internationally recognized for his writing on video games and media studies. He is the author of 10 books, most recently Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games, and is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. His research approaches media studies from the perspective of both a critic and a practitioner. While in graduate school, Bogost also worked for tech companies in the digital media space. After completing his doctorate in comparative literature at UCLA in 2004, he joined the faculty at Georgia Tech, where he held appointments in media studies, interactive computing, business and architecture. He recently joined Washington University, where he holds a joint professorship with the School of Engineering and Arts & Sciences and is the director of the Film and Media Studies program. Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Women’s Building Formal Lounge

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16 NOVEMBER  |  4 PM
Reading in Time: On the Question of Palestine
SHERENE SEIKALY is an associate professor of history and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Seikaly will discuss how practices of reading and writing intersect with history, family and the question of Palestine. Seikaly’s Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine explores how Palestinian capitalists and British colonial officials used economy to shape territory, nationalism, the home and the body. Her forthcoming book, From Baltimore to Beirut: On the Question of Palestine, focuses on a Palestinian man who was at once a colonial officer and a colonized subject, a slaveholder and a refugee. His trajectory from 19th-century mobility across Baltimore and Sudan to 20th-century immobility in Lebanon places the question of Palestine in a global history of race, capital, slavery and dispossession. Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

16 NOVEMBER  |  4 PM — CANCELED
Ways of Learning: An Apprentice Boatbuilder in Japan
DOUGLAS BROOKS, a Vermont-based boatbuilder has been studying traditional Japanese boatbuilding for over 25 years. Since 1996 he has worked with six boatbuilders, and he is the sole apprentice for each of his teachers. Brooks’ research involves recording his teachers’ design secrets and techniques before they are lost. His latest book, Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding, is the first comprehensive study of the craft. In this lecture Brooks will discuss the crucial role of the apprentice system nurturing Japanese crafts and the threat posed by the absence of a new generation of apprentices. He will describe the roles and responsibility of the apprentice faced with the unorthodox teaching styles of his masters. He will describe his efforts to document and preserve this craft through articles, books and workshops, and he will discuss the future for this craft in a country at the forefront of modernization and change. His talk is a lesson in craft, learning, and boatbuilding, and includes his photographs of traditional boats from throughout Japan. Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Busch Hall, Room 18 (canceled due to family emergency)

18–19 NOVEMBER
Portrait, number 1 man (day clean ta sun down) by Sheldon Scott
The Outwin artist Sheldon Scott performs Portrait, number 1 man (day clean ta sun down). The artist will hull and winnow grains of rice from sunrise to sunset for two days, recalling the labor of and cruel conditions experienced by enslaved people in coastal regions of the pre–Civil War South. Kemper Art Museum.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Kemper Art Museum, Saligman Family Atrium

18–21 NOVEMBER
The Science of Leaving Omaha
Iris is working the night shift at the Belladonna Funeral Home when Baker breaks in to say farewell to his wife, who recently died in a bungled robbery. As they sort through the comedic rubble of their young lives, they discover a mutual yearning to escape. Will they make a run for it before they lose their last chance to leave Omaha behind? By Carter Lewis; originally commissioned and produced by the Performing Arts Department, Washington University. Directed by Andrea Urice, teaching professor of performing arts, Washington University. Performing Arts Department.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Mallinckrodt Center, A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre

18 NOVEMBER  |  5 PM
Environmental Objects and (Post)Industrial Sentiments
WEIJIE SONG is an associate professor of Chinese at Rutgers University. This lecture aims at examining the genealogy of smokestack objects and associated affective attachments evidenced in diversified genres, works and movements from modernist observations to environmentalist interpretations, from literary imagination to cinematic representations, and from (post)socialist manifestations to ecocritical reflections. Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

18 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Greco-Roman Roots of Modern Scientific Racism and White Supremacism
REBECCA FUTO KENNEDY is an associate professor of classics, women’s and gender studies, and environmental studies at Denison University and the director of the Denison Museum. Her research interests include the intellectual, political and social history of Classical Athens, Athenian tragedy and identity formation (both gender/sexuality and race/ethnicity), and immigration in the ancient world. She is the author most recently of Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City and editor of the Handbook to Identity and the Environment in the Classical and Medieval Worlds with M. Jones-Lewis. Department of Classics.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

18 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Grizzly Man
Our final screening in this semester’s film series sheds some light on Werner Herzog’s later turn to documentary filmmaking: Grizzly Man. In it, Herzog chronicles the life of self-proclaimed bear expert Timothy Treadwell. Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

19 NOVEMBER  |  1 PM
En o musubi: Eternal ties and missed connections in the animation of Makoto Shinkai
CHRISTOPHER A. BORN, assistant professor, Japanese and Asian studies, Belmont University. The third-highest grossing animated film of all time, Your Name (Kimi no na wa, 2017), is a powerful romance that depicts young Japanese people in extraordinary circumstances as they navigate space and time to forestall a mysterious cataclysm. Frustrated with her life, a teenaged shrine maiden wishes she could be reborn as a boy in Tokyo. Her wish being granted, she awakens in Tokyo, and finds herself inhabiting the body of a teenage boy. Likewise, the boy awakens at a remote shrine, stunned to be in female form. Over time, the two switch in and out of each other’s bodies. As they learn about each other’s life and coach each other through notes left on smart phones, they recognize that they are tied together in cosmic ways that neither had imagined. Punctuated with the rhythms of rail-transit and electronic communication, coupled with rich Shinto and Buddhist ideas of fate and community and the difficulty of locating the self within them, Your Name deftly bridges the fantastic, the mundane, the sublime. Considering the development of his oeuvre from 2002 to 2019, this presentation examines how the films of director Makoto Shinkai (b. 1973) weave together visual narratives that express regret for missed connections, longing for enduring ties and the agency to create them.
IN PERSON: Washington University, Busch Hall, Room 202

20 NOVEMBER  |  11 AM
Artist Talk with Sheldon Scott
The Outwin artist Sheldon Scott speaks with Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, the Bicentennial Term Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, about his performance Portrait, number 1 man (day clean ta sun down), in which Scott uses his own body to create a portrait of his ancestors.Kemper Art Museum.
VIRTUAL

30 NOVEMBER  |  4 PM
Celebrating Josephine Baker
Please join us in Graham Chapel for a celebration of St. Louis-born Josephine Baker: performing artist, fashion icon, Resistance hero, adoptive mother to a “Rainbow Tribe” of twelve children from different countries, speaker at the 1963 March on Washington – and now, the first woman of color to be entombed as a French national hero in the Panthéon. Special guests including St. Louis mayor Tishaura Jones, Washington University chancellor Andrew Martin, general consul of France Yannick Tagand and fifth-graders from the French Immersion School will help our panel of artists, performers and scholars pay tribute to the incomparable Josephine Baker. 
IN PERSON: Washington University, Graham Chapel

1 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Andrea Elliott, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City (Author Talk)
ANDREA ELLIOT in conversation with Chris Krehmeyer, president/CEO of Beyond Housing. Drawing on nearly a decade of reporting, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Andrea Elliott tells the unforgettable story of Dasani Coates, a homeless girl whose indomitable spirit is tested by poverty and racism in an unequal America. Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her family, tracing the passage of their ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, she must guide her siblings through a city riddled by hunger, violence, drug addiction, homelessness and the monitoring of child protection services. By turns heartbreaking and inspiring, Invisible Child illuminates some of the most critical issues in America through the life of one remarkable girl. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL

2 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Heather Clark, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath (Author Talk)
With a wealth of never-before-accessed materials, literary historian Heather Clark brings to life the brilliant Sylvia Plath. A finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Red Comet focuses on Plath’s remarkable literary and intellectual achievements, while thoroughly exploring Plath’s life, including her troubles with an unenlightened mental health industry and her thunderclap meeting with Ted Hughes. Along with illuminating readings of the poems themselves, Clark’s meticulous, compassionate research brings us closer than ever to the spirited woman and visionary artist who blazed a trail for women poets the world over. St. Louis County Library, HEC Media, and Left Bank Books.
VIRTUAL

2 NOVEMBER  |  7:30 PM
Ash Davidson, Damnation Spring (Author Talk)
ASH DAVIDSON will be in conversation with Ron Charles, a book critic for The Washington Post Book World. Damnation Spring is a novel about love, work and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future. Colleen and Rich Gundersen are raising their young son, Chub, on the rugged California coast. It’s 1977, and life in this Pacific Northwest logging town isn’t what it used to be. For generations, the community has lived and breathed timber; now that way of life is threatened. Colleen is an amateur midwife. Rich is a tree-topper. It’s a dangerous job that requires him to scale trees hundreds of feet tall, a job that both his father and grandfather died doing. Colleen and Rich want a better life for their son, and they take steps to assure their future. Rich secretly spends their savings on a swath of ancient Redwoods. Colleen, desperate to have a second baby, challenges the logging company’s use of herbicides that she believes are responsible for the many miscarriages in the community, including her own. Colleen and Rich find themselves on opposite sides of a budding conflict that threatens the very thing they are trying to protect: their family. Donor registration required. Left Bank Books.
VIRTUAL

3–17 NOVEMBER  
Missouri: 1821–2221
To help celebrate Missouri’s bicentennial this year, University City Public Library presents Missouri: 1821–2221, a series of online events that will explore Missouri’s past, present and future through an environmental justice lens. The three-week series will be led by Leah Clyburn, senior training representative with the Sierra Club and co-author of the incisive 2019 report Environmental Racism in St. Louis. To register for the Zoom link, please email reference@ucitylibrary.org. University City Public Library.
Wed., Nov. 3, 7 pm: What is Environmental Justice and Its History in the Midwest? This program will cover the history of environmental justice in Missouri and create a foundation for the second and third programs.
Wed., Nov. 10, 7 pm: Environmental Justice and Our Everyday Lives will focus on community-organized efforts to address environmental racism in St. Louis and across Missouri.
Wed., Nov. 17, 7 pm: Environmental Justice and What We Can Do About It will focus on how environmental justice will shape the future of Missouri VIRTUAL - RSVP

3 NOVEMBER  |  2 PM
Reconstructing the Nation: Frederick Douglass and Grant
Examine the relationship of Fredrick Douglass and Ulysses S. Grant, and how the two men worked together on a little-known but failed project to annex Santo Domingo (the Dominican Republic today) as a U.S. state. National Park Service.
VIRTUAL – RSVP

3 NOVEMBER  |  7:30 PM
Gene Kwak, Go Home, Ricky! (Author Talk)
GENE KWAK will be in conversation with authors Alex Higley and Lindsay Hunter. After seven years on the semi-pro wrestling circuit, Ricky Twohatchet, a.k.a. Richard Powell, needs one last match before he gets called up to the big leagues. Unlike some wrestlers who only play the stereotype, Ricky believes he comes by his persona honestly — he’s half white and half Native American — even if he’s never met his father. But the night of the match in Omaha, Nebraska, something askew in their intricate choreography sets him on a course for disaster. He finishes with a neck injury that leaves him in a restrictive brace and a video already going viral: him spewing profanities at his ex-partner, Johnny America. Injury aside, he’s out of the league. Without a routine or identity, Ricky spirals downward, finally setting off to learn about his father, and what he finds will explode everything he knows about who he is — as a man, a friend, a son, a partner and a wrestler. Left Bank Books.
VIRTUAL

4–21 NOVEMBER  
St. Louis International Film Festival
The St. Louis International Film Festival continues to provide the opportunity for St. Louis filmgoers to view the finest in world cinema — international films, documentaries, American indies and shorts that can only be seen at the festival. This year, after an all-virtual fest in 2020, SLIFF is pleased to offer a large selection of in-person events, including at all three screens of the Tivoli Theatre, which has been shuttered since the onset of the pandemic. For those who prefer to watch at home, we’ll still provide plenty of options, with nearly 100 virtual programs and livestreams.
IN PERSON & VIRTUAL: See website

4 NOVEMBER  |  12 PM
Art Along the Rivers: Art Communities
Join Melissa Wolfe, curator of American art, Saint Louis Art Museum, to encounter works of art included in the fourth section of Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. This talk brings together objects created by regional artists in the 20th century who sought the camaraderie of like-minded makers. Whether united by artistic styles or social views, and whether their associations lasted for only a short period or for a lifetime, these makers found fertile ground in which to develop their vision in the creative atmosphere sustained by the company of others. Objects made by folk or outsider artists are also included. Within this context, their work provides an important perspective on community and the richness of creative inquiry. Saint Louis Art Museum.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

4 NOVEMBER  |  5:30 PM
G Wiz: It’s All about Musical Edu-tainment  
One Thursday a month, Music at the Museum brings you some of the best musicians who make up today’s St. Louis sound. St. Louis was so full of musical influences that they couldn’t fit in one exhibit. Join the Time Traveler DJ G Wiz to hear the sounds and stories from many more artists who made major contributions to the music industry locally, nationally, and worldwide. Before the main stage, there will be some live music by blues and roots musician Brian Curran. There will also be a live demonstration and display of vinyl artwork by local artist Cadence Hodes. Thursday Nights at the Museum, Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

4 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Queer Terminology & Allyship
Learn how to be an effective ally to the queer and trans folks in your life. Learn more about LGBTQIA+ terminology and tips for supportive ally-ship, followed by a Q&A session where attendees are encouraged to bring questions. The St. Louis Queer+ Support Helpline.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

4 NOVEMBER  |  6:30 PM
Archipelago Screening & Discussion
The animated essay film Archipelago, directed by Felix Dufour-Laperrière, is partly documentary but mostly fiction, although poetry may be the best comparison. The film is an abstract meditation on Québec, the St. Lawrence River and the waterway’s islands. Formally ambitious and undeniably accomplished, Archipelago has a distinct avant-garde sensibility and employs a diverse array of graphic approaches as it unfolds. Post-screening discussion with Colin Burnett, associate professor of film and media studies at Washington University. St. Louis International Film Festival, co-sponsored by the Contemporary Art Museum.
IN PERSON: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, 63108

4 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Jorge L. Contreras, The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA (Author Talk)
JORGE L. CONTRERAS in conversation with Dr. Jessica Mozersky, assistant professor, Washington University Bioethics Research Center. When Chris Hansen, an ACLU lawyer, learned that the U.S. government was issuing patents for human genes to biotech companies, his first thought was: How can a corporation own what makes us who we are? Then he discovered that women were being charged exorbitant fees to test for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer — all because Myriad Genetics had patented the famous BRCA genes. So, he sued them. In The Genome Defense, Jorge Contreras, an attorney at the forefront of genetics law, gives us a front-row seat as Hanson’s brilliant legal team battles corporate greed for our fundamental right to control our genes.
VIRTUAL

4 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Areva Martin, Awakening: Ladies, Leadership, and the Lies We've Been Told (Author Talk)
St. Louis native, award-winning attorney, advocate, legal and social issues commentator, talk show host and producer Areva Martin will be in conversation with the host of St. Louis Public Radio’s St. Louis On the Air, Sarah Fenske. Awakening goes beyond the idea that women should ask for a seat at the table. Martin makes the case for women to tear down the building, build anew and choose tables that make room for everyone. Martin does this by exposing five lies told by society that have kept women held back for so long. By further exploring the problem and offering solutions that benefit all people, Awakening gives women in all careers a path toward a more equitable world. RSVP to reserve a seat. Left Bank Books and St. Louis Public Radio.
IN PERSON: St. Louis Public Radio Community Room, 3651 Olive St. St. Louis, MO 63108

4 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
St. Louis Literary Award Ceremony
The Saint Louis University Library Associates will honor author Zadie Smith with the annual St. Louis Literary Award. Smith is a tenured professor of creative writing at New York University. Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth, is a vibrant portrait of contemporary multi-cultural London, told through the stories of three ethnically diverse families. In 2003 and 2013, Smith was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 “Best of Young British Novelists.” On Beauty won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction and her novel NW was named as one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2012. Her collection of short stories, Grand Union, was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. The St. Louis Literary Award, one of the top literary prizes in the country, honors the most important writers of our time and celebrates their contributions to literature in enriching our lives. RSVP required. Saint Louis University Library Associates.
IN PERSON: Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 63108
VIRTUAL - RSVP

5 NOVEMBER  |  12 PM
Art Speaks: Cosmic Geometry in Anishinaabe Textiles
To the Western eye, geometric patterns of repeating triangles or lozenges have little meaning. In this program Cory Willmott, professor of cultural anthropology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, will take us on a journey through the spiritual cosmos in Anishinaabe art and reveal its significant symbolism in the geometric motifs woven into textiles in the exhibition Woodlands: Native American Art from St. Louis Collections. This virtual will include opportunities for participants to ask questions with the Q&A feature. Saint Louis Art Museum.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

5 NOVEMBER  |  12 PM
Global Catholicism and St. Louis Archives
Join us for a roundtable discussion with local archivists about their collections and possibilities for research on global Catholicism. Please RSVP early so we can ensure adequate space. Center for Research on Global Catholicism, Saint Louis University.
Eric Fair, CA (Archdiocese of St. Louis Archives & Records)
Catherine Lucy, CSJA, CA (Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Archives) David. P. Miros, PhD (Jesuit Archives & Research Center)
Sr. Thomas More Daly, OSU (Ursuline Archives, Central Province, U.S.A.)
Gregory A. Pass, PhD, MALS (Vatican Film Library, Saint Louis University)
Rena Schergen (Archdiocese of St. Louis Archives & Records) Caitlin Stamm, MSLIS (Saint Louis University Archives)
IN PERSON: Saint Louis University, Boileau Hall, 38 Vandeventer Ave., St. Louis, 63108
VIRTUAL: https://slu.zoom.us/j/92931120600?pwd=eDhHY1BrZmNwczYwaXB3amJ5NVZQQT09

6 NOVEMBER  |  10 AM
See STL | More than an Arch
A whirlwind but surprisingly in-depth trip through as much St. Louis history as we can cram into two hours. Route includes historical highlights (the Arch) as well as visits to hidden gems (everything that isn’t the Arch) throughout both north and south St. Louis. See off-the-beaten-path neighborhoods such as Carondelet, Dutchtown, Kosciusko, Hyde Park, the Ville and more. See STL bus tours are two hours in length and feature multiple stops where you hop off the bus. $30–$35. Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Locations provided at registration

5–7 NOVEMBER
Día de los Muertos and a Celebration of Latinx Culture
Enjoy altars that represent a variety of Latin American cultural traditions, live music and dance performances, an art display, food and drink vendors, a procession through the park, story sharing and more. Family Zones will offer face or arm painting for kids, arts and crafts, storytelling in Spanish and other activities. Hispanic Festival Inc., Mexicanos En St. Louis, STL Juntos, Latinx Arts Network, Juntos We Read and Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

5 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Peace in the Prairie Screening & Discussion
Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective presents Peace in the Prairie, an original presentation exploring the concepts of peace and violence, juxtaposing urban life as experienced by African-American people living in the city of St. Louis, Missouri and the state’s endangered prairie lands. Peace in the Prairie is a lively, multimedia presentation that combines original music, discussion and storytelling with videography. Q&A following the screening.
IN PERSON: The Stage, 3524 Washington Ave., St. Louis, 63103

6 NOVEMBER  |  1:30 PM
Women in Ancient Coinage
ELENA BALDI is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Classics at Washington University who is cataloging with the department’s Wulfing Collection of Ancient Coins. Classical Club of St. Louis.
IN PERSON: John Burroughs School, Newman Auditorium, 755 S. Price Rd., St. Louis, 63124

7–18 NOVEMBER
Jewish Book Festival
The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival is an annual celebration of authors, books and ideas during early November, with additional author events year-round. Now in its 42nd year, the festival is nationally recognized for both its excellence and its size — it is one of the largest in the country with more than 10,000 audience members annually. People from all backgrounds and religions come to festival events to hear premier speakers, share their thoughts and ask questions. See website for full list of events.
Sun., Nov. 7, 7 pm: Natan Sharansky, author of Never Alone, in conversation with author, Zionist thinker, presidential historian and co-author of Sharansky’s memoir, Gil Troy. $45.
Mon., Nov. 8, 1 pm: David Mikics, author of Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker, will discuss the genius behind the films. $20.
Thurs., Nov. 11, 10:30 am: Zach Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto and author of Why Do Jewish? will be in conversation with Leah Garber, vice president of Israel Engagement of the JCC Association of America and director of the Center for Israel Engagement in Jerusalem. $20.
Sat., Nov. 13, 7 pm: Join Reed Farrel Coleman, four-time nominee for the Edgar Award and the author of The Bitterest Pill, and Matt Goldman, Emmy Award-winning author of Dead West, for Mystery Night. $20.
Sun., Nov. 14, 7 pm: Washington University Professor of Drama and Comparative Literature Henry Schvey will discuss his book Blue Song. $25.
IN PERSON & VIRTUAL

7 NOVEMBER  |  8 PM
Clerk: The Kevin Smith Documentary Screening & Discussion
Fresh off a South by Southwest premiere comes this deep dive into a pop cultural juggernaut who makes his living gratifying people with only his mouth. Think you know Kevin Smith? Clerk, the celebrated Kevin Smith documentary by director Malcolm Ingram, takes you deeper into Smith history than ever before, from his childhood in New Jersey to the day they cemented his footprints at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theater with a flock of famous folks testifying on Silent Bob’s behalf. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s subject, Kevin Smith, and director Malcolm Ingram. $37. Left Bank Books.
IN PERSON: The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

9 NOVEMBER  |  11 AM
Iron Empires: 19th Century Metal Foundries in St. Louis
St. Louis once led the world in the production of cast iron, toolmaking and more. Join Community Tours Manager Amanda Clark to learn the intriguing stories of family business dynasties, search for St. Louis’s lost cast-iron storefronts and see how the industry is still reflected in our city. Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

9 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Dan Jones, Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages (Author Talk)
Historian Dan Jones presents an epic history of the medieval world and a rich and complicated reappraisal of the era’s legacy and lessons. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first European voyages to the Americas. The medieval world was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today: climate change, pandemic disease, mass migration and technological revolutions. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL

10 NOVEMBER  |  12 PM
Soldiers Chow and Chat with Harry Hope
HARRY HOPE served with the Marines in Korea, including at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Join him in person for a firsthand account of the battle, the Korean War and a lifetime of service. Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Soldiers Memorial, Court of Honor, 1315 Chestnut St., St. Louis, 63103

10 NOVEMBER  |  2 PM
Creation Mythology
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, Jayme Novara, associate professor of English at St. Charles Community College, will share how Native American cultures like the Cherokee, Navajo and Yuma explained how we came to be here. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL

10 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Artist Talk: Farah Al Qasimi
FARAH AL QASIMI offers insights into the making and meanings of her photo-based Project Wall exhibition, Everywhere there is splendor. RSVP. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
IN PERSON: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 63108

10 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Shayda Kafai, Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid (Author Talk)
SHAYDA KAFAI, assistant professor of gender and sexuality studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, will be in conversation with adrienne maree brown, author of Pleasure Activism and Emergent Strategy. In recent years, disability activism has come into its own as a vital and necessary means to acknowledge the power and resilience of the disabled community, and to call out ableist culture wherever it appears. Crip Kinship explores the art-activism of Sins Invalid, a San Francisco Bay Area–based performance project and its radical imaginings of what disabled, queer, trans and gender nonconforming bodyminds of color can do: how they can rewrite oppression, and how they can gift us with transformational lessons for our collective survival. Live ASL interpretation. Left Bank Books.
VIRTUAL

10 NOVEMBER  |  6:30 PM
First Landowners: Federal Land Records, Family Maps, and HistoryGeo.com
The availability of map publications for the federal land states has transformed how we find the first landowner. Learn about these genealogical resources and how to use them for cluster and collateral research. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

10 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Jerad Alexander, Volunteers: Growing Up in the Forever War (Author Talk)
JERAD ALEXANDER will be in conversation with novelist Elliot Ackerman. To many, joining the military can be a path out of a difficult life, a chance to acquire vocational training, a college scholarship, a patriotic career. But to those, like Jerad Alexander, raised on military bases by a family whose members all served in the armed forces, enlisting was a way of life. As soon as he was able, Alexander joined the U.S. Marines. Once on the ground in Iraq, part of the same war his parents had fought before him, he began to question all that he had taken on faith. Alexander’s memoir tackles the mythology of American patriotism, from the perspective of an enlisted man — not some elite warrior, but a simple volunteer. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL

11 NOVEMBER  |  12 PM
Art Along the Rivers: Art as Advocate
Join Amy Torbert, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, to learn from works of art included in the fifth section of Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. This talk will demonstrate how objects produced in the region have drawn attention to particular political, social, and environmental viewpoints. Some of these objects have communicated support for political policies and promoted recognition of marginalized communities, while others have countered social injustices and investigated relationships between humans and nature. All speak boldly in the hopes of effecting change. Saint Louis Art Museum.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

11 NOVEMBER  |  5:30 PM
Hollywood vs. History: Band of Brothers
Join the Missouri History Museum in observing Veterans Day with a special screening of an episode of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Twenty years after its premiere, Band of Brothers remains a significant entry into the vast canon of WWII filmography and media. Stick around after the screening for a discussion with Vincent Casaregola, director of film studies at Saint Louis University, on the evolution of Hollywood’s portrayal of warfare, the military and its effects on how we learn and interpret history. Join the MHS Teens Make History Exhibitors to learn about the L.A.R.A. method for constructive dialogue (Listen, Affirm, Respond, Ask/Add). The Exhibitors will also share and discuss recordings of a few short scenes they researched, wrote and performed. Set in 1970 in St. Louis, these pieces explore youths’ perspectives on the Vietnam War. Visit the historians’ corner to talk with volunteer historians from the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. Thursday Nights at the Museum, Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

11 NOVEMBER  |  6 PM
Still Mining the Forgotten: Black Catholic Nuns in United States History
SHANNEN DEE WILLIAMS, associate professor of history, University of Dayton. A noted scholar of African-American history, Williams has published work in the Journal of African-American History, Journal of Africana Religions and American Catholic Studies, as well as popular articles in America, National Catholic Reporter and Religion Dispatches. Her talk will draw on research for her forthcoming book Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle (Duke, 2022). Cultures of American Religion & Center for Research on Global Catholicism, Saint Louis University.
VIRTUAL - RSVP

11 NOVEMBER  |  6:30 PM
Film Screening: Where is the Friend’s House?
The first in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime and interlacing trilogy of films, Where is the Friend’s House?, set in the northern Iranian village of Koker, takes a premise of fable-like simplicity —  a boy searches for the home of his classmate whose school notebook he has accidentally taken — and transforms this simple narrative into a miraculous, child’s-eye adventure of the everyday. As the young hero zigzags determinedly across two towns aided (and sometimes misdirected) by those he encounters, his quest becomes both a revealing portrait of Iranian society in all its richness and complexity and a touching parable about the meaning of personal responsibility. The film was selected by artist Farah Al Qasimi as an accompaniment to Everywhere there is splendor, her newly commissioned, photo-based installation across CAM’s Project Wall. She selected the film because it “speaks to the way that children form their own moral codes and senses of responsibility in a beautiful and sensitive way.” St. Louis International Film Festival, co-sponsored by the Contemporary Art Museum and Cinema St. Louis.
IN PERSON: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 63108

11 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Celeste Headlee, Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk about Racism — And How to Do It (Author Talk)
Journalist, professional speaker, PBS host, and the author of We Need To Talk, Celeste Headlee, teaches us how to have productive conversations about race, offering insights, advice and support. A self-described “light-skinned Black Jew,” Headlee has been forced to speak about race, including having to defend or define her own, since childhood. In her career as a journalist for public media, she’s made it a priority to talk about race proactively. She’s discovered, however, that those exchanges have rarely been productive. While many people say they want to talk about race, the reality is, they want to talk about race with people who agree with them. Yet we gain nothing by not engaging with those we disagree with; empathy does not develop in a vacuum and racism won't just fade away. If we are to effect meaningful change as a society, Headlee argues, we have to be able to talk about what that change looks like without fear of losing friends and jobs, or being ostracized. Left Bank Books.
VIRTUAL

12 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
John C. McManus, Island Infernos: The US Army’s Pacific War Odyssey, 1944 (Author Talk)
In Fire and Fortitude, military historian John C. McManus presents a riveting account of the U.S. Army’s fledgling fight in the Pacific following Pearl Harbor. Now, in Island Infernos, he explores the Army’s dogged pursuit of Japanese forces, island by island, throughout 1944, a year that would bring America ever closer to victory or defeat. Island Infernos moves seamlessly from the highest generals to the lowest foot soldiers and in between, capturing the true essence of this horrible conflict. St. Louis County Library.
IN PERSON: St. Louis County Library – Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, 63131

13, 20 & 27 NOVEMBER  |  1 PM
Soldiers Memorial Outdoor Tours
Explore the architecture and history of the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum and the Court of Honor while learning of their role in the beautification of downtown St. Louis. This is an opportunity to better understand the symbolism and nuances of Soldiers Memorial’s massive Walker Hancock sculptures, spectacular Gold Star Mothers mosaic, calming effects of its reflecting pool and fountain, and many other architectural tributes to those who served our country. Meet your guide outside near the main entrance to the building for the one-hour tour. RSVP. $5. Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Soldiers Memorial, Court of Honor, 1315 Chestnut St., St. Louis, 63103

15 NOVEMBER  |  1:30 PM
Strangers on a Train Screening & Discussion
A psychopath forces a tennis star to comply with his theory that two strangers can get away with murder. Stay after the film for a talk from film critic Joshua Ray of Cinema St. Louis’ The Lens. Monday Matinee Classic Film Series – Noir Films.
IN PERSON: St. Louis Public Library – Buder Library, 4401 Hampton Ave., St. Louis, 63109

16 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Linda Greenhouse, Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months that Transformed the Supreme Court (Author Talk)
LINDA GREENHOUSE will be in conversation with Missouri Supreme Court Justice Mary R. Russell. Greenhouse has reported on the Supreme Court for the New York Times for more than four decades, earning numerous accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize. In Justice on the Brink, she tells the gripping story of a year that drastically transformed the Supreme Court. From the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the rise of Amy Coney Barrett, from the pandemic to the election, from the Trump campaign’s legal challenges to the ongoing debate about the role of religion in American life, the Supreme Court has been at the center of many of the biggest events of 2020 and 2021. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL

16 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
Sam Quinones, Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth (Author Talk)
SAM QUINONES will be in conversation with St. Louis author and journalist Ben Westhoff. From the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland comes a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair. Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the U.S. to create Dreamland, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic that awakened the nation. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead: synthetic drugs and a new generation of kingpins whose product could be made in Magic Bullet blenders. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine. They laced it into cocaine, meth and counterfeit pills to cause tens of thousands of deaths. At the same time, Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating, Quinones argues, swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hits the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations. Left Bank Books.
VIRTUAL

18 NOVEMBER  |  5:30 PM
Native Women & Political Activism
Join Elizabeth Rule, assistant professor of critical race, gender, and culture studies at American University, as she discusses how Native women have long shaped the course of Indigenous political history. In addition to holding traditional roles as matriarchs, Indigenous women are also informing tribal policy as feminist thought leaders and elected officials. Nevertheless, Native women have been targeted in violence across the United States for centuries under settler colonialism. This talk discusses a range of historical and contemporary Native women’s issues, including the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls, and examines the Indigenous-led movements and policy initiatives supporting Native women today. Before Rule’s presentation, there will be activities and informational tables hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University and the Missouri Humanities Council, as well as a special water-blessing ceremony hosted by the Native Women’s Care Circle, in the Grand Hall. Thursday Nights at the Museum, Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

18 NOVEMBER  |  7 PM
H.W. Brands, Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution (Author Talk)
Historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H.W. Brands will be in conversation with best-selling historian and podcast host Alexis Coe. Brands comes with a gripping narrative of the American Revolution that shows it to be more than a fight against the British: It was also a violent battle among neighbors forced to choose sides, Loyalist or Patriot. What causes people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels? After the Revolution, the Patriots were cast as heroes and founding fathers while the Loyalists were relegated to bit parts best forgotten. Our First Civil War reminds us that before America could win its revolution against Britain, the Patriots had to win a bitter civil war against family, neighbors and friends. St. Louis County Library.
VIRTUAL

19–20 NOVEMBER  |  10 AM
History Exploration Days » Celebrating Native Pasts and Native Futures
Missouri just celebrated its 200th birthday, but people have lived in this region long before it became part of the United States. Explore Native history with us as we look back at the ancient past, consider what’s happening today, and look toward the future. History Exploration Days, Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

20 NOVEMBER  |  2 PM
See STL: LGBTQIA+ History of the Central West End
For most of the 20th century, St. Louis’ Central West End was a hub of LGBTQIA+ community life and political activism. This tour will explore some of the places that were instrumental in shaping the neighborhood’s fascinating history, including the locations of fabulous nightclubs and progressive churches, the home of the region’s first gay community center and the starting point of St. Louis’s first Pride march. Along the way, it will be explained how St. Louis’ LGBTQIA+ citizens have been a part of the growth, decline and renewal of neighborhoods throughout the city. See STL walking tours are two hours in length and are wheelchair accessible. $15–$20. Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Locations provided at registration

6–21 NOVEMBER
Golden Anniversaries Film Series Cinema
St. Louis’ Golden Anniversaries Film Series features classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This fourth edition of the event highlights films from 1971. Cinema St. Louis and St. Louis Public Library.
Sat., Nov. 6, 1:30 pm: Duel screening and discussion with Joshua Ray, film critic for Cinema St. Louis’ The Lens.
Sun., Nov. 7, 1:30 pm: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song screening and discussion with Novotny Lawrence, associate professor at Iowa State University, author of Blaxploitation Films of the 1970s: Blackness and Genre, editor of Documenting the Black Experience and co-editor of Beyond Blaxploitation.
Sat., Nov. 13, 1:30 pm: The French Connection screening and discussion with Calvin Wilson, theater critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Sun., Nov. 14, 1:30 pm: A Clockwork Orange screening and discussion with Andrew Wyatt, editor of and film critic for Cinema St. Louis’ The Lens and the Gateway Cinephile film blog.
Sat., Nov. 20, 1:30 pm: Two-Lane Blacktop screening and discussion with Robert Garrick, attorney, former contributor to the davekehr.com film blog and contributor to Cinema St. Louis’ The Lens film blog.
Sun., Nov. 21, 1:30 pm: Sunday Bloody Sunday screening and discussion with Susan Waugh, retired professor of English at St. Louis Community College at Meramec and former film critic for The Riverfront Times.
IN PERSON: St. Louis Public Library – Central Library, 1301 Olive St., St. Louis, 63103

29 NOVEMBER  |  1:30 PM
On the Waterfront Screening & Discussion
An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses. Stay after the film for a talk from film critic Lynn Venhaus of the St. Louis Film Critics' Association. Monday Matinee Classic Film Series – Noir Films.
IN PERSON: St. Louis Public Library – Buder Library, 4401 Hampton Ave., St. Louis, 63109

30 NOVEMBER  |  11 AM
Not the Land It Was: How Missouri’s Landscape Has Changed Over 200 Years
When early European explorers and settlers crossed the Mississippi River and first set foot in Missouri, its landscape looked very different. What did early Missouri look like, and what changes transformed the landscape to create the state we recognize today? Using historical accounts and records, Director of Library and Collections Christopher Alan Gordon will examine and discuss the many ways 200 years of settlement has changed our state’s environment. Missouri Historical Society.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, Lee Auditorium, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112

30 NOVEMBER  |  6:30 PM
Josephine Baker: J’ai Deux Amours
Cultural icon. International superstar. Passionate humanitarian. Pioneering civil rights activist. On November 30, St. Louis–born Josephine Baker will become the first Black woman and first entertainer to receive France’s highest honor by being laid to rest in the Panthéon monument in Paris. The program features a presentation about her art, activism and service; remarks by Yannick Tagand, the French general consul to the Midwest; and special performances. Come early to see a display of Josephine Baker ephemera, as well as her featured section in the exhibit St. Louis Sound. Missouri Historical Society and Alliance Française de St. Louis.
IN PERSON: Missouri History Museum, Lee Auditorium, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 63112