Meet the Author

Parents Weekend Author Talk Coming Up

To some, Parents’ Weekend is a drag… back to that restricted “my-parents-are-watching” mentality. To others, it’s a relief to have some quality family time again, to take away some of the homesickness. Regardless of if you’re happy about it or not, parents are coming in force this weekend and Northeastern has set up some awesome events, like Howie Mandel, to keep you entertained. If your folks can’t make it, you are in luck because you can still enjoy everything Northeastern has to offer this weekend! Snell Library will continue a Parents’ Weekend tradition on Saturday at 11am with another talk from our Meet The Author series. Northeastern Professor Roger Abrams talks about his book Sports Justice and how the law interacts with the business of professional sports. I for sure will not be missing this one, it should be a pretty active discussion. Check out the Facebook page for more info. You can check the full schedule of Parents’ Weekend events in PDF format here.

Big Citizenship Discussion with Co-Founder of City Year, Thurs. Oct 14

Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year and CEO/founder of Be the Change, Inc., has written a new book — Big Citizenship — and is coming to campus to discuss the book and highlight Northeastern students who are Big Citizens. “‘Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others,’ Robert Kennedy famously wrote, ‘he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.’ No one better exemplifies the truth of these words than Alan Khazei, the co-founder of City Year. In this stirring call to arms, Khazei lays out a path for the renewal of America, which should provoke conversation, debate and action.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and presidential historian. Who: Alan Khazei with Barry Bluestone Where: Curry Student Center Ballroom When: Thursday October 14th, 2:30-4:00pm What: Discussion and Book Signing with Alan Khazei!!

‘The Town’ Comes Home

Everyone in Boston seems to be buzzing about The Town, and while I haven’t had the chance to see it yet, what with classes in full swing, I have to agree that it looks pretty fantastic. But, seeing as I’m a usual skeptic before watching movies longer than an hour and a half, I did a little research first. After seeing that Ben Affleck’s previous foray into directing (Gone Baby Gone, Oct 2007) was hailed by many critics and received a 7.5 out of 10 on metacritic.com, I decided to watch the trailer for The Town, and really see what this thing is about. For those who don’t know yet, The Town is set in Charlestown and the North End, and seems to be a mix of the Bourne movies with less mystery, and more of an inlaid plot conflict, with Affleck’s character falling in love with the hostage taken from a robbery, who has no idea of his true identity. The film has had a great opening weekend, grossing over 23 million dollars. (You can read reviews here.) The Town also stars Chris Cooper (American Beauty, Capote), whose wife, Marianne Leone, will be visiting Snell Library for a Meet the Author event on November 3. She’ll be discussing her book, Knowing Jesse, about the couple’s son who passed away in 2005 due to complications from cerebral palsy.

Class of 2015: View Library Tips from an Upperclassman

With the first full week of Fall classes complete, I would like to welcome the Freshman class of 2015. If they haven’t already, they will shortly find Snell Library to be their second home, literally. Let’s all put aside the fact that this class is spoiled by having the new 24/7 policy of the Library that we all fought for. It will help them adjust to those long nights spent doing projects last minute. (Do the rest of you Upperclassmen remember when we could get away with that?) So come on in, put the cell phone on mute, and plug those headphones in, because it will be a year of hard work with plenty of fun in between. I have listed below a few resources/events that may help those last minute panics. NUCAT is your resource to find any type of print/media that is in Northeastern’s libraries. Here is a list of upcoming news and events. Come check out the Meet The Author talks listed here. Need to find a peer-reviewed article by 8 AM and “Googling” isn’t accepted by your Prof.? The Library has you covered. Welcome new faces and be sure to check out all the Library has to offer. Feel free to ask any Library staff or students around you if you are confused about anything. My best advice to you is to explore the opportunities you have here at Northeastern and get involved. The Library is always looking for new ideas and new writers (so comment away right here)!.

John J Siegfried

The author talk with John J. Siegfried went over without a hitch today and served as a good kick-off point for our Meet the Author Series. Siegfried used a powerpoint presentation to speak about various economic trade reforms made over the past fifty years, organizing his subjects in rough chronological order. In particular, he focused on flight regulations and how they have led to a much higher capacity of flyers in the past several decades. He also related anecdotes from his life to various talking points; often, it seemed that his main goal was to teach us how to save money, as illustrated by the various models he spoke of. The elusive cover of his book, Better Living Through Economics, was also explained. It is a picture of a series of chickens, their heads symmetrically jutting down from the top of the page, each matched with a pot, in a line directly below.  This is a reference to the expression ‘A chicken for every pot,’ which was altered by president Herbert Hoover to be ‘Two chickens for every pot.’ He was referring to the economic prosperity that he wanted for America. This served as Siegfried’s jumping point for his entire talk. Although some of what Siegfried spoke about went over my head, and although there were perhaps a lack of questions, his talk was an informative session for economics students and teachers and illustrated problems we have every day– whether or not to spend or save money, where the next paycheck is coming from– in a larger, (frequently) political context. He stated his own free-market opinion of allowing people to not have health insurance as long as a hospital can turn them away if their condition is not life threatening. This was one of the few times when he stated his own opinion and is a view I find somewhat problematic (though relevant to our recent/ongoing health care debate). I guess I can’t ask John Siegfried to pay for my next hospital bill.  Shucks, I was looking forward to that. Please join us tomorrow at noon in room 90 for Killing Time!