Past Events

Taking it back to the 1980s! Rubik’s Cubes, shoulder pads, Cool Ranch Doritos—there’s no doubt this was an iconic era. BostonTalks invites you to throw it back and hear about the fashion, news, and music of the 1980s. BostonTalks is WGBH’s smarter happy hour. It’s smarter because we feature speakers, and it’s happy hour because we offer a variety of affordable beer, wine and cider. For the upcoming BostonTalks check out events. Image: [Pexels.com](https://www.pexels.com/search/tape/ "Pexels.com")

In _Friend of My Youth_, the narrator, Amit Chaudhuri (a novelist who is not to be confused with Amit Chaudhuri the novelist) is in Bombay, where he lived and went to school as a child and teenager: Hailing as he and his family do from Calcutta, he was never exactly home there although their home was there. That was long ago, however, and Bombay is now a different Bombay, just as his own childhood looks different through the lens of intervening years. And there’s another difference now: The old friend he always visited on returns to Bombay has fallen prey to a drug habit and is no longer there–and so another link with the past is broken. Amit wanders the streets of Bombay, reflects on the terrorist takeover of the glamorous Taj Mahal Hotel, runs errands for his wife and mother, remembers his father, misses his friend. In _Immigrant, Montana,_ a young Indian man’s American friends call him Kalashnikov, AK-47, AK. He takes it all in his stride: he wants to fit in–and more than that, to shine. In the narrative of his years at a university in New York, AK describes the joys and disappointments of his immigrant experience; the unfamiliar political and social textures of campus life; the indelible influence of a charismatic professor–also an immigrant, his personal history as dramatic as AK’s is decidedly not; the very different natures of the women he loved, and of himself in and out of love with each of them. Telling his own story, AK is both meditative and the embodiment of the enthusiasm of youth in all its idealism and chaotic desires. Image: Book Covers

Justin Tinsley visited the Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School to talk with fellows about current and historic protests in sports, and the activism playing out in popular music and culture today.

Author Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his novel _A Brief History of Seven Killings,_ meets fans at the Harvard Book Store for a discussion of his new novel, _Black Leopard, Red Wolf,_ the first book in a highly anticipated fantasy trilogy. Critic [Lori Feathers gives praise and context](https://bookmarks.reviews/marlon-james-in-context/ "In Context website") to James's latest work: "...while _Black Leopard’s_ story takes place within various imagined African kingdoms, its myths, rituals and Patios-infused speech are that of the author’s native Jamaica. Many of Jamaica’s slaves came from Ghana, and they brought stories of the old ways and traditions of their Ashanti ancestors, notably the practice of sorcery (obeah) and witchcraft (myal), and the custom of female succession of tribal leaders. James uses this heritage to tremendous effect."

Author Kim McLarin explores identity in the modern day in her latest work _Womanish_. Born in 1964 and growing up as the first generation post the Civil Rights Movement, McLarin's collection of essays explores topics ranging from Divorce to the Obamas as she defines in rolls that make her American. McLarin's wit and power over her words brings her essays to life as she shares with the reader her life in the "Brown vs. Board" generation of Generation X. In thirteen essays, McLarin forms of a crossroad of her many identities in society as a black middle-aged woman. Image: [book cover](http://www.harvard.com/event/kim_mclarin/ "Book Cover")

Marjorie Pritchard, deputy managing editor for the editorial page at The Boston Globe, and Bryan Trabold, author of Rhetorics of Resistance: Opposition Journalism in Apartheid South Africa and assistant professor and chair of the Suffolk University English Department, will examine The Boston Globe's response to President Trump's efforts to discredit the media. The Globe mobilized editorial boards of all political orientations across the country to argue that a free press is essential for sustaining democracy. This conversation will situate the Globe's initiative within Ford Hall Forum's tradition of promoting the free expression of ideas, as when Margaret Sanger, wearing a gag, defied the Boston ban on promotion of birth control in her 1929 address to the Ford Hall Forum and anti-apartheid activist Beyers Naudé delivered a blistering attack on the South African government in his 1985 forum address, despite repeated attempts to silence him. The Boston Globe's editorial initiative is thus part of a much longer history of challenging the powerful to promote freedom of expression.

In _America, Compromised_ Lawrence Lessig captures a snapshot of contemporary America and forms an argument on how the institutions of the American government have come to be the way they are. Throughout the book, Lessig shows that the modern problems plaguing corrupt political institutions cannot simply be blamed upon the "bad people" of society. Rather, Lessig argues that it is compromise that has brought down the American system. Image: [book cover](http://www.harvard.com/event/lawrence_lessig2/ "Book Cover")

Recognizing Public Domain Day For the first time since the passage of the [Copyright Term Extension Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act "Wikipedia Entry") in 1998, works will enter the public domain in the United States due to the expiration of the copyright term. This event at Suffolk University celebrates the legal and public policy rationale behind copyright limits and the public domain, as well as the creativity of those individuals whose works will soon enter the public domain. Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize winning author of _The Hours_ will participate with his lecture "Past Tense, Present Tense: The Ongoing Life of Virginia Woolf". Image: [George Charles Beresford - Virginia Woolf in 1902 via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Charles_Beresford_-_Virginia_Woolf_in_1902_-_Restoration.jpg "")

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919, when remembered, is often interpreted in a dismissive, comical manner. How does this case compare with other incidences of historical events that are interpreted or "curated" at the expense of accuracy and respect for human experience? How can we bring complexity back to events that have long been relegated to the realm of local folklore? Stephen Puleo, Allison Lange, Gavin Kleespies, and moderator Rev. Stephen T. Ayres discuss the question of misunderstood history by looking at the Great Molasses Flood, the fight for women's suffrage and Leif Erickson. Image: Public Domain

Authors Lyra Selene, N.S. Dolkart, and Elaine Isaak (writing as E.C. Ambrose) read and discuss their latest books. Part of the Speculative Boston author series, held this time at Trident Booksellers & Cafe. Image: www.pexels.com