MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2013 Activities by Category - Politics and Social Sciences

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Brownfield Redevelopment Workshop

Kerry Bowie, Director of Brownfields & Environmental Justice

Jan/25 Fri 09:00AM-05:00PM 9-450A

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 20 participants

Kerry Bowie, Director of Brownfields & Environmental Justice for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, will lead a one-day Brownfield Redevelopment Workshop (not for credit).  Bowie and other guest speakers will provide a general survey of Brownfields, covering topics such as assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment while examining technical, legal, and financial challenges.  The format of the workshop will include a general overview, guest speakers, discussion, and a field trip to a Boston area brownfields site.  Graduate and undergraduate students welcome; no prior brownfield experience is required.

Signup: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG9MQ0lRMl8zZUctcG5BbGxyYVBjeXc6MQ

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Katherine Buckingham, 513.382.8632, kbucking@mit.edu


Climate Policy 101

Michael Davidson, Paul Kishimoto

Jan/31 Thu 01:00PM-03:00PM E51-335

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

The inaugural address also mentioned that a "path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult" and will involve "technology that will power new jobs and new industries". But political opponents sometimes finger climate policy as a "job-killer".

This session will outline how energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are linked to the world economy and the technologies we use, how climate change impacts affect us, and discuss the difference between "mitigation" and "adaptation" with options that governments have for each. It will also survey policies in place, and major challenges and opportunities as the U.S. and other countries work towards coordinated action.

Sponsor(s): Joint Program/Science and Policy of Global Change
Contact: Anthony Tran, E19-411R, 617 253-7492, TONES@MIT.EDU


Contemporary Military Topics

Dave Pendall, SSP Military Fellow

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

A series of three sessions on contemporary military topics. 

Sponsor(s): MIT Security Studies Program, Center for International Studies
Contact: Joli Saraf, E40-477, 8-7608, joli@mit.edu


Persistent and Wide Area Surveillance

Jan/16 Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM E40-496

This session provides leading research and developer insights as well as technology examples of surveillance capabilities supporting US Military Forces. This seminar provides a Lincoln Lab led overview presentation and a Q&A period led by the Military Fellows with the Security Studies Program. The military fellows will address operational application and experiences with Persistent and Wide Area Surveillance programs.

Dave Pendall - SSP Military Fellow, Kirk Dorr - SSP Military Fellow, John Christopher - SSP Military Fellow


Biometrics-Medical & Security Aspects

Jan/23 Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM E40-496

Topic is research & developer insights & examples of Biometrics Sensing & Collection Capabilities supporting US forces. There will be a Lincoln Lab led talk & SSP military fellows address operational application & experiences with Biometrics programs. Biometrics application include Soldier Physical Stress Monitoring, Brain & Traumatic Injury Studies, Fingerprint, Iris, Facial Recognition & DNA biometric application.

Dave Pendall - SSP Military Fellow, Kirk Dorr - SSP Military Fellow, Stephen Russell - SSP Military Fellow


Lunar Laser Communications on the Move

Jan/30 Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM E40-496

This session provides leading research and developer insights as well as technology examples of Advanced Communications Capabilities supporting US Military Forces in the 21st Century. There will be a Lincoln Lab led presentation and a Q&A led by the Military Fellows with the Security Studies Program. The military fellows will address operational application of emerging communications technologies. 

John Christopher - SSP Military Fellow, Stephen Russell - SSP Military Fellow


Coolnetworking 3.0: Coolhunting and Coolfarming through Swarm Creativity

Peter Gloor

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/07
Limited to 25 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

This course consists of three parts, part I is the foundation for parts II and III, parts can be taken separately.

Day 1: I. How to Be an Efficient (Online) Networker

Part I is for everybody who would like to learn how they can be more efficient in their online and face-to-face networking.

Day 2: II. Coolhunting

Part II is for the power user who would like to learn how to apply Social Network Analysis to discover and predict emergent trends on the Web by mining Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, Wikipedia and the Web at large. Coolhunting means finding new trends by finding the trendsetters before anybody else, by tapping into the collective intelligence on the Web, and interpreting it through dynamic semantic social network analysis.

Day 3: III. Coolfarming

Part III builds on the basics from part II, it shows you how you can develop new trends through self-organizing teams (Coolfarming) by nurturing COINs (Collaborative Innovation Networks), and how you can better advertise your products on the Web through viral marketing using Twitter, Facebook, and Wikipedia.

This is a revised and condensed version of a distributed course, which has been taught for the last 8 years at MIT, Helsinki, Cologne, and Savannah. (http://sites.google.com/site/coincourse2012/)

http://www.ickn.org/iap.html

Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: Peter Gloor, NE25-749, x3-7018, pgloor@mit.edu


Jan/09 Wed 03:00PM-06:00PM NE25-746, Bring your laptop

How to Be an Efficient (Online) Networker

twenty rules for networking :

You will create a "virtual mirror" of your own communication behavior, telling you how much of a "star" or a "galaxy" you are, analyzing your own Facebook and e-mail networks. 

 

Peter Gloor


Jan/10 Thu 03:00PM-06:00PM NE25-746, bring your laptop

Coolhunting

As part of the course you will get Condor-2.6.6, which allows you to analyze Web sites, Blogs, Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook and E-Mail.

Peter Gloor


Jan/11 Fri 03:00PM-06:00PM NE25-746, bring your laptop

Coolfarming

In this part we will use Condor-2.6.6 to analyze organizational e-mail networks, and study interpersonal networks on the Web, Twitter, and Facebook.

Peter Gloor


Data Diggers: Groundhog Day Hack-a-Thon

Ezra Glenn

Feb/01 Fri 12:00PM-03:00PM 9-450A, bring a laptop!

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

To celebrate Groundhog Day (OK, OK -- it's one day early) and prepare for the inaugural Spring Semester of MIT Data Diggers, we'll meet over IAP to start to dig up (or perhaps hunt down) some data sets to use in the class.  Come prepared to use all your hacking tools (and some good old-fashioned resourcefulness and traditional research skills as well) to seek out rich veins of MIT-related and publicly-available data for use in Spring semester.  Races, prizes, food; data-oriented costumes optional.

Open for all MIT students, whether you plan to enroll in 11.S195 in the Spring or prefer not to take the funnest class at MIT.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN@MIT.EDU


Experimental Political Science

Kai Quek

Jan/11 Fri 01:00PM-03:00PM E53-482

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Political institutions and public policies have real impact on people's lives. But how do we know whether a policy change or an institutional modification is good or bad before it is implemented? A small but growing group of political scientists have attacked this question by implementing randomized experimental tests. This class describes what experimental political scientists do, and how they do what they do. The main part of the class is practical, where you will walk through the intuitions and design behind actual experiments implemented in the context of the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election.

Sponsor(s): Political Science
Contact: Kai Quek, quek@mit.edu


Finding Research Datasets: ICPSR and the Harvard-MIT Data Center

Katherine McNeill

Jan/23 Wed 10:00AM-11:30AM 14N-132

Enrollment: Register at: http://libcal.mit.edu/event.php?id=196874
Sign-up by 01/22
Limited to 20 participants

Need data to answer a research question? Interested in analyzing raw datasets with micro-level records about individual respondents? This hands-on workshop will familiarize you with the resources of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Harvard-MIT Data Center, which provide access to datasets in the social sciences and related fields. Topics will include the structure of data files, finding and downloading datasets, and understanding data documentation.

Please register for this session.

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Katherine McNeill, E53-168c, x3-0787, mcneillh@mit.edu


Fundamentals of Science and Technology Public Policy Making: MIT Sci/Tech Policy Bootcamp

William Bonvillian, Director, MIT DC Office

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/02
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

This activity examines the public policy behind, and the government's role in the science and technology based innovation system. Emphasis placed on the U.S. S&T system, but international examples discussed. The seminar aims to equip those planning careers in and around science and technology with the basic background for involvement in science policymaking.
We cover the following topics:1)drivers behind science and technology support: growth economics, direct and indirect innovation factors, innovation systems theory, the "valley of death" between R&D and public-private partnership models; 2)organizing framework behind US science agencies, their missions and research organizational models, and the DARPA model as an alternative; 3)the way innovation is organized when it's face-to-face; 4)barriers and challenges to health science advance; 5)The energy technology challenge - how the science/tech innovation system needs to be organized to meet it within an existing and established complex economic sector; and 5) upcoming competitiveness challenge in advanced manufacturing.

Please fill out this web form as soon as possible.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&formkey=dHhjUWRvbFJRWXlyR21MZkFnbWpjc3c6MQ#gid=0

Sponsor(s): Political Science
Contact: Arthur Yip, ahcyip@mit.edu


Homeless Children: America's Newest Outcasts

John H. Wong, Ph.D., DUSP, '92

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program—America's primary response to critical problems in the education of homeless children. This seminar, led by DUSP alum John Wong (PhD 1992), will examine the accomplishments and shortcomings of this legislation, with the goal of improving the lives of the more than one million homeless children in schools.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN@MIT.EDU


Jan/22 Tue 10:00AM-12:00PM 9-450A
Jan/23 Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM 9-450A

John H. Wong, Ph.D., DUSP, '92


How Baseball, Poker, and Fermat Teach Us the Best Way to Elect the President.

Alan Natapoff, Research Scientist

Jan/23 Wed 04:00PM-05:30PM 37-212

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

The Electoral College delivers large individual voting power in battleground states, but it destroys it in poorly-contested, i.e., in most states. Small numbers turned Florida and the presidency in 2000, but they could never turn a national election under simple majority voting which destroys all individual voting power, everywhere, in any large election. The solution is to have the winner, A, of a state receive one vote for every popular vote cast in it plus the equivalent (600 thousand votes in 2012) of two Senatorial Electoral votes. If A is sure to carry the state, a voter that rejects him can cast a blank ballot that will not count for anyone. This rewards candidates (and presidents) vote-for-vote for the consent of their opposition and saves the voting power of individuals. We trace the paradoxes and  delicious oddities of individual voting power, and the resolution of Florida's deadlock in 2000 by Fermat's Rule.

Sponsor(s): Political Science
Contact: Alan Natapoff, 37-147, 617 253-7757, NATAPOFF@MIT.EDU


Interactive Census Data Tools

Alexandra Barker

Jan/14 Mon 02:00PM-05:00PM 9-450A

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/07
Limited to 25 participants

DUSP, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Mel King Institute for Community Building, and the U.S. Census Bureau are partnering to offer this hands-on workshop to learn how to use interactive web tools to access 2010 Census and American Community Survey data.

The workshops will focus on accessing 2010 Census and American Community Survey data using the following systems:

 

Attendees will learn what demographic and socioeconomic data are available for their communities and how to retrieve it online. The workshop is divided in 3 parts:

 

Representatives from the U.S. Census Bureau and the BRA will conduct the workshop. Participants must have access to a computer with internet access.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN@MIT.EDU


Marxism today, 23 Years since the "collapse of communism".

Felix Kreisel

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

World capitalist order, established by the US at the end of World War II and based on its economic hegemony, has crashed and the United States is at the center of economic and political convulsions. The American ruling elite is trying to reverse its long-term economic decline through frenetic military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran and elsewhere, and by exporting its crisis to competitors. Collapse of the Soviet Union and other so-called "socialist" states has exacerbated rivalries among the advanced capitalist countries and flashpoints of future wars are growing around the world.

Contact: Felix Kreisel, 6-120, x3-8625, fjk@mit.edu


Social inequality and the class struggle

Jan/08 Tue 06:00PM-08:00PM 6-120

Global financial institutions drive the various national governments to impoverish the working class and reverse social gains of the past century. In response we have seen an eruption of social struggles, like the anti-budget cut protests in Greece and the miners rebellion in South Africa. Class struggle to oppose capitalist dictatorship is again the driving force of history.

Felix Kreisel


Tsar to Lenin - the Russian Revolution

Jan/15 Tue 06:00PM-08:00PM 6-120

We shall view a documentary film "Tsar to Lenin", with original footage from the Russian Revolution. The preview can be seen here: http://tsartolenin.com/ The film will be introduced by a socialist reporter and followed by discussion. Suggested reading: Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution" and "Permanent Revolution".

Fred Mazelis, WSWS reporter, New York


Stalinism vs. Socialism

Jan/22 Tue 06:00PM-08:00PM 6-120

We shall review the history of the Soviet state over its 74-year lifetime, examine its internal contradictions, great strides forward, achievements and bitter defeats, the ruling Stalinist regime's crimes against its own people and its betrayal of socialism. We shall examine the collapse of the USSR and suggest lessons for the future. Suggested reading: Leon Trotsky's "The Revolution Betrayed".

Felix Kreisel


Capitalist Russia Today

Jan/29 Tue 06:00PM-08:00PM 6-120

What is the balance sheet of capitalist restoration in the former Soviet Union 20 years after its demise? While high oil and gas prices have propped up the Putin regime and the energy exporting Russian economy, its overall health is fragile. We shall look at the trends in the economy and society, the recent election protests and see where Russia and the other successor states are heading.

Vladimir Volkov, WSWS reporter, St. Petersburg, Russia


MIT Washington Summer Internship Program Information Sessions

Charles Stewart, Tobie Weiner

Jan/22 Tue 05:00PM-06:00PM TBD
Jan/30 Wed 05:00PM-06:00PM TBD

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

Come to an information session and find out about the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program. The program was founded in 1995 to give selected MIT undergraduates the opportunity to explore science and engineering policymaking at the national level, through study and practical experience. The interns have worked in the offices of government agencies, the private sector, and advocacy groups. Complementing the summer internships are a trip to Washington, DC, during spring break and a 12-unit HASS subject designed to give students an introduction to policymaking.  Both sessions are the same; come to either one.

Sponsor(s): Political Science
Contact: Tobie Weiner, E53-484, x3-3649, iguanatw@mit.edu


Nuclear Weapons: Physics, History and Abolition?

Aron Bernstein, Professor of Physics, Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard; former Dep Dir IAEA

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None

This course will give an overview of the physics of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects. The history of their development will be covered as well as the initial discussions of their implications, including the debates of the atomic scientists who developed them and then tried vainly to control their use and spread. The cold war history of the weapons deployment will be covered as well as the treaties which limited their use, such as the nuclear test ban and the anti-ballistic missile treaty. The threat of nuclear proliferation, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) inspections will be covered with emphasis on Iran. The current discussion about abolition of nuclear weapons will also be discussed. The linking of these issues to the original scientists' debate  will be covered. Students are welcome to participate in  any or all of these sessions. There will be time for questions and discussion.

1)Tues. Jan 22, 2013: Overview: history, physics history, history of weapons numbers in the cold war, outlook for reduction and elimination. A.M. Bernstein
2) Thurs . Jan. 24, 2013: Nuclear proliferation, non-proliferation treaty, IAEA inspections, Iran: O. Heinonen
3) Tues. Jan. 29, 2013: The Cold War Era: weapons, strategies, and treaties; A.M. Bernstein
4) Thurs. Jan 31, 2013: Outlook for nuclear weapons policy, Obama Administration, abolition?; A.M. Bernstein

Sponsor(s): Lab for Nuclear Science, Science, Technology, and Society, Physics
Contact: Aron Bernstein, 26-419, 617-253-2386, bernstein@mit.edu


Overview

Jan/22 Tue 03:00PM-04:30PM 26-414

Overview: history, physics history, history of weapons numbers in the cold war, outlook for reduction and elimination.

Aron Bernstein - Professor of Physics


Nuclear Proliferation

Jan/24 Thu 03:00PM-04:30PM 26-414

Nuclear proliferation, non-proliferation treaty, IAEA inspections, Iran.

Olli Heinonen - Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard; former Dep Dir IAEA


The Cold War Era

Jan/29 Tue 03:00PM-04:30PM 26-414

The Cold War Era: weapons, strategies and treaties.

Aron Bernstein - Professor of Physics


Outlook

Jan/31 Thu 03:00PM-04:30PM 26-414

Outlook for nuclear weapons policy, Obama Administration, abolition?

Aron Bernstein - Professor of Physics


Planners Read The Gorgias

Ezra Glenn

Jan/22 Tue 03:00PM-05:00PM 9-450A

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

What is the role of oratory and power in a democratic society? Is it worse to do wrong or to be wronged? What is the difference between knowledge and true belief? Why is it important for both the accused and their judges to meet naked in court? (And what do all of these questions have to do with becoming an urban planner?) Come explore these themes with us in a dramatic -- possibly participatory -- reading of Plato's "Gorgias," a Socratic dialog written in 380 BC that is as relevant today as when it was written. Greek food included; togas optional.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, x3-2024, eglenn@mit.edu


Planning Exercise: Managing climate change-related uncertainty in infrastructure planning

Todd Schenk, PhD candidate, Environmental Policy and Planning

Jan/15 Tue 10:00AM-01:00PM TBD

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required

Interested in planning in the face of the risks and uncertainties posed by climate change? Want to practice your negotiation skills in a simulated multi-stakeholder environment? Interested in infrastructure planning?

I am looking for people to participate in a role-play simulation exercise at MIT (with lunch provided). 

As part of my dissertation work, I will be using this short exercise exploring the best ways of handling the uncertainties involved in managing climate change risks on urban waterfront infrastructure with decision-makers and other stakeholders in various locations (Rotterdam, Singapore and New York). I would like to pilot it here first. I hope that this exercise will be beneficial for all involved, providing an opportunity to think about the management of uncertainty in decision-making, along with a chance to practice negotiation skills. I also expect it to be fun.

The location is to be determined, but will be somewhere here at MIT. Please RSVP directly to me if you are willing and able to attend, or if you have any questions.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Todd Schenk, (617) 230-8480, tschenk@mit.edu


Planning, Funding, and Implementing Transportation Projects in the Real World (or How It Really Works)

Kate Fichter, Eric Plosky

Jan/30 Wed 01:00PM-04:00PM 9-450A+B

Enrollment: ACTIVITY FULL
Sign-up by 01/25
Limited to 30 participants

As a vital and complex element of any urban or regional environment, transportation infrastructure both affects and is affected by land use patterns, economic development policies, political power-brokering and environmental resources, and so offers a lens through which to study many of the choices and constraints available to today's planners. This seminar will offer a practice-oriented overview of the issues, players and trends most relevant to contemporary transportation planning, as taught by two MIT/DUSP alumni currently working in the field.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, x3-2024, eglenn@mit.edu


Public Opinion Data Resources

Katherine McNeill

Jan/30 Wed 10:00AM-11:00AM 14N-132

Enrollment: Register at: http://libcal.mit.edu/event.php?id=196878
Sign-up by 01/23
Limited to 20 participants

Interested in studying public opinion in the U.S. and other countries? Want to gauge how the electorate stands on issues in in the wake of the 2012 election? This workshop will teach you how to find data from public opinion polls, both summary statistics and individual response-level data files that you can analyze yourself. Covers the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and other resources on topics such as government, the economy, and much more.

Please register for this session.

Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Katherine McNeill, E53-168c, x3-0787, mcneillh@mit.edu


Start a UNESCO Club at MIT!

Lina Cherrat, Undergraduate

Jan/24 Thu 05:00PM-06:00PM 56-154

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

While UNESCO clubs are very popular in Europe, with around 280 clubs in France, Spain and Germany alone, only a handful exist in the US. The purpose of such a club is to “defend and promote science, culture and education as a way of bringing people together”.

A UNESCO club has the following goals:
Informing both the members and the general public by disseminating information about national and world issues.

Taking action and implementing activities to promote and apply the values of UNESCO

A UNESCO club can undertake a large variety of projects such as the Tesla Memory project, political debates, humanitarian work, etc.

If you're interested in finding out more attend this session.  If you can't make it to the session contact Lina Cherrat lcherrat@mit.edu

Sponsor(s): Political Science
Contact: Lina Cherrat, lcherrat@mit.edu


Two 9/11 Truth Documentaries from AE911Truth.org

Dave Slesinger, MIT Alum

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

We will view two movies, made from Architects&Engineers for 911Truth (ae911Truth.org), one each night, about  what really happened on 9/11, and then discuss them.

Learn about the evidence behind this tragedy as presented by professional architects and engineers who will demonstrate that it could not possibly have happened in the way that we've been told.  The films avoid speculation and discuss evidence of what has become the most significant event of our era.

 

Contact: Dave Slesinger, davidslesinger@yahoo.com


9/11 Blueprint for Truth

Jan/08 Tue 07:00PM-10:00PM 56-114

Highly praised multimedia presentation by San Francisco Bay Area architect Richard Gage, AIA.  Presents evidence of explosive controlled demolition of the three World Trade Center high-rise buildings on 9/11.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?visTGualnr9A

 

Dave Slesinger - MIT Alum


9/11 Explosive Evidence -- Experts Speak

Jan/22 Tue 07:00PM-10:00PM 56-114

Experts in high-rise architecture, structural engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, physics, explosives and demolition give you their professional expertise on 9/11. It's not conspiracy, it's forensics.  Most viewed & shared for weeks on PBS nationally.

Eight experts in the workings of the human mind explain why this seems so difficult for so many of us to process.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0isTGualn9A

Dave Slesinger - MIT Alum


Urban Planning Film Series: Really Long Films

Ezra Glenn

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

For IAP, the department's ongoing Urban Planning Film Series continues with a twist: since there are no classes, p-sets, or other distractions to contend with, this month the series will feature some of the great LONG (or even SUPER-LONG) films in the genre.

 

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN@MIT.EDU


When the Levees Broke, by Spike Lee

Jan/17 Thu 02:00PM-06:00PM 3-133, end times vary

Subtitled "A Requiem in Four Acts," Spike Lee's heart-rending portrait of New Orleans in the wake of the destruction manages to be both intimate and epic.  Originally aired as a four-part HBO miniseries, the film tells the heartbreaking personal stories of those who endured this harrowing ordeal--yet, somehow, amidst the ruins, the people of New Orleans are finding new hope and strength as the city rises from the ashes.

Ezra Glenn


Half the Sky, by Maro Chermayeff

Jan/24 Thu 02:00PM-06:00PM 3-133

Originally aired as a four-hour television series for PBS, this epic work introduces women and girls who are living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable---and fighting bravely to change them.  Traveling with intrepid reporter Nicholas Kristof and A-list celebrity advocates, the film reflects viable and sustainable options for empowerment and offers an actionable blueprint for transformation.

Ezra Glenn


Public Housing, by Fred Wiseman

Jan/31 Thu 02:00PM-06:00PM 3-133

This cinema-verite documentary captures daily life at the Ida B. Wells public housing development in Chicago. The film illustrates some of the experiences of people living in conditions of extreme poverty, including the work of the tenants council, street life, the role of police, job training, drug education, teenage mothers, dysfunctional families, elderly residents, nursery school, and after school teenage programs.

Ezra Glenn