March 2012 Programs

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Fri 3/2, 5-7pm, SALON: Historian Stephen O’Shea reads from his new book, The Friar of Carcassonne: Revolt Against the Inquisition in the Last Days of the Cathars.

In 1300, the French region of Languedoc had been cowed under the authority of both Rome and France for nearly a century, since a papal crusade had almost wiped out the Cathars, heretical Christians whose beliefs threatened the authority of the Church. Decades of repression under the grand inquisitor of Toulouse (the villain in The Name of the Rose) had bred resentment, and in Carcassonne, anger at the Inquisition reached a boiling point. Then the charismatic Franciscan friar Bernard Délicieux emerged, uniting Cathar and Catholic to reclaim, for a time, control of their lives and communities. O’Shea returns to the medieval world of his earlier work, The Perfect Heresy, for a story of courage and principle standing up to power. Books for sale and signing thanks to the Brown Bookstore.

Our generous sponsor is vintagepens.com.

Tues 3/6, 5-7pm: The Regret-In, a marathon read-aloud of William Maxwell’s short novel So Long, See You Tomorrow, co-presented with Not About the Buildings.

One winter morning in the 1920s, a man is killed on an Illinois farm, and a privileged, neglected teenager’s tenuous friendship with a troubled farm boy is shattered. Decades later, one of the boys tries to reconstruct the events leading up to the murder. He is drawn back to his lost friend, the son of the killer and a witness to things Maxwell’s narrator can only imagine. From the surmises of children and the destructive passions of parents, Maxwell creates a classic of youth and loss. Join us for an evening of reading aloud - sign up to read or just enjoy the rare pleasure of hearing a story come to life through the human voice. Event is made possible in part by a grant from the RI State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the RI General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Our generous sponsor is Elad, Inc.

Fri 3/9, 5-7pm, SALON: Taylor Polites on his genre-bending new novel The Rebel Wife.

Augusta Branson was born into the antebellum Southern nobility of wealth and prosperity. Now, in the violent world of Reconstruction Alabama, her disreputable husband has died suddenly, leaving her with a young son. Her social standing ruined by her marriage, she is alone and unprotected in a community being destroyed by racial prejudice and violence, and her expected inheritance does not exist. Using the Southern Gothic tradition to explode literary archetypes like the chivalrous Southern gentleman, the good mammy, and the defenseless Southern belle, Polites examines long-unquestioned myths of the antebellum South. Books for sale and signing thanks to the Brown Bookstore.

Our generous sponsor is The Peck Building, LLC.

Sat 3/10, 10am to noon: Writing Studio with Liz Howort of Frequency Writing Workshops, specially offered FREE to the Athenaeum!

This studio will focus on the travel log (non-fiction). Participants will consider Matsuo Basho’s travel log, The Narrow Road to the Interior, as a hybrid text, encompassing prose and haiku to offer the haibun form. Basho will group members as they consider the relationship between prose and poetry, and the studio will feature a series of in-class exercises to generate prose and haibun forms. Please come prepared to draft new work. Please contact Liz with any questions at frequencyprovidence@gmail.com. More on Frequency: frequencyprovidence.com. Limited to 15 participants; pre-registration required: email to frequencyprovidence@gmail.com; please indicate “3/10 travel log studio” in subject line.

Wed 3/14, 6pm: At the Fleet Library at RISD, 15 Westminster Street, the John Russell Bartlett Society presents book and printing historian Walker Rumble on “Hubbard’s Roycroft: A Little Journey to East Aurora,” a presentation on the Roycroft Press.

Roycroft was an Arts & Crafts community in upstate New York which lasted from 1895 to 1938. This talk is in conjunction with an exhibition of Roycroft Press books and periodicals on display at the RISD Library, 1/13 to 3/30, curated by RISD Librarian Robert Garzillo, and containing works from the Athenaeum’s collection of Roycroft books and periodicals, donated to the Athenaeum by poet and board member Brett Rutherford.

Fri 3/16, 5-7pm, SALON: Randy Spencer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Concordia Fibers, presents “Re:Made: A manufacturer’s story of evolution and survival from the past to the present,” part 2 of the series “Making Through the Ages: the Past, Present, and Future of Innovation in RI.”

Founded in 1920 as a manufacturer of silk yarns, Concordia became a leading producer of synthetic yarns and threads for traditional textile applications. In the late 1980’s, using textile science, it expanded its capabilities into engineered products for aerospace, filtration media, power transmission belts, sailcloth, among other applications, while continuing to design and manufacture for leading apparel and industrial fabric firms worldwide. An innovator in the application of textile technology to non-textile fields, Spencer has been responsible for Concordia’s development of several patents. He will discuss the past and future of manufacturing from the perspective of a company that has endured by innovating and evolving.

“Making Through the Ages” is a 3-part series created by guest salonnier Kipp Bradford, technology consultant and entrepreneur, to foster conversations on the innovation revolution in RI, from past to future, looking inwardly at work and culture in the state, and outwardly at the DIY and Maker movements.

Our generous sponsors for the entire series are Michael, Anne, and Amelia Spalter.

Fri 3/23, 5-7pm, SALON: The members of Everett on their new multimedia work Brain Storm, examining new developments in brain research and the neurological revolution, on stage in Providence 4/13-29 and touring nationally 2012-13.

A year ago Everett joined us to talk about their then in-process Brain Storm, including their work with medical and technological researchers of the brain. The piece is now touring; join them for a follow-up Salon on the final work, to be performed at the Carriage House Stage in April. The brain is perfectly suited to the in-depth, research-driven, visually layered work of Everett; seamlessly blending choreography, storytelling, facts, humor, and video projection, the company has created an experience that informs, entertains, and provokes thought. Tickets for the limited run of April performances will be available at the Salon. More on Everett and Brain Storm: everettri.org.

Our generous sponsor is Studio Hop, hopestreetprov.com.

Fri 3/23, 7:30pm: The Legendary Pub Quiz!

Call 421-6970 to reserve a spot. $5 for Athenaeum members; $10 for non-members.

Sat 3/24, 10am to noon: Metaphor Games: A Writing Workshop with Darcie Dennigan of Frequency Writing Workshops, specially offered FREE to the Athenaeum!

Writers of all levels - and genres - are welcome to this morning of writing. You need only be willing to experiment with metaphor, perhaps the greatest writer’s gizmo of all. Participants will spend the time reading work by Mary Ruefle, Paul Eluard, Tony Hoagland, and others, trying various writing experiments, and sharing the results. You’ll leave with drafts of at least two different pieces, and with a broader conception of how you might use figurative language in your writing. Please contact Darcie with any questions at frequencyprovidence@gmail.com. More on Frequency: frequencyprovidence.com. Limited to 15 participants; pre-registration required: email to frequencyprovidence@gmail.com; please indicate “3/24 Metaphor Games” in subject line.

Tues 3/27, 5:30-7pm (5:30pm reception; 6pm program): RI Public Radio and the Athenaeum co-present Policy & Pinot, a timely conversation series on vital issues facing our state: “Why Are We So Depressed?”

RI ranks number one in a range of unhappy categories - we have the highest rate of serious mental illness, illicit drug use, and suicide attempts in the nation. Does living in the smallest state in the union make us especially depressed or self-destructive? Is it just a matter of sample error? Or are we better at asking for help? Join RIPR’s Healthcare Reporter Megan Hall for a conversation with experts from RI’s mental health and substance abuse communities. FREE, but reservations required: reservations can be made starting on 2/13 by contacting Danielle Blasczak at dblasczak@ripr.org.

Fri 3/30, 5-7pm, SALON: Photographer Lucas Foglia on his series The Garden, documenting urban food producers at food gardens in diverse neighborhoods across the city of Providence, part of Southside Community Land Trust’s 30th Anniversary activities.

Building on Foglia’s previous work with SCLT in 2005 photo-graphing gardeners and neighborhood families at its longest-growing community garden, Somerset Community Garden (focus of an Athenaeum Salon in 2006), his 2011 work celebrates SCLT’s 30+ years of helping people grow food, and reflects its new focus on taking its urban agriculture programs city-wide. SCLT will use his photographs to promote membership to its Community Growers Network, a new city-wide initiative providing access to gardening resources, education, and community building for its members, helping Providence gardeners grow more food. More on SCLT: southsideclt.org.

Our generous sponsor is Dr. Joseph A. Chazan.