Elise Levine is the author of the story collection Driving Men Mad and the novel ...
Reading Is Critical
Reading is critical, in both senses of the word. Crucial, of course, insofar as it is a cornerstone of communication, a primary means by which we receive information. But it is also an active form of resistance, a tactic in the struggle against ignorance, misinformation, and manipulation. To read is to become knowledgeable; to become knowledgeable is to become powerful. We invite visiting authors, booksellers, and members of our community to submit "Critical Reading" lists featuring books that are, in these senses, “critical.” Submit yours by emailing events@semcoop.com, and check each post for details on related events!
June 18th, 2017
Since the release of her award-winning debut novel, ...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
June 13th, 2017
Haroon Moghul builds Muslim-Jewish engagement at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He’s written for the Washington Post, The Guardian, Time, Foreign Policy, Haaretz, and CNN. He and his wife want to move back to New York. Moghul discusses How to Be a Muslim: An American Story,...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
June 4th, 2017
Dr. Jack Gilbert is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago, Director of the Microbiome Institute, Associate Director of the Institute of Genomic and Systems Biology, Research Associate at the Field Museum of Natural History, and Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. from Nottingham University. Gilbert discusses Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
May 17th, 2017
Doris Andrea Dirks is a senior academic planner with the University of Wisconsin System Administration. Doris Andrea Dirks discusses To Offer Compassion: A History of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, in conversation by Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar, on Thurs. 6/22 6pm at the Co-op. RSVP and details here.
Critical Reads for D.A. Dirks’ June 22, 2017 6 p.m. event at Co-op Seminary Bookstore relating to To Offer Compassion: A History of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion by Doris Andrea Dirks and Patricia A. Relf:
... Posted in: Reading Is Critical
May 17th, 2017
Dr. Willie Parker sits on the board of institutions at the forefront of the fight for reproductive justice, including as the chair-elect of the board of Physicians for Reproductive Health. He is the recipient of Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award, an honor also bestowed upon Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda, and appeared on Ebony’s Power 100 list. He has been featured widely for his work, including in Slate, Jezebel, Cosmopolitan, NPR’s Morning Edition, Salon, and more. While a fascinating profile on Dr. Parker in Esquire sparked national interest in 2014, he is now the subject of Trapped (Trilogy Films), a documentary about the...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
May 17th, 2017
Mya Guarnieri Jaradat is a journalist and writer who spent nearly a decade covering Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories. Her work has been published in a number of literary and media outlets, including The Nation, Al Jazeera English, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Narrative, Kenyon Review, and Boston Review. Jaradat discusses The Unchosen: Non-Jews in the Jewish State...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
May 9th, 2017
Samuel Hellman, M.D., A. N. Pritzker Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Hellman served as Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Vice President for the Medical Center from July 1988 to June 1993. He was Physician-in-Chief of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases from 1983-1988. He concurrently held the Benno C. Schmidt Chair in Clinical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In addition, Dr. Hellman was Professor of Radiation Oncology at Cornell University Medical College from 1984-1988. Before joining Sloan-Kettering, Dr. Hellman served as Chairman of the Department of Radiation Therapy at the Harvard Medical School where he was the Alvin T. and Viola D. Fuller -...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
April 30th, 2017
James Forman Jr. discusses Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, Mon. 5/1 6pm at 57th Street Books. RSVP and details here.
My critical reads are grouped in two categories. The first are near-instant classics; many people have heard of, and read, these best-sellers. Sometimes books get undeserved acclaim. Not so with these 3. They are each brilliant, informed, and highly readable. To understand race, crime, police, and prisons, start here. ...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical
April 22nd, 2017
Charles Borkhuis’ eight collections of poems include: Disappearing Acts [Chax] and Alpha Ruins (Bucknell U.), selected by Fanny Howe as a finalist for the W.C. Williams Award. Dead Ringer (BlazeVOX) is forthcoming in 2017. His poems have appeared in six anthologies and his essays were published in two collections of essays on contemporary poetics published by the University of Alabama. He curated poetry readings for the Segue Foundation in NYC for 15 years and translated from the French New Exercises by Franck André Jamme (Wave). His plays have been presented in NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hartford, and Paris and have been published in four books. ...
Posted in: Reading Is Critical