Aloud @ Los Angeles Public Library

As a culture, we are often focused on beginnings— the start of things instead of the endings. Acclaimed sociologist and MacArthur prize-winning Harvard professor Lawrence-Lightfoot examines moments that define how we transition through our lives. From looking at an Iranian teenager who leaves the political strife of his native land, to a middle-aged gay man who reflects on his ‘exit’ from the closet, to the director of a hospital ICU who oversees patients facing death, Lawrence-Lightfoot examines new ways of seeing our farewells.

Part One: Tales of DesperationM.C.'d by Richard Montoya of Culture ClashJoin in this first-ever edition of live storytelling at ALOUD as six local voices take us through the comedic, tragic, entertaining, and desperate tales of life in the City of Angels.Music by Tom Lutz and Blue TunaIn partnership with the Los Angeles Review of Books

The popular columnist for the New York Times declares that the proud state of big oil and bigger ambitions matters most in America’s political landscape, that “what happens in Texas doesn’t stay in Texas anymore.” The country’s fundamental divide has long been seen as a war between the Republican heartland and its two liberal coasts. But after visiting Texas, Collins reconsiders where the epicenter of a conservative political agenda resides and how it is sweeping across the country to redefine our national identity.

Two celebrated writers deeply influenced by the riparian and other landscapes of the American West will read from their work and explore how storytelling, in the tradition of Thoreau and Emerson, can give voice to natural resources. Activist and award-winning author Kathleen Dean Moore discusses her newest book Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril and Craig Childs, the author of more than a dozen acclaimed books on nature and science, reflects on expedition adventures from Colorado to Tibet.The Elemental West: Fire, Water, Air, Earth (Program two of four)

The Washington Post calls Richard Ford, "One of the finest curators of the great American living museum." In his haunting new novel, Canada, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the mysterious and consoling bonds of family in a tale about a young man forced by catastrophic circumstance to reconcile himself to a world that has been rendered unrecognizable.

From hired mourners who will scatter your loved one's ashes, to nameologists (who help you name your child)-the sociologist and acclaimed author of The Second Shift draws on original research to reveal the threats inherent in a world in which the most intuitive and emotional of human acts have become work for hire.

How have unreasonable principles —from negotiating to risk-taking, from investing to hiring— helped billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad in founding two Fortune 500 companies, funding scientific research and education reform, and building some of the world’s greatest contemporary art museums? Why is he drawn to the unreasonableness of contemporary artists like Richard Serra and Robert Rauschenberg? What can we learn from the wisdom of an unreasonable man?

If the conscious mind is the only part of the brain we are aware of, then what in the world else is happening up there? Renowned neuroscientist (and novelist) David Eagleman navigates the depth of the subconscious brain to illuminate surprising mysteries that take in brain damage, plane spotting, dating, drugs, synesthesia, criminal law, artificial intelligence and visual illusions.

Bechdel follows her best-selling graphic memoir, Fun Home, with a second tale of filial sleuthing-this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, amateur actor, and also a woman, unhappily married to a gay man. Bechdel's quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf leads through psychoanalysis and Dr. Seuss to a truce that will move all adult children of gifted mothers.

Upon her mother's passing, Williams inherited three shelves of journals. Not only was it a shock that her mother kept journals, but it was also a shock to see what the journals contained-pages and pages of blank pages. In fifty-four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses, each with its own logic and beauty, Williams-author of the iconic memoir Refuge-creates a soaring meditation on the mystery of her mother's empty journals, always asking, \"What does it mean to have a voice?\"

Javier Sicilia, Mexican poet-turned-activist and leader of Mexico's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, is turning personal horror into hope for himself and his country. After the death of his son at the hands of drug traffickers last year, Sicilia swapped his pen for protest, pushing to stop the bloodshed. Leading the fight with a radiant intellect and deep faith, this TIME Magazine Protester of the Year speaks on the power of words as an instrument for peace, recognizing that responsibility lies on both sides of the border.

Slavoj Zizek, renowned Slovenian critical theorist, dissects and reconstructs three major faith-based systems of belief in the world today, showing how each faith understands humanity and divinity-and how the differences between the faiths may be far stranger than they at first seem.

Smart, comical, and sensible, this children's book-follow-up to the widely successful Go the F*** to Sleep by Adam Mansbach, offers kids the opportunity to recognize their tactics, giggle at their own mischievousness, and empathize with their parents' struggles, while providing both kids and parents common ground to talk about one of the most stressful aspects of parenting.

Smith takes us on a trip-mind-blowing and humorous-deep into the international underground where super-high-grade marijuana is developed, produced, sold, and entered into the Super Bowl of the marijuana world, Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup. Moving between California, the hub of the legalization and decriminalization debate, and the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, Smith infiltrates a world where science, nature, and the sometimes criminal intersect.

Two celebrated poets read from their most recent work and discuss how Los Angeles has influenced their writing, how some influences overlap and others diverge. Born in Watts, Wanda Coleman witnessed Simon Rodia working on the Towers firsthand. Coleman's work is often concerned with the outsider, both in terms of race and poverty in California. Lewis MacAdams is a poet, journalist, filmmaker, and activist who has written on topics ranging from cultural history to the environment. Known as the Los Angeles River's most influential advocate, he co-founded the Friends of the LA River (FoLAR) and dubbed it \"a forty year art work.\"

Using film clips and text in a detailed play-by-play of Harpo Marx's physical movements, Koestenbaum celebrates the astonishing range of Harpo's body-- its kinks, sexual multiplicities, somnolence, Jewishness, \"cute\" pathos, and more. Holding up a mirror to Marx's 13 films, Koestenbaum takes a sharp look at American culture and mythology and the intimacies of how we communicate without words.

Lelyveld, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, offers an intricate portrait of Gandhi's conflicted mission. After shaping his philosophy of nonviolent resistance during his time in South Africa, Gandhi promoted these social values back in his native India. Although India quickly revered the \"Great Soul,\" Gandhi's following only contributed a small part to the social transformation he imagined. In this new biography, Lelyveld brings us closer to one of history's most remarkable self-creations and one of the twentieth century's most inspiring figures.

From the best-selling author of How We Decide comes a revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Why did Elizabethan England experience a creative explosion? What can we learn from Bob Dylan's writing habits and the drug addiction of poets? How did Pixar redesign its office space for maximum creativity? How can you embrace your own creative side and make your community more vibrant? Join us for a discussion into the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.

As he approached midlife, bestselling author and Los Angeles local Mark Salzman (Iron and Silk, The Soloist, Lying Awake) confronted a year of catastrophe. Overwhelmed by terrifying panic attacks, suffering from a crippling case of writer's block, and dealing with the very sudden death of his sister, Salzman began a spiritual search for equanimity. His new memoir, The Man in the Empty Boat is the result of his journey to find peace as a father, writer, and individual. Navigating the turbulent waters of heartbreak with great force and wit, Salzman takes the stage to perform a monologue based on his memoir.

There may be more to \"Like Ike\" than we realize. Veteran journalist and editor-at-large of the Los Angeles Times, Jim Newton offers a bold reappraisal of the 34th president, who was belittled by critics as \"the babysitter in chief.\" Newton yields a portrait of a shrewd leader, a progressive politician, and a champion of peace who refused to use an atomic bomb, grounded McCarthyism, built an interstate system, and turned a $8 billion deficit into a $500 million surplus.