Harvard Book Store welcomes Chris Wrenn—founder of indie record label Bridge Nine and the clothing label Sully's—for a discussion of his book, Fenway Punk: How a Boston Indie Label Scored Big on Baseball’s Greatest Rivalry.
Author Chris Wrenn, a member of the Boston hardcore punk scene, had a dream of his own—to start his own record label. Embracing the do-it-yourself ethos of the scene, Chris set out to make it happen, networking and forging relationships with local bands. But such an endeavor required money he didn't have ... until he and his friends heard a familiar phrase echo out of Fenway Park, the home field of the Red Sox. A rousing story of entrepreneurship and ingenuity that also reveals fresh insight into one of the most epic rivalries in sports history, Fenway Punk is a gripping read for both fans of punk music and readers of Ben Mezrich, Lizzy Goodman, and Chuck Klosterman.

What was once a marketplace for personal information has evolved into a permanent, powerful infrastructure: one that federal agencies, law enforcement, and even the Department of Defense increasingly rely on to monitor, classify, and track people in ways the public rarely sees. At the center of this shift is the data-broker economy, a vast, lightly regulated industry that buys and sells the intimate details of our lives. These datasets now feed into AI systems used for policing, immigration enforcement, and risk assessment. More recently, they have also begun informing the Pentagon’s exploration of autonomous technologies capable of identifying and targeting individuals without direct human oversight.

Join Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Kade Crockford, Director of Technology and Justice Programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts, for a timely investigation into how these systems work, who they empower, and what they mean for the future of democratic participation.

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, and Long Now Boston welcome Andrew H. Knoll—Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and Earth and Planetary Sciences, Emeritus, at Harvard University, and author of A Brief History of Earth and Life on a Young Planet—for a discussion of his new book Earth and Life: A Four Billion Year Conversation. He will be joined in conversation by Robin Wordsworth—Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Co-Director of Graduate Studies at Harvard University

Hear from renowned legal scholar, civil rights advocate, and former judge Margaret A. Burnham, the founder of Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) and author of By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners. Through CRRJ, Burnham has led teams of law students in investigating acts of racial violence in the Jim Crow era, including hundreds of unsolved murders of Black people among other historical failures of the criminal justice system.

You’re invited to Lanterns & Luminaries: a special evening at the historic Old North Church celebrating the anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous “two if by sea” lantern signal in April of 1775. Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, will accept the Third Lantern Award, which is presented annually to an individual who embodies the values symbolized in Old North’s iconic signal lanterns: leadership, courage, hope, tenacity, and active citizenship.

The Lanterns & Luminaries program will include festive music, a dramatic reading of “Paul Revere’s Ride” by PBS’ Roberto Mighty, the presentation of the Third Lantern Award, and an inspiring keynote address from Mr. Lockhart. The evening concludes with a fun gathering where guests can enjoy refreshments and witness the lighting of the lanterns in the church steeple.

Lam is a journalist and short story writer, currently serving as the web editor of New America Media. He is a regular contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered and blogs for the Huffington Post.

How do stories and songs carry knowledge across generations? How does art hold space for healing while challenging systems of oppression? This panel explores how narrative and music function as radical tools for Black liberation—both historically and today.

Kelly Sims Gallagher directs The Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University, dedicated to identifying which climate policies work, which don’t, and why in countries around the world, with particular emphasis on major emerging economies including China, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil.

The field of industrial archeology (IA) is now about 70 years old and has passed through stages of life, from an exuberant youth filled with discovery – the period when the Charles River Museum of Industry was founded – to its sedate present. Interest in the field seems to be waning, judging from declining membership in IA groups, and even the name of the field confuses people. Those of us who would like to see the field survive and flourish wonder how it can be re-energized, in what direction should it go?

This presentation explains what industrial archeology is. It traces the history of the field, from its beginnings in England in the 1950s and the founding of the U.S. Society for Industrial Archeology in 1971, to the present, and describes some of its contributions, like the early surveys of historic textile mills. It covers its connections to allied history and practice fields, like history of technology and historic preservation. Sara Wermiel concludes by presenting her ideas for what the field might focus on, to have a purpose that can sustain it.

The Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College welcomes Sherene Seikaly to discuss themes from her forthcoming book project, From Baltimore to Beirut: On the Question of Palestine, and raise the question: How do we understand conflicting claims to land and its relationship to colonialism?

Cosponsored by the Boston College History Department.

The Lowell Humanities Series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, Boston College’s Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Provost’s Office.