Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
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E.g., 2020/04/01
E.g., 2020/04/01

From Page to Screen: The Outsiders

Manuel Morales, Abby Olcese
Searching the Psyche Through Cinema

The month’s second Searching the Psyche Through Cinema installment features Francis Ford Coppola’s classic look at life on the outside, The Outsiders (1983; PG; 91 min.). Set in 1950s Tulsa, Oklahoma, it follows the conflict between a group of working-class teens known as the Greasers and the rich-kid Socs (pronounced soches, short for socials).

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This year’s Searching the Psyche Through Cinema screening-and-discussion series continues with the film adaptation (1983; PG) of S.E. Hinton’s genre-busting, coming-of-age novel The Outsiders. Set in 1950s Oklahoma, it follows the conflict between a group of working-classing teens known as the Greasers and the rich-kid Socs (pronounced soches, short for socials).
Sunday, January 26, 2020 1:30 pm
Reception: 
Following
Plaza Branch

The First Rainbow Coalition

Indie Lens Pop-Up

Fifty years ago, Chicago’s Black Panther Party formed an unlikely alliance in one of the most segregated cities in America. Intent on addressing police brutality, substandard housing, and other shared issues, the Panthers enlisted a diverse mix of movements including the Latino-based Young Lords Organization and southern whites’ Young Patriots Organization.

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The unlikely and ultimately impactful alliance of social movements in heavily segregated Chicago a half-century ago is spotlighted in the 2019 documentary the First Rainbow Coalition (57 min.), which is screened and discussed as part of the Indie Lens Pop-Up film series.
Saturday, January 25, 2020 2:00 pm
Plaza Branch

Health Justice Now: Single Payer and What Comes Next

Timothy Faust

Drawing from new book Health Justice Now, activist and author Timothy Faust makes the case for a single-payer, government-run healthcare system that assures all Americans of medical coverage. Critics decry the cost. He argues that our country should address healthcare as a human right, paying for it the same way we do for roads and police and fire services.

 

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Drawing from new book Health Justice Now, activist and author Timothy Faust makes the case for a single-payer, government-run healthcare system that assures all Americans of medical coverage. Critics decry the cost. He argues that our country should address healthcare as a human right, paying for it the same way we do for roads and police and fire services.
Thursday, January 23, 2020 6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event AudioEvent Videos

Ghetto Uprising: The Untold Story

Shelly M. Cline

Facing overwhelming obstacles, Jews and others in occupied Europe resisted Nazi rule in a variety of ways during World War II. Some instigated uprisings. Others worked more quietly to preserve community and create records of their experiences.

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The Library and the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education launch a series of films exploring Jewish and other resistance to Nazi rule during World War II with Ghetto Uprising: The Untold Story. The 2017 documentary (61 min., Hebrew and English with English subtitles) spotlights an underrecognized group of fighters in the Warsaw Uprising of 1943. Historian Shelly Cline leads a short Q&A session after the screening.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 6:30 pm
Plaza Branch

StoneLion Puppet Theatre: Snow

Friday Night Family Fun
This event has been rescheduled for February 7 due to the inclement weather forecast.
 
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Kansas City’s StoneLion Puppet Theatre offers a wintery, musical treat. Dance the Penguin Shuffle, watch our ice-skating mouse, bounce along with Frosty the Snowman … and let it snow. Appropriate for all ages.
Friday, January 17, 2020 6:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Canceled

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America

Marcia Chatelain

As the civil rights movement waned in the 1960s and early ’70s, federal programs promoted a new means of racial equality: the franchising of McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants by African Americans in their own neighborhoods.

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In a discussion of her new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Georgetown University professor, historian, and author Marcia Chatelain examines the upside – and considerable downside – of the proliferation of black-owned McDonald’s and other fast-food franchises in African American neighborhoods.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 6:30 pm
Reception: 
6 pm
Plaza Branch
Event AudioEvent Videos

From Page to Screen: Wild

Lori Hoodenpyle, Beck Ireland, Kaite Stover
Searching the Psyche Through Cinema

Sigmund Freud, the celebrated father of psychoanalysis, often referenced literature and theater in his analytic theory. The annual Searching the Psyche Through Cinema series looks similarly to the arts to illuminate our understanding of ourselves, returning in January and February with a selection of films adapted from books. A discussion follows each screening.

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This year’s Searching the Psyche Through Cinema series of screenings and discussions opens with the film adaptation (2014; R) of Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. It follows her impulsive – and ultimately healing – decision in the wake of a broken marriage and her mother’s death to hike more than 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone.
Sunday, January 12, 2020 1:30 pm
Reception: 
Following
Plaza Branch

Mansion on a Hill: The Story of The Willows Maternity Sanitarium and the Adoption Hub of America

KelLee Parr
Missouri Valley Sundays

Women who were pregnant and unmarried in the early 1900s faced limited options and societal scorn. Many chose, or were sent, to deliver their babies and give them up for adoption in special facilities for unwed mothers—among them, The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City.

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Author KelLee Parr looks back at The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City, one of the facilities that once provided a haven for “unfortunate” unwed pregnant women and adoption services for their newborns, in a discussion of his new book Mansion on a Hill. Parr’s grandmother was among the thousands of infants adopted through The Willows during its 64 years of operation, ending in 1969.
Sunday, January 5, 2020 2:00 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

The Defense of St. Vith: Crossroads in the Battle of the Bulge

Mark Gerges

Just before dawn on December 16, 1944, American forces in the Ardennes forests of Belgium and Luxemburg were surprised by the roar of German tanks and artillery, heralding Adolf Hitler’s final offensive on World War II’s Western Front. The Battle of the Bulge would last six brutal weeks and end in the U.S. Army’s greatest victory.

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Military historian Mark Gerges of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College discusses the inspiring response by American troops in the German-instigated Battle of the Bulge, including the 7th Armored Division’s defense of the critical crossroads town of St. Vith.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 6:30 pm
Reception: 
6 pm
Central Library
Event Audio

Paper Moon

Erin Hamer-Beck
Girlhood and Cinema Series

***EVENT CANCELED due to inclement weather.***

 

The Girlhood and Cinema film series continues showcasing the diverse roles of girls as cinematic storytellers with Peter Bogdanovich’s masterful period picture Paper Moon (1973; PG). Set in Depression-era Missouri and Kansas, it’s the story of a young con artist (then-10-year-old Tatum O’Neal) and her dad (real-life father Ryan O’Neal) as they build a grifting career. Tatum won an Oscar in her first film role. The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Erin Hamer-Beck leads a subsequent discussion.

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The Library concludes its four-month film series showcasing the diverse roles of girls as cinematic storytellers, screening Peter Bogdanovich’s masterful period picture Paper Moon (1973; PG). The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Erin Hamer-Beck leads a subsequent discussion.
Sunday, December 15, 2019 1:30 pm
Plaza Branch
Event Canceled

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