The Materiality of Medieval Texts working group, sponsored by the Medieval Institute and convened by Laura Banella, CJ Jones, and Johannes Junge Ruhland, invites you to its first meeting of the year. Please import meeting details to your calendar using this link.   We will discuss "(Un)Illustrating the Lyric: Possibilities of an Intermedial Dante," a pre-circulated chapter from Laura Banella's monograph, Rewriting Dante: Lyric Books and Cultural Authority in Medieval and Renaissance Italy (1290-1550), which is in its final stages of revision. Annie Killian will launch us off into discussion with a response, and we will have ample time to share thoughts and questions on the readings. If you are pressed for time and can only skim through the reading, please do come anyway!  Contact information: jjungeru@nd.eduOriginally published at romancelanguages.nd.edu.

The Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights will host a panel discussion with the Catholic Mobilizing Network on stories of justice from death row. The Catholic Mobilizing Network is a national organization that mobilizes Catholics and all people of good will to value life over death, to end the use of the death penalty, to transform the U.S. criminal legal system from punitive to restorative, and to build capacity in U.S. society to engage in restorative practices. A reception will follow the event in the atrium of the Hesburgh Center for International Studies. PanelistsGary Drinkard spent close to six years on Alabama’s death row for a crime he did not commit — the robbery and murder of a 65-year-old automotive junk dealer in Decatur, Alabama. The case against Drinkard rested primarily on testimony from his half-sister and her common-law husband, both of whom were facing charges for unrelated crimes that would be dismissed in exchange for their testimony against Drinkard. Drinkard reached out to Bryan Stevenson at the Equal Justice Initiative for help with his case. In 2000, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered a new trial because of prosecutorial misconduct, and with the help of the Southern Center for Human Rights, he won an acquittal in 2001.Rev. Dr. Crystal Walker has a Masters of Divinity degree from Payne Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary. Her ministry focus is on women who have experienced domestic abuse, rape, and/or incest. She is the founder of Pastors Against Domestic Violence, an ecumenical ministry that trains pastors to be courtroom advocates for victims of domestic violence (women, men, and children). She is also focused on many additional social injustices in the city of Dayton, Ohio. Walker is also a strong advocate against the death penalty and for stricter gun laws. She lost her son, Edward, to gun violence when he was 28 years old. She serves on the board of Journey of Hope – from Violence to Healing and is the co-chair of Ohioans to Stop Executions.Ruth Friedman has dedicated her career to fighting for the rights and lives of men and women sentenced to death, working first on behalf of state-sentenced people in Alabama and Georgia and then for those facing execution in federal courts. She began her capital work at the Southern Center for Human Rights, where she handled direct appeals, habeas proceedings, and trials throughout the South, and later joined the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center and the Equal Justice Initiative as they transformed capital representation in Alabama. Friedman has testified, trained, and argued in Congress, classrooms, and courts nationwide. In 2023, she received the Southern Center’s Frederick Douglass Award. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School and her undergraduate degree from Harvard University. Originally published at klau.nd.edu.

Come listen to Jon Coleman, the Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History, uncover what the Kankakee River can teach us! Where: Multi-Purpose Room (Room 235), Decio Faculty Hall A hint of what's to come: It has been a long time since the Kankakee River quickened anyone’s pulse. Sandwichedbetween Indiana and Illinois at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, the Kankakee boasts neither adelta nor a port. The Indiana section of the river was straightened in the early twentieth century.Locals unlovingly call it “the big ditch.” A forgotten river, the Kankakee conceals the history ofa region and its environmental transformation. It is a case study in the hidden costs of control anddomination. More famous rivers have endured their share of manhandling, but the levees on theMississippi or the dams on the Colorado grabbed as much attention as the liquids they pinned. Inthe heyday of Midwestern drainage between 1890 and 1920, the waters of the Kankakee spurreddebates over economic progress and ecological preservation. Ardors cooled, however, asrecollections of the old river faded. The Kankakee offers a lesson in tangled phenomenon ofwetland destruction and memory loss. It shows what happens when aggressive improvement robsa river of its stories. Originally published at environmentalhumanities.nd.edu.

Join us for Richard Etlin’s body of work on the Pantheon and his unique view on one of the most important architectural buildings in the history of the world. Etlin is an architectural historian and a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland. Register to attend online here Co-sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies. Originally published at architecture.nd.edu.

History shows that social movements are able to shape policy if they employ wise strategies, attract mass support, build broadly-based coalitions, articulate compelling narratives, and are persistent in applying pressure for change. Using the Vietnam peace movement, Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, and Iraq antiwar movement as examples, David Cortright, Keough School of Global Affairs professor emeritus of the practice, will identify lessons for contemporary campaigns to prevent a new arms race and protest movements to oppose authoritarianism and social injustice, including the historic Hands Off, No Kings and Good Trouble mobilizations of recent months. David Griffith, assistant advising professor with the College of Arts and Letters and a concurrent teaching professor with the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, will serve as the respondent, with Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. professor of the practice of peace studies, moderating the discussion. The session will be held in person in Jenkins Nanovic Halls, Rm. 1050, as well as being held live on Zoom. To attend virtually, register here. Photo courtesy of: StephenLukeEdD/Flickr Register here Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Join the Notre Dame Law School for a fireside chat with Anna Vasquez.Anna Vasquez is the director of outreach and education for the Innocence Project of Texas and president of the Innocence Network Executive Board. After being wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 13 years, Vasquez has become a leading advocate for justice reform and is the first exoneree to serve as president of the Innocence Network Executive Board. A Q&A will conclude the discussion.All are welcome to attend! Lunch will be provided. Originally published at law.nd.edu.