January 2007

APPLETON, WIS. — Justice Louis Butler, the first African-American to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, will deliver the keynote address at the 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Monday, January 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence University Memorial Chapel. The theme for this year’s event is “For the Common Good — Is King’s Dream Still Relevant Today?”

The celebration, co-sponsored by Lawrence and the organization Toward Community: Unity in Diversity, is free and open to the public. A sign language interpreter will be present.

The event will be a homecoming for Butler, who graduated from Lawrence in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in government. During a stellar law career spanning more than 25 years, Butler has achieved several notable “firsts,” including being the first public defender from Wisconsin to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first African-American Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. He was appointed to the state’s highest court by Governor Jim Doyle in August, 2004 to fill the position left vacant by Justice Diane Sykes’ acceptance of a seat on the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

A native of Chicago’s south side Park Manor neighborhood, Butler earned the J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and served as an assistant Wisconsin State Public Defender in both the appellate and trial divisions.

He served as a Milwaukee Municipal Court judge from 1992-2002 and Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge from 2002 until his appointment to the state supreme court. A former adjunct assistant professor at Marquette University Law School, Butler is a permanent member of the faculty of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., where judges from across the nation pursue continuing education.

“We’re thrilled to have a person of Justice Butler’s stature headlining our annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration,” said Erik Farley, assistant dean of students for multicultural affairs at Lawrence. “This is truly a community-enriching event, one that fosters new friendships and nurtures old ones as it gathers together Lawrentians and Fox Valley community members. It’s gratifying to know that Dr. King’s work lives on in our efforts to create and sustain a living and learning environment that respects all aspects of human difference.

“It is my hope that this celebration serves as a catalyst for future discussions that will challenge this community to think critically and to intellectually explore what might be unfamiliar territory,” Farley added. “We all have a responsibility to inspire the courage to question and to stretch some comfort zones within a safe space for learning and discussion.”

After moving to the Fox Cities in 1990, Rev. Roger Bertschausen of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and a founding member of Toward Community, was instrumental in organizing the community’s first King holiday celebration.

“I am delighted that the Martin Luther King celebration has become an important annual event in the life of our community, calling us to celebrate the strides toward community and justice we have made and reminding us that we have further to travel,” said Bertschausen.

In addition to Butler’s address, acclaimed singers Tim and Ezra Dorsey will perform during the celebration and lead the audience in a rendition of the African-American national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Tim Dorsey, who has been singing professionally since the 1970s, is well known for his musical versatility and distinctive vocal styling.

Highlighting the event will be the presentation by Toward Community of the annual Jane LaChapelle McCarty Unity in Diversity Award to an area individual who has made great strides in bringing together different people in the community.

The celebration also will include the reading of winning essays written by area youth who have addressed the question, “Is Dr. King’s message of equality and harmony among all people and all races still relevant today?”

A reception for all in attendance will follow the program.

APPLETON, WIS. — Award-winning contemporary French cinema, including a 2005 Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm winner, will be featured in a month-long film festival at Lawrence University beginning January 11. Five films will each be shown three times as part of the 2007 Tournees Festival, which was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture.

The films, in French with English subtitles, will be shown in the Wriston Art Center auditorium on the Lawrence campus beginning at 7 p.m. Admission is free with a Lawrence University I.D. or $3 for the general public.

“Given that the Fox Cities doesn’t have any regular venue for foreign films, this is a fabulous opportunity for the Lawrence French and Francophone Studies department to offer the community a glimpse of the breadth and variety of the French-speaking world and its cultures through contemporary films,” said Eilene Hoft March, professor of French at Lawrence, who is coordinating the series.

“The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture has subsidized film festivals through competitive grants on campuses all over the United States in an effort to encourage cross-cultural understanding,” Hoft-March added. “We’re thrilled to be one of those campuses that received the grant this year. We hope to enhance the series through post-film discussions led by a member of the Lawrence faculty on Thursday evenings.”

The films and dates are as follows.

Jan. 11, 12, 13 — “No Rest for the Brave” (2003)

A refreshingly original combination of a coming-of-age story and French existentialism spiced with plenty of wit and vivid imagery, where grand ideas mesh with bizarre occurrences to create a fascinating, surreal journey of discovery, chance and mystery. The film follows the adventures of Basile, an angst-ridden French teenager who is convinced he will die if he falls asleep. The notion leads him on a road trip that becomes a hallucinatory odyssey as he encounters murder, sex and intrigue.

Jan. 18, 20, 21 — “Moolade” ( 2004) Note: No showing on Friday. Jan. 19

Winner of the 2004 Cannes Best Film Award, “Moolade” tackles the explosive issue of female circumcision. Set in a small African village, four young girls face a ritual purification that involves genital mutilation. They flee to the house of Collé Ardo Gallo Sy, a strong-willed woman who invokes the time-honored custom of “mooladé” (sanctuary) to protect the fugitives, creating a conflict in the community and forcing every villager to take sides. The film explores heroism in daily life and the “underground struggle” of people which is often overlooked by their governments and the rest of world.

Jan. 25, 26, 27 — “Little Jerusalem” (2004)

Recognized with a screenwriting award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, “Little Jerusalem” is the nickname of a low-income housing neighborhood near Paris where a large number of Jewish immigrants live. The film focuses on sisters Laura and Mathilde, members of a Tunisian family of eight, who share a cramped apartment amid rising tensions between Muslim and Jewish communities. The film delicately depicts the intimate lives of two women while raising questions of religious interpretation, freedom, sexuality and family relationships.

Feb. 1, 2, 3 — “The Child” (2005)

Winner of the 2005 Golden Palm Award, the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival, “The Child” follows the transformation of Bruno, a dispossessed 20-year old who lives with his girlfriend, Sonia. Surviving on unemployment benefits, panhandling and petty thievery, Sonia gives birth to a son, Jimmy, for whom Bruno feels little attachment. Seeing Jimmy as little more than a potential source of wealth, Bruno sells Jimmy on the black market, which sends Sonia to the hospital. Realizing his mistake, Bruno sets out to get Jimmy back, robbing a store to do so. Overcome with a newly discovered sense of obligation to his son, Bruno steps forward and takes responsibility for the crime, which lands him in prison.

Feb. 8, 9, 10 — “Far Side of the Moon” (2003)

The recipient of several honors, including the FIPRESCI Prize (International Film Critics Award) at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival, “Far Side of the Moon” is an engaging metaphor of mysterious dualities, juxtaposing sibling rivalry with the U.S.-Soviet space race. The film centers around two estranged brothers with little in common who relive childhood disputes while disposing of their deceased mother’s belongings. Philippe is a 40ish doctoral student who has repeatedly failed to defend his dissertation on human narcissism and space exploration. His younger brother André is a television meteorologist. The film probes issues of competition and reconciliation while searching for meaning in the universe.

APPLETON, WIS. — Award-winning novelist Jane Hamilton will read excerpts from her latest book “When Madeline Was Young” Thursday, January 11 at Lawrence University. The reading, at 7:30 p.m. in Harper Hall in the Lawrence Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, is free and open to the public. Hamilton will conduct a book signing following the reading.

Published by Doubleday in September, 2006, “When Madeline Was Young,” weaves a richly-textured story of a tragic accident and the profound effect human kindness has on two generations of a family. Hamilton’s fifth novel, the Washington Post hailed it as her “most distinguished work so far, a story in which tragedy is balanced brilliantly against the consolations and pleasures of ordinary life.”

Hamilton, 49, received the 1989 PEN/Hemingway Award for her first novel, “The Book of Ruth.” Her second novel, “A Map of the World,” published in 1994, was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was included on the top 10 books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, the Miami Herald and People magazine.

Her third book, “The Short Story of a Prince,” received the Chicago Tribune’s 1998 Heartland Prize, an award that reinforces and perpetuates the values of heartland America and earned a Best Book citation from Publishers Weekly. In 2000, Hamilton released her fourth novel, “Disobedience,” which joined “The Book of Ruth” and “A Map of the World” as a best-seller after all three were named to Oprah Winfrey’s book club.

The daughter and granddaughter of writers, Hamilton was born in Oak Park, Ill., and today makes her home in Rochester, Wis. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Carleton College and spent time after graduation working at an apple orchard in Wisconsin before pursuing a writing career in 1982.

Hamilton’s appearance is sponsored by the Gordon R. Clapp Lectureship in American Studies.