Miscellanea: Economics, Edith Wharton, Poetry + Jazz

Economics

A Harvard University professor called “America’s leading immigration economist” by Business Week and The Wall Street Journal will speak at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 18, in BU's Kehr Union, multipurpose rooms.

George J. Borjas, professor of economics and social policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, will discuss “Immigration and Economics.” The free lecture is open to the public.

A research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor. His editorials appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journaland Le Monde, and he is the author of the textbook, Labor Economics, now in its sixth edition, and Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy.

He has appeared on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” the PBS “NewsHour” with Jim Lehrer, the nightly news shows of CBS and NBC, Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” and “Fox and Friends,” and Ben Wattenberg’s “Think Tank.” The lecture is sponsored by BU’s College of Liberal Arts, economics department, and International Economics Honors Society. For more information, contact Mehdi Haririan, chair of economics, (570) 389-4682 or mhariria@bloomu.edu.

I know this isn't strictly arts related. However, the speakers that Mehdi Haririan has brought to campus over the years —including NYT columnist Paul Krugman — have been consistently superb and insightful. — EGF

Edith Wharton

BU English professor Ferda Asya will give a talk on "Edith Wharton's Transatlantic Homes and Friends" on Thursday, April 18, from 4:30 – 5:30 pm, in Warren Student Services Center, room 004 This event is open to the public and free of charge. Light refreshments will be provided. Edith Wharton was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Age of Innocence (1920) and she was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Yale University. For her war work, she was awarded la Légion d’honneur, the highest decoration given by the French government.

Asya will explore Wharton’s passion for her houses in the United States and France, devotion to her transatlantic friends, including Elisina Tyler, Rosa de Fitz-James, Minnie David Bourget, Paul Bourget, Walter Van Rensselaer Berry, and William Morton Fullerton, and enactment of her friends in some of her fiction.

Poetry

The River Poets will host readings Thursday, APril 18, at 7:30 pm (sharp) at Bloomsburg Public Library, 22 Market St. Abigail Hess and other poets from the Slam Poetry group at Susquehanna University will perform and present their poems. MC is Tara Holdren.

More Poetry + Jazz

A tidbit from guitarist Matt Leece: Channel your inner bohemian Friday night at the Center Street Café (next to Artspace). Poetry readings and jazz music commence at about 7 pm.