Postscripts

A giant of the poetry world, Maya Angelou, will highlight the 10th Liz Carpenter Lectureship at Bass Concert Hall on the University of Texas campus on Tuesday, April 15, at 2pm. The theme of the lectureship this year is "Tell Me a Story and Sing Me a Song: A Celebration of Storytelling." Among Angelou's many accomplishments are her autobiographical I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which became a two-hour CBS special, delivering the poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Nominations. Former U.S. Congressman Jake Pickle, humorist Cactus Pryor, and UT music students Rachel Yvonne Cruz and Nicholas Rodriquez, and soprano Melanie Delia Ruth Wilkinson, who sang solo at Barbara Jordan's memorial, will also participate. Free tickets are available at campus UTTM outlets.

Maquiladoras Examined

Dr. Devon G. Peña, an associate professor of sociology at Colorado College who received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas, has recently seen publication of his The Terror of the Machine: Technology, Work, Gender, and Ecology on the U.S.-Mexico Border from CMAS Books. The 480-page book, part of the CMAS Border & Migration Studies Series, explores issues revolving around Mexico's maquiladoras, the foreign-owned (often by U.S. companies) plants across the river from Texas which are notorious for low pay, unsafe working conditions, and toxic waste. Peña makes a call for alternative modes of development which are ecologically sustainable and culturally appropriate. CMAS Books is the publishing arm of UT's Center for Mexican-American Studies.

Michener Fellows Reading

On Thursday, April 17, the Huntington Art Gallery on the University of Texas campus will present First Words, a premier reading from the Michener Post-graduate Fellows of the Texas Center for Writers. Included in the 7-9pm readings are essayist and fiction writer Lori Williams, essayist and fiction writer Amy Williams, poet Jill Thomas, playwright Lisa D'Amour, and poet Sarah Wolbach. The readings will be followed by a reception in the lobby of the building. The Michener Fellowships serve as an incubator for young writers, created from a grant to UT's Master of Fine Arts program by legendary novelist James Michener and his wife Mari. The Huntington Art Gallery is located inside the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at 21st & Guadalupe.