Pencil This In

By Amy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 29, 2008 5:40PM

Lectures
UIC has added five more lectures to its Future of Chicago lecture series, the first of which begins today with "The Future of the Chicago Metropolitan Region" presented by Ron Thomas, former executive director of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission. The lecture series encourages open debate and discussion between the community and its civic leaders on local social, economic, and political conditions. Future lecture titles include "The Future of Corruption in Chicago" and "The Media and the 2008 Election”.
UIC Behavioral Science Building, 1007 W. Harrison St., Room 140, noon – 12:50 p.m., Free and open to the public, (312) 413-3780 for more information.

Film
Hats off to Rob for his great coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival. He's off applying Visine onto his sore eyeballs, so we’d like to remind you that the 15th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival and Filmmakers Summit starts today, presenting over 100 “defiantly independent” films, videos, and documentaries. Check out the CUFF schedule for a fill listing of films and locations.
Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave. and other locations, 10/29-11/2, tickets available online or by calling 1-877-278-4842

Readings
Vegan animal rights advocate and philosopher Marti Kheel reads from her new book Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective. In the book, Kheel argues how conservation efforts can favor masculine abstract ideas like “species” and “ecosystem” and devalue what should be a compassionate concern for individual animals. Surely she can explain it better than we can!
Women and Children First Bookstore, 5233 N Clark St., 10/30, 7:30 p.m., Free