A small but enthusiastic group gathered on the fifth floor of the Chinatown community center, encuentro 5, last night to hear historian and author Paul Street talk about his new book, The Empire's New Clothes: Barack Obama and the Real World of Power. This stop on Street's book tour was hosted by Charngchi Way of the online anarchist radio show, The Authority Smashing Hour.

Eminent public health scientist and activist Richard Levins considered some of the most pressing issues facing humanity--food and water shortages, drug-resistant micro-organisms, global warming and social inequality--in light of the intellectual triumphalism that seems to accompany every claim of problem resolution. His Saturday morning talk, "Failures, Errors & the Boundaries of Our Minds" at encuentro 5 found an engaged audience in Boston and New York. It was simulcast to the Brecht Forum in Manhattan (as part of that organization's 35th anniversary celebration).

Somerville, MA - Prof. Charles Derber of the Boston College Sociology department gave a talk on his new book "Greed to Green: Solving Climate Change and Remaking the Economy" on Thursday to a crowd of 35 people at the Somerville Public Library - Central Library. The event was sponsored by the Majority Agenda Project, Somerville-Medford United for Justice with Peace, and Transition Somerville, and was chaired by Jason Pramas, Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston.