BOOKISH: Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot @ Free Library, 6/12

Award-winning sociologist comes to the library to discuss cultural notions of ending.

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BOOKISH: Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot @ Free Library, 6/12

POSTED: Monday, June 11, 2012, 10:00 AM

Filed Under: Arts

We are creatures of habit that need signals — the closing of a door, the word “goodbye,” the train leaving the station — to tell us when something's coming to an end. And when that end decidedly comes, we use it as cause for reflection, transition and ultimately a new beginning. In her new book Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free, renowned scholar Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot examines the role of endings in our lives, studying the patterns we rely on to let us know when something is over.

A storyteller by nature and a sociologist by training, Lawrence-Lightfoot has achieved the kind of cultural theory writing that is both complex and accessible. Known mainly for her work on the sociology of education, her book The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture earned her an Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association, one of countless prestigious awards she's received over the course of her career. Her tenth book, Exit, aptly marks her own kind of transition, away from education theory and toward a broader study of cultural phenomena. Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Free Library (1901 Vine St.), guests can get the opportunity to hear excerpts from the book and share in a conversation with one of the foremost cultural thinkers of our generation. Free.

(nina@citypaper.net) (@willboctopus)

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