Humanities Speaker Series holds events meditating on revolution On Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 4 to 5 p.m. in 312 Merrifield Hall, the Department of Languages presents “Revolutions in Language Learning.” This panel discussion will feature Colleen Berry talking about revolutionary techniques in teaching Chinese, Amanda Boyd discussing play writing, and Sherrie Fleshman discussing language learning and technology. A reception will follow the event. On Thursday, Oct. 18, from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union Lecture Bowl, Phi Beta Kappa welcomes T.H. Breen, director of the Center for Historical Studies at Northwestern University, who will present “It Rained Dead Cats and Dogs the Day the Revolution Began: Ideology and Popular Resistance to Empire, 1775,” a study of popular political resistance to imperial authority between 1774 and 1776. The talk will explore the relation between political action and rhetorical justifications of violence by reconstructing the history of the most popular, most widely published work before “Common Sense.” The “Crisis” dominated the public conversation during the middle months of 1775, spreading an ideological message that one will not encounter in the works of familiar intellectual historians. A reception in the Fireside Lounge will follow Breen’s talk. -- Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, Assistant Professor, English, rwh@und.edu, 777-6391