Friday 4
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Bill Clinton picked Lani Guinier to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division, but her nomination was withdrawn after being borked by Republicans, who portrayed the University of Pennsylvania Law School prof as a “quota queen.” Guinier promises a more enlightened “Dialogue on Issues of Race in America” when she delivers the keynote speech for a symposium called Voting Rights and Elections. The free symposium starts this afternoon with Guinier’s talk at 4 PM and continues tomorrow from 9:30 to 5 at the University of Chicago Law School, 1111 E. 60th. Call 702-9832 for details.
Saturday 5
The people who brought you Party, Girl Party, and Third Party are presenting a four-part play reading series “with a twist.” The torrid thespians take a campy approach to classic works by injecting a little gender bending. Their randy rendition of Noel Coward’s haunting comedy Blithe Spirit shows this afternoon at 2 and tomorrow evening at 7:30 in the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont. The series continues in coming weeks with Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart, Coward’s Private Lives, and Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Auntie Mame. Tix are $5 and available only at the door. Call 327-5252 for more.
Wednesday 9
Margarethe Cammermeyer was an Army nurse who’d earned a bronze star in Vietnam. Once named nurse of the year by the Veterans Administration, Cammermeyer later served as the chief nurse of the Washington State National Guard. But in 1992, after more than a quarter-century of active duty, she was discharged for admitting she was a lesbian. She’ll talk about her book, Serving in Silence, at 7 tonight at People Like Us bookstore, 3321 N. Clark. It’s free. Call 248-6363 for more.
