Ishmael Beah @ UIC

Ismael Beah, author of "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier", is the featured member of a panel discussion on The Recruitment of Child Soldiers Worldwide.

Other panelists include Jo Becker (Children’s Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch), Bernardine Dohrn Clinical (Associate Professor of Law and Director and founder of the Children and Family Justice Center).

The panel discussion will take place at UIC's Student Center East (Room 302) which is located at 750 S. Halsted. The event is free. For more information see the website.

SAIC student show @ Film Center

The Gene Siskel Film Center presents a year-end show of work by students from the Film, Video & New Media Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It's an excellent chance to see the type of projects that film school students are creating. The program starts at 6:00 PM, and will run approximately 90 minutes. Tickets: $9, $7 for students, $5 for Film Center members, and $4 for SAIC students. Film Center: 164 N. State. (312) 846-2600.

In the K/Now: PC or Not PC?: Language, Identity, and Racism @ Chicago History Museum

In this event co-sponsored by The Public Square of the Illinois Humanities Council, journalists and poets discuss "taboo" language. 1601 N Clark, 6:30 PM. Free: click here to make a reservation. For more information, call 312-642-4600 or visit the website.

Ted McClelland Reading & Pre-Derby Party

To celebrate the paperback edition of Horseplayers: A Life at the Track, author and GB contributor Ted McClelland will read from the book -- handicap the Kentucky Derby -- tonight at 7pm at the Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave. Mint juleps will be served. If you can't make the reading, you're invited to join Ted at Arlington Park, where he'll be betting on the Derby; the races start at 1pm.

Junior Boys @ Empty Bottle

Hot off a sweet new remix EP, everyone's favorite Canadian electronic duo Junior Boys headline tonight at the Bottle, and will no doubt drench the audience's ears in the lush electro-pop of last year's superb So This Is Goodbye. Opener San Serac brings a proto-house aesthetic to bear on his latest LP Professional. Show starts at 10 and $12 gets you in. Empty Bottle #:773-276-3600.

Lip @ The Spot

The Poetry Center continues its reading series tonight at 8 PM. Host Emily Rose emcees an open mic followed by featured readings. Tonight, the poets of EM Press perform. $5. 4437 N Broadway. For more information, call 312-899-7483 or visit the website.