Bio:  Prof. Hamilton is the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and founding director of The Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. 

Security Blanket is a collaborative women's art project that stitches together a broad range of issues of concern to women and families. The organizers Lynn Estomin and Andrea Tuttle Kornbluh invited 30 artists and quilters to collaborate on an artwork modeled on a baby quilt. The quilt demonstrates how abortion rights are nestled within a range of needs which a just society would publicly fund, and which would benefit society as a whole. Each artist/quilter chose an issue of concern starting with a particular letter of the alphabet and then designed a block illustrating that issue. As a whole, the quilt offers an ABC guide to a more just and equitable society. The Security Blanket quilt is traveling to communities across the country, sparking dialogue and reflection on the interconnected needs of women and families in a just society. Each exhibition offers an opportunity for viewers to experience the artwork firsthand, engage with the issues it represents, and connect with others working toward equity and human rights. This project is sponsored by The Women's Film Project and is traveling across the US.

This reading brings together three recent Bucknell graduates who went on to pursue MFA degrees in Creative Writing.Julia Cirillo has a dual degree in French and creative writing from Bucknell and an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University-Newark. Currently, she teaches in the Writing Program at Rutgers. She lives in New Jersey.Amber Cutler is pursuing her MFA in Fiction at the University of Nevada, Reno. She majored in creative writing and psychology at Bucknell, where she received a Julia Fonville Smithson Prize for fiction and interned for West Branch.Mercedes Rodriguez's poetry appears in New England Review, Washington Square Review, New Delta Review, wildness, Bellingham Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for Best New Poets. They hold an MFA from North Carolina State University.