When 83-year-old Detroit-born poet Philip Levine spoke in Gaston Hall yesterday evening, the event was part of a the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor’s “Labor Lab” series. Levine, who is currently serving as the United States’s Poet Laureate for 2011-2012, was chosen for this series because of the famous and compelling poetry he has written about his years spent working at various industrial jobs in Detroit. However, Levine, who left industrial work for academia over five decades ago, made it clear that he is not the poetic mouthpiece of the American worker.

“I’m nobody’s voice,” he said. “I’m me.”

This kind of attitude about poetry and his success at it, whereby writing a good poem is more akin to getting struck by lightning than to consciously trying to make a political statement, characterized Levine’s entire speech, which was also, despite his sometimes heavy subject matter, punctuated with multiple moments of humor (hearing an octogenarian say “bullshit” into a microphone is always good for a laugh or two). Levine’s talk, which also included a discussion with NPR book critic and Georgetown critic-in-residence and lecturer Dr. Maureen Corrigan, left the audience with the idea that our Poet Laureate is not only an immeasurably gifted writer, but also a pretty cool guy.

Levine alternated speaking about his life, family, work, and inspiration with readings of selected poems from his collections. The first three of these poems—entitled “Fear and Fame,” “Coming Close,” and “What Work Is”—all chronicle different experiences of the Detroit industrial worker. “What Work Is” proves particularly effective, as it delivers images of men waiting in line for work, their isolation from their families, and the devastation they feel when the man in charge decides not to take any workers “for any reason he wants.” Reading his own poetry aloud, Levine’s vocal inflection was chillingly effective, and further demonstrated why his works about labor are so highly regarded.

The poet also chronicled his transformation from factory worker to academic, which he decided to do when an uncle told him to “live on [his] wits.” He was a professor of English at California State University, Fresno, and said of the experience that “teaching was not like working.”

“You sat there and lied to people,” he continued with a laugh. “It was a gas!”

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On Friday afternoon, former President Bill Clinton (SFS ‘68) spoke at Gaston Hall, and reflected on the current economic and political state of the country. His speech was part of the “Clinton-Gore Economics: Understanding the Lessons of the 1990s” symposium, which highlighted economic successes that the speakers attributed to the Clinton administration’s policies and leadership.

The symposium consisted of two panel discussions in addition to Clinton’s keynote speech. The panelists, including top officials and political players during the Clinton administration, addressed the 1993 budget battle and how the Clinton administration treated education, technology, transportation, and other issues within the larger economic plan. They also highlighted the important role that investment played during his administration.

The panelists and the former president also spoke about the country’s balanced budget during his second term, as well as the drops in unemployment numbers and number of people on welfare during his administration, the latter of which decreased from 14.1 million to 5.6 million. They argued that the administration’s policies played a measurable role in changing the economic state in which the country had been during the previous decate.

Clinton, however, noted that the policies made during his administration were not prescriptive. “As you look at the problems that the President faces today, the members of Congress face today, I would like to first state the obvious,” he said. “The particular solution we pursued is not appropriate to this particular moment because the problem is different.”

However, he did say that some of the philosophies that shaped the policies under his administration remain relevant today.

“Abraham Lincoln said that in America, it was good to have wealthy people because it fostered innovation and creativity and effort in the rest of us,” Clinton said. “On the other hand, as an economic matter, we all need to pitch in and do what we can so that those of us who had all of the gains of the last decade [and in the 1980s], just as I did, should make a contribution. That’s a contribution we can make.”

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It’s kind of unmissable, but this weekend is the launch of the public phase of the For Generations to Come Capital Campaign. It’s a time for alumni and beneficiaries to come to campus, reconnect with old friends, and, most importantly, make it rain. Here’s Vox‘s guide on how to party like it’s 1789.

Think About It: An Afternoon of Ideas

From 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Lohrfink auditorium, the University and the Lecture Fund are hosting speakers ranging from John Thompson III to Madeleine Albright to give lectures. The topics are Action (Alonzo Morning), Play & Profit (Paul Tagliabue & JTIII), Cures for All (Lucile Adams-Campbell and Howard Federoff), A New World Order (Madeleine Albright and Prince Turki al-Faisal), The State of Capitalism (Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin), and Innovation (Ted Leonsis). Doors open at 2:00, but since Lohrfink only seats 400, getting there earlier is advisable.

Campus Lights Celebration

At 6:30 p.m. in the gigantic tent on the front lawn, President Jack DeGioia, Alonzo Mourning, and Mike Meaney (SFS ’12) (yeah, we’re still trying to find the common denominator there) will give a toast to Georgetown and then flip the switch for the lights on all the front lawn buildings (well, all the pretty ones at least). We’ve been promised food, music, drinks, and bonfires. But the most important part is that this is your once-in-a-life-time chance to cast giant shadow puppets on Healy.

Ann Coulter, conservative commentator and fierce opponent of all things left-wing, brought both praise and protest to Georgetown University on the evening of October 20. Greeted by a full house in the Hariri Building’s Lohrfink Auditorium, Coulter’s presence certainly stirred up mixed emotions as she touched upon issues ranging from the Occupy Wall Street protests to the upcoming 2012 elections.

In an event sponsored by the GU College Republicans and the Georgetown Lecture Fund, Coulter gave an hour of her time at the rumored cost of $10,000 to speak to Georgetown students and faculty and answer their questions. Well-known as a controversial speaker and writer, Coulter is now author of eight New York Times bestsellers, the most recent of which is entitled Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America.

Appropriately enough, Coulter began her speech with a commentary on the Occupy Wall Street movement and its correlation to her newest book. “If only those at Occupy Wall Street could take down capitalism,” she said matter-of-factly, “then they could go back to what they usually do… Occupy Mom’s Basement.”

The rest of the hour continued with a similar tone, with repeated jabs at the Democratic Party and the liberal masses and media. Coulter remained unapologetic as she made one harsh generalization after another, stating that “liberals love mobs,” “liberals are consumed by what everyone thinks of them,” and “liberals are seized by groupthink.” According to Coulter, all liberals are “very big on bullying people into agreeing with them rather than actually engaging in… dialogue.”

Eventually, Coulter took a break from derailing the Occupy movements to make clear her opinions on President Obama and his administration.

“Every single thing that Obama has done has been designed to wreck the economy,” she said.

She followed this up with another bold statement, saying that “Obama has now surpassed Tiger Woods for the most times saying ‘I’m sorry’ by a mixed-race male.”

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After 14 years in the United States House of Representatives and approaching 15 years in the Senate, double Hoya and Illinois Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL, SFS ’66, Law ’69) seems to really take the Georgetown motto of “men and women for others” to heart. The senator spoke for about 300 students a packed Gaston Hall the evening of Tuesday, October 18, in a lecture hosted by the GU College Democrats, and struck a careful balance between humor and gravity to engage his audience.

He started by recounting his own time as a Hoya. He was studying in the library when news arrived that President Kennedy had been assassinated and “everything came to a stop.”

From there, he discussed the way Georgetown students witness “the march of history right before [their] eyes” because the school is “so close to the decision-making that literally changes the world.”

Durbin also offered words of encouragement to the portion of the audience that remains undecided about the future—apparently, the senator didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life as a second-semester senior at Georgetown.

He took an internship his then-senator of Illinois, Paul Douglass, where he became enthralled with American politics and coincidently acquired the nickname, “Dick,” that has followed him since. The first person to call him Dick was Paul Douglass, and he certainly did not want to correct the senator. “The name stuck,” Durbin said.

But Durbin’s road to office was anything but smooth. After three straight losses, he was finally elected to the House of Representatives in 1987.

As a senator, Dick Durbin has been an active force behind the DREAM Act, which seeks to make it easier for illegal immigrants who have been U.S. residents for most of their lives to attend college.

He recounted the story that first impassioned him to become involved with the issue. Chicago has a Merit Music program, which provides instruments to underprivileged schools. The program has been immensely successful—100% of participants go on to college. His office received a call one day that a young Korean woman and concert pianist could not afford college because, although she had lived in the U.S. since the age of two, she was technically not an American citizen.

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During his lecture on Friday afternoon, filmmaker and author Michael Moore demonstrated an acute sense of his audience and location. Not only did he acknowledge that Georgetown has been or will be host to such conservative figureheads as Karl Rove and Ann Coulter, but he drew a political parallel that would make Hoyas from any corner of the political spectrum crack a smile. When discussing the voting patterns of young people, he explained why so few 18- to 25-year-olds bothered to vote in the 2010 midterm elections.

“[Obama]’s been playing it like Georgetown football,” he said. The crowd erupted with laughter, whoops, and applause.

That kind of situational awareness was a big part of what made Moore’s presentation, entitled “Here Comes Trouble: An Evening with Michael Moore,” so engaging. During the lecture, which was sponsored with its share of public chagrin by the Georgetown Lecture Fund, Georgetown Program Board, and the Student Activities Commission, Moore was equal parts cynically joking and unsettling serious as he discussed public policy, Christian values, and America’s financial and social woes. He structured the entire evening with such a smooth narrative arc and call to action for young people to repair the nation that it reminded the crowd why he has an Oscar lying around somewhere in his house.

Since he is, of course, the maker of such politically-minded, left-bent films as Farenheit 9/11 and Sicko, Moore spent a good deal of the speech addressing the what he believed to be the flaws and hypocrisies inherent in America’s version of “21^st Century capitalism.” He launched into this by bringing up the recent Occupy Wall Street campaign, and expanded into the mortgage crisis, job crisis, and other financial woes by summing up the problem with a single, unifying source.

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Yesterday evening, Nirupama Menon Rao, Ambassador of India to the United States, spoke to Georgetown students, faculty, and alumni in Gaston Hall. Her visit was in anticipation of a summit on Indian and American higher education, which will be hosted at Georgetown next month, and the creation of a chair of Indian Culture and Affairs within the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Dressed in a regal pink sari, Ambassador Rao emphasized the interconnectedness of all countries in today’s global environment. She cited acts of international terror as especially important in making more developed countries realize that third-world and developing nations are equally important and deserving of attention as larger powers. She also described India’s “rapid social and economic transformation” in a mere sixty years as a quiet example for developing countries. She then, to the crowd’s chagrin, discussed how India was not in a competition with China for the role of the ideal rags to riches nation.

In this vein, Rao was especially emphatic about education as a “vessel for social change.” She discussed India’s commitment to extending higher education and technical schools, as well as extending primary education to rural areas. The bigger challenge, she said, is keeping children, especially girls, in school through their teenage years.

As much as Ambassador Rao tried to preach about the democratic and peaceful tradition of India, economic advancement was never far behind. She repeatedly stated that one of the main reasons for wanting to ensure “a safe neighborhood” in Southeast Asia was so that India could meet its economic targets for the future—the growth of the country’s gross domestic product is obviously a priority. Furthermore, she said her nation was ready to take on a greater world leadership role, especially being included on the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member, a reform supported by President Obama.

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Apparently, having Donald Glover perform on Wednesday wasn’t enough to fill Georgetown’s famous person quota for the month of September. Next week brings the arrival of a few more celebrities to the Hilltop, for talks not only about performing arts, but about humanitarianism and justice in Africa.

The first up is an event on Wednesday, September 14, about the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative, and its speakers are actress Robin Wright, field researcher Fidel Bafilemba, and author and activist John Prendergast. Conflict-Free Campus Initiative is a national project aimed at encouraging students not to purchase electronics for which the profits fund the war in the East Congo. Wright, who recently visited Africa with Raise Hope for the Congo, is new to the organization’s growing list of celebrity endorsers, which includes the likes of Ryan Gosling.

The other two speakers are much better known for their work with justice for the Congolese. Prendergast is co-founder of The Enough Project, which aims at ending genocide and crimes against humanity, and for which Bafilemba is a researcher and blogger. The event is is co-sponsored by the Georgetown University African Studies Program, and takes place at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday night in the ICC 7th Floor Executive Conference Room. Due to limited space, students should reserve their spots in advance.

The next stop on the Georgetown Celebrity Tour is on Thursday, September 15, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hariri Building. This talk features Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis, who is discussing the “role of women in the movies” as part of the McDonough School of Business’s Distinguished Leaders Lecture series. Davis, who is also an accomplished athlete and member of Mensa, is highly qualified to speak on the subject, as she is the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which promotes the improvement of women’s portrayals in entertainment, especially in those targeted towards young children. Space on this event is also limited, so RSVP is required.

H/T Ecorazzi, photo from the Geena Davis Institute.