Writer

Children’s Book “The Silent Nightingale”

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The Strathmore Speaker Series is delighted to announce the our November 2018 event, a family-focused afternoon with illustrator Erin Nowak and author Lamis Solaim who collaborated on the new children’s book, “The Silent Nightingale.”  This event will be held on Sunday, November 4th, 2018 at 2 pm at the Onondaga Park Firebarn. Like all Strathmore Speaker Series events, this presentation is free and open to the public.

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About Lamis Solaim

Lamis Solaim is a New York City-based writer and Child and Adolescent Psychologist specializing in global mental health. Together, with illustrator Erin Nowak, Solaim will do a reading of her recently published dual-language children’s book “The Silent Nightingale,” written in both English and Arabic. The book was inspired by a time-honored Arabic poem by Maruf al Rusafi, commonly sung by Iraqi children in the 50s and 60s. Lamis earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Saudi Arabia’s King Saud University, an M.A. in applied child development from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the United Kingdom’s Royal Holloway University of London.

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About Erin Nowak

Erin Nowak is a Strathmore resident and creator of whimsical illustrations. A graduate of Alfred University with a bachelor of fine arts focused on graphic design and printmaking, Nowak created the illustrations for “The Silent Nightingale” with a layered mix of watercolor and digital painting. The freelance graphic designer is an employee of the Syracuse City School District and lives in the Strathmore neighborhood with her husband and three children. Her work can be found at Wildflowers Armory in Syracuse and at erinmckennanowak.com.

Syracuse: Bridging our Differences with Empathy and Storytelling with Dr. Emad Rahim

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The Strathmore Speaker Series is delighted to announce our October 2018 event, an evening with refugee, author, educator, and entrepreneur, Dr. Emad Rahim. Dr. Rahim’s talk, “Syracuse – bridging our differences with empathy and storytelling,” will be held on Thursday, October 25th at 7 pm at the Onondaga Park Firebarn. Like all Strathmore Speaker Series events, this presentation is free and open to the public.

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About Dr. Emad Rahim

Dr. Emad Rahim is a Khmer-American, survivor of the Cambodian Killing Fields. His story was turned into the short documentary “Against the Odds,” a 2016 Bronze Award Winner at the F.A.M.E.’US International Film Festival and adapted into a Syracuse Stage theater production titled ‘Tales from the Salt City,’ which is an extension of the acclaimed Undesirable Elements series written by celebrated playwright and Presidential National Medals of Arts Award recipient, Ping Chong. He has been featured in the Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, Post-Standard, VICE, Rutgers’ The Humanist and CEO Magazine, and interviewed on the BBC, NPR, StoryCorps, PBS and multiple podcast shows.  He is an award-winning author, educator, entrepreneur, Fulbright Specialist and TEDx Speaker.

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Humorist Jeff Kramer on “How I went from writing and reporting the news to not being able to watch it”

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The Strathmore Speaker Series is delighted to announce our September 2018 event, an evening with writer, playwright, and former humor columnist for The Post-Standard and the Syracuse New Times, Jeff Kramer. Jeff’s talk, “How I went from writing and reporting the news to not being able to watch it,” will be held on Thursday, September 27th at 7 pm at the Onondaga Park Firebarn. Like all Strathmore Speaker Series events, this presentation is free and open to the public.

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About Jeff Kramer (by Jeff Kramer)

Jeff Kramer, who is trying to sound as if someone else is writing his bio, is extremely flattered (and a little confused) about being invited to speak at the Strathmore Speaker Series. Jeff is not a resident of Strathmore, nor is he technically “employed.”

Jeff is a former newspaper humorist, known locally for his columns in the Syracuse Post-Standard and the Syracuse New Times. Before relocating to Syracuse in 2003, he wrote a humor column for The Orange County (Calif.) Register and reported for the Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe. Newspapers were compilations of news, opinion and other information that were printed and folded together for mass distribution.

Jeff has written and produced three stage plays in the Syracuse area. He teaches ESL to an ever-diminishing number of new Americans as a volunteer at Interfaith Works on James Street.

A native of Seattle, Wash., the 56-year-old interloper lives in Jamesville with his wife, Leigh. The couple have two teen daughters, Miranda and Lily, who do not share their Dad’s passion for the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners. As such, his communications with them are sparse. Jeff and Leigh also have three shelter dogs, Larry, Rondo and Gigi.

Jeff’s hobbies are cycling and patronizing Central New York’s excellent health care infrastructure. He thanks his friend Strathmore resident Randy Marshall for suggesting him as a speaker.

Dr. Brian Taylor on Russia, Putin, and Putinism

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The Strathmore Speaker Series is delighted to announce the second event of our spring 2018 season, an afternoon with Russia expert Professor Brian Taylor who will discuss “Russia, Putin, and “Putinism.” The event will be held on Sunday, April 22nd, at 2 pm at the Onondaga Park Firebarn. Like all Strathmore Speaker Series events, this presentation is free and open to the public.

About Brian Taylor

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Brian Taylor is Professor and Chair of Political Science in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Taylor is the author of three books on Russian politics: The Code of Putinism; State Building in Putin’s Russia: Policing and Coercion after Communism and Politics and the Russian Army: Civil-Military Relations, 1689-2000. He received his B.A. from the University of Iowa, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Writer Seamus Kirst on Sh*tfaced

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The Strathmore Speaker Series is delighted to announce the first event of our spring 2018 season, an afternoon with writer Seamus Kirst who will speak on his first book. The event will be held on Sunday, March 18th, at 2 pm at the Onondaga Park Firebarn. Like all Strathmore Speaker Series events, this presentation is free and open to the public.

About Seamus Kirst

Seamus Kirst is an author and freelance writer who lives in Brooklyn, NY. The Syracuse native grew up in the Strathmore neighborhood and attended Roberts Elementary School and Corcoran High School, where he was valedictorian of the Class of 2009.

His memoir, Shitfaced: Musings of a Former Drunk, was published in early 2017. Seamus has also written about mental health and substance abuse issues for The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Upworthy, The Advocate, HuffPost and The Mighty.

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Seamus has covered entertainment, social justice and politics for The Guardian, Forbes, Vice, Them, Refinery29 and Mic. He has interviewed a range of people including Carmelo Anthony, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Emmylou Harris, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Dr. Jill Stein, Larry Wilmore, Janet Mock, Lisa Ling, Khloe Kardashian, Amber Rose, Gabrielle Union, Laura Prepon, Danielle Brooks, and Dr. Pimple Popper.

Seamus is the co-host of two podcasts, Mental Health Hangouts and Social Justice League, and has been a guest for a live recording of the Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast. He has done Facebook Live about his own experiences for The Mighty, was a panelist for NEDA’s Twitter Chat about eating disorders in men and was also a panelist for Refinery29’s ‘Race in America’ dialogue.

Seamus earned his bachelor’s degree in history and ethnic studies from Brown University, and his master’s degree in arts journalism from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.