DR. TEMPLE GRANDIN
7 p.m., University of Arkansas. Free.
“A lecture?” you say? “In the To-Do List?” You bet. A Colorado State professor, best-selling author, one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and the subject of an eponymous HBO biopic last year, Temple Grandin is a rockstar in the world of animal activism thanks to her patently unique way of seeing the world. Grandin was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at the age of 3, but raced through her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in spite of it. Always clad in an embroidered cowboy shirt and loose neckerchief, she’s one of the most instantly recognizable members of today’s intelligentsia. She rose to fame by, of all things, designing more humane livestock handling and animal processing centers. It may not sound like the most interesting subject, but when Grandin speaks of how she could relate to the skittish animals because of her autism, her narrative becomes an inspiring, often hilarious, powerhouse story of charity, empathy and overcoming the odds. She speaks at the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center, 1.5 miles north of the U of A campus on Hwy. 112, at 7 p.m.