Events: anytime, any location, all ages

Neil McIntyre (A.K.A. Mr. Kneeel), emcee and vocalist, is coming to town with inspiring hip-hop and beatboxing fun!

McIntyre’s music is high energy, engaging, and never insults a child’s intelligence. This is hip-hop that focuses on kids, who they are, and what they enjoy.

The program is appropriate for all ages.

He was escorted to the county line by a sheriff’s deputy, clambered across creaky old railroad bridges that couldn’t pass an OSHA inspection, and dined with two women who channeled the spirits of Amelia Earhart and Calamity Jane.

It wasn’t exactly akin to the scaling the Matterhorn, but for noted pedestrian Henry Fortunato, the Library’s director of public affairs, his Long and Winding Walk to Wichita last October was quite the amazing – and often amusing – adventure nonetheless.

David Stockman was the architect of the Reagan Revolution meant to restore sound money principles to the U.S. government, but the movement was derailed by politics, special interests, welfare, and warfare. Now he offers a fierce indictment of the American governmental-economic complex, reveals how the workings of free markets and democracy has long been under threat in America, and exposes a surprisingly nonpartisan catalog of corrupters and defenders.

An avid ukulele player since the age of five, Heidi Swedberg shares her unique brand of music. “Sukey Jump,” or “Party Play” as it was called in later years, originated in the 19th century and is still going strong today.

Enjoy a family concert where everyone can participate. Pick up an instrument, clap your hands, sing, or just hum along.

The program is appropriate for all ages.

The first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, Sandra Day O’Connor has learned firsthand the inner workings, history, evolution, and influence of the nation’s highest court.

The retired justice now shares those insights in a discussion of her new book Out of Order. O’Connor sheds light on the centuries of change and upheaval that characterize the history of the Supreme Court. She also provides vivid portraits of justices such as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Thurgood Marshall, William O. Douglas, and current Chief Justice John Roberts.

Due to extremely strong interest in this event, seating in Kirk Hall, as well as the overflow seating on the East and West mezzanines, is now closed. Individuals making RSVPs after 3:50 p.m., Tuesday, May 21, 2013, will be directed to Helzberg Auditorium and other sections of the Central Library where Sandra Day O’Connor’s talk will be broadcast via closed-circuit television.

As America’s biggest private corporation, ExxonMobil has economic power and political clout exceeding that of many countries. Yet its corporate culture of secrecy and discipline makes it a mystery to most of us.

Author Steve Coll unearths the company’s secrets in Private Empire, tracking the corporation’s role on the world stage from the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

As the oldest and favorite daughter of Thomas Jefferson, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph was well educated, known on two continents for her grace and sincerity, and often assumed the duties of first lady for her widowed father.

Yet as biographer Cynthia A. Kierner points out, Patsy Jefferson was not spared the tedium, frustration, and sorrow experienced by most women of her time.

Kierner is professor of history at George Mason University and the author of Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello.

Kick off the 2013 Summer Reading Program with The Doo-Dads.

The Doo-Dads – four fathers and veterans of the Kansas City music scene (Mike Niewalk, Matt Kesler, Ken Lovern, and Joe Gose) - deliver an energetic live show with the fun and excitement of a rock concert. Appropriate for children of all ages.

Sign-up for the Summer Reading program during the event and earn fun prizes by reading your favorite books!

Following the devastating 1951 flood, Hallmark Cards founder Joyce C. Hall commissioned artist Norman Rockwell to capture Kansas City’s spirit to rebuild on canvas. His words to the artist: “Paint a picture of the Kansas City Spirit that will forever symbolize that thing in good men’s hearts that makes them put service above self and accomplish the impossible.”

Bruce Mathews examines the inspiration for that painting – which now hangs in City Hall – and discusses stories of civic spirit from his book The Kansas City Spirit: Stories of Service Above Self.

As the Kansas City Board of Trade prepares to move to Chicago, its CEO Michael Braude traces the history, development, and economic impact of the 157-year-old futures exchange specializing in hard red winter wheat. It was said that more money changed hands at the Board of Trade than anywhere else in the Missouri Valley region. Braude joined the Board of Trade in the 1980s. He is a longtime civic leader and columnist for the Kansas City Business Journal.