We’re Not Buyin’

THU 3/4

It’s no longer surprising when someone speaks up about what images of waiflike women on billboards and magazine covers do for the typical woman’s self-esteem. That’s thanks in large part to Jean Kilbourne‘s 1979 video documentary Killing Us Softly. Because the situation hasn’t changed in spirit so much as in technology (digital modifications mean that the perfect woman doesn’t have pores, let alone wrinkles), Kilbourne updated the video in 1987 and again in 2000. The most recent edition includes a shocking array of ass shots from television commercials. Apparently, if you drink Miller Genuine Draft, all asses in your vicinity automatically lose their sag! Kilbourne is attending the Starr Symposium’s What Is the Secret? Media Literacy for Women and Girls from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at UMKC’s Pierson Auditorium (50th Street and Rockhill Road). In addition to her famed videos, she’ll be discussing her new book, Can’t Buy Me Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. If you think the subtle messages of advertising have no impact on you, impervious consumer, we must ask (buy striped shirts): Are you wearing a Gap shirt? As Kilbourne says in her new introduction to Killing Us Softly, most people who ask that question during her lectures are, in fact, wearing Gap shirts. To reserve a spot, call 816-235-6222. Admission is free.— Gina Kaufmann

Sherlock’s Wife

A mystery author brings her Game to town.

WED 3/10

Laurie R. King, who comes to Unity Temple on Wednesday, has written one mystery a year for the past ten years. A religion scholar and stay-at-home mom, King began writing when her youngest child started school. That hobby grew into a career, and The Game is the seventh in her series of books chronicling Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes. In pursuit of an equally famous literary figure, Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, the duo searches 1920’s India for the fictional English spy, now a grown man tired of his cloak-and-dagger career. Through every twist of King’s labyrinthine plots, Russell defies Victorian conventions and outpaces her illustrious husband.

King, who is now working on a science-fiction book, shows no signs of being restrained herself. She reads and signs at 7 p.m. on March 10. Call 913-384-3126 for more information.— Christopher Sebela

Steel the Show

Stretch heads south.

3/4-4/25

At Stretch’s studio (1830 Locust), it’s 10 a.m. A bottle of whiskey gets passed from lip to lip, and various dogs circle and growl at each other. A guy named Ika — they say he’s from Easter Island — hands out pornographic playing cards. And someone is looking for the circular buzz saw. In this environment, giant steel sculptures are born, then moved out on flatbed trucks and erected delicately yet solidly so that the parts made out of dichroic NASA glass and high-powered LED lights remain intact. The sculpture garden just north of the studio awaits more plantings.

For his current exhibit, Transcending, Stretch hauled his sculptures to the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom, 5500 West 123rd Street in Overland Park. The work is on view through April 25. Call 913-266-8413 for details.— Nadia Pflaum

Read His Lips

FRI 3/5

We’re not meteorologists (and for that we give thanks), so it is only as hacks that we say the following: Strolling should be pleasant this First Friday. Our forecast includes lots of interesting art shows, but we’ll make particular mention of Gear‘s show at the Cube (1922 Baltimore). The street artist emeritus uses graffiti, signage and fonts — Braille included — to explore “modern hieroglyphics.” For information, call 816-582-8997.— Kaufmann