An improbable life

Richard Nelson, celebrated JHS teacher, to talk about Vaclav Havel.

JACKSONVILLE, IL – Richard Nelson, a longtime, highly respected world history teacher at Jacksonville High School, will recount the uplifting life of Nobel poet Vaclav Havel.

 His talk, “The Improbable Life of Vaclav Havel,” will be 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1 at the Putnam/Springer Building, on the southeast corner of State Street and Clay Avenue on the MacMurray College campus.

 Havel, who died last year, went from being the most renowned imprisoned dissident of Communist Czechoslovakia to being free Czechoslovakia’s first president, all in the matter of months.  He played an impressive and crucial role in midwifing a country brutalized by Nazi and Soviet-style oppression into a viable and respected democracy.

 Nelson’s talk is the next event in the 2011-12 MacMurray Speakers Series, which gives a venue to local residents who have special knowledge or expertise to share with the community.

 At 6 p.m. prior to Nelson’s talk, an exhibition of photography will open in the Applebee Gallery, also in the Springer/Putnam Building.