To Do: Sweet Seventeen

* Ralph Nader at Penn Quarter Olsson’s. He’s got a new book called The Seventeen Traditions, where he “revisits seventeen traditions he learned from his parents, his siblings, and the people in his community, and draws from them inspiring lessons for today’s society.” Free and fffun at 7:30PM. [Olsson's]
* Smithsonian lecture on what constitutes scripture. SPOILER ALERT: Islam invented it. $35 at 6:30PM. [Smithsonian]
* The Learning Tree at AFI. Gordon Parks’s first feature film was also the first major studio production by a black director. Parks adapted the screenplay from his acclaimed 1963 autobiographical novel about growing up in rural Kansas in the 1920s. The story follows Newt (Kyle Johnson) as he struggles with love, death, justice and racial hatred. Superior period detail and cinematography highlight a story at once penetrating and profoundly nostalgic.” $9:50 at 7PM. [AFI]