Join us for a talk with former MIT staff member Bev Stohl, author of Chomsky and Me: A Memoir.  

Bev Stohl ran the office of the renowned linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky (now Institute Professor and Professor Emeritus) for nearly two and a half decades. Chomsky and Me is her account of those years, working next to a man described by the New York Times as “arguably the most important intellectual alive today.” 

Bev will be joined by Prof. Suzanne Flynn at an event that will celebrate both an eminent Institute professor and a wise and funny staff member who made it all work.  There will be time for Q&A, and books will be available for purchase.  This event is free and open to all; pre-registration is encouraged.

The Nexus is situated  on the first floor of MIT's Hayden Library, MIT's Building 14, located at 160 Memorial Drive.  The room is on the river side of the library reading room, behind the Courtyard Cafe and across the room from the library service desk.  If you have trouble finding it please ask at the service desk.

Accessibility: We are committed to making our events accessible. Listen Anywhere assistive devices are available in The Nexus; but please email ce-lib@mit.edu to request any other accommodations.

More about Chomsky and Me:

Through these pages we observe the comings and goings of a constant and varied stream of visitors: PhD candidates, sufis, activists, technologists, actors, writers, gaggles of fourteen-year-old school students, and the world’s leading linguists. All make appearances in these stories. Shepherding them out in mid-conversation is one of Bev’s more challenging responsibilities.

Other duties include arranging lectures to overflow crowds around the world, keeping unscrupulous journalists at bay, preventing teetering ziggurats of paper and books from engulfing her boss, and switching on his printer when it is deemed “broken” by a mind that is engaged less by mundane technology than the realms of academia and activism.

Authentic and down-to-earth, Bev remains her own person, whose life is enriched, but never defined, by the illustrious Professor Chomsky.  Over the years, what commenced as a formal working arrangement blossoms into something more: a warm and enduring friendship.

Published with the approval of its subject and written with affection, insight and a gentle sense of humor, Chomsky and Me describes a relationship between two quite different people who, through the happenstance of work, form a bond that is both surprising and reciprocally rich.

About the speakers:

Bev Stohl is a nonfiction writer with published essays in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the MIT Press, Stethoscopes and Pencils, Chomsky.info, and on social media. Bev, her dog Roxy, and Noam Chomsky have been featured in graphic novels, and animated in Michel Gondry’s 2013 film, Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?  Bev has performed stand-up comedy and appeared on TV news shows talking backward. She has dabbled in woodworking, and claims to be mediocre at piano, guitar, and ukulele. You can find Bev online at www.facebook.com/ChomskyandMeAMemoir and www.instagram.com/ChomskyandMeAMemoir.

Suzanne Flynn is a professor of linguistics and language acquisition at MIT. She is a leading researcher on syntax acquisition of children and adults in bilingual, second, and third language contexts, and was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2019.  Along with her husband Jack Carroll, Suzanne served as Maseeh Hall’s Head of House for thirteen years.