Civil obedience

The folks from the Boston Athenaeum and Suffolk University who sponsor "Civil Discourse: Media and Democracy" should have a plethora of subjects to choose from. Topics of national significance will be presented through lectures, panel discussions, and films. Lewis H. Lapham is up tonight with Mixed Media, a lecture by the national correspondent for Harper's Magazine and author of 13 books. Lapham contends that the media speak in so many forked and foreign tongues (film, book, video game, broadcast, blog) that without a dictionary it's hard to know who is saying what to whom. Sharp cutlery anyone? 6 p.m. Free (reservations are required). Boston Athenaeum, 10 Beacon St., Boston. 617-720-7600, ext. 2. www.bostonathenaeum.org