by Leon Perniciaro

All eyes might be on Jazzfest this week, but while you're stimulating your ears, don't forget your brain gets hungry too. Check out this week's collection of panels, book signings, readings and more. This week, get your blood boiling with a talk at Tulane on the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, hear an eminent cotillion dress designer discuss her newest book at the Louisiana State Museum, and watch a Persian-Language drama at Loyola about the plight of women in Iran. Enter the NoDef Speakeasy by clicking on "Read More." Just don't tell them we sent you.

April 18, the day Billy the Kid escaped from jail in New Mexico (1881), when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed most of the city (1906), when Joan of Arc was beautified in Rome (1909), when Yankee Stadium opened (1923), when BBC announced that there was no news to report at all (1930). It's Melissa Joan Hart (1976) and Kourtney Kardashian’s (1979) birthday, and the date of Albert Einstein’s death (1955). In honor of the above, go do:

April 14th, When Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary (1828), Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Ford’s Theatre (1865), the first Volvo premieres in Sweden (1927), Viking Press publishes Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Rod Steiger is born (1925), and Simone de Beauvoir dies (1986).

Only one man can beat all of the above: Weezy.

Patois, the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival, kicks off its eighth year of delivering socially conscious films to the Crescent City tonight, and runs through Sunday at various locations throughout the metro area.