Wednesday, November 04, 2009 - 7:30pm - Barrick Museum Auditorium

Prof. Danielle Roth-Johnson, Department of Women’s Studies, UNLV

Several experts in the understanding and treatment of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) have expressed surprise at the lack of research into whether pollutants have contributed to the dramatic rise in diagnosis. Other groups have been unwilling to let the topic be marginalized. The “Mercury Moms” spotlighted in David Kirby’s book, “Evidence of Harm,” have gained wide media coverage of the potential danger that exposure to mercury poses. Our speaker tonight explores the histories of groups such as SafeMinds, Generation Rescue, and Moms against Mercury to analyze the response of media and health professionals to demands for reform in vaccines and immunization schedules.

6-6:30 Mayor Oscar Goodman & Dayvid Figler -- Casino Center & Colorado
6:30-7 Jarrett Keene - CC Govt Center - 500 S Grand Central Pkwy
7-7:30 Donald Revell - Atomic Todd - 1221 Main St
7:30-8 Claudia Keelan -- Fallout - 1551 S Commerce St
8-8:30 Elizabeth Quinones-Zaldana -- Trifecta - 101 E Charleston Blvd
8:30-9 Keith Brantley -- Contemporary Arts Center - 101 E Charleston Blvd
9-9:30 Jeff Grindley -- Tiffany's - 1700 Las Vegas Blvd S
9:30-10 Josh Kryah -- Dino's - 1516 Las Vegas Blvd S

Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 7:30pm - Barrick Museum Auditorium

Prof. Maurice Finocchiaro, Department of Philosophy (Emeritus), UNLV

To commemorate the quatercentenary of Galileo’s astronomical discoveries, UNESCO has designated 2009 the International Year of Astronomy. On improving the telescope in 1609, Galileo began making startling new observations: lunar mountains, Jupiter’s satellites, Venus’s phases, and sunspots. Such discoveries undermined the traditional belief that the earth stands still at the center of the universe, confirming instead Copernicus’s view that the earth rotates daily on its axis and revolves yearly around the sun. The controversy over whether the earth’s motion is compatible with Scripture climaxed in 1633 when the Inquisition condemned Galileo as a heretic. A new controversy, over whether Galileo was justly condemned, shows no signs of abating. Tonight our speaker offers a resolution stressing the lessons to be learned from Galileo.

Filled with Yiddish proverbs, current events, Talmudic stories, movies, television and more, Wex explores the strategies developed by an oppressed people to pursue happiness with their dignity -- and sense of humor -- inact.

Michael Wex, author of the bestselling Born to Kvetch and Just Say Nu, is also a novelist, professor, translator, lecturer and performer (of stand-up and one person shows). A major figure in the Yiddish revival, Wex has been hailed as "a Yiddish national treasure."

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 7:30pm - Barrick Museum Auditorium

Prof. Patrick McGee, Department of English, Louisana State University

Our speaker this evening, McElveen Professor at LSU, argues that Baz Luhrman’s “Australia” incorporates and produces what cultural theorist Antonio Negri has called “the common,” meaning the globalized existence humanity now shares. The film, he suggests, can be read in three ways: it reconfigures elements from the traditional Hollywood Western; it embodies and complicates the imperialist romance; and it imitates the sensibility of cinematic fantasies like the Wizard of Oz in order to express, rather than to represent, the historical real – the collision of several forms of racism in the Pacific at the beginning of WWII. Such a reading implies a critical view of some positions currently fashionable in postcolonial discourse. Co-sponsored by the UNLV departments of English and Film Studies.