Talk to Me, Baby
The Air and Space Museum hosts a Milky Way discussion with Dr. Sandy Faber on Thursday evening. Image courtesy of NASA.
Monday:
>> Graphic designers: we hope you got tickets last week for tonight's 7 p.m. Corcoran lecture with type designer Matthew Carter, because now it's sold out.
>> If not, head to Sixth and I for an author event with novelist Sara Houghteling and her book, Pictures at an Exhibition, which "tells the story of a son’s quest to recover his family’s lost masterpieces — Picassos, Matisses, Monets —looted by the Nazis during the occupation." $8, or get two free tickets with book purchase that night. 7 p.m.
Tuesday:
>> At 6:45 p.m., the S. Dillon Ripley Center hosts an unusual inexpensive evening of discussions on East and West: 17th-Century Art from Amsterdam to Agra, led by painter and scholar Julian Bell. Only $10.
>> Or, head to National Geographic at 7:30 p.m. for a discussion on The Lost City of Z with author and New Yorker writer David Grann. His new book investigates the mystery of a lost city in the Amazon rainforest which British explorer Percy Fawcett searched for, revealing his diary secrets and other clues from the explorer and Grann's own trek. $18.
>> The 14th Street Busboys has a book talk at 6 p.m. with Marita Golden, editor of the anthology It's All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates, Family, and Friends, which includes "essays, stories, and poems by some of today's most important African-American writers which explores diverse facets of love."
Wednesday:
>> At 6 p.m., inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander will be at the K Street Busboys to celebrate the publication of her inaugural poem.
Thursday:
>> At 6:30 p.m. tonight, D.C.'s Center for Inquiry hosts a talk with Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend author Barbara Oakley titled Bad to the Bone: Horrors!—Can Our Genes Help Make Us Evil? $6.
>> Or, head to the American Art Museum for a couple of options at 6 p.m. SAAM curator Toby Jurovics will be discussing the current Frank Gohlke exhibit which explores "the tension between man and his surroundings" in a gallery talk starting in the F Street lobby, and the McEvoy Auditorium will be hosting a lecture titled Winslow Homer's Use of Color Theory at the same time.
>> The Hirshhorn hosts another art lecture at 7 p.m. This one features art history professor Donald Kuspit speaking about The Phallic Woman: Conflict and Fragmentation in Louise Bourgeois' Conception of the Female Body.
>> Another visual art option is a panel discussion about Art and Social Change at Provisions Library from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
>> Or, if you are more interested in the performing arts, but perhaps a little shy about opera, this is your night. The S. Dillon Ripley Center is hosting a discussion on Opera: The Basics from 6:45 to 9 p.m. with musicologist Patrick O’Donnell. He'll be examining "the ingredients of a good opera: passion, humor, villainy, love, and, of course, costumes ... using excerpts from popular operas in local production this season." $40 for non-members.
>> Yet another option veers from art and heads straight to the Milky Way. Dr. Sandy Faber will be at the Mall's Air and Space Museum for The Milky Way: Why We Need Her and How She Was Formed. The evening will start at 6 p.m. with a screening of 400 Years of the Telescope, which will be followed by some introductions at 7 p.m. and a lecture at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday:
>> Today's $120 all-day seminar at the S. Dillon Ripley Center is titled From Memory to Memoir: A Writer’s Guide, and is led by GW professor H. G. Carillo. The seminar " is designed for those who want to learn how to write a memoir, a family history, or a recollection of people, places, and experiences that are important to them," and will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
>> Today's Inside Media lecture at the Newseum is titled Alive from Palestine: Stories Under Occupation and features George Ibrahim (in collaboration with the Kennedy Center Arabesque Festival) and Jim Hoagland of the WaPo. They will be discussing "how Arabs are portrayed in the media and the distinction between dramatic and journalistic presentations."
>> Or, at 6 p.m. head to Politics and Prose for a book talk with Lonnie Bunch, Paul Gardullo, Michelle Delaney, and Jacquelyn D. Serwer, who represent the National Museum of African American History with the Smithsonian's book on The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise, which highlights the photographs currently on display at the American History Museum.
Sunday:
>> If you're looking for some answers about this economic downturn, author and economist Dean Baker will be at Politics and Prose at 1 p.m. discussing his book Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy, in which he "examines the causes of the current recession and outlines policies designed to prevent similar crises in the future."
>> Today's weekend lecture at the National Gallery of Art is titled Is Anything New Under the Sun? Environmental Quality Around the Bay of Naples in AD 79 and the Present Day and will feature environmental consultant Mark Walters. 2:00 p.m. in the East Building Auditorium.
Next Monday:
>> At 6:30 p.m., the 14th Street Busboys hosts environmental leader Dr. Vandana Shiva, who will be discussing and signing several of her books, including Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply.
>> Also tonight is a book talk with Angels and Ages author Adam Gopnik at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose. He'll be talking "about Lincoln and Darwin, who were born on the same day and radically changed views of the modern world."