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Oh, the humanit(ies)! And other things.
Oct. 26th, 2008 08:27 pmSorry, just couldn't resist.
Yesterday was Humanities Day at the University of Chicago, coinciding, as it always does, with Family (formerly Parents') Day. Also as always, the offerings were many and varied. I attended Larry Rothfield's lecture "Nobody Thought of Culture: Behind the Looting of the Baghdad Museum", which expanded beyond the title to discuss the even worse looting of archaelogical sites. The keynote address was given by Jacqueline Goldsby, on the bookish subject of "A Salon for the Masses: Black Chicago's Book Review and Lecture Forum, 1933-53. Most interesting was the public nature of the influential Forum, at a branch of the Chicago Public Library, as contrasted to the private salons of the Harlem Renaissance. Finally, I went to hear Shulamit Ran on "Taking on the Credo: A Chanticleer Mass through a Jewish Prism". Very enlightening to hear how she tackled that one! I didn't go to the final session, as I had an opera that night and wanted to a) eat, and b) rest up.
The opera was the second in two nights, as I had had to change my ticket due to my Charleston trip. So it was a very French weekend at the opera! Friday night was Massenet's Manon, with Natalie Dessay in the title role. She was amazing, as usual. Last night was Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, with Nicole Cabell as Leila, and Nathan Gunn and Eric Cutler both looking quite hunky (and bare-chested) as Zurga and Nadir respectively.
Low culture today, though. The Oriental Institute has a Sunday afternoon film series, which is usually on erudite archaelogical themes. In honor of Hallowe'en, however, today's film was The Mummy. They showed it in the auditorium, though, not in the Egyptian galleries, which would have been even more appropriate. It's such a great film, even if it is rather over the top. I have to admit it's a bit of a giggle to see Ankh-es-en-Amon (a/k/a Helen Grosvenor) togged up as an ancient Egyptian complete with '30s spit-curl bangs!
Fall has clearly arrived. It was quite windy today, and the leaves that were blowing around were all sorts of colors. The Oriental Institute was dressed in red:
I had some milkweed on my back porch this summer. It never did attract butterflies, but looked pretty. Today, I noticed that it had gone to seed:
Yesterday was Humanities Day at the University of Chicago, coinciding, as it always does, with Family (formerly Parents') Day. Also as always, the offerings were many and varied. I attended Larry Rothfield's lecture "Nobody Thought of Culture: Behind the Looting of the Baghdad Museum", which expanded beyond the title to discuss the even worse looting of archaelogical sites. The keynote address was given by Jacqueline Goldsby, on the bookish subject of "A Salon for the Masses: Black Chicago's Book Review and Lecture Forum, 1933-53. Most interesting was the public nature of the influential Forum, at a branch of the Chicago Public Library, as contrasted to the private salons of the Harlem Renaissance. Finally, I went to hear Shulamit Ran on "Taking on the Credo: A Chanticleer Mass through a Jewish Prism". Very enlightening to hear how she tackled that one! I didn't go to the final session, as I had an opera that night and wanted to a) eat, and b) rest up.
The opera was the second in two nights, as I had had to change my ticket due to my Charleston trip. So it was a very French weekend at the opera! Friday night was Massenet's Manon, with Natalie Dessay in the title role. She was amazing, as usual. Last night was Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, with Nicole Cabell as Leila, and Nathan Gunn and Eric Cutler both looking quite hunky (and bare-chested) as Zurga and Nadir respectively.
Low culture today, though. The Oriental Institute has a Sunday afternoon film series, which is usually on erudite archaelogical themes. In honor of Hallowe'en, however, today's film was The Mummy. They showed it in the auditorium, though, not in the Egyptian galleries, which would have been even more appropriate. It's such a great film, even if it is rather over the top. I have to admit it's a bit of a giggle to see Ankh-es-en-Amon (a/k/a Helen Grosvenor) togged up as an ancient Egyptian complete with '30s spit-curl bangs!
Fall has clearly arrived. It was quite windy today, and the leaves that were blowing around were all sorts of colors. The Oriental Institute was dressed in red:
I had some milkweed on my back porch this summer. It never did attract butterflies, but looked pretty. Today, I noticed that it had gone to seed:
