Cool U:
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One-Day University in the Arts and Humanities
Ever wish you could go back to college, just for one day?
Here’s your chance!
In conjunction with the East Lansing Art Festival, the MSU College of Arts and Letters will offer a FREE day-long series of stimulating lectures, behind-the-scenes tours, art walks, and demonstrations on Friday, May 16. This event is designed for adults who want to reconnect with their love of learning in an informal university setting.
The schedule appears below. Participants may attend one, some, or all events, whether morning or afternoon.
Lectures will include time for audience participation and questions.
Admission is free; an optional buffet lunch with the lecturers and special guests is available for $10.
For more information, or assistance with registration, call (517) 355-5633.
SCHEDULE
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Registration, Parlor Rooms A/B/C, second floor, MSU Union; continental breakfast on the concourse.
Tabletop displays of MSU arts and humanities teaching, research, and outreach activities; learn how you can connect with our faculty and students and their community-based projects.
10:00 a.m.
Lecture 1: Gary Hoppenstand on "Love (and Divorce) American Style at the Movies: The Transformation of the Popular Romantic Comedies of the 1950s and 1960s."
One of the important arguments in studying popular culture is that it allows us to see reflections of ourselves in a metaphoric mirror. These reflections, as part of our popular entertainment, reveal how we live our lives and develop our perceptions about ourselves. Popular movies from various periods in our history can tell us a great deal about ourselves and about the way we view the world in a given cultural context at a given time.
Take, for example, popular movies such as American romantic comedies of the 1960s. These films, reflected in that metaphoric mirror of popular culture, illustrate the radically changing role of the institution of marriage within a span of five years. This presentation will discuss how the popular romantic comedies of the mid-1960s reflected the disintegration of the traditional American marriage while also illustrating dramatically evolving male and female gender roles. Brief clips from four popular domestic romantic comedies—"The Thrill of It All" (1963; starring Doris Day and James Garner), "Good Neighbor Sam" (1964; starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider), "A Guide for the Married Man" (1967, starring Walter Matthau and Inger Stevens), and "Divorce American Style" (1967, starring Dick Van Dyle and Debbie Reynolds)—will be used to illuminate the points of the discussion.
Hoppenstand is professor of American culture studies in the MSU Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures,
former president of the Popular Culture Association, and the current editor-in-chief of The Journal of Popular Culture.
11:00 a.m.
Lecture 2: John Rauk and Tess Tavormina on
"Prancing Ponies and Green Dragons: The Creation of Tolkien's World."
We will discuss the genesis of Tolkien's masterworks, The Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Lord of the Rings through Tolkien's letters, essays, and illustrations. A key element to Tolkien's enterprise is his concept of sub-creation and the relationship between created languages, such as Elvish, and created worlds. We will also touch on the reception and popularity of Tolkien's work from the '60s to Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of Lord of the Rings.
Rauk is chairperson of the MSU Department of French, Classics, and Italian; Tavormina is professor of medieval literature and culture in the MSU Department of English.
Noon
Buffet lunch with the lecturers and special guests in the MSU Union Ballroom ($10) or on your own.
1:00 p.m.
Lecture 3: Tess Tavormina on "Lancets and Leeches, Herbals and Healers: An Illustrated Tour of Medieval Medical Practice."
When modern Westerners refer to a particular medical practice as “medieval,” it’s seldom meant as a compliment. We take for granted such relatively recent medical advances as anesthesia and antisepsis (mid-19th century), microscopic and chemical diagnostic techniques (largely 19th-20th century), medical X-rays (turn of the 20th century), antibiotics (from the early 20th century), a wide range of vaccines (smallpox and anthrax in the 19th century, but most from the 20th century), ultrasound (from mid-20th century), and genetic analysis (late 20th to 21st century). Yet medicine itself is much older and more varied than these modern and mainly developed-world elements of health care, and patients and medical practitioners of earlier times – or in surviving traditional medical systems around the world – did and do not see themselves as completely helpless in the face of trauma, acute and chronic disease, or the effects of the natural aging process.
In this talk, we’ll explore various facets of medieval Western medicine, from diagnosis to therapeutics, internal medicine to surgery, prescriptions for retarding the aging process (compare Rogaine and Viagra!) to lifestyle prescriptions that are remarkably similar to those given by doctors from Hippocrates to your local G.P. We’ll also look at a wide range of depictions of medical practice from medieval manuscripts, ranging from the crude and scrappy to the expensive and elegant. Along the way, we’ll occasionally touch on parallels between medieval European health care and that provided in traditional medical systems still alive and well around the world.
Tavormina is professor of medieval literature and culture in the MSU Department of English.
2:00 p.m.
Lecture 4: Kirk Domer on "The Power of Laughter."
During this exploration of the mind-body connection, you'll interact with other participants in games that stimulate natural laughter. You may find yourself talking a nonsense language or singing a song in gibberish. At the end of the session you'll find that you are feeling lighter, happier, and are in a more positive frame of mind. Playfulness and a willingness to be silly are encouraged!
Domer is associate chairperson and scene designer in the Department of Theatre.
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
3:00 p.m.
Pick one afternoon session (please indicate your selection when registering; some have limited space and are available on a first-come, first-served basis).
Kresge Art Museum: Gallery Talk on "Silk Road to Clipper Ship" Exhibition or Behind-the-Scenes Tour ~ meet in the Kresge Art Museum lobby
Choice of:
1) Gallery talk with a museum curator about the "Silk Road to Clipper Ship: Trade, Changing Markets, and East Asian Ceramics" exhibition and a discussion of the Zaha Hadid design for the new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.
The exhibition, organized by the University of Michigan Museum of Art and drawn from their renowned collection, covers more than 1000 years of Chinese porcelains to illustrate the important role of foreign trade and changing domestic markets in stimulating Chinese potters -- and their counterparts in Japan and Korea -- to continually reinvent their repertoire of shapes and decorative techniques. The first part traces the exchange along the Silk Road between the Chinese Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and ancient Persia and the Mediterranean world between the second and tenth centuries. The second part features colored porcelains made for domestic use and foreign exchange during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911); the final section focuses on the competition between kilns for imperial patronage and the Chinese influence on later Japanese and Korean ceramic traditions.
2)
A
behind-the-scenes tour with the museum’s preparator and registrar: learn
about the proper handling and care of artwork as well as restoration and display techniques. Limit of 10 participants.
Summer Circle Theatre: Behind-the-Scenes Tour ~ meet in the lobby of Fairchild Theatre (east end of MSU Auditorium)
Meet and
talk with the directors and actors involved in the upcoming Summer Circle season; take a tour of the Department of Theatre's scene and costume shops.
MSU Museum: Gallery Tour of "Quilts and Human Rights" Exhibit ~ meet in the MSU Museum lobby
Join a museum curator for a gallery tour of the "Quilts and Human Rights"
exhibit, which explores the role that quiltmakers have played in raising awareness of human rights issues around the world and the power of textiles to communicate important ideas and information. The exhibit features inspiring and often provocative quilts made to document and express transgressions of human rights, educate others about human rights issues, and pay tribute to leaders of human rights movements. A special component of the exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha, South Africa, and focuses on human rights champions Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela.
MSU Library Special Collections: Behind-the Scenes Tour ~ meet at the Special Collections Room, lower level of the Main Library Building
Two behind-the-scenes tours of 30 minutes each are offered, one at 3:00 p.m. and one at 3:30 p.m. The tours will focus on rare book collecting and preservation techniques. Limit of 6 participants per tour.
Beaumont Tower Bells: MSU's Carillon ~ meet in 321 Linton Hall, then short walk to Beaumont Tower
Join MSU carillonneur Ray McLellan and discover the carillon, a magnificent musical instrument of bells. You will learn the history and the art of the carillon, with a special emphasis on the bells and bell casting. After the historical lecture, you can make the 72-step climb to the playing chamber of the Beaumont Tower carillon where Ray McLellan will demonstrate how to play the carillon. Participants will also have an opportunity to play a melody on the bells.
Meet an ELAF Artist ~ meet in 120 Linton Hall
Meet an East Lansing Art Festival invited artist and learn about his techniques.