Weaving natural history, memoir and the stories of maverick scientists, daring adventurers, and stargazing dreamers, author Christopher Cokinos will be your guide for the evening. Hear captivating stories that take us from a driveway in Oregon where, a century ago, a rogue backwoodsman stole a 15-ton meteorite; to Arizona’s Meteor Crater, where Daniel Barringer challenged establishment science, lost a fortune and died of a broken heart; and all the way to Antarctica where Cokinos himself helped to discover hundreds of meteorites until he confronted the limits to his endurance on the barren ice sheets at the bottom of the world.

Philosophers and poets throughout the ages have understood the fundamental significance of love, have written about it, debated it intensively, and recognized thereby the fundamental meaning of love in human life. One way to approach this topic is through using a historical lens; in Dr. Classen’s class students study eroticism and love in the Middle Ages from many different perspectives. Dr. Classen tells his students frequently, “Getting a car requires a driver’s license. To get married requires almost nothing in terms of intellectual, ethical, moral, religious, or philosophical preparation, but marriage is a very serious matter, making or breaking a life.”

Why do the French like Jerry Lewis so much? Ever wonder why Hollywood remakes so many French comedies? What do Adam Sandler, Steve Carell, and Eddie Murphy owe to the French? Delve into the comedic and humor techniques used in French cinema throughout the years and come prepared to laugh.

Although manufacturing in China is big business, the factory as spatial organization seems to be disappearing around the world; but not in the movies. Join Professor Hai Ren as we discuss three cinematic engagements with the Chinese factory: ethical cinema with the factory as part of a ritualized process of a community; representational cinema that shows the factory where workers become disciplined and docile; and the cinema of aesthetics, which engages the factory as a place where temporal and intellectual equalities become possible.

Lowriding is a form of expressive culture that fits within the broader context of Chicano culture and reflects the social, artistic and political dimensions of America’s fastest-growing ethnic group. With striking photos, author Chuck Tatum will demonstrate the unique aesthetics of lowrider vehicles and he will briefly trace the mechanics of building a lowrider vehicle, and lowrider culture in the media. He will also trace how lowrider culture has recently expanded beyond the urban streets and into the massive exhibit halls of lowrider shows, exposing lowrider culture to even more enthusiasts.