Monday December 2, 2019
Manhattan
7pm $15: AMNH Frontiers Lecture: X-Ray Astronomy. Since its launch on July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has been NASA’s flagship mission for X-ray astronomy. Now, more than 20 years later, Chandra is still helping scientists obtain images of remote environments to help understand the structure and evolution of the universe. David Helfand describes his work on X-ray observations of astronomical objects ranging from nearby stars to the most distant quasars. More info. [SCIENCE]
7pm Free: Medieval Medicine and Literature: A Galenic Presence in Dante’s Writing. Join CUNY Professor Paola Ureni at NYU’s Casa Italiana for a lecture on medieval medicine – and more precisely Galenic notions – in Dante’s writing. More info. [BOOKS]
Queens
1-2:30pm Free: A Talk with Seymour Kaplan: Dachau Liberator. At 17-years old, Seymour Kaplan enlisted in the American Army and left Brooklyn to fight against Nazi Germany. He became a machine gunner with the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion attached to the 42nd Infantry Division. He was one of the first American soldiers to enter the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945. As a Yiddish speaker, Mr. Kaplan served as a translator for the camp Survivors. The shock of what he witnessed traumatized him for the rest of his life. More info. [HISTORY]
Tuesday December 3, 2019
Manhattan
6pm Free: China Chic: Orientalist Representations in Western Performing Arts. Phil Chan is co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, a movement for change in the ballet community of stereotypes of Asians. From The Nutcracker to Crazy Rich Asians, Chan approaches issues of race and representation by exploring “cultural appropriation” through the lens of dance history — where he finds many parallels to fashion and costuming. More info. [CULTURE]
6:30-8:30pm Free: Music and Our Memories. Join the National Jazz Museum in Harlem for an evening of jazz with a side of science. Jazz musician Helen Sung will perform and neuroscientist Lenzie Ford will speak on how music connects to our emotions, thoughts, and memories. More info. [MUSIC]
8-9pm $25: Secret Science Club North: Handprints on Hubble with Astronaut & Author Kathryn Sullivan. Kathryn Sullivan is a former NASA astronaut who has spent over 500 hours in space. Until 2017, she served as the Administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), overseeing a network of satellites, ships, and airplanes that monitor Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. Stick around for the interstellar Q&A and snag a signed copy of Kathryn Sullivan’s new book, Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut’s Story of Invention. More info. [SCIENCE]
9:30-11pm $12: The Nerds & the Bees: Comedy and Data – What’s Really Happening in Modern Dating. Steve Dean (Datworking.com, Modern Connection podcast host) and comedian Gabe Gonzalez (Scruff, MTV News) will be tackling topics from queer dating quandaries to polyamorous pitfalls — with guest panelists who get it, they’ll be playing games and answering audience questions to find a solution to your most confounding modern dating problem. More info. [CULTURE]
Brooklyn
6:30-8pm $10: Oysters 101: The Secrets NYC’s Bivalves Harbor. Join the Brooklyn Historical Society as we examine the bivalves’ pivotal place in the story of New York, beginning with Lenape cultivation and continuing to today’s ambitious plans to build artificial oyster reefs. BHS Vice President for Curatorial Affairs and Collections Julie Golia leads a conversation with Billion Oyster Project Director of Education Ann Fraioli, chef and oyster farmer Kerry Heffernan, and Mark Kurlansky, author of The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. More info. [NATURE]
Wednesday December 4, 2019
Manhattan
7pm Free: AMNH Presents | SciCafe: Hacking the Stars. Can hacking help advance astrophysics? Meet Hakeem M. Oluseyi, an astrophysicist, inventor, science communicator, and humanitarian whose team at the Florida Institute of Technology has harnessed hacking to process massive amounts of data. Their results are fast-tracking the investigation of galactic structure and formation, the development of new propulsion technology, and more. More info. [GEEK]
7-8:30pm $15: Beyond Oneself: The Ethics and Psychology of Awe. Professor of religious studies and ethicist Lisa Sideris joins psychologists Jennifer Stellar and Piercarlo Valdesolo at the New York Academy of Sciences to explore our understanding of how awe shapes our perspectives and views on everything from science to morality. More info. [PHILOSOPHY]
8pm Free: The Enigma of Clarence Thomas: A Conversation. Join CUNY for The Enigma of Clarence Thomas: A Conversation between Corey Robin, the author of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas (Metropolitan Books, 2019) and Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY, and Kendall Thomas, Nash Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. More info. [CULTURE]
Thursday December 5, 2019
Manhattan
4-5pm Free: Growing Up in Science: Jacqueline Gottlieb’s Unofficial Story. Jacqueline Gottlieb, PhD studies the mechanisms that underlie the brain’s higher cognitive functions, including decision making, memory, and attention. Her interest is in how the brain gathers the evidence it needs — and ignores what it doesn’t — during everyday tasks and during special states such as curiosity. Her research could offer insight into disorders that involve deficits of attention, such as attention deficit disorder, depression and drug addiction. This event is part of NYU’s Growing Up in Science seminar series. More info. [SCIENCE]
6-7:30pm Free: A Playlist for Our Future? Human Advantage in an Age of Technology. Join Columbia University for a panel discussion that will address artificial intelligence and which lessons from the humanities and the social and behavioral sciences are needed. More info. [TECH]
6:30-8pm Free: Atheism & Morality: Mapping the Game with Andrew Dennis. Andrew Dennis’s talk focuses on the issues resulting from an atheist worldview. He starts by introducing a custom-made framework that utilizes game theory to identify and analyze players in what he calls “The Values Game.” He then divides the concept of atheism into three components and uses this stratification to explain how conversations in atheist spaces get derailed. More info. [PHILOSOPHY]
6:30-9pm Free: CBFS: The Black Athlete in the Freedom Struggle. Black athletes have long propelled the quest for racial equality and social justice; and long been criticized for their freedom fighting. Join sportswriter Dave Zirin, historian Louis Moore, and legendary athlete and activist Wyomia Tyus in a discussion of the last half century of black male and female athletes in the freedom struggle. More info. [CULTURE]
7pm $20: Films of My Life with Laurie Anderson and Nicole Krauss. Join the Morgan Library for an evening celebrating the relationship between art, literature, performance, and film. Renowned multimedia artist, composer, poet, instrumentalist, and filmmaker Laurie Anderson (Habeas Corpus, Homeland, Songs and Stories from Moby Dick) and Nicole Krauss, award-winning author of Forest Dark, Great House, and The History of Love, discuss the films that have inspired their lives and work. Moderated by Antonio Monda, Artistic Director of Le Conversazioni festival. More info. [FILM]
Brooklyn
6:30-8pm Free: Book Signing with Gloria Steinem. Join Books Are Magic for a book signing with Gloria Steinem in celebration of her new book THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE, BUT FIRST IT WILL PISS YOU OFF. For decades—and especially now, in these times of crisis—people around the world have found guidance, humor, and unity in Gloria Steinem’s gift for creating quotes that offer hope and inspire action. More info. [BOOKS]
Friday December 6, 2019
Manhattan
7-8pm Free: FashionSpeak Fridays: 1950s in Vogue – The Jessica Daves Years. Join fashion historian Rebecca Tuite for an evening on American Vogue’s most enigmatic editor-in-chief, Jessica Daves, and a fascinating moment in the magazine’s history. 1950s fashion is highly encouraged! More info. [ART]
Brooklyn
7pm Free: Sir Roger Penrose in Conversation with Janna Levin. Join Pioneer Works Director of Sciences Janna Levin as she hosts Sir Roger Penrose (Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford) in a conversation that will stretch across the universe, theories of consciousness, and infinity. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Weather permitting, there will also be stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers Association of NY in our garden. More info. [SCIENCE]
7:30pm $15: Rolling in the Deep: Carl Jung and the Creative Subconscious. Join Michael Prettyman for this Olio event at St John’s Episcopal Church. Prettyman will address the problem of meaninglessness, what Jung termed “the spiritual malady of our time.” More info. [PHILOSOPHY]
Saturday December 7, 2019
Manhattan
11am-1:30pm $30: Altmans, Bergdorfs, Saks! A History of Elite Shopping on Fifth Avenue. Join ProwlerNYC to delight in holiday window displays on this colorful tour of historic (and increasingly rare) 5th Avenue department stores. These iconic retail emporiums endeared themselves to the Ladies of Fashion while displacing them from what was initially New York’s most exclusive and expensive residential real estate. We will enjoy the architectural details of notable Fifth Avenue retail buildings, while learning about the quirkiness, genius, and motivation that fueled the ambitions of their creators and propelled New York to become fashion capital of the world. More info. [TOUR]
Sunday December 8, 2019
Manhattan
7pm $45: “Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes” Podcast Tour. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes will record his podcast “Why Is This Happening?” in front of a live audience at The Town Hall in New York City. Chris will be joined by special guests Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Angels in America, and Jeremy O. Harris, actor and playwright of Slave Play. They’ll engage in a wide-ranging conversation about politics, spectacle and storytelling during these surreal times. More info. [CULTURE]