2010

Columbia University professor and former provost Jonathan Cole will discuss The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role and Why It Must Be Protected, on Thursday, August 12, at 8 p.m. at Chilmark Community Center

Pulitzer prize-winning film critic Joe Morgenstern will present an evening of conversation about the movie industry, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center on Thursday, August 12.

Mr. Morgenstern has entitled his talk Quo Vadis — Not the Movie, the Movies, and he promises “an extended and informal conversation with the audience (their questions and my answers, plus some hopefully relevant stories and selected snippets of gossip”) about the state of the movies and where they seem to be going.”

Cultural Differences

Cultural anthropologist and University of Chicago professor Richard Shweder will deliver a talk titled Engaging Cultural Differences Without Moral Panic: The Burqa, the Bris and FGM on Wednesday, August 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Who’s that doing his down dog at Walden Pond? Same cat rocking his proud warrior of civil disobediance. You guessed it: Henry David Thoreau, laid back dude and early champion of the simple life. According to Stefanie Syman in her new book The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America, Thoreau was also one of the first Americans to experiment with yoga on this soil.

Carl Hiaasen

Anybody serving up a cocktail of vodka, Red Bull, Hydrocodone, birdseed and stool softener this weekend? No? Well, guess again, because Carl Hiaasen is coming to town and in his world, Miami of course, a drink like that is just for starters. In fact, his new novel Star Island begins with the sudden demise of just such an über inbiber. It’s anybody’s guess where the ride will go from there. What’s not up for debate, though, is that the journey will be hilarious.

Poets Anthology

Cleaveland House Poets Anthology is among the books on display through tomorrow at the annual Poets House Showcase in New York city, today 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This is a display of all the poetry books published in the U.S. during the past year (2,164 titles), from micro-press chapbooks to CDs to volumes from major commercial publishers. Admission is free.

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