Wed, Sep 20, 2006
September 20, 2006
FIXTURE SINCE 1920
UNL Seeks Information on War Memorial Sun Dial Stolen From East Campus
Officials at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln seek the return of a historic World War I memorial item stolen over the weekend from East Campus. A bronze-sculpted sun dial, dating to 1920, was removed its large limestone base. The limestone base is inscribed "In grateful remembrance of the boys who served in the World War by the class of 1920." The bronze sun dial also has an engraved inscription on its back: "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."
The memorial was recently moved to its new location on the southwest side of the East Union. The bronze piece was pried from the limestone base, which remains at that location. Anyone with information about the sun dialÕs whereabouts can call University Police at 472-3555. If anyone has the item and would return it, to Facilities offices at 1901 Y St. there will be no questions asked.
NEBRASKA UNION, 11:45AM
UAAD Meeting - "Importance of Service to the Community: Katrina Relief Trip"
Julie Dierberger and Ashlee Dickinson
EAST UNION, 3PM
School of Natural Resources Seminar - "The North American Monsoon Experiment: A multi-disciplinary study with a unifying theme"
Dr. David Gochis, National Center for Atmospheric Research
BAILEY LIBRARY, 228 ANDREWS HALL, 3:30PM
Institute for Ethnic Studies Colloquia Series 2006 - "Freedom North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1965-1969"
Dr. Patrick Jones, Asst. Professor, History and Institute for Ethnic Studies
E103 BEADLE CENTER, 4PM
Biotechnology/Life Sciences Seminar - "Transcriptional regulation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa type III secretion system"
Dr. Timothy Yahr, University of Iowa
LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS, 7:30PM | LIVE STREAM
Azar Nafisi Delivers Second E.N. Thompson Lecture
Human rights and political expert and best-selling author Azar Nafisi will present the 11th annual Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities and the next lecture in the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her address is 7:30 pm this evening at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 12th and R streets in Lincoln.
Azar Nafisi, author of the national bestseller "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books," is the director of the Dialogue Project at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where she is a professor of aesthetics, culture, and literature, and teaches courses on the relation between culture and politics. She held a fellowship from Oxford and taught English literature at the University of Tehran, the Free Islamic University and Allameh Tabatabai University in Iran. "Reading Lolita in Tehran" electrified its readers with a compassionate and often harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. Translated into 32 languages and winner of many literary awards, the book was on The New York Times bestseller list for more than 70 weeks.
Nafisi conducted workshops in Iran for women students on the relationship between culture and human rights. The material culled from these workshops formed the basis of a new human rights education curriculum. She has lectured and written extensively in English and Persian on the political implications of literature and culture, as well as the human rights of Iranian women and girls and the important role they play in the process of change for pluralism and an open society in Iran. She has been consulted on issues related to Iran and human rights both by policy makers and various human rights organizations in the United States and elsewhere.
E.N. THOMPSON FORUM
MARY RIEPMA ROSS MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Quinceanera, Sketches of Frank Gehry Show at the Ross
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center presents Quinceanera and Sketches of Frank Gehry. Both films will be showing through September 28.
In Qunceanera, Magdalena (Emily Rios) is the daughter of a Mexican-American family who run a storefront church in Echo Park, Los Angeles. With her fifteenth-birthday approaching, all she can think about is her boyfriend, her Quinceanera dress, and the Hummer Limo she hopes to arrive in on her special day. But a few months before the celebration, Magdalena gets pregnant. As the elaborate preparations for her Quinceanera proceed, it is only a matter of time before her religious father finds out and rejects her. Forced out of her home, Magdalena moves in with great-great uncle Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), a gentle man who makes his living selling champurrado (a Mexican hot drink) in the street. Already living with him is Carlos (Jesse Garcia), Magdalena's cousin, a tough young cholo who was thrown out by his parents for being gay. The back house rental where Tomas has lived happily for many years is on a property that was recently purchased by an affluent white gay couple (David Ross and Jason L. Wood) -- pioneers of gentrification in the neighborhood. Carlos quickly attracts the couple's attention and they soon make him their plaything in an ongoing three-way. As Magdalena's pregnancy grows more visible, she, Carlos and Tomas pull together as a family of outsiders. But the economics of the neighborhood are turning against them. Ultimately, this precipitates a crisis that threatens their way of life.
Oscar winning director Sydney Pollack takes a sharp sideways turn with Sketches of Frank Gehry, a documentary about the noted architect. Although the two men have been friends for years, Pollock thankfully bypasses the opportunity to pay a fawning tribute to Gehry, instead presenting a well-balanced portrait that offers both positive and negative commentators the chance to etch their thoughts into celluloid. But it quickly becomes clear that the biggest naysayer of all is Gehry himself, who is painted as a highly self-critical man, clearly ill-at-ease with fame and his own achievements. Pollock offers some screen time to Gehry's magnificent creations, but not as much as a less experienced director might have done, instead choosing to focus on the man himself. People such as Gehry's therapist, Milton Wexler, and garrulous artist/director Julian Schnabel (Basquait) offer their thoughts, but the real magic occurs when Pollock and Gehry are on screen together. The series of interviews between the two men have the kind of relaxed atmosphere that could only exist after years of friendship, and Gehry comes across as an astonishingly normal and likeable fellow who keeps his ego firmly in check. Shooting mostly with hand-held digital-video cameras also brings a nice intimacy to the proceedings, creating a warm testimony to a great artist who has somehow managed to keep his integrity intact despite the ruthless nature of the industry in which he works.
More information is available at the Ross website.
MRRMAC | QUINCEANERA | SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY
