Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities

The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University is pleased to present Humanities Week 2006. Through public lectures, readings, films, and artistic presentations, we will explore the many facets of our theme, “Childhoods”.

The 2006 Humanities Week program is sponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities and the College of Arts and Sciences, and with the generous support of the Schubert Center for Child Development.

Tim Beal and Anne Lamott share the stage at the Humanities Week 2006 keynote event, The Rose Wohgemuth Weisman Women's Voices Lecture at Amassa Stone Chapel, April 7, 2006.

Ann welcomes audience in balcony. A CONVERSATION WITH ANNE LAMOTT Hosted by Timothy K. Beal Friday, April 7, 4:30 pm Amasa Stone Chapel, 10940 Euclid Avenue

Doors open to Case community members at 3:30 pm, and to the general public at 4:00 pm

Sponsored by the Rose Wohlgemuth Weisman Women's Voices Lecture Series.

“Reading Lamott is like having a chat with one of the angels,

a smarter, wittier one.” — The Denver Post

Anne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. She does so armed with self-effacing humor and ruthless honesty. Since her first novel, which she wrote for her father when he was diagnosed with brain cancer, Anne Lamott writes about loss – loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She doesn’t try to sugar-coat the sadness, frustration, and disappointment, but tells her stories with compassion and a pure voice. Anne Lamott says, “I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith and I struggle to communicate that.” In her books and in person, Anne Lamott lifts, comforts, and inspires, all the while keeping us laughing. Anne Lamott is the author four best-selling books of non-fiction: Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year; Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, a guide to writing and the challenges of a writer’s life; Traveling Mercies, a collection of autobiographical essays on faith; and Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. She is author of six novels: Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, All New People, and Crooked Little Heart. A Guggenheim Fellow, she has taught at U.C. Davis and at writing conferences across the country. Lamott’s biweekly online diary in Salon Magazine, called “Word by Word,” was voted “The Best of the Web” by Time magazine. Filmmaker Freida Mock (who won an Academy Award for her documentary on Maya Lin) has made a documentary on Anne Lamott, “Bird by Bird with Annie” (1999).

A sampling of essays by Anne Lamott Timothy K. Beal is Florence Harkness Professor of Religion and Director of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. His recent books include Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith (2005) and Mel Gibson’s Bible (2005).

THE POLITICS OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

HUMANITIES WEEK DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES PHILIP NEL Radical Children's Literature Monday, April 3, 11:30 am Clark Hall 206, 11130 Bellflower Road Writing from the Left: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss Wednesday, April 5, 11:30 Clark Hall 206, 11130 Bellflower Road Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats; or The Annotated Cat in the Hat Friday, April 7, 11:30 am Clark Hall 206, 11130 Bellflower Road

Philip Nel is Associate Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is the author of Dr. Seuss: American Icon (2004), The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks (2002), J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide (2001), and the forthcoming Annotated Cat in the Hat (Random House, 2007). Phil has been quoted or featured in dozens of media venues, including CBS Sunday Morning, The Washington Post, CNN.com, USA Today, NPR's Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation. Currently, Phil is writing a biography of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss, two children's authors who were husband and wife. With Julia Mickenberg, he is co-editing an anthology of radical children's literature (NYU Press, forthcoming 2007).

Philip Nel's website

Dan Zanes is a rock and roller turned family musician. While at Oberlin College, Dan formed the band the Del Fuegos (including brother Warren), which Rolling Stone named the “Best New Band of 1984”. In 1991, when his band broke up, he and his wife Paula Greif moved to the Catskills, where he grew chard, chopped firewood, listened to old gospel music, and produced his own solo album, Cool Down Time. After having a baby, they moved to New York, and Dan began playing music for families with a bunch of fathers he met on West Village playgrounds. The dads became The Wonderland String Band, then Rocket Ship Revue, and eventually Dan Zanes and Friends. Their CDs include Rocket Ship Beach (2000), Family Dance (2001), Nighttime! (2002), Houseparty (2003), Sea Music (2004), and Parades and Panoramas (2004). In 2006, Starbucks is releasing a dance party compilation of their music. Dan and his musical comrades are singing and dancing traditional music into the future as a shared experience for people of all ages.

Dan Zanes' website

Warren Zanes is the Vice President of Education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. A Presidential Fellow in the SAGES program and a visiting scholar in the Baker-Nord Seminar on “Childhoods” at Case, Warren received his Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester. He is author of a book on Dusty Springfield’s legendary album, Dusty in Memphis (2003), and has published scholarly articles in Afterimage, Film/Philosophy Journal, and edited collections. He has also written for Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, The Oxford American, and The Cleveland Plain Dealer. A member of the Del Fuegos in the 1980s, he has recently released two solo CDs on Dualtone: Memory Girls (2003) and People That I’m Wrong For (January 2006). He is currently editing a book about the great Jimmie Rodgers

Warren Zanes.

For kids ages 10-14 Sunday, April 2, 1:00 pm Clark Hall 206, 11130 Bellflower Road Space is limited. Reservations required.

Have some fun exploring creative writing with a wonderful group of professors, authors, and community leaders. The workshop will be led by Alice Bach, Silvia Jardim, Ed Gemerchak, Angela Johnson, and other members of the Baker-Nord Seminar on “Childhoods”. Every participant will receive a special parting gift.

Come for the workshop and stay for the film, The Kid, showing at 3:00 pm across the street at Cinematheque!

For reservations, call 216.368-8961 or email Michelle.Beight@case.edu.

Please note, the following lecture, “Once Upon a Time….” with children's book illustrator Marie Kyprianou has been cancelled. The Baker-Nord Center regrets any inconvenience this cancellation may cause.

ONCE UPON A TIME Il était une fois: Children’s Literature in France MARIE KYPRIANOU (lecture cancelled) With MARIE LATHERS Tuesday, April 4, 11:30 am

Guilford Parlor, Guilford House, 11112 Bellflower Road

Presentations in French (with English translations) and English.

Marie Kyprianou is a print and fashion illustrator and instructor of plastic arts. She has illustrated French children's books for a variety of European publishers, including Nathan, Lito, and Casterman. She has also illustrated pedagogical materials for UNESCO and Hatier International. The ten-volume collection Il était une chanson (traditional French children's music) that she illustrated for Casterman is available with a music CD.

A special note: Ms. Kyprianou sends her apologies regarding the cancellation of her appearance at Case.

Marie Kyprianou's website

Marie Lathers is Treuhaft Professor of Humanities and French and Associate Director of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. She is the author of The Aesthetics of Artifice: Villiers' 'L'Eve future' (1996) and Bodies of Art: French Literary Realism and the Artist's Model (2001). Her current work in progress includes a study of the representation of women in outer space in contemporary culture.

Also of interest. . .

Assessing the Effects of a Community-Wide Initiative on Early Childhood Tuesday, April 4; 11:45 a.m., Clark Hall, Room 206

Rob Fischer, Ph.D. Research Associate Professor, Mandell School of Applied Social Sciences

Since 1999, a bold initiative has been underway to improve the well-being of children from birth to age 5 in in the greater Cleveland community. Dr. Fisher will discuss this initiative and will be joined by Michelle Katona, Director of Invest in Children,who will discuss policy implications of the iniative.

More information on Dr. Fischer's presentation

Sponsored by the Schubert Center for Child Development

Discussion with Local Award-winning Authors Wednesday, April 5, 4:30 pm Clark Hall 206, 11130 Bellflower Road

Angela Johnson is the author of over forty children’s books, including teen novels and picture books. A MacArthur Fellow in 2003 and Baker-Nord Seminar Visiting Fellow in 2005, her most recent novel is Bird (Dial, 2004).

Angela Johnson's Website

Megan Whalen Turner is the author of fantasy for young adults. Her most recent book is The King of Attolia (Greenwillow, 2006), which completes her trilogy that includes The Thief (1996), a Newberry Honor book, and The Queen of Attolia (2000)

Megan Whalen Turner .

Mary Grimm is associate professor in Engish at Case and a Baker Nord Seminar Senior Faculty Fellow. She has two book, Left to Themselves and Stealing Time, and her essays have appeared in The New Yorker and Redbook. She is writing a novella with four child voices.

Mary Grim

Thursday, April 6, 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. Studying Kids: Children as Human Subjects Multi-purpose Room, Veale Convocation Center 2128 Adelbert Road

Moderaded by Lynn T. Singer (Deputy Provost) and Jill E. Korbin (Arts and Sciences Associate Dean)

4 CREC credits available

Lynn T. Singer is Deputy Provost and Professor in the School of Medicine.

Jill E. Korbin is Professor of Anthropology, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Co-director of the Schubert Center for Child Development.

Forum: STUDYING KIDS - CHILDREN AS HUMAN SUBJECTS Gigi McMillan, Child Patient Advocate and Founder of We Can

Using children as human research subjects involves complicated ethical and practical issues. There are many facets to a child’s participation in any kind of study. Delicate subjects often require delicate treatment, whether or not the researcher is studying healthy kids, at-risk kids or sick kids. Even if a researcher is just studying the way kids are studied, a wide array of specific issues come into play when children are the subjects of research.

The Forum will be moderated by Lynn Singer, Ph.D., ACES Principal Investigator, Case Deputy Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Jill E. Korbin, Ph.D., Case Professor of Anthropology and Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Co-Director of the Schubert Center for Child Development.

Panelists are Eric Kodish, M.D., Cleveland Clinic Foundation Chair of Bioethics, James Lalumandier, D.D.S., Case Dental School Professor and Chair of the Case Community Dentistry Department, Sandra Russ, Ph.D., Case Professor of Psychology, and Mark Singer, Ph.D., Case Mandell School of Applied Social Sciences Professor.

For more information about Research ShowCASE, including a complete program schedule, registration, parking, directions, maps and lodging, visit ShowCase

Aaron Alcorn (History), David Crampton (Social Work), Brian Gran (Sociology and Law), Jenifer Neils (Art History), and Renée Sentilles (History) Thursday, April 6, 12:30 pm Hall of Fame Room, Veale Convocation Center, 2128 Adelbert Road

From public policy to courts of law, fiction and memoirs to images in art, representations largely shape the way we view children and childhood. Join participants of the recent Baker-Nord Seminar on “Childhoods” as they examine how children and childhoods have been and are represented, and how these representations shape ideas of children and childhood across the humanities and social sciences.

The Triplets of Belleville and the Sounds of Nostalgia DANIEL GOLDMARK Thursday, April 6, 4:30 pm Clark Hall 206, 11130 Bellflower Road

Daniel Goldmark, an assistant professor in the Music Department at Case, works on American popular music, including film and cartoon music. Prior to his academic career, he spent several years in the animation and music industries, working as an archivist at Spümcø Animation in Hollywood, where he was also the music coordinator on the short cartoons “Boo-Boo Runs Wild” and “A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith,” and as research editor at Rhino Entertainment in Los Angeles. He is co-editor of The Cartoon Music Book (2001) and author of Tunes for 'Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon (2005).

Daniel Goldmark

Co-sponsored by the Baker-Nord Center, the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque presents a series of films on the theme of childhoods. The series was curated by Linda C. Ehrlich of the department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Case, in collaboration with John Ewing, Cinnematheque Director. All films shown at the Cinematheque 11141 East Boulevard, (216) 421-7450, www.cia.edu/cinematheque.

Admission each film: $8.00. Cinematheque members, Case/Art Institute students, faculty, and staff $5.00 (with ID). Children 12 and under $5.00.

Sunday, April 2, 3:00 p.m.

THE KID (Charlie Chaplin, b/w, 1921, 51 mins.) with intertitles read by local Equity actor, Mitchell Fields. Live piano music by Sebastian Birch of Canton. Appropriate for all ages.

The first feature film written and directed by Chaplin, starring the amazing child actor Jackie Coogan. The story of the affection between the Little Tramp and the abandoned child he cares for. A (somewhat idealized) insight into life for children raised in a lower-class urban setting.

Sunday, April 2, 4:30 p.m.

CHANG: A DRAMA OF THE WILDERNESS (Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, b/w, silent, 68 mins.). With musical soundtrack by Fong Naam. Appropriate for adults and older children.

Shot in Thailand by the directors of the original KING KONG, this is the story of a rural family who struggles to survive in the jungle. Includes 500 local extras, 400 elephants, tigers, leopards, and a pet gibbon. (Some violence to animals shown–though few were actually killed.). An insight into village life for older children.

Thursday, April 6, 7:00 p.m.

FORBIDDEN GAMES (Jeux interdits, Rene Clement, director, France, 1952, sound, b/w, 102 mins.).English subtitles.

Inspired by the novella Secret Games by Francois Boyer, this rare French film tells the story of how WWII touched two children's lives, and how they tried to overcome trauma through a series of self-designed rituals. Appropriate for older children. Followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer period by area scholars on childhood trauma.

Also of interest at the Cinematheque…

THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE

EL ESPIRITU DE LA COLMENA

Spain, 1973, Victor Erice

Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 7:00 pm Lecture by Linda C. Ehrlich and Film Screening Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 9:00 pm (film screening only)

A new 35mm color print of one of the great Spanish films – a haunting tale of two young girls living in a rural village in Franco's Spain in 1940, at the end of the Spanish Civil War. Among a muted, repressed family atmosphere, the girls (one played by the extraordinary actor, Ana Torrent) take flight in private fantasies and reveries inspired by the movie Frankenstein, which they have just seen. Dr. Linda Ehrlich, associate professor at Case and author of the book An Open Window: The Cinema of Victor Erice, will deliver a 40-min. lecture about the film before the screening. “Not since Forbidden Games has any movie entered so deeply into the perilous country of children's nightmares and fantasies.” –The NY Times. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. Approx. 150 min. Special admission $10, members and CIA/Case staff $7, any student with I.D. $5; no passes. Film repeats by itself at 9 pm on April 9th, for regular prices.

Sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Cinderella Thursday, April 6 6:30pm Clark 309, 11130 Bellflower Road

Students of the Modern Languages and Literatures department perform the classic fairytale in many tongues–Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Italian, and Chineses, with some Hebrew and Arabic thrown in for good measure.

Rhythms and Rhymes Wednesday, April 5 beginning 8:00 pm Clark 309, 11130 Bellflower Road

This show presents jazz and poetry, featuring rhythmical rhymes presented by student readers performing poly-poeto-glottic texts in swinging ways. Music will be provided by the hitherto unheard trio Brandts' Bop. Literary sources include Japanese nursery rhymes, French finger plays, German giggle poetry, Hebrew counting rhymes, French fairy poems, Italian singing games, and Russian nonsense verses.

Pious and Profane: The Female Figure in Music 1600-1850

Cecilia’s Circle Saturday, April 8, 7:30 pm Harkness Chapel, 11200 Bellflower Road

Revel in the music and stories of early composers Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Barbara Strozzi, Elisabetta Gambarini, and Faustina Hodges, all of whom were child prodigies leading very special musical lives within the protective constraints of their households and families. For more information, including how to get tickets, visit music.case.edu/ccc.

The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities gratefully acknowledges generous co-sponsorship from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Schubert Center for Child Development. We also wish to thank the enthusiastic cooperation of the departments of Music and Modern Languages and Literatures.

Planning for Humanities Week was done in close collaboration with members of the Fall 2005 Baker-Nord Seminar on “Childhoods”, supported by a Presidential Initiative Fund Grant and made possible by the generosity of The Cleveland Foundation. The seminar members are: Myra Bluebond-Langner, Angela Johnson, Mary Grimm, Jenifer Neils, Alice Bach, David Crampton, Linda C. Ehrlich, Ed Gemerchak, Brian Gran, Susan Hinze, Silvia Jardim, Kurt M. Koenigsberger, Renée M. Sentilles, Kathleen Wells, Warren Zanes, Timothy K. Beal, and Aaron Alcorn.