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October 2020
Vermont, 1800 and Froze to Death: The Cold Year of 1816
1816 has long been known as the year without summer. Vermonters still call it “1800 and Froze to Death,” a year of frosts every month, dark skies, and mysterious lights that caused a widespread belief that a higher power was displeased. In this talk, historian Howard Coffin includes scores of anecdotes on the dark year of failed crops, scarce food, and religious revival. Read More »
November 2020
*DIGITAL* Atlantic Is a Sea of Bones
Jarvis Green, founder of the Black theatre company JAG Productions, invites us to reflect individually and collectively on the afterlives and the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade. (Pre-registration required.) Read More »
December 2020
*DIGITAL* The Legacy of Nicholas Black Elk
Historian Damian Costello explores the life of the man behind the famous book Black Elk Speaks. Nicholas Black Elk’s Lakota philosophy can help us see the natural world as a unified whole, and his continued hope amidst great tragedy can inform how we approach contemporary crises. (Pre-registration required.) Read More »
January 2021
Meeting Men through Imagination
In the post-#MeToo era, men need new interventions to help express their masculinity without causing harm. Josiah Rule Randazzo, creator of The Complete Dick podcast, will explore how we can transform our understanding of masculinity and manhood. Read More »
February 2021
Female Husbands and Their Wives
Some people, assigned female at birth, transcended gender and lived as men in the 18th and 19th centuries, despite tremendous risk of violence. Amherst history professor Jen Manion provides examples of such people and the women they married. Read More »
March 2021
How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish
Yiddish is imprinted in American English in terms like chutzpah, kosher, bagel, and schmooze. And the work of Jewish authors shows the deep impact of Jewish immigration on the United States. Amherst College professor Ilan Stavans surveys the journey. Read More »
April 2021
Eating While Fat
Comic Josie Leavitt shares her hilarious attempts at exercising and dieting, addresses fat shaming, and describes her struggle for body acceptance in a society that could do more to welcome different bodies. Read More »
May 2021
This is Not That: A Brief Introduction to the Black Death
The Black Death hit the Eurasian world in the 14th century and left long-term consequences. Dartmouth history professor Celia Gapsochkin presents an overview of the outbreak of the bubonic plague, and compares it to the current pandemic. Read More »