SoCal Minds

Phew, a hectic and notable week for all manner of speakers

From ALOUD, Zocalo, UCLA, Skirball, Claremont McKenna

OK, this isn't meant to be anywhere near close to encyclopedic but let's try to capture a slice of the many and varied really smart folks who will speak in the next few days in sessions, mostly free and all requiring registration, such as:  the amazing cookbook author, food expert and New York Times columnist Mark Bittman in a chat with renowned L.A. chef Evan Kleiman at 7:30 tonight (Tues) on the Westside; MacArthur 'genius' fellow and Haitian native Edwidge Danticat in a talk with journalist Amy Wilentz on the 'immigrant artist at work,' at 7 tonight (tues) downtown; a panel of scholars, artists and activists will examine 'race, class and residence in Los Angeles,' in a Westside program at 7 tonight (tues); Matthew Kahn,  a public affairs prof, Luskin Scholar and author, will ponder 'how will cities survive climate change,' in a program at 7:30 tonight on the Westside; on Wednesday night at7:30 in mid-city, national correspondent Robert Kaplan takes on the question whether the 'U.S. is ready for the rise of Asia;' on the Westside on Wednesday night at 7, the gifted, talented, iconoclastic one-time editors of the LA Weekly will celebrate their second edition with readings and performances by contributors to their new literary venture, Slake; in Claremont on Wednesday night, sports writing legend Frank Deford will be in the spotlight; and on Thursday night at 7 downtown, though the session shows at full now, noted Los Angeles experts Glen Creason and D.J. Waldie will discuss their new examination of the City of Angels in maps.

Everybody's talking at us about lots of stuff this week

From UCLA, ALOUD, Zocalo & Cal State Fullerton

 

Never let it be said that Southern Californians lack the capacity to exercise their rights to free speech and to talk for free and freely, whether it's about political topics, as discussed in this Bruin video above, or in conversations that this week will run the gamut of: strategies to break the cycle of gang violence late Tuesday afternoon in Westwood; music and the centrality of themes of celebration and lament in it through the ages on Tuesday night in downtown; the power of Native American story-telling and how its techniques can powerfully inform contemporary memoir writing on Wednesday night in downtown; how distinguished scholars and practitioners see the course of Latino literature in the 21st century in downtown Thursday night;  how religion is reshaping America in Chinatown Thursday night (yes, this is the correct date, this time); on the public trust and remaking the Nixon Library in Fullerton on Tuesday afternoon; and, yes, even a shout-out to a production-meditation on the solo powers exemplified in the Watts Towers on Thursday night on the Westside; and two, fully staged performances in the courtyard of 'Hamlet,' one of the best-known works of the Bard Tuesday and Wednesday night on the Westside, featuring Bruin thespians from the actor training program.

Here's a timely topic of wide appeal: a 'defense of failure'

From Zocalo & ALOUD

Of the many topics tackled and talked about all across the town by such very smart people, this may rank as an all-time favorite. It may be because it looms so large and inescapable in every life. Or because so many of us excel at it in all the wrong ways. Whatever. Megan McArdle, herself an accomplished business and economics scribe, will be part of a free, open and public talk on Wednesday night at 7 downtown on the Westside offering a 'Defense of Failure.' Oh, of course, she won't be dealing with just the ordinary collapses that plague daily life, the lapses that lie, say, behind espirit de l'escalier. Nah. She theorizes that a lot of what deeply troubles the U.S. economy now can be connected to Americans' incapacity to fail -- to do it often, well, publicly and to deal with it gracefully. And if this conversation fails to stir, there also are discussions planned on 'How Religion Is Reshaping American Life,' or on exile and incarceration and the 'Blood-Dark Track.'

Timely policy proposals in wake of gay teen suicide cases

From UCLA, ALOUD & Pomona

As outrage grows over the bullying of gay teens that has ended, just in recent weeks, with the highly publicized suicides of a Rutgers freshman, an Indiana high schooler and a Houston middle schooler, perhaps students, parents, educators and policy-makers finally will confront the ugly clime and actions that brutalize not just homosexuals but also any and too many youngsters shunned as 'others.' And for timely suggestions on the topic, researchers in Westwood have just issued proposals to keep safer lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered kids, with co-author Sheila James Kuehl bringing her own unique expertise to the work as the first openly gay or lesbian to be elected to the California Legislature. The Bruin researchers say that, while the publicized cases of bullying and suicides may be extreme, taunting and harassment of LGBT kids is too sadly common and even encouraged by adults, including teachers and principles. The courts, however, in examining how horrific the conditions for harassed youngsters can be, have shown little tolerance for bias in schools. Besides providing a model code and anti-bias legislation, the researchers emphasize points worth noting: fostering a tolerant, compassionate atmosphere in the schools benefits everyone there, not just LGBT kids; teaching kids in grades K-12 about tough issues involving sexuality needs to be done with sensitivity and keen age-awareness; LGBT teens may face further social complications due to race and gender; and, finally, those extra-curricular activities play a huge, crucial role in young lives. Translation: the jocks and athletics must be brought into the 21st century, too. 

In Westwood, ideas on how to keep safe LGBT kids in grades K-12

What does science say on why kids grow up straight, gay or bisexual?

It's a debate eternal, though a body of knowledge continues to build: Is being gay a matter of nature or nuture? Neuroscientist Simon LeVay, in a free, public chat (reservations required), will discuss with Trojan neroscientist Larry Swanson, the state of science on the topic of what makes children grow up to be straight, bisexual or gay. Among the topics that they will tackle will be the latest advances in sexuality and orientation studies in genetics, endocrinology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology and more.

Click here for more info, to RSVP for chat with neuroscientist Simon LeVay

Online, too, a quest to preserve some civility in posted comments

Lest anyone think that incivility rears its ugly head in rare instance only, researchers in Pomona have worked with the corporate giant Yahoo to develop software to detect and deal with nattering nabobs of stupidity who post hostile comments online. There's an art, of course, to discerning robust, worthy debate and discussion and the nefarious, slamming of web trolls. But with the torrent of material that goes up and down online all through the 24/7/365 cyber cycle, the people who care about allowing the web to be something other than a bathroom wall need machine help or so it seems.

In Pomona, a search for ways to keep online comments from going far off track

Click here to read fuller Scientific American report on 'sentiment sensing' software

Let's do video, dance, discuss Panama Canal and honor

From UCLA, ALOUD, CSULB & MOCA

Just because it's a gray, drizzly Monday morning in Southern California, here's a few items to look ahead to for a brighter week, especially among the region's chattering classes.

On Tuesday, the folks in Westwood return to the scene of what's the state of the art in Do It Yourself video, examining the viral cultural phenomenon, some of its prime examples, and, yes, even bringing in some of its suddenly well-known practitioners, such as Matt Harding, that guy who danced around the planet and into his 15 minutes of fame. If Harding's hoofing gets those feet itchy, head downtown Thursday night to join Heffington and the Eastsiders in an 'enagement party,' an 'environment' designed to get participants to get up dance and, yes, maybe even be videotaped.

For the more serious minded, on Wednesday night the folks in Long Beach look farther south than usual to examine the point-counterpoint on what the planned expansion of the Panama Canal will mean to local ports. Will the 2014 opening of the bigger, deeper, better waterway cut into business at the multibillion-dollar facilities in Los Angeles and Long Beach? The session's free and open to the public. And on Thursday night, the always wonderful Jack Miles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and thinker now resident in Irvine, will chat with philosopher and author Kawme Anthony Appiah about honor codes and moral revolutions in a free session downtown (reservations required).

Take in a 'Grim Sleeper' talk, chess exhibition, print show

From CSULA, Caltech, Chapman & the Huntington

Rumble, rumble, rumble, ka-boom. Yes, there may be rolling thunderstorms, occasional sprinkles and muggy conditions prevailing this weekend. That's all the more reason to keep zipping around town to take in all the stuff going on.

That includes a forum in East L.A. this afternoon on the 'Grim Sleeper,' multiple homicide case and the forensic and DNA issues surrounding it, including the controversies over scanning not just individuals' but also families' genetic materials and records and how scientific advances may affect public crime labs. Or maybe if fun and games are the call, how about seeing a Russian chess master take on all challengers in a simultaneous exhibition in the Rose City this evening; may need to be a member of that super smart institution's official community to actually play. If art's the thing, it may be time for a stroll out to San Marino to take in the opening of an exhibition exploring the 'evolving ideas' of midcentury American printmakers. 

And a head's up on happenings on Monday, too

And, , yeah, they're really going to be part of the next work week. But head's up at least that if a certain kind of humor proves irresistible, alums of the 'National Lampoon' will be downtown Monday night for a free, public program (requires reservations) exploring the institution's big effect on pop culture and how time has left its personalities, ahem, 'drunk stoned brilliant dead.' There will be laughs of a different sort when the Orange County Bar members gather on Monday night hear the annual jousts between law school deans Erwin Chemerinsky and John C. Eastman about the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court term; the barristers also will honor the presiding justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division Three, in Santa Ana. And in Orange, starting Monday, for those feel the earth move under their feet (without Carole King singing in their heads), there will be an international, three-day, experts' workshop on electromagnetic signals associated with earthquakes and volcanoes.'

Look at all the stuff they're chattering about now ...

From UCLA, ALOUD, Zocalo, Southwestern Law School, USC & the Milken Institute

Here's hoping there are madding crowds around town with noble striving to learn lots more this week about international criminal courts, Islam, Christianity, mammon-like matters, defamation, unemployment and happiness. Those are among the topics that will be or have been taken up in salon-like, free, open and public conversations across the area that also may require RSVPs or online patience.

• On the Westside this afternoon, for example, Gen. Wesley Clark, the one-time NATO supreme allied commander, and David Scheffer, the first U.S. ambassador at-large for war crime issues, will address whether aggressive war constitutes a crime and what the proper role might be for an international criminal court in the future of international justice.

• In downtown, Graham E. Fuller, a former vice chair of the CIA's national intelligence council, will join Tuesday night with Maher Hathout, an oft-quoted figure in the U.S. Muslim community, and Rabbi Reuven Firestone to ponder scenarios in which there might be a world without Islam? That session will be twinned with a Thursday night program with Eliza Griswold, a poet and prize winning journalist (shown at left), and Amir Hussain, a theological studies prof from Westchester, examining life along the 10th parallel, near which half the world's 1.3 billion Muslims dwell, as do 60% or so of the planet's 2 billion Christians.

•  In downtown, too, but on Wednesday night, Sebastian Mallaby -- a noted journalist and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations -- will detail the rise and seek to explain the unprecedented position that hedge funds now occupy in global finance. 

• With the appropriate caveat about a possible conflict of interest (since the home institution of the event mentioned next also happens to write a paycheck or two to the author of this post), it's worth taking note for the legal crowd that on Wednesday afternoon a group of international scholars and experts, as part of a symposium put on by a specialty law journal at the school, will detail and discuss emerging global issues in defamation law. In Exposition Park, of course, a similar symposium sponsored by another campus law journal recently considered the special ravages inflicted by the nation's soaring unemployment on minority groups that already were ignored or shunned.

• And, finally, for those who might wonder just what sort of program the smart set gets to see at the sessions detailed here, well, here's an online posting and a video from a recent Los Angeles appearance at a Bevery Hills think tank by Tony Hsieh, a corporate CEO (shown at right) whose company, Zappos.com, came to represent not only top notch customer service but also highly successful and profitable online innovation, which, incidentally and arguably, also brought considerable happiness to investors, employees and customers alike. 

 

Migration? Opera? L.A. River? Please discuss...

From ALOUD, Zocalo, UCI& UCLA

Get out that PDA, pull up the computer calendar or slide out that pocket planner: Whether it's opera loving, a fancy for dodge ball, wonder about one of the great American migrations or worry about the future of the Los Angeles River, there's a smart chat ahead to be scheduled. All the talks are free, open and require reservations. As soon as issues die down with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles web site (are they getting hacked this mornin?), we'll post the info on their two programs -- with Isabel Wilkerson, a onetime New York Times correspondent and author of a new, much acclaimed account of the giant migration of blacks from the rural south to the urban north, and a session with MacArthur genius grant winner Lewis Hyde and renaissance character and festival presenter Peter Sellars. On the Westside on Wednesday night, work on operas like 'Il Postino' will be the topic of Chilean novelist Antonio Skarmeta and Mexican composer Daniel Catan. In downtown on Wednesday night, the LA River will be the focus of Mike Woo, the former LA councilman and now Cal Poly enviro design dean, and a panel of experts who will discuss how to transform a now concrete channel into a unifying element of the metropolis. And for those seeking new student orientation escapades, organizers in Irvine have gathered up 600 balls and hope to attract 2,000 or more participants as they seek to set a new Guiness record for the world's largest dodge ball game.

L.A. chats on green investing, monopolies, hospital design

 From Claremont McKenna, ALOUD & Zocalo

Let it never be said that Southern California's not a prime spot for appearances by the chattering classes, many of whom are zooming in and out of the area as the fall speaker season ramps up. In Claremont, a top GOP operative will make a Monday stop to talk about how some of the world's big money movers -- the investment firm of Kolberg, Kravis, in this case -- can help make the planet a better place by putting up green, environmentally conscious portfolios. Sounds interesting on its face as a topic. But wonder, too, if KKR global affairs chief Ken Mehlman (shown at right) will veer from what could be a carefully scripted presentation to deal also with timely events that have thrust this onetime top Bush adviser into a different spotlight -- his recent public disclosure that he is gay and his reported internal, political opposition to an especially divisive, corrosive and successful conservative strategy of attacking LGBT people and causes, especially 'gay marriage.' And while Wall Street ostensibly concerns itself solely with matters green, no less than a Gray Lady scribe recently took off from Mehlman's joining of KKR to tackle 'pink' problems -- of the past? -- evidenced on the Street.

In Claremont, former top Bush aide takes on how Wall Street can make the world greener

An NYT blog post on Ken Mehlman, coming out on Wall Street

In the early part of the week, experts also will consider on Tuesday how design can affect health, particularly in the planning and execution of medical facilities, especially hospitals. Novelist Mona Simpson (shown in photo at right) will chat about the curios of Hollywood life, as captured in her fine tomes and otherwise, with writer Michelle Huneven. And on Wednesday, Barry C. Lynn, an economist and journalist, advances his theories about the destructive consequences of the increasing force of monopolies in 21st century business. All these sessions are free, open to the public, have limited seating space and require RSVPs.

Can design contribute to health, well-being?

In downtown, novelists to offer their take on their Hollywood

Click here for Zocalo page, with 'monopolies' session on right rail (links broken)

The read, think and talk crowd returns in a big fall way

From ALOUD & Zocalo

Yippee, the read-and-chat crowd returns in powerful fashion from their brief summer break with a chock full week of smart programs. These include: a major Los Angeles appearance of Jonathan Franzen, arguably the hottest young author in the U.S., a chat with terrific Henry Weinstein, the former Times legal affairs expert and now UCI prof, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on 'Making Democracy Work,' and an intriguing session moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold with culinary stars Nancy Silverton, Ludovic Lefebvre, Susan Feniger and Ilan Hall on whether celebrity chefs are good for food. Space is limited and reservations are required for the sessions, most of them free (there's a charge for the Franzen chat with Times columnist Meghan Daum) and still open (the Justice Breyer chat lists as full right now).