Older Scripps Presents Archives

May 2, 2017

Levitt on the Lawn: The Dustbowl Revival

Big, brassy, upbeat: The Dustbowl Revival’s vintage soul-meets-country blues has wooed critics and audiences alike. Named the best live band in LA by the LA Weekly, this octet, replete with tuba, washboard, accordion, fiddle, and mandolin, cruises eastward for summer fun on Scripps’ Bowling Green. This program is part of an ongoing series supported by Levitt […]

October 12, 2016

Reproductive Rights and Barriers to Safer Conception for People Living with HIV in South Africa

Despite the call to integrate HIV and reproductive health services clinics in many settings around the world still fall far short of meeting the reproductive rights and needs of people living with HIV. In this talk Deborah Mindry, from UCLA’s Center for Culture and Health and visiting scholar at the Claremont Colleges Intercollegiate Feminist Center, […]

August 16, 2016

How Islamist Intellectuals, Activists, and Militants Have Responded Differently to the West

Islamist activists in the Middle East have been fundamentally shaped by the political, intellectual, and religious challenges that Western influence has posed to their societies over the past century. Starting with Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna’s mobilization against Western missionaries and colonialism, the more radical Sayyid Qutb’s framing of secular, Western-backed governments as apostates, and […]

Introduction to Living Composition: A New Approach to Asian Music, Culture, and Spirituality

Over the last several years, Dr. Koji Nakano has composed cross-cultural works for Western and traditional Asian instruments, collaborating with musicians, dancers, and filmmakers in Asia, the U.S., and Europe. The idea of living composition is to explore solutions to problems of cross-cultural esthetics and musical elements, as well as to redefine the role of […]

Will You Won’t You Want Me?: A Reading and Conversation with Nora Zelevansky

Nora Zelevansky novels are witty page-turners. Her heroines are sparkly and sassy: from Beatrice Bernstein in Zelevansky’s debut Semi-Charmed Life to Marjorie Plum who stands at the center of her second novel, Will You Won’t You Want Me? These young women face life’s challenges with zeal and good humor. Zelevansky â€˜99 will share how her […]

From Trafficking to Terror: Connecting Two Global Wars

The “war on terror” and the “war on trafficking,” two seemingly separate initiatives, have become interwoven in recent years and conspire to castigate Muslim majority countries as sites of depravity, difference, and danger, fueling Islamophobic rhetoric about the clash of civilizations. Both discourses are raced, classed, and gendered, producing distinct tropes of victims and villains, […]

Mary Beard

Before Mary Beard came along, no one would consider the classics entertainment. But with a popular blog, “A Don’s Life,” and regular appearances on television, Beard has made a space for Ancient Rome in our popular discourse. When she’s not sharing new insights into Pompeii, she’s busy leading the charge against online harassment—fearlessly calling out […]

August 1, 2016

Levitt on the Lawn: The Leftover Cuties

“Jazz-pop that’s sweet as pie, but strong as whiskey.” —Buzzbands.la Featuring the sultry vocals and lilting ukulele of Shirli McAllen, this Los Angelesâ€“based quartet is beloved for its retro-infused tunes backed by upright bass, horns, and the occasional accordion. Picnic on the lawn with local food truck fare and end-of-summertime treats and then make your way […]

Substitute: In the Classroom with Nicholson Baker

“A gripping and indispensable time-capsule of teaching and learning in the 21st century.” —Publishers Weekly Whether in fiction or non, Nicholson Baker‘s varied but genuine obsessions—music, newspapers, literature, familial dynamics, video game culture—find their way into his smart, deft, and hilarious prose. In Substitute: Going to School with a Thousand Kids, he turns his eye to […]

We Gon’ Be Alright: Jeff Chang

“His issues are our issues: this changing America, this complicated, polyglot future that some are already living in, while some are fighting to tear apart.” Novelist Daniel Alarcón For Jeff Chang, the need to address racial violence in America is an urgent necessity. In We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, the author […]