Bestselling Memoirist Highlights Arts & Lectures Series
Arts & Lectures, a longstanding event series at Cal State San Marcos, will present a packed spring lineup culminating in an appearance by Tara Westover, author of the bestselling and highly acclaimed 2018 book “Educated: A Memoir,” the CSUSM Common Read for 2019-20. The Common Read is a signature program of the University Library.
This season boasts a diverse selection of nine events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances. Attendees can purchase or reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website beginning Jan 21.
The call for proposals for Arts & Lectures events for the 2020/21 academic year is open until Feb. 7.
Invisibility and Resistance: Education as Justice Work
Feb. 12, 6 p.m., University Student Union Ballroom
Columbia University administrator Flores A. Forbes will discuss how race, literacy and education in America was used as a weapon against the enslaved and how it is currently used to measure demand for the carceral state. He will discuss how the U.S. Constitution and American public policy framed and legislated the carceral state of today. He will also discuss the 13th Amendment’s exception clause and all of its negative externalities. Forbes argues that understanding the impact of the 13th Amendment’s exception clause is critical to changing the narrative of how we talk about hyper-incarceration of people of color.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $12
Faculty/staff/alumni: $6
Is Anyone Listening?
March 5, 7:30 p.m., Arts 111
Grammy-nominated pianist, vocalist and songwriter Judy Carmichael will play and discuss early jazz piano, how it influenced all that followed and how – especially in a time when no one seems to be listening – jazz musicians are the greatest listeners on the planet. Carmichael will be joined by guitar virtuoso Larry Koonse in a discussion of jazz, improvisation and improving one’s listening skills. This event is co-sponsored by the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad and CSUSM’s Department of Music.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $10
Faculty/staff/alumni: $5
Tian Ying
March 8, 2 p.m., Arts 111
Pianist Tian Ying is known for his eloquent, poetic and dramatically intense performances, and has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and piano professor. Since receiving a top prize at the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Ying has performed at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the U.S. and abroad. Special thanks to Steve and Laura Wagner and the Epstein Family Foundation for making this event possible.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $10
Faculty/staff/alumni: $5
Performance of ‘El Merolico’ (in Spanish with English subtitles)
March 10, 7 p.m., Arts 111
The world knows 17th-century Miguel de Cervantes as the author of the novel “Don Quixote,” but he also wrote hilarious one-act dramatic pieces known as "entremeses" which provided sometimes-biting social commentary of the day. This event brings to CSUSM an innovative performance of three of Cervantes’ most exciting one-act plays, which are told through the art of a “merolico” (a traveling street merchant). “El Viejo Celoso,” “El Retablo de las Maravillas,” and “La Cueva de Salamanca” are artfully woven together while the “merolico” helps the audience link the topics to today's world. This one-man play will transport the audience between the 17th and 21st centuries, helping us question human nature and ask ourselves if some things never change. Performed in Spanish by the award-winning Efe Tres Compania de Teatro troupe from Mexico City, with simultaneous English subtitles projected during the performance.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $10
Faculty/staff/alumni: $5
Communicate Less Verbally and More Visually
March 17, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom
Bruce Heimbach was in the prime of his professional career as an architect/project manager for a large San Diego construction firm when he unexpectedly suffered a massive stroke. After the stroke, he developed aphasia and was not able to communicate his basic needs and wants. Over time, Heimbach made a remarkable recovery and developed a new outlook on life: “Experience the world more visually and less verbally.” Aphasia is the loss or impairment of language. Faculty members from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology will provide a brief overview of what aphasia is and how it can impact a person. Heimbach will share his experience in recovery as well as his art and how it has guided him and shifted his values and priorities.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $10
Faculty/staff/alumni: $5
Jackson Katz: Violence and Silence
March 23, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom
Jackson Katz, Ph.D., is an educator, author and global thought leader who is renowned for his pioneering scholarship and activism on issues of gender, race and violence. He is co-founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), one of the longest-running and most influential gender violence prevention programs in North America and beyond. MVP was the first large-scale gender violence prevention initiative in sports culture and the U.S. military. He is the author of two books: bestseller “The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help,” and “Man Enough? Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the Politics of Presidential Masculinity.” He is also the creator of the award-winning “Tough Guise” documentary film series, and has appeared in numerous other popular films. His TED Talk, “Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue,” has been viewed more than 4 million times.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $12
Faculty/staff/alumni: $6
Hurricanes: Physics and Risk in a Changing Climate
March 24, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom
Dr. Kerry A. Emanuel, professor of atmospheric science at MIT, will discuss climate change and how it relates to the intensification of hurricanes and hurricane-related damage. He will show how an understanding of hurricane physics can be brought to bear on estimating how climate change will affect the risk due to these rare but strong events across the globe.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $10
Faculty/staff/alumni: $5
Raja Feather Kelly: Honest Reactions to Imaginary Situations
April 21, 7:30 p.m., USU Ballroom
Acclaimed New York-based choreographer/director Raja Feather Kelly, the artistic director of the dance-theater-media company the feath3r theory (TF3T), will present an evening of dynamic and thought-provoking performance, lecture and screening. As a collaboration of dancers, actors, filmmakers, musicians, photographers and designers, TF3T explores pop-culture and current cultural phenomena, building original performances that skillfully combine, deconstruct and reimagine elements of dance, visual media, fashion, drag, standup, minstrelsy and narrative theater. Kelly has earned numerous stellar awards, and since 2016 has choreographed extensively for Off-Broadway theater in New York City.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $10
Faculty/staff/alumni: $5
Dr. Tara Westover: Author of the 2019-20 Campus Common Read ‘Educated: A Memoir’
April 28, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom
How does the power of knowledge and education transform a person’s life? Tara Westover is an American historian and writer known for her unique and courageous education journey. She grew up in the rural mountains of Idaho to a family of survivalists who saw doctors and schools as part of a larger government conspiracy. Although Tara was taught to read and write by an older brother, she was oblivious to historical events and the outside world. Needing a way out of an abusive and restrictive home life, she secretly taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to college. Her quest for knowledge and her pursuit of education transformed her into the scholar she is today: a magna cum laude graduate of Brigham Young University, a Gates Cambridge Scholar and a visiting fellow at Harvard University. Please join the University Library in hosting Westover for a fireside chat as we discuss the themes of this year’s campus Common Read, “Educated: A Memoir” (Q&A and book signing to follow). Light refreshments will be provided.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: $12
Faculty/staff/alumni: $6
Media Contact
Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306