Philadelphia Weekly

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Who doesn't miss the intellectual fervor of a college campus? I graduated last week and I already feel my brain cells deteriorating into carriers of information about loan deferment provisions and healthcare packages. Past Fridays spent at "Dissent in America" teach-ins will now be spent scanning mediabistro.com for job listings. But no matter where we are in life, we could all use a few supplementary lectures to satisfy our nerdy need for communal cerebral workouts.

Fortunately, local colleges have some decent symposia this semester that are free and open to the public. Join your local book club for One Book, One Philadelphia, attend a few of the free lectures below and call it grad school.

To start off with, Penn Bookstore (3601 Walnut St. 215.898.7595) offers up a solid platter of authors over the next few weeks. Tonight at 7 do as white people do and attend a book signing with Christian Lander, creator of the blog and bestselling book Stuff White People Like. Tomorrow night (6pm) hear Drexel prof Arthur Shostak discuss ideas for the future of K-12 education, or if you're free during the day (aka, unemployed) visit with writer Nadine Haobsh, who'll be signing copies of Confessions of a Beauty Addict at 2 p.m.

At Wharton two more Wednesday- night lectures (5pm, 3730 Walnut St. 215.898.5000) from the series "Jews in Business: Between Myth and Reality" break down stereotypes and conspiracy theories by discussing "the more complex tale of economic opportunity and group survival." Presented by guest lecturers from Paris and Haifa, this series is a good opportunity to educate our way out of post-Madoff depression.

Coming in February, Paley Library's Chat in the Stacks Series (2:30pm, 1201 W. Berks St. 215.204.0916) features notable director Lee Richardson's play The Seven, based on Aeschlyus' Seven Against Thebes. Richardson will discuss the play between actors performing live scenes.

On Feb. 18 Penn professor David Eng comes to the Paley. Eng is the co-editor of Q & A: Queer in Asian America and author of Racial Castration: Managing Masculinity in Asian America. His lecture, "Queer Space in China," which he recently gave at the University of Sydney, deals with issues of public and private gay and lesbian identities in contemporary China.

For media addicts, the Annenberg School for Communication will present "An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Television: What Happens When I Turn on the TV Set" (6:15pm. 3620 Walnut St. 215.746.2874). So if you haven't gotten around to reading Hegel, Heidegger and Husserl, but you know your way around the Oxygen Network, this lecture could be for you.

And finally, the Grand Poobah of free lectures in Philadelphia: On Feb. 20 Drexel hosts "The Student Conference on Global Challenges--Energy and Environment" (8:30am, Behrakis Hall, 3141 Chestnut St. 215.895.6372). This all-day conference features keynote speaker Jerald Schnoor, editor-in-chief of Environmental Science and Technology. Panels will discuss different aspects of global challenges, like business trends, health, justice and human rights, media, science and technology, and social and economic trends.

And let's not underestimate student panels: Of the 300,000 undergraduates in the metro area, there are bound to be at least 50 who are obsessed with some global challenge or another to the point of genius. If you're one of these students, go to the homepage for Drexel's Office of International Programs and fill out the application, and then in one month, rain down the smarts.

That's right, little prodigy: I'm telling you to leave your dorm room because the world needs your fresh ideas before you get a 9-to-5 and go stale. Do it while you can. You have the rest of your life to turn to thoughts of mortgage rates and cholesterol.

Listings

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education: "Interested in Making a Difference?"
Penn Graduate School of Education offers Ph.D., Ed.D., M.S.Ed., M.S. and M.Phil.Ed degrees. GSE seeks students interested in promoting understanding of educational issues and contributing to societal change. Curriculum places emphasis on interactive relationship of theory, research and practice, focusing on urban education. GSE students are agents of change within the university and Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Graduate School of Education. University of Pennsylvania
3700 Walnut St.
Phone: 1.877.PENN.GSE
Fax: 215.746.6884
Email: admissions@gse.upenn.edu
Web: www.gse.upenn.edu

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