Alternate Thursdays • 1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. • Mackey Auditorium
Coordinator: Dick Blake
Open to the Public
What can we say about this selection of programs? Eclectic means ideas from various sources and that is what makes this series so interesting. If you like variety, you will enjoy this entire series. Come early to get a good seat.
How to Listen Critically to Opera
June 10
Speaker: Bill Glassman, Instructor, Fine Arts Department, Fullerton College
This is the third summer that Bill will be lecturing on his most passionate subject—opera. We are very fortunate to have Bill with us for two sessions. If you have not had the opportunity to hear him before, you don’t know what you’re missing. Don’t miss these two sessions.
In this first session, Bill will explore the art of opera with a review of vocal ranges and dramatic types. The session will feature a contrast of historical and modern styles of opera singing. This will feature vocal excerpts by early singers such as Enrico Caruso, Elizabeth Rethberg and Pasquale Amato, as well as modern singers such as Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo and Maria Callas.
How Does DNA Code for All of the Functions in the Body?
June 24
Speaker: Marvin Rosenberg, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, CSUF
What is the structure of DNA? How does DNA replicate? How is the information in DNA decoded? What is the simple definition of a gene? How are the different types of RNA involved? What are amino acids and proteins? Why are genetic diseases caused by changes in the DNA information? What can be done to reduce the possibility of a genetic disease? These questions will be addressed in this lecture. All the mysteries of DNA and RNA will be cleared up by the end of this presentation.
An Introduction to Aida, Giuseppe Verdi’s 1871 Masterpiece
July 8
Speaker: Bill Glassman, Instructor, Fine Arts Department, Fullerton College
In this second session, Bill will discuss the creation of this opera’s music by Verdi and libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. He will tell the story of the opera, and play excerpts from outstanding modern recordings. Emphasis will be on the challenges this opera presents to singers, conductors and directors—and the notable successes and failures at meeting these challenges.
Breaking New Ground - The Early Years of Knott's Berry Farm
July 22
Speaker: Phil Brigandi, Archivist for the County of Orange
Phil is back. In the summer 2007, he provided a very good presentation on the Orange County Native Americans.
Long before thrill rides and Halloween Haunts, even before Independence Hall and Ghost Town, Knott's Berry Farm was a real berry farm. Phil will trace the early development of the park from its founding in 1920, through the introduction of the boysenberry and the opening of the chicken dinner restaurant in the 1930s, to the creation of Ghost Town in the 1940s. He will also discuss Walter Knott's pivotal role in transforming a roadside berry stand into a world famous amusement park. His presentation will be illustrated with rare photographs and film clips from the Knott's Berry Farm Collection at the Orange County Archives.
History of African-Americans in the United States: A Time-line of the African-American Odyssey
August 5
Speaker: Ernest Bridges, Lecturer in Afro-Ethnic Studies, CSUF
“One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body.” This quote was written by W.E.B. DuBois in 1897. African-American History, DuBois maintained, was the history of this double-consciousness. The Black community has always been a part of the American nation that they helped to build. The cultural pluralistic history of America cannot be understood without African-American history.
This presentation is an introduction to the historical roots and characteristics of the Black culture in the United States. The presentation examines the Black American experience from its African roots to the present day. A special emphasis is placed on the social and cultural facets of this human experience.