Moderator: Mr Sam Bieler
First Censor: Mr Thadeus Dowad
Second Censor: Ms Amrit Malothra
Scriba: Mr Matthew Chiarello
Recorder: Ms Jennie Shapira
Treasurer: Mr Barlow Holley
Librarian: Mr Johnathan Mell
Archivist: Mr John Gee
*AO Director: Mr Michael-David Mangini
*Continuing in office

Join Philo and the Philm Committee for a special screening of the 2006 documentary, “The World According to Sesame Street.” This event is free and open to the public.

From PBS Independent Lens:

“Children’s education is more than just ABCs and 123s. With today’s global landscape dominated by such pressing issues as poverty, human rights, AIDS and ethnic genocide, how can the world’s most-watched children’s television show bridge cultures while remaining socially relevant? THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET explores the dramas, challenges and complexities behind producing international versions of the beloved television program. The film follows productions in Bangladesh, Kosovo and South Africa and examines how producers from New York’s Sesame Workshop take the iconic American television show and localize it with indigenous songs, puppets and curricula while facing cultural, political and production challenges.

When it first aired in 1969, Sesame Street was considered groundbreaking. A product of the era’s progressive and civil rights movements, it boasted the first mixed-race cast and first urban setting on a children’s television show. One of the program’s goals was to help level the educational playing field for all pre-school children. Sesame Workshop’s international co-productions now illustrate the current political and social environments of their home countries.

Today, Sesame Street is aired in more than 120 countries around the world, and Sesame Workshop is developing co-productions in India, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Northern Ireland and Brazil. As fascinating primer on art, media and intercultural dialogue, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET illustrates both the many cultural differences and similarities of producing the children’s television program on a global level.”

For more information about this philm, please visit http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestreet/film.html.

Come banter, chatter, converse, and cogitate with baked goods and a cup of Earl Grey in the Philomathean Library at Philo Afternoon Tea. All Philo events are free and open to the public.

This semester’s tea guests include Dr. Eduardo Glandt (Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), Prof. Saikat Chaudhuri (Wharton), Prof. Andreea Nicoara (Math), Prof. Arthur Waldron (History), and many others.

Afternoon Tea is an informal conversation between a professor (or other distinguished guest) and intellectually curious students over tea and other refreshments. It is an forum to share knowledge with those who would exchange it freely with you. It also provides a (sometimes all-too-scarce) opportunity to engage in intellectual discussion with members of the University faculty on topics of academic import outside the classroom.

For more information, please email the Fall 2011 Tea Chair, Mr Johnathan Mell.

Moderator: Emily Kern
First Censor: Cris Willis
Second Censor: Laura Lee
Scriba: Jarred Spear
Recorder: Jennie Shapira
Treasurer: Yingnan Xu
Librarian: Alex Savoy-Knitter
Archivist: Lorena Nicol
AO Director: MD Mangini

A Talk by Dr. Jared Diamond

Washed Up: The Role of Water in the Collapse of Civilizations

Date:  April 6, 2011
Time:  7:00PM
Location:  Irvine Auditorium, 3400 Spruce Street

There are absolutely no more tickets remaining for the talk; there may be some open seats owing to no-shows on the night, but we cannot guarantee non-ticketed persons seats.

Information about Dr. Diamond and the talk, as well as our co-sponsors, after the jump.

Jared Diamond is a major American public intellectual and leading scholar of physiology, ecology, conservation biology, and history. A recipient of the National Medal of Science, he is also the author of numerous widely-acclaimed books, including Guns, Germs, and Steel (recipient of the Pulitzer Prize), Collapse, The Third Chimpanzee, and Why is Sex Fun?. This talk promises to be an exciting and valuable opportunity to engage with a figure of international renown and interest.

After the talk, a public reception for Jared Diamond will be held in the Hall of Flags (Houston Hall, 1st Floor), to which all are invited.

Abstract: The ruined cities, temples, and statues of history’s great, vanished societies (Easter Island, Anasazi, the Lowland Maya, Angkor Wat, Great Zimbabwe and many more) offer more than idle conjecture: the social collapses were due in part to the types of environmental problems that beset us today. Yet many societies facing similar problems do not collapse. What makes certain societies especially vulnerable? Why didn’t their leaders perceive and solve their environmental problems? What can we learn from their fates?

Co-Sponsors: The Social Planning and Events Committee (SPEC) Fully Planned Fund, SPEC Connaissance, The Undergraduate Assembly, The Student Activities Council, The Department of Earth and Environmental Science, The Department of Chemistry, The Nursing School, The Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership, The Law Program in the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, The Department of Political Science, The Roy and Diana Vagelos Program of Life Sciences and Management, The Department of Classical Studies, Harrison College House, Center for Ancient Studies, The Department of Psychology, The Department of African Studies, The Department of History, The Green Campus Partnership, The College of Arts and Sciences, The Department of History and Sociology of Science, Penn Professional Staff Assembly, The Department of English, Center for East Asian Studies

Feel free to contact Alec Webley (moderator@philomathean.org) with any questions.

For more information about the Philomathean Society, please visit http://www.philomathean.org.

For more information about the Provost’s Year of Water, please visit https://secure.www.upenn.edu/themeyear/water/.

For more information about Dr. Diamond, check out his TED talk at http://www.ted.com/speakers/jared_diamond.html.

Tuesday, March 15 6:00pm – 7:30pm | Ben Franklin Room, Houston Hall (2nd Floor)

Exploring social transformation and justice in the wake of slavery in the U.S., the Holocaust, Japanese-American internment, and apartheid in South Africa

Hosted by the Race Dialogue Project with support from the Philomathean Society

How do nations and other groups address the aftermath of large-scale oppression, mass discrimination, and violence? We will compare approaches to restorative justice, or the healing of the parties to conflict—victims, offenders, and witnesses—in the following historical cases: slavery in the U.S., the Holocaust, Japanese-American internment, and apartheid in South Africa.

The event will be an engaging conversation in which attendees pose questions to our featured professors:

- Dr. Steven Hahn (Penn, History) concentrates on African-American history and the history of slavery and emancipation.

- Dr. Ian Lustick (Penn, Political Science) focuses on negotiations in the 1950s between Israel and Germany.

- Dr. Eiichiro Azuma (Penn, History) specializes in migration and Japanese American history.

- Dr. Zolani Ngwane (Haverford, Anthropology) studies the transformation of South African social institutions in the post-apartheid era.

Moderated by Rev. Charles Howard, University Chaplain

Dinner will be served at 5:45 PM

Reach the Race Dialogue Project blog at www.racedialogueproject.wordpress.com.

Come to the First Meeting of the 520th Session of the Philomathean Society!

As well as introducing guests and prospective members to the Society (if you’re interested in applying this semester, this is definitely a meeting to attend!), the Society will consider the insights of First Censor and Criminology and History major Sam Bieler (C’ 12) on “A Mind to Kill: The Psychology of Criminal Madmen and the Arizona Massacre.” What was going through Jared Lee Loughner’s mind when he contemplated the shooting? How do criminologists deal with pathologies like those on display in the Arizona massacre and other political assassinations? Come to Meeting 1 to find out!

All Society events – especially our meetings – are free and open to the public. A variety of exotic cheeses will be served!

Come to the Eighth Meeting of the 519th Session of the Philomathean Society! Tonight the Society and its phriends will be won over by a Literary Exercise delivered by Mr. Paul Mitchel by the title The Chimpanzee Has No Clothes: Toward an Evolutionary Understanding of Human Evolution.

(Un)Dress as you wish to be seen, and refreshments, as always, will be provided.

Join us in the closing event for the “Undressing Race” Art Exhibit
Co-hosted by the Race Dialogue Project and Philomathean Society

How can media and art be used to promote racial justice? A panel of experts will address this question on December 8th. Panelists include Professors Grace Kao (Sociology & Asian American Studies Program), Carolyn Marvin and Dan Berger (Annenberg School for Communication), and Sophie Sanders, a Philadelphia artist whose work is displayed in “Undressing Race.” Please join us for an engaging dialogue followed by refreshments.

The panel is the closing event for the Race Dialogue Project’s art exhibit “Undressing Race,” which is open in the Fox Art Gallery (ground floor of Cohen Hall) weekdays from 9 AM- 5 PM.