GUEST LECTURE VIDEOS – FALL 2024 VIDEOS
Coordinator: Arlynn Greenbaum
The distinguished guest lecture series is a bimonthly event that enhances the Quest program experience by inviting recognized experts in their fields to present on varied subjects.
Presentations include discussions of global policy and political science, literature, theater arts, social science, and music.
NOTE: To view a video click on the link below its description. Once the video window comes up (in a new tab), click on the start button to begin.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
We Refuse to Be Enemies: How Muslims and Jews Can Make Peace, One Friendship at a Time
Presenter: Sabeeha Rehman and Walter Ruby
Presentation Date: September 11, 2024
Sabeeha Rehman and Walter Ruby have spent decades doing interfaith work and nurturing cooperation among the Muslim and Jewish communities. In their book, We Refuse to Be Enemies, they share their vision for reconciliation, offering concrete principles for building an alliance in support of religious freedom and human rights.
Sabeeha Rehman is a public speaker, blogger and author of the memoir, Threading My Prayer Rug. Walter Ruby is a journalist and former director of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding of Muslim-Jewish relations.
Sabeeha and Walter will have a conversation on stage, followed by Q&A and book sale/signing. Please join us for this timely presentation on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues
Presenter: Ross Perlin, Ph.D.
Presentation Date: September 25, 2024
Contemporary cities are the most linguistically diverse in history, even as half of the world’s 7000-plus languages are endangered. How did this happen, and what does it mean for the future of language? Ross Perlin describes the race to document and support little-known languages, following six remarkable yet ordinary speakers of endangered languages deep into their communities, from New York’s outer borough neighborhoods to villages on the other side of the world, to learn how they are maintaining and reviving their languages against the odds. He also explores the languages themselves and the particular challenges and opportunities for language documentation, maintenance, and revitalization in urban areas.
Ross Perlin is a linguist, writer, and translator focused on exploring and supporting linguistic diversity. His book Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues was published this year by Grove in the US and the UK. Since 2013 he has been Co-Director of the Endangered Language Alliance in New York. He also teaches linguistics at Columbia. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s, and elsewhere, and his first book Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy ignited a national conversation about unpaid work.
He has an MA in Language Documentation and Description from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Bern.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism
Presenter: Adam Nagourney
Presentation Date: October 9, 2024
Adam Nagourney has been a journalist for over 45 years. Before joining The New York Times, he worked at USA Today, The New York Daily News, and the Gannett Westchester Newspapers. After being hired by The Times in 1996, he served as the paper’s metropolitan political correspondent, chief national political correspondent, Los Angeles bureau chief, and West Coast culture reporter. He is now covering the 2024 presidential race.
Mr. Nagourney will have a conversation with Estelle Selzer and then we will open the floor to Q&A.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes
Presenter: Annette Insdorf
Presentation Date: November 6, 2024
A great movie’s first few minutes are the key to the rest of the film. In her latest book, Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes, Annette Insdorf discusses the opening sequence so that viewers turn first impressions into a deeper understanding of cinematic technique.
Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and Moderator of 92NY’s Reel Pieces series. She is an internationally renowned educator, and author of Francois Truffaut, a study of the French director’s work; two books about Polish filmmakers – Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has; as well as the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel).
Annette has her PhD from Yale University. Among the recent honors she has received are 92NY’s “Exceptional Women Award” (2020), the Silver Medallion from the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, and Moment Magazine’s Creativity Award (2021). Please join us for this special presentation.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of An American Organized-Crime Boss
Presenter: Margalit Fox
Presentation Date: December 11, 2024
In 1850, 25-year-old Fredericka Mandelbaum traveled to New York in steerage from Germany and worked as a peddler on the Lower East Side. By the 1870s, she was a widow with four children, a fixture of high society and an admired philanthropist. How did she do it? Margalit (Margo) Fox will tell us the amazing rags to riches story that she vividly recounts in The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of An American Organized-Crime Boss. It is a tale of the Gilded Age of New York where creative rogues and power brokers ran the show.
Margo retired from the New York Times in 2018 where she was a revered obituary writer of many famous people. She is also the author of The Confidence Men, Conan Doyle for the Defense, The Riddle of the Labyrinth and Talking Hands. She won the William Saroyan Prize for Literature.