January 2014: UAA Campus Bookstore events

The UAA Campus Bookstore actively organizes free special events to promote expression and engaged discussion within UAA and the community. With topics ranging from chocolate to Alaska Restricting Laws, there's something of interest for everybody. Check out the full schedule of November events below.

For more information on any of these events, visit the bookstore website or contact Rachel Epstein at repstein2@uaa.alaska.edu or (907) 786-4782. There is also free parking for bookstore events in the South Lot, the West Campus Central Lot (behind Rasmuson Hall), the Sports Lot and the Sports NW Lot.

Wei Li presents "Chinese Dough Art" Friday, Jan. 24, 1:30-3 p.m.

Wei Li is the director of the Confucius Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He has taught in the Chinese bilingual program and holds a doctorate in second language education. At this event, he will demonstrate how to make beautifully crafted puppets and figurines that resemble porcelain. This event is sponsored by the UAA Confucius Institute and held in celebration of the Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse), which starts Jan. 31, 2014.

"Resonating Wisdoms: Early Confucianism Dialogue with Yup'ik and Inupiaq Cultures" Thursday, Jan. 30, 5-7 p.m.

At this event, UAA faculty Kristin Helweg Hanson and Phyllis Fast, along with UAA student presenters Josephine Hishon and Brittany Burns, will examine and contrast Chinese and Alaska Native classical and traditional worldviews.

The Chinese culture and the Yup'ik and Inupiaq cultures have existed for more than 4,000 years. Given their markedly different environments and contrasting status on the world stage, what dialogue would classical Confucian philosophy have with equally ancient Inupiaq and Yup'ik constructs? What insights emerge when Confucian and Inupiaq/Yup'ik cultures are juxtaposed? These intriguing questions will be the topics for this fascinating event that contrasts classical and traditional worldviews. This event is sponsored with the UAA Ethics Center and UAA Philosophy Department.

Jennifer Ann Wagner-Lawlor presents "Gyre and Plastic Art" Thursday, Feb. 6, 5-7 p.m.

Plastic and gyre art, found plastic objects from the oceans, is the theme for this event. Guest speaker Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor is an associate professor of women's studies and English at Penn State University. She is also the author of A Moment's Monument: Revisionary Poetics and the Nineteenth-Century Sonnet and Postmodern Utopias and Feminist Fictions, as well as co-editor of the book The Scandal of Susan Sontag.

Lyn Lovegreen presents her new book, "Fools Gold" Monday, Feb. 10, 5-7 p.m.

The past comes to life with music, food and frolic. Author Lynn Lovegreen will discuss the story of her novel Fools Gold and special guests High Lonesome Sound will play live music. About the novel: "Alaska's gold rush is no place for a lady, but that doesn't scare Ellie Webster. Ellie travels with her younger brother to the wilds of the Klondike gold rush to save the family farm. She's prepared for hardship on the trail, but not for the sparkling blue eyes of Duke Masterson, a charming saloonkeeper. And Duke is surprised to find that Ellie and her apple pies are more valuable to him than all the gold nuggets in Skagway, Alaska. Now if he could only overcome Ellie's fear of losing her newly found independence and win her heart. Together they must defeat the conman corrupting the town and make their fortunes before the last steamship of the season heads south."

"Privacy, Sharing and Metadata" Thursday, Feb. 13, 5-7 p.m.

Pat Shier (CIO and associate vice chancellor for Information Technology at UAA), Rex Plunkett (assistant professor in UAA's Computer Networking & Office Technology program) and Guy Burnett (faculty in UAA's Department of Political Science) come together to discuss technology, communication and the U.S. Constitution. Topics include: servers, clouds and privacy; academic freedom and security; government and "technocratic" democracy.

Yasuhito and Brandon Nakasato Monday, Feb. 17, 5:30-7 p.m.

Yasu is a student at UAA who has worked at the UAA Campus Bookstore. He and Brandon met in Anchorage and were recently married in Hawaii. Their story is quite interesting-Yasu is from Japan, while Brandon is from Kentucky, and being a biracial, gay couple (Brandon is African-American) brings additional challenges to their relationship. This event is an opportunity for people to learn and ask questions about what it is like being gay, as well as how to face prejudice in our community.

January Archive