Past Events

Race and the Railroad: A Conversation with Julia Lee and Paisley Rekdal

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:16:01 +0000

Race and the Railroad: A Conversation with Julia Lee and Paisley Rekdal Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/26/2022 - 10:16

If You Go
Date: November 9, 2022
Time: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM MT
Where: Norlin Library, CBIS 5th Floor, Room M549

[video:https://youtu.be/nXsBEkW_fbw]

Race & the Railroad: A Conversation with Julia Lee and Paisley Rekdal. This event will be held in the CBIS Room, 5^th floor Norlin Library, between former Utah Poet Laureate, Paisley Rekdal, who will talk about her digital humanities project West: A Translation alongside Dr. Julia Lee, Professor of Asian American Studies at UC Irvine who has just published her book The Racial Railroad. West: A Translation is a collection of poems and essays that draws a powerful connection between the transcontinental railroad completion and the Chinese Exclusion Act.The Racial Railroad highlights the central role that the railroad played in the formation and perception of racial identity and difference in the US. Join the conversation about the impact of the railroad and it's role in racial identity in the United States.

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� the Speakers:

Julia Lee, Associate Professor, Author of "The Racial Railroad"

Julia H. Lee, PhD is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California at Irvine and author of Interracial Encounters: Reciprocal Representations in African and Asian American Literatures, 1896–1937 and Understanding Maxine Hong Kingston. She also recently published her book, The Racial Railroad, which reveals the legacy of the train as a critical site of race in the United States

The Racial Railroad highlights the surprisingly central role that the railroad has played—and continues to play—in the formation and perception of racial identity and difference in the United States. Lee demonstrates how, through legacies of racialized labor and disenfranchisement—from the Chinese American construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and the depictions of Native Americans in landscape and advertising, to the underground railroad and Jim Crow segregation—the train becomes one of the exemplary spaces through which American cultural works explore questions of racial subjectivity, community, and conflict.

By considering the train through various lenses, The Racial Railroad tracks how racial formations and conflicts are constituted in significant and contradictory ways by the spaces in which they occur.

Paisley Rekdal, Award Winning Poet, Author, Professor, and Creator of "West: A Translation"

In 2018, Paisley Rekdal was commissioned by the Spike 150 Foundation to write a poem commemorating the 150^th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad’s completion. The result is West: A Translation: a linked collection of poems that respond to a Chinese elegy carved into the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station where Chinese migrants to the United States were detained. “West” translates this elegy character by character through the lens of Chinese and other transcontinental railroad workers’ histories, and through the railroad’s cultural impact on America.

Paisley Rekdal has received countless fellowships, prizes, and awards for her poems and essays. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, The New Republic, Tin House, the Best American Poetry series, on National Public Radio, among others.

Between 2017-2022, she served as Utah's Poet Laureate, receiving a 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. She is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Utah and currently serves a a poetry editor for High Country News.

Event Hosts:

This free event is hosted by ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��'s Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA), Center for American West (CAW), and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��'s English Department.

Directions:

The Race and the Railroad event will take place on the 5th floor of Norlin Library, room M549, in the Center for British and Irish Studies (CBIS) room M549. To access the CBIS Room M549, use the West entrance of Norlin Library and take the elevator to the 5th floor. You may also use either the north or south stairwell to the 5th floor.

Address:
184 UCB
1720 Pleasant Street
Boulder, CO 80309

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Hopeless Optimism

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 20:08:52 +0000

Hopeless Optimism Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/21/2022 - 14:08

If You Go
Date: April 1, 2022
Time: 11:00AM
Where: Macky Gallery

[video:https://youtu.be/9xahMkL0atg]

The Surprising Force of Unconventional Communication in Reckoning with Climate Change

Right before your eyes, four women “pushed the envelope” of the assumptions that have constrained efforts to persuade the public to pay attention to climate change and closely related environmental issues. By 12:30 p.m. on April Fools’ Day, the “envelope” of conventional thinking was “pushed” with such grace, humor, and good nature (pun totally intended)—that attendees and participants was positioned to head back into the world with a dramatically (here, too, pun fully intended) expanded sense of possibility, liberated—if they so choose—to join the cause of Hopeless Optimism.

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Finding Joy in Mixed Company

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Finding Joy in Mixed Company Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/26/2022 - 00:00

If You Go
Date: April 26, 2022
Time: 6:00PM
Where: Humanities 250

[video:https://youtu.be/gpXnJpJsD6c]

How Spending Time with Thompson Prize Winner Jenny Shank and Getting Acquainted with Her New Book Could Offer a Remedy for Our Nation's Current Calamities in Communication

Joined by Patty Limerick, Faculty Director and Chair of the Board for the Center of the American West, she reunited with past Thompson Prize winner and local, Boulder author of Mixed Company, Jenny Shank, for a lively discussion about how Shank’s writing career harmonizes with the mission of the Center of the American West. Mixed Company has been named a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards in the General Fiction category. The winners will be announced in June. Stay tuned for special guests who joined the conversation!

The Center of the American West takes as its mission the creation of forums for the respectful exchange of ideas and perspectives in the pursuit of solutions to the region's difficulties. We at the Center believe that an understanding of the historical origins of the West's problems, an emphasis on the common interests of all parties, and a dose of good humor are essential to constructive public discussion.

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Bipartisanship (and friendship) happen! An evening with Congressman Bob Beauprez and Senator Mark Udall

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 17:48:14 +0000

Bipartisanship (and friendship) happen! An evening with Congressman Bob Beauprez and Senator Mark Udall Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/10/2019 - 10:48

If You Go
Date: December 10, 2019
Time: 6:30PM
Where: Glenn Miller Ballroom, UMC

[video:https://youtu.be/dxdLEvO2Nco]

We hope you were able to join us for a public conversation between former Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez and former Democratic Congressman and Senator Mark Udall. The evening began with a discussion of their sturdy and long-lasting friendship, and then moved to a wide-ranging conversation about issues on which they agree, disagree, and half-agree! The Center of the American West’s Faculty Director and Chair of the Board, Patty Limerick, and the Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado, Charles Wilkinson moderated the conversation.

Bob Beauprez served as Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party from 1999-2002. In 2002, Bob was elected as the first representative from Colorado’s seventh congressional district and re-elected in 2004. He was the Republican nominee for Governor in 2006 and 2014. In addition to his writing, political, and other activities, Bob says his greatest enjoyment comes from Eagle’s Wing Ranch, the buffalo breeding ranch in the northern Colorado Mountains that he operates with Claudia, his wife of 49 years, and Jim and Julie Beauprez, their second eldest son and daughter-in-law.

Colorado resident and native westerner Mark Udall represented the people of Colorado in the U.S. Senate from 2009 to 2015 and the 2nd Congressional District from 1999 to 2009. Prior to serving in Congress, Mark served as course director and later as executive director at Colorado Outward Bound School. Mark is an avid mountaineer and has climbed or attempted some of the world’s most challenging peaks, including Mt. Everest, Kanchenjunga, Denali, and Aconcagua.

This was the first event in the upcoming 3 year “Bipartisanship (and friendship) happen!” speaker series. Look for updates on who will be coming next!

This event was free and open to the public.

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Rescuing the West and the Nation: How Thinking Like a Historian Can Save Us From Ourselves

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 18:52:17 +0000

Rescuing the West and the Nation: How Thinking Like a Historian Can Save Us From Ourselves Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2019 - 11:52

If You Go
Date: November 15, 2019
Time: 4:00PM
Where: Eaton Humanties 150

[video:https://youtu.be/6HkOYSAMIJo]

Char Miller is the W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College, in Claremont, California. Professor Miller is the first speaker in a series featuring established scholars who are also accomplished practitioners of Applied History. This event was a part of a Mellon funded program in Applied History entitled “Weekends with the Accomplished.” In addition to the lectures, the Applied History program provides a number of other opportunities for graduate students and recent Ph.D.s to home their outreach skills.

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Immigrant Workers, Roads, and Nation Building: Legacies of the Transcontinental Railroad on its 150th Anniversary

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 19:23:47 +0000

Immigrant Workers, Roads, and Nation Building: Legacies of the Transcontinental Railroad on its 150th Anniversary Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/30/2019 - 13:23

If You Go
Date: October 30, 2019
Time: 1:00PM - 6:30PM
Where: Norlin Library, British Studies Room

[video:https://youtu.be/AqkmlFFLEco]

[video:https://youtu.be/oEU4o4jp2j0]

The year 2019 is the sesquicentennial of the completion of the United States first transcontinental railroad. The history of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads abounds in instructive and compelling case studies very much worth contemplating in our times. This event featured a presentation by artist Zhi Lin, from the University of Washington, who has created powerful works memorializing the Chinese railroad laborers. In Center of the American West fashion, this program also drew on “��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� talent” reflecting on the larger lessons for the building of infrastructure (in China as well as in the U.S.) as well as the power of art to invoke deeper thinking about history.

Presented by the Center of the American West, the Center for Asian Studies, the Center for Documentary and Ethnographic Media, the Department of Art and Art History, and the Department of History. This event is also made possible by a grant from the Research and Innovation Office.

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Special Stegner Award & Humor Initiative event with Sheriff Dave Ward

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Special Stegner Award & Humor Initiative event with Sheriff Dave Ward Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/03/2019 - 00:00

If You Go
Date: October 3, 2019
Time: 6:30PM
Where: Old Main Chapel

[video:https://youtu.be/4e96_bMzFtM]

Last month, the Center of the American West was proud to present a special Stegner Award & Humor Initiative event honoring Sheriff Dave Ward.

Sheriff Ward did everything imaginable to hold his community together during the 2016 Bundy-led armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon. He is also one of the West’s great storytellers (registering, in our opinion, pretty darned close to the achievements of Mark Twain), so this event was also a part of the Center’s Humor Initiative.

The Center of the American West presents the Wallace Stegner Award to an individual who has faithfully and evocatively depicted the spirit of the American West. The Center’s Humor Initiative honors those individuals whose skills and temperaments support the Center’s central conviction: A dose of good humor is essential to constructive public discussion, and not coincidentally, to public health.

“Over the last thirty-five years, living in Boulder and traveling around the West, I have gotten to know hundreds of people who have dazzled me with their strength of character and their unwavering commitment to the well-being of the West and of the nation. I rank Sheriff Ward at the top of that long list of Westerners I admire. His wisdom, integrity, and capacity to bring out the best in his fellow human beings add up to one of this region’s most valuable resources.”

-Patty Limerick, Faculty Director & Chair of the Board, Center of the American West

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Alan, Ann, Pete, & Lynne Simpson: Wallace Stegner & Fools for a Day Awards Recipients

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Alan, Ann, Pete, & Lynne Simpson: Wallace Stegner & Fools for a Day Awards Recipients Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/07/2017 - 00:00

If You Go
Date: December 7, 2017
Time: 6:30 PM
Where: Village Center, Multipurpose Room (500 30th Street, Boulder)

[video:https://youtu.be/kMwaYHBkFOE]

The University of Colorado Boulder’s Center of the American West was proud to present the Wallace Stegner & the Humor Initiative’s Fools for a Day Awards to Senator Alan Simpson, Pete Simpson and their wives Ann and Lynne.

The Center has combined the Stegner Award with the Humor Initiative to celebrate the Simpsons’ contributions to our understanding of the West, and to embrace the opportunity to laugh as we do so.

“As public servants, and as people who have contributed their great gifts as story-tellers to the well-being of the West, the Simpson Family occupy a central place in the cultural identity of the West,” Patty Limerick, Faculty Director of the Center of the American West said. “With the Simpsons in our midst, the West has cornered the market for honest, forthright, and very funny commentary on the whole nation’s successes and defeats, the charms and the vexations, the ideals realized and the ideals still in need of our attention and action.”

Each year, the Center of the American West presents the Wallace Stegner Award to an individual or group of individuals who have made a sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West through literature, art, history, lore, or an understanding of the West. The Center also presents the Fools for a Day award annually to celebrate those individuals whose skills and temperaments support the central conviction of the Center of the American West: A dose of good humor is essential to constructive public discussion, and not coincidentally, to public health.

Thank you to Al and Carol Ann Olson, for their support of the Stegner Award, and to Bill and Jane Reynolds for their support of the Humor Initiative.

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Belle Turnbull and the Legacy of Colorado Poetry: A Symposium

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Belle Turnbull and the Legacy of Colorado Poetry: A Symposium Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/08/2017 - 00:00

If You Go
Date: November 8, 2017
Time: 4:00 PM
Where: CU Heritage Center in Old Main

Belle Turnbull (1881-1970) was the first strong poet to live in and write about the mountains and high mining towns of the Colorado Rockies. Well-known during her life but long out of print, Turnbull’s lyrics of sublime alpine wilderness and her narratives about the harsh and dangerous world of hard rock mining offer us a profoundly original vision of the American West that transcends the region.

“This book restores to Westerners a treasure we were foolish to misplace. In poems that are as consoling as they are unsettling, Belle Turnbull extracted and refined the meanings of mountains, miners, memory, and mortality. Now, nearly fifty years after her death, a team of gifted writers—serving as Turnbull’s latter-day friends in high places—joins together to rescue her work from our inattention, and return us to her company. “
—Patty Limerick, Faculty Director of The Center of the American West, University of Colorado, Boulder

Colorado poets, writers, and historians discussed the relevance of Belle Turnbull’s work today and how it could help us to understand the making of the contemporary American West.

Featuring: Art Goodtimes, Patty Limerick, Uche Ogbuji, David J. Rothman, Susan Spear, and Jeffrey R. Villines.

Sponsored by: Center of the American West, Center for Humanities and Arts, Department of Writing and Rhetoric, CU History Department, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, CU English Department, the CU Women and Gender Studies Department, and the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

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The Social Implications of Technological Change

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 06:00:00 +0000

The Social Implications of Technological Change Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/18/2017 - 00:00

If You Go
Date: October 18, 2017
Time: 3:00 PM
Where: Wittemyer Courtroom, Wolf Law Building

[video:https://youtu.be/7hw05caPanU]

The rapid acceleration of communications technology is changing our society and economy in profound ways. At this conference, we examined the social implications and impacts of the information technology revolution, considering how the telegraph parallels the modern rise of social networks, mobile computing, and introduction of global access to broadband networks. In so doing, we also considered what laws and policy can mitigate less desirable impacts of information technology in our lives.

In 1861, Western Union completed the transcontinental telegraph, changing U.S. history forever. Before then, news would take days or weeks to reach across the country. In the wake of the telegraph, all aspects of life—commerce, culture, and war—were transformed. Today, the latest transformation is the wave of social media and new media that has decimated the notion of a “news cycle.” This acceleration of information production and consumption dates back to the mid-1800s, and the technological changes of that era bear study as we grapple with the technological changes of today.

In this program, Edmund Russell, a Professor of History at Boston University now working on a project evaluating the development and impact of the telegraph, presented his work on the topic. A panel of experts then discussed the implications of this technological change and linked it to the ongoing challenges and opportunities related to the acceleration of information production and consumption.

In Partnership with the Silicon Flatirons Center and College of Media, Communication and Information.

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Past Events

Race and the Railroad: A Conversation with Julia Lee and Paisley Rekdal

���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ the Speakers:

Julia Lee, Associate Professor, Author of "The Racial Railroad"

Paisley Rekdal, Award Winning Poet, Author, Professor, and Creator of "West: A Translation"

Event Hosts:

Directions:

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Hopeless Optimism

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Finding Joy in Mixed Company

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Bipartisanship (and friendship) happen! An evening with Congressman Bob Beauprez and Senator Mark Udall

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Rescuing the West and the Nation: How Thinking Like a Historian Can Save Us From Ourselves

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Immigrant Workers, Roads, and Nation Building: Legacies of the Transcontinental Railroad on its 150th Anniversary

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Special Stegner Award & Humor Initiative event with Sheriff Dave Ward

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Alan, Ann, Pete, & Lynne Simpson: Wallace Stegner & Fools for a Day Awards Recipients

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Belle Turnbull and the Legacy of Colorado Poetry: A Symposium

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The Social Implications of Technological Change

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� the Speakers: