As a part of International Worldbuilding Day, the Gould Center’s Imagination Project will be hosting their own Worldbuilding Day creative event at the Gould in Kravis Lower Court on Tuesday, February 18th from 4:30-6:00PM. Join us as we CREATE, WRITE, and COLLABORATE at three different stations:

• Trinket Tray Making - imagine a creature, design it, and take it home

• Letters Across Time - write a letter from your future self to your current self

• Collective Map - join others in imagining (and creating) a shared world

Unlock your imagination with us! Snacks and materials provided.

Drop by the Gould Center during the lunch hour as we showcase the work that our Passion Project Fellows completed over the Winter Break. At our annual Passion Project Palooza, you will be able to walk through the Gould, chat with our fellows, and learn more about how we support humanistic research at CMC. Light snacks provided.

Join us on Wednesday, February 12th from 4:15-5:15pm in Roberts N15 for the opportunity to participate in our writer’s workshop, "From Campus to Cultural Commentary: Building Your Voice as a Young Writer".  

Today's media landscape offers unprecedented opportunities for young writers to shape public discourse, but finding your authentic voice can be challenging. This session brings together two authors who turned their academic foundations into influential books and cultural commentary, sharing practical strategies for developing a distinctive writing style and perspective. Students will learn how to bridge the gap between scholarly writing and engaging broader audiences, with insights on crafting compelling narratives that maintain intellectual rigor while captivating general readers.

Open to all 5C students. Light snacks provided. Spots are limited!

Interested? Click here to register!

Registration Deadline: Monday, February 10th at 5PM

Discussants*

Vivan Marwaha ’17, Gould Board member and author of What Millennials Want

Emily Tamkin, author of The Influence of Soros: Politics, Power, and the Struggle for an Open Society

*Appearing virtually

Reyna Grande, acclaimed author of "The Distance Between Us" and "A Dream Called Home," will delve into the profound power of storytelling to illuminate the complex realities of immigration. Drawing on her own personal journey of crossing the US-Mexico border as a child and her deep understanding of the immigrant experience, Grande will explore how stories can transcend borders, build empathy, and foster healing. She will examine how narratives can challenge stereotypes, humanize the struggles of immigrants, and give voice to those often marginalized and silenced. Grande will also discuss the role of literary activism in advocating for social justice and creating a more inclusive and welcoming society.

You can sign-up for this event on the Athenaeum website once registration opens!

The Gould Center is excited to host a two-part screenwriting workshop, "Let's Write a Pilot!" with Matt Pyken '83. Matt is a writer and Executive Producer on a wide range of TV dramas – from the groundbreaking Queer as Folk, to the Emmy-winning hit, Empire, to the critically acclaimed Golden Globe winning Mr. Robot.

The workshop has two sessions with homework in-between, where each participant will write a scene for a television drama. At the end of the workshop, participants will have jointly written a complete TV pilot script. Participants must commit to attending both sessions. Open to CMC students of all class years and majors. Must be on campus for the spring semester. This workshop is fully in person; no Zoom option.

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, January 28th at 5PM

Interested? Click here to register. Spots are limited, so sign-up ASAP!

The Gould Center is excited to host a two-part screenwriting workshop, "Let's Write a Pilot!" with Matt Pyken '83. Matt is a writer and Executive Producer on a wide range of TV dramas – from the groundbreaking Queer as Folk, to the Emmy-winning hit, Empire, to the critically acclaimed Golden Globe winning Mr. Robot.

The workshop has two sessions with homework in-between, where each participant will write a scene for a television drama. At the end of the workshop, participants will have jointly written a complete TV pilot script. Participants must commit to attending both sessions. Open to CMC students of all class years and majors. Must be on campus for the spring semester. This workshop is fully in person; no Zoom option.

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, January 28th at 5PM

Interested? Click here to register. Spots are limited, so sign-up ASAP!

Join us for our annual Summer Fellowship Showcase in Roberts N15 where students who participated in the 2024 Creative Works Fellowship program will present their completed work. An informational session for the 2025 Creative Works Fellowship will follow the student presentations. Light snacks will be provided!

• Josephine Aspromonte ’26 - “Pedaling Towards Equality: Advocating for Gender Equity in the Bicycle Industry”

• Elizaveta Gorelik ’25 - “Dancing into America’s Hearts: Texas Style”

• Haimanot Belay ’25 - “The Heart of the Black Panthers Still Exists”

• Sambhav Maheshwari ’25 - “Echoes of Kabir: A Summer in Rajasthan”

• Itzel Ramos ’25 - “Artivistas - The Importance of Art in Transforming Movements and Communities”

Join us at the Gould Center on Thursday, November 14th at 4:15pm for a Faculty Book Reception celebrating Professor Seth Lerer’s newest book, Introducing the History of the English Language. Professor Lerer’s book offers a comprehensive overview of the origins and evolution of the English language, emphasizing its diversity and the impact of social factors such as race, gender, and technology. He presents this book in an engaging manner, making it accessible for students and encouraging reflection on the connections between language use and power dynamics in contemporary society.

Light refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

Dr. Joseph Frigault, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, will be workshopping chapters from his forthcoming book Whiteness, Fair Play, and Reparation: Toward a Political Inroad with several invited commentators including: Alasia Nuti (University of York), Avia Pasternak (University of Maryland), Maeve McKeown (University of Groningen), Candice Delmas (Northeastern University). The session will be chaired by Professor Gabbrielle Johnson (Claremont McKenna College).

 Drawing on the empirical literature on white racial identity in connection with attitudes toward race-sensitive social policy, and related analyses of the white moral imagination, Whiteness, Fair Play, and Reparation argues that the idea of "fair play" can be an effective tool for convincing white Americans that reparations are morally and politically justified. If you are interested in attending and reading an introduction to the book, please register by clicking the link below.

Click here to register. Zoom link will be provided to all who register.

Attention Goulish Gouldies!

Save the date for our annual Humanities Halloween on Thursday, October 31st from 12:15-1:15pm at the Gould Center in Kravis Lower Court. Free chipotle - first come, first served. There will be a prize for the best humanities-themed Halloween costume, so come dressed up! We hope to see you there

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Who will win the 2024 Election? Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? The race is a dead heat in many key swing states. Many analysts predict the election will come down to about 60,000 voters in seven key swing states, but three in particular. This conference will explore the critical roles that religion, race, and gender will play in shaping the final outcome across the nation and in key swing states.

Leading scholars who will be speaking at this conference include: Levi Allen (Indiana State University), Gastón Espinosa (Claremont McKenna College), Dalia Fahmy (Long Island University), Andra Gillespie (Emory University), Rabbi Danny Lutz (Claremont Colleges), Laura R. Olson (Clemson University), Jerry Z. Park (Baylor University), and Imam Hadi Qazwani (Claremont Colleges).

This conference is co-sponsored by the Gould Center, Salvatori Center, and Department of Religious Studies.

To register for the conference, click here!

Click here to see the conference schedule, and here for a list of speakers.

Author Steph Cha will talk about the way crime shapes our world, a theme that drives her writing, from her neo-noir private investigator series to her award-winning novel Your House Will Pay. She will explore the echoes of crimes past and the way they connect with the present, and how the second-generation Korean Angeleno experience captures very American questions of heritage and identity.

You can register for this event here: https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/events/20241029

Memo Akten is a multidisciplinary artist whose work investigates the intricacies of human-machine entanglements. In this talk, Akten discusses the conceptual motivations behind some of his recent works and research involving computational technologies, with a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning, embodied interaction, and mixed reality. From a practical perspective, this includes explorations in real-time, interactive computational systems for artistic, creative expression; and 'intelligent' systems for human-machine collaborative creativity. From a more conceptual perspective, this involves investigations into how we make sense of the world and project meaning onto noise; and more broadly speaking, the collisions between nature, science, technology, ethics, ritual, tradition and religion; particularly in the context of the current social and political polarizations, moral crises and technological submission.

This event is part of the Gould Center’s AI + the Humanities speaker series. You can register for this event on the Ath website once registration opens!

Join us on Monday, October 21st for a night of poetry at the Ath with Brenda Hillman and Robert Hass. Hillman is a poet of works such as Loose Sugar and Cascadia; Hass is the past United States Poet Laureate and author of The Apple Trees at Olema and Time and Materials.

Co-sponsored by the Literature Department, Gould Center, and Salvatori Center. You can register for this event on the Ath website once registration opens!

Join us at the Gould Center on Thursday, October 3rd to celebrate Professor Paul Hurley’s newest book, Against the Tyranny of Outcomes. Light refreshments provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

Click here to watch a special faculty interview with Professor Hurley about his book!

Stop by the Gould Center in Kravis Lower Court for our Open House to learn about the many research and creative programming opportunities that are available to students throughout the academic year. From our Humanities Labs, Gould Center Fellows program, Editorial Board, Special Project, Passion Projects, Creative Works Fellowships, and more - there is so much you can do in the humanities at CMC!

Chipotle provided. First come, first served!

Join us at the Campus Engagement Fair on Friday, August 30th from 11AM-1PM at Roberts Pavilion to learn more about the Gould Center’s opportunities, initiatives, and everything we have to offer. Don’t forget to grab some swag and a sweet treat!