Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Doom and Dinosaurs,”
 a look at how mass extinctions shaped the dinosaurs and what research 
on these events tells us about Earth life’s long-term prospects, with 
Ian Wilenzik, paleontologist and visiting assistant professor of biology
 at George Washington University.
Pity the poor dinosaurs. They lacked both scientific research to help
 deal with potential environmental catastrophes and places where they 
could have a beer and discuss it.&nbsp;
You, on the other hand, have the opportunity to come to Profs and 
Pints to hear a fascinating talk on the impact of mass extinctions on 
dinosaur evolution and what research on dinosaurs tells us about 
biodiversity and Earth’s current biodiversity crisis.
Dr. Ian Wilenzik, who has studied and taught courses on dinosaur 
evolution, population spread, and extinction, will leave you with a 
greater appreciation of the resilience of life on earth and how we’re 
both the product and source of biologically catastrophic events.
Many of us are familiar with how a big meteor impact about 66 million
 years ago wiped out the Earth’s dinosaur population, leaving us only 
with their feathered descendants, birds. Less well known is how the 
Earth actually has undergone five periods of mass extinction that wiped 
out nearly all life, and how dinosaurs arose from one and endured 
another—both caused by volcanic activity—before meeting their match in 
the third.
To ground his discussion, Dr. Wilenzik will talk about how we study 
mass extinctions by looking for geologic evidence of volcanic activity, 
meteoric blasts, and other catastrophic activity and of gaps in the 
fossil record after them.
He’ll also discuss what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur, describing their
 distinct anatomical features. He’ll talk about how they and other forms
 of life evolved over long periods of time and were affected by 
extinction events.&nbsp;
We’ll look at how the meteor-caused mass extinction that wiped out 
dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous paved the way for the rise of 
mammals and the emergence of primates, and, eventually, us. Looking 
ahead to future mass extinctions and what might survive them, we’ll talk
 about how that plant you forget to water might have the last laugh, as 
well as why crocodiles might be around a while. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-doom-and-dinosaurs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50
 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student 
ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: A Triceratops mounted skeleton at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History (Photo by Allie Caulfield / Wikimedia Commons).

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Doom and Dinosaurs

District of Columbia

Georgetown

District Of Columbia

Profs & Pints DC: Doom and Dinosaurs

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Doom and Dinosaurs,”
 a look at how mass extinctions shaped the dinosaurs and what research 
on...

HIGHLINE RxR

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints Northern Virginia</a> presents: “Facing Fascism,”
 on the history, hallmarks, and lingering power of a deadly ideology, 
with Kevin Matthews, professor of history at George Mason University and
 teacher of courses on early 20th century European history.
Few political movements have aroused as much anger and fear as 
fascism. But despite its legacy of violence, persecution, and genocide, 
fascism continues to hold a strange attraction to many.
Join historian Kevin Matthews for an in-depth look at an ideology 
that brought death to millions in Europe and yet continues to deeply 
influence our politics and culture.
Dr. Matthews will start by discussing how the ideology of fascism 
arose in the aftermath of the First World War and took hold in Europe in
 the 1920s and 1930s.&nbsp;
To give you a better grasp of what exactly fascism is, he’ll discuss 
its central themes: Anti-democracy. Extreme nationalism and 
anti-communism. The use, or threat, of violence in politics. Rejection 
of established values such as scientific objectivity. Denial of equal 
rights, especially for women. The assertion of power where a power 
vacuum exists.
We’ll examine the rise and fall of two notorious fascist dictators, 
Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy. For a time it was
 believed that fascism died in the ashes of the Second World War, but it
 clearly didn’t, and we’ll look at where it remains a political force 
today.
Finally, we’ll examine how fascism continues to permeate popular 
culture in ways that trivialize it, popping up in music from punk to 
Madonna, with its latent eroticism making it the subject of films such 
as The Night Porter. Having been called “the most 
self-consciously visual of all political forms,” it enlisted fashion 
leaders to produce uniforms and continues today to inspire a look known 
as “Nazi chic.”
Dr. Matthews previously has given fantastic Profs and Pints talks on 
Ireland’s fight for independence and on World War II German submarine 
attacks off our coasts. He’s sure to leave you with a much better 
understanding of fascism and a recognition that is has hardly gone away.
 (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/nv-facing-fascism" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: 
$17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 
minutes later.)
Image: Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler during Mussolini's 1940 visit in Munich (photographer unknown / public domain).

Local Event: Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Facing Fascism

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Facing Fascism

Profs and Pints Northern Virginia presents: “Facing Fascism,”
 on the history, hallmarks, and lingering power of a deadly...

Penn Social

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Fake News and War of the Worlds,” a
 look at an infamous Orson Welles broadcast as an early lesson on mass 
media’s dangers, with Daniel H. Foster, associate professor and chair of
 liberal arts at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute.
On the evening of October 30th, 1938, somewhere between 6 and 12 
million Americans tuned in the radio version of New York City’s 
experimental Mercury Theater. It was a decision that some, no doubt, 
came to regret. What they heard was an all-male chorus of talking 
heads—scientists, journalists, politicians, and military 
experts—repeatedly telling them that New Jersey was being invaded by 
Martians.
The ensuing hours were alarming ones for those who did not realize 
they were listening to Mercury Theater on the Air’s adaptation of the 
classic H.G. Wells science fiction novel War of the Worlds. The
 performance, directed by and starring Orson Welles, pushed the still 
young medium of radio drama further than many had pushed it before. Its 
masterful use of music, sound effects, and especially silence showed how
 radio could ignite the imagination and make listeners fear the worst.
Revisit that classic moment in media history, and learn what lessons 
it holds for us today, with Professor Daniel Foster, who over the years 
has taught the “War of the Worlds” broadcast as part of courses in 
radio, theater, and sound studies at several universities.
His talk will go beyond the trivia and urban legends surrounding the 
broadcast and focus on the broadcast itself, to reveal what really 
happened and why it mattered. He’ll look at the broadcast not just as a 
moment of public panic, but a daring work of art.&nbsp;
Aired during a period of rapid modern change, marked by the rise of 
dictators in Europe to the recent fiery destruction of the Hindenburg, 
the “War of the Worlds” broadcast tapped into widespread anxiety about 
new technologies and invading forces. Often labeled as an early case of 
“fake news,” it exposed deep questions about the institutions listeners 
trusted: education, the media, government, and the military.
To emphasize the mischief radio can bring to the world, Orson Welles,
 at the end of the broadcast and in person, compared the radio to a 
jack-o-lantern and warned us to beware this “invader of the living 
room.”&nbsp;&nbsp;
Answering questions about the performance, its historical context, 
and radio as a medium—new, blind, and global— isn’t merely an academic 
exercise. It can help us better understand how fake news works today and
 how to detect such lies before they cause irreparable harm. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-war-of-worlds" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 
with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes 
later.)
Image: A Henrique Alvim Corrêa illustration from a 1906 edition of War of the Worlds (Wikimedia Commons).

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Fake News and War of the Worlds

Profs & Pints DC: Fake News and War of the Worlds

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Fake News and War of the Worlds,” a
 look at an infamous Orson Welles broadcast as an early...

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Cuba, Our Closest Enemy,”
 on our country’s volatile relationship with an island nation off 
Florida’s coast, with William M. LeoGrande, professor of government at 
American University and leading expert on U.S.-Cuban relations.
The United States and Cuba are fractious neighbors who can’t get 
along but can’t move away from one another. From Fidel Castro’s defiant 
revolution to Donald Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine” asserting U.S. dominance 
in the Western Hemisphere, U.S. relations with Cuba have been 
acrimonious, tumultuous, and often dangerous—marked by invasion, 
attempted assassinations, nuclear confrontation, and half a century of 
economic warfare.&nbsp;
Gain a deeper understanding of relationships between the two 
countries with Dr. William LeoGrande, widely recognized as one of the 
nation’s foremost experts on Cuban politics and U.S. policy toward the 
island, having authored or edited seven books on the subject, including Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana.
Professor LeoGrande’s talk will chronicle the trajectory of this 
unique relationship of “perpetual hostility,” as Henry Kissinger called 
it, from confrontations to secret talks aimed at reconciliation.&nbsp;
We’ll see how America’s playground of the 1950s became a cold war 
ally of the Soviet Union and how Cuban refugees became a powerful force 
in American politics. We’ll look at how the end of the cold war changed 
U.S.-Cuban relations—or didn’t—and how repeated attempts at 
rapprochement failed to rebuild the bridges that had burned in the early
 days of Cuba’s revolution.
Since Fidel Castro left center stage in 2006, U.S.-Cuban relations 
have lurched back and forth at stomach-churning velocity. Professor 
LeoGrande, who has advised Congress on Cuba as a member of its foreign 
policy staff, will explore the stories behind the headlines. You’ll 
learn how changes from Republican to Democratic presidents produced 
radical swings in relations between Washington and Havana, most 
dramatically between President Barack Obama’s attempt to normalize 
relations and Donald Trump’s threats to bankrupt or invade the island. 
(<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-cuba" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17,
 or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 
minutes later.)
Image: A Cuban military truck in Havana in 2006 (Photo by Thomassin Mickaël / Creative Commons).

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Cuba, Our Closest Enemy

Profs & Pints DC: Cuba, Our Closest Enemy

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Cuba, Our Closest Enemy,”
 on our country’s volatile relationship with an island nation off...

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Exploring the Deep Sea,”
 a scholarly dive into an enormous and little-understood ecosystem, with
 Melissa Betters, deep ocean explorer and deep-sea biologist at the 
Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
If you’re afraid of the deepest, darkest reaches of the ocean, you 
aren’t alone. For centuries, humans have imagined the ocean’s depths to 
be inhabited by all manner of monsters, from the Kraken to Godzilla.&nbsp;
But what is the cost of viewing over 70% of our planet with fear and aversion? Who benefits from that?
Come to see the deep sea as far more worthy of fascination than fear 
with the help of Dr. Melissa Betters, a biologist and marine ecosystem 
researcher who has made nine trips to the bottom of the ocean and taught
 at Bryn Mawr College and Temple University.
She’ll take you on a scholarly exploration of various deep-sea 
ecosystems around the world such as deep coral reefs and boiling-hot 
hydrothermal vents. We’ll get to know some of the deep ocean’s 
captivating biodiversity, examining where it lives, what it does, and 
why it matters to us.
With her help you’ll come to see the deep ocean as a tapestry of 
different environments, each of which host their own forms of life and 
present their own suite of ecological challenges.
Importantly, we’ll also look at how the deep ocean is portrayed in 
both myth and media, considering how our perceptions are skewed by the 
rhetoric used to describe it and the images used to depict it.&nbsp;
Despite appearing far-removed and out of reach, the deep ocean is 
still a part of our planet, subject to all the same challenges and human
 impacts as life on land. The final part of this talk will examine the 
variety of human impacts affecting the deep ocean and actions we can 
take to protect Earth’s final frontier. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-deep-sea" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus 
sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. 
Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: Magnoteuthis magna, the most common deep-ocean squid, as 
photographed in Kinlan Canyon off of Rhode Island (NOAA Ocean 
Exploration photo).

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Exploring the Deep Sea

Profs & Pints DC: Exploring the Deep Sea

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Exploring the Deep Sea,”
 a scholarly dive into an enormous and little-understood ecosystem,...

<a href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints Northern Virginia</a> presents: "Eugenics Then and Now,” on
 a dangerous movement in science and its lessons for current research, 
with Carlo Quintanilla, molecular biologist and health science policy 
analyst at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health
 and Human Development.
Global concerns about the return of eugenic thinking were reignited 
by Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s 2018 announcement of the first 
gene-edited babies, Lulu and Nana. He was quickly condemned by the 
scientific community and jailed for illegal medical practice, but he and
 others around the world continue experiments with goals echoing eugenic
 ambitions.
As genetic technologies advance at extraordinary speed, society faces
 a new set of ethical questions about shaping the traits of future 
generations. Are we entering a new era of eugenics? If so, how should we
 respond?
Hear such questions tackled by Carlo Quintanilla, who studied rare 
genetic mutations in human disease as a graduate research scientist and 
instructor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and 
now works at the intersection of genomic medicine, science, and society.
Dr. Quintanilla will begin by discussing the origins and history of 
eugenics, tracing its development in the 19th and 20th centuries as an 
idea, a scientific movement, and a set of policies. He’ll examine the 
rise of Social Darwinism in the United Kingdom, forced sterilization 
programs in the United States, and the atrocities committed by the Third
 Reich in the name of “racial hygiene.”
From there, he’ll explore how our ability to shape human health and 
heredity have been transformed by modern reproductive and genetic 
technologies such as in vitro fertilization, prenatal and embryo 
screening, and genome editing. You’ll learn how these tools hold 
enormous promise when it comes to the prevention and cure of rare and 
debilitating genetic conditions, yet also raise profound questions 
related to their potential enablement of a new, technologically driven 
form of eugenics.
Dr. Quintanilla will then delve into the ongoing debate among 
scientists, bioethicists, and policymakers over what should be 
classified as eugenics today. He’ll highlight recent controversial uses 
of genetic and reproductive technologies that are pushing ethical 
boundaries faster than society can define them, from embryo selection 
for traits like IQ and height to speculative military interest in 
genetically enhanced soldiers. These examples raise urgent questions: 
Where should society draw ethical boundaries? Who gets to decide? And is
 the term “eugenics” still useful for guiding policy and public debate?
We’ll close by examining the social, political, and regulatory forces
 that will determine the future, considering whether they will restrain 
the push toward further genetic control or accelerate it. (Advance 
tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 
with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes 
later.)
Image: The frontispiece of the 1883 book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development, by pioneering eugenicist Francis Galton (Wikimedia Commons / Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Local Event: Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Eugenics Then and Now

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Eugenics Then...

Profs and Pints Northern Virginia presents: "Eugenics Then and Now,” on
 a dangerous movement in science and its lessons for...

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Eugenics Then and Now

<a href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “The Happiness Workshop,”
 a look at what recent research and centuries of wisdom tell us about 
bringing more joy and contentment to our lives, with Eric Zillmer, 
professor of psychology and the director of the Happiness Lab at Drexel 
University.
Are you happy? If not, how do you get there?
Gain insights into happiness with Eric Zillmer, an award-winning 
teacher who leads a creative think tank that investigates the 
ingredients for happiness among individual people and communities.
You’ll learn how the study of happiness is a growing, evidence-based 
field known as positive psychology, which aims to find solutions to 
happiness challenges that can bring positive change to our lives and 
environments.
Dr. Zillmer will discuss the meaning of happiness and its place in 
our lives and society. He’ll draw from recent science and great thinkers
 in discussing how we can increase our own happiness and well-being, 
throwing out a few practical tips as well.&nbsp;
He’ll talk about whether happiness can be measured and where in our 
brain happiness is located. We’ll look at the influence of socializing 
and social media on our happiness and about the roles that music, humor,
 adversity, and regret have in happiness research.
Dr. Zillmer will discuss what we learn about happiness from 
competitive sports, and he’ll suggest ten actions that you can engage in
 that will make you happier.
Among the questions he’ll tackle: What is the happiest day of the 
week? Can a specific place make you happy? What can we learn about 
happiness from travelling the world? (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-happiness-workshop" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus sales
 tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed 
time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: Happiness in the face of a Tibetan Buddhist monk. (Photo by Wonderlane / Wikimedia Commons.)

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: The Happiness Workshop

Profs & Pints DC: The Happiness Workshop

Profs and Pints DC presents: “The Happiness Workshop,”
 a look at what recent research and centuries of wisdom tell us about...

<a href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Torture in the Middle Ages,”
 with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, visiting assistant teaching professor of 
English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and author or 
editor of ten books on medieval violence.
When Pulp Fiction’s Marsellus Wallace vows to “get medieval”
 on someone we assume that they’re in for some serious pain. 
Torture—that most notorious aspect of medieval culture and society—more 
recently has been portrayed in popular culture in series like Game of Thrones and Vikings,
 through lurid scenes depicting torture and gruesome punishment as 
standard medieval practice. In many modern European cities one can find 
popular museums displaying such gruesome implements as the rack, the 
strappado, the gridiron, the wheel, and the iron maiden.
The dominant mythology suggests that the Middle Ages was a period 
during which sadistic torment was inflicted on citizens with impunity 
and without provocation. The truth, however, is a lot more complicated.
Join Professor Larissa “Kat” Tracy, who has extensively researched 
torture, punishment, and social justice in medieval society, for a talk 
challenging preconceived ideas that popular historians, films, and media
 have promoted about the prevalence of torture and judicial brutality in
 medieval society.
She’ll discuss medieval Europe’s actual use of torture—the 
instruments, the laws, the cultural norms, and the victims—and make 
clear that the act of punishment was actually a very different legal 
event. She’ll argue that the portrayals of medieval torture in 
literature represent satire, critique and dissent; they have didactic 
and political functions in opposing the status quo.
The books that Professor Tracy has written or edited include Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature; Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages; Medieval and Early Modern Murder; Flaying in the Premodern World, and most recently End Game: Exile and Execution in Medieval and Early Modern Society.
 When she gets medieval on you it means you are going to learn. The 
experience, however, won’t be painful at all. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-torture-middle-ages" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 
plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student 
ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)&nbsp;
Image: Torture instruments on display at Prague Castle. Photo by Clayton Tang / Wikimedia Commons.

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Torture in the Middle Ages

Profs & Pints DC: Torture in the Middle Ages

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Torture in the Middle Ages,”
 with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, visiting assistant teaching professor of...

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Terrors of Irish Fairylore,” an
 introduction to Ireland’s strange and unsettling folkloric “Good 
People,” with Brittany Warman, former instructor at Ohio State 
University, co-founder of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the 
Fantastic, and co-author of the new book Fairylore: A Compendium of the Fae Folk.
Today it is common to think of fairies as small, childlike, sparkly 
creatures with glittering wings and dresses made from flower petals. But
 the fae of traditional Irish folklore were no such things.&nbsp;
Amoral, capricious, even malicious when they chose to be, the 
too-frequently forgotten fairies of times long past would, more often 
than not, haunt nightmares.
Join Brittany Warman, a folklorist who has earned a devoted following
 among Profs and Pints fans, as she explores the darker side of Irish 
fairylore.
The figures she'll discuss include: The Leanan-Sidhe, a vampiric 
fairy who gives artistic inspiration in exchange for your mortal spirit.
 The Dullahan, a fairy with a human spine for a whip and a habit of 
hurtling across fields in a death coach made from human skin. The 
Banshee, a mournful fairy whose cry signals a death in the family to 
which she's attached herself.
Dr. Warman also will examine the surprising impact of fairy folklore on two classics of Irish Gothic literature, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Bram Stoker's Dracula. 
It’s a talk that will remind you that the relationship between the 
Irish and the spooky stretches well beyond Halloween. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-terrors-of-irish-fairlylore2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: 
$13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a 
student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: “The Banshee Appears,” an 1862 illustration by Robert Prowse (Wicklow Heritage / Public domain).

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Terrors of Irish Fairlylore

Profs & Pints DC: Terrors of Irish Fairlylore

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Terrors of Irish Fairylore,” an
 introduction to Ireland’s strange and unsettling folkloric “Good...

<a href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “Nightmares and Creativity,” on
 the relationship between frightening dreams and real creative 
achievements, with Bernard Welt, emeritus professor of arts and 
humanities at George Washington University, former member of the board 
of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and 
contributing editor of DreamTime.
Nightmares are associated with creativity—but how, exactly? Why do so
 many famous accounts of genius in the arts and sciences originate with a
 frightening dream?
Explore such questions with the help of Bernard Welt, who has taught 
courses on recalling dreams and dream journaling and written extensively
 on the relationship between dreaming and the arts.
Using excerpts from texts, illustrations of artworks, and clips from 
classic films derived from nightmares, Professor Welt will look at the 
relationship between bad dreams and celebrated innovations and creative 
accomplishments.&nbsp;
You’ll learn why psychologists consider the nightmare to be a key to 
understanding the creative power of the unconscious mind. We’ll consider
 sleep scientists’ definitions of the nightmare, asking why it still 
remains controversial, and explore contemporary theories about the 
relationship between nightmares and creativity from psychoanalysis, 
Jungian archetypal theory, evolutionary psychology, and other sources.&nbsp;
Though dreams have special authority in many cultures, in the western
 world it’s only among the nineteenth-century Romantics that we began to
 see personal accounts of creativity inspired by dreams—curiously, 
preponderantly bad ones. We’ll look at how Frankenstein arose 
from Mary Shelley’s famous dream of a scientist confronted by his own 
fearful creation, and how art’s Surrealist movement taught us to value 
our nightmares.
You’ll learn how dreams of all kinds can result in sudden inspiration
 because they relax inhibitions, transcend habitual trains of thought, 
and permit ideas that would be rejected by the thought processes of 
waking life. You’ll even come to see why we may welcome our nightmares 
as opportunities to expand our vision and our understanding. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-nightmares-and-creativity" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 
with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes 
later.)

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: Nightmares and Creativity

Profs & Pints DC: Nightmares and Creativity

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Nightmares and Creativity,” on
 the relationship between frightening dreams and real creative...

<a href="https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Profs and Pints DC</a> presents: “When Washington Burned,”
 a detailed look at the devastating 1814 British attack on the Capitol, 
with Denver Brunsman, associate professor of history at George 
Washington University, lecturer at Mount Vernon, and scholar of the 
American revolution and early American republic.
You’ve probably toured several of Washington’s landmarks, but have 
you considered those that went up in smoke more than 200 years ago?
Learn about one of our nation’s greatest scares from historian Denver
 Brunsman, a favorite of Profs and Pints audiences and expert on the War
 of 1812, which led to the infamous 1814 attack. He’ll tell the riveting
 tale of how British troops torched the Capitol and White House and 
burned down nearly all of Washington’s public buildings.
He’ll frame his talk of such mayhem by discussing the origins and 
significance of the conflict that caused it, the War of 1812. In 
addition to helping to cement America’s independence, the War of 1812 
helped give rise to a sense of nationalism among the people of Canada. 
It rallied boosters of the city of Washington—among them, First Lady 
Dolley Madison—to advocate for keeping it as the nation’s capital. With 
the war’s end, American was free to embark on two centuries of growth.
You’ll leave with a much greater appreciation of how our nation has 
withstood tests in the past and how much of Washington D.C. has been 
built upon the ruins of previous losses. (<a href="https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-when-washington-burned" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Advance tickets</a>: $13.50 plus 
sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. 
Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)&nbsp;
Image: Illustration from the 1816 book The History of England, from the Earliest Periods, Volume 1 by Paul M. Rapin de Thoyras.

Local Event: Profs & Pints DC: When Washington Burned

Profs & Pints DC: When Washington Burned

Profs and Pints DC presents: “When Washington Burned,”
 a detailed look at the devastating 1814 British attack on the Capitol,...

Peter Schmidt

Washington Metropolitan Area

Arlington County

Arlington

Rosslyn

Virginia

Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn

Clarendon

Washington DC

Michael O'Connell

Ballston

Fairfax County

Patch AM Team

Seven Corners

Bailey's Crossroads

Alexandria city

Del Ray

Montgomery County

Gaby Arancibia

Bethesda-Chevy Chase

Maryland

Loudoun County

Leesburg

Bring your family and friends to the Purcellville Music and Arts Festival on Saturday, April 25 from noon to 7 p.m. rain or...

Purcellville Music and Arts Festival

Ch/Art Fest Returns April 26 Featuring 25+ Local Artists, Food, and Community Celebration
The Ch/Art (Chevy Chase Art) Fest –...

Nearby Communities

State Edition

National Edition

Posting Activity

Profs & Pints DC: Doom and Dinosaurs

APR

22

6:00 PM

Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Facing Fascism

APR

26

6:00 PM

HIGHLINE RxR, 2010 Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA

Profs & Pints DC: Fake News and War of the Worlds

APR

27

6:00 PM

Penn Social, 801 E St NW, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints DC: Cuba, Our Closest Enemy

APR

28

6:00 PM

Penn Social, 801 E St NW, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints DC: Exploring the Deep Sea

APR

29

6:00 PM

Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Eugenics Then and Now

MAY

3

6:00 PM

HIGHLINE RxR, 2010 Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA

Profs & Pints DC: The Happiness Workshop

MAY

4

6:00 PM

Georgetown, DC

Profs & Pints DC: Torture in the Middle Ages

MAY

5

6:00 PM

Penn Social, 801 E St NW, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints DC: Terrors of Irish Fairlylore

MAY

11

6:00 PM

Penn Social, 801 E St NW, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints DC: Nightmares and Creativity

MAY

12

6:00 PM

Penn Social, 801 E St NW, Washington, DC

Profs & Pints DC: When Washington Burned

MAY

14

6:00 PM

Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC

Purcellville Music and Arts Festival

Ch/Art Fest