Profs and Pints - Philadelphia

Profs and Pints Philadelphia 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.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profs-and-pints-black-squirrel/happiness-workshop-2 .]

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. He has graciously agreed to come back to the Fishtown’s Black Squirrel Club to deliver a talk on happiness that sold out and received rave reviews when he gave it last spring.

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.

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.

The talk coincides with an immersive installation by Dr. Zillmer at The Study at University City at 20 S. 33rd Street until November 15th . Titled “The Philadelphia Happiness Map,” it explores what makes people happy and the places in Philadelphia where they feel happiest.

Among the questions Dr. Zillmer will tackle in speaking at the Black Squirrel Club: 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? (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Guests are welcome to arrive any time after 5:30. Talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: Happiness in the face of a Tibetan Buddhist monk. (Photo by Wonderlane / Wikimedia Commons.)

Profs and Pints Philadelphia presents: “A Guide to Witches,” on the figure of the witch in history, legend, folklore, and fairy tales, with Linda Lee, lecturer in folklore and literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profs-and-pints-black-squirrel/philadelphia-guide-to-witches .]

Get ready for something spellbinding: A look at various depictions of witches as reflections of ideas about female sexuality, independence, agency, and power.

Offering up this pre-Halloween treat will be folklorist Linda Lee, who earned rave reviews in previously giving this talk at the Black Squirrel and has captivated audiences at this Fishtown venue with her past discussions of dark Christmas folklore and the goddess Persephone.

We’ll start with an introduction to witches from European folklore, fairy tales, and legends. You’ll learn how they’re generally portrayed as powerful, solitary, and defiant figures who can be either helpful or harmful. They may appear as mothers, helpers who aid heroes on quests, or monsters to be vanquished. They can represent a threat to the community by snatching children or by pilfering cows’ milk.

Individual witches who will be conjured up include the child-eating witch from Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel” and Baba Yaga, the ambiguous witch of Slavic folklore who lives in a hut on chicken legs and flies around inside a giant mortar while clutching a big pestle. Lee contrasts such fictional depictions with the ideas about witches and witchcraft espoused by Christian demonological thought.

You’ll learn how witches are described by early modern sources like Malleus Maleficarum, the 15th-century treatise on witchcraft which also served as a witch hunters’ manual. Such texts presented witches as entirely malevolent figures who gain magical powers through a pact with the Devil (usually signed with menstrual blood). They depicted witches as using a special ointment that empowers them to fly to a Witches’ Sabbath to dance and perform demonic rituals.

You’ll see how such ideas were visually reinforced through engravings, woodcuts, and drawings, by artists like Albrecht Dürer, that depicted naked women riding broomsticks and dancing with devils.

You’ll come away with a better understanding of why witches are among the most versatile, notorious, and enduring figures from fairy tales and legends and remain an iconic part of contemporary Halloween traditions. Feel free to dress witchy if you wish. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: From “Preparation for the Witches' Sabbath,” by 17th Century Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger.