Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Those Who Gave Rise to Our Navy,” on the men who set sail for the American Revolution and their fates, with Abby Mullen, assistant professor of history at the United States Naval Academy and author of To Fix a National Character: The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800-1805.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/rise-of-navy ]

Their ranks were Black as well as White and included the young and the old, the offspring of incredibly wealthy merchant families as well as the all-but-destitute. The British government called them pirates and charged them with treason. Even George Washington referred to some of them as rascals. Yet all were willing to take to sea and take great risks as sailors in the fight against Great Britain.

Why did they do it?

As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, join Professor Abby Mullen, who teaches Annapolis midshipmen classes on naval history, to become familiar with the kinds of people who joined our Navy at the outset, at great risk.

We’ll look at where American Revolutionary sailors came from, what motivated them to go to sea, and what happened to them during their service. We’ll examine the many ways they could serve as part of the Continental Navy, as part of state navies, or as privateers.

Finally, we’ll look at what happened to them in the long run, and how some ended up imprisoned by the British after being captured while others were discharged from their ship after the war as the Continental Navy got sold off bit by bit. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: A 1779 naval battle involving American and British ships as painted by Richard Paton in 1780 (Royal Academy / Public Domain).

Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore 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.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/metro-baltimore-irish-fairylore .]

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.

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. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: “The Banshee Appears,” an 1862 illustration by Robert Prowse (Wicklow Heritage / Public domain).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Artemis II and Beyond,” on how the recent space mission fits into long-term plans for the Moon, with Michael J. Neufeld, retired senior curator for the Space History Department of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

[Doors open at 3. The talk starts at 4:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-artemis-2 .]

NASA’s recent, spectacular Artemis II mission is a sign that the United States is serious about sending humans to the Moon again.

Gain an understanding of how Artemis II fits in both past and planned lunar missions with historian Michael Neufeld, who was lead curator of the Smithsonian’s Destination Moon exhibit. He has taught at Johns Hopkins, Colgate, and other universities, and is the author or editor of nine books dealing with the history of technology.

He’ll start by looking at the aftermath of the Apollo program of a half century ago and why it ended only four years after its first lunar mission. He’ll consider why no lasting lunar programs emerged from major announcements by two presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, that astronauts would be going back to the Moon and on to Mars.

His vividly illustrated lecture will then explore how Artemis is a product of a human spaceflight program that has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. We’ll look at how collaboration with Europe, Canada and Japan became integral to the shuttle and International Space Station programs, and how the rise of rise of new commercial space companies such as SpaceX has enabled NASA to buy both space services and space craft.

Both international and commercial partners are involved in the latest Moon efforts, with SpaceX and Blue Origin expected to supply the landers to take astronauts down to a planned base on the Moon’s South Pole. How soon will any of this happen? Probably not as quickly as NASA says, but the specter of a Chinese landing on the Moon by 2030 is one obvious reason to keep things moving along.

We’ll look at the sustainability of the Artemis space program for at least the next decade or so. You’ll emerge from the talk with no doubt that exciting days are ahead for space fans. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: The Artemis II mission launch (NASA photo).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Exploring Castles,” a crash course on the design, construction, and use of the castles of medieval Europe, with Victoria McAlister, assistant professor of Digital Environmental Humanities at Towson University, scholar of medieval buildings, and author of the award-winning book The Irish Tower House: Society, Economy, and Environment c.1300-1650.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-exploring-castles .]

Think of Europe in the Middle Ages and huge stone castles come to mind. It’s understandable given how prominently such structures factor into depictions of that time in popular culture. Such a mental image, however, obscures a tremendous amount of variation in castle design and construction, much of it lost to history due to the ravages of time.

You don’t need a time machine and royal lineage to get to know such buildings as they existed in their era. Instead, just come to Section 771 bar to hear them discussed in depth by Victoria McAlister, a scholar who uses modern technologies such as drones and 3D scanners to virtually reconstruct medieval structures and recently wrote and presented the Great Courses lecture series The Great Castles of Europe.

You’ll learn about a whole range of castle types built throughout Europe between the 11th and the 17th centuries. Not all were made of stone—in fact, many of the castles built by William the Conqueror were constructed with earth and timber. Much of the popular discussion of castle types and architecture obscures complexity and how much the design and appearance of castles featured personal touches.

We’ll pay a visit to the homes of some of the Middle Ages’ most fascinating people. They include Castle Roche in Ireland where, legend has it, Roesia de Verdun threw her architect from a window so he couldn’t build another castle as impressive as hers. In nearby Wales the impressive Caernarfon and Beaumaris castles were built by King Edward I of England with the subjugation of an entire population in mind.

Working from the outside in, Professor McAlister will familiarize you with castles’ architectural features, using as her example the French castle Chateau Gaillard built by Richard the Lionheart. By the end of the talk you’ll know mottes from tower houses, portcullises from posterns, and be equipped with knowledge that will deepen your appreciation of the castles that you might encounter in Europe or on the screen. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: Beaumaris Castle in Wales. Photo by Tom Parnell / Wikimedia Commons.