Profs and Pints San Francisco Bay Area

Profs and Pints Alameda presents: “The World Mount Vesuvius Buried,” on what we’re learning by the uncovering of ancient Roman towns buried in volcanic ash, with Michael Anderson, a professor of Classical archaeology at San Francisco State University who has spent nearly 30 years studying and excavating Pompeii.

[Tickets available only online, at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/alameda-vesuvius .]

The cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE entombed towns, farms, and villas in ash and debris, dooming those around at the time but preserving for future generations a unique and invaluable window onto Roman and Pre-Roman daily life.

Learn about the fascinating finds of archeologists at work there with Michael Anderson, director of the Via Consolare Project excavations of ancient Pompeii, author of Space, Movement and Visibility in Pompeian Houses, and co-author of House of the Surgeon, Pompeii: Excavations in the Casa del Chirurgo.

He’ll discuss how what Vesuvius buried was lost and largely forgotten for centuries, and how the discovery and early excavation of these sites in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries would transform forever the disciplines of art history and archaeology. It also greatly enriched our understanding of ancient Roman daily life, a process that continues to this day, making Pompeii the longest continuously excavated site in the world.

Evidence from these sites has provided some of the clearest answers to questions about what life was really like for both the rich and the poor in ancient Italy in Roman times. Dr. Anderson will discuss what we’ve learned through the unearthing of houses and wall paintings, as well as the remains of graffiti, bakeries, clothes cleaners, and taverns and of evidence of politics, elections, and graffiti.

What was it like to experience a cataclysmic volcanic eruption? Did anyone escape? We’ll explore the impact of the eruption on the nearby settlements of Pompeii and Herculaneum using evidence from Pliny the Younger’s eyewitness account combined with scientific study of the bodies of those who perished and the traces left by those who may have escaped.

Finally, we’ll look at what is still being excavated and why. We will examine recent—and, in some cases, still unpublished—discoveries from active and on-going excavations. You’ll learn how these sites continue to enrich our understanding of ancient life nearly two thousand years ago, not only during the sites’ final years and hours but throughout the sites’ long histories from foundation to destruction. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: A cast of a corpse of a Mt. Vesuvius eruption victim at Pompeii’s “Garden of the Fugitives” archaeological site. (Photo by Daniele Florio / Wikimedia Commons.)

Profs and Pints Napa presents: “Embracing Our Insignificance,” a thoughtful look at the value of knowing that you truly don’t amount to much in the great scheme of things, with Joshua Glasgow, professor of philosophy at Sonoma State University.

[Tickets available only online, at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/napa-embracing-insignificance .]

Have you ever questioned whether being more important would make for a more wonderful life? If so, you’re hardly alone. The legendary baseball player Ted Williams famously said, “All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.’”

Maybe, however, the opposite holds true. Maybe the best thing we can do for ourselves is look up at the stars and contemplate our insignificance when it comes to the bigger picture.

Spend a thoughtful night reconsidering the human drive for significance and alternatives to it with the help of philosopher Joshua Glasgow, author of The Significance Impulse: On the Unimportance of Our Cosmic Unimportance and The Solace: Finding Value in Death through Gratitude for Life.

Professor Glasgow, who has taught courses titled “The Good and Meaningful Life” and “What It Means to Be a Person,” will walk you through a deep discussion of life’s meaning that separates questions of fame from questions of real importance.

He’ll argue that none of us is tremendously important to the cosmos, even if we are the only valuable things in it. In the end, we only have little value, cosmically speaking.

He acknowledges that some find this thought disturbing. The mathematician, physicist, and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote: “When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in an eternity before and after, the little space I fill engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof I know nothing, and which know nothing of me, I am terrified.”

Professor Glasgow will show, however, how that such fear is misplaced. Instead, he’ll argue, we should feel optimistic about our relatively insignificant lives. Being much more significant would not have made life any better for us. On the contrary, it would have made our lives less free.

This will be a celebration of the ordinary life, and it might just leave you feeling much better about yours. You’ll be able to remind yourself of the lessons you learn here by looking up at the night sky. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5:30 and the talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: From a photo by Benh Lieu Song / Wikimedia Commons.

Profs and Pints San Francisco presents: “A History of Food as Holiday Art,” on the centuries-old relationship between feasts for our palates and feasts for our eyes, with Carolyn Tillie, founder of Bay Area Food Historians and former adjunct professor of art history at several California community colleges.

[Tickets available only online, at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/food-as-holiday-art . ]

If you are looking for culinary inspiration this holiday season, come journey back in time to long before the first Thanksgiving to explore the millennia-old relationship between what people eat and what they use to make art.

We’ll start with the first evidence of food-related art, in the form of decorated ostrich eggs dating back 73,000 years and found by archaeologists in South Africa. You’ll learn how the carving of gourds and squashes dates back 10,000 years in East Asia and South America, how various vegetables were the first sources of dyes, and how saffron was used for coloring long before it was used for seasoning.

From there we’ll talk about ancient uses of egg-based paint, the elaborate centuries-old Japanese food garnishing art known as Mukimono, and the birth in the 1500s of an Oaxacan radish-carving festival that still takes place today.

You’ll learn how the tables set for kings varied tremendously by historical period, with the late 1400s ushering in a long period of “show food” featuring elaborate tablescapes made with carved meats and cheeses and sculptures formed from sugar and butter.

We’ll trace gingerbread back to ancient Greece, examine the Victorian era rise of the elaborate wedding cake, chart the rise of marzipan sculptures, and consider the evolution over the centuries of beloved Scandinavian Christmas cookies featuring decorative patterns.

Returning to the present, we’ll examine how chocolate is being used to
make sculptures that tower over any foil-wrapped Santa Claus.

You’ll leave eager to incorporate what you learned into your planning of your holiday decorations and meals. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5:30 and the talk begins at 6:30. Parking available nearby at the Mason O'Farrell garage.)

Image: Marzipan candy in a store window in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Frank Kovalchek / Creative Commons.)