糖心视频

Our Speakers: Year One

Fall 2018-Spring 2019

 
(Please note that the draft agenda below specifies topics and approximate dates that will undoubtedly change given individual scholars鈥� availability and unique approaches to the project鈥檚 overall theme.)

 
Breaking the Silence #1 (Sept. 2018)

鈥淲hat the History of Death and Dying Teaches Us about Life and Living鈥�

Dr. Brandy Schillace
(Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum, Case Western Reserve University)
 

Research Associate and Public Engagement Fellow Dr. Schillace looks at how cultures around the world approach death, today and historically. Hardly a century ago, for example, Victorians mourned their dead in a way very differently than we do today. What happened to individuals鈥� experience of death when life-extending medical technology replaced hair jewelry and memento mori?
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Breaking the Silence #2 (Sept. 2018)

鈥�Great Deeds! With the Dead!: On the Use and Abuse of Corpses for Life鈥�

Dr. David Clark
(Professor of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University)
 

How have artists and citizens represented the dying body and mutilated corpse from the Napoleonic Wars to the desaparecidos (disappeared) of Argentina to AIDS activism? Dr. Clark introduces us to a humanities-centered approach to reading the visual language of human remains.
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Breaking the Silence #3 (Oct. 2018)

鈥�The Living Dead: Fiction, Horror, and Bioethics鈥�

Dr. Catherine Belling
(Associate Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics,
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
 

The night before Dr. Belling's talk, don't miss a free screening of George Romero鈥檚 film Night of the Living Dead!

Zombies dominate the popular imagination, but why is there so little talk about 鈥渞eal鈥� death in American culture? Why keep imagining the living dead? 鈥淭hey won鈥檛 stay dead,鈥� but have you ever thought about why we might not want them to die?
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Breaking the Silence #4 (Nov. 2018)

 

How does a philosopher see suffering? Why do we suffer anyway? What do philosophers have to say about this? And how do we cope with pointless suffering that leads to death?
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Breaking the Silence #5 (Dec. 2018)

鈥淪tarting the Conversation: My Personal Journey鈥�

Randi Belisomo
(Reporter and Multi-Media Journalist, WGN-TV, Chicago, and
Founder of )

TV reporter Randi Belisomo shares her personal story behind the founding of Life Matters Media, a leading educational organization that teaches individuals reasons for and ways of having conversations to plan for end of life care. Why make a quality of care plan? What does living well mean to you, and why should you share this with those you love?
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Breaking the Silence #6 (Dec. 2018)

Chaplain Jeanne Wirpsa
(Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago)  

 

Hands-On Workshop: How to Complete an Advance Directive

After a short dinner reception, a team of volunteers from Northwestern Memorial Hospital鈥擩ane Light (journalist), Ellen Elpern (Advanced Practice Nurse), and Mandy Browning (Project Coordinator in Medical Humanities and Bioethics)鈥攚ill set up consultation tables to help audience members discuss and, if desired, fill out advance directives with witnesses. They will also provide information on creating video and mobile advance directives.
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Breaking the Silence #7 (Jan. 2019)

Dr. David Glassman
(President, 糖心视频)

 

Leading forensic anthropologist Dr. David Glassman recounts his time working at the Body Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee. Why study the decomposition of bodies in every place and over all manner of time as possible? Could the close scrutiny of dead bodies produce more than just scientific knowledge for CSI professionals? Could it lead to telling reflections on human psychology as well as a uniquely philosophical view of living and dying?
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Breaking the Silence #8 (Feb. 2019)

Screening of the Film Advance Directives and Conversation

Dr. Craig Klugman
(Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, DePaul University)

 

Medical ethics expert Dr. Craig Klugman urges everyone鈥攜oung and not so young鈥攖o think about the importance of advance care planning. After screening his award-winning short film, Dr. Klugman will hold an open question and answer session. Why do so many Americans act as though death will never 鈥渉appen鈥� to them? And why do we assume that planning for death is the exclusive concern of the aged? What do younger folks need to consider in communicating their last wishes?
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Breaking the Silence #9 (March 2019)

鈥淗aving the Final Conversation鈥�

Dr. Maureen Keeley
(Professor of Communication Studies, Texas State University)

 
Award-winning author of Final Conversations: Helping the Living and the Dying Talk to Each Other, Dr. Maureen Keeley helps us find ways of talking about death in the most important situations we鈥檒l ever encounter. How do we talk about death with those we love and with those we are losing? What can we do to remedy our tendency to avoid talking honestly and directly about death?
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How did people in the age of Shakespeare mourn for and bury their dead? What did writers have to say about death in poetry, stories, and plays? What does this tell us about attitudes towards dying in an earlier era, and how does this compare to our contemporary acts of remembering and taking care of our dead?
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Breaking the Silence #11 (April 2019)

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Edgar Barens
(Media Specialist and Documentary Filmmaker, University of Illinois, Chicago)

 

Academy Award nominee Edgar Barens gives us a never-before-seen picture of palliative care behind the walls of a maximum-security prison (Iowa State Penitentiary). What happens when prisoners provide hospice care? What can we learn from the wishes of a man dying in prison? The filmmaker will answer questions about the six months he took shooting footage behind prison walls.
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Breaking the Silence #12 (April 2019)

Dr. John Hoberman
(Professor of Germanic Studies, University of Texas, Austin)

 

Why are racial minorities (African Americans in particular) far less likely to complete advance directives or to choose palliative care? What role does the doctor鈥檚 thinking about race play in these extremely important life decisions? How do stubborn myths about racial differences still operate鈥攁nd cause harm鈥攊n the care of black patients? And what can medical communities do to deliver more culturally sensitive care that is beneficial and humane to all communities?