From hosting a contemporary artist to a food industry icon, the Scripps Presents Speaker Series is quite varied. Though this fall’s lineup is wide-ranging, all speakers share the unofficial theme of “DIY.”
“With social movements, with creativity, with platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, we are all crafting our own narratives, trying to make change in our communities and our own lives using entrepreneurship and ingenuity,” Corrina Lesser, director of Scripps public events and community programs, wrote about the “DIY” theme in an email to TSL.
The series will mostly consist of presentations in the form of conversations, ensuring that the “experience… is relevant and exciting to our audience” and “one-of-a-kind,” Lesser wrote.
The conversation structure has already been implemented for Scripps Present’s first conversation of the year between Melissa Harris Perry, former MSNBC host and editor-at-large at ELLE.com, and Myriam J. A. Chancy, Hartley Burr Alexander Chair in the Humanities at Scripps College.
“I enjoyed the open conversation and appreciated each of her insights. I’ve really liked the Scripps Presents series so far and am looking forward to attending more of its events,” Sahana Mehta SC ’20 said.
While presentations from writer Nicholson Baker, hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang, award-winning news anchor and reporter Maria Hinojosa, and restauranteur and author Eddie Huang will be in the conversation style, some presentations will be more art-focused. Presentations from Molly Crabapple, a contemporary artist focusing on the topics of art, sex, politics, and survival, and Ensemble Dal Niente, a punk-inspired musician ensemble, will be a celebration of these artists’ pieces.
These speakers are chosen by the Events Advisory Committee, a group of faculty, students, and staff, and are open to all 5C students and the greater Claremont community. Moreover, Lesser meets “with folks within the Consortium, co-curricular programs across the 5Cs, at other cultural organizations, at publishing companies, or with agents to understand who is intellectually exciting and whose work will resonate with our community.”
Chang presented on Wednesday, Sept. 15, about race and re-segregation in America. Another highlight of the season will be Eddie Huang’s event, according to Lesser. This sentiment was echoed by Mehta, who said, “I am interested in the Asian diaspora and hope to learn from his experience and his book Fresh Off the Boat,” about Huang’s presentation.
Ultimately, the Scripps Presents Speaker Series is “committed to aligning programs with the curriculum, and thinking about the issues that are trending among students, faculty, and staff,” Lesser wrote, adding that these conversations will “leave us wanting to keep on talking long after the program finishes.”
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