Perspectives Newsletter

• 

  Enlightened Giving

  “I couldn’t ask donors to give if I weren’t also giving,” says Michael Podlin, a former UW fundraiser who has included a significant bequest for the Department of Philosophy in his estate plans.

  Arts & Sciences

Opportunities to Explore

• 

  Northwest Sinfonietta with UW Piano Students

  April 12, 7:30 pm
  Meany Hall – Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater
  UW piano students perform concerto movements by Haydn, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn with Tacoma-based chamber orchestra Northwest Sinfonietta. David Alexander Rahbee, senior artist in resident in the UW School of Music, conducts.

• 

  Simon Benjamin: A Bolt from the Blue

  Through April 20
  Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Art Building
  The exhibition Simon Benjamin: A Bolt from the Blue was created as part of Benjamin's 2024 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency, organized by guest curator Berette S Macaulay. Curated as a living space of temporal contemplation, the exhibition – which incorporates video installation, painting, sculpture, and photography -- reflects Benjamin’s research of the sea and coastal areas as connected sites of colonial legacy.

• 

  Performance, Subversion and Gender-Bending in Ottoman Poetry

  April 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
  Kane Hall, Walker Ames Room (Room 225)
  Mihri Hatun (d. circa 1512) was the first Ottoman woman whose poetry was collected during her lifetime and is still intact. In this Walter Andrews Memorial Lecture, Professor Didem Havlioglu (Duke University) will discuss the poet’s unapologetically marginal voice as a way to understand the physical and discursive contours of the Ottoman intellectual world. Presented by the UW Department of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures.

• 

  Intergenerational Encounters: A Conversation with Kelly Akashi

  April 26, 3:00 – 4:00 pm
  Henry Art Gallery, Education Studio
  Join artist Kelly Akashi, whose work is currently on view at the Henry Art Gallery, for a small group conversation on intergenerational ties through objects. Akashi invites all participants to bring an object to explore the theme of heirlooms and what is passed down generationally. Guests can anticipate sharing about the object they brought, its significance to their family history, and engaging in conversation with Kelly and the other participants. Registration required.

• 

  Frontiers in Physics Lecture: Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST

  May 8, 7:30 pm
  Kane Hall, Room 130
  The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWSP) is producing magnificent images and surprises about galaxies, active galactic nuclei, star-forming regions, and planets, extending the scientific discoveries of the Hubble Telescope. John C. Mather of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, a 2006 Nobel laureate in Physics and JWST senior project scientist, will share how JWST was built and its most exciting current discoveries. Registration required. Presented by the UW Department of Physics.

In The News

• Scientists CT-scanned thousands of natural history specimens, which you can access for free

  Scientists around the globe and curious folks at home can access valuable museum specimens to study, learn, or just be amazed by, thanks to openVertebrate, or oVert, a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions, including scientists at the UW and the UW’s Burke Museum. The project has created 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens and made them freely available online.

  UW News

• 5 Indigenous artists and scholars on Lily Gladstone, the Oscars, and more

  Five local Native American artists and cultural workers shared their feelings about how Lily Gladstone’s Oscar nomination blazed a new path for Indigenous creatives as well as the racist tropes still targeting Native Americans in the media. Charlotte Coté, UW professor of American Indian studies, is interviewed.

  The Seattle Times

• What is the Japanese ‘wabi-sabi’ aesthetic actually about? ‘Miserable tea’ and loneliness, for starters

  "Wabi-sabi is typically described as a traditional Japanese aesthetic: the beauty of something perfectly imperfect, in the sense of 'flawed' or 'unfinished.' Actually, however, wabi and sabi are similar but distinct concepts, yoked together far more often outside Japan than in it," writes Paul Atkins, UW professor of Asian languages and literature.

  The Conversation

• Yes, JK Rowling, the Nazis did persecute trans people

  In a recent tweet, author JK Rowling disputed the fact that Nazis destroyed early research on the transgender community. UW professor of history Laurie Marhoefer, who studies trans people and Nazis, offers historical background.

  The Stranger