California Dystopia: Understanding Climate Change and Social Collapse through Science Fiction

Doheny Memorial Library (DML) 3550 Trousdale Parkway,, Los Angeles, CA

In the fall of 2020, when wildfires turned the once-blue skies of California into a glowing orange hellscape—all amid a viral pandemic marked by severe racial and social disparities and protests over police violence against communities of color—some of the darkest fiction about California’s future seemed especially prescient. Moderated by Los Angeles Times culture columnist

LaToya Ruby Frazier: The Last Cruze

California African American Museum

Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier works in photography, video, and performance to build visual archives that address industrialization, Rust Belt revitalization, environmental justice, healthcare inequity, family, and community history. Frazier’s work is exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, and she is currently an assistant professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute

Borrowed Recipes: Migrant Food Worlds of the Silk Roads

Doheny Memorial Library (DML) 3550 Trousdale Parkway,, Los Angeles, CA

Many of the foods we enjoy in Los Angeles arrived via long journeys along the ancient Silk Roads, and are the result of countless exchanges between cultures in East and Central Asia, Persia, Western Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Join us for a conversation about these often hidden—and delicious—culinary histories moderated by science writer

Dying While Black: Race, Maternity, and the Reproductive Health Care System

Mayer Auditorium

As the founder of the first law center focused on race and bioethics and a frequently cited author, Michele Bratcher Goodwin has shone a bright light into under-explored corners in the field of health law. Goodwin has received national awards for excellence in scholarship and teaching, and recognition for her committed community service, such as membership