Providing a little heads-up that the next in our GEM Lecture series is coming up in a couple weeks, but we’ve tweaked things and we hope you’ll enjoy the changes. We’ve decided to reshape the whole series into something that’s more inviting for people getting off work and eager to decompress with some coffee and comfortable chat about pop culture. Here’s the schedule for the rest of the spring and summer, starting with the last originally advertised topic. Also please note the schedule change to earlier in the evening:

GEM “Coffee with the Curator”

GEM relaunches its lecture series with a more casual, conversational mood that invites collectors to join us on the third Wednesday every month at 6pm for coffee and pop culture chat with Curator Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg. In the months ahead, “Coffee with the Curator” will cover the reimagining of the Star Trek universe, the world of L. Frank Baum’s Oz, the magical saga of Harry Potter in books and films, and the many incarnations of G.I. Joe.

All of these meetings will take place on Wednesday evenings at 6-7:30pm.

April 15 – Rebirth, Regeneration and Renewal in Pop Culture: The concept of rebirth, so intrinsic a part of many religious faiths, is also an ingrained part of our shared pop culture heritage. Why are we so fascinated by the “hero reborn” myth in the form of Superman, Batman, the Doctor of Doctor Who, and so many more? What aspects of this phenomenon speak to us on such a primal level? As we enter a refreshing new season, take a look at pop culture characters that have also returned again and again.

May 13 – Reinventing Star Trek: Boldly Going Where We’ve Been Before

June 17 – The Long and Winding Yellow Brick Road: More Than a Century of Oz

July 15 – Cinematic Wizardry: A Look at the Harry Potter Films

August 12 – Real American Heroes: The Changing Faces of G.I. Joe

We’ll have more info on the later meetings as we go along. Hope to see you there!