ONLINE: Holding History Office Hour

media release: On Tuesday, October 6, at 11:00 am (CT), Chicago-based, self-titled “blacktor” Bear Bellinger (actor, author, and activist) will be in conversation with UW-Madison professor and Holding History co-director, Joshua Calhoun.

Please feel free to share this invitation widely!

Here is the link to the YouTube Live page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uybWwJG0_KA

This discussion emerges from Calhoun’s course, “Why Shakespeare?”, which examines the legacies of Shakespeare’s plays and also questions Shakespeare’s prominence in literature and culture. Is he really that good? Does our ongoing fascination with Shakespeare say more about his writing or about us, about our preferences and our values?

Bear Bellinger (@LifeofaBlacktor) is an actor, writer, performer, and loud-mouthed advocate for all things equity, diversity, and inclusion. For the last 11 years, Bear has found himself at the center of conversations envisioning what a healthy work environment looks like for marginalized communities in homogenized settings with articles, panels, social media, and consulting work.

Joshua Calhoun (@awayandback) is an associate professor of English at the UW-Madison who specializes in Shakespeare, 16th- and 17th-century poetry, and the history of media. As a Faculty Affiliate at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, he also teaches courses in the environmental humanities.