March 20th. 4:00 pm. Top Gun Pilot Mark 'Chuck' Marchione

Saturday, March 20th, 2010 (4:00 PM)
Top Gun Pilot Mark "Chuck" Marchione

Mark "Chuck" Marchione is a former Navy Top Gun pilot. He is the author of West of the Rock, which gives us a rare, illuminating look into the elite world of Navy pilots. In a series of powerful and often harrowing narratives, the author presents their life trajectories, from looking up in awe at the power and glory of warplanes, facing the ordeals of even routine landings at night on a pitching carrier deck, interacting with the comparatively unremarkable world of civilians, and reaching the point where they no longer have the edge needed to be fighter pilots.
For all the camaraderie, mastery of technique, and daily contests with fear, fighter pilots must also contend with the strains on family life during long deployments, the erosion of the motivations they need to face danger, the mounting death toll of friends, and diminishing faith in the nations mission and its seemingly endless confrontations around the world. Here is the strength of West of the Rock vividly describing, as only a former fighter pilot could, the rise and fall of the beliefs upon which modern warriors rely.

Hollywood vs. The Supreme Court

Join us Saturday February 13th. at 4:00 pm as we welcome Justice Eileen C. Moore as she reads and discusses her book; "Race Results, Hollywood vs. The Supreme Court"

The United States Supreme Court is widely considered a highly conservative institution. Hollywood is overwhelmingly perceived as liberal. Over the past 100 years, America's highest court and America's film industry have both played major roles in shaping American values. Critics have often accused the Supreme Court of accommodating racism in cases involving discrimination against African Americans. While accusations have also been launched against movies for reinforcing racial stereotypes and aggravating racial tensions, Hollywood has been defended, vigorously, for tackling difficult topics and championing the oppressed.

Eileen C. Moore was intrigued by how black Americans fared before the highest court in the land, from the early 1900s until very recently, compared to how they were treated in the movies. So, she set out to weigh the evidence. She delivers her verdict in Race Results: Hollywood vs. the Supreme Court, Ten Decades of Racial Decisions and Film. "After the first few decades of the twentieth century," Moore attests, "the United States Supreme Court was consistently more progressive than Hollywood in its treatment of African Americans."