Advertising Anxiety:
The Commercialization of American Culture

Thursday, Sept. 20
Noon

As commercial messages have worked their way into virtually all aspects of our lives, it is time to consider the long-term effects of this constant bombardment on our mental health.

This multimedia presentation will describe the many ways that advertising manipulates our behavior and continually shapes our perceptions of who we are and how we think.

Presented by Bob Gill.

Altered Reality: The Digital
Manipulation of Photographic Images

Thursday, Sept. 27
Noon

A picture is worth a thousand words. We assume that photographs are representations of reality. After all, they have been used as evidence in court. But modern digital software tools now make it easy to alter, manipulate, and enhance photographic images. Can we now trust a photograph?

This highly visual multimedia presentation will take a look at the tools and techniques of photographic manipulation from its earliest days up to the present. It will explain how shifting of graphic images into the digital world can be a benefit to society, yet at the same time change our fundamental beliefs about what is real and what is not.

Presented by Bob Gill.

Mystery of the Mound Builders

Thursday, Oct. 11
Noon
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Across the Mississippi River from St. Louis lies the ancient city of Cahokia, Ill. Around 1,000 years ago, this town grew to as many as 30,000 people, who lived among numerous earthen mounds. This urban area was the center of a mound-building culture which constructed over 10,000 mounds in what is now the United States.

When the first Europeans entered the American Midwest, the existing Native Americans had no idea what had happened to the mound builders. This multimedia presentation will explore some of the questions surrounding this vanished culture. Where did these people originally come from? What role did these mounds play in their society? How could an entire civilization disappear?

Presented by Bob Gill.

Popular Culture: Reflection or Shaper of Society?

Thursday, Oct. 18
Noon
SC, Private Dining Room

Americans are immersed in an avalanche of popular culture messages in their movies, TV, magazines, computer games, and advertising. This media onslaught raises interesting questions about ourselves and our values. Do the various aspects of popular culture merely reflect our accumulated values, or do we as active participants in our society help to determine what that culture is? What role do traditional and non-traditional media outlets play in this process?

This multimedia presentation will offer a highly visual look at these issues, and, hopefully, will stimulate a debate on how we shape and are shaped by our culture.

Presented by Bob Gill.

See You at the Fair

Thursday, Oct. 25
Noon
SC, Private Dining Room

Many people will agree that a high point in St. Louis history came in 1904, when the city hosted the World’s Fair and the Olympics.

This highly visual presentation will explore this fascinating event, using photographs, maps, and music. Learn about new technologies and foods introduced at the Fair, and gain insight into why the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was the largest and most successful World’s Fair ever held.

Presented by Bob Gill.

Target: JFK

Thursday, Nov. 1
Noon

It’s been almost 44 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, but doubts still linger in people’s mind about what really happened on that day. Hundreds of books, articles, documentaries, and films have been produced describing various conspiracy theories and alternate explanations for the assassination.

This multimedia presentation will use hundreds of photographs, documents, sound, and video clips to describe some of these theories, and will provide dramatic evidence that the public was never told the truth about who really killed President Kennedy.

Presented by Bob Gill.

Earth Views: How Satellite Imagery
Is Changing Our View of the Planet

Thursday, Nov. 18
Noon
SC, Private Dining Room

There have been many criticisms of America’s space program, but one benefit of our venturing out into space has been the ability to look back at our own planet from a distance. Photos taken from the space shuttle and by orbiting satellites have given us a totally new way of looking at our World. Viewing the Earth’s surface from such a distance allows us to easily see geographical features, human alterations, and environmental degradation.

This multimedia presentation will use detailed, high-quality images of Earth viewed from space, and will give us an entirely new perspective on our fragile, spinning globe.

Presented by Bob Gill.