While You Were Sleeping

View the complete While You Were Sleeping schedule (PDF)

The United States presidential election of 2008, November 4, will mark the first time since the 1928 election in which there is neither an incumbent president nor an incumbent vice president running for their party's nomination.

This Winter Fresh City Life invites you to the Denver Central Library to awaken your civic imagination and prepare for this upcoming presidential year by taking part in the first series of our 2008 Season, While You Were Sleeping.

Featuring a few of the nation's most articulate, funny and passionate social thinkers, three smart, sci-fi political thrillers, a button-making workshop and Fresh City Life's first Soup (Making) Kitchen, While You Were Sleeping also includes the launch of our new reading club, Stories That Could Be True. All events are free and open to the public.

Oh, It's Just The Fate of the Republic - March 10

John Nichols (Washington correspondent for The Nation) talks about the Republic – how it was, how it is and how it might be. Join us for this lively discussion by one of America’s foremost authorities on the state of our democracy.

After the talk, please join us for a Cocktail Reception and Political Button-Making Workshop with Tran Wills -Registration Required

I Believe I Am a Camera: Double Feature Film Presentation - March 8

This double screening of American Movie: The Making of Northwestern and Tarnation is the kick off event for the EyeBelieve: Independent Filmmakers Competition, presented by Denver Public Library’s Fresh City Life and Denver Open Media. Films hosted by Denver film critic Walter Chaw.

Go to the Film Series page for details.

Logan’s Run - February 26

V for Vendetta - March 3

The Matrix - March 4

Band Boot Camp - Starting a Band with Mark Bliesener - March 1

Do you have what it takes to go from jamming in the garage to the big stage? Veteran music industry manager, consultant and author Mark Bliesener will share countless tips for young bands trying to succeed in today's changing music industry in this fun lecture.

Songs of Love, Not War - March 16

Returning to fill our great hall with its signature choral sound, the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus (DGMC) presents Songs of Love, Not War. The Denver Gay Men’s Chorus is proud to present this concert of music celebrating peace and love and remembering those we’ve lost to violence and war.

Go to the Jane Austen page for details.

Amelia Earhart Wore Khakis and Other Stories About American "It Girls" - February 10

Double Feature Film Screening of Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice and Amy Heckerling's Clueless - March 15

Jane Austen, Literature's Posthumous It Girl - April 6

White House Kitchen Confidential: The President’s Table with Author Barry Landau - February 25

Presidential historian Barry Landau brings the back story of the American Presidency to life, interweaving stories of dining and diplomacy.

The American Presidency Exhibit - February 23 - 25

A unique view of campaigning, dining and diplomacy based on the two largest private Presidential memorabilia collections in America.

Go to the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library page for details.

Politics, the New Black Power - February 5

Street Fight - February 12

Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed - February 19

Bling - February 26

The Politics of Food: Soup Kitchen - February 23

Soups stem from the need to be resourceful...using only a small piece of meat to flavor and enrich a broth filled with potatoes or other vegetables to feed a family. Join Chef Shellie Kark of KitchenCue as she prepares a hearty White Bean and Bacon Soup with Paprika Oil.

A Brief History of Soup Kitchens by Patricia McGrath Morris

I Speak Out with David Amram, Panama Soweto and The Flobots - February 23

See photos from I Speak Out
Jack Kerouac's first musical collaborator, composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram joins forces with Denver's own nationally ranked slam poet Panama Soweto and highly acclaimed hip hop band The Flobots to explore how spoken-word poetry, scat and rap has emerged since the 1950s as a powerful form of expression.

Stories That Could Be True - February 24

In January, Fresh City Life launched its new city-wide Reading Club, Stories That Could Be True. Featuring writings, which, even though marked as fiction, hint at the possibility that they may, in fact, have actually happened, Stories will kick off its inaugural year with the 50th anniversary edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, a novel greatly loved in the city of Denver.

WIZARD: Back where I come from we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have...But! They have one thing you haven't got! A diploma! Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitatus Committeeatum e plurbis unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of Th.D.

SCARECROW: Th.D.?

WIZARD: Why yes...Yes...That's a...That’s a, Dr. of Thinkology!

Script excerpt from The Wizard of Oz, written by Noel Langley.

With this, our first series of the 2008 year, Fresh City Life proudly introduces Thinkologies, our new initiative to bring together the Public Library and Public/Alternative Media audiences in Denver, San Francisco and New York City. As explained by the great and all knowing Wizard in MGM's The Wizard of Oz, a thinkology is, quite simply, a way of knowing, a way of making sense, a way of thinking about our world and our lives by using both our book and our street smarts. We at Fresh City Life invite you to join with us in putting into practice this idea by participating in one or more of the Thinkologies we plan to explore both inside the Denver Public Library and out, during each of the remainder of our four series.

Coming in April: Wild, Wilde West – featuring our Thinkology on Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis, as well as the relaunch of our popular Knit and Lit Club.

Join Fresh City Friends to support the 2007-2008 Fresh City Life classes and events.

In appreciation for your gift, you'll receive:

• Special recognition in the Fresh City Life brochures
• Invitations to VIP events
• Acknowledgment in the Annual Report

Fabulous Fresh City Friends $1,000+
Fresh City Friends $500+

Thank you to our first Fabulous Fresh City Friends, Steve Savageau and Reba Lee!

For membership information, contact Laurie Romer, Denver Public Library Friends Foundation, at LRomer@denverlibrary.org or call 720-865-2050.

For information about Corporate Sponsorship, contact Brenda Cook at 720-865-2046 or bcook@denverlibrary.org.