Adult Education presents: "Hunting and Gathering" October 14, 2008

Adult Education is a Brooklyn-based lecture series devoted to making useless knowledge somewhat less useless. Each month is devoted to a given theme, and several speakers address some aspect of that theme using visual aids. Adult Education has been a frequent Critic's Pick in Time Out New York, while The Onion AV Club declared that "Adult Education ... manages to be both informative and thoroughly entertaining."

In October, Adult Education welcomes a panel of collectors to speak on the theme of "Hunting and Gathering." The line-up is as follows:

"No Park City"
Designer Paul Shaw casts a typographer's eye over his growing collection of "No Parking" signs from around New York City.

"Mice, Deer, and Terrorists: Three Things Made Easier to Kill"
A survey of recent inventions, compiled by patent hunter Daniel Wright.

"The Ties That Blind"
Francis Heaney's neverending quest to find ties and shirts that shouldn't go together, but do.

"America's Awkward Stage"
Alexandra Ringe pages through a century's worth of yearbooks and unearths the moments we'd rather forget.

All hosted by comedian Charles Star.

BIOS
Paul Shaw is a lettering artist, graphic designer and design historian. He has designed logos for Barbie, Origins, Campbell Soup, Lord & Taylor, Methodist Hospital and others. As a former partner in LetterPerfect he has designed or co-designed 18 typefaces including Kolo, Old Claude and Bermuda. Paul teaches calligraphy at Parsons School of Design and the History of Typography at the School of Visual Arts. He writes on type and lettering related topics for Print, Baseline, and AIGA Voice. He has never owned a car, but he does know how to parallel park.

Daniel Wright is the founder of www.patentlysilly.com and the author of Patently Silly: The Daftest Inventions Ever Devised (Prion 2008, Lyons Press 2009).

Francis Heaney writes puzzles, songs, musicals, cartoons, humor, and maybe a novel if he ever gets around to finishing it. His humor book, Holy Tango of Literature, is so funny that it was immediately taken out of print, lest it render all other humor books superfluous. Most recently, he compiled and edited a book of dirty crosswords, entitled Crasswords. He blogs at www.francisheaney.com.

Alexandra Ringe is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. She edited the book Rough Draft: Pop Culture the Way It Almost Was, and her writing has appeared in such magazines as New York, Metropolis, Radar, and Stay Free.

Charles Star is a lawyer sans portfolio and a stand-up comedian sans recognition who lives in Brooklyn with his excellent wife, his awesome cat, and a newborn baby genius. He's on the web at www.charlesstar.com.

Official Website: http://adult-ed.net