 | September 13, 2026: Hell’s Kitchen: Fairy Tales and the Domestic Uncanny (with Melissa Daum). Philosophical Research Society (online), 11 AM - 12:30 PM. In fairy tales, we encounter the shadow side of the kitchen: a site of domestic enslavement, hidden perils, even cannibalism. Terror in the woods is expected, but terror in the kitchen is deeply uncanny. Here, domestic magic turns volatile, and the nurturing impulse curdles into something far darker. | |||
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September 15, 2026: Reading and Writing True Crime, 4-week online course. Also available anytime, on-demand. Are you morbidly curious? Do you love talking, thinking, and reading about true crime? Do you like to investigate, explore, research strange, disturbing events? The surface drama, intrigue and suspense in superficial true crime narratives conceals how they are transformed in such a way that panders to public appeal. This class will dive beneath this surface, investigating how crimes are like poems, with their own style, undercurrents, imagery, and moods. |  | |||
 | October 1, 6-7PM: “A Double Life: The Anatomy of a Premeditated Murder” Book Launch and Lecture, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, with poet Jane Lewty (in-person and online). | |||
October 28, 2026: The Uncanny as Creative Catalyst (single online lecture), Rendering Unconscious Center for Psychoanalysis, 11AM ET. See below for details. |  | |||
 | November 11 – December 2, 2026: The Uncanny as Creative Catalyst, 4-week online course, Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:30pm ET. Morbid Anatomy. Classes will be recorded and archived. In this course, we will cultivate the experience of the uncanny as a resource for writing, a springboard for creativity, and a catalyst for discussion. We will engage with the uncanny across a wide range of texts and contexts, drawing our inspiration from the examples provided by Freud: the horrific concepts of inanimate figures coming to life, severed limbs, ghosts, doppelgangers, mirrors, shadows, guardian spirits, animism, magic, telepathy, death and rebirth. We'll also consider how to incorporate the uncanny into our own creative writing and art. | |||
| Atrium Psychoanalytic Salon Series Time and date to be announced. Heavy Petting: A psychoanalytic exploration of our relationships with domestic animals. This talk will use psychoanalysis to question and rethink our feelings about pets, both ours and other people’s, starting with the question: why does this feel like a trivial subject? And why does psychoanalysis take babies so seriously, when pets are dismissed as embarrassing substitutes? |  | |||