September 12, 2024 - 7:00 pm

Virtual Movie Club - Oppenheimer

 

Virtual discussion of the 2024 Academy Award "Best Picture" winner, Oppenheimer, directed and produced by Christopher Nolan.  The film portrays how during World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. (Matt Damon) appointed physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spent years developing and designing the atomic bomb, when their work came to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witnessed the world's first nuclear explosion, changing the course of history. Subsequently, Oppenheimer was pursued by his enemies (Robert Downey, Jr.) for un-American activities, which broke his career. Other prominent cast members are: Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Casey Affleck, Josh Hartnett, and Kenneth Branagh. Winner of 7 Academy Awards as well as 5 Golden Globe, 7 BAFTA, 8 Critics Choice, 4 Screen Actors Guild, and 1 Grammy Award (for the score). Named one of 2023's top ten films by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. Rotten Tomatoes score 93%. Included on Peacock or rent on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, or YouTube. No charge event. Register here.

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September 28, 2024 - 11:00 am 

Masonic Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Guided Tour - 

Philadelphia, PA

 

The Masonic Temple in Philadelphia, 1 N. Broad St., formally known as the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, was constructed in 1873 and is considered one of the great “wonders” of the Masonic world. Featuring a Norman-style exterior, inside stylistic references to the Middle Ages give way to a fantasy of Renaissance-inspired neoclassicism in the corridors and stairs and to 19th Century “eclectic revivalism” in the lodge rooms. The Grand Lodge is the meeting home for a number of regional Masonic lodges, each of whom meets in a hall decorated in a particular historical revival style, such as Egyptian, Corinthian, Medieval, and others. Resplendent with artwork, frescos, stained glass, murals and sculpture, the Grand Lodge is a visual treasure which welcomes the public to a unique place of art and architecture, history and grandeur. In addition, there is an exhibit hall, featuring treasures from Philadelphia’s, America’s and Freemasonry’s past. Parking is available in the nearby Convention Center parking facility. Enjoy good conversation as well at the optional post-tour group lunch. Fee: $10. Register here.

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October 7, 2024 - 7:00 pm 

Annual Membership Meeting (Virtual)

 

The 2024 Annual Meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Association of the Delaware Valley will be held virtually on Monday, October 7, 2024, at 7:00 pm, to which all members are invited to attend and participate. During the Annual Meeting members will hear a recap of the past year's activities and finances, will give input to determine the coming year's plans, consider and vote on Bylaws amendments, and elect all officers and Council members for the open Council seats.  The Annual Meeting agenda, the election slate, brief bios for candidates, and the link to join the virtual meeting will be e-sent 15 days in advance of the Annual Meeting to all members current with their dues.

October 10, 2024 - 7:00 pm

Virtual Book Club - The Hare with Amber Eyes

 

Virtual discussion of the 2010 family memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, by British academic and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, Cambridge graduate and CBE for Service to the Arts, who tells the story of his family, the Ephrussi, a once wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty in Odessa, Vienna, and Paris, who were peers of the Rothschilds. The family lost their fortune and possessions, including priceless artworks, to the Nazi's in 1938. However, a collection of 264 Japanese netsuke miniature sculptures was saved in a mattress by a loyal maid and was returned to the family after the war, thereby continuing to be passed down through five generations of the family, and serving as a common thread for the family's story from 1871 to 2009. The book was honored with the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize and the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Non-Fiction. Good Reads score 4 out of 5. No charge event.  Register here.

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October 17, 2024 - 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

For Recent PBK Inductees:  Key Connections - Meet & Greet Happy Hour + Quizzo team trivia;  Philadelphia, PA

 

Enjoy great conversation and trivia fun with other recent PBK members from the SE PA, So. Jersey, and No. Delaware region! To introduce recent PBK inductees to each other and to their local PBK alumni association, our Phi Beta Kappa Association of the Delaware Valley's Young Professionals Advisory Committee (YPAC) is hosting a meet & greet happy hour with food and drinks, followed by an hour of team Quizzo trivia in small impromptu teams, with PBK logo mugs for prizes. YPAC has selected a private space in the local pub restaurant Victory Brewing Company, 1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in Center City Philadelphia, convenient to regional transportation, for this event. Pre-register so we can plan appetizers and beer/wine/soft drinks for the happy hour, and have you pre-select your plated sandwich (which comes with sides) to enjoy during Quizzo. Fee: $7 for PBK members; $10 for up to one guest. Member's fee is refundable upon attendance at the event.  Register here.

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November 9, 2024 - 10:30 am

Africa Gallery - University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, West Philadelphia, PA

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Connect with the great kingdoms and rich material culture of Africa through 300 objects from 21 countries.  Private guided tour of the acclaimed reimagined Africa gallery, led by a Penn graduate student deeply knowledgeable in the field.  The galleries celebrate the richness and diversity of Africa, from art and language to spiritual practices and family relations. Learn its complex organization of social, economic, and political systems. Trace the journey from maker to museum to consider why, where, and how objects were made, how they were used in daily life, on special occasions, or in religious ceremonies, and why they were meaningful to the cultures that produced them.  Penn Museum admission & private tour: $24 adults, $23 seniors, $19 students, $11 museum members. Optional group

lunch in the Penn Museum cafe after the tour.  Register here.

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November 14, 2024 - 7:00 pm

Virtual Movie Club - The Holdovers

 

Virtual discussion of the 2023 comedy-drama film, The Holdovers, from acclaimed director Alexander Payne. The film takes place in 1970-71, and follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to watch over the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker (Dominic Sessa) -- and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Actor. Randolph won the Best Supporting Actress from the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, BAFTA, Golden Globes, and the New York Film Critics. Named one of 2023's top ten films by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. Rotten Tomatoes score 97%. View on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, and others. No charge event. Register here.

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December 12, 2024 - 7:00 pm

Virtual Book Club - The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

 

Virtual discussion of the 2023 novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by National Book Award winning author and one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2024, James McBride.  "A murder mystery inside a great American novel" and "a charming, smart, heart-blistering and heart-healing novel", per the NY Times, the book unravels long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill in Pottstown, PA, the dilapidated neighborhood shared by immigrant Jews and African Americans living side by side, uncovering how much the people living on the margins of society support each other to survive. "Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity...McBride shows that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us." NY Times Bestseller and NY Times Notable Book.  Best Book of the Year by NPR, Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Time Magazine.  Good Reads score 4 out of 5. No charge event.  Register here.

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January 9, 2025 - 7:00 pm

Virtual Movie Club - Farewell Mr. Haffman

 

Virtual discussion of the gripping 2022 French historical suspense drama, Farewell Mr. Haffmann, starring the legendary Daniel Auteuil in one of his most superlative screen performances. From writer/director Fred Cavayé, based on Jean-Philippe Daguerre's celebrated, multi Molière Award-winning play, the film takes place in occupied Paris in 1941 when jeweler Joseph Haffmann (Auteuil) arranges for his family to flee the city while his employee (Gilles Lellouche) takes over the store presumably until the conflict subsides. When Haffman's own escape is thwarted, he finds himself living hidden in his basement while the employee and skeptical wife live in his home above. The agreement turns into a Faustian bargain, one that will forever change the fate of all. Rotten Tomatoes score 98%. View on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, and others. No charge event. Register here.

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