We <3 The Brooklyn Brainery

Partners in crime, The Brooklyn Brainery, have graciously offered to fund your next date. Come to The 2nd Annual Sexy SASS on Tuesday, Feb 5th for some awesome lectures AND a chance to win a date for two to the Brooklyn Brainery!

We’ll be playing Missed Connections of History that night, and if your knowledge reigns supreme, you’ll be given a gift certificate that could be used on all sorts of fun dates- like maybe Europe vs. The Censors: How the Movies Got Sexier or MYSTERIOUS BEAST MONSTERS!.

Come! Learn! Play! Win!

Second Annual Sexy S.A.S.S.!!

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching so we’re gonna have some sexy history lectures to help get you in the mood ;)

Where: Public Assembly

When: Tuesday, February 5th with doors at 7pm

Cost: Free!

Facebook Invite!

Lectures:

My Daguerreotype Boyfriend: The Lecture!

Michelle Legro tells us the history behind some of her favorite old-timey portraits of handsome gentlemen. You can get a sneak peek by checking out her super awesome blog.

But WHY did He Go to Jared’s?

SASS co-founder and resident gemologist, Anna Rasche, will tell you all about the origins of engagement rings, and why we still care about them today.

Houses of Ill Repute in the City that Never Sleeps

Columbia Grad Student, Angela Serratore, teaches us the history of brothels in the Big Apple. Hint: there were lots.

BONUS:

Audience members will get a chance to compete in our “Missed Connections of History” Trivia Game, and one lucky person will win two gift certificates to the Brooklyn Brainery so they can take their crush on a hot yet informative date!

Winter Break!

Since we’ve always loved winter break in school, and since the first Tuesday of the month falls on the 1st of January, S.A.S.S. will take a very brief intermission and return with a vengeance in February. See you then!

Meet Zachary, Our Jewish History Expert!

Zachary Paul Levine has engaged with Jewish history and culture, usually as an incredulous observer, for much of his life. A recovering graduate student, Zachary’s expertise is in modern European Jewish history, especially Cold War eastern Europe. Yet, since escaping the mostly ambivalent clutches of the ivory tower’s guards, Zachary has worked as a curator at Yeshiva University Museum (YUM) developing contemporary art and history exhibitions.  

He recently curated It’s a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond, which explores the history, culture, artistic interpretations, and divisive issues behind the Eruv, an invisible line surrounding many Jewish neighborhoods, which makes it possible for religious Jews to carry on the Sabbath. You heard correctly, an exhibition about an invisible line that makes carrying things ok. Check it at at the Center for Jewish History, 16th street near Union Square.

And of course, check Zachary out tomorrow night at SASS Presents: A Religious Experience at Public Assembly.

December Lecture: A Religious Experience

What you need to know:

Do you struggle to find meaning in the day-to-day? Are you confused about your purpose on this earth? Do you enjoy drinking beers on Tuesday evenings?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, S.A.S.S. may be the answer you’re looking for.

Meet November’s…..Band, JUMBO BROWN!

SASS The Musical is November 13!

The Simpsons, Scrubs, and Buffy have all had musical episodes, so now it’s SASS’s turn to interrupt your regularly scheduled lectures with some spirited singing. As SASS takes you through the history of American Music, the dudes from Jumbo Brown will perform the greatest hits from the 1700s, the 1800s, and the 1900s LIVE. There ain’t no party like a history musical party, so get ready to have your face melted with the story of music in America and your ears bleed with tunes from yesteryear.

• Tuesday, Nov 13 with doors at 7pm
• Public Assembly
• Facebook Invite

Meet Sally, our resident John Smith expert!

Sally Dankas is a gal who loves cats, snacks and scrabble (not necessarily in that order).  Her contempt over inaccurate portrayals in Disney movies stems from her love of history and the fact that she was beat up at Disneyland as a child. Like John Smith, she loves spinning a good yarn and is not afraid to exaggerate her own adventures in order to  make the story better. She claims to bear a striking resemblance to a young Ray Romano, but we think she is way hotter.

Sally will be joined by returning SASS speakers Glenna Abend and Anna Rasche to teach you about explorers of the New World.

October 2nd is NOT Columbus Day!

What you need to know:

So Christopher Columbus gets his own day every year because in 1492 he sailed the ocean blue and crashed into Haiti and told everyone it was India. Pretty impressive stuff, but we’re not going to talk about him. Instead, we’re going to talk about some of the other grouchy European explorers who made their mark in the New World. We’ll cover the adventures of Henry Hudson, Hernando Cortes and his improbable conquest of Mexico, and learn exactly what John Smith did (besides Pocahontas).

• Tuesday, October 2nd with doors at 7pm
• Public Assembly
• Facebook Invite

Love reading? Here are more details:

Henry Hudson and the Rivers Unknown

Henry Hudson has a whole lot of stuff named after him, so come learn what he did to deserve this geographic immortality. 

Cortes and the Aztecs

Find out why Montezuma has been getting revenge for the past 500 years. 

But my name really IS “John Smith!”

From Virginia to New England, this guy was breaking hearts and taking names. Ladies?

Famous Firsts: The Storytelling Competition!

For our one year anniversary, SASS will be talking about Famous Firsts in history. But to make the night extra special, we’re asking our audience members to volunteer their own personal Famous First to enter to win VIP tickets to the Intrepid Museum.

Come by next Tuesday evening and tell us YOUR personal Famous First story- if you were the first person to walk down Broadway backwards on a Wednesday night, or the first person to confuse the numbered avenues in Queens (just kidding, everyone does that)- anything!

We’ll ask our favorites to share a 1 minute story on stage for a chance to win tickets to the Intrepid courtesy of our guest speaker and history of space firsts expert, Mr. Mark Roberts.

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is a total must-see if you like military, maritime, aviation or space history! Located on a historic ship, visitors to the Intrepid can explore more than 20 restored aircrafts, the Intrepid Aircraft carrier, the Enterprise Space Shuttle, the Growler submarine, a British Airways Concorde, a Flight Simulator and an extensive array of interactive exhibits. Pret-ty cool.