Scholars series moves to Hallwalls

By Joyce Kryszak

Buffalo, NY – The illegal use of prescription drugs has given rise to a whole new "war on drugs" here in Buffalo and around the country. That will be the timely topic of the first lecture this Friday in the Scholars at Hallwalls series, the UB Humanities Institute series formerly known as Scholars at Muse.

The location for the series has changed. Lectures will now be held on select Fridays at Hallwalls, rather than at the Muse restaurant at the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

Carrie Tirado Bramen is the executive director of the Humanities Institute. She said they needed a consistent, yet intimate space.

"And Hallwalls is able to do that, and plus they have a great digital system. We're able now to record all lectures and put them up on our web site," said Tirado Bramen. "It's all around an ideal space for the series in the long term."

Despite the change in venue, Tirado Bramen said the series, now in its fourth year, remains an intellectual salon, featuring national and international speakers.

The topic of the first lecture, however hits very close to home.

Western New York has not been immune from the growing illegal prescription drug trade. Tirado Bramen said UB historian David Herzberg will present his lecture, "The Drug War in the Medicine Cabinet."

"It's extremely timely and he's going to give us a longer historical trajectory in which we can contextualize what's been happening recently in the news," said Tirado Bramen.

That lecture is this Friday at 4:00 P.M. at Hallwalls. It is free and open to the public.