UCTV

University of California Television (UCTV) is making a host of videos available on its website — uctv.tv/life-of-the-mind/ — during this period of social distancing. Among them, with descriptions courtesy of UCTV (text written by the UCTV staff):

“Yiddish Glory: The Songs of World War II”: Yiddish songs were collected by a team of Soviet scholars at the height of World War II, then “destroyed” and eventually rediscovered as fortunes shifted in the (former) Soviet Union. These Holocaust ballads tell stories set in a time of pain and darkest deprivation, balanced by tales of glory and courage. Most songs were simply lyrics written on small scraps of paper. Psoy Korolenko engaged in “musical archaeology” by analyzing supplementary notes, contextualizing the lyrics, and then creating or adapting music for the texts. In this program hosted by scholar Anna Shternshis, Korolenko performs a selection of the songs.

“Homeland Security in a Post-trump Era”: President Joe Biden faces numerous foreign and domestic security threats, but first he must repair the damage done to domestic security agencies and public confidence in order to address them, according to four former Homeland Security leaders. The panel explores topics ranging from Russian election interference to the use of social media for disinformation campaigns and the White nationalism displayed in the Jan. 6 riot.

“Combining Radiotherapy and Immunotherapy in Cancers of the Skin, Head and Neck”: Immunotherapy offers hope for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer, but only 20 percent of patients respond to this treatment. Combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy in novel ways can enhance results, by improving the immune system’s cancer recognition and rendering tumors less immunosuppressive.