Hutchinson Center to Host “Conversations

Contact: Ellen Freeman, 338-8034
Kathryn Olmstead, 581-3844

Discussion topics for the second annual “Great Conversations on the Coast” range from poetry to the presidential election, from the women’s movement to the environmental movement and from archaeology to spirituality and our place in the universe.

Scheduled for August 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Frederick Hutchinson Center in Belfast, Great Conversations brings together members of the community and faculty from the diverse departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Maine.

“We are delighted to bring this event back to Belfast and are grateful for the hospitality of the Hutchinson Center,” said Dean Ann Leffler. “We had such trouble persuading people to end their conversations last year that we have added a half hour to the discussion time.”

The 2006 topics are The 2008 Presidential Election, Is the Women’s Movement Dead? Poetry and Healing, Leadership in Turbulent Times, Unearthing History in Gouldsboro, Are we Alone in the Universe? The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality, Before and Beyond Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Traveling through Ancient Peru and Mahatma Gandhi’s View of Religion.

Erica Hughes at the Hutchinson Center is taking reservations (338-3084) and voluntary donations will support the college scholarship fund. Detailed information is posted on www.hutchinsoncenter.umaine.edu and www.umaine.edu/las/

ATTACHED AND BELOW: Topics list, Topic descriptions

GREAT CONVERSATIONS ON THE COAST
Frederick Hutchinson Center, Route 3 Belfast
August 16, 4-6 p.m.

The 2008 Presidential Election
Richard Powell, Assistant Professor of Political Science

Is the Women’s Movement Dead?
Ann Schonberger, Director of Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies

Poetry and Healing
Tony Brinkley, Associate Professor of English, Interim Director, Franco American Studies

Leadership in Turbulent Times
John Mahon, Professor of Management

Unearthing History in Gouldsboro
Brian Robinson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Climate Change

Are We Alone in the Universe?
David Batuski, Professor and Chair of Physics and Astronomy

The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality: My Research with
Healers, Monks, Mystics and Hermits of Eastern Christianity
Kyriacos C. Markides, Professor of Sociology

Before and Beyond Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
Laura Cowan, Associate Professor of English

Traveling through Ancient Peru
Louis Fortin, Climate Change Institute graduate student

Mahatma Gandhi’s View of Religion
Douglas Allen, Professor of Philosophy

GREAT CONVERSATIONS ON THE COAST
August 16, 2006, The Frederick Hutchinson Center, Route 3, Belfast 4-6 p.m.

The 2008 Presidential Election
Richard Powell, Assistant Professor of Political Science
The 2008 presidential election will (most likely) be the first one in decades in which neither the incumbent president nor vice-president will be on the ballot.  In other words, the election is wide-open at this point. Please join us for a wide-ranging discussion of the candidates and issues that will most likely dominate the upcoming campaign.

Is the Women’s Movement Dead?
Ann Schonberger, Director of Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies
In the past few years the mainstream media have often commented on the “death” of the women’s movement.  As evidence they point out the lack of mass demonstrations, marches on Washington, sit-ins, and other highly publicized events of the late 1960s and early 1970s.  The rise of anti-feminist efforts to limit or end the full range of reproductive choice is also cited as an example.  On the other hand, the growth and success of women’s organizations, as well as women’s participation in life outside the home, has exceeded the dreams of many of those women who campaigned and marched 35 years ago.  Where does the truth lie?  Has feminism been co-opted, gone underground, or branched in a number of ways like a mature and healthy tree?    

Poetry and Healing
Tony Brinkley, Associate Professor of English and Interim Director of Franco American Studies
Poetry, like illness and dying, often charts the borderline between different moments of existence. Like meditation it offers practice for those transitional states when life turns out to be at stake. My own experiences of cancer and of poetry are connected and perhaps can offer a point of departure for a conversation.

Leadership in Turbulent Times
John Mahon, Professor of Management
Leadership is always a challenge–especially in turbulent times.  What are, if any, key elements of leadership? How can we learn about leadership in unusual ways?  Can leadership be fun?

Unearthing History in Gouldsboro
Brian Robinson, Assistant Profesor of Anthropology
The University of Maine is reviving its coastal archaeology program with a grant to fund undergraduate field schools and Native American participation.  This year we began with the excavation of the Jones Cove site in West Gouldsboro, first excavated by Warren K. Moorehead in 1928 in association with the Abbe Museum.  Our discussion will describe how we disentangled the 1,000-year-old occupation layers from those produced by the 1928 archaeologists, finding valuable evidence that was left behind from both time periods.

Are We Alone in the Universe?
David Batuski, Professor and Chair of Physics and Astronomy
Astronomical instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope have advanced us from “fuzzy cosmology” to “precision cosmology.” For example, we now know that 95 percent of the universe is invisible “dark matter” and “dark energy.” What else do we know about the universe that we didn’t 40 years ago, and what are the implications of this new knowledge for intelligent life — both earthlings and all those others who may be out there?

The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality: My Research with Healers, Monks, Mystics and Hermits of Eastern Christianity
Kyriacos C. Markides, Professor of Sociology
Is there a Christian spirituality that is mystical, experiential and focused on the fundamental and existential healing of the self? Does this forgotten spiritual tradition that has survived in ancient monasteries of the Christian East share similarities in method and worldview with the spiritual traditions of India and Tibet? What is the relevance of this spiritual tradition for contemporary living? Why has the West ignored this cultural and spiritual tradition?

Before and Beyond Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
Laura Cowan, Associate Professor of English
Widely hailed as the “beginning of the environmental movement, Silent Spring changed the course of history” (Al Gore).  Why is Silent Spring such a powerful and influential work?  We will look at passages from Silent Spring and other works by Rachel Carson and discuss its message and its impact.  Possible topics of interest:  Carson’s dismissal by many as an “hysterical woman,” scientific vs. literary writing, Carson’s worldview, other writings by Carson, including The Sea Around Us, her uncollected works, and her letters.

Traveling through Ancient Peru
Louis Fortin, Climate Change Institute graduate student
Learn about traveling to Peru to visit archaeological sites, traveling through Peru’s ancient past, and travailing (or troweling) in Peru’s ancient sites.

Mahatma Gandhi’s View of Religion
Douglas Allen, Professor of Philosophy
Mahatma Gandhi, often considered the most admired person of the twentieth c
entury, posed a radical challenge to what most religious people believe and to all dominant forms of religion. A deeply religious or spiritual person, Gandhi challenged our dominant forms of religion as arrogant, narrow minded, violent, and intolerant. He also proposed different views of religion grounded in truth, nonviolence, love and unity with a respect for differences, and the mutuality and interconnectedness of all of life.  What can we learn from Gandhi’s approach to religion that can be of value in developing new creative religious and philosophical approaches for the twenty-first century?