A quick overview of the most interesting events coming up in Central Indiana. Big names such as Lee Hamilton, Bill Clinton, and Mikhail Gorbachev; no less interesting will be local heroes such as Fran Quigley and Art Farnsley. The State Department’s top expert on human rights and democracy in China will come to town, but her talk will probably be less informative (and certainly less uninhibited) than local China expert Susan Erickson. National policy wonks come here to flog books on topics such as global corruption; at the same time, newly minted Hoosier Thomas Barnett is releasing the widely anticipated follow-up to his mind-expanding book, The Pentagon’s New Map. Get out your calendar, we are in for a couple of busy months.
In addition to the BIG series such as Spirit & Place and the Ann Katz Festival of Books, there are two smaller series you ought to note. In the spring many groups around town sponsor “Great Decisions” series: eight important foreign policy topics, each week an expert comes in to give a talk and answer questions, then the audience fills out ballots saying what they think the US should do. It’s an excellent series (and the topics for next spring are some of the best I have seen, stand by for much more information later).
So thought-stimulating is the program that Mid-North Shepherd Center has created their own Domestic Decisions series. Seven great topics even more experts … for the next seven Wednesdays starting October 5 at 11:00 AM you should plan to be in the basement of North United Methodist Church to hear about the conflict of values in American politics, political polarization, cuts in city services, separation of church and state, the future of public education, health care reform, and the globalization of higher education. You’ll want to stay for lunch, where the conversations get lively. (If you can’t free up this chunk of time in the middle of the week, don’t despair, the series is repeatedly broadcast on public access cable.) For more info about the Mid-North Shepherd’s Center program, contact Dotti Gerner.
I have started another adaptation of the international “Great Decisions” for OASIS, the adult education program. This is where I experiment with ideas and processes. Part of the change in this series is forma
t: I like to play with mock debates, innovative pairing of experts, and so on. Even more importantly, I want the audience to realize not only that they can understand these issues, and not only that solutions are possible (although I do want them to realize these things). I want them to start to realize that we in Central Indiana can contribute to finding solutions for these problems right now. In fact, we already are. The first session in the series on September 29 was ideal. For our discussion of Russia they got to meet Sasha Korobkina, a college student from Orenburg. The benefit for the class was more than meeting a very self-confident, articulate, intelligent Russian. (Those who attended now will understand what the Russian playwright Edvard Radzinsky meant in his recent Wall Street Journal piece when he rhapsodizes about the remarkable young women who have sprung up in Russia.) Sasha is a civic entrepreneur in Orenburg, helping set up several nonprofit voluntary organizations to solve the crunching problems that beset her community. She has spent the past four months in Central Indiana learning about NGOs and civil society, thanks to the Northeast Indiana Sertoma Club. Sasha returns to Russia in a few days, and her country will be much better because of some generous Sertomans. My Great Decision series will be focused on seeking solutions that we here can launch right now, without waiting for DC bureaucrats or politicians. It should be exciting. Contact me if you would like to join us.New additions to IndyBuzz are in red.
Sept. 30: Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, "the rock star of the new Muslim generation"
Oct. 1: Perspectives on Iraq -- A major conference
Oct. 5: Whose Values are “Real” American Values?
Oct. 6: Lee Hamilton and Todd Rokita on electoral reform in the United States
Oct. 6: American Intelligence Reform
Oct. 6-9: In Solidarity: Engaging Empire in Activism, Education and Community Strategies
Oct. 8: Environmental Ethics from Three Faith Perspectives
Oct. 10: Global Communities, Local Transitions: The Promise and Risks of Central Indiana
Oct. 11: Haiti: The International Community’s Dictatorship
Oct. 12: Finding consensus in a divided nation and state
Oct.13: Outsourcing jobs: US dilemmas
Oct. 13: A Conversation with George Will and Bill Bradley
Oct. 14: Jean Bethke Elshtain on the Role of the Public Intellectual in American Society
Oct. 14: A Conversation with Anna Quinlin and David Halberstam
Oct. 15: “From Guantanamo to the Statehouse: Human Rights in 2005” -- ICLU annual conference and dinner
Oct. 16: Celebrating a Confluence of Abrahamic Traditions
Oct. 18: Gaining that Competitive Edge — Global Sourcing
Oct. 19: Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
Oct. 19: Human Rights in China: A Perspective from the US State Department
Oct. 19: Consequences of Cuts to City Services in Indianapolis
Oct. 20: China — An economic giant emerges
Oct. 20: The Japan-US Partnership - Its Significance in the Global Context
Oct. 24: The United Nations, Democracies, and Civil Liberties: Can We Learn Lessons for the Struggle against Extremism
Oct. 25: Theology in Contemporary Music: Its Source May Surprise You
Oct. 26: Separation of Church and State
Oct. 26: Soledad O'Brien on "Diversity: On TV, Behind the Scenes and In Our Lives"
Oct. 27: Sudan and the war in Darfur
Oct. 27: A book release party for Thomas Barnett's "Blueprint for Action"
Oct. 27: Mikhail Gorbachev speaks!
Oct. 27: The Big Book of Jewish Conspiracies
Oct. 31: Inheriting the Holy Land: An American’s Search for Hope in the Middle East
Nov. 2: Wedding Song: Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman
Nov. 2 “Art and Culture in the Islamic World”
Nov. 2 -- "The Future of Public Education"
Nov. 3: The US and Global Poverty
Nov. 3: Maintaining Religious Values in a Changing Society
Nov. 4 Café Cinema: “Hotel Rwanda”
Nov. 5 -- Jewish Mystical Tradition and Spiritual Imagination: Living in the Presence of God
Nov. 5 -- Creation in Time and Eternity: Ecology and Orthodox Christianity
Nov. 5: Spirit and Place Anniversary Gala
Nov. 6 -- Bill Clinton at Butler!
Nov. 6 -- Public Conversation Dinner Dialogue
Nov. 6 -- A Public Conversation with Wendell Berry, A’Lelia Bundles and Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Nov. 7: Randall Tobias on Indiana and America helping fight AIDS in Africa
Nov. 7: “A Reading with A’Leila Bundles”
Nov. 7: Working Our Way Home: An Evening with Wendell Berry & Friends
Nov. 8: Hotel Rwanda: An Evening with Paul Rusesabagina
Nov. 8 -- "Jewish Food: The World at Table"
Nov. 8: "Where have all the farmers gone"
Nov. 9 -- "Health Care Reform: Current Prognosis"
Nov. 9 -- Women in the Professions: Who Moves, Who Stays, and Why Some of Us Choose to Stay Home
Nov. 9: Moving and Staying in a Global Indy
Nov. 9: The Diaspora and the Homecoming
Nov. 10: Skirting the Issue -- Stories of Indiana’s Historical Women Artists
Nov. 10: US Challenges in Iraq and the Muslim World
Nov. 10: “'As Fast As Circumstances Should Permit': Abraham Lincoln's Move Toward Equality"
Nov. 10 -- Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, 1905 and 2005: Waltzing at the Edge of the Abyss
Nov. 11: “Becoming a Peacemaker”
Nov. 12: "At Home through Learning and Sharing"
Nov. 13: Sacred Circles, Public Squares
Nov. 13: The Crossroads Ensemble in Concert
Nov. 13: "Israelis and Palestinians: Living in Peace as Neighbors"
Nov. 15: A view from the Israeli peace movement
Nov. 15: Staying at the Heart of Belief, Moving Toward One Another in Openness—An Interfaith Peace-Prayer Service
Nov. 16: Indiana Higher Education in a Flat World
Nov. 16: Global corruption: Capitalism's Achilles Heel
Nov. 16: Breaking Ground -- Adventures in Life and Architecture
Nov. 16: Twenty Years of Interfaith in Indianapolis
Nov. 17: Freshwater and Foreign Policy
Nov. 17: Gravitating Towards Indianapolis
Nov. 18: Regulars and Refugees -- An Evening with Carrie Newcomer
Nov. 19: "Time and Timelessness: A Conversation with Stewart Brand and Witold Rybczynski"
Nov. 20: Viewing of film "Alan & Naomi" and discussion with director Sterling van Wagenen
